Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 17 – Psalm 84:2

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I was hesitant to use a picture of a church for this scripture because I don’t want you to think that yearning for the “courts of the Lord” only means longing to go to a building. I long and yearn to be in God’s presence. Going to a local church is an amazing way to get in God’s presence! BUT it’s not the only way nor should it be your primary way to get in His presence.

I love being with my husband and it would be tragic if I decided we could only spend time together one day a week, at a certain location for an hour and a half. Yikes!! It would be hard to get to know him like this. Sure, I’d learn a little bit about him but I wouldn’t KNOW him. I’m with him as often as possible and when he’s at work or we’re not together we text often. I’m learning what makes him tick, what he finds funny, how to listen to him well and get him to tell me things that are going on in his head.

There’s no way I’d learn all this if I only had 1.5 hours out of 168 hours in a week. I did the math. That’s less than 1% of my week. Wow!

But we do it to God sometimes. We think, I put in my time for the week. I went to church. But I doubt the psalmist that wrote this was thinking “I long for 1.5 hours with you God.” I bet he was constantly desiring time with God. Consistently craving a relationship with Him. Wanting to know what makes Him tick. What makes Him laugh. What He’s thinking. We only get this kind of relationship by spending time. Not just <1% of our time.

I keep this simple. Just like time with my husband, I don’t have a scripted list of questions or topics to discuss. I just hang out with him. Ask him for advice. Relax with him. Do fun stuff with him.

I try to do this with God too. In my mothering, I ask Him for help. “How do I discipline this strong-willed 3 year old?” In my marriage, I ask him for patience. “Help me love him even though I’m picking up yet another pair of his smelly socks out from between the couch cushions.”

Because God’s not physically with me, I also take time to read the Bible. It helps me get to know Him even better. It’s not something I do to check it off my “list of holy duties.” It’s something I long for and desire so I can know my loving and gentle Father better.

I’m excited for us both to continue to long for Him more and more each day!!

Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 15 – Psalm 73:25

Posted on by 3toddlermom

This is tough! To honestly say I desire NOTHING on earth but God. That’s pretty extreme. I want to say that but it’s much easier said than done.

My natural tendency is to desire other things more than I desire God. I desire food more than God. I desire sleep more than God. I desire love from my husband more than God. I desire acceptance from people more than God. Wow!

How do I start to desire Him more than anything else?! I think it starts with simply being intentional about spending time with Him. This doesn’t have to be intimidating. Currently, I intentionally wake up at least an hour before my kids wake up so that I can spend some quiet time reading my Bible in the mornings-without my phone. I like this because it’s the one time of my day that there are no distractions (other than my own thoughts). The sun’s not even up yet usually! My hubby is still asleep. My kids are (hopefully) still asleep. And I can read without interruptions. It’s beautiful.

I totally get that we’re all in different seasons of parenting right now. When Sweet Love was first born, I slept every morning until one of my kids woke me up. Getting up before them was inconceivable because I had just been up every 2-3 hours nursing my new baby. I was exhausted, to put it lightly. So my “quiet time” looked much different. Spending long amounts of time reading the Bible just didn’t happen. I chose instead to rest in God’s presence while nursing or driving or cooking dinner. I tried to quiet my crazy, endless and (most of the time) anxious thoughts and focus my thoughts on God. His goodness. How much He loves me. And just rest my mind from all the anxiety and exhaustion and focus on God.

So just do what works in the season you’re in. But make time to focus your thoughts on God. And soon, both of us will start to desire God above everything else on earth! It’s a process but I believe it will be worth it.

Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 11 – Psalm 62:10

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I love that God doesn’t desire for us to be poor. He wants us to have more then enough so we can meet our needs and help others. But it’s so important to remember that if we do acquire wealth, we aren’t to set our heart on it and let it become the center of our lives!

That’s why tithing and giving to the church are so important. It keeps us humble and reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God in the first place.

Posted in Recipes

Mom’s Beef Stroganoff

Posted on by 3toddlermom

As a kid, this yummy recipe was a simple staple in my house. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare so it’s great for a busy night.

When I graduated college, my crafty mom made me this cute little recipe scrapbook with some of our favorite dinners, desserts and appetizers. It’s one of my all time favorite gifts that I constantly use….although most of the recipes are locked in my brain at this point. What a great Mom she is 😁

I use cream of mushroom soup instead of cream of chicken but both taste good.

Happy cooking!

Posted in Scripture Memory

Scripture Memory Challenge Day 10 – Psalm 55:22

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I hate feeling burdened, stressed out, overwhelmed, anxious….it makes it hard to focus on anything that’s actually happening around me. I’m so consumed by that fear or worry that I can’t just enjoy playing with my kids or eating dinner with my family. And my burdens usually surface out of trying to control the outcome of everything in life. Or I think my life is going to fall apart and I keep rehearsing that fear in my head.

It’s just not worth it – but I still do it……a lot! I need to remember that the Lord will sustain me. He’s holding me and won’t let my life crumble into a heap.

Posted in Budget

February Budget Challenge Day 10 – $91.28 Left

Posted on by 3toddlermom

I broke my grocery shopping rule today! I went to Aldi with all three kids. During a busy time of day. While hungry. Oops! But I followed my other 2 rules: Meal Plan and Make a List so even though it was a somewhat stressful situation, I didn’t overspend. Yay!

