Heavenly Homemakers

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A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

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Curious about a day in our lives at the Coppinger Castle? I’ll give you a peek!

Every day can look a little bit different, of course. But here’s what a typical day looks like for us, based on what happened this Wednesday:

A Day in Our Lives at the Coppinger Castle

5:25am I (Laura) rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to enjoy as much quiet time as I could get.

5:35 I made my way to the kitchen to drink water and make myself a cup of coffee. I always find something tasty (like a muffin) to eat with my coffee. Then I sit with my coffee in the living room and spend time talking to God as I wake up. I open my Bible and read wherever God leads me to read that day and journal with Him about what He’s teaching/telling me. Today I read in Deuteronomy and was reminded: Don’t let anything else become a god in my life. Be fully devoted to HIM, and He will bless my obedient heart.

6:20 Keith woke up extra early today and found me in the dark living room. I put my Bible and journal away for some snuggles. BabyBoy#11 woke up too and enjoyed a diaper change and ate some of his bottle. (He has some eating issues so he only eats a little bit of his bottle at a time, all day long). :) I settled him onto the floor to play with Keith.

6:35 I opened my computer to check email and upload/edit some photos for our next weekly Food and Fun post. I try to keep up with this each day so that I can have it ready to post on Sunday afternoons.

6:45 Keith was hungry so we headed into the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready. I poured three sippy cups full of milk for the three littlest girls. (Their milk is like my coffee: gotta have it first thing.)

I started making breakfast to keep kids from becoming hangry as they woke up. This particular day we had Warm Vanilla Soother and Bagels.

I used a dozen eggs to make it extra rich and full of protein.

While I was cooking the soother, I heated Tomato Soup to pack in the kids’ lunchboxes.

And I started a fresh pot of coffee.

7:00 I finished making breakfast and got the kids’ started on eating (all 7 littles were all up now). Usually, while the kids eat, I clean out dishwashers, load dishwashers, plan tonight’s dinner, and finish packing the kids’ lunches for school. Somewhere in there, I ran to the basement to start a load of laundry.

ALL MORNING LONG at least two of our kids have usually been tantruming off and on. We’ve tried everything to get ahead of these fits, but they struggle to regulate their emotions and mornings can be the hardest. 

8:00 From now until 8:40 we are finishing breakfast, brushing teeth, dressing toddlers, finding shoes, settling more tantrums, and trying to get 7 kids out the door so that we can walk Brayden and Kiya to school. Our walk involves two double strollers for our four littlest, plus Keith on his bike. Brayden and Kiya power walk with Matt and me because the truth is, 9:00 is a wonderful late start time but it’s still hard to get all of us out the door every morning. So we are almost always running “just on time – if we hurry.”

8:55 We send them off to their classrooms with a hug and a daily message, “Let God’s light shine through you! Love you!” then Matt and I walk the littlest five home.

9:15 Usually we play outside for a while when we get home, feed everyone a little bit more, give BabyBoy#11 more of his bottle, and Matt finds time to finally eat.

This is often when I make our smoothies because I ate at 5:30 and I’m ready for “second breakfast” now.

Somewhere in there, I wash up some of the bigger pots, pans, and bowls.

10:00 We either have meetings at this time or take the kids on an outing if we don’t have anything scheduled. Meetings happen eight to twelve weekday mornings every month depending on the needs (IEPs, IFSPs, Case Worker visits, Foster Care Specialist visits, Early Development Team visits, and Speech Pathologist visits). This particular morning, I had an IEP meeting for Acacia.

11:30 While I finished my meeting (this one was at our house), Matt gave Keith and Anna something to eat and made sure they have their shoes on and backpacks ready. Their preschool bus comes at 12:00.

12:05 We are left at home with just three kids!! It’s soooo quiet now, haha! But for real. After we get Keith and Anna off to school it is typically much calmer. We play, eat lunch (usually leftovers), and try to sit and read with Acacia, Josie, and BabyBoy#11.

1:15 NAPTIME!!! We work hard to synch up BabyBoy#11’s nap with his sisters’ so that they will all sleep at the same time. Matt catches up on business paperwork, bill paying, or does work that the Castle needs. I get out my laptop and work on posts like these! ;)

2:30 Josie woke up already – BOOOO. This cuts my worktime short but more importantly, she hasn’t slept long enough and is therefore grumpy. I snuggle her a while to see if she’ll rest some more. Nope.

2:40 I head to the kitchen with Josie to get ahead on dinner. She watches with great interest. ;)

2:45 Acacia heard Josie crying so she woke up too. She joined us in the kitchen. I had an abundance of milk – given to us the day before when we were volunteering at the Food Distribution – so I decided to surprise everyone with Pudding Parfaits after dinner so that I could use up some milk.

These little stinkers sure are cute.

3:00 I turned on the smoker to cook the chicken I’d marinated earlier that day. I needed to make dinner early because I had to leave at 3:45 for Parent Teacher Conferences and wouldn’t get back until almost time to eat.

The food we receive at the Food Distribution is typically close to its “sell-by” date so I usually plan our meals based on what we brought home the day before so that it won’t go bad. Thus the Pudding Parfaits I described above. We’d also received some pizza crusts so I spread on olive oil, sprinkled on garlic powder, then topped with mozzarella cheese to make Cheesy Breadsticks to go with our dinner that night. I slid them into the oven to bake right before meal time.

3:30 Matt left to pick up the kids from school and since the two girls were up, he took them with him in a stroller so I could finish kitchen work and head out to conferences.

3:45 Malachi and Elias listened for BabyBoy#11 (who was still napping) and I headed out for Brayden and Kiya’s parent teacher conferences.

4:00 Matt arrived back home with his crew. Keith and Anna got dropped off by the school bus. Kiya had homework (which she can mostly work through on her own). The baby could wake up at any time. Everyone is hungry. Basically – this is just time to survive as we transition into the evening.

4:45 I made it back home from the kids’ school and finished up dinner.

5:15 Everyone was ready to eat. I fixed plates and took them outside since the weather was nice – and so that the mess would fall to the ground instead of onto our dining room floor.

Every night, we can count on there being lots of people around at dinnertime. But we never quite know how many people there will be to feed. Some of our housemates are almost always around to join us. Often, friends of Elias and Malachi are over. We make enough to feed plenty, loving it when it all gets eaten! If fewer are around to eat, then we benefit from having leftovers. Either way, it’s a win! (This particular night, two of our housemates were out and Elias and Malachi had gone to a concert. So there were “only” 12 at home for dinner that night.)

