Fruitful Family: Weekend Re-cap and Meal Plan Monday (3/31)

It's Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was a little nuts-o, but still a fun one.

We ended up going on a last-minute double date night with my sister and her husband on Friday night. Thanks to my mom and dad for babysitting on short-notice.

I got up early on Saturday for my 18-mile marathon training run. The forecast was calling for a chance of rain all day, but it held off for the entire run! I was really grateful, but also annoyed, because I had to run with my rain jacket tied around my waist. Overall, the run went really well. I did a short yoga stretching session later in the afternoon, and I think that helped with soreness tremendously! Ben went to the dodgeball tournament fundraiser in the afternoon, and he had a great time. We went to his dad's birthday celebration that evening.

Sunday morning, Ben did a great job teaching about suffering, trials, and temptations in the lives of Christians, and how they are really the only way for us to mature and increase our faith. The thing that stuck out the most to me is the point that even in blessings, trials and temptations can be produced; because when we are cruising along all jolly and fine, we can be tempted to become lazy in our faith, complacent, and even fulfilled by our state of "good". So often, this has happened to me, and when I fall into one of these states, I am so shocked when I realize that a bad attitude has crept in, whether it be self-destructive thinking, being critical of others, being jealous of others, being obsessed with my own happiness and contentment, etc., etc. I drift just far enough away from my dependency on Christ that I freak out. (The old song "Throw Out the Lifeline" comes to mind.) But the Holy Spirit helps me (us); he gently reminds me of my need for full reliance and intentional pursuit of God in all situations: good or bad, happy or sad, peaceful or crazy, smooth or unorganized. I cannot let the blessings of life blind me to my need for Him all day, every day. I bet you can relate to this too.

We went to Dollywood all afternoon before evening church service. Needless to say,, the kids were exhausted last night when we finally came home! :)

Well, on to the meal plan. I haven't posted one of these in quite a while, but I'm doing it a bit differently. This is actually our meal plan from last week with some pictures and some recipes. Maybe it will give you some idea for a new meal for your family.

Spinach tortellini with broccoli and marinara (recipe coming Thursday in my Munchkin Meals post)