God Answers Prayer

Ever had one of those times where you've wanted something... and just kept "wanting" it but never paused to actually ask God for it? Well, that's been me lately.

It's been a couple years since Daniel's gotten a raise. We don't know if it's the economy, the weather, a combination of the two, or what. (He does HVAC work, so when it's REALLY COLD or REALLY HOT they stay really busy. With mild winters and summers the past couple years the work has been much slower than normal. The past two springs he's gone a couple weeks working 20 hrs. or less. Thankfully not this year so far.)

We've never budgeted assuming that he would get a raise. We just knew that it would be nice. Then when Miss Susannah came along and our living expenses went up, it was brought to the front of my mind once again.

Finally on Monday morning I just sat down and prayed about it and asked God to bless Daniel's hard work, and if it was His will, that Daniel would get a raise. And I also asked that He would give us wisdom with our finances, a willingness to bless others with what we have, and that we would glorify Him in it all. I didn't "give" God a time-frame that I wanted Him to work in, or anything. Just basically said "It would be really nice, but Your will in Your time. And in the meantime help me use what we have wisely."

Yesterday Daniel was working on a job directly with his supervisor and boss (also the owner of the company). His boss asked Daniel if he'd looked at his paychecks lately. Daniel said no. As it turns out, Daniel got a raise a week ago! (He is paid hourly and never works the same hours every week so I didn't notice it either.)

First, Thank you, Lord!!! He answered my prayer BEFORE I prayed! What a blessing this is.

Second, I am SO PROUD of my sweetie!!

I'm Flying

By the seat of my pants with the menu. Nothing new... I've been doing that since Susannah was born. But I miss having a menu plan!!!

I think I need to dig out some of my cooking magazines, cookbooks with pictures (about the only kind I like), and try to get inspired. I feel very "blah" in the menu-planning world. Hopefully I can lay in a big supply of beef something-or-other this week. I loaded up on chicken last week (3 pkgs. of drumsticks - yum!) and have a little in the freezer, but no beef.

It might help if I actually sat down and really put a couple minutes of time into thinking about it and planning it out... I'm sure I could come up with a plan :) But I either feel like I have something more pressing I should do, or I don't want to do it :P (or I'm nursing Susannah)

"Plan Menu" is actually on my list for today. But I haven't gotten that far yet. If I keep going, I might just get that far. It would be nice :) I'd better get off here and go finish the other "more pressing" things. *cough* like sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor that hasn't been done in however many weeks *cough*

Baby Robby Update

Different ones of you have been praying for Baby Robby, and I want to say thank you.

If you haven't been by Todd and Wendy's online journal lately, you should go take a look. Robby came off the ventilator today! Praise the Lord!

Keep some tissues nearby, though, because just reading what they're going through wrings this mama's heart! Thursday was a more difficult day for Robby, and just reading about it and imagining if it was ME and MY baby...

Another reason you should go to their journal is there are new pictures :) He is just the sweetest little thing!

Keep praying for this family. I pray there are many, many, MANY days ahead of them with little Robby, but they probably won't always be easy ones.

(Someone had asked on my last post if this was Todd and Wendy's first baby, and yes, it is.)

Susannah Makes A Strawberry Pie

Susannah asked me if she could do a guest post about making a pie for her Daddy. I'm a pushover and said yes :) Take it away, Susannah!!


Hi, I'm Susannah. I can't type very well so I'm gonna mostly use pictures to tell you about what I did this evening.

I heard Daddy tell Mama the other evening that he wanted a Strawberry Pie. So I got an idea... Why couldn't I make one for him? He's really special to me and I wanted to do something special for him. I can't talk big people words, so this is how I got Mama to figure out what I wanted to do. I got out the rolling pin. Everyone knows that a rolling pin means pie dough, right?

"Mama, I have an idea...
I love my Daddy so much, I want to make a pie for him.
You said "yes!!" Now I'm really, really excited! Will you help me?
Oh, what kind do I want to make? Why, Strawberry, of course!!"

First we mixed up the pie dough.
Then we made the crust. Now, making a nice pie crust takes the perfect touch.

