I LOVE FOOD!!! Anyone who knows me, knows that food is my love language! I associate almost everything with food. I enjoy all the memories that I have but if you asked me what food I ate along with those memories... I could probably tell you. I remember food! I could NOT tell you the date that I got engaged... I have NO IDEA!!! I know it was during spring break and that is it. However, I can tell you what we ate for lunch that day! :) You think I'm joking but I'm seriously not. I can tell you what I ate the day I had my children. The day that Jared called me on the phone for the very first time. The first snow storm at college. On my trips to Washington D.C., NY and Bolivia. I remember food. I love to eat! My mom gave me a Texas Roadhouse gift card for my birthday last year. I'm pretty sure that was the best gift I have ever received. The food was tasty and we sure enjoyed it.
I love to bake and I love to cook. I wish I was better at both. I think that I'm decent at both but there is a part of me that wishes I was a great chef and could cook the most delicious food ever made. I'm learning and practicing but no where near my coveted dream.
Along with food, I'm so grateful that I never have to go without. I KNOW I take this blessing for granted. I have been trying to be more patient during the dinner prayer. I often get anxious when people take too long blessing the food. (cough cough, Lydia) Besides just going through the motions of prayer before eating, I'm trying to really give thanks for what I have to eat. I just discovered TED Talks this last weekend. They are awesome! If you don't know what they are go check them out! I watched one about a boy who escaped Korea. He was starving and he watched his father starve to death. He tells his story how he came to America and his journey on becoming successful. It truly is inspiring. Here is a link to his video if you want to watch it too.
I went to Bolivia when I was in college. It was such a great experience for me. Such an eye opener. We truly have SO MUCH in our lives. Seeing the poverty made me really appreciate how much I had. It also made me feel guilty for taking so much for granted. The stories I heard, the people I met, changed my life. I'll never forget the beggers in the street. I remember one afternoon we had gone to a restaurant after church to get some lunch. We had some authentic Bolivian food. It wasn't the greatest. That's when I tried palm tree for the first (and only) time in my life, it was disgusting. I ate some of the food but I remember leaving most of it on my plate. (yeah I'm a food snob, sometimes picky). As we walked out of the restaurant there was a little girl asking for money. I told her I didn't have any. (which I really didn't) She just kept standing there looking at me so I offered her my water bottle. It was half empty. She got the biggest grin on her face as she accepted my offer. She quickly turned around and ran to her mother who was just a little ways down the street. I watched as they both took a turn drinking the water. I stood there SHOCKED. I didn't expect her to take the water bottle. I didn't expect her to enjoy anything from what I had to offer. Then I remembered the food. I wish I had taken it in a to go box. I'm sure they would have been so grateful for anything to eat. This experience was a hard one for me to witness. I can't even imagine living that life that they were. After this experience I had a whole lot to ponder. Why do I have what I have? Why do some people get this life? What made it so that I was able to live in the USA? Why do some people get abundance in food and some have very little? I thought of so many questions and prayed to help me understand. It didn't seem fair.
At church one Sunday (in Bolivia) they were talking about food storage in Relief Society. Oh boy how much different it is there than what my experiences at home were with food storage. I have always done food storage. Even when I was single and going to college. Granted a lot of that food storage came from my mama, BUT I still had it there in my room. I never went without food.
Anyways they were teaching the sisters how to save food in 2 litter soda bottles. They didn't have fancy #10 cans or store houses to purchase their food storage. They had to work for it. At some point in the lesson a sister raised her hand and asked, "How do you expect us to save food when we don't even have enough to eat for one day?" I was in tears.
Now not everyone in Bolivia is that poor but most are. Those experiences taught me great lessons. I promised myself during that trip that I would always keep my food storage up and not complain about how I don't have a wide variety of food in it. I promised myself that I wouldn't take food for granted, but I know I have broken that promise. I also promised that I would always give. Always give to those who have less than I do. Give food, fast offerings or to the humanitarian so that people around the world could have food. This was my answer to all those questions that I had. I don't know why I was born in the USA and have an abundance of food. I don't know why so many good things have happened in my life. But I do know that because I have so much it is my responsibility to share, to give, to love. What a great responsibility and what a great blessing that is. I feel blessed to be be able to share.
I feel kind of stupid for writing these next thoughts that I have. Especially after those last few paragraphs that I wrote. I'm going to write it anyways. Writing is not a strong talent of mine. My ideas are often everywhere. My grammar and spelling is horrible. Oh well though... I'm still going to write. I started off this post having in mind that I wanted to be grateful for pinterest and for all the yummy food recipes that i have gotten off there. I'm horrible at meal planning. I'm trying to learn how to budget, plan a shopping list and meals but it is a big work in progress. Last night it was 5:00pm. Jared called and said he was on his way home from work. I hadn't started dinner. Nor have I been grocery shopping for a long time! Our fridge is pretty empty. I found some potatoes so I peeled them and started making mashed potatoes. I wasn't sure what I was going to make with that. But I knew my kids liked potatoes so I would at least have something for them to eat. :) Well I ended up going to pinterest and searching for "meals with mashed potatoes" up pops up THIS meal. Surprisingly I had all those ingredients. (well most, I substituted some things and it worked out great!) The food was delicious! It is now going on the weekly menu. I love having new recipes. I'm grateful for such a simple way to learn new things.
I'm thankful for food. I'm thankful to Bolivia for reminding me of how much I have. I'm thankful for the happiness that food brings me. I'm thankful for all my memories of food. I'm thankful that we celebrate holidays and special events with food, it only makes those gathering so much better. I'm thankful for how simple it is for me to get food. I'm thankful to have a grocery store 2 minutes away. I'm thankful to the internet for making it so easily accessible to learn how to cook/bake better. I'm thankful for all the recipes and instructions that are given on there. I'm also thankful for the old family recipes as well. I'm thankful to my mother who taught me how to cook when I was living at home. I'm thankful that I'm able to teach my girls how to work in the kitchen. They LOVE to cook and bake. There are so many good memories in the kitchen. I'm thankful for each one.
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