Soaring on Wings

I am in such a busy season of my life.  I have five children that are doing some form of homeschool.  Currently I am teaching preschool, kindergarten, 5th, 6th, and 9th grade.  The two younger ones do not take long, but with the three older ones I’m kept running.  I need to focus more on some training issues that have risen lately.  Plus, we have some major lifestyle changes that will soon be happening, which means lots of planning.  Yes, this is a very busy time for me.  I have so many blog posts that I’d like to write…maybe someday .

February was an interesting month for us.  It started out strong, but due to some financial issues, it ended not so well.  The company my husband works for decided to do some restructuring of its pay, and we have been left with about 15% less money each month.  I know this doesn’t seem like much, but when you live on a budget and are counting on a certain amount of money it can be extremely challenging when it is not there.  This pay cut hit our grocery budget the most.  I am amazed at how much more expensive healthy food is than processed food.  I hit my weight loss goal for the month by the second week of February, then with the decrease in pay I gained back some of the weight.  I need to figure out healthy, low-calorie, high protein, high fiber meals that are inexpensive.  Any ideas?  Anyways, I know it will all work out.

Kristen’s birthday is this coming up week.  How can a year go by so quickly?  She is a fun, little one.  She has a strong personality and will let you know if she isn’t happy, however she absolutely loves her family and is very affectionate.  She says several words and is trying to walk more and more.  We are so blessed to have her.

I also wanted to quickly write about Kaitlyn.  She is such a girly girl.  During our school time I always ask what her name is.  The other day she said, “My name is Princess.”  I smiled and said, “No, what is your real name.”  She then said, “My name is Kaitlyn Princess B—.”  With so many brothers she is surrounded with super hero toys and play, she will put on her cape and shout, “Super Princess to the rescue!”  And then she recently had on an Iron Man mask and said that she was “Princess Iron Man”.  Rod and I were discussing how much of a girly girl she is, and during our conversation she came up and proceeded to pretend to shoot Rod with a Lego gun.  I then said at least she can hang with the boys, and Rod pointed out how her “gun” was all pink.  She is so funny.

Here are my goals for February and how I did:

February:

• Read the Bible everyday -Missed a few days, but read most days.
• Read:  The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine – Done.
• Read:  Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr. – Done (finished yesterday )
• Lose X pounds – Lost and then gained some back.
• Exercise six days a week – Missed about 10 days.
• Drink at least eight cups of water daily – Hello, my name is Melissa and I’m a Dr. Pepper-aholic.  It has been 32 days since my last drink.  Ha ha.  I drank water all month, and some herbal tea and diet coffee drink.
• Healthy diet with one cheat day each week  – Did for two weeks and then not so great for two weeks.
• Make Optometrist appointments – Delayed while we figure out this new budget.  Hopefully in March.

All in all, it was pretty good.  Progress is moving forward, even if it is not at the speed I’d like.  I still need to do book reviews…hopefully soon.  Did y’all have a good month?

Goals are fluid things, they can be changed as needed, and I love that.  At the beginning of January I read Crazy Love:  Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan, and after reading just the first chapter I asked Rod to read it as well.  This book has changed our perspective on so many things and has changed our goals.  All of our financial goals for 2012 has changed as well as many other things.  I’ve updated the goal list here:  2012 Goals.  In June and July we will have some major changes taking place, but I can’t share that here yet.  Anyways here is how I did for January:

January:

• Read the Bible everyday – Read about half the time
• Read:  Crazy Love:  Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan – Done
• Read:  For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer – Done
• Lose X pounds – Done (YAY!!!!)
• Exercise six days a week – Did for two weeks
• No more sodas and drink at least eight cups of water daily – Still struggling working on this
• Healthy diet with one cheat day each week – Mostly did for two weeks
• Have Kaitlyn completely potty-trained – Mostly done, still a few accidents, but she still isn’t going on her own…I have to remind her.
• Have Kristen sleeping through the night – Done…Praise the Lord!
• Establish new chore routine for the children – Done

All in all, I think it went pretty well.  I was pretty sick for the first two weeks of January, had strep throat, but having these goals on here helped keep me accountable to completing what I was able.  I did not do as well as I would have liked, but at least with goals I am making forward progress.  I will soon be posting book reviews for my goal books, I’m still pondering what I’ve learned.  How was your January?

I just LOVE it when science proves what we already know of Biblical history.  I recently stumbled upon this article and just had to share.

Evidence of the “Red Sea Crossing”

Enjoy!

I have been swamped with lesson plans for the new semester. Unfortunately, I am seriously lacking energy due to a certain little, restless sleeper. This morning I decided to start dinner early so that I could concentrate on getting those plans done (which I totally did not touch today). I came up with this recipe and I want to remember it, but if I write it down I will probably lose it so I’m putting on here.

Italian Chili

1 pound italian sausage

1 can/jar of spaghetti sauce

1 can of black beans

1 can of kidney beans

1 can of pinto beans

1 can of chili with no beans

1 small can of green chilis

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 small can of tomato sauce

3 cups of chicken broth

1/4 t. pepper

Brown sausage and drain, then combine all ingredients in a large crock pot.  Cook on low eight hours.  Top with parmesan cheese and tabasco, if desired.  Serve with french bread (I used my bread maker to bake some this afternoon – yum).

Everyone enjoyed this and it was so easy.  I don’t normally cook with so many canned foods, but this was a great busy-day meal.