All the pie dough making made me sleepy. Plus the next couple steps of making the pie involved the hot oven, boiling stuff for the filling, and a sharp knife - Mama told me I wasn't big enough to help with those yet. So I went and took a nap and let her do those things. When I woke up we finished the pie.

Whipped cream is yummy! Mama asked me if I wanted to lick the beaters, and I was so surprised that I said "I can?!?!" (Yes, I really did say that. Daddy heard me, too! At least, the noise I made sounded like "I can?!?!")
When the pie was all done it was time to give it to Daddy. First I gave him a big hug and told him how much I love him. Which is a LOT.

Then I couldn't keep the secret any longer and told him that I'd made a Strawberry Pie for him :) He was really happy.

And here we are with the pie.

My First Mother's Day

It was a busy day, but I really enjoyed my first Mother's Day. I thought about writing up a sappy post to schedule for Mother's Day but that never happened.

The week after Susannah was born my sister called me one evening to tell me that my Grandma had been having lots of mini-strokes and had decided to move into a local nursing home. That was hard to hear, let alone hearing it when my hormones were all out of whack, I was living on 1 hour sleep spurts, my body was sore and my brain couldn't function for more than a 3-word sentence.

Grandma is the kind of person you want to stay the same forever, and as long as she was living on her own, puttering around, it was easy to pretend that she was. I often thought about making the 2 hour trip to go visit her now and then but always put it off for whatever reason. When she moved into the home, I determined that I was going to go visit her every single month, rain or shine.

I had planned to go today (just Susannah and myself), but last week we learned that we didn't have any obligations at church this past Sunday - no choir, no nursery duty, no sound-room duty, or any of the different things we're often involved in on Sundays. So we decided all 3 of us would go and have lunch with Grandma. It was a little hectic getting left. Grandma's lunch is at a specific time, and I knew we couldn't miss that window. Of course you never know what a baby is going to decide to do so I wanted to leave in PLENTY of time so that if we needed to we could stop for a feeding on the way, or get there ahead of time enough to feed her before the lunch. I was all in a tizzy over nothing. We didn't get left as soon as I wanted to and I ended up feeding her here right before we left, and she slept like a rock until we got there! She ate a quick meal and then was a doll for the lunch! Grandma has her lunch in a dining room with other elderly residents and they all loved Susannah! Many of them came over to look at her and ask about her :)

After our lunch we went back to Grandma's room for a little bit. I changed Susannah's diaper and let her wiggle around some on Grandma's bed, and then Grandma held her for quite a while.

Susannah and her Great-Grandma

We visited for a little bit longer and then went to my parents for the rest of the day. It was really special to be a mama on this Mother's Day :) Susannah has rocked my world for sure :)

Please Pray

My friend's sister had her baby boy, Robby, yesterday. She was only 26 weeks pregnant and had pre-eclampsia. Baby Robby is doing well, though these next couple days are critical for him.

I couldn't help but cry this morning as I read the dad's post on their online journal (similar to a blog). Babies are truly a miracle and proof of our Creator, and this newest, tiny, 1 lb. miracle only drives that fact deeper.

Being a mommy to a precious little girl who amazes me every day, I can't imagine going through what Wendy and Todd are right now. I don't even really know them... I met them briefly Easter Sunday morning when we passed in the hallway at church. I don't know what Robby's future holds, but I know that our God is an awesome God. He created Robby for a purpose. He gave Robby to Wendy and Todd so they could be his parents.

I just want to ask you to pray for this family and the team of doctors and nurses caring for Robby. They all need an immeasurable amount of strength, wisdom and support through this.

Keeping Track of Memories & Milestones

Back in January I wrote about my new datebook for this year. I still really enjoy it, but I have to admit... the months of March and April don't have much written in them :) No To-Do lists, certainly not menu plans, and well, the datebook got put on the back burner during those months. I knew exactly what I was doing every day - feeding and changing Susannah and taking naps :)

Now that it has come back out, I am certainly enjoying using it again. And I found yet another use for it! As Susannah does things or I do things with Susannah that I want to remember for her baby book or scrapbook, I simply write it down on that day's page! For instance, today she took her first ride in the stroller. I'm going to write that down along with how she liked it. Yesterday I wrote down her stats from the Dr's appointment.

