Surprises!!

We had some surprises today!!

• Snow on the ground (barely, really barely).
  
• Clara found a can of unopened whipped cream..pumpkin spice lattes all around
• Clara thought she was going to have fried cheese sticks...turns out they were fish sticks. YUCK!! She had biscuits instead.
  
• We found four packages of pot stickers..Turns out I'm the only one in the family who likes them. YIPPEE!!

It was a good day.

Wednesday
Brunch: Cinnamon Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Fried Potatoes, Oranges
Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Homemade Pepperoni Pizza

Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal and Pumpkin Spice Lattes
Lunch: Ham Fried Rice
Dinner: Help Yourself Clean out the fridge

365-7

Photo taken by Hannah Smith. The snowstorm that hit Memphis this morning was called "White Death 2010". Let's just say we had a little less snow than expected. Pretty funny. Well this is even funnier....this is a picture of our "sledding hill" in the woods behind our house. Unfortunately there wasn't enough snow to sled this go round, but boy do we love this 10 foot hill. Now for all your skiers out there, this would not be considered a black diamond, or even a blue or even a green for that matter, but it's our own little piece of sledding heaven.

School Day

Here are some shots from Little E's school day yesterday. He is a serious student and loves to do school. Of course his favorite is M&M math!!

365-6

Popcorn is a staple at the Smith house. One way to cut costs significantly is to buy popcorn in a bag and pop it yourself in a pot. One bag of popcorn costs about the same as a box of microwave popcorn. The bag will last us a little over a week. The box will last us a day.

Eat from pantry challenges

Yesterday was our first day back at the brick and mortar school where we go two days a week (I actually work there, Elijah goes to his preschool class. The rest of the kids go to a homeschool class where they work on hands on projects in science, history and art).

Leaving the house presented our first real challenge of eating from the pantry. I didn't have many things to pack for lunch and I didn't have any baggies to pack food in. So, I just started pulling things from the freezer...taco soup for the girls and gumbo for me. Rather than packing five individual lunches I just put it all together in one bag.

Luckily for Noah and Elijah I had bought some lunch meat at the store. They don't really dig soup unless it is Ramen Noodle or Chicken Noodle soup from a can. In his mind homemade soup is yucky!! And, I still had a few chips from the largest bag of chips I had seen in my life that Jennifer left here New Year's Eve. (They are now gone!!)

I did spend my first money on Monday 1/4/10 - $9.65 (milk, sugar, lunchmeat, and chunk cheese). $40.35 left for the month!!

Monday
breakfast: pancakes
lunch: for the life of me I can't remember what we ate!!
snack: homemade Honey Wheat bread
dinner: chicken fajitas (Pulled a bag of meat that had already been grilled and sliced and a bag of peppers that had been sliced from the freezer)

Tuesday
breakfast: leftover pancakes
lunch: soup and turkey
dinner: beef stir fry and edamame

365-5 Praying

(Note: This is a posed shot after the fact, but this is pretty much what it looked like
and I just had to capture it :-))

Clara's friend Ellie has to have surgery to break the growth plate
in one of her legs. She was born with one leg longer than the other.

Clara is very concerned for her friend and suggested we spend time praying for her. This was one of my favorite moments in my day. It is quite meaningful when your child begins to take the initiative in spiritual matters.

Noah's First Day Back to School

Noah did a great job getting back into the swing of school today. And, he was so EXCITED to use his new Christmas present. He received a tool box from his daddy.

They did their first deconstruct project today by taking apart a DVD player...a non-working DVD player.

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Clara entertaining some little friends today. She did a great job and had so much fun.

Focaccia Bread

This was the runner-up for my 365 picture yesterday. My parents recently brought me a bread maker that belonged to my grandmother. We had some friends over for dinner last night. I thought it would be nice to make some homemade bread to go with our pasta. It turned out okay, although I did take a rather long nap while the dough sat in the breadmaker which might not have been the best move on my part.

The funny thing is I made focaccia bread for the grown-ups and breadsticks (which really were not that good) for the kids. The kids really LOVED the focaccia bread.

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Our youngest thoroughly enjoying his pasta. He always takes off his shirt when we have pasta with red sauce. He attacked three plates of pasta. Boy am I in trouble when he is a teenager. I wonder when he will stop taking his shirt off to eat pasta. For now, I love it!!

Week One Completed!!

This week we actually ate from the store of food we had in the house!! It was challenging and a far cry from what this family is used to and yet it was strangely fulfilling.

Now, I admit that this week was probably the easiest week we will have. First, we had a New Year's Eve party where people left some yummy treats. We had spent a small fortune at the store the day before Christmas. And, the newness and excitement provided a sense of motivation.

On Saturday, we watched movies ALL day long. I watched four movies (pure indulgence)!! Therefore I didn't cook much and declared it a help yourself, grazing kind of a day.

Brunch: Homemade biscuits and chocolate Gravy and Cheese
Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Potato Soup and Leftover biscuits

Sunday turned out to be a nice way to end the first week. For dinner some friends came over and it was great because they brought a couple of things to add to the mix and we had a veritable FEAST!! Plus, it was just relaxing to hang out with friends!!

