Cough 'Em Up!

My newest preoccupation as of late, besides all the new life of spring (gardening and raising chicks), has been 'adventures in saving money', mostly in the form of coupons matched up with sale prices or rebates and the like. I'm having a lot of fun with it and saving us some money too.

More reflections later on what I've learned...right now I just want to know what websites YOU like to consult if you're playing the same game I am. Please leave comments!

To Pet or to Plate?

Only time will tell.

Meet the newest addition to the Arnold household. We have ten chicks of some "Red" variety, known for being good layers. They are currently residing in our basement in a large cardboard box, destined for the out of doors in a few short weeks. (It may feel long, depending on how stinky they get in the meantime.)

Why ten? We hope to end up with three or four hens and we were told about 70% would be male. So until we know for certain, there will be no getting attached.

happy happy Easter!

He is Risen! He is Truly Risen!

God blessed us with a wonderful day yesterday. My parents joined us for Easter Mass and breakfast (french toast anyone?) followed by gingerbread lattes from my espresso maker (welcome back my friend) and nap time. A nice afternoon with Paul's family and a restful evening completed our day. The grace of his rising was really working in our family yesterday. I went to bed feeling...peaceful. Blessed. Joyful. Thankful for our Savior, without whom I would have nothing.

Faith

"It is not really a question of trust in God...for we want very much to trust him; it is really a question of our ultimate belief in his existence and his providence, and it demands the purest act of faith." (He Leadeth Me, 78)

If I believe that God IS, then what do I have to fear? What cannot be overcome?

Read and re-read

I read through He Leadeth Me more quickly than I had planned. Curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see what happened to Fr. Ciszek. So, on the second read-through, mostly at my 1am adoration hour, I jot down in my journal the quotes/points that strike me so that later in the day/week I can re-read them for inspiration whilst I am on the "front lines" of life as wife and mother.

This is what I have been reading over and over this past week:

"As surely as man begins to trust in his own abilities, so surely has he taken the first step on the road to ultimate failure. And the greatest grace God can give such a man is to send him a trial he cannot bear with his own powers and then sustain him with his grace so he may endure to the end and be saved" (71).

Now doesn't THAT his you like a ton of bricks?

Just Some Pictures

Breakfast around here is a casual affair.

Irish Soda Bread--part of last night's Irish fare.

Joshua puts on Daddy's hats any time he can get ahold of them. Pretty sweet.

Not to be outdone, Miss Clowny has a turn.
(Also in this picture: evidence that small ones + stainless steel appliances = possible Windex shortage.)

Yes, Grace, you're adorable too.

Onion Baby Mama

Paul has thus-ly named me.


I'm the one who started calling them my "onion babies", jokingly, but I DID plant them lovingly in their flats, and I DID nurse them along for 6 weeks, and I DID get sort of attached to them and obsessed with getting them the maximum amount of sunlight once they had 'hatched', carrying them downstairs for the morning (east window with ledge the little shrimpys can't reach) and up for the afternoon (south window). Watering them, trimming them, singing them to sleep...okay just kidding about that last one.

Yesterday, it was like sending them off to college, I planted them in THE GARDEN amidst trampling toddler feet (I think you can see that one of the ones pictured above fell prey to said feet) and let them go....

Well not completely. I visit them every day. I think the term is "helicopter mom".