This will be really handy for when I do get around to filling in her baby book, and I know she will enjoy the memories when she's older, too.

iPad Giveaway!!

And no, it's not me giving it away. I wish I had one to keep and one to give away, though :P That would be cool. Anyways, there's a ton of giveaways going on this weekend for Mother's Day, and this is one of the best I've seen yet. I wanted to share it... because that gives me an extra chance, plus if I don't win it would be neat if you did :)

Go here to put your name in the hat: ThriftyMama's iPad Giveaway

Weekly Grocery Trip 5/5/10

Last night as I was putting the groceries away I told Daniel that we're gonna be eatin' "high on the hog" for a bit :) (And he followed that with "and the turkey and cow" to include the "meat" hotdogs.) There were some nice sales going on that allowed us to get a LOT of meat... and meat that usually is WAY out of our price-range. One of those is Chorizo... we've wanted to try Chorizo for a very long time but it's super expensive and this is the first time I've seen it on sale. Now I need to look up the recipes we want to use it in!

Wheaties - $1.44 (should've been $.69 but an e-coupon didn't come off)

(7) Gatorade - $.79/ea.

Orange Juice - $2.99

Milk - $1.69

(2) Reese's Dark - FREE

(4) Pineapple - $.73/ea.

(2) Lawry's Marinade - $.49/ea.

(4) Ball Park Meat Franks - $1.62/ea.

(2) Johnsonville Brats (19.6 oz.) - $2.99/ea.

(2) 16 oz. Oscar Mayer Bacon - $2.25/ea.

Breakfast Cheese - $1.25

(2) 18ct. Eggs - $1.67/ea.

Total Shelf Price - $77.53

Total OOP - $37.14

Saved - $40.39 / 52%

It was a great trip. We went after church last night and Daniel pushed Susannah (in her carseat) in one shopping cart and I pushed the "food" shopping cart. The lady that checked me out was very impressed with my free chocolate :P After checking me out she said "Wait, the chocolate is on sale 2/$1, and you had $.55 coupons. That means you got it for free!! Wow!!!" I told her I never turn down free chocolate ;)

8 Weeks

Our little cutie turns 8 weeks old tomorrow!! I took these pictures on Monday. I had laundry to hang out and she went with me :) As you can see in the pictures, she loved being outside!! After I finished hanging out the wash we just laid there and looked around and at each other and she just wiggled and grinned the whole time! She's laying on the quilt that my friend, Elizabeth, made for her. It's beautiful and my favorite blanket for Susannah to lay on :)
She loves to lay on her back. She detests laying on her tummy, unless she's in her crib, then it's the other way around (yes, she sleeps on her tummy). She does not like spending "wake time" on her tummy. She'll probably be slow to roll over because of that :P I do make her spend some tummy time each day... she's gotta learn to like it sometime :)
She still enjoys bathtime, which I really thankful for! It wouldn't be as fun to give a crying baby a bath. She started sleeping through the night last week and is still consistently sleeping 6 hours each night. I'm hoping that in another week or two she starts to move towards 7+ hours! I want my full nights of sleep back :)
This week she hasn't had nearly as many "bad" feedings, so I'm hoping those are on the way out. The best that I've been able to figure out with talking to different people is that most likely once my milk lets down it comes out too fast for her liking. We started giving her bottles occasionally, and I like the convenience of a bottle. We've been able to go away a couple times and either feed her on the road, or feed her without having to go hide myself away somewhere. Those times I do take the pump along and then go pump, but pumping is SO much faster than feeding her. It takes her anywhere from 30-45 minutes to eat, still.

I have lots more to talk about on other topics, but I need to go switch some laundry around and keep moving with the housework.

Bye-bye!!

After writing this post I realized that I need to study up on the tenses and usage for the word "lay." Sorry if I didn't get 'em right this time :)

Still Alive :)

I am still here! I haven't gone anywhere :)

I was going to post new pictures of Susannah last evening but the camera cord is hiding from me. Bad cord. I will hopefully find it today!

Right now I need to go get a shower and get some things started for the day. But I will return :) Hopefully today, but if not, there's always tomorrow.