Some Joy To Spare

Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like You have loved me Break my heart for what breaks Yours Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause As I walk from earth into eternity ~ Hosana, Hillsong United It's the question, as Christians, we all ask at some point and, often, the one to which there never seems to be a satisfactory answer. The other night, in the wake of the tragic shooting in Las Vegas, the devastating fires in Northern California and hurricanes in the Gulf and Puerto Rico, my youngest daughter asked me this question: "Why does God allow so much pain, death and destruction in the lives of so many?" I knew the standard "churchy" responses that I'd heard over the years. I told her things like, we may never know the answers and we have to trust God and we don't have the privilege of seeing the big picture. I told her the only and best thing we could do was pray for everyone ...

Okay, so I'm a little ( a lot) behind in getting my week two ( and three) challenge update posted. In my defense, we went out of town for the girls' fall break. Which, in and of itself is not an excuse to not post. However,  when I mention we were at our cabin, in the middle of nowhere, with no Internet and no cell service it becomes the perfect excuse. For some, I know, this sounds like torture. For us, including our two teenage daughters, it is simply glorious. Alas, last week's grocery haul was mainly reserved for cabin food. This cabin, nestled on 40 acres in a mountain canyon, has been in my husband's family for roughly 30 years, the actual land for much longer. As such, my little family has been visiting and staying here for 22 years. In those early visits, when my babies were babies, cabin food consisted of donuts, crackers and easy cheese, Fritos and bean dip, snack cakes, hot dogs and s'more supplies. Although tasty and inexpensive, our culinary prowess w...

Okay, it's officially underway, people. As I previously wrote, I am shopping for groceries exclusively at Walmart for the whole month of October. To find out why I would accept such a challenge you can read all about it in the first post in this series. This week I did a grocery pick-up and an online order. With Walmart's free two-day shipping, the combo of store site pick-up and ship to my door, the convenience is pretty hard to beat. I am thrilled to report, not nearly as much as the hubs, I came in under budget. Well, I'm under budget right now. By the end of the week and few runs to the store for one or two items here and there I may actually end up on budget. Still a victory in my opinion. My weekly grocery budget is $150. I realize this is more than some and not as much as others. However, after doing a little research I found the average SNAP benefit per person per month is $125. Thus, for my family of four, the government recommends a budget of about $125 per w...