6:00 Everyone who ate a good dinner enjoyed a Pudding Parfait. We played outside the rest of the evening because it was a beautiful night. I stopped taking pictures at this point because keeping everyone alive and safe outside is a bit hectic.

7:10 We headed inside and started the process of getting the kids ready for bed. Of course, Brayden and Kiya do this lovely life hack because it’s the best “get ready for school” trick and I love it.

7:30 We try to gather everyone in the living room for our nightly Singing and Prayer time. But with this many littles, it doesn’t always work and the youngest four can be pretty squirrely. Eventually this will turn back into a precious time. Right now, it’s nuts – with singing and prayer on top.

We managed to make it happen tonight, and ended our time in the living room together by saying all of Psalm 23 together. Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all have it memorized now. Anna knows some of it and our guess is that Acacia and Josie know more than they let on – they just aren’t talking much yet.

—> Since I wasn’t able to get a current picture of our Singing and Prayer Time, here’s an older, precious photo taken at our York house one evening when several college students were hanging out and joined us. Oh look, it’s Baby Keith. And dating couple Justus and Kelsey. This picture brings me joy. <—

8:00 BEDTIME. Acacia wears a brace to bed because she was born with a club foot and needs a brace to help with her ongoing needs. Matt does some very simple ankle manipulation with her before putting on her brace while I brush some toddler teeth, answer my 400millionth question of the day, and as sweetly as I can, beg everyone to go right to sleep without getting up all night. :) Ha. But seriously.

8:30 BabyBoy#11 finishes as much milk as we can give him to help him sleep as long as possible through the night (he usually lasts until 3am, but the past couple of nights have been longer!). We settle him into bed. Matt and I finally have some quiet, uninterrupted conversation time before I PASS OUT.

And that’s a Day in our Lives at the Coppinger Castle. Maybe I’ll write another one of these posts a different day so that we can compare what might be the same or different from day to day!

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Lunches I Packed September 25-29, 2023

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Here are the school lunches I packed September 25-29…

This week was mostly hot weather so I packed cold lunches every day but Tuesday. I packed a hot lunch that day, only because I had leftover chili from our huge 65-person meal that Sunday. The kids love chili, so they were excited I had packed this!

Kiya has informed me that she is getting tired of pickles in her lunch. Fair enough. I shall now hold off on the pickles. :)

Lunches I Packed September 25-29, 2023

Monday: Cottage Cheese, Fruit Cups, Packaged Muffins, and Cucumbers (for Brayden)

Tuesday: Chili with fritos and shredded cheese, Pear Cups, and a Peanut Butter Bars.

Wednesday: Chicken Salad on Croissants, Carrots with Dip, and Applesauce Cups

Thursday: Cheese and Pepperoni with Crackers, Yogurt Cups (found these whole milk yogurt cups at Aldi!), Mixed Veggie Bag for Brayden and Pickles for Kiya (<— that afternoon she requested no more pickles for a while please :) :) :) )

Fun Friday: Sandwiches, Chips (Kiya actually chose pistachios for her “chips”), Applesauce, and a Treat of their choice

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30, 2023

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Here’s our post sharing our Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30…

Big Family Food and Fun: September 24-30, 2023

This week started out with the biggest, best bang! We had heard that our beloved York University Singers were going to be performing in a church just three blocks from our house. So we messaged the director and asked if we could please feed the crew at the Castle that evening after their performance. It was the first we’d hosted something so big here, and it was a dream!! But first, breakfast. And lunch.

Sunday morning’s breakfast was Baked Oatmeal that had been created the night before by one of our housemates.

While everyone was eating, I got a huge batch of White Chicken Chili started in our roaster so that it could slow cook all day and be ready to feed the big crew. I had already made two huge pots of regular Chili so they were ready to warm up at dinner time.

When we left church that morning, we stopped at Sam’s since it’s on the way home so that I could grab last minute food items needed for our huge meal.

For lunch that day, I had put Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole in the crock pot. We ate it with green beans before moving full force into dinner mode.

We got tables and chairs set up all over the house and outside. The crew arrived just after 6pm and started making their way through the food lines. Of course, I forgot all about taking pictures of the big buffet of food we’d set out because I was too busy giving hugs. Wow, I’d missed these “kids.”

We set up a Coffee Bar in the living room so Elias could make people Lattes or whatever they requested. :)

Here’s what the buffet looked like by the time I remembered to get a picture. :)

We served two huge pots of Chili, a roaster full of White Chicken Chili, grapes, strawberries, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, plus cinnamon rolls and corn bread (made by a dear friend here in Lincoln whose son is in the choir), plus a table full of desserts.

I had made Frosted Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Peanut Butter Cookies, and these Cupcakes. One of our housemates had made two beautiful desserts very similar to this Death by Chocolate recipe. It was a huge hit!

Truly, Sunday evening was a dream for me. I loved hosting these young adults!

Monday morning I was…tired. :) For breakfast, I got out yogurt and the Peanut Butter Honey Granola I’d made last week.

I don’t remember what we did all day?? Dishes. Yes, I did wash a lot of big pots from the day before. :)

That night for we enjoyed the last of the whole chicken I’d smoked the week before with pasta and Alfredo sauce. Plus I steamed carrots and warmed up leftover broccoli. I made lots, but we ended up having a beautiful crowd of 18 people at our house that night so it still ended up being barely enough. :)

Therefore, Matt made several rounds of popcorn for a snack before we got the littles ready for bed. It was just what we needed to finish filling everyone’s bellies. :)

Look at the little sweetheart in her princess dress – filthy faced and tired after a long day of play. :)

Tuesday morning I whipped cream to go with strawberries.

Plus I made 12 Sausage-Egg-Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches.

We took our 5 littlest to one of our favorite parks to play for a while that morning. They enjoyed cheese and crackers plus fruit/veggie squeezies while we were there.

That afternoon, the kids got out of school early so Brayden, Kiya, and Keith all got to go to help serve at the Community Food Distribution. I asked Elias if he’d go along with me to help with Keith and he was happy to help. (His muscles got used quite a few times while we were there too!)

Keith and Elias got to hand out bags of snacks during distribution time. Brayden handed out dishwasher soap (which he thought was a little bit silly – but you never know what might get donated for volunteers to hand out). And Kiya and I handed out prepared sandwiches.

