Learning

I've started a "faithbook" post and it just didn't work. It was too private, too sacred and too much involved with telling other peoples' stories.

To be brief, I've learned a lot in the last couple of days. I've learned that I have a lot more friends than I could have imagined.

I learned that some of the most trying challenges we go through may just be the easier way to learn the lessons we need to learn in this life. I don't want to have to go through something like this, again, but it has got to be better than learning the lessons by making poor choices: addiction, infidelity, abandonment, incarceration. I really don't want to know what those things are like, EVER.

I've also learned a bit about the Atonement. Christ suffered not only for sin, but also so that He could know what our other suffering was about. He knows what the pain is like. He can heal our hearts.

Along with that, goes the understanding that to fully empathize with another person, we need to have gone through hard things in life as well. We can listen and love them, but if we've never had heartache, we can't really understand.

Basically, even though I'd never wish pain on anyone or myself again, I know that it is a necessary part of this life.

Faithbooking

Have you heard of this? I just ran into the idea of Faithbooking on Facebook and then I Googled it and learned even more.

Faithbooking is basically creating a scrapbook or journal focused on your spiritual journey. How awesome is that?

Here are some resources to get you thinking:

Lots of Links

A Faithbook blog

Website with lots of ideas

So, I'm thinking I may turn this blog into a blog about my faith and spiritual journey. Who knows, maybe my ramblings and thoughts about God and faith may help me or someone else!

I'll probably post things about my family and life, too, but isn't that what the whole journey is about anyway?

When we went to the "big" ultrasound, rather than learning the sex of our baby, we learned that there was no heartbeat.

It has been an extremely difficult time, but with faith and an eternal perspective, we are beginning to heal.

My take on menu planning

I like to be able to choose what I want to eat based on how I'm feeling that day. I don't do your "regular" menu planning. Here's what I do: I have a list of meals that we'll eat for that month (I have finally built up to 6 month's worth & we cycle through them) and I buy the groceries for the month. Of course I have to go back to the store for forgotten and used up things, but I try to do one BIG trip and save money by not going all the time. Then, I have a list of the meals for the month on the refrigerator and we can choose each day what we're in the mood for or have the energy/time for. I actually only plan for about 21 days and the rest either end up as eating out, leftovers, or we have to shop for a few things to make up the rest.

I have a lot of our favorites repeated several times in the cycle with lots of variety so we don't get bored eating the same thing.

My next step (that I just saw on another blog, today) is to create shopping lists for each month so that I don't have to do it over and over again. I can cross off ingredients that I still have enough of and add to the list as needed, but the basic list will be there to use the next time. I was just thinking that I had to sit down and do all of this at once, but I don't. I can do them each at the beginning of the month and save them for the next time. The only trouble is that I use an app on my iPod to shop with...I'll have to think about that some more.

What tips do you find helpful in creating menus for your family?