I’m eating meat again this week which helped my budget because I have a bunch of beef and deer meat in my deep freeze. So I decided not to buy any meat this week (besides deli meat) and was attempting to keep my bill under $25.

My meal plan is:

Beefy Potato Soup (I have all ingredients on hand.)

Pot Roast (Also have all ingredients on hand)

Tacos (Needed tortillas, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream)

Mom’s Beef Stroganoff (Since I was getting sour cream, I figured I’d use it for two meals. It was the only ingredient I didn’t have for this recipe.)

I’m making soup and roast early in the week because I usually have left overs for the rest of the week for Hubby to take for lunch or for the kids and I to eat for lunch.

Surprisingly, we ate through most of the $91 worth of groceries from last week so we were kinda bare bones but I knew I could still keep my budget low if I was intentional about planning. I’m starting to get comfortable with less food in stock in my pantry and fridge and freezer.

Items I have on hand for this week’s meals:

  • 3 lbs hamburger
  • Chuck Roast
  • 3 lbs potatoes
  • 1 lb carrots
  • Veggie broth
  • Cream of mushroom soup
  • Onion
  • Parsley
  • Garlic powder
  • Homemade taco seasoning
  • Salt and pepper

My grocery list:

  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Eggs
  • Milk
  • Tortillas
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Avocados (These were $.99 each and I’ve decided not to buy them unless they’re less than $.99.)
  • Grapes (I looked at this week’s Aldi ad and found them for $.99/lb. Otherwise I don’t tend to spend money on them.)
  • Cereal (Dinoman’s choice)
  • Yeast
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Sour Cream
  • Sliced Provolone Cheese (Princess’ choice)
  • Cold Meat Chicken Breast

I kept track of prices in my head while shopping (it’s good to keep up my mental math!) and ended up spending $30.65.

$91.28 Left. 18 Days to Go

Posted in Budget

5 Easy Ways to Meal Plan on a Tight Budget

Posted on by 3toddlermom

Just starting making my meal plan for the week. I started the month with a budget of $300 and currently have $121.93 left to spend. Eek! I have almost 3 full weeks of meals left to make, plus gas to put in my van and whatever else comes up! But this girl is not giving up. She’s getting creative!

So if I divide it up, I have about $40 a week left. A tank of gas is $40. I’ll need at least one of those which means I only have about $25 a week left. I should be really cautious not to spend that all on groceries, especially this week when I have so much month left. It’s always wise to leave a little wiggle room.

In order to keep my grocery bill under $25 this week, I’m in desperate need of a plan!!So how do I make my meal plan?

1. Find a system that works

I like this little magnetic notepad that my friend gave me. It’s simple and straight forward and goes right on my fridge next to my oven for easy access when cooking. It’s not necessary to spend a ton of money in this area. Just find something that works for you. It could be as simple as a piece of notebook paper or you could keep it in an app or calendar on your phone.

2. Determine the week’s schedule

I keep most of my activities in my calendar app on my iphone but I also write them on a simple paper weekly calendar that I also got from a friend from the dollar section at Target. (See, this planning stuff doesn’t have to break your budget.)

I look over my schedule to see if there are any nights that we won’t be home and able to eat dinner together. Since our kids are so little, we don’t have any after school activities yet and we typically eat meals at home together. Especially since I started this budget, we try to not just run through Chick-Fil-A if we can help it. If I know we will be out at night, I try to plan a meal that is easy to take on the go.

3. Check the current pantry, fridge, freezer status

This is probably the most important thing I’ve learned since meal planning on a budget. I typically have a pantry, freezer and fridge full of food and then make a meal plan using little to none of these ingredients! It’s just silly. So I’ve started surveying all my food storage areas and I meal plan accordingly. I typically just make a mental note of what food we have on hand but you could also jot down a list if it’s easier for you to see that way.

4. Plan 4-5 meals

I only plan 4-5 meals each week and 5 is usually too many. There seem to be left-overs all the time so instead of planning a meal for every night, choose a night to eat left overs.

I used to go on pinterest to meal plan and choose crazy new recipes where I had to buy all of the ingredients, often times even down to the spices. I’ve changed my tactics now. I still use pinterest but I start with ingredients we have. This week I have almost a full 10 lb bag of potatoes so I could search potato recipes. Then I choose recipes that I could make today with the things I already have on hand.

I don’t always stick to the specific days on my schedule but I do use the 4 meals I’ve chosen. So I might have written down hamburger soup for Monday but Monday comes and roast sounds better. No big deal. I just flip flop them. Sometimes this doesn’t work because the roast might not be thawed out yet but typically it’s not a big deal to change the dates of meals. As long as you’re not running to the grocery store for extra ingredients every day!

5. Make a grocery list and stick to it

Then I make my list using my reminders app in list form. That way I just check things off as I go. I head to the store and I only buy the items on my list. This was a really hard skill to learn and I still fail so often but I’m getting better the more I practice and you will too.

So what are you waiting for?! Grab some paper and start making a plan 😁