We were blessed to come home with two bags full of extra food donations – a wonderfully nice perk that we weren’t expecting when we started helping with this. We got mostly bread products that day, which helps stretch the grocery budget!

Before leaving home that afternoon, I had put Baked Potatoes into the Crock Pot to cook. One of our housemates was kind enough to set out all the toppings at dinnertime since I wouldn’t get home until 5:45ish. We filled our plates with potatoes, leftover chili, ham, cheese, sour cream, butter, and peas. Plus we finished off the Applesauce the kids and I had made last week.

Brayden left to have a piano lesson with Justus. When he came home, I found him doing this:


I wish I could express how amazing it is that he is able to read this book to his siblings. Reading and learning are a struggle for him and he has come so far!!

One of the fun things we came home with from the Food Distribution was a bag of McDonald’s biscuits. So on Wednesday morning I made Sausage Gravy to go with the biscuits. Plus I cut the leftover baked potatoes and cooked them with eggs. It was all so delicious!

Wednesday night, I smoked Chicken Thighs and made Smoothies (so the kids would get spinach in them). I also buttered/toasted some rolls and got out potato salad we’d received at the Food Distribution.

One of our housemates had been gone all day but brought back a delicious Apple Crisp that her cousin had made. It was a perfect dessert that night.

Thursday Matt and Elias went to York to work on our houses. Malachi helped me take the five littlest to Walmart for a few final WIC produce items for the month. As we headed out, he struck up a conversation with the greeter. I thought it was sweet so I snuck a picture. :)

I had slow cooked a roast all day, and we ate it with leftover carrots and peas, plus buttered corn and grapes. Mmmmm, roast!

Friday morning I made a big batch of French toast and let the kids choose toppings: peanut butter, apple jelly, butter, and applesauce.

Our Bonus Boy (4-year-old former foster son who is a biological half brother to some of our kids) was visiting and has a very limited list of foods he’ll eat. I went through this list again to be sure I had food on hand for him. Then I made a huge batch of Mudballs because he loves them (and so do the other kids!).

I had found sausage on sale at Walmart the day before so I browned all 8-pounds that I bought. Then I bagged it up in meal-sized portions for the freezer.

For dinner, I grilled a bunch of Hamburgers and threw Sweet Potato Fries in the air fryer.

Saturday morning we packed a picnic lunch to take to the zoo: hoagie sandwiches, fruit, chips, fruit/veggie pouches, and treats that we’d received from the food distribution.

At the zoo, we watched the zoo keepers feed the penguins.

Then we had lunch with the flamingos. :)

Kiya, Acacia, and Josie had a little conversation with a peacock. :)

We were so exhausted when we got home at naptime. But unfortunately, the toddlers fought sleep. Ack.

Meanwhile, Matt and I had decided the evening before that we could use a bit of a break and had planned to order pizza for dinner that night. We’d never ordered from Costco before but knew that the price was good and that the pizza was tasty so we gave it a try!

10 out of 10, highly recommend. We had a Pizza Picnic at one of our favorite parks, and two of our housemates joined us. One of them even went to Costco and picked up the pizza for all of us so that we wouldn’t have to lug all of the kids there. Fantastic! We ate and the kids road their bikes and scooters until time to get home to bed.

Next, I wanted to show this this fun picture. Grapes? Yes. It’s a picture of grapes. Exciting, yes?

It’s just that Kiya was helping me gather items to take to the park to enjoy with our pizza and she helped get the grapes pulled off their vines and into the bag. Then she asked if she could be the one to take the picture. (I hadn’t planned to take a picture, but she sees me prepare food all the time and then snap a photo, so surely I was going to feature her grapes!?)

You bet I’m going to feature her grapes. I’m so thankful for any one-on-one time I can snag with any of our kids. And small as it sounds, my Kiya-Mom grape prep time was really sweet.

We came home from the park to a party that Elias was hosting. He and his friend Ross just launched their first song and there was a Launch Party happening at the Castle!

It’s Yeti on Ice – Double Jointed if you care to look it up on any music platforms you use (Spotify, Apple Music, etc).

He has a lot of great friends and it was so great to see so many of them milling about the house when we got home!!! Plus all of our older boys were here – a double bonus. :)

We got the kids to bed (somehow, because there was a party going on and no one wanted to get to bed!) and I headed there myself. What a great week!

Oh! Total grocery spending for September: $1220.

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The Castle Pantry

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Would you like a peek inside our Castle Pantry?

First, I need to express how thankful I am that God gave us this house, our “Coppinger Castle.” For less than the cost of a much smaller, less functional (for our needs) house, God gave us this place.

It features over 9,000 square feet of usable living and storage space for us, which is fantastic to help us stay as organized as possible as we strive to love people in and out of our home.

Who lives at the Coppinger Castle?

Here’s the latest photo of our family, taken at an apple orchard Fall, 2023. There are 15 of us altogether. Our two oldest sons are married and live with their wives in Lincoln – so we are blessed to see them often. Our other nine kids live at the Castle with Matt and me. Plus we rent out our third story suites to some lovely people. So currently, 14 people live at the Coppinger Castle. It is amazing and yes, a bit crazy. ;)

Beyond our family and our housemates, we often have guests. You can see samples of what this looks like here and here.

Our Castle Pantry is a beautiful example of a space God gave us to help us to be as functional as possible while feeding many people every day. Ready to take a look?

The Castle Pantry

Our “pantry” is an entire room just off the kitchen. (You can see photos of our Castle Kitchen here.) It features two walls of shelves, plus a full sink, additional refrigerator, upright freezer, and an extra stove/oven.

I have yet to use the stove/oven because I haven’t needed it thanks to having this beast of a stove/oven in our Castle Kitchen. Come Thanksgiving, I’m guessing this extra oven will come in handy. ;)

The extra fridge and freezer in the pantry though? They are 100% helpful and necessary. They are full all the time with much of the overflow that doesn’t fit in our kitchen fridge. (We have a third fridge/freezer in our basement that is almost always full too.)

Why so many refrigerators and freezers?

Well, as I said above, there are currently 14 people living at our house. Even when there were “only” eleven of us, we found that we needed this much fridge/freezer space. Buying in bulk, stocking up when items are on sale, and keeping a large supply of basic food on hand is extremely helpful and saves a lot of money.

So all of our refrigerators and freezers are full most of the time, and I find that I run to all of them frequently while feeding this many people every day. I am so thankful for God’s provision.

What’s on the pantry shelves?

