March 24, 2010

Verse of the Day
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, . . .Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:31-40

Song of the Day
Blest are They by David Haas
It is really nice and again follows the theme which is the poor. For some reason, the first time I listened to the song, it took awhile to download. I just let it completely download before I listened to it. The second time it was fine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chqY9S1Lm2w

Food
I let the kids have the normal salad dressing with the sugar. I have given up in that area. I can't find anything the family likes. I have tried.

I would also like to say that the kids are eating me out of house and home. I would never have guessed what good healthy meals they would eat by only taking out the sugar. I know, sometimes they aren't the most healthy, but I am doing my best.

"Stuff" Detachment
Can I count the item that I already threw out, but Artsy took it out of the garbage? I threw it away again. I also got rid of a pair of Curly's socks. Unfortunately, he took one of his shoes off when he was outside, then walked through the garage stepping in the oil pan that is usually under Mr. Fix-it's car. Bummer.

Spiritual Growth
Today was the coolest day. I went with kids to a local Lutheran church. They were sponsoring a day for Kids Against Hunger. We began by bringing Curly to the nursery. Unfortunately, as soon as he went in the little tunnel another girl growled at him and scared him half to death. So, I left carrying a screaming baby and 3 other kids to begin our mission. I'm thinking that things are not really going so hot at this point. Thankfully, I had the umbrella stroller, cheese-its, and a sippy of water. We proceeded into church adorning our beautiful hair nets. We watched a brief video about the organization. Onward to our station. There we, along with about 50 other people, assembled about 10,200 meals within an hour to be shipped to Haiti. Six meals were in a pack and the packs were sealed and boxed along with special art work that the kids brought. Artsy made a ton of paper fans all decorated since it is so hot in Haiti. We also enclosed a picture of the four kids. It was really a fabulous experience. Kids as young as four can work on the assembly line. So, what are you wondering, was Curly doing? He sat happy as a clam in his stroller by our table just watching all the action around him. The other mom's were commenting about what a good little boy. The other three kids took turns, scooping either rice, crushed soy, dehydrated veges, or the chicken flavor vitamin supplement.

When I sat watching the video at the beginning, it felt like God was pounding me over the head saying "Why don't you do this at your church once a year?" I felt really convicted. Something like this is totally up my alley, but of course the fear is there. How in the world could I get something like that organized and homeschool the kids, along with all the other stuff of life? I will continue to pray and learn more about what it would take and then start taking small steps praying that if it isn't the Lord's will, He would block the path. But then I think, how could it not be the Lord's will? Those children that receive that meal will get one cup for the whole day and most of them will try to somehow save half of it for their parents, if they have parents, because they know they don't have food either. The church also has to raise the money for the food, which is $0.23/serving. I have a free video to watch as well that Jason Davis from Channel 5 did in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti two years before the hurricane. Now the need is obviously so much greater. Here is the link if anyone wants to just check it out or read the founder's story. It is neat. http://www.kidsagainsthunger.org/

The kids were so excited, up and dressed before I even woke them up. Joke-A-Lot wanted to do more shifts. She became very competitive, somewhat like her mother, while we were bagging. If Artsy or Race Car paused for even a second or got distracted, she was all over them. She wanted to get as many meals done as possible. It is hard to find service opportunities for kids when they are young and this was a gem. Thank you God for leading us to this place. Just so happened a mom at Artsy's dance class last Saturday told me all about it.

Book Discussion
Sorry, putting it off again, want to get to bed.

Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity we had today. Your hand was upon it from the minute that woman told me about it. Thank you for keeping Curly company while I worked with the other three. How else could he have been content just sitting in his stroller for over an hour? I ask for your guidance on whether you are calling me to bring this to our parish. Also, please bless those that are reading my blog today. Help them to feel your closeness and your power this day. We all love you and seek to know you better. Amen.

Today's Menu
Breakfast: Flour tortilla with scrambled eggs and melted cheese, cantaloupe

Lunch: Toasted cheese sandwich, Amy's organic tomato soup with rotini noodles

Dinner: Pasta dish with penne pasta, ground beef, classico spicy red pepper sauce, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, salad, dinner rolls