Menu Plan Tuesday 11/28-12/4

Oops...it is Tuesday and I did not get the menu plan up!

Our grocery budget does not follow the calender month, but instead goes from the 10th to the 10th, so sometimes it gets a little dicey towards the end, especially when I don't pay as close attention to what I am spending as I should. I try to keep our pantry and freezer well-stocked, and this weeks menu is evidence of that! We are using up what we have on hand, which meant a quick and easy trip to the grocery store for me this week.

Kerry has not announced that he never wants to see oatmeal again, so soaked oatmeal it is for breakfast every morning. Lunch is the usual "standard lunch" for Kerry and leftovers for me.

Monday

• Dinner: Unstuffed cabbage rolls and whole wheat biscuits
• Prep: Thaw buns

Tuesday

• Dinner: Salmon patties, chips and salsa and smoothies
• Prep: Thaw ground beef

Wednesday

• Dinner: Spaghetti, garlic bread and fruit
• Prep: Thaw ground beef and buns

Thursday

• Dinner: Hamburgers, potato wedges and fruit

Friday

• Dinner: Leftovers
• Prep: Thaw hot dogs, buns and sausage and make pizza dough

Saturday

• Lunch: Hot dogs, chips and salsa and fruit
• Dinner: Homemade pizza and fruit

Sunday

• Dinner: Popcorn and smoothies

How I met my husband

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the day that my husband and I met. Although we officially met on November 22nd of 2008, the story starts a few years before that...

Junior High Bible quizzing champions 2004

 August 2004: Kerry was with his youth group from Eureka Bible Church at Critical Mass, a youth convention/quiz-off for the youth from the FEC churches all over the US. I was participating in the Bible quiz competition that year and Kerry was there to watch quizzing and to attend the youth convention. He remembers seeing me on stage accepting the trophy in the above picture on behalf of my team.


September 2006: I, along with a few friends from my high school, went to a concert at the University of Illinois. One of the girls who came with our group had an older brother who went to the University of Illinois and lived at Koinonia, the Christian cooperative house at U of I. This is where Kerry went to school and lived, as well. We got to campus a little early for the concert, so we stopped by Koinonia to see my friend's brother. At this point, I still did not know who Kerry was, but he knew of me from the Bible quiz competition in 2004. He remembers passing me on the stairs at Koinonia.

November 22nd, 2008: I was in the middle of my second semester at Moody Bible Institute. Kerry was in his last semester at the University of Illinois. We were both in Archbold, Ohio for the fall Bible quizzing competition. We had, separate from each other, decided to sign up to quiz master for the competition that weekend. My friend Erin and I rode up on a bus with Grace church from Morton and stayed with a local Archbold couple Friday night. Saturday morning there was a quiz masters meeting at 8 am at the church. Erin and I got there and sat in the front row, ready to get our instructions. I knew going into the weekend that I was paired up with Kerry Storms, but I still did not know who that was. Bruce, the head of the quiz program, led the group of us in prayer and told us to split up into odd and even quiz readers to go over our quiz questions for the day. This was great, except for the fact that I had forgotten my questions. So, Bruce pointed me in the direction of Kerry and I ever so sweetly asked him if I could have his even quizzes, since he was reading the odd ones. He obliged, and we split off with the other even and odd readers. What a great first impression... After going over our questions, we got together with the person we were quiz mastering with and our timer. Our trio in room B was Kerry, my friend Erin and me. We got settled in and Kerry and I asked the obligatory get-to-know-you questions. We ended up finding out that we had quite a bit in common and that he was coming to Moody in January for graduate school. This gave us plenty to talk about for the eight or so hours we were quiz mastering, but I felt like I would have talked that much with anyone that I was with for that long, so I did not think anything of it. Now that I really know Kerry, looking back I know that him talking that much with someone he just met (or really with anyone!) is WAY out of character. We finished up our quiz duties and moved to the sanctuary for the final match. We sat with the groups we came with, so Kerry was on one side of the sanctuary and I was on the other. About halfway through the quiz, I remember Erin leaning over and remarking that Kerry was staring at me. I slowly turned towards the side of the sanctuary where he was sitting and, sure enough, caught him staring at me! After the final quiz was over, he sought me out to say goodbye since his group was leaving to head home. Little did I know how the Lord was working that day in Archbold to bring my husband and I together!