So much food. And also kleenex and ziplock. ;) Here’s a boring, ugly picture of one wall of shelves. This one is a catch-all shelf and it isn’t fun to look at. There’s a counter there full of easy-to-grab items plus our breads and buns. Bottom left you’ll see shelves full of chips and cereal. And the shelves on the right house Auggie’s Pediasure drinks plus some packets of Oatmeal.

Our main wall of shelving contains all things food. I try to keep it organized in categories, though you’ll see that it isn’t perfect. It’s functional though, which is what I’m going for.

You’ll see that I basically have a grocery store in my pantry, which is extremely helpful as I plan and prepare meals. I can go to our shelves, fridges, and freezers and get what I need to feed us all well. I can also look at it and see what we are getting low on so that I know what we need the next time I go to the store. (Here’s how I make a grocery list without making a grocery list.)

There it is, the Castle Pantry. I am so, so thankful for this space and for God’s provision to fill our shelves!

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Lunches I Packed September 18-22, 2023

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In an effort to keep the kids from being burned out on the same packed school lunch over and over, I try to get creative and pack a nice, healthy variety. Here are the lunches I packed September 18-22, 2023.

Lunches I Packed September 18-22, 2023

Monday: Kiya had picked an Annie’s Parmesan Mac and Cheese at the Food Distribution where we volunteer each week. She requested this as a special lunch, so I cooked it Monday morning to put into the kids thermoses. They were so excited! But at the end of the day, neither kid enjoyed the taste of this one. Now we know. :)

At least they enjoyed their pear (which I packed in a container in an effort to keep it from getting smashed in the lunch bags.

Tuesday: Brayden had a field trip that day so he got to have a special lunch (our field trip tradition!). He got a turkey and cheese sandwich with chips, applesauce, crackers, and juice. Kiya’s lunch wasn’t “special” but she loved hers too. She got a pumpkin muffin, applesauce, carrots, and peanut butter.

Wednesday: I packed the kids a large helping of Whole Milk Yogurt that I’d gotten in an Azure Standard order two weeks ago, fresh strawberries, granola bites, and pistachios.

Thursday: I pulled food from the freezer I’d baked a few weeks ago and individually packaged for lunches. They each got a slice of pizza, a peanut butter snack bar, and a fruit cup.

Friday: It was Fun Friday! So the kids got their choice of sandwich, chips, an applesauce, plus some of the Little Bites we’d been given at the Food Distribution.

Now that the weather is cooling off a little bit, I’ll probably start packing more hot lunches in thermoses. This will give us more options to keep up with having a nice variety of foods to pack!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 17-23, 2023

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Ready for Big Family Food and Fun: September 17-23?

During the past few weeks, God has filled up our Castle with additional housemates. Amazing! You can read the details about this here. We filled our final third floor room last Sunday. :) :) There are 16 of us living in our house now, but I’m only counting 15 in our “who ate the food” fun because the baby is still mostly drinking formula and figuring out purees. :)

Our five housemates sometimes eat with us and sometimes eat on their own depending on schedules, needs, work, and outside plans. Meanwhile, anyone who drops by to hang out with our older boys or anyone who comes over for any reason is welcome to eat here too.

So I always make a large evening meal, knowing that we’ll be feeding anywhere from 11 to 20 people. There’s always enough and if there’s too much: LEFTOVERS!!

Leftovers for Lunch

It’s pretty chill at lunchtime here, and there’s always this and that in the fridge that needs to be eaten up. So almost every day for lunch, everyone fends for themselves (well, Matt and I feed the littles, of course). This is easy, helpful, and a great way to keep from wasting food.

Here’s a silly photo of Anna and Brayden. Anna was wearing one of our housemate’s glasses and was so very proud.

Here’s what our week looked like!

Food and Fun: September 17-23, 2023

Sunday morning I set out the tail end of last week’s goodies for breakfast: Snickerdoodle Bites, Peanut Butter Honey Bread, and Pumpkin Donuts. I love finishing off tidbits to clear out space and to avoid waste!

We had a big day planned that day! After church we were going to eat lunch (at the church building) and then drive two minutes to an Apple Orchard. We invited another family plus several young adults to join us. Altogether, there were 28 of us. I love things like this!

Saturday night I had baked a double batch of these brownies to go with our lunch.

I put 14 Brats and 24 Hotdogs on our smoker before church. While they were cooking, we put together other lunch items to take with us: watermelon, grapes, chips, carrots, and water.

We put the cooked Brats and Dogs into crockpots and plugged them in once we got to church so they’d stay warm. After church, we quickly set out a buffet and enjoyed our meal together.

The Apple Orchard opened at 1:00, and it really was just two minutes away from the church building. So off we went to enjoy picking apples together!

This outing was everything I hoped it would be, with our huge crew enjoying the sunshine, time together, and apple picking!

Eva captured this photo of Kelsey and Acacia. I can’t stop staring at it.

We were way past naptime when we wrapped up, but we were able to get a photo with all 15 of our family members. It’s so rare and wonderful for all of us to coordinate schedules and be together like this.

Naps were extra good that afternoon. :)

Somehow I had managed to throw Easy Crock Pot Fajitas into our Instant Pot that morning so they slow cooked all day and made dinner super easy. I had never used our Instant Pot as a slow cooker, but both of our Crock Pots were full of Brats and Dogs that morning so I attempted it. It worked!

The meat (organic, grass fed fajita meat provided by one of the gals living with us right now) was absolutely incredible.

Malachi built this Fajita Burrito Masterpiece:

Monday morning I baked a double batch of Pumpkin Muffins (minus the chocolate chips). This made 24 muffins, and by the end of the day we were down to 6. I love watching food disappear! I made sausage links to enjoy with the muffins. Plus I got out our Pampered Chef apple-peeler-corer-slicer to cut apple rings for the kids.

After we got Brayden and Kiya to school, Keith and I headed to the Food Distribution site to help set up for Tuesday’s food giveaway. This is SUCH good one-on-one time for us and he loves being a helper!

I’m not sure that this is what Ms. Kathleen had it mind when she asked us to put the snacks out on the table. If you can’t build a tower of muffins, what even is the point? (Truly, Keith couldn’t see any other way to display these. I had to sneak in later to re-adjust the table.) ;)

Lunch was leftovers. :) Dinner was simple and delicious! I made Ham and Cheese Melts on buns they sent home with us that morning when we were setting up food. I had Colby jack, pepper jack, and Havarti cheese slices so I made an assortment with these sandwiches.

