I did GREAT at the grocery store yesterday.  $176 for the week's stuff.  Lately I've been going over $200 a week.  Part of that is because I decided to eat more out of the freezer.  Sometimes I forget all about the things I've frozen.  I did a freezer inventory and discovered chicken and green beans and loads of tomato sauce from last summer. (I'm going to just assume it's still good....)  So my hint for this week is:  Don't forget your freezer!

   Back when we lived in Mechanicsville Va we were very near a bakery thrift store.  I would go and buy the day old bread and baked goods and freeze those.  This was much cheaper than making my own bread.  (Though not as nutritious and tasty.)   Here in Bedford County I have yet to find a bakery thrift store.  I presume there might be one in Roanoke and I could stop by there on Mondays after Moriah's speech therapy if it's not too far out of the way.  With gas prices as they are you need to factor travel expenses into any special jaunts you might run.  Joe occasionally has cause to go to Lynchburg and he could do shopping too.

I'm going to go ahead and get the planning done here too!

Monday: school, take food to Bedford Christian ministries, take Moriah to speech, go grocery shopping

(lunch is spaghetti and mozzerella bread)

Tuesday: school, YMCA, afternoon Bible study

(lunch is chicken oyster pie and peas)

Wednesday: school, Faithweaver Friends, this week Joe is preaching at the Lenten lunch downtown

(lunch/supper is snitz and knepp and broccoli)

Thursday: school, ladies prayer meeting in the afternoon, evening Bible study, no choir practice this week.

(lunch is split pea soup)

Friday: school catch up day, YMCA, fun stuff with Joe and friends

(lunch is latkes and applesauce)

Saturday: housework, etc.  (lunch is hamburgers and fried cabbage)

Sunday: church (fellowship, Sunday school, services in the a.m. youth meeting and song service in the p.m.)  (we'll probably just have mac and cheese for lunch)

    We try to always have our dinner at lunch time.  This works very well for us, because Joe works from home and I have MUCH more energy in the morning than I do the evening.   I need to plan ahead for the first weekend of March also.  I'll be out of town at a clergy spouse retreat Feb. 29 and March 1.

My (current) favorite hymn is "What Wondrous Love is This".  This is an Appalachian folk hymn.  The tune is haunting, the words are full of praise and wonder.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,

What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss

to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,

to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,

What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of life

to lay aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,

to lay aside his crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing,

to God and to the Lamb I will sing;

to God and to the Lamb who is the great I AM,

while millions join the theme I will sing, I will sing,

while millions join the theme I will sing.

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on,

and when from death I'm free, I'll sing on,

and when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be,

and through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on

and through eternity, I'll sing on.

  Our Tuesday afternoon Bible study has been reading Richard Foster's "A Celebration of Discipline".  I was just reminded of a quote from that book.  Carl Jung once said "Hurry is not of the Devil, it is the Devil"  The devil tries to keep us so busy that we don't do the things that are most important.  We don't visit our friends, or do the things that we enjoy, because we are too busy.  Yesterday I did make the effort to visit our new neighbors next door.  It only took a couple minutes and it was soooo worth doing.  Hopefully their little son will come over and play with our girls soon.  I'm hoping to get most of the chores done with today before 10 o'clock and just spend the rest of the day doing things I love.  I'll catch up with some of my reading, knit on that second sock.  Maybe since it is Joe's day off we will go and do something together.  I'll make some time after lunch to pray and meditate.  I want to get back to the exercises in my goals class too.  And even spend some time doing some decluttering and clearing in the bedroom.  I don't necessarily LOVE to declutter, but it will be worth it for the tranquil results.

   I guess I'll play too!  Joe and I met at a New Years Eve party December 31, 1983.  I was the date of a friend of his.  He sat and talked to me the whole evening about space travel.  I thought he was drunk and weird.  But when he called the next week and asked me out I said I'd go.  Frankly, at that point in our lives neither of us had great standards.  After going out a few more times he proposed marriage.  I remember saying to him "I don't KNOW you well enough!"   By the end of March my parents had enough of me skipping out at all hours to see him and they told me I had to stop seeing him or leave the house.  I left.  I moved in with Joe the last weekend of March, still not really thinking this was a relationship that would last.  Our apartment was in a very bad section of "the Fan" a downtown neighborhood in Richmond VA.  Finally after working a series of temp jobs through the summer and knowing that I wasn't going to be a teacher (after I spent all that time getting a teaching certificate) I decided to go back to graduate school and become a librarian.

