Another Monday

I used to love Mondays. The weekends were too unstructured for me & I longed to get back to routine. Lately though… oh… say… since the beginning of the school year, I have woken up overwhelmed with the start of a new week. I get up before the kids and try to pray, but just end up sitting in my chair staring off into space.

Once I get my son off to school & get back home, that’s when I really get overwhelmed. The other 3 kids are awake & need my guidance, especially my toddler. I try to clear my head of all the thoughts… I should do this today, I should’ve done that last weekend, I wish I had done this last night, when am I going to get to that? And the beating continues to paralyze me.

This morning started off the same way. However, only one of my children was awake & he was contentedly reading. While he was reading I took time to cry out to God (well, more like whine). He reminded me of 2 different things. I went to a conference about a year & a half ago called Faithwalkers. It was a wonderful experience. One of the speakers I got to hear was Kathleen Nelson with Premeditated Parenting. She started off by saying that she’d been a Christian since she was 10, a wife for 20-some years, a parent for some-teen years & rarely does she ever wake up encouraged & ready to start the day.

At first this discouraged me. One more thing I’m not doing right… not starting off the day in prayer or reading my Bible or doing a Bible study, etc. Then Jesus brought this scripture to mind… “Jesus told them, ‘This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one [God] has sent.’” -John 6:29

Really??? The only work??? Seriously??? It really felt like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. Why am I trying so hard to do so many things that do not essentially matter? (Well, reading the Bible & praying do matter.) It felt like God was saying, “Daughter, you need to rest. You are worried & upset over so many things.(Luke 10:41) Just rest. ‘Take my yolk upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble & gentle at heart, & you will find rest for your soul.’ (Matthew 11:29).”

Yeah, I’m up for that.

I hesitated to even write this because I feared it would make my Mom & my Mother-in-Law worry. But take heart, He’s got my back. He’s got our backs. “Give all your worries & cares to God, for He cares about you/us.” – 1 Peter 5:7 (Love you both!)

I hope this can be an encouragement to you as much as it was to me.

God bless you today.
<3
~Antoinette~
All scripture references were taken from the New Living Translation

More Reusable Bags

I shared a little while back that I was able to finally make some Reusable Snack/Sandwich bags for my son’s lunch (here & here).

Happily, a friend of mine asked if I could make some for her. Spring Break got in the way, but they are finally finished…

I’m also going to be making a couple sets for some silent Auctions: 2 sets for my son’s school & 1 set for a Day Care. These are so fun to make! If you have a need for a silent auction or some such, please let me know & I will make some for you. I will post pictures when I’m finished with those. Once those sets are complete, I will start listing some in my Etsy store for anyone to purchase. But if you’d like to request a custom order, just let me know.

Have a wonderful day!
Antoinette

Back at it

After a 3 week break we are now back to school. I definitely feel more refreshed & ready to finish the school year strong. We haven’t done any painting in a while, and since that was on our schedule for today we actually got it done!

We read John 6 today & talked about the Sea of Galilee where Jesus did a lot of ministry. Then E & L painted the stormy sea…

I was looking for something fun for A to paint. Pinterest to the rescue! I found a link for these cute Q-tip templates.

He had a lot of fun with the Q-tips so we’ll be doing that more in the future (especially since I found these Bubble Letters to paint too).

And I cried when I dropped S off at school today. Honestly, what am I gonna be like if these kids decide to go to college out of state???

Antoinette

But wait, there’s more…

Yesterday I showed you some cute Reusable Snack & Sandwich bags I made following this tutorial. I made some for my oldest son, so now I need to make some for the other kiddos. I thought son #2 would like these ones…

This will hopefully give you an idea of the size of the snack bags: approximately 5″ x 6.5″.

I also think it’s kind of fun to use a different fabric on the inside (like the tutorial suggests.)

Now I need to make some for my daughter, me, & my friend who ordered 10 of them! I don’t think my toddler needs any yet considering he shares a lunch bag with Mommy whenever we go to co-op.

Off to pick out fabric for my daughter. Wait, that’s not right. She’ll want to pick out her own.

Have a wonderful day!
Antoinette

Reusable Sandwich & Snack bags

Do you ever have one of those projects that you really want to do but never get to it unless you suddenly need it right now? I’ve been wanting to make these reusable bags for a while. Now that I’ve been packing a lunch for my son for 3 weeks, I decided it was time to make some. Aren’t they fun???

These ones are for my guy.

These ones are for my neighbor.

I followed this simple tutorial. But they can be used for some much more than lunches, don’t you think? Makeup bag, party favors, diaper bags (so you can easily find all those things that drop to the bottom of the bag… same for your purse!). coins. What would you use them for?

Antoinette

Meal Plan Monday – January 21st, 2013

Click on the picture for hundreds more menu ideas.

This is my first post of the new year! I hope you are having a great new year so far. We had the coldest day of winter so far today. Tomorrow’s supposed to be better though… high of 0 degrees.

On to the menu… we are attempting to go gluten free so you get to be on that journey with us. I can share our likes & dislikes along the road. For now this is what we’ve got planned…

Breakfast:
Eggs & Canadian Bacon with fruit
Pumpkin or Cinnamon Oatmeal with fruit (recipe as at the end of the post)
A friend of mine recommended Coconut Crepes & they sound so good. Can’t wait to try them! In fact, I bet with homemade applesauce, they would be just as good as…

Applejacks!

Lunch:
Brown Rice Cakes with egg salad or tuna salad, pb & honey or fruit spread, refried beans & cheese, etc.
Leftovers
Soups & salads
I’ve enjoyed making salads in jars & will share more about that this week.

Dinner:
Applesauce pork chops & roasted sweet potatoes
Bourbon Chicken or Chicken stir fry with brown rice
Tamale Pie (This is so yummy!)
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce & Meatballs with broccoli
A variation of Pot Roast Stoup & Apple Crisp.
Sloppy Joe meat with corn & veggies

Snacks usually consist of lots of fruit, nuts, gluten free pretzels, popcorn, string cheese, & yogurt.
What’s on your menu this week?
Antoinette

Menu Plan Monday – December 17th, 2012

Click on the picture for lots of other menu plans!

 

 

It’s been a while!  Thought I would try to get back on the blog bandwagon.  I miss it. But I’ve been doing terrible planning out my meals, therefore, no blog posts about it.  So here we go again!

Monday: Chicken Soup

Tuesday: Baked Cod, brown rice, & steamed broccoli or green beans

Wednesday: Homemade pizzas with veggies

Thursday: Chili over noodles

Friday: Chicken Shepherds Pie

Saturday: Ham & Bean Soup

Sunday: Sammy’s Pizza & raw veggies!

I hope that you have a joyful week as we prepare for Christmas. God bless!
Antoinette