Check back and in January I will tell the story of how my husband and I started dating.

Sitting up

Julian sat up on his own for the first time on November 18th. We are so excited to see our little man growing up!

Menu Plan Monday 11/21-11/27

Happy Thanksgiving week! I am looking forward to enjoying Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, especially because I do not have to cook it :) Someday I would LOVE to host a holiday, but, for this season of life, I am content and blessed to not be responsible for that.

Our menu this week is simple and mostly put together from shopping my pantry and freezer. My husband requested halfway through the week last week that we have oatmeal for breakfast until he decides otherwise, so breakfast every morning is soaked oatmeal. I am perfectly happy to oblige that request as it makes breakfast prep much easier for me! I am also going to streamline my menu post by not re-writing lunch every day, unless it deviates from the usual. You are welcome to look back at past menu plans to see what we eat for lunch everyday!

Here is the menu plan...enjoy!

Monday

•  Dinner: Salmon patties, potato wedges and fruit
•  Prep: Soak beans and cornbread batter and thaw ground beef

Tuesday

• Dinner: Chili, soaked whole wheat cornbread and fruit
• Prep: Soak dumpling batter and thaw chicken

Wednesday

•  Lunch: Chicken and dumplings and fruit (We are having guests for lunch today)
•  Dinner: Leftovers
•  Prep: Make pumpkin pie casserole for Thanksgiving

Thursday

• Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday

•  Dinner: Leftovers
•  Prep: Thaw hot dogs, buns and sausage and make pizza dough

Saturday

•  Lunch: Hot dogs, chips and fruit
•  Dinner: Homemade pizza and fruit

Sunday

• Lunch: Leftovers
• Dinner: Popcorn and smoothies

Plans

 If you had asked me on our wedding day (which was fifteen months ago this Sunday!) what I thought our life would look like in about a year, I probably would have said something to the effect of, "Oh, I don't know, but we trust that the Lord does and we are excited to follow Him wherever He leads!". Sounds like a good answer, right? The problem is, while I may have given that pat answer, I was really trusting that the Lord would fulfill my plans that I had so carefully constructed for our new life together. Oh, sure, I trusted the Lord and was excited to follow Him, provided that His plans were congruent with my plans. Looking back, I am certain the Lord was looking down on me as a vibrant young bride and thinking, "Isn't she in for a surprise?".

Most of you who read this humble little blog are aware of our story. To make a long story short, fifteen months after my wedding day finds me unshowered, wearing sweatpants, bouncing a beautiful, albeit fussy, six month old baby boy on my hip and attempting to get dinner on the table before eight pm. You can do the math and figure out that the Lord blessed us with our little Julian very shortly after we took our marriage vows. Needless to say, this is definitely not what my plans included :)

It is days like today when it would be very easy for me to feel ashamed of what I have to show for my day. A wet bag full of dirty diapers and beans finally in glass jars rather than the plastic they came in hardly screams accomplished and beneficial to society :) Becoming a mom has been (and continues to be!) a humbling experience. I have LOTS to learn still and look forward to the things that the Lord will teach me through life as a mom.

I still like to plan, as evidenced by my menus that I post every week, but I have learned, in my short married life, that the purpose of the LORD will win out each and every time.

Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

Menu Plan Tuesday 11/14-11/20

I am a day late and a dollar short (make that four dollars short, darn library fines!) with my menu plan. Better late than never, right?
Monday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; leftovers and smoothies
• Dinner: Slow cooker lentils and rice, whole wheat biscuits and fruit
• Prep: Thaw muffins and biscuits

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Eggs, fruit and muffins 
• Lunch: Standard lunch; leftovers and smoothies
• Dinner: Leftovers
• Prep: Soak oatmeal and thaw biscuits

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; leftovers and smoothies
• Dinner: Hamburger vegetable soup, whole wheat biscuits and fruit
• Prep: Soak oatmeal and lentils and thaw buns

Thursday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; leftovers and smoothies
• Dinner: Sloppy lentils, pumpkin pie casserole and fruit
• Prep: Soak oatmeal

Friday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; leftovers and smoothies
• Dinner: Leftovers 
• Prep: Soak oatmeal and pancake batter, thaw hot dogs, buns, bacon and sausage and make pizza dough

Saturday

• Breakfast: Soaked whole wheat pancakes, bacon and fruit
• Lunch: Hot dogs, chips and fruit
• Dinner: Homemade pizza and fruit
• Prep: Soak oatmeal

Sunday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Church lunch
• Dinner: Popcorn and smoothies

Julian: 6 months

Julian turned six months old last Saturday! We celebrated by going to his very first swim lesson at the RiverPlex. We went to see his new pediatrician on Tuesday and got a glowing growth report. Here are his stats!

6 months

Weight: 15 lbs. 11 oz.

Length: 26 in.

Head circumference: 42.9 cm.

Menu Plan Monday 11/7-11/13

So, this is really the last week of the menu planning challenge at Keeper of the Home! I plan on continuing to post my menu plans each Monday even after the challenge is over, though, just because I think it is fun :)

We had a super busy week last week, so I am thankful that this week is supposed to be fairly low key. I have started to try to plan my dinners somewhat thematically, as suggested here, to further aid in quick and easy menu planning. Here is what my themes look like, at least for now:

• Monday - Crockpot (I do ALL of our laundry, except for diapers, each Monday and usually leave the house at 8 and don't get home until 4:30 or 5. I LOVE walking in the door and knowing dinner can be on the table in 10 minutes or less.)
• Tuesday - Soup (Sometimes it is a crockpot soup, sometimes it isn't. It is, however, always delicous!)
• Wednesday - Meatless (I have been trying to incorporate more beans into our diet, so this is typically a meaty recipe with beans lentils subbed in for the meat.)
• Thursday - Casserole/Sandwiches (I grew up eating casseroles almost every night for dinner. My husband did not. I have enjoyed teaching him that casseroles are not scary!)
• Friday - Leftovers (My husband leaves the house at 7:15 in the morning every Friday and does not come home until 12:30 in the morning. I have no desire to make a new meal just for me!)
• Saturday - Pizza (Homemade and yummy...toppings are usually sausage plus whatever leftover veggies we have from the week. That has made for some interesting pizzas!)
• Sunday - Lazy (Popcorn and smoothies/milkshakes...Sunday is a day of rest, right?)

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; Leftovers
• Dinner: Sausage, beans and potatoes, whole wheat biscuits and fruit
• Prep: Thaw bacon, sausage and biscuits

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Soaked granola and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; Leftovers
• Dinner: Zuppa Tuscano, whole wheat biscuits and fruit
• Prep: Soak oatmeal

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; Leftovers
• Dinner: Leftovers (My hubby picked up an extra shift at work...so he won't be home for dinner and, again, I have no desire to make a whole meal just for myself!)
• Prep: Thaw beef roast

Thursday

• Breakfast: Soaked granola and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; Leftovers
• Dinner: Shredded beef sandwiches, potato wedges and fruit
• Prep: Soak oatmeal

Friday

• Breakfast: Soaked oatmeal and fruit
• Lunch: Standard lunch; Leftovers
• Dinner: Leftovers
• Prep: Soak pancake batter, thaw bacon, hot dogs and sausage and make pizza dough

Saturday

• Breakfast: Soaked whole wheat pancakes, bacon and fruit
• Lunch: Hot dogs, veggies and fruit
• Dinner: Homemade pizza and fruit
• Prep: Thaw muffins

Sunday

• Breakfast: Eggs, muffins and fruit
• Lunch: Church lunch
• Dinner: Popcorn and smoothies/milkshakes
• Prep: Whatever is on the menu for dinner on Monday!