Breakfast: Doughnuts at church
Lunch: Quesadillas, PBJ and odds and ends leftovers
Dinner: Penne Pasta w/ Turkey Sausage, Stuffed Mushrooms (YUMMY!), Salad and Broccoli (our friends brought this), and Focaccia Bread. Chocolate Chip Cookies (our friends brought these delightful goodies).

Amount spent on Food Items at the Store this week: $0.00 (YEAH!!)

365 - January 2

LIGHT!!

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

365 Project - January 1

My friend Jill has challenged me to take a picture a day this year. Jill loves taking pictures and even created a special blog for her project www.willekewanderings365.blogspot.com . I'm not going that far...I can't even figure out how to make THIS blog look better, much less create another blog.

But, I'm going along with this project because it connects me to Jill. You see Jill is one of my BEST friends. Which causes me to digress a little. The term BEST friend has always caused conflict within my soul, even when I was a teenage girl. God has seen fit to bless me with many BEST friends. It seems that maybe a different adjective might work better. Because BEST means...surpassing all others in excellence, quality or achievement. As I have grown older, my life has been enriched through many amzing friendships. Jill is one of my dearest, lifelong friends. She was my maid of honor in my wedding. We only spent three years in college together. Then, I got married and we have NEVER lived in the same state. The last seven years we haven't lived on the same continent, but she is truly like a sister to me!!!

So, here is one of the first pictures I took this new year, this new decade. It's a picture of three beautiful young ladies. They each have much to offer the world. They are all unique. They all love Jesus. My prayer for them is that in this decade they would experience the fullness of God, the richness of deep friendships, the development of keen minds, fufillment in pursuing their calling and even, maybe even by the end of this decade the beauty of love. This picture makes me smile!!!

Love/Hate Relationship

Recently we decided (aka I decided) that we were going to implement a new plan in the Smith household. This new plan comes from my unwillingness to continue to be the wicked witch of the west when it comes to the kitchen. It's seems I am always nagging some nebulous someone to clean the kitchen.

So, the plan is that my two oldest children and my husband will take turns being responsible to ensure the kitchen is clean. They will rotate weeks. Everyone in the family is responsible to bring their dishes to the sink and load then in the dishwasher if available. But the person on KP is responsible to make sure all the extra dishes are washed, the counters are cleaned and the floor is swept. The person on KP also assists in meal prep.

Hannah drew the short straw. She was responsible for the first week. I must say that it has been GREAT this week. She has done an amazing job keeping the kitchen clean. She did make a fascinating discovery.


Hannah has a love/hate relationship with Barbecue Nachos!!!

She loves to eat them, but she had never really cleaned up after cooking them.

Now, she hates cleaning up after Barbecue Nachos.

New Year's Food

The past two days we celebrated the New Year with friends. On New Year's Eve we hosted a little party or better stated we hosted "four" parties within a party.

grown-ups (many who played a mean game of Settlers)
teenagers (there were actually boys here. I'm not ready for that)
gaggle of girls (giggling and games)
young boys (sword fighting and running around trying to bother the girls)

It was a great day!! The guests brought food, so we had a wide assortment of finger food. The good news for my kids was Jennifer left a huge bag of nacho chips and "bowling alley cheese". So the kids had their junk food fix on New Year's Day. The good news for me is Jennifer also left a bag of veggies...loving some fresh veggies!! On New Year's Day we seriously slept in and then later in the afternoon went to a friends house to watch football.


New Year's Eve
breakfast: cold cereal
lunch: chicken noodle soup
dinner: grown-ups went out to dinner with friends, kids had a snack dinner

New Year's Day
breakfast: waffles
lunch: summer sausage, cheese and crackers
snack: chips and cheese
dinner: yummy food at our friend Gina's

We still have not bought any food at the grocery store. We bought drinks and paper products for our party, but that doesn't come from my $50 or we would be in real trouble!!

An Adventure..

Well let's face it, I am a city girl. It bothers me a bit that my girls are so enthralled with country music. It bothers me that they want camoflauge jackets (I can't even figure out how to spell it and I don't feel like looking it up). So, for all of you out there who are countryfied and hunters, please do not be offended by this post. I'm just keeping it real!!

The Smith's embarked on a great adventure today. We had tacos...made with venison. And I have a small confession to make. I didn't tell my kids it was bambi. I just couldn't. I kept it a secret. I was afraid if they knew it was deer they wouldn't eat it. The picture above was taken in our back yard last week. Deer are very dear to my children.

Hannah did know and kept commenting that it wasn't so bad. I made "be quiet" (translated shut up) eyes at her and she finally kept her mouth quiet. She came close to spilling the beans. Noah said they were the BEST tacos he ever had.

I have another confession to make....bambi tasted yummy!!

And, I must say a huge shout out to Matt for sharing his bounty with us and providing us a very low cost meal!! Actually it will make us two meals. The leftovers are now taco soup cooking in a pot.

