Modern-Day Manna

Nick and I spent this weekend at my parents, and it was lovely and restful.  We drove up there after work on Friday and got in just after 11:00pm.  We chatted for about an hour, and then Nick and I stayed up way too late after that.  That was okay because we could sleep in on Saturday.  

Unfortunately, our car's brake pads decided to act up on the drive over the mountains, so Nick spend most of Saturday in town at the garage, and then at his grandparents' (who live in town) to say hi, while I stayed out with my parents.  We played a lot of Ticket To Ride, ate good food, read a little and watched some t.v.  

Then the most exciting thing happened right when we were about to leave.  My parents are going on an all-raw diet.  Raw fruit.  Raw vegetables.  Some beans and some nuts.  That's it.  They are planning to be in this for the long haul, so they wanted to remove temptation from the house.  We were MORE than happy to help in this regard!  My parents live waaaayyyy out in the woods in a little town that is nothing more than a gas station and a Coop.  As a result, when they go to town, they really stock up on groceries. They had a huge deep freeze FULL of food and a floor-to-ceiling-pantry as well.  

Dakota was very interested in having all this food be placed at his level:

Emptying the deep freeze.

This was even more exciting for us since things have been so tight lately.  We were planning on living on less than $40 a week for the next month for groceries.  And this week was only going to be $28 because we bought Subway on our trip up there.

We feel so very blessed, even right down to the minute details.  For example, my mom reached into the freezer and pulled out a couple jars of un-pasterized honey.  (Oh, I forgot to mention, 90% this food is organic!!  A-MAZ-ING.)  She asked me if I wanted some honey or if we already had some at home.  Only a week ago, Nick and I were in the grocery store aisle, and we stood there and chose between honey and peanut butter.  We opted for the latter as it would stretch more.  So God even gave us the honey that we put back on the shelf.

On TOP of all this, Nick's grandparents sent him back with a box full of canned peaches, pears, cherries, syrup and a bag of pistachios!  Oh, and some canned sauerkraut, too!

We didn't even know what was in all those boxes until we got home, as I was packing up other stuff while my mom emptied her kitchen.  We found cereals, soups, pancake mix, noodles, pizzas, CHICKEN WINGS, a black forest ham!, boxes of M&M's Chinese dinners, all sorts of dressings and condiments, chicken breasts/thighs, steaks, liver, cheese, juice, bags and bags of french fries, cookies, home-made breakfast bars, sausages, tons of bagels, bread and buns, pork, hamburgers, and even little containers of left-over turkey for sandwiches, among other things!  When we finally got home and unloaded everything, this is what it looked like!

The brown paper packages on the floor, under the chair on the lower-left corner are all STEAK!

The big one in the right-hand corner below is a roast that we already had, but every single wrapped package on the top shelf below is an organic steak!  We had maybe 6 of these beforehand that we were saving/rationing in our freezer, but now they have a LOT of company!

Our happy pantry.

Go figure, with all that food, by the time we unpacked and put everything away, we just ended up having a huge salad for dinner.  With chicken and cheese though, which was a bonus!

I knew God was teaching me to trust Him this Spring.  I knew He would provide, even if I didn't like what that may look like.  (Sometimes God doesn't follow "my" totally awesome plans/ideas and provides in ways that I would maybe not have chosen).  However, I NEVER expected hundreds and hundreds of dollars of free groceries to end up sitting on my kitchen table.  I guess maybe His ways are better sometimes ;)  So THANK YOU mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and Jesus!  I am SO, SO happy to have a break from Kraft Dinner and Mr. Noodle.  If I had to do one more week eating that, my insides may have rotted out of my body!