Month: December 2009

Weekly Meal Menu

Ingredients needed

We’re trying a new practice around Casa de Blundell. Trying to get back to planning ahead more and cooking more at home. I’ve volunteered to do the planning and cooking. So here’s the first week. (Probably a little different schedule than normal due to continued holiday/birthday events.)
Ultimately my goal is to try and reduce all the different things we buy – and have enough left overs for lunches the next day.

Sunday Lunch:
Spaghetti
Rolls/bread
Sunday Dinner:
Sandwiches/Cereal (can you guess who’ll be eating what?)
Monday Dinner
Southwestern Turkey Chili
Tuesday Dinner
Rosemary Scented Grilled Chicken
Salad
Wednesday Lunch
Chicken salad (using leftovers from the night before)
Wednesday Dinner
Out to Eat/TSO Concert
Thursday Dinner
Chicken & Chipotle Soup
Friday Dinner
Birthday Parties
Saturday Dinner
Small group

So what do you think? What does your menu look like for next week? Got any pointers for future menus? Especially for a family of 2?

Oh and for the record, while this wasn’t built using the site, HEB has one of the best weekly meal planners — EVER. Granted much of it is based around their products (including several partially prepared meats/meals) but its a great resource even if you’re not near an HEB.

Emmanuel. God with us.

Away in a manger

On this Christmas we remember….

Light came into the world and said,

“I will crush your darkness.”

Justice came into the world and said,

“I will proclaim your freedom.”

Peace came into the world and said,

“I will turn your conflict.”

The Word came into the world and said,

“I will call your name.”

Love came into the world and said,

“I will share your life, always.”

Amen

(ht again to Stewart Culter for “cultivating” this great message)

Green Church

Looking for some good light reading over the holidays?

Check out Greenchurch.info.

The most life-changing ministry we can humanly provide a group of overlooked friends is a simple Body of Christ, a Church, planted among them, to be His Hands, His Heart, His Voice, His Compassion in their circle of relationships.

Goosebumps and Justice (advent reflections)

If you haven’t had a chance to – I’d highly recommend taking 40 min and listening to our advent reflections from the podcast last week.

Perhaps pull it up on your computer/Hi-Fi/iPods and listen as a family around the fire tonight or tomorrow evening.

Enjoy the thoughts, reflections and music and remember what this season of the year is all about.

The Year in Review

11/365

Jim Gray (Beaconhill NW) offered up a great list of introspective questions for closing out 2009.

I shared my answers on his blog (whether he was looking for that or not :-)) and thought I’d share them here as well.

1. What are the 2-3 themes that personally defined 2009 for me?
grace. patience. love wins.

2. What people, books, accomplishments, or special moments created highlights in 2009?
publishing my first novel in Dec., working through the foster care process to get certified as foster parents, our first cruise with friends in February and our second cruise with family in July

3. Give yourself a grade from 1-10 in the following areas of focus for 2009:
vocationally – 6
spiritually – 6
family – 6
relationally – 7
emotionally – 8
financially – 6 – this one always worries more than it probably should
physically – 7
recreationally – 6

4. What am i working on that is BIG?
I don’t know that anything I’m doing would be considered “BIG”. I’d like to think of the things I’m doing as small but having impacts on individuals – such as our podcast, my novel, laundry love, and our community groups.

5. As I move into 2010, is a majority of my energy being spent on things that drain me or things that energize me?
It’s a mixture. From 8-4:30 much of my time ends up spent on things that drain me. My evenings and weekends I try and focus on things that excite me but I’m also trying to re-prioritize some things and find more balance among the things that excite me.

6. How am I preparing for 10 years from now? 20 years from now?
Probably not very well. I’m more focused on the next 6 months than anything beyond that.

7. What 2-3 things have I been putting off that I need to execute on before the end of the year?
I hope to be doing some video/audio production work during my week off as well as some projects for our tribe – including building an online solution for tracking our “members” as well as preparing for some training for our community group facilitators.

What about you? How would you respond to these questions?

The Christmas fun begins

This weekend we got a head start on our Christmas festivities (besides the 3 or 4 office parties/lunches I’ve already been to) with two family parties.

Saturday night was the annual Turner-Medlin Christmas party – which I think has now become the Turner-Medlin-Blundell-Lattanzi party.

This was my third year to take part in the annual party and its always one of the highlights of the season.

Along with the Christmas festivities, we also use the occasion to celebrate our nephew Jake’s birthday – which is Dec. 21.

Jake blows out the Birthday candles
Continue reading The Christmas fun begins