   When I told Joe that I was planning on starting grad school at the University of Kentucky in January, he said, "Fine, when do we leave?"   At that point I realized that Joe wasn't going anywhere.  He wasn't going to leave me or cheat on me.  So then, in August, I finally said "yes" to the proposal that had been offered back in February!  We were married December 8, 1984.  Our wedding was an evening affair at the Chapel of the College of William and Mary, my alma mater. 

   But that little, rather sordid, tale isn't the love story.  The love story is what has grown through the next 23 years, through my education and work, putting him through school, Matthew's birth in 1986, finally quitting work in 1992 to homeschool Matthew and Tom.  We have supported each other and grown in the Lord as we came back to Jesus in 1993.  Bethany came in 1995, Moriah in 1998, Eden in 2000 and finally Lydia in 2004.  We have clung to each other through Joe's call into the ministry and his years in seminary, through Moriah's birth and dealing with a child with disabilities, through Moriah's heart surgery.  Our love story has continued and grown as Joe left a thriving career in industry and took a 50 percent cut in pay to become a United Methodist minister in 1997.  I see God's hand in all the changes we have experienced through the years.  Life just gets better and better as the Lord works in our lives.  Praise God!

This is a pretty bad picture.  I think my eyes were closed in fully half of the shots.

Here is a recipe for the EASIEST and best beans and rice.  So easy it's like cheating.

Cook enough rice for your family.  In a separate pan saute a bit of onion in olive oil.  When the onion is softened add 2 cans of beans of your choice (I use kidney or black) and a cup of salsa (maybe that salsa you canned last summer?).  Serve the beans over the rice.  Tada!  I usually rinse the beans before adding them to the pan.  You could also make this even cheaper by cooking up dried beans, but then the recipe isn't quite so easy and quick.

   I'm asking for prayer for Mike Schwer.  He has been recently diagnosed with stage 4 esophagual cancer.  The doctor's don't appear to be giving him much hope, but we know that our Lord effects healing for His good purposes.  He and his wife have 6 children ages 2 to 16.  They aren't homeschoolers, but are fine God loving people.  Please pray for healing, for strength, for a mild reaction to the chemotherapy.

Debra

   I'm sitting here at the computer planning my day.  Today is going to be different because we have Grandma and Grandpa coming for a visit.  My parents should be here about noon to take us out for lunch.  I'm thinking Mexican right now, but I might change my mind.  I need to cancel Moriah's speech therapy.  We're just not going to make it to Roanoke today, the day is too full already.  Mom told me that she made 2 blackberry pies from the last of the past summer's blackberries.  I need to run to the store and see that we have some vanilla ice cream to go with them.  mmmmmm.

   Because, you see, today is my birthday!  Joe has already given me my birthday present.  He took me to a concert 2 weeks ago that I had wanted to see very much.  We saw Old Blind Dogs at the Bedford Library, a great Scots folk band.  He bought me a cd too!

www.oldblinddogs.co.uk/

   In case anyone is curious about them!

   I think though I'm going to try to get schoolwork and housework done quickly this morning, so we can just visit and enjoy this afternoon.  I hope to get Mom to show me how to work my food saver.  She bought me one for Christmas and I'm afraid to mess with it.  Later on I think we're going to try to make it to the Bedford Museum today too.  Oh and the public schools are closed today due to a forest fire in Montvale.  I don't know if that will change our plans any.

   Bethany woke up yesterday morning with her right eye swollen shut.  It looked like she had been hit in the head.  So after breakfast I took her to the doctor.  The clinic we usually use was closed, but Mrs. McCabe had told me about another walk in clinic and I took her there.  It turns out she has pink eye!  It didn't look like any pink eye I had ever seen before.  I also finished one of my socks and started knitting the next one while we waited.  So that was pretty good.

