Ever Increasing Apetites

I remember the days, not that long ago, when my children were all either babies, toddlers, or hadn't even been born.  At that point, I thought how amazing it was that our grocery bill was fairly unaffected by the small amount of food the children ate.  I could cook up 8 oz. of noodles and it fed 2 adults and a couple of small children easily.  Well, times have certainly changed!  We have progressed to a new stage in our family with 3 elementary school children and 2 toddlers and feeding 7 mouths 3 times a day is a chore, not to mention an increase in the grocery bill.  Above is a picture of our fruit bowls which we try to keep filled (and are at present empty, so we will shop today to resupply) and that gives you an idea of the growing apetites of my girls.  I hear from friends that have boys that their sons eat a lot, but I would wager that my girls can keep pace at this point, especially with all the calories that they burn every day after school - biking, scootering, swinging, climbing, and going on adventures around the yard (of course when they are teenagers, I'm betting those boys will out eat them 2 to one :-).  I also supplement the grocery store runs by baking about 4 to 5 loaves of bread each week for school lunches, toast, and snacks.  I find this all rather fascinating and definitely am not complaining.  In fact, as I muse on this, I think how blessed we are to live in a land of such plenty that not only do we have jobs and money to feed our children, but the food is so readily available at our fingertips and we never even think about starving and going hungry.  With so many others in countries around the world going hungry daily, not only do we have much to be thankful for, but also the responsibility to do whatever we can to give to those in need with the bounty God has supplied us with.