Blessings and Cookings!

-First of all, a wonderful thing happened this weekend--as I believe I may have mentioned, the band that J is in (and I am a part of as well, though not musically) played a fundraiser on Friday night. During that time, several people in attendance asked the band what sort of things they need to continue playing. About half (or more) of their current equipment actually belongs to the church, and so we've been working at slowly replacing it so that the band will have their "own" equipment in case anything is ever broken during a concert or both the band and the church need the sound system for separate events on the same day. Also, the sheer amount of equipment has been growing so much that we now need several SUV's to haul it, so on our future list of things to buy is also a small trailer to haul it all in. So anyway, on Sunday morning, one of the people that attended the fundraiser presented the band with a check for over $2000! Another congregation member offered to help purchase us a trailer, and yet another member donated a van.

Really, I'm blown away by the graciousness that has been extended towards the band over the last few days, and I have to say that it really couldn't have come at a better time. I know the general consensus of the band was that we all love to play, but have been having a little bit of a difficult time finding people to play FOR. Although we've offered free outreach concerts all over the area, few people have actually taken us up on the offer. So, I think most of the band had been praying something to the effect of, "Lord, if it's your will for this band to continue, make it apparent to us." Well, we're still not exactly sure where to go from here, and we still don't really have too many concerts scheduled, but it looks like we ARE going the direction we're supposed to be going.

-Mondays are my day off of work, and one of the things that I LOVE to do most Mondays is to cook a big meal from scratch. I love to cook, but not when we finally roll in at 6:30 and we're both STARVING and I have to think of something to eat and make it. I know we should do meal plans, but I never really know when we'll actually be home for dinner. Anyway, Renee and I have been alternating cooking for the band on Mondays and Thursdays. On our "off" day, we usually try to connect and bring a side if needed. It's nice because we both get a day off from cooking, and we're actually eating good food instead of grabbing pizza or Taco Bell on the way. Tonight, I tried Pastor Ryan's Cajun Meatloaf and also made Bacon-Wrapped Jalapenos for the boys. I thought the Meatloaf was pretty good for meatloaf--it wasn't dry at all, and it had nice flavor. I didn't try any of the jalapenos, but I heard they were good.