   By the time we left the dr. the Baylis' had been on the road for hours so I didn't call to say it was pink eye.  They got here a little after one and we had a fabulous visit.  They stayed until about 3 o'clock.  It was so good to catch up on some of the news from the shore.   I don't think Jennifer minded the pink eye and Bethany was scrupulous about hygiene.  She said that Lindsey at least is on so much antibiotic right now a bacteria wouldn't have a chance.

   Then we scurried around and got ready for the Valentines Day dinner at the church.  That was very pleasant.  Tom and Matthew and Joe were the decorators for the occasion and they did a great job.  Though one funny thing happened there.  Joe wanted to take the heart confetti and just strew it down the center of all the tables.  Tom wanted to artfully arranged every miniscule plastic heart.  So Joe left Tom there and Tom arranged hundreds of pieces of confetti.  It looked beautiful and not one little heart touched another!  (Can you say OCD?)  The dinner was good, the company was even better.  Rita's dh even came and I think he had a good time (or I HOPE he did).

   After we left there, we dropped the kids off at home and grabbed up my dessert and our gifts for the gift exchange and headed to the homeschool couples dinner in Bedford.  That was a blessed time too.  The company was fun and interesting, the desserts were good (Joe and I didn't do the dinner part, since we had already eaten at church) and we had a nice time.  For the gift exchange game we brought some of Joe's homeroasted coffee and I brought a huge collection of greeting cards that I had been carting around for years.  Surprisingly the people that ended up with those appeared to really love them.  Well not surprised about the coffee, anyone who drinks coffee at ALL would love Joe's coffee.  We brought home a statuette of Confucious (????) and some bath salts and a candle.  Then we talked and watched a Tim Hawkins(sp?) dvd that someone brought.  His comments on homeschooling were especially funny.

   It was a good day, a tiring day, but all in all a great one!

      Maybe this is just my problem, and not anyone else's.  But when anything goes wrong in the household it appears that it's my fault whether it really is or not.  And then I'm left with a sense of guilt over something that I can't control.  Or something that I COULD control if only I would lighten up or whatever.  Take yesterday for instance, Joe needed to run some errands but Tom wanted to go too.  Well Tom had almost an entire week's worth of math to do.  We don't even DO school on Fridays, it's a catch up day.  So Tom is mad at ME because he hasn't done math all week and I wasn't going to let him go without having done his work.  Joe agrees with me, but he's ticked too because HE wants to bring Tom along and Tom isn't ready.  I asked Tom why he hadn't done his work and he tells me it's because I told him he had too.  So I tell him he has to do something and he's all depressed about it?  It made little sense to me.  Anyway Tom FINALLY finishes it, but then it's lunch time and they decide to go after lunch instead.  Fine. 

     So then I receive a call from a friend asking us all over for tea at three.  Great, I say, we'll be there.  Well Joe calls me and says they can't complete their errands if Tom needs to be back by three.  We discuss it a minute and decide to finish the errands whether Tom makes it or not.  "Well OK, but I KNOW Jonathan will be disappointed not to have Tom there, but that's just the way it is."  So Jonathan is a little disappointed, but he's fine.   Joe got home around 4:15 and Matthew drove Tom over to Rita's on his way to work.   All is right with the world now.  I stayed to Rita's until about 5:15 to give Tom a chance to play some.

      But my question is:  Why did I FEEL so guilty?  I felt responsible for Tom's laziness, for Jonathan's disappointment, for Joe's delayed errands.  None of that was my fault.  All I did was assign Tom a very small amount of math that could be easily done in 1/2 hour a day.  It was easily done in less than 2 hours even when you save it all up for Friday.  I was venting to Rita a little bit about and she said, "It is NOT your fault, Tom needs to learn that HIS decisions have consequences."  And she's right, but still I feel that if only I were a better mom, teacher, wife, our lives would run more smoothly.