We enjoyed them with corn on the cob, spaghetti squash (cooked like this), watermelon, and peas.

After dinner, I sliced more of the apples we’d picked at the orchard and we ate them with Caramel Apple Dip. I hadn’t made that dip since last fall, so it tasted extra good!

Matt borrowed our neighbor’s leaf blower and Keith helped him clean up the parking lot area in our back yard. Keith takes every job very seriously. And I’m not sure if you can tell, but he’s wearing a spiderman hat someone had made just for him. It didn’t come off of his head for the entire day. :)

Tuesday morning we loaded up the kids and headed to Costco. My goal was to get stocked up on basic baking ingredients – which I did. But I also bought frozen pizza because I like having it on hand. AND, the strawberries and raspberries were still priced really low. So I got 2 containers of raspberries and 16 more pounds of strawberries. I’m out of control. :)

Raspberries make a great snack, but they taste better when you first put one on each finger. :)

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to help with the weekly Food Distribution. We got home at 5:30 tired, hungry, and in a hurry because Brayden had a piano lesson with Justus at 6:00. Thankfully, Malachi had baked chicken for sandwiches and Elias had build sandwiches and already fed the little ones. The rest of us grabbed ours and I didn’t even care about adding fruits and veggies because it was a bit hectic as we transitioned back home. :)

Wednesday morning I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast with strawberries and Whipped Cream.

For a mid-morning snack, I cut more strawberries into what was left of the whipped cream. Keith, Anna, Acacia, and Josie helped me eat it. :)

We were preparing for a huge meal on Sunday in which we were planning to feed around 50 York University choir members. So during naptime, I went to Aldi to get a few things we needed for our family and a few things we needed for the choir meal.

It was the final evening the Lincoln Zoo was going to be open in the evening before next spring, so we took advantage and headed to the zoo that night.

I had packed hotdogs for us to eat there, along with fruit cups, carrots and ranch, and cold drinks. One of our new housemates joined us. Of course, the littles all love her and it appears that she’s never going to be allowed to eat a meal with our family without a child on her lap. :)

Thursday was a very full day. Matt was gone all day in York, I had two meetings scheduled, and some of our kids had extra behavior issues that needed to be dealt with. And that was just before 8:15am.

I sent our school kids off (one of them still in tears) with our neighbor who was gracious to walk them to school for me because I had already started my morning that was full of meetings for our littles. Case workers came, someone from our Early Development Network came – it was good and necessary but exhausting.

Why am I sharing this? Because while I love food and sharing food and all the fun that we have, it’s all mixed in with some very real life, very big challenges too. I think that’s why I love sharing about the rest of it so much. It reminds me of all the goodness God gives and all the fun we have each day. :)

So back to the food and fun…

I’ve been getting bags of organic pears at Aldi and they are perfect right now! They are small, making them great to hand out as snacks. Here’s Josie, looking as sweet as can be with her tasty pear.

One of our housemates provided us with a farm-raised chicken and I tried my hand at smoking it. I rubbed it down with Redmond’s Seasoning Salt and smoked it on low heat for the entire afternoon. Meanwhile, I made Mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot and just before time to eat, I steamed broccoli. I love meals like this!

We had all those strawberries, so I had no choice but to make Strawberry Shortcake for our dessert after dinner.

No one complained about this choice of desserts.

I was continuing to prep to feed the York University Singers on Sunday so when I baked the shortcake, I also used oven space to make a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

That evening, I also stirred together an extra large Easy Breakfast Casserole. Then on Friday morning I slid it into the oven to bake while I had my God time. When the kids got up, the casserole was ready and we ate it with strawberries and shortcake. (The cake is about as sweet as muffins, so I figured it would be a perfect side plus fun for the kids to feel like they were eating cake for breakfast!)

I got a little bit too ambitious and made a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Granola. (I wanted to make the most of the hot oven, plus I always like to try and get ahead.) It mostly worked out, but with trying to get kids fed and off to school I let it stay in the oven a little bit too long. It’s extra toasted. :)

That afternoon, I cooked seven pounds of hamburger meat in my Instant Pot like this. Then I turned it into two huge pots of Chili for Sunday.

As I finished that up, all kinds of crazy hit the house as we had some friends from out of state who were in a hurry but needed a place to shower. Yep, come on over! Meanwhile I was getting ready to have a rare night out at an Adoptive Moms Support Group (life giving and needed!!). We ate a super simple meal, taking full advantage of our air fryer to enjoy “French Fry Friday.” Tonight it was fries with nuggets.

Saturday morning we ate good ol’ cereal as we were getting other food items made.

The kids washed the remaining apples we’d picked on Sunday at the apple orchard. I cut them and cooked them down to make applesauce. (I used this quick method.)

It made a huge bowlful that we can eat all next week!

We had been invited to a party to watch the Husker football game that afternoon and had been asked to bring dessert. We made Chocolate Cupcakes with hidden spinach. The spinach was then perhaps counteracted by the candy pumpkins I put on top, but aren’t they cute?? :)

I also made a big bowl full of Strawberry Fluff to take to the party to share.

We ate leftovers for lunch with Caesar salad. As we were wrapping up, our neighbor John brought over this huge bucket of apples! They were from a tree on his family’s property and hadn’t been sprayed. The remind me of our apple picking days at our favorite orchard closer to York. We enjoyed bags and buckets of those apples year after year and eventually became friends with the Claytons, owners of the orchard. We miss this! How grateful we were to receive this bucket from our new friend in Lincoln.


After an early nap, we loaded up and headed over to our Husker Game Party. During half-time, we all headed outside to enjoy a pinata the host had set up for all the kids.

Go, Kiya, go!

The kids definitely didn’t care about football, ha. They actually only barely cared about the food. But they had been talking non-stop about how we’d been invited to swim while we were there. So finally we got them all ready, with the help of Justus and Kelsey, and let them have what will probably be one last outdoor swim of the season.

Knowing that they’d hardly eaten before that and that they’d be starving after time in the pool, I quickly made a late dinner plan for when we got home. Indeed, joy turned to hungry melt-down as we left the party. We gave them all a handful of peanuts that we had in the van (phew!) and I hurried to make a pile of French toast with sausage when we got home before bed. You’ve never seen such small children put away so much food at one time. :) :) :)

And that was our week!

P.S. Total grocery spending so far in September: $1100 and we are VERY stocked up on basics right now.

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7 Days of Low Cost Breakfast Ideas from Costco

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Here’s an entire week worth of low cost breakfast ideas from Costco!

