"What's On Hand" Wednesday

As my menu states, tonight we'll be having spaghetti & meatballs, salads, & bread for our supper tonight. I am currently in the mode of working on our surplus of food. In other words, I'm desperately trying to use up what we have already on hand. It's hard though, especially when you're not organized, or let's just say, not as organized as I'd like to be at this point.

The last few weeks my dear friend, Erin, has been coming over and helping me declutter, clean out, and get organized. And I love her dearly for it. Every day that she's come over, I've fixed us a can of soup, from my soup can collection, in the pantry. She & I both love soup, and I've often said that I could eat soup everyday, even on 100* days, in the middle of July. There is just something soothing about a nice bowl of soup, to me. Anyway, as she & I enjoy our soup, I'm happy in the knowledge that what we have on hand, is getting used up, and not going to waste. However, as we were cleaning out 2 of my cupboards, and straightening the pantry, I'm ashamed....yes, ashamed to admit that we took 3 trash bags full of outdated foods; mostly pudding cups, baking products, and boxed convenience foods, but still, it was a total waste of time & money. When I say it was a waste of time, I am referring to the time it took me to drive to the store, collect & purchase my groceries, drive back home, unload the groceries, and put them away. Waste of my time, and the money wasted is sinful! I need to be a much better steward with the gifts & blessings that God has given me and to us.

And speaking of God...as many of you know, Brian and I (and the kids) haven't been to church in several years. Our last church experience left us dejected and jaded, to say the least. I loved the church, loved it's members, but when a young pastor questions your faith, it is always hard to take. And I took it...quite personally. I was hurt. I was angry. And I was doubting how strong my relationship was with God. Now this is just my naive opinion, but I have always believed that a pastor was to tend to his flock, and encourage one's relationship with God. That just wasn't my experience, and it left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Especially because my children didn't understand why we left that particular church. They loved it there. They had made friends there, and so had we. However, lately, and mostly because of Erin, I've really been thinking about searching for a new church. I would prefer a church that taught from the King James version of The Bible, but do you have any idea how hard it is to find that?! Most churches around us teach & preach from the NIV or NLT versions, not that it's wrong, it's just that I don't think it right for me/us. So, with that being said, I've been praying for God to show the way. I know there is a church out there that we'll be able to call "home" and that our family will grow by leaps & bounds when we find it. Please keep us and our pursuit of a home church in your prayers. I really appreciate it.

Love & hugs to you all!