Food Allergies??

This post is a shout out to all of you out there who have already had to brave the world of a food allergy. I personally do not have a food allergy and have never had to think much about what I eat and how it might affect me. That was until I started nursing. For the past three months I have been off dairy. I have been avoiding "obvious" dairy. Like milk and all cheeses. London has been doing better because of this but this past weekend was a nightmare. Her tummy seems to hurt all the time. So I was advised to take the next step and actually eliminate all dairy. After doing my homework I realized that dairy is in almost everything we eat. They hide it in words like whey, casein, lactose, recaldent. Did you know that even lunch meat has dairy in it? I went food shopping last night so I could start stocking my shelves with dairy free friendly food so I would not cheat because of lack of options. It is overwhelming to read all the labels...it was a very long food shopping trip for four bags of food. The other thing I realized, because I have a friend with a legume (soy) allergy....THERE IS SOY IN EVERYTHING ALSO. I also found it interesting that you would find a food not containing milk or soy or gluten, but then at the bottom of the container they advise you that the food you are about to eat was packaged at a plant that also packages food that contains soy, or nuts, or gluten...so it would be in your food. Very challenging!

27 down, 63 to go

We're 27 days into our 90 day spending fast. It has been filled with challenging moments...Some we've failed in and some we've met head on. We have spent money 3 times. One time it was my slip up and the other two were both of us convincing each other it was ok.

During this whole experience, I have really sensed the Lord, continuing to whisper to me. Thoughts and questions that have really come to the surface:

Is that really a need or is it a want?

Can you live without it?

Why is this so hard?

I have been blessed in some incredible ways this last 4 weeks. Not so much financially, but in much more spiritual ways. I'm finding my times with the Lord throughout my day are much sweeter, much more intimate....Not sure why not spending money on needless things has done this, but I'm sure it has something to do with God saying, "I am your portion, and I am ALL you need."

We will continue to share our journey through this and hope it calls us deeper into His story and encourages the body of Christ.

grace and peace,

matt

p.s. on a side note, one of the times we cheated and ate out for 15 dollars happen to be the worst chinese food we've ever had...go figure. :)

My Girls

Our friend Tobi took this....

15 down, 75 to go

I am at day 15 of our 90 day spending fast. So what has it been like so far? For me, it has been quite a challenge. I had a friend ask me the first weekend, if I have always enjoyed spending money and if I have always found pleasure in it? The question caught me completely off guard because I am so FRUGAL!!! I have used that word to describe myself so many times in my life. So her next questions was, when did it change for you? I am so glad God used her to ask me that question because I dont know if I would have realized there had been a drastic change, I started enjoying spending money and going out and buying useful stuff two to three times a week.....WHEN I BECAME A STAY-AT-HOME-MOM. I think it is because I am bored. So I decide to take the kids to the mall or run an errand at Target, or go grab lunch just to get out of the house. These first two weeks have been very introspective for me.

Struggles:
Not being able to get lunch when I am bored
Staying away from Target
My brothers birthday was last week, so I made him cookies instead of buying a gift

New Things:
I went to the Library and got a Library card. I can now read new books without having to buy them at the bookstore. I am also going to go and check out free children's activities they have to offer.

Sunday Surprise

Adrienne and I were letting Ryland play on the stage Sunday like usual and all of the sudden we both look over and this is what we saw.... 

We both starting laughing hysterically. He was singing right into the microphone just like his daddy. As we talked it was so funny to us because we've never showed him that.....He just had seen me lead worship and picked it up. It was a fun moment for our family.

grace and peace,

Matt

Reminder To You And Me

I have friends both near and far going nuts over the health reform debate. It's a serious topic, so I understand why....Over the years, I've learned on these kinds of sensitive topics to try and not debate until both parties have researched....but even then when the research is cnn or fox only, it gets kinda funny and sad debating. This is a reminder to me and to my friends as I did during the elections back in 08...Check your facts before you speak with such passion and your ready to call the other person an idiot. This stuff is splitting friendships and even families......

Let's also remember Jesus has called us to love one another. Speak truth, but make sure it's truth before your willing to die on a hill for it. 

Hear my heart. Both conservatives and liberals are literally nuts right now. This is a pursuit of gathering the best information possible and then forming a passionate response, not the other way around.

Below is a post from the AARP, debunking many rumors about the actual reform trying to be passed and below that are some non-partisan websites that pursue the accurate story debunking both Republicans and Democrats...

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/policy/articles/health_care_reform2.1.html

www.FactCheck.org

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/

grace and peace,

Matt

The Next 90 Days

Technically, this post should have been written on September 1st.... :)

Matt and I are embarking on a 90 day spending fast. I'm not quite sure if that is the right term for it, but let me explain what we are doing. We've both realized that it gets so easy to spend money without even giving it much thought and we both sense the Lord challenging us to live with a more Kingdom perspective especially with our money. In the past few months there have been a few moments of need in our friends around us where we wished/hoped we could have helped more with that need. God placed this desire in us to bless others but because of our lack of stewardship with our money we weren't able to bless those around us fully. Money will only be spent on:

1. monthly bills

2. giving/tithing 

3. groceries

4. gas

In essence, we've taken away our ability for discretionary spending. Our hope is to listen more closely to what God wants for us in ALL areas of our life, so that we might be more Kingdom minded.

Please pray for us. We say this with a smile because at times this will be a challenge for us....We will be blogging once a week about our journey through this.

grace and peace,

Matt and Adrienne (written together)