Can you get the ingredients for these breakfasts at any grocery store? Sure. Do whatever works best for you! I have personally found that buying in bulk at Costco and enjoying their high quality mixed with great prices is a great combination to save lots of money on wonderful meals!

Download a free grocery list here.

Get ready to buy the few ingredients needed to make these breakfast ideas! Many of the ingredients can be mixed and matched so you’ll get great bang for your buck!

Download a free grocery list here.

7 Days of Low Cost Breakfast Ideas from Costco

First, take a look at the seven day menu. Doesn’t this all sound tasty?

  1. Oatmeal with Berries
  2. Homemade Granola with Yogurt
  3. Eggs and Smoothies
  4. Biscuits and Gravy
  5. Pancakes and Bacon
  6. Blueberry Muffins and Eggs
  7. Warm Vanilla Soother and Toast

Ready for the recipes and details? Take note as you make a grocery list that many of the ingredients needed in these breakfast recipes can be mixed and matched. So if you buy these ingredients, you can make multiple recipes and have a wonderful variety of breakfast meals!

1. Oatmeal with BerriesYum

What to buy at Costco:

  • Old Fashioned Oats
  • Your favorite Berries

Costco has awesome prices for both. Their oats comes in 10-pound packages so it will go a very long way. (I usually keep some in a canister in my kitchen for easy access, and then freeze the rest to keep it fresh longer.)

Make it easier:

Here are some fun oatmeal recipes that your family might love!

2. Homemade Granola with Yogurt

What to buy at Costco:

  • Old Fashioned Oats (maybe you’re buying it anyway for the above-mentioned oatmeal!)
  • Coconut Oil
  • Honey
  • Yogurt
  • Look through the recipes below to learn about any additional ingredients you’ll need for individual recipes. Remember when you see the ingredients at Costco – you’ll be able to make several recipes worth of granola or other goodies with these ingredients. This makes it worth paying for and saves money in the long run!

Recipes you’ll love:

3. Eggs and Smoothies

What to buy at Costco:

  • Eggs
  • Frozen Fruit
  • Milk
  • Fresh Spinach

Recipes you’ll love:

Scramble or fry eggs to enjoy while you sip your smoothies. You’ll be nourished well and ready to start your day!

4. Biscuits and Gravy

What to buy at Costco:

  • Flour
  • Butter
  • Sausage
  • Milk
  • Baking Powder
  • Salt

Recipes you’ll love:

It’s amazing how inexpensive it is to make biscuits and gravy at home compared to buying it at a restaurant. And it’s hard to beat homemade!

5. Pancakes and Bacon

What to buy at Costco:

  • Flour
  • Baking Powder
  • Milk
  • Butter
  • Eggs
  • Maple Syrup (a little goes a long way!)
  • Bacon

Recipes you’ll love:

6. Blueberry Muffins and Eggs

What to buy at Costco:

  • Flour
  • Coconut Oil
  • Brown Sugar
  • Baking Powder
  • Milk
  • Blueberries
  • Eggs

Recipes you’ll love:

7. Warm Vanilla Soother and Toast

What to buy at Costco:

  • Milk
  • Eggs
  • Cornstarch
  • Maple Syrup
  • Bread
  • Butter

Recipes you’ll love:

I love how simple these ingredients are and how you can use them in so many ways to make great meals. Enjoy these 7 breakfast ideas, and consider making them for dinner too. Breakfast for dinner is a favorite!

Get our free grocery list to make this easy!

Download your free grocery list here.

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Lunches I Packed September 11-15, 2023

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Here are the lunches I packed September 11-15 for my kids to take to school last week!

Monday: Cheese, crackers, grapes, pistachios, and pickles (Kiya) cucumbers (Brayden)

I’ve been buying Balanced Breaks, which I shared about on this “What I Buy at Costco for School Lunches” post. They are convenient and fun, but not frugal. (<—but I still keep them on hand because sometimes we need convenient more than we need frugal)

Since I had a few extra minutes to pack this day’s lunch, I left the convenient packs in the fridge and instead sliced some cheese and packaged up crackers for the kids. I put the crackers into plastic containers, otherwise they’d get smashed in baggies in their lunch boxes.

Tuesday: Cottage cheese, fruit cup, carrots/peanut butter and Spinach Cupcake (for Kiya), and cucumbers and peanut butter pretzels (for Brayden)

It’s cheaper to scoop peanut butter into a container for Kiya to use as dip with her carrots. But I keep the Jif Natural peanut butter cups on hand for a quick-to-grab option.

Wednesday: Turkey lunchmeat roll-ups, strawberries with Cheesecake Parfait, and Snickerdoodle Bites.

We had pounds and pounds of strawberries in our fridge from the super sale I took advantage of on Saturday. So it was fun to include those with parfait for the kids’ lunches.

Thursday: Tuna salad with crackers, applesauce cup, cucumbers and cheese stick for Brayden, pickles for Kiya 

I had an extra minute on Wednesday so I mixed up the kids’ tuna salad for lunch the next day. This was so nice the following morning as we were getting them ready to head out!

Fun Friday Lunch: For Brayden: his leftover Hamburger Helper, cucumbers, applesauce, and Pocky’s (that we were given as the Food Distribution when we were volunteering); For Kiya: PB&J, chips, applesauce, and Pocky’s.

This is the day I always give them a treat in their lunch, and often chips also. They love Fun Friday Lunch day! ;)

Feel free to leave a comment sharing more lunchbox ideas!

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Big Family Food and Fun: September 10-16, 2023

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Fall is in the air for sure, and we are loving it! Care to see take a look at the food and fun our big family enjoyed last week?

How did we go from 11 to 14?? Read about that here.

Big Family Food and Fun: September 10-16, 2023

In preparation for the new week, on Saturday afternoon during naptime I made a double batch of Banana Bread and quadruple batch of Zucchini Bread/Muffins.

Sunday morning, I packaged up three of the loaves of bread to give (along with a package of diapers) as gifts at a baby shower that was being hosted after church that day for three new babies. I then froze some of the Zucchini Muffins and put the additional loaf of Zucchini Bread and Muffins into our glass containers to enjoy for breakfasts this week.

There was a “young adult” lunch being hosted after church also, and we were asked to provide salad for the group.

Sunday evening, we smoked marinated Chicken Thighs, made Cheesecake Parfait to go with all the strawberries I’d picked up on sale, and steamed green beans. We’d been gifted a big bag of rolls after Sunday’s lunch at church, so we buttered and toasted them to round out our meal.

