God's Blessings

I talk about looking for God's blessings each and everyday.

DH and I have been praying about our littlest son. He is Mr. Social and is at a critical stage in his life, where he needs interaction with other little ones. There aren't any little ones in our neighborhood for him to play with. He loves Sunday school and sees his church friends on Sunday mornings, but they typically live 30 miles away or go to daycare during the day because their moms work.

DH and I were looking for extra sources of income for a possible 'mother's day out' and let him go to a local daycare for a social day.

I picked up our local paper last week and saw an ad 'Childcare Needed for 2 1/2 year old on Fridays and Monday'. I called my DH and asked what he thought. I am not one to think about daycare (honestly, I love my own kids, but I have never been known to be the most nurturing person on a consistent basis with little ones). But this just seemed to be too perfect. The child ended up being a little girl about 32 months, potty trained and talking up a storm. Her mom was reluctant to place an ad for someone to take of her, but felt like she had no option. The grandmother who was watching her on the odd days suddenly took ill.

I have been blessed to have taken care of her for two days and can't tell you how we have been blessed. Our littlest is so happy and we can already tell. It hasn't been without challenges, he is having difficulty with trading and sharing things, but she is just as headstrong as he is, so he has met his match.

Some might not think this is a blessing, but I think it is. I have the pleasure of a sweet little girl playing with our littlest and instead of having to pay someone for overseeing his social time, we are getting paid and our son is loving it....I would say that is a triple blessing, but her parents feel a tremendous weight of relief as well. Pray that this continues to work out positively for all involved!

Recipes Galore...

Good morning, I know it is not Fall yet, but the mornings are getting cooler and the shadows are getting longer... I am getting happier! I love Spring and Fall, plus being a super homebody during Winter, my DH quite the opposite, can't get enough of the brutal Summer, the more brutal the happier he is.'

I did finalize my four cooking plans for the local Lions Club. I use http://allrecipes.com/ for a tremendous source for recipes, if I don't have the recipe already. I like the site, because you can research the recipes and I tend to categorize them by the ratings. So far, it has proven to be dead on as far as I am concerned.

The four menus are:

Italian

lasagna

Greek salad

Italian bread rolls

Brownies with fruit compote

American Classic

Fried chicken

Mashed potatoes w/cream gravy

Green Beans

Homemade rolls

Cobbler w/cream

Everyday Favorite

Individual Mini Meatloaves

Twice Baked Potatoes

Broccoli Salad

Lemon Sheet Cake

Mexican

Beef/cheese enchiladas

Mexican Rice

Refried Beans

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pineapple-Upside-Down-Cake-VII/Detail.aspx

I have to highly recommend this recipe for the pineapple upside down cake, it was wonderful!!!
I haven't made a pineapple upside down cake in probably 18 years, but this was easy and wonderful. I did not use an iron skillet, just my regular cake pan and followed the recipe with the following revisions. I used pineapple chunks and took the suggestion of one of the reviewers and used the pineapple juice from the can in place of some of the water needed from the cake mix directions, also picked up a pineapple supreme cake mix in place of the white from the recipe.

Take a look at the site and see if you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Bon Appetit!!!