Wednesday - Thinking About Food and Cooking (and What's for Dinner?) in 2011

Normally I post what is for dinner on Wednesdays in our house. Tonight my husband has a church meeting at 6:30 and can't make it home for dinner. Truthfully, he will grab something on the way home, and the kids and I will probably have a grilled cheese and fruit or some mac & cheese. It's just a lazy night at our house. Tomorrow will be the night when I cook a bigger dinner for all of us.

I've recently found (via The Homeschool Chick) a GREAT new blog - The Happy Housewife. It is an amazing collection of money saving tips, recipes, menu plans, homeschool plans, etc.... I have no idea how she has time to maintain this huge site, but it is so worth your time to visit! I love her recipes and menu ideas, and I hope to implement some of this in our home over the next several months.

The past few shopping trips I have saved an average of $25 each time - not too bad, considering I'm just getting into clipping coupons and visiting some coupon sites. My husband and I have seen that we waste a lot of money on groceries - and in an effort to save money we are trying to trim that part of our budget.

We've come to the realization that, even though my husband is gainfully employed and makes a good living, we will NEVER get ahead if we don't cut back in some areas. We want to be way ahead of the curve, and that entails being creative when you are a homeschooling mom. I'm preaching to the choir.

For today, check out The Happy Housewife, and I'll return to my regular Wednesday dinner posts next week!

Hiding the Word in Our Hearts Through Music and Story

One of my daughter's Sunday School teachers sent her a sweet Christmas card, and in that card was a New Year's challenge - to read the book of John in 30 days. We have been doing this together as a family, and today we got to John 6 - the Feeding of the Five Thousand. I just love this story, and it amazes me that no matter how many times we read this account, my children never get bored and tell me how much they love the story.

As we were reading John this morning, verse 35 jumped out at me:

Then Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever go hungry. And no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty."

and then, a bit later, verse 40 jumped out at me as well:

My father wants all who look to the Son and believe in him to have eternal life. I will raise them up on the last day.

Wow. What an amazing promise.

Immediately, the hymn, "I am the Bread of Life" came into my mind and I started singing it for the children - then I went and got our Lutheran Book of Worship and found the music so I could play and sing it for them again. Let me tell you - - I love the deep rooted musical traditions in my Lutheran faith. I love that I can sing scripture, because I've been doing it during every church service since I was a small child. I love that I read the Bible and know a hymn or snippet from our liturgy that says the same thing. I love beautiful music and want to share this with my children. What a great way to hide God's word in my heart, and now in my children's hearts as well.

Here is "I am the Bread of Life" - listen to the words and just enjoy the promises that John 6 offers all of us. (I found lots of versions on YouTube, but I liked this one because its beautiful pictures and scripture.... and.... I love contemporary Christian music, but my favorite Christian music has to be traditional hymns, and works by the Baroque masters)

After we did our reading and listened to the hymn, I remembered we had a book by Max Lucado that is a story based on the Feeding of the Five Thousand, Small Gifts in God's Hands. This is one of our favorite books, and I enjoyed snuggling with my children this morning sharing the story again - and today it seemed to have even more meaning.

I'm linking up today with Rebecca at Mom's Mustard Seeds. Head over to her blog to see how other moms are hiding God's word in their hearts and in their children's hearts, too.