Asa ad Eva joined us, plus we caught our neighbor John working in his flower garden and he came over and ate with us too. :)

Monday morning after we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, Keith and I headed to the Food Distribution site I shared about here. He and I had a lovely time working together with the other volunteers to set up food for the Tuesday distribution day.

We got home around 11 and had an early lunch/snack outside before Keith and Anna got picked up by the bus for pre-school. We finished off this Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip from the fridge with some chips and grapes.

Monday afternoon during naptime I made a triple batch of Snickerdoodle Bites to have on hand for snacks as needed. It is so helpful to have these available to give to the littles when they need something to hold them over until mealtime.

For dinner that night, we made a huge pile of pancakes with sausage, eggs, strawberries, applesauce, syrup, and whipped cream. This kind of meal always goes over well and it tastes so good at dinnertime! However, I don’t make it often because it’s a bit of a high maintenance meal when fixing plates of firsts, seconds, and thirds according to preference for each kid. (Some want peanut butter, applesauce, syrup and whipped cream on their pancakes. Some want just butter and syrup. And oh yeah, whipped cream please. Some want…) :)

For breakfast on Tuesday, I made 8-cups worth of oatmeal and set out berries to add to bowls if desired.

The problem with having bathrooms in every bedroom

As some of the kids were eating, I began to wonder where Anna and Josie had gone. Suddenly water started pouring through this kitchen light. Ohmygoodness. The two missing girls were running the water in their sink and flooding the bathroom, which came through to the kitchen. Ack.

Matt took care of the water mess in their bathroom while I took care of the water mess in the kitchen (I needed to mop anyway. Heh.)

Look how sweet and innocent she looks just minutes later as she reads a Bible to her baby. :)

We’ve stopped being surprised by the insanity that happens regularly at our house. We are surviving. The kids are learning (hopefully). And seriously, I got my floor mopped (and cabinets wiped down).

We walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then loaded up the other five and went to Menards. Sometimes they run in four different directions in the parking lot. Sometimes they do this:

Like little angel babies.
People in the parking lot were all like, “awwww, aren’t your kids so sweet?
Are they always so well behaved???”
Matt and I start to sob.
Just kidding. I held it together and handed Matt a tissue.
Just kidding. There was no time to cry or hand out tissues. The kids had started to run amok.

We did Matt’s Menards thing, then loaded up again to burn off some energy at a park before Keith and Anna got picked up at home by the bus for preschool. We snacked on cheese, crackers, and grapes while we were there.

Keith had packed his scooter and helmet into the van to enjoy at the park because he’s practically an adult now.

That afternoon after school, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to the Food Distribution to help hand out food to people in the community. This was only our second week doing this and we still have a lot to learn about how it all works. But we are being kindly trained, and aside from knowing how this helps people, the best thing I’m seeing is how good this is for Brayden and Kiya.

A little side encouragement: Find ways for your kids to serve, to look beyond themselves, and to care for others. Serve with them. Let them serve with you. Make this a high priority.

At the end of the day, we came home with many wonderful items that will help stretch our food budget. (As I shared here, I learned last week that volunteers are able to take food home also, as long as there is plenty.) We got several packages of greens, apples, milk, breads and buns, and mineral water.

We didn’t get home until 5:40 and Matt, Elias, and Malachi had been holding down the fort with the rest of the gang. I’d put Creamy Layered Enchiladas into the crock pot before leaving for the afternoon so that dinner would be ready when I got home. I’m not sure where I went wrong, but they only turned out sort of so-so. We ate them, but we didn’t give them a high rating this time like we usually do.

It’s possible that we didn’t really care about dinner anyway because there was too much excitement going on outside! Our neighbor, John, grows an incredible flower garden in his yard that we all get to enjoy. He was honored that night to be featured by an organization showcasing his flowers, so dozens of people were coming over and walking through.

Not only that, but John is very talented with his harmonica and voice, so he was offering musical entertainment while people enjoyed his flowers. We didn’t need an outing that night. The “outing” was right across the street!

John insisted that we all come over for the treats he had laid out, but we waited until the event was almost over so that we didn’t add chaos to his big night. The kids were spoiled with sweets and juice while we listened to more of John’s music and visited with more of our neighbors. We are finding that God landed us in a fantastic neighborhood and we continue to be grateful.

Wednesday morning, I cut some of the huge loves of wheat bread we’d received from the Food Distribution, toasted it, and smothered it with peanut butter and honey. I cut it into chunks and we enjoyed it with applesauce.

Of the 16-pounds of strawberries I bought on Saturday, we were down to 6-pounds and they were getting a bit squishy. So I cut them onto cookie sheets and froze them for smoothies.

Later, after they were frozen, I transferred them to gallon-sized freezer bags.

Wednesday’s big Azure Standard pick-up

As you know, I’ve been involved with Azure Standard in York for years. This is the first month I put in an order for the Lincoln drop. We came home with a very large supply of food because I hadn’t ordered for many months and needed to stock up on several Azure favorites. (Here’s a list of what I like to order from Azure.) I was blessed to have some referral credit to help pay for this haul (thank you!).

We got organic whole wheat pastry flour, yogurt, frozen corn, green beans, and peas, frozen hashbrowns, several varieties of canned fruit, and some boxes of Einkorn cookies as a special treat.

The hashbrowns came in a huge frozen brick so I transferred them to gallon-sized freezer bags – 8 in all! Our freezers are full and we are well stocked up. Very thankful!

For dinner that night we made a bunch of burgers on our smoker. Keith helped me load the smoker with pellets, taking his job very seriously.

Then we packed up our burgers and took them to one of our favorite parks for a picnic with grapes, pineapple, and yep, a salad like this. As good as this meal was, no one cared much about eating because they were too excited to ride their bikes and scooters on the trails. :)

Even little Josie got in on the action. She was the only one I could snap a photo of because everyone else took off so fast!

Thursday morning we made a bunch of Breakfast Sandwiches like this. We warmed them in our air fryer to enjoy then froze the few leftovers.

After we took the kids to school, Matt and I loaded up the five littles and headed to Walmart to pick up some WIC items, pull-ups, and diapers. We got home in time for a meeting with our Case Worker for BabyBoy#11. Then the bus came to pick up Keith and Anna. Phew, it was quite a morning!

