Works for me Wednesday is a weekly event over at We are That Family <--------. Click on the sidebar to see what it is all about. A lot of great hints and tricks!
Here is mine for the week: Look for free offers online and near you!
I realized that last month I spent way over budget for groceries, so I am tightening the reins a bit this month.
Eating through our pantry and going cheap! I try not to buy meat, since we bought 1/4 cow last fall, but I found stew meat marked way down yesterday when I ran in to just get 1 thing. I never come out with one thing! We are having beef tips to celebrate the great deal.
Monday
Beef tips
rice
strawberries
Tuesday- Joe gone
Chicken fried rice, made with leftover rice from last night.
I will probably have to make some chicken strips for the boys too!
fruit
Wednesday
French dip sandwiches in the crock pot. (obviously the meat is only made in the crock pot-ha!)
Recipe below
salad
Thursday
Kids meal, Joe and I have a dinner commitment
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Friday
Soup in crock pot
Weekend in Fort Wayne balling it up!
French Dip in Crock pot
1 medium onion, sliced or chopped 3 lb Beef roast, it doesn't matter what cut. 1 envelope onion soup mix 2 bouillon cubes 1 can water or red wine or beer 1 can beef broth
Cook on high 5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. This is usually more of a shredded beef sandwich, but the Au jus is yummy. Serve with provolone cheese on toasted and buttered hougie buns.
I spent last weekend at a youth retreat in Pennsylvania. Whew, I am still getting back into the groove after being gone on Monday too. Menus will start again next week. We are eating mostly freezer meals this week, which I love.
My Works For Me Wednesday today is no TV on weekdays for the kids. We don't have a huge home, so if one person is watching TV, it effects the whole family. There were always squabbles over what to watch, we don't have cable so the choices are limited. Kids being pokey in the morning. Homework was a battle at times too, with TV on in the background.
We tried time limits for each kid, waiting till homework was done etc. Nothing really worked well, and I was always the bad guy.
So, we just decided to just give TV up during the week. It worked wonderfully. There are no gray areas, its just off. They know on Friday after school they can watch TV. We are currently watching a lot of Antenna TV, Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace etc. It's great!
We do allow for some exceptions. When someone is home sick, if the Colts are on Monday night football, when a storm is headed our way etc. Other than that, it's off.
Joe and I do watch TV after the kids go to bed some.
Our home is so much more peaceful now. Works for me!
I am not doing 2 weeks again. It got all messed up. We did try a new recipe for Asian Chicken that got rave reviews from everyone, so it will be in the lineup soon.
Monday
Tacos
Tuesday- Valentines Day
Spaghetti and meatballs
Red hot applesauce salad cut into heart shapes
Red velvet cookies
These are being taped on the kids doors when they wake up in the morning!
Wednesday
Lime oregano Chicken breasts
red potatoes
salad
I have been listening to the lyrics of this song, over and over and trying to figure out why it is impacting me so strong and emotionally. I'm not home yet, and until that I live in a very broken world.
Injustice is real and evident and it stinks. It won't make sense until I am truly home.
I really never understood what people meant when they said things like that, "I'm not home yet". God has been working on my heart lately, showing me what it means to be "home" or want to be "home".
It all started in Haiti this past October. Walking to the village each day, we would hold babies and kiddos who were starving for attention and love. They were also starving for food, but we weren't allowed to help with that at that time.
Each child I held, I prayed silently for. I prayed God would have His hand of protection over them, that they would each have clean water and good food, and that they would have someone to love them and teach them about Jesus. That's it, simple.
This is a sweet boy named Davidson
Here is a story about him from the nurses in Haiti now:
"There’s nothing like a ray of sunshine to brighten ones day. At 10:00am yesterday morning I was greeted by one of my little buddies “Kesna” at our back door. Like most of our school children, I figured she was just sick. Instead she told me that “Davidson” is outside. Davidson is a little boy from our village that I have known since the first day I stepped into Chambrun back in July. He was the little baby you would find on the ground half naked, with dirt all in his mouth, without mom in site. When he found himself in one of our laps (Brooke, Aubs, Leslee or I) he would nuzzle in and fall asleep in minutes. We acknowledged him, held him,fed him, played with him, bathed him and most importantly loved on him. We earned his trust. Many days as we left the village to head back to campus, he’d cry.
About 2 months ago we noticed a decline in his health, so much that we became extremely concerned. His family had brought him into the clinic and we provided him with some medication and nutrition. A week or so later we noticed that Davidson wasn’t ever there during our visits. Family and friends told us that he and his mother had moved to another village. I was extremely saddened, for we no longer could monitor his health during our visits to the village. As we continued our visits in Chambrun, we’d come back always with an update on him. It wasn’t ever real encouraging news, which made it even more difficult. It got to the point where our friends from Chambrun also became concerned about his health. This past Sunday Aubree was able to talk with Pastor Pierre and share our concerns. After sharing her heart, Pastor also agreed that something needed to be done. For me it gave me a spark of hope, I thought to myself now we’re making progress. That afternoon we found ourselves in the village talking with his grandma and sharing our concern and how we can help. Now all that we could do is pray, wait and hope that the message would be shared with his mother and someone would bring him to the clinic before it was too late.
So here Brooke and I were 2 days after Aubree talked with Pastor; holding Davidson in our arms with such joy and hope in knowing that his life-story has many more chapters still to come. The process of intervening has begun. Davidson…our little ray of sunshine has found us again!
------ This is from Etienne and Brooke, serving in Haiti everyday. They are my heroes.
You know it's so easy to be moved by pictures, videos, and stories from people who have been to places of need. But this time it hurt.
I finally get it. Get what they talk about at church, about how trips change you. I had noticed changes upon coming back, but now it's different.
You see, when you touch, talk to, love on someone in need you have an emotional attachment to them. When you intercede in prayer for these sweet ones it takes it to a new level. I'm not home yet, that is why I have this ache in heart. My heart was made for heaven.
So when I read the story of Davidson, my heart hurt for him like never before.
This offer is ONLY for this Saturday at participating Ace Hardware Stores, and can be color matched. 
