Thanksgiving Break(Fast)

You can tell it's Thanksgiving Break in the Webb home when the kids are having Coke and Pop Tarts for breakfast. 

Actually this breakfast was quite a deal at $0.88 for a 2-L of Coke (special Black Friday weekend deal) and $0.00 for the Pop-Tarts (given to us by a neighbor).  Bon appetit!

A Reason to Give Thanks

You’d think it was Christmas Eve.

The atmosphere last night in our home, at our church was electric.

Here at home, we worked alongside each other to prepare the house for Thanksgiving Day guests.  I made up a list of all of the things that I needed help with to get ready.  Our kids would choose something from the list, do it, cross it off, and then choose the next task until all was completed.  The spirit of cooperation, the time in which we got everything done, and the enjoyment that everyone displayed in serving was nothing short of amazing.

Fast forward to Bible study at 7pm.  “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus” kicks off and rounds out a medley of praise songs.  The tempo of that song, its simple tune, and the agreement among those in attendance as to what the words declare, elicit complete participation in the worship experience.  It’s difficult to stop.  However the praise continues by way of the message.  Pastor opens by acknowledging a family that used to be members at DaySpring and were back in town for a visit.  They share about how they were broken as individuals and as a married couple.  But how God healed them through our church’s ministry and now they are leading other married couples to healing.  Incredible.

Before Bible study came to a close, we are charged to get into groups of two adults (sometimes with children in tow as the children were in the sanctuary with us tonight) and share with the other person what we needed to thank God for that we haven’t thanked him for in the past.  This was difficult to do.  Both me and my partner felt that we had given our share of ‘thanks yous’ to God whenever he blessed us.  However it came to my mind that I had not thanked him for all of the hard times.  In the midst of difficulty, I just want God to take it all away.  ‘Make that person think right and act right so that I don’t have to deal with all this mess’ is more of the type of prayer that I might pray.  But what I could be praying is, ‘Thank you Father for the opportunity to learn and grow from this struggle.’  Hard prayer to pray, huh?  Job puts it like this, Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? Job 2:10b.

On the ride home from church, our daughter remarked, “Mom, we’ve never had such an eventful night at church before a holiday before.”  In my mind the night wasn’t necessarily eventful, it was exciting, but I guess her word choice confused me.  “What was eventful about it?” I asked.  She answered, “The Redcross’s were in town…” then she kind of trailed off realizing that there was only that one thing to be noted.  I just kind of let it go, happy that she was feeling good about the evening.

Tucking the boys into bed, our youngest recited a prayer about being happy it was Thanksgiving tomorrow with intonations of joy and giddiness all at the same time.  I thought in my mind, ‘They are not falling asleep anytime soon.’  Sure enough after being downstairs for about 15 minutes then heading up to bed myself, I listen in on the commotion coming from their room.  They are delighting in making various volumes of farting noises for one another.  I decide to let them have their fun and not intervene.

It finally dawned on me today, this Thanksgiving Day, that last night my children were sensing the Holy Spirit of God.  What Morgan tried to verbally share, the “wired” condition of the boys in their room—we experienced our own Pentecost here in the Webb household.  As I sit at my computer typing this up with the light of dawn breaking on Thanksgiving Day, God has given me yet another reason to give thanks.

This is How We do It

Upon beginning our journey to become consumer-debt free back in 2006, Ross and I started by talking about the things that we valued.  Yes, we wanted to be out of debt, but as individuals and as a couple, there were some non-negotiables that we chose not to do without.  For example, we were going to continue to get our hair professionally done.  No bowl haircuts or boxed hair relaxers.  Hair would stay in the budget. 

Another non-negotiable that we decided upon was a quarterly getaway for the two of us.  This is a must.  Yes, we have date night and that is great.  But there is something so freeing about being away from home (not just around the corner) for days (rather than hours) alone together that caused us both to recognize that regular getaways are not just a want but a need for our marriage.  I thought I would share with you how we make that happen by writing about our weekend away.  This is how we do it...

One of our regular getaways this time of year is to State College, PA to take in a Penn State football game.  On the way up we traditionally eat dinner at a BBQ restaurant with a breathtaking view called "Skeeters".  The food is fabulous and best of all reasonably priced.  This BBQ is worth the drive. 

Because of it being a game weekend, the hotels surrounding the college are either typically full or insanely priced.  So we stay about an hour or so away from the campus.  We use a site called Roomsaver.com  You type in where you are looking to stay, and it provides a list of hotels in that area with special discounted rates.  We always try to stay somewhere with a breakfast buffet to save on food.  There were about four places to choose from, and we chose the Holiday Inn Express.  Although it was the priciest of the four, hotels are a commodity that I DO NOT like to compromise on.  I want a hotel to look and feel as comfortable, accommodating, and clean as if I were staying at a friend's home. 