I am THANKFUL...for a wonderful family, great church and nice home

I am WEARING...my nightgown...but I'll get dressed soon

I am READING...a biography of C.S. Lewis, the latest issue of Mother Earth News, Colossians

I am HOPING...for a pleasant productive day

I am SEEING...Bethany read an "Addy" book to Eden

I am GOING...to the post office, the grocery store (for just a couple things), maybe to Lynchburg or Roanoke with the family, since it's Joe's day off.

Won't you join me in your own "Simple Notes"? Just cut and paste and add YOUR own plans for today!

   During our ladies Colossians study we read this verse from I Corinthians 15:58, "So then, my dear brothers, stand firm and steady.  Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless."  What came to my mind during our Ash Wednesday service last night is that the thing I need to repent from the most is my come and go attitude of despair and vanity.  I'll go great guns for awhile and then some little obstacle will crop up in my path and I'm thrown into disorder and despair.  I'll cry to God, "Is this working?  Is what I'm doing right?"  I get very down about the "success" of our Wednesday children's program sometimes.  Like yesterday afternoon we were missing about 6 of our regular kids and I was wondering why they were gone.  I look at the smaller group and wonder if it's worth it.  But then we had a great time!  One little girl was very concerned about her mom and asked us to pray for her and that request blessed me.  At pick up time one of the moms came to me and said "My boys love it here, can I ask you about your Sunday services?"  And of course that blessed me too.

   Once when I was being very depressed I asked Joe if what I did was worth it.  He said, "What would it take for you to know that what you do isn't useless?"  I said, "If I touched one child with a word that brings them closer to the Lord, then it would all be worth it."  Joe said, "I think you can know that, Debra."  And the verse in Corinthians just reinforces this belief.  So for Lent this year I am going to give up despair and discouragement and lean more on my God.

I was looking over my blog entry for yesterday and I realized that very little turned out exactly how I had planned.  Faithweavers still has a little work left to do, schoolwork did NOT get completely done and I didn't do any therapy with Moriah.  I did exercise, fix lunch and go to Bible study.  We didn't get to the nursing home, but we did visit elsewhere.  I didn't work a half hour in either the bedroom or the basement, but I did do SOME in the bedroom.  I didn't get my prayer time in.

I'm almost afraid to make a plan for today!  But here goes:  I have to get that flower order in, FW Friends will happen at three whether I'm ready or not, so I need to be ready.    And we need to get school done today, because we will be out of town on Friday which would normally have been a regular school day.

Lord, I pray today that all I do I do for your glory.  I hope that the kids will have a grand time at FW Friends and learn more about you.  I pray that Bridget will enjoy her work there and that her presence will ease the burden on Jon and Tom!  I hope that this change will be accepted by everyone in the program.  This I ask in your name. Amen.

Today is Tuesday and as usual a BUSY day!  But I love it that way.  In the early a.m. I do my email and chores, then we have breakfast about 8.  We start schoolwork about 9 and hope to have everything done that they need my direct assistance with by 10:30.  At 10:30 I want to go to the YMCA and do my workout (15 minutes on the bike, a 15 minute weight routine).  Then I will come home and fix lunch (curried chicken pitas with green beans today).  Directly after lunch I want a chance to retreat to the bedroom and pray.  Then its Bible study at 1:30.  We're studying Foster's Celebration of Discipline right now.  I am REALLY enjoying that book.  After Bible study Joe and I try to fit in a visit.  I think today we are going to a nursing home and visiting a couple church members.  Then we have supper.  This evening I don't think we have ANY meetings.  So we will get to spend a nice relaxing evening at home together.  Eden Joy wants to play Cranium again.

As far as My 3 step action plan goes my 3 most important things to do are:  (1) Finish up all my FW Friends prep for tomorrow, (2) work 1/2 hour on the bedroom, (3) Do therapy with Moriah.  Other important things are schoolwork finished, work more in the basement, place that order for roses and download my class materials for MTM and goals.

I've been taking a class at the Change Your Life Challenge website on goals.  We were required to write a vision statement for our lives and then make sure that all the goals we make relate to our "vision".  Here is my vision:  To create a peaceful, hospitable home where our children can grow in faith and knowledge prepared to share Christ with the world.  Or words to that effect.  I don't actually have my work right in front of me.  We also created a goals poster that would hopefully embody our vision and goals and remind us when we look at it of our desired results.   Now my goal is to have my house clean, unpacked and organized by September 2008.  This will create my peaceful and (ready to be) hospitable home!

