I wrote an earlier blog post about studying Jen Hatmaker's newest bok 7: An Experimental Mutiny on Excess. And I was tempted to start a separate blog just for the book study, like a couple of my friends have. But I struggle with what to write on this blog most days, without sounding like a broken record (still waiting to hear that our dossier has been reviewed, still need lots and lots of money, still coming up with ways to fundraise with my limited time available, etc.).
So, I'm borrowing my adoption blog, which I borrowed from my crafting blog. I'm won't stop blogging about the adoption, but it's just easier than remembering another bloggy place, and I'm sure blogger is happy that I'm not going to create another account that's never going to be used after the book study is finished!
And here's my feeling about "7", after almost half of the first month: cooking foods from impoverished countries while running the kids to soccer, Girl Scouts, piano, AWANA, Music Together, museum classes, and who knows where else, is HARD! I feel guilty every day, and I feel like I'm missing the point of the book, which is to be intentional in our actions and in our sacrifice. It mostly felt like I was always spinning out of control, and dinner was happening later and later every night.
We had our group meeting last night, where I admitted that I feel like I've failed this month, and the other women reassured me that I haven't. I came home and talked to Scott, and he told me that this month had been MUCH more stressful for him, and he's usually the one who cooks.
So, I'm changing direction halfway through the month. I think my goal was a bit unrealistic for the month when all our activities begin again. Instead of focusing on preparing a meal each day from an impoverished country, I'm going to focus on preparing a meal that reduces the stress on my family and my husband (who has enough stress right now, but that's a whole other novel). So, I'm dusting off the slow cooker, looking up recipes for cooking in bulk for freezing, and continuing to intentionally buy local food. This will free up time to focus on my kids, which is something I never feel I have an excess of time to do, and we'll try recipes from other countries throughout all seven months, planned around our busy schedule! And since Scott has cooked almost every meal for the past four years, actually doing the cooking myself is still a sacrifice.
And dinner tonight is already going in the slow cooker! I made a bed of sweet potatoes and onion (purchased at the farmer's market), and laid a grass-fed beef roast on top (purchased from a friend whose father raises the livestock just a couple of hours from here). I added in a bit of water and butter, instead of beef stock, and topped the roast with cinnamon, cardamom, and pepper. Hello fall, and hello dinner after soccer practice!
(On a side note, if you only read the blog to follow the adoption, our dossier is in country, there was a big meeting yesterday to issue referrals, and our agency told us not to expect to hear anything this week. More waiting, fun, fun. And we still need somewhere in the ballpark of $2600 before our first trip.)
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