At the football game, we did splurge and purchase a mug with hot chocolate, some bottled water, nachos, and a soft pretzel.  The prices make me cringe.  But I feel free to spend because we were using money from our vacation savings for its very purpose--vacation!

Before we left home, Ross looked up some restaurant deals at restaurant.com in the State College area.    We printed out the one that showed promise--Pita Cabana Cafe, a Lebanese restaurant.  Delicious does not even begin to describe what we experienced.  The style of food is like Chipoltle where you get a rice bowl, salad, or pita then pick your proteins and toppings.  Well, here the toppings were tabouli, hummus, tahini, tzatziki sauce, and all kinds of other wonderful, exotic, flavor-filled delights.  Every bite of my rice bowl was a taste of heaven, and everyday eating will pale in comparison from here on out.  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but suffice it to say I LOVED the food!

After eating, we made a stop to pick up a few things at the new Trader Joe's and afterwards decided to drive back home for our final night.  Although we could've done another hotel, we took a couple of things into consideration.  First, our son had been away camping for the weekend and was coming back on Sunday at noon.  Therefore, we would need to come home much more quickly than we normally would from one of our trips.  Second, we will be going away to see Ross's parents in December and the money that we saved on a hotel would be able to go towards this trip for gas and miscellaneous expenses. 

We got home late, slept, leisurely woke up (such a treat), Ross cooked breakfast (another treat) and washed the dishes (what did I do to deserve such royal treatment?), and then we fell asleep on the couch until it was time to pick up our son.  Oh, and did I mention that I got two pairs of shoes for under $9 at the Shoe Department while we were away?

What's For Lunch?

Recently a discount bread store in our area closed down.  In this store, I could get 4 bags of bagels, 6 loaves of bread, two 12-packs of hot dog buns, and two 12-packs of hamburger buns all for under $10.  I knew that their closure would drastically affect our grocery budget.  The store was truly a hidden gem.

Concurrently, my kids had begun tiring of lunch meat sandwiches.  My husband was fine with them, but the kids had begun to complain about them, not to mention the fact that I was having a tough time finding a good price on lunch meat even at the discount store that I frequent.  Because of these recent developments, I began seeking out alternative ideas for school lunches.

Our oldest son Hunter has been really into soups.  Especially Ramen Noodle Soup.  So I found a thermos for him at the Goodwill (a steal at only $1.97) and he's been taking soup for lunches.  I couldn't believe that it actually stays hot until his lunch time! Shortly after this, a friend shared with me that her kids pack salads for lunch.  She buys romaine lettuce at Sam's (which lasts them a week in bulk) and then gets various toppings for the kids to add to it.  Before going grocery shopping that day I emailed my husband to ask if he'd be willing to try salads for a week and see how it goes.  He emailed me back specifically stating that he would be willing to try for one week.

The kids were home from school so I took all of them along with me to shop.  They were great helpers picking out and making suggestions for salad toppings.  After all of the shopping was said and done, our toppings included: olives, bacon bits, chick peas, imitation crab meat, summer sausage, oyster crackers, shredded cheese, carrots, and a myriad of salad dressings.  I made my husband a salad the following day and he told me that it was 'really good'.  Actually he's been telling me that every day since I started making him salads for lunch :-) 

For snacks everyone has been taking:

Apples--we got a 1/2 bushel of apples from a place called Paulus Orchards near Ski Roundtop, about 1/2 hour from Harrisburg.  You can get their "seconds" (what they consider not the best of the best, but really you can't tell the difference) of any type of in season apples for $8.00.  We keep them out in our garage so that they stay cold and keep.  Not enough room in the fridge for all of those!

Yogurt--at Sharp Shopper (my favorite discount grocery store) you can get the individual ones four for a dollar.  Or you can get a large 32oz. container of vanilla yogurt for 50 cents.  You cannot beat these prices.

Tangy Oyster crackers--Oyster crackers are 25 cents for a 12 oz. bag.  Recently Ross came up with the idea of seasoning them with a little olive oil and some spices.  Then he lays them out on a baking sheet and cooks them for a couple of minutes in the oven.  This takes those bland crackers and kicks them up a notch.  You can then take them and add pretzels or peanuts to make them into a snack mix.

I hope that these ideas are helpful and healthful for you and your family.