31 Days to Clean!

This ebook looks like such a great investment...and I love the subtitle.  I haven't tried my hand at writing an ebook yet (still trying to decide what merits being written about), but love supporting the ladies who already have.  Check it out at Like A Warm Cup of Coffee!

Menu Plan Monday

Well, well.  It's Monday again.  Sort of sneaks up on you, doesn't it?  I decided I definitely need to plan meals for this week, or else my family would go hungry.  Food just hasn't sounded good to me for a few weeks, and meal times have been rolling around without my realizing it.  My awesome kids have fended for themselves in some awesome ways at times, and I feel as though my parenting must have something to do with it.  I mean, really--here are some snacks THEY have come up with:

tuna fish & crackers
oranges
flax seed chips and cheese
celery and cheese
carrots and ranch
jelly beans (what do you expect?  Tis the season!)
grapes
strawberries
chips and salsa
chocolate milk

Really, not too bad, but not as many veggies as I usually serve, so I'm going to have to up my game, nausea or not.  Because even if I don't fix the food, there is still a kitchen to clean, and I might as well get up and help.

So, here we go, a week of real food!!  (My sweet husband will be so proud!!) I feel like singing the 12 days of dinners, as I just got back from scanning the pantry, and I have 2 butternut squash, 3 spaghetti squash, and 4 sweet potatoes the size of a child's head.

Monday:  Baked butternut squash & hamburger gravy (I'm experimenting here, it sounds good to me)
Tuesday:  Beef stir-fry, rice
Wednesday:  Chicken noodle soup--or maybe chicken lentil soup...depends on my mood at that moment.
Thursday:  Spaghetti squash & spaghetti sauce
Friday:  Lunch out:  Dinner leftovers.
Saturday:  Farmer's Market Day, dinner revolves around whatever produce needs to be eaten fastest.

I hope you are able to keep up your meal planning!  It makes life so much easier. 

Life

No, this post isn't about my life.  Not really.  It's about life.  Living.  Being.
Today, during our service projects, I sat and really looked at people.  I looked into their faces when they spoke.  I watched them as they ate.  Noticing how very different each person was, and I cried.  I cried because it hit me so hard that human beings in general are amazing, and despite their somewhat horrible habits (we all have them, even me), we are trying to be good.  Generally, we seek good.  But what REALLY got to me today was looking at the faces of the children I brought into this world.  Three of them so far.  Three distinct personalities.  Three sets of ideas, that don't mirror my own (if they did, we'd get along better, ha ha).  But I adore them.

I had a woman at the grocery store (the clerk actually) who was in her late 60's, maybe 70's ask me what it was like to have children.  She confessed to me she'd wanted them when she was younger, but then when she got older and had the chance, she'd changed her mind...didn't want to do THAT.   She wanted to know if the love of a mother was really stronger than the love of a stranger.  I told her it was, and I cried for her.  And then I went and joked with and loved on my children, grateful that I'd had the opportunity to know how strong the love of a mother could be.  Grateful that I knew that my children were not only mine, but distinct individuals brought to earth by me, for God.  Individuals, just like all of the people who I had talked to and watched during the day. 

Is it easy?  No.  Life is complex.  Raising children isn't simple, no matter how hard I try to make it that way.  Each of them is different, each of them perfect in their own way.  So, even when they are fighting over dollies like they are right now, I still am smiling and thankful they are here.  Learning how to be people, and hopefully, learning that being mommy is so worth it.

Missing? Me?

I haven't been posting.  You probably noticed.  Why?  Well, in my search for simple, life took over!  And it's been WONDERFUL!  I've been teaching my children more one-on-one.  My 5-year-old's reading is flourishing.  My son and I have been having great conversations about his history lessons, and I'm not putting that on a timer.  Nope. 

And we've had some wonderful friends visit us, and who wants to spend time on the computer when you can BE with good friends?  Not I!  You can click here and here to see some photos of our friends' visit.

Then today, my husband and I took the children to do service projects for the Great Day of Service in our area, a multi-denominational activity where there is strength in numbers and we get a bunch of things done for our community all in one day.  (Hey!  We're on CNN!! See the little girl in the pink shirt in photo 2?  That's my baby!).  Ta ta!!!