Beans and Rice and an Eye Update!

Eye Update: Insurance did not deny Gabriel's surgery (yet?) but did request pictures of his eye to help them make their decision. So downtown we went yet again to have Gabe's pictures taken. He didn't like it too much and I didn't like him not like it... but we made it through and hopefully now we're one step closer to getting Gabriel's eye lid fixed and his vision saved!

And now for the other part of the post:

For the month of September the LaGorga household (sans Gabe**) will be eating A LOT of this:

A year ago I read about the Rice and Beans challenge on the blog Building the Blocks and wanted to do it! It took a little convincing of Aaron and then emptying our freezer/refrigerator before we were able to do it but now we are!

Why are we doing this? Most children in third world countries feel blessed to have one warm meal of beans and rice daily and as beans and rice are a staple food of the orphanage we're adopting from we thought that this would be a good 'experience' for us to have. I call it an experience, because at the end of the 30 days of September we'll go back to having lasagna, chicken pot pie, pot roast and whatever else we please for dinner. But hopefully we'll always remember the tedium of eating the same thing for dinner night after night.

Why beans and rice? Well we're eating it because that's the typical diet of an orphan in Ethiopia and they eat it because 1.) it's inexpensive, 2.) beans are really good for you and 3.) rice is very filling. So you get a healthy, tummy-filling meal for a low price.

Focusing on the inexpensive aspect: we are going to use the money saved from our grocery budget to put in our adoption fund. Our dinner prices for the month of September will be exponentially lower and the money saved will move us a little bit closer to bringing our family home.

We'll see how it goes. We may have it, we may love it, we will get sick of it quickly but we will do it. Sacrificing something so little to gain something as great as another family member isn't really a sacrifice at all.

Will you pray that we remember why we're eating beans and rice for dinner and pray that God uses this experience to continue to change us?

**While Gabriel will be eating beans and rice for dinner with his Mama and Daddy we will also be giving him his usual fruits/veggies/protein that he eats at every meal. Why? Well we don't want him to stop liking the fruits and vegetables we serve him every meal and by feeding Gabriel his usual food while we eat beans and rice will hopefully further impress on us the fact that are little one(s) across the ocean are surviving on something so little/plain/pitiful while Gabe continues to grow and thrive on everything we're able to provide for him.