I love government holidays. We had a long, lazy weekend with David, and it has been great! We stayed up late last night, we all slept in this morning, and we hardly did anything but drink in the great weather and the quiet time as a family.Seeing as all the local free museums seem to be closed on Mondays, we decided that our morning activity should be... the kid's play area at one of our local malls. I think every other mom in Raleigh decided the same thing. Seth loved risking his life lying on the ground with screaming, running children narrowly missing him as they buzzed around. We had some good mall observation time, and then we headed home.
This afternoon was catch up time. David ran the finances for the month of January. It was a good month there, better than I'd hoped. It felt good to see our little changes having some effect, and we got a nice break from special expenses.
I have felt lately like God has been very good to help me out with the little details. I was worried about where to go for new car insurance. There are so many options out there, and how to know which is the best? I'd run a few quotes online, and I talked to some people. I prayed for direction. Well, a letter came in the mail, unsolicited, from David's law school alma mater. It let us know we'd get a discount for signing up with a company they recommended. We didn't just get that discount; this company also gives significant savings if you have advanced degrees. Who knew that the J.D. and the M.A. could actually save us money? =) I am so thankful; we're paying HALF of our former insurance rate for the same plan from a reputable company.
The other day, we got a note and some cash in the mail from Aunt Patty. She wanted to bless us for my birthday and Valentine's. It came just in time for our Saturday night dinner! We spent half on that, and we're saving the other half for dinner out for my birthday. Thanks, Aunt Patty!
All in all, we sat in the grass this afternoon with Seth, and I had the thought that we are seeing so much of God's goodness to us today in the land of the living. God is always good, but sometimes His goodness is seen through provision in tough times. It's nice to be seeing His goodness in a pleasant place. We have so many of our needs provided for, and I'm so thankful. Everything is calm... so of course, that means it's time to stop looking inward and start looking outward. Where can we bless? Since God has provided for us in ways that allow us to rest right now. What do we need to be doing with the extra time that He's given?
We saw some really neat opportunities in our church bulletin this Sunday. We both felt very encouraged that this is a place that provides great opportunities to reach out to the family of God. Just in this week's bulletin: an upcoming shower to benefit the local crisis pregnancy center, an opportunity to host a Belorussian child with asthma for 6 weeks this summer, a marriage mentoring program, and a Titus 2 women's mentoring program. Where should we plug in? What should we be doing? I've been hesitant, afraid to say for sure that this is the place for us. David is ready to call it. I need to get on board, and I need to dive in. I hope it won't be too hard to do; it's tough for me to get invested again in a new place.
In other news, I need some advice, ladies. Seth is FINALLY willing to eat a lot more things that aren't baby food. I'm seeing willingness there that I haven't seen before. Any ideas for good, healthy toddler food? I'm having trouble getting him to eat real green vegetables. I can feed him baby food vegetables, no problem, but he doesn't want me to feed him the real thing. I'm trying to think of good things he can eat that are easy to prepare. We don't eat dinner at the same time that he does, so I need ideas for easy, nutritious lunches and dinners. I can give him some of our leftovers, but we don't always have much that he likes. I'm thinking of getting some non fat refried beans and and melting cheese in there tomorrow. And we haven't tried grapes, yet, so I'm thinking we might go there. Any tips?
2 comments:
For me, the toddler year is the hardest for finding foods that they will eat and still feel like they're eating healthy. It seems like (with my two anyway) a suddenly good eater will turn into a child that will eat only two or three foods. Emma is really bad about that right now. Her life consists of mac and cheese, string cheese, canned peas, frozen chicken nuggets, oatmeal and cream of wheat. I think that's it other than crackers and cereals of course. Sigh. I just keep reminding myself that this will pass one day, not too far off hopefully!!! Have fun finding foods for him! : )
Back before my kids had to stop eating wheat, I made lots of homemade teething bars and threw in carrots, zucchini, pears, apples, and even a tiny bit of spinach! When it was all cooked up and soft, and sweetened with molasses or honey, it was a big hit. They had no idea their snack was packed with veggies!
Other than that, my theory is "eating by design." In other words, if they really needed it at this age, wouldn't God have made them more able to chew it? That helps me relax. :)
Glad you had such a wonderful President's Day!
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