Breakfast: Toast, Cheese, Eggs, Fried Potatoes
Lunch: Pimento cheese and hot dogs
Dinner: Tacos....usually we have lettuce or tomato with our tacos but we didn't have any so we did without. They were just fine!!

TMI

This morning I'm pondering if I am putting too much information on this blog...especially in this eat from your pantry challenge....i.e., who really cares what we eat? I really don't even care!!

However, as I was thinking about it I realized that it gives me accountability so that I do not only feed my kids Ramen Noodle and dry cereal in an effort to eat from the pantry and eat cheap. Of course that takes me back to the countless numbers of people in the world who eat the same thing every day.

And, it will help me to remember how to plan meals that are creative and cheap. Let's face it, I am a girl who has grown up to eat what she wants when she wants it. If I don't have it in my house I can go out to eat it. If I crave it, I go get it. I never really learned delayed gratification. I never had to cut the head off a chicken and pluck the feathers off to eat it (Lord knows that I really NEVER want to do that). I've never grown my own food (aside from a few tomatoes, peppers and herbs). I've really never had to do without!!

Maybe we should interview loved ones who lived through the WW II. They lived with rationing. They lived in a time when choices were limited. They have much to teach us.

Maybe we should serve at at soup kitchen to see people in our own city who do not know where their next meal is coming from.

Maybe, just maybe we should forego that fancy vacation this year and travel to a third world country to see, truly see for our own eyes how other people live.

Perspective!!

Reading about orphaned children who are starving and who do not have medical care certainly puts things into perspective and changes my thoughts about food. Today I have been consumed with an overwhelming desire to......I seriously cannot even articulate how I am feeling. Overwhelmed. Thankful. Pensive. Sorrowful. Ashamed.

Ashamed that I even think it is remotely a sacrifice to eat from my pantry....for crying out loud. If you could see how much food is in my pantry, freezer and fridge you would be appalled!!

Today it has been easy to eat what we have in our house because I am so thankful.
I'm thankful for my dear husband who loves me and who faithfully ministers to people.
I'm thankful that he provides for our family and is currently cleaning out my boys trashed room.
I'm thankful for my children who enjoy one another (even though they often fight like cats and dogs).
I'm thankful that Noah kicked my tail playing Wii archery tonight.
I'm thankful for my neighbors and for the evenings we spend hanging out in the cove...kind of missing that this winter.
I'm thankful for my parents, my aunt and David's mom whose generosity always overwhelms me.
I'm thankful for friends who let me ramble and help me process truth.
I'm thankful for the body of Christ that reaches out in love.
I'm thankful for God's extravagant love.

My children slept in this morning so we only had two meals today.
Brunch Fried eggs with sauteed vegetables, pan fried potatoes, and leftover biscuits.
Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Leftovers from fridge for grown-ups, boys had Ramen Noodle, girls went out to eat with friends...It's been so QUIET!!!
Bedtime Snack: Leftover friendship bread (Thanks Mona) and cheese crackers (Thanks Cheryl!!)

In the course of human events..

Sometimes God just truly surprises me by communicating and orchestrating things that at first glance seem to make NO sense whatsoever. I'm not sure where God is taking me right now, but I sense with full confidence that I am on a wild ride and that's pretty exciting. Again, no clue where this is headed. But, my cluelessness makes me giddy with excitement at the adventure!!!

December 26 - We have lots of food in our house. We should clean out the freezer and fridge before we buy more food
December 27 - Wow, there is a group of people doing an eat from your pantry challenge for January. We should join them!!
December 28 - Friends are adopting from Ethiopia, so I read her blog where she mentions this
blog which I started reading the entries from the beginning. (If you decided to read this blog, you really should start at the very beginning and read entry by entry until now) Compelling!! Really wanted to read the whole thing, but we found out some friends were in from Texas and were excited to spend time with them.
December 29 - Finished reading the blog. Many thoughts!!

People are hungry.
Children are orphans.
I am complacent.
God calls me love.
God calls me to feed the poor.
God calls me to be generous.
I am self absorbed.
I have no idea what it means to be poor.
I have no idea what it means to be hungry.
God has a plan and a purpose for our lives.
God loves children.
God is a Father to the fatherless.

Yes, this month we are going to eat from our pantry, but my prayer is that through this my family will "Taste and see that the Lord is good!!" My prayer is that we will be thankful for what
we have. My prayer is that our eyes will be opened to global realities. My prayer is that our eyes will be opened to the needs around me.

Who around me is hungry? Maybe the hunger is not physical. Maybe the hunger is for love, acceptance, or joy. Maybe they are hungry for God.

Am I hungry for God?

Barbecue Sauce

Problem: After announcing to the family that we were having barbecue nachos for lunch, I realized that I only had a tiny bit of barbecue sauce.
Solution: A google search, a recipe for homemade barbecue sauce. I thought it was good, but Hannah complained that it was not spicy enough!!

Menu from today...

Breakfast: Breakfast casserole, tiny cinnamon rolls, and biscuits
Lunch: Barbecue Nachos
Dinner: Homemade Pimento Cheese w/ Fresh Baked Dinner Rolls for the grown-ups and macaroni and cheese for the kids