Free Food Weekend

I haven't posted in a long time. I am sure that there are things that need to be posted here but I am going to just post about this weekend which included some yummy free food.

Yesterday we went to a furniture store that was having a sale and offering free food. We were looking for a new couch and are interested in getting a new mattress as well. We didn't decide to buy anything yesterday but we did get free hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches.

Today Glenn went to a conference from something about family physicians and was fed at the Genessee Grand Hotel. While he was there I took the kids and their little friend whose mom works a couple of doors down to a community fair a few blocks from here. It was a lot of fun. Some of the free things there included soft serve ice cream cones with sprinkles, cotton candy, flea circus, hot dogs, hamburgers, lemonade, snow cones, bounce house obstacle course, caricatures, face painting, mini golf, velcro fishing and live music. Score! It was a lot of fun!

Then tonight our whole family was invited to the party for the family practice thing at Glenn's advisor's house (who was the president of the organization this year). It was catered and there was food everywhere - starting with cheeses, meats and crackers, then various salads and fruits, then roast beef, finger potatoes and veggies, then a delicious berry shortcake for dessert. We love free food and Caleb was super excited that he didn't have to do dishes :)

Thanks God for blessing us with free food this weekend!

Curb Dives

I am not even sure where to begin with this one. I haven't kept an annotated list of these lately (which I probably should have). This is the time of the year to find stuff (if you can get it before the scrappers do). We have been blessed by the curb this spring. I'll have to work on this more when the kids are awake to have them remind me but here are a few things that we have picked up the last week or so:

- a shoe rack (that fits perfectly in the little entryway of our new apartment that I had no idea what to put there!)

- a spiral bound atlas of the Syracuse area

- a tall 4 shelve metal shelving unit that we'll put in the basement to store stuff on

- a 4 shelf thing (I am not really sure what it is or what we'll use it for) that I got today from a girl that I saw that looked like she was frustrated and crying on the side of the road and I stopped to help her fit stuff into her car

- we have also found lots of good books (as if we didn't already have 25+ Baxter boxes packed full of books)

- a shipping crate that we're planning on painting and lining with contact paper to make a toy box for the kids

- an office chair (missing a wheel but Glenn thinks he can fix it)

- a stack of xbox games (most of which we'll be taking to EB Games to change into games that we actually want/ will play)

- a fun orange desk chair

- a pretty lamp

Baseball Gloves

On Tuesday night we went to the softball game of two girls who live on our street. As the kids and I sat and watched the game I started thinking about the fact that we only have 2 baseball gloves, mine and a left handed one that we had bought for Caleb last year. I realized that my kids didn't know how to play baseball or how to throw or catch with a glove and it is a skill that they should have. It's another one of those things that I am not sure when they start doing in public school but I just hadn't gotten around to doing with my kids. I told God about it briefly on our walk home that I would really like to get some gloves to play with the kids with and that it would be nice if there would be some at Salvation Army or a yard sale sometime soon.

On Wednesday mornings I have started going to a Bible study at Eastern Hills Bible Church because I really wanted to go to a Bible study and they have a program for home schooled kids during the Bible study which is so great. (A few of the ladies from our homeschool book club told me about it.) Anyway, there is a free table set up at the church during the Bible study for people to get rid of things they don't need and pick up things that would bless them. When I got there on Wednesday morning what was on the table but 2 little kid baseball gloves. I was stunned. Why was I surprised? I really don't know God is like that, he loves to bless me. As I stood there staring at them I told my friend that I had just asked God for baseball gloves the night before and I think that she thought it was weird but I am thankful. Yes, they won't fit the girls' hands for long but they will work for this summer. God, You are so gracious. Thank You for blessing us with baseball gloves that someday we'll be able to bless others with!

Homeschool Books

Not long ago a friend of mine (whom I hope to someday meet) who is the wife of a friend of mine from long ago contacted me and told me that God had impressed on their hearts to bless us by buying us some books for our homeschool. I had shared with her previously about my children's handwriting and we'd talked back and forth about homeschooling. She called me one day and we talked about homeschooling and she told me about some books that she wanted to buy for me. Over the next couple of weeks I was overwhelmed by the packages that came to me in the mail. Many of them were used books that she'd found online and shipped to me but several of them were new. I am so humbled at God's generosity and the willingness of this couple to be used of God to bless us like this!

This photo is missing two books that arrived after I took the picture:
Life Skills for Kids and Your Left Handed Child.

Thank you God for blessing us through C & S with these books that will be such a tremendous help to us!

Bananagrams

Today after American Girl Book Club we stopped at Barnes and Noble for their homeschool information session. As a homeschool family we get an educational discount for anything that we buy there. I still don't have a card yet but that is a nice feature. It was neat to hear about what programs they have there. I was able to pick up some information on different books and series that they had gotten from publishers for teachers. I was just in time to sign up for the drawing and won Bananagrams. It looks like a really fun game. I took a picture but again, it will be loaded later. I am excited to play it with the kids as they start spelling better. It is small and we can bring it with us for fun times. I was not expecting to win anything so that was pretty exciting!

Thanks Barnes and Noble for the game and the resources. Thanks God for unexpected surprises!

19 Cent Bananas

I went to the Syracuse Real Food Co-op on Wednesday because that is what we do. Wednesday is cheap coffee day. If you bring your own mug it is only 15 cents for a re-fill. If Glenn is around it is sometimes our little date to walk the two blocks down to the Co-op for cheap coffee. On Wednesday it was such a nice day and the kids desperately wanted to get outside, so much so that they agreed to take a walk to the Co-op for recess. The little neighbor boy from across the street came with us and we walked down to get coffee. While we were in the store I saw that they had a box of their organic, fair trade bananas on sale for 19 cents a pound because they were going bad. I was super excited but I had only brought 15 cents and my coffee mug and 5 kids. I decided we'd have an extended recess so we walked back up the hill to get money and a couple of reusable bags and then back down to the Co-op where we bought about 12 ½ pounds of bananas for less than $3.

Thanks God for cheap coffee and cheap bananas :)

State Services

I have always had mixed emotions when we have used Medicaid or WIC in the past – so incredibly grateful for the services but guilty too, wishing we did not have to use them. Right now the only one eligible for WIC is Abigail and she “graduates” in November because she will be too old for the program. It has been a help to us though it no longer covers our milk, egg, cheese, juice, cereal and peanut butter needs it does provide just shy of a week's worth which is such a blessing.

The kids have not been to a doctor since we left Waterloo back in 2007 because they did not have health insurance. They are now on Medicaid and I need to get them in for checkups. I am thankful for the medicaid though because last month when the two littlest girls got pink eye we got a prescription for something and when I got it filled at Target the price on the slip was $92 and we didn't have to pay anything. I am also thankful that Glenn can be on Healthy NY right now which is about $100 a month cheaper than the health insurance that was offered through the school.

Thank you God for providing, even through government programs.