My first action step is to get the master bedroom done.  I'm shooting for at least 2 hours of work per week and hoping to have it done by the end of next week.  I chose that first so that Joe and I would have a tranquil retreat.

Its funny though.  I've always dreamed of being the kind of person that opens their home to all and sundry, ready with a nice snack and tea.   I've felt that as Christians we are called to do this.  And now in this house I feel like God is sending people to us who are soaking up this hospitality.  It feels good to do this, but it's unexpectedly wearying!  I think that I wasn't ready for that step in previous homes and now maybe I've grown enough and been transformed enough to be hospitable!  Praise God!

I am so enjoying the front porch in this house.  Every morning I take my Bible, my notebook and a cup of coffee and have my quiet time there.  In the field next door there are 8 cows and now 4 calves.  The calves are so funny to watch.  The only down side to the scene out front is the traffic noise.  And beyond the 60 mph noise of tractor trailers on Route 460 is the calm and majestic presence of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I was thinking that my view out front is almost a metaphor for goals that we want to achieve.  I sit on my porch and long for the mountain, it's serenity and peace and beauty.  But in the way is danger, trouble, noise and commotion.  Now here where I am is pleasant, but it's not the Peaks.  Should I try to cross to my goal or should I stay where it is safe?

I'm hoping that I will cross the highway and reach my goals.  I'm praying that my goals are in line with God's will.  My verse for the day: "Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

It's been quite a few weeks since I've updated here.  Well, we successfully moved to Bedford County!  I love our house, I love the church, I love Bedford.  Everything is going well, I think. 

I believe I must not be TALENTED at unpacking.  That must be my problem.  If I had just a basic talent in that direction I'm SURE I would be unpacked by now.  However we are still living in a sea of boxes.  I unpacked the kitchen (mostly) and the dining room and living room (to a certain degree).  We all have beds, we all have clothes.  So I guess the impetus to keep going is gone.  I'm functioning (barely).  We started schoolwork (with what books I could find!)

So maybe I need to post some pictures and see if that helps.  I'll take some pictures of our boxes and see if I can get a before and after thing going.  Check back here in a couple days!

Yesterday afternoon the family went to the beach at Assateague for the last time.  We had a grand time.  We stopped by at the McDonalds on Chincoteague and got carryout, which we took to Assateague and ate by the water.  The seagulls (as usual) were obnoxiously interested in our french fries.  The wind was blowing a little bit harder than usual so we had to take down our umbrella part way through the afternoon.  Eden Joy dug holes in the sand, Moriah sat just out of reach of the waves and watched the surf.  Lydia wanted to stand there and have the waves lap her ankles.  Bethany and Tom got in the surf and played.  Bethany particularly liked riding in on the boogie board.  The waves were a little bit higher than usual too.

I looked way out to the horizon and wondered how close it really was.  It seems so much nearer than the horizon in the mountains.  Joe says that we can really only see a few miles due to the curve of the earth.  While in the mountains (since they poke up a bit) you can see features much much further away.  From a mountain top you can see maybe 20 miles.  So the scenery seems grander somehow and larger in the mountains.

But while watching the children play I wondered how many times we went to the beach in the six years we lived here.  It's only 40 minutes away.  We went maybe 20 to 30 times in 6 years.   We could have gone much more often.  Maybe in our next location we will make it a point to frequently go to the places we love.

I wonder when we will visit Assateague again...if ever.   Karen asked what I will miss most about the Shore.  I guess really it is the people I've come to love.  I'll miss Karen for one!  I know I will make other homeschooling friends in Bedford County, but the folk here are special.  I think I'll even miss being in a neighborhood, now that we are moving back to the "woods".  I just walked down the street Tuesday and "borrowed" a stick of butter from Ruth.  Jennifer across the street is watching our littlest ones this afternoon while we load the moving truck.  I won't have so many special neighbors again.  I'm going to love the mountains and I know that there are people there that I will come to love, too.  But it's hard leaving these people right now.