Saturday, January 9, 2010

Blessings at the Market

Today I went to the Regional Market here in Syracuse (by myself!!! I don't remember the last time I was by myself!!). The whole way there I was grumbling in my heart because I missed the Public Market in Rochester. If I was going there I knew exactly which farmers to go to to buy the items that I needed to buy from but I figured that the outside farmers that I had bought from in the fall in Syracuse wouldn't be around so I had no idea who to buy from or if any "real farmers" would be there. I found the farmers in one of the sections of the market and was able to find most of the stuff that I needed. Peppers were on my list and I was excited to find someone selling a box of them for $2. They had spots on them and I had to throw part of them away but they didn't really look that much worse than the ones that were being sold across the aisle for 2 for $1. When I got home I sorted them and cut them up. There were 22 peppers that I got for $2. I came up with a gallon and a quart bag of greens to put in the freezer and a quart of red peppers. There was also quite a bit of scraps in my batter bowl that we put on pizza tonight.

Thank you God for providing an abundance of peppers and other good things at the market today. Please forgive me for grumbling and doubting that You would provide.

$2 worth of peppers!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Peanut Butter

Last Friday was my brother's birthday but we overslept so we couldn't go to his party and take my aunt Joy who was going to come with us. Instead she came over and brought one of her Bhutanese refugee friends and her little boy with her. Joy works with refugees here in Syracuse and they often give her peanut butter that is given to them because they do not like it. She asked me if we could use some and since we love peanut butter I said yes. She also brought us some other treats to share. When they came her friend also brought a bag of random food that was provided for her that her won't eat. It is humbling to take food from a refugee who lives in an apartment with 8 other family members trying to make her way here in America where she is half the world from her husband working to try to bring him here but we are thankful for the food that she brought, especially the peanut butter :)

A Free Ride

Glenn had 2 weeks off for Christmas so we decided to go and see his family in Wyoming for Christmas this year. We hadn't been to Wyoming for Christmas since Caleb's first Christmas back in 2000. We thought about flying or taking the train but that was going to cost us about $3600. We googlemapped it and found out that it was going to cost less than $600 round trip for gas so we prepared for a road trip and prayed for clear roads. 28 hours out with clear roads most of the way and 31.5 hours home with completely clear roads was a huge blessing. Another huge blessing is that when we got to Wyoming Grandpa asked us how much it cost us to get there. He went to the bank and gave us double that to cover expenses there and back. We are so thankful for this generous gift which helped us a lot!