I Am Thankful...

That our Father hears even the most simple prayers...
That I know our Father is carrying friends, even in hard times...

June's Budget

This was the first month that L and I followed our "new" budgeting system that we created. It was pretty successful for the most part - we only went over our grocery budget a little bit. This is impressive considering we had pretty much eliminated dining out (minus a couple quick meals, and one date night equipped with a paid babysitter).

I think the biggest thing that helped our budget was meal planning. We planned all of our meals around what was on sale, and worked hard to create meals with what we had in the house. I made a lot of substitutions on recipes - some worked, some didn't. Also, since there's a new babe in the house, simple meals were the focus.

Speaking of new babe, we pretty much dreaded any dining out with two kiddos, so that was good incentive for avoiding restaurants. Nothing like a crying babe and a demanding toddler to simplify living, right?

So overall, we spent less in spending than we do typically, and stayed pretty close to our grocery budget. Still, I think we could have done a little better as far as stretching meat and using even more ingredients that we had in the house. We'll see. I don't feel like I sacrificed on produce, though this month we'll focus more on the farmer's markets, so we should incorporate more fresh ingredients in our meals.

Let's hope that even with me returning to work next week (yikes!), the budget will continue successfully.

Praise of the Day:
That our God provides

Gratitude

I think R just might be a morning person like his mom. He's a great alarm clock - every morning around 5 am, he's wide awake. Now I don't like getting up that early, but what can you do, right? Still, mornings are good. Really good.

And boy, I really love sunshine-y summer mornings. I wish I could bottle the birds chirping, the cool breeze, the sun peeking through the trees and just have it with me whenever I am feeling a little down, or during the long winter months.

I'm learning more and more how blessed I am, even in the simple things like sunshine. An old journal of mine used to keep a log of everything I was thankful for, and I'm going to start that here - to remind myself of how good God is. So here goes:

1. Thank you, God, for mornings like this, even if I didn't want to get up that early.

2. And I'm thankful for an old friend who listened to me vent about an difficult situation I'm dealing with, and found she was dealing with something similar.

3. Of course, I'm thankful for my little alarm clock, even if 5 am is early even for this morning person.

What are you guys thankful for today?