What's A Cookin'?

I have recently started to plan out the meals for a week, before I go to the grocery store. I have found this very helpful for having delicious dinners and it can also cut down on how much money I spend at the store...if I stick to the list. We have also cut down on how many snacks we buy. Those snack items are often unnecessary, and they really rack up the bill. The less snack items we buy...the yummier dinners we can have. You know I can spend a little more on meat cuts and cheese and it doesn't hurt the budget so much.So here are this weeks dinner plans:

Enchilada Casserole

Chicken and Homemade Mac and Cheese

Beef Stew/Soup

Homemade Pizza

Lasagna

Meatloaf and Au Gratin Potatoes

Homemade Chili in the crock pot

I am a huge fan of recipes that go in the crock pot. It smells so good cooking all day and it cooks while I do school.  I'd love to hear what dinners you are cooking this week.

A Link

I found this great post over at Totally Tots. Hope you go and check it out.
http://totallytots.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday!

Our little girl turned 5 this week! It seems like it was just yesterday that she was born. I can't believe that she is five. Well I decided to make her cake this year, and it turned out pretty good. I thought I'd share a picture.

Happy Birthday to our now 5 year old! We love you!

Wednesday Scriptures

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us,  in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God thru the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And not only that, but we also rejoice in God thru our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

Passionate Housewives Giveaway

Today I am posting a link to Mountain Home Quilts. She is giving away the book Passionate Housewives Desperate for God. So please go on over and enter the contest.
http://mountainhomequilts.blogspot.com/

Becoming Debt Free

I think I may have touched on this subject before, but I am going to again because it is such an important subject. As I may have mentioned before, my husband and I are currently working our way out of debt. At first it seemed like it would take forever, but now it seems to be such a blessing. We use to be those people who lived paycheck to paycheck, and would take out a loan when we wanted or needed something. One of our dumbest loans was a huge loan we took out for a van, that actually cost about a years worth of income. It is so easy to look at something you want, like a car, and think, "well we can afford those payments". But now that we have been there and done that, I NEVER want to take out another car loan. Buying a used car that we can afford seems so much wiser. When one goes back and looks at all the interest we pay on a car loan, wow! We could have bought something else with that money. I think that it is also easy to get into the habit of buying things on credit or with a loan. Again easy to say "oh we can afford that payment". Then pretty soon one has too many payments and a job is lost or a need arises and soon there is too much to pay for and then well..."what to do"? It is good to plan for the future..needs arise, things that we want to do. We are HUGE fans of Dave Ramsey. He has a daily talk show, and a web site with helpful things such as budgeting and of course getting out of debt. He has been a great encouragement to us getting out of debt. The link to his web site is http://www.daveramsey.com/home/

A Hymn

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Helen H. Lemmel

I have thought about these words to this song, and meditated on them. It is so easy to get caught up in this world and all the things that it has for us to chase after, but when we focus on the Lord and follow Him, we have something better to strive for. When we think of eternity and how long it is, our lives here seem so small. We are here and then gone. What will we have given to the Lord?