Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Free Food


This will probably be the first of many such blogs and I am going to try to start including pictures when I can/ remember to. Glenn goes to random meetings for medical students all the time. Sometimes there is food, sometimes there is not. (Sometimes, I think, he only goes because he thinks that there might be free food.) Tonight he went to a lecture for something about Rural Medicine that he said was really encouraging and came home with sandwiches and this huge pasta salad. The picture doesn't really do it justice but that is a normal 10" plate and the bowl is about 15" across. This picture was taken after my family scavenged both the sandwiches and the pasta salad. It also reminds me that we got another bowl of pasta salad this big but it was full to the top when we were living at Joel and Michelle's after some beginning of the year meeting that Glenn went to. It took the 9 of us a LONG time to finish that one :). Thanks God for free food :)

October 2009

* Since our apartment was still not ready I was free to go to Rochester to take care of the kids of some friends while they went on a cruise.
* We were finally able to move into our apartment on 10/14 even though it wasn't completely done yet. Kendra, Matt, Christina and Robert helped us carry stuff out of the attic of the place we had lived in June and July and up a block to our apartment. Matt and Christina brought us supper for the move in day and Kendra brought us a bag of random food leftover from a food distribution at their church - I never turn down free food!
* The bathroom was fixed enough for us to take showers on Sunday 10/18.
* 10# of Italian Sausage on Manager's Special at P&C
* Free Pumpkins and kites at a fall harvest party at a church nearby. We wanted to get pumpkins for the kids but didn't really want to have to pay for them and God provided pumpkins (the kids were even able to paint and decorate them there so that we didn't have a mess at home!) The kites were a bonus - we didn't have kites on our want or need list but the kids have had lots of fun with them!
* The toilet and sink moved from the dining room to the bathroom and put into service on 10/24.
* free Bounce Dryer bar because I had a coupon for $2.50 off and P&C had double coupon days.

September 2009

* 8/23-9/26 Joel and Michelle let us stay at their home with them with a couple of weekends where either we or they were gone.
* Dave and Hannah let us crash at their place when we had to be out of Joel and Michelle's house Labor Day weekend and then Matt and Christina let us crash for another night at their place as well.
* God in His infinite wisdom allowed us to make offers on 5 different houses over the months of August and September and allowed them all to fall through and then provided an apartment for us for at least the next 8 months just down the street from where we lived this summer that has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that we will be able to move into sometime in the future whenever it is fixed (this was written a few weeks ago). It is only $650/ mo. and has lots of built in storage spaces.
* Glenn's Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds visited from Wyoming and took us out to eat several times and put us up in a suite in the hotel that they stayed at for a couple of nights and the kids loved swimming in the pool there.
* Julaine let us move into her furnished house that she is not living in until we can get into our apartment.
* Quantum Leappad at Salvation Army for $5.
* I found 2 nearly new pairs of jeans that fit well at Salvation Army for myself as well as a new tie for Glenn.
* Over 20# of chicken for 99 cents a pound at P&C.

August 2009

We were "homeless" as of 8/1/09 but...
* Bethany and Josh put us up for the first two nights of our homeless time.
* Chris and Miranda put us up for the next two nights of our homeless time.
* We were asked to housesit by two different couples for the rest of Glenn's break so we stayed at Matt and Christina's in Syracuse for a while to look for houses and at Luke and Christina's in Rochester for the rest of the time that Glenn had break until 8/19.
* Dave and Hannah took our kids for the night for our tenth anniversary so we could sleep in on our anniversary and spend most of the day kid free :)
* Jim and Christine gave us 5 Ride and Slide passes to Seabreeze so we could go and spend the day and only have to pay for a pass for Abigail.
* Matt and Christina let us move back into their home with them when we had to be back in Syracuse for orientation.
* Lots of yummy fruit during orientation receptions.
* Glenn's Grandpa & Grandma Nicodemus from Cheyenne, Wyoming and my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson from Waterloo, NY were able to be here for Glenn's White Coat Ceremony.
* Grandpa & Grandma Nic took us out to eat a couple of times.

June-July 2009

We were able to sublet an apartment a mile and a half from the University for $600/mo. for 2 months.
Glenn was able to bike to school for all of Summer Anatomy = no gas or parking expenses.
Glenn was able to take Summer Anatomy and so free up his fall schedule.
We were able to use our downstairs neighbor's internet for $10/mo.
We were able to buy a Canon G9 camera with lots of accessories off of Craigslist for less than $400.
Glenn had been thinking he would like a big bottle to collect loose change in and a couple days later there was one out in front of the neighbor's house. From in front of the same house we also got an office chair, a bookbag for Glenn that he used everyday up until last week, and a couple of purses for the girls (yes, we curb dive).
Glenn got a good bike off Craigslist for $30 that he only had to walk down the street to get.
We went to free movies at Regal Cinema several times.

May 2009

* Jenn and Dan drove a UHaul trailer full of our stuff to Syracuse.
* Chris helped us move that day as well as Lori who stopped by and helped entertain the kids with lots of bubbles so I could pack. In Syracuse a bunch of people who were working on the apartment we were moving into helped unload the trailer and get our stuff into the apartment/ attic.
* Our Suburban worked to get a load of our stuff to Syracuse.
* Lunch was provided our first Sunday in Syracuse by a potluck at West Genesee Hills Baptist Church.

A day that changed out lives

January 26, 2009 – Glenn was accepted for admission to SUNY Upstate Medical University's Medical School Class of 2013! After going through the application process 3 times and taking the MCAT twice this is the first thing that God had provided for us on this adventure.

Why Living on Love and Peanut Butter?

Looking back I can think of some amazing ways that God has provided for us throughout our marriage. He has given us way more than we deserve. When we were first married I am told that when people asked my mom how we were doing she would say, “You know, they're living on love and peanut butter.” I guess that that was true back then and has been true for most of our marriage through times when we were in school and when we were waiting to get back in school. God has always faithfully provided our needs and so often our wants as well. I am sure that I have forgotten more things than I remember of how God has provided for us so I am starting this blog to keep a record for me to look back and see how God has provided for us through these 4 years before we will get a paycheck again. I know that there are many expenses and needs ahead of us but I also know Who knows what those needs will be before we have them and how He is going to provide for them. This blog is to be a faith bolstering record of how God has provided for us. I started this blog on a non-internet connected computer while we were homeless in September so officially starting it in October I may be a bit rusty on my remembrances from the summer but hopefully through looking at our other blog and things I have written down other places I will have a semi-accurate account of some things large and small God has done.