Good Morning!

Good morning, everyone! I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving. We are now in full Christmas mode here so today, I'm heading out to work on things for the Christmas program with G-girl. Lots to do today to get things finalized.

Are any of you involved in the Christmas programs at your church? If so, what are you all doing?

Have a blessed day!

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Good morning! It has been awhile since I last posted. Things here are great, just busy as usual. God has and still is, doing great things in my life. PRAISE THE LORD!!

I just LOVE this time of year, don't you? The wonderful food, the decorating, and just being with family and friends. This year, we are having two special friends from church coming over to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. We are really getting to know them and they have become so precious to us!

Yesterday we moved the furniture and shampooed the carpets so today I am putting things back where they belong, some of which the GARBAGE! lol In between getting the house back to normal, I need to do some baking; an apple pie, pumpkin crunch, and some cookies. I then need to chop the onions and celery to get it ready for the stuffing. Then it's getting the yams into their pretty little baking dishes and all brown sugared up. Everything else will be done tomorrow. It's certainly going to be an early morning, but I wouldn't have it any other way! :> )

Our Thanksgiving menu will be:

A BEAUTIFUL Butterball turkey
Sage Sausage stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Candied yams w/marshmallow topping
Corn pudding
Creamy Cauliflower (recipe to come)
Scalloped Vadalia onions
Fresh baked pepperoni rolls

Desserts:
Apple pie
Pumpkin Crunch
Amish Chocolate Chip Bars
Pumpkin Trifle, courtesy of Goose

Hmmm.....feels like I'm missing something! Well, if I figure it out, I'll just fill it in.

So, what's on YOUR Thanksgiving menu?

Dream Vacation/Destination

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls!"

Matthew 11:28-29

When the weather gets cold, many people are wishing they were somewhere warmer. My daughter, Goose, and her husband, Tang, will be going on an all-inclusive trip to CANCUN, MEXICO in December for ten days of total SUNSHINE & BLISS! (lucky dawgs!) They are soooo excited to finally be going on their "DREAM VACATION/HONEYMOON!" Goose said, "I can't wait to be lying on the beach, soaking up the warm temperatures and the sunshine while the rest of you are back home possibly shoveling out and FREEZING!" lol

Well, all this talk about vacations got me thinking about where I would like to go on my "dream vacation/destination" and it didn't take me long at all to decide. One day, I want to go to Jerusalem and walk along the same streets my precious Lord and Savior walked while on this earth. How AMAZING that would be!

IF you could go anywhere..........where would your "dream vacation/destination" be?

A Wedding Blessing

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh!"
Genesis 2:18, 21-24

To my precious sister, Barbara and her beloved Alex on their wedding day. . . .

~ May your joys be as bright as the morning, your years of happiness as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and your troubles but shadows that fade in the sunlight of love. May God richly bless your union this morning and pour out His Holy Spirit upon you both ~

Welcome to the family, Alex....

WE ♥ YOU!

What's Up

I started this blog for quite a few reasons and I PROMISED myself that I would write something down EVERY DAY. It didn’t matter whether two lines or fifty. Whether it be talking about my relationship with God, My Skippy Man, the kids, my feelings about homeschooling, (which I am COMPLETELY enjoying by the way and so glad that we did) my need for COFEEEEEE and chocolate, just venting, what's going on down at the farm, or letting you know of the encouraging blogs I have found along my travels.

However, during our revival, I was deeply convicted of many things......one of which is letting go of those things that have been getting in the way of what is most important to me.....God and my family. Some of those things include blogging and facebook, as well as other things.

I have also been making a conscious effort to start the day, before my feet even hit the floor, to give God PRAISE & GLORY, and to THANK HIM for all the blessings he has bestowed on my family and myself. This so sets the tone for my day and it always goes so much better when I start it with God!

Well, I am not going to make that same promise again knowing that I will not be able to keep it, but I will promise to make the best effort I can to keep my blog updated.

So if you don't see a post for a few days, don't worry, I'm okay. Actually, I'm doing better than ever!

Blessings~

Are You THIRSTY?

"Blessed are those who hunger and THIRST for righteousness, for they will be filled!"
Matthew 5:6

Yesterday at church, our THIRST Revival Conference started and all I can say is WOW! I must admit, my toes are sore from being stepped on, but you know what....that is EXACTLY what I have needed.

Last night we talked about SUBSTITUTIONS we use for God; things that we do instead of meeting with God....people that we run to first when things happen instead of taking it to God.....my idols. I was amazed at how many I actually had, and I didn't like it one bit! We were then given a styrofoam cup to write down those things that were keeping us from having the intimate relationship with God that we should so earnestly be seeking, and encouraged to place them at the feet of Jesus.

My soul is being refreshed and my heart has found it's joy again, but my THIRST has not been quenched. I am so looking forward to another evening of meeting with my personal Savior!

PRAISE GOD!

On-line Math Resource

For some information on a great on-line Math resource, please go HERE!

Heavenly Humor

"He who sits in the heavens shall laugh!"
Psalm 2:4

For the past week or so, I have come to realize that I have taken things, situations, circumstances, and even people, a little too seriously. That I haven't been smiling/laughing enough. As I was reading my devotional book, I came across a particular one I would like to share with you.

It asks the question: Is laughter theologically correct?

We rarely think of a knee-slapping, rib-tickling, belly laugh when we think of being spiritual. But is that God's perspective?

In Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose, a villainous monk named Jorge poisoned anyone who came upon the one book in the monastery library that suggested that God laughed. Jorge feared if the monks though God laughed, He would become too familiar to them, too common, and they would lose their awe of Him. Jorge probably never considered the idea that laughter is one of the things that sets us apart as made in God's image.

In Spiritual Fitness, Doris Donnelly tells us that humor has two elements; an acceptance of life's incongruities and the ability not to take ourselves too seriously. The Christian faith is filled with incongruities - the meek inherit the earth, the simple teach wisdom, death leads to life, a virgin gives birth, a king is born in a stable. Many, but not all of life's incongruities are humorous.

Humor also helps us let go of an exaggerated sense of importance to face the truth about ourselves. Anxiety over our own efforts can obscure what God is doing in our lives. "Lighten up" can be good spiritual advice!

How can we renew our sense of humor?

• Be on the lookout for humor. Almost every situation contains some element of humor in it
• Spend time with people who have a sense of humor - their perspective will be contagious.
• Practice laughing. Take a five-to-ten-minute laugh break every day.

You can benefit from laughing. Humor requests a sense of honesty about yourself - without arrogance or false humility. Humor has also been proven to be good for your health. Take time to laugh each day - it is good for the soul as well as the body!

A Day Out

Last week, Skippy, Bean, Kiddo, and myself, decided to go out for a drive. We left early in the morning and just took our time, not watching the clock and thoroughly enjoying the beautiful countryside. We started out the day with a trip to a nearby meat processing plant, and then over to a local orchard where we had a great time drinking cider and picking apples.

From the apples we got that day, we canned 36-1/2 pint jars of apple butter! Oh, how WONDERFUL they housed smelled of apples and cinnamon!

I had a lot more pictures of our day and canning, but for some reason I can't find them. I hope you enjoy the few pics I was able to find!