I was excited to find cases of tomato sauce on clearance at Walmart. They were so cheap I bought five cases! It’s almost Chili season after all. :)

Matt had made plans with Elias and Malachi to stay with the remaining three little ones so that he could take me to lunch. So sweet! Here’s the most (un)impressive picture of our meal.

For dinner that night, we had Crock Pot Taco Pasta with salad, pineapple, and watermelon. We ate outside, then went for a walk before bedtime.

For breakfast on Friday morning, we ate Yogurt with Granola and berries.

Matt went to work in York that day so Malachi helped me get the kids to school, then we took the youngest five to the zoo.

I loved seeing how Acacia was looking up at her bigger brother here. :)

We stopped for a snack/lunch before loading everyone up to get home in time to meet Keith and Anna’s school bus.

For dinner that night, we pulled everything random out of the fridge to clear it out. No one really ate a balanced meal, but at least we didn’t waste food.

After dinner, I mixed up a double batch of these Pumpkin Donuts. I brought the kids in one at time (well, I tried – it was hard for all the little ones to wait their turn) to help me cut out the donuts as I rolled out the dough. We cut them into apple shapes to celebrate the coming of Fall.

While my hands were covered in flour, Acacia grabbed my phone from my back pocket and snapped dozens of pictures of our kitchen floor. But she also go this burry photo of me cleaning up after our donut mess. Ha!

Saturday morning, we fried the Pumpkin Donuts in coconut oil on the griddle then drizzled a little bit of glaze over each one.

We ate them with scrambled eggs and blueberries.

Then we headed out for what ended up being three full hours of fun.

First, we went to a library story time that was a special “Sensory Story Time.” It had been recommended to us by a specialist because several of our kids have sensory issues and can become overstimulated. We were VERY impressed with the program and hope to go regularly. (Those are weighted puppies the kids are holding.)

When that ended, we headed outside to a Community Garden Party (which happened to be just outside this very library). There were several tables set out with activities and everyone got to choose an apple.

They got to watch some fun plant-themed science experiments.

Then we got to tour the garden with scavenger hunt papers where the kids tried to locate various veggies, flowers, and insects. It was all SO MUCH FUN. We couldn’t believe that they all lasted the entire morning, but we didn’t load up to head home until well past lunchtime.

The apples had only held them off for a short while so we had some very hungry children when we got home. Therefore, there are no pictures to prove my ridiculous lunch. But the minute we got home, I simply grabbed every last leftover from the fridge to fill their hungry bellies. We ate a very weird combination of buttered pancakes, green beans, grapes, and chips with white queso. :) :) :) No one complained – they were all too hungry!

We spent the afternoon getting our final third floor room ready for the renter who was planning to move in that evening. So I took the night off for dinner, baking several frozen pizzas. We ate it with salad and clementines.

Just for fun: The floor in this suite was a gross mess when we moved in. Matt took from nasty to this…

Then this…

Then this…

And the final look is this:

There’s another space in the room large enough for a queen sized bed and night stand. Plus there’s a full bathroom attached to the room (as there is with all of the rooms we’ve rented out). I explained a bit more about our plans for renting out our third floor suites here. As of Saturday night, the rooms are full of wonderful people and we are thankful!

We are only just beginning to learn what God has planned for this Castle He gave us. We thank Him constantly for His provision.

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Lunches I Packed September 5-8, 2023

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Here’s a look at the lunches I packed for my kids to take to school last week. :)

Lunches I Packed September 5-8, 2023

There was no school on Monday because of Labor Day, so lunch at home looked like this, plus grapes and spoonfuls of peanut butter to fill their bellies.

Tuesday I packed Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip with chips and a pear cup. This is a great way to sneak in protein because there are beans blended into the dip.

We’d been given two big containers of croissants, so I used them on Wednesday to make the kids Tuna Salad Croissant-wiches for lunch. I sent their favorite banana applesauce squeezie, plus cucumbers for Brayden and carrots with peanut butter for Kiya.

Thursday I woke up and realized I hadn’t done anything the day before to prep the kids’ school lunches. So I grabbed food from our freezer that I’d prepared for grab-and-go lunches. This was so helpful that now I’m trying to figure out what else I can make, baggie up, and freeze for quick lunches so it can be this easy more often!

The last time I made pizza, I froze leftover slices in baggies, so the kids got pizza in their lunch Thursday. I had also frozen Peanut Butter Snack Bars so those went into the lunchbox too, plus carrots and peanut butter for Kiya and cucumbers for Brayden, and a pear cup for each.

Our Fun Friday lunch looked a little bit different this week…

Brayden’s Hamburger Helper

I shared here how Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I helped with a FoodNet Food Distribution on Monday and Tuesday of last week. (And how we hope to do it every week!) Volunteers get to take food also if there is enough, which is a bonus I wasn’t expecting.

The “Jr Volunteers” were given the opportunity to choose any two items from the table that they wanted and while I gave a half-effort to steer the kids in a healthy choice direction, I also wanted this to be fun for them. So I let them pick whatever they wanted.

I expected them to choose something sweet. But Brayden discovered one lonely box of Hamburger Helper and he couldn’t stop his excitement over it. “Mom!!! It’s that pasta I used to always eat before I came to live with you! I love that pasta! Can I get that please??”

As I’m typing this, I’m suddenly crying over the Hamburger Helper. My sweet, precious son. Where there was intense trauma and loss during Brayden’s first years of life, that box of pasta holds happy memories for him. He just wanted a taste of it again.

This was not the time for me to lecture him about the dangers of MSG.

“Yes, Brayden. That is a perfect choice for you today after you did such a good job helping give people food.”

All week he kept looking at that box of pasta in the pantry, making sure it was still there, asking when I would make it for him. Fun Friday, Buddy. Fun Friday.

Brayden on Friday morning:

I packed his thermos full of his beloved Hamburger Helper, and he asked if he could eat a bite with breakfast. Sure, why not?

He loved his bite, but was then the taste of it suddenly triggered a heavy load of sadness (that manifested in defiance because he doesn’t know how to process all the extreme feelings he experiences).

Sometimes we feel like we just can’t win. Always we remember that God already won.

So that’s the story of how Brayden took Hamburger Helper to school in his Friday lunch and of how much we constantly have to seek Jesus as we care for the needs of our trauma babies. In case you’re wondering, we made it through our rough morning and he did love his lunch later that day.

Kiya requested PB&J with chips for her Fun Friday lunch, plus I gave them each a peach cup and a packaged cake we’d received from the food distribution.

Phew, what a week! (I think we can all say that every week, ha.)

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