In The Refiner's Fire

Well, welcome to the last few days of 2015! Is anyone else just complete befuddled as me as to where this last year went?  I feel like I blinked and the year was over!  It's been a year of change at our house and a year of medical issues and several other things as well. The children are growing up, our parents and John's siblings are getting older, and I guess that means we're getting older too.  John and I have all sorts of plans for 2016 that I'll be sharing with you in a few days but for now, we're going to work on frugal things from the last couple of weeks: *  Ate most of the meals at home.  My parents have treated us to a couple of meals out and we each had a free meal at work - me for a co-worker's retirement party and John for the annual holiday meal. * We made all of the following things at home food-wise: French Bread, Lesfe, Swedish Meatballs and Mashed potatoes, cream of chicken wild rice soup, seafood chowder (this is my Dad's specialt...

  Joy to the World! Test: Isaac Watts Tune: George F. Handel, adapted     Joy to the World! The Lord has come! Let earth receive her King; Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room And heav'n and nature sing, And heav'n and nature sing, and heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.   Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let all their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.   No more let sin and sorrow grow Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse if found.   He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love.       Merry Christmas to you and yours!...

Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel Text: Psalteriolum Cantoinum Catholicarum Translated: John M. Neale Tune: French Processional, 15th Century   Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel And rasom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, oh, come great Lord of might, Who to your tribes on Sinai's height In ancient times once gave the law In cloud and majesty and awe.   Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, strong Branch of Jesse, Free Your own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell your people save And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.   Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, blest Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by your advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.   Rejoice...

I added the above photo because potato soup is the closest thing I have in my photo arsenal to Chicken Wild Rice Soup, which is on the menu this week.  I think I need to take more photos! We have company for three weeks starting on Tuesday and we are EXCITED!!!!  We also have events Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings this week so we have to make sure that we have enough leftovers for lunches this week too.  So, Chicken Wild Rice Soup in the crockpot to the rescue!  Yum! John made one trip to the store this weekend and bought eggs ($1.79/doz), grapes ($1.88/lb), apples ($1.29/lb) and a whole chicken ($1.29/lb) to round out our $100 for the two weeks.  A co-worker gave us 5lbs of Halo Clementine's after realizing that he was the only one in the family that was going to eat them (he had bought two boxes 5lb boxes) and another co-worker gave me a 1lb bag of carob powder.  I think I'm ready for baking and for company!  We'll have to buy potatoe...

I feel like 2015 is just flying by - it's hard for me to realize that December is almost halfway done!  Yikes!  Where has the time gone? We have company coming for Christmas starting next week for three weeks and then we're into 2016 and John's Birthday.  The semester is ending and I need to get grades done and all the other paperwork "stuff" that comes with end of the semester.   John is super busy with all the Advent and Christmas "stuff" and ministering to several ill and dying people and their families. I'm very grateful that the semester is almost over and the children and I can rest for a few days!  I'm hoping that John gets a few days too. Frugal is still the name of the game here so here's what we've been doing the last week: *  Ate all meals at home or brown-bagged except for one meal that was provided during a work meeting and another that was at a church event. * Picked up a free loaf of bread with a punch card from a l...

Bagel Pizzas, Salad and Sliced Apples from a few weeks ago I've been remiss about taking photos lately - of everything.  So, I may have posted that photo earlier - it was a tasty dinner and a bit of a surprise since John brought the bagels home from a breakfast at work.  I sat down on Saturday morning and put together a menu plan for the rest of the month.  I only have a couple of things to buy to finish off the menu for the month - bacon, potatoes, yogurt, eggs and milk are the things that I anticipate needing before the end of the month.  I'm happy with that! I spent $61.93 of my $100 for the two weeks at one store this last weekend on a whole bunch of things - many of which are on sale right now and will last us until January at the very least.  Here's what we bought: 5lbs Yellow Cornmeal $3.69 5lbs Unbleached Flour $1.77 3lbs Dark Brown Sugar $1.29 3lbs Light Brown Sugar $1.29 1lb Coffee $5.99 32oz Vegetable Oil $2.39 4 cans Wh...

Happy Advent everyone! It's that wonderful season of waiting and preparation for our Savior's birth and I'm super excited for this season to be here!  Why? Well... We only have three more weeks until Christmas. We only have two more weeks until my parents are here to visit. We only have a few days until the semester is done! I'm ready for some family time, a break from work and a chance to slow down and rest a bit for a while.   Honestly, taking this season of Advent and slowly decorating the house for Christmas as we usually do (so far, we only have the Advent wreath and the Nativity sets up so far) has been really therapeutic for me. I've been trying to figure out how to purchase gifts for my husband's family (we draw names, but now we have 4 more people we need to buy gifts for!) and not go over our non-existent Christmas budget, have all the delicious goodies we usually have while feeding more people than usual and make it through all my other ...