her belly and heart.

in proverbs 31, it says this about a woman of noble character (humor me, read all of it).

10 [c] A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax

and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,

bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;

she provides food for her family

and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;

her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,

and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff

and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor

and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;

for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;

she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,

where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,

and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;

she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,

and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,

but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

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when you stay at home and your day job changes to mom and wife, you start to reconsider your priorities. i think i would have reconsidered my priorities once loralai was born (or at least i hope) regardless of whether or not i stayed at home with her, but because i did i've been forced into looking at my "role" a little differently now. so in case you didn't know, we aren't rich. financially rich, i mean. Lord knows we're insanely blessed. but financially we aren't in competition with people who don't blink twice at buying bananas at 89cent a pound or people who don't flinch to travel on weekends when gas is pushing $4 and $5 a gallon. we aren't poor or broke but we definitely pay attention to the dollars we spend. and lately, because of the missing additional income (via me) and because the economy is so trying, i've tried to think of ways to be a little bit more frugal.

and then i started thinking about what God calls me to do, or be, as a wife and a mother. and when i read proverbs 31 tonight, i was reminded of my calling. when i complain about doing the fourth load of laundry while i'm watching the olympics - i need to shut my mouth and smile. God didn't call men to do laundry and cook and clean and nurture and wipe boogies and remember when the tylenol needs to be given or to check twice to make sure diapers are in the bag or to make sure that the baby will have her coat in case it's cool or an extra shirt in case she spits up or to make sure the hair is washed, lotion is put on, food is ready for dinner, dishes are clean for eating on and there is enough milk to go around for everyone. no. God made men completely capable of doing all of these things but he gave the nurturing, tending to, cleaning, picking up after, teaching, and nursing role to the women. if you scoff at what i say, take it up with God - he made the rules, i just repeat them.

so when loralai started eating solid foods, i realized something. Gerber is making a killin' on baby food. 5ounces of apple sauce cost a dollar. you have GOT to be kidding me! the same goes for carrots, peas, sweet potatos, etc. and even more, they're packaged ever so preciously in these tiny little plastic or glass containers that get thrown directly into the garbage after use. so not only are we throwing away our money on food that can be made for less, we're throwing away our resources.

i realize how impressionable the decisions i make are on loralai. and i realize that the wisdom or ignorance that i portray will help form her heart. because i was made by God and for God, i want to try hard to be the woman he says that i can be - that he made me to be.

so the other night, my lamp burned late and i finished feeding the baby, washing the baby, lotioning her, loving her, nursing her, put her to bed and then it was off to the kitchen. i had food to make. i bought 1 bag of frozen peas ($1.60), 1 bag of frozen carrots ($1.60) and two sweet potatos ($1.00). i steamed the frozen veggies, baked the potatos, pureed them with water in my mini food processor, poured them into ice cube trays, covered with plastic wrap and in the morning i found beautiful glorious FOOD. baby food. for cheap. healthy baby food for cheap. oh glory glory glory! thank you God for creating me with a thrifty heart and for gifting me with a mini food processor to make baby food! we figured it up and we ended up saving $10 with the amount of food i was able to make from those two bags and two potatos. and don't you know that our baby LOVES the food.

so here's to one of the first outward reflections of God's transformation of me becoming the woman he called me to be. and here's to saving money and the environment :)

and just for the curious people - it only took an hour to do everything. that one hour allows for nearly a week's worth of food (each cube in the ice tray equals 1ounce of food) and while i pureed todd hung out with me. so it was a really nice time to just be together and know that we were doing something good for our family and our finances. and one more thing - fruit. you can't make pureed fruit easily - it won't keep (unless you keep ascorbic acid in your pantry). so i just bought a large jar unsweetened apple sauce and i'm buying pear sauce and pureed bananas via Gerber until loralai's teeth grow in - then i'll just smoosh up pears or really ripe bananas for her to eat.