Time at Home

I've had some nice time at home during the Thanksgiving Holiday. It feels good! I love, love, love to be home especially when the weather grows cold. I also love doing homey things like cooking and knitting and sewing and decorating. :) I did start some knitting. I am making some dishcloths with the "Grandma's Favorite" pattern. I'll show them another day, maybe tomorrow. Perhaps I'll get going again on my Monthly Knit Along group and catch up; ya never know!

Today it snowed a little. There was great excitement and shouting throughout the house when the discovery was made. It is gone now but here it *was*:



I also did a little cooking with leftovers. I made mini turkey pies. Robin made up some pie crust (his comes out so good!) for me. I just put it in muffin pans and then added leftovers dollop by dollop.


I used turkey, mashed potato, carrots, dressing and a dollop of gravy in each.


Voila!


These are going in a freezer bag and in the freezer for lunches. Tomorrow we'll make turkey wraps. We make homemade tortilla shells and put in the leftovers. Robin likes to also add cranberry sauce in these. When done they'll also go in the freezer for lunches or quick meals. I'd also like to make soup.

What do you do with your leftovers?

Sunday Afternoon...

Happy Sunday! It's a cozy afternoon...a good time for hot cocoa and a blanket...or maybe that's just me! I actually baked something yesterday. It really shouldn't be that surprising but I haven't been baking as much lately. It'll pick up more though with the cooler weather. Yesterday I made streusal swirl cake and banana bread.

Today Robin and Rachel decided to try making homemade pasta. We don't have a pasta machine so they had to do it the old fashioned way. We use a dowel for a rolling pin. Rachel ended up taking over the project and she is doing a great job! All those homemade burrito shells we have had her roll out have really given her some skills!



Okay now this next picture is just strange. Tyler was doing the dishes and being a young man of 15, it seemed only natural to throw (yes I said THROW) the bowl up on top of the frig. See how it landed?? What talent!!! HAHA!


For the rest of the day I'll be correcting school papers from last week and getting everyone's lesson plans ready for this week. I have really had a hard time keeping up this year. I hate to have the kids ask "what's next" and I am saying "Ummmmm, let me see..." I'd much rather say, "Just check your schedule. It's right there for you!!"

What are you doing today? Did you get to go to church today? I did and the sermon was on anger...ouch...it was a good ouch though!

Proud vs. Humble

(clipart is from www.christart.com)

I am reading Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book called "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free." Oh what a GREAT book! It really makes you stop and think.

Do you ever have a hard time setting that time aside each day to spend with God, in His Word and in Prayer? I'll be honest and say that I do. Nancy shares this verse in her book and I am going to post this right where I can see it each day for it now has new meaning to me:

"But he gives us more grace. That is why the Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'" James 4:6

In her book, Nancy points out that when you neglect to spend time with God each day, reading His Word the Bible and spending time in prayer that what you are saying is that you don't need Him, His wisdom and His strength to get through a day. That is pride.

The verse above tells us that God opposes the proud. So, when I have *one of those days* where nothing gets done and everything goes wrong, where the more I work the more behind I get, and I haven't spent time with God as my 1rst priority, perhaps He is opposing me due to my pride!

That exhortation has really helped me to put first things first. And when I do I am so blessed...really blessed because it humbles me and reminds me that I need the Lord's strength. According to James 4:6, God gives grace to the humble!

Humble is good! :)

Thankful Thursday!

Today is Thankful Thursday. What are you thankful for today?

I am thankful for:

1. My family.
2. My home.
3. My church (No, really...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my church!)
4. I get to be home with my children and serving my family every day.
5. My husband's job (though it is very stressful it is a great provision).
6. Our dog, Dash, who gives us countless hours of entertainment!
7. Winter is coming and this year I am really looking forward to the extra time at home winter brings!
8. My kids' friends...my kids have really great friends.
9. Vehicles that get us around.
10.Ministry opportunities galore.

Well, that's my Top 10! :)

I can feel myself winding down and preparing for winter's pace. I love to be home when it is cold. I really don't like getting in a cold car and being cold. But I love being warm and cozy and looking out at cold. :)We'll likely dress a little warmer and keep the house cooler this year, but it will still be quite nice. We'll sip hot cocoa and wrap in blankets and watch a nice movie or read good books...

In the winter we seem to spend more time together as a family and more time developing indoor hobbies. I have my winter sports of course: knitting and quilting and this year I'll add chicken scratch which is an easy and pretty embroidery method. Yeah, that's my idea of winter sports...hee, hee. Winter is the time all these crafts show up on my blog. The kids love to sled and ice skate. It's time to get the skates out and see what fits everyone.

I'll spend lots of time praying about, thinking about and planning the Children's Ministries at church. It will be good to have that time. Right now the Children's Ministry is running like a freight train so I am planning on the fly but soon there will be that time. Next year we are planning a couple of evangelistic kids' clubs for summer. You see our teens go to Raleigh, N.C. and work for Mission Raleigh one week out of the summer. They do Kids Clubs down there. This year they'll do them in Maine first! We'll let others in the church join in too. Then after the Neighborhood clubs we'll invite all those kids and everyone we can invite to the *traditional VBS* at the church. I can't wait!! It's going to be GREAT!!

Lot's to do, lot's to do! How about you...what are you thankful for today? What keeps you busy in the winter??

"Today is the Day"~A Little Lincoln Brewster to Start the Day!

I`m casting my cares aside
I`m leaving my past behind
I`m setting my heart and mind on You
Jesus

I`m reaching my hand to Yours
Believing there`s so much more
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good
Is good

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won`t worry about tomorrow
I`m trusting in what You say
Today is the day

I putting my fears aside
I`m leaving my doubts behind
I`m giving my hopes and dreams to You
Jesus

I`m reaching my hand to Yours
Believing there`s so much more
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good
Is good

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won`t worry about tomorrow
I`m trusting in what You say
Today is the day

I will stand upon Your truth.
(I will stand upon Your truth)
And all my days I`ll live for You
(And all my days I`ll live for You)

Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won`t worry about tomorrow
I`m trusting in what You say
Today is the day

Catching My Breath

Boy it has been awhile since I have blogged. We have been so busy!! Church life is hopping which is a good thing. I love, love, love my church! It is the church I always wished existed and it is just 10 short minutes from my house! Gone are the days when a child tries to get out of going by feigning a stomach ache. Now all we hear is, "C'mon mom and dad we don't want to be late!!" How cool is THAT?

Recently we had a "Trunk or Treat" outreach. Let's face it, people are out in droves on October 31rst. So we could not help but take advantage of that opportunity. About 20 of us decorated our car trunks to hand out candy. We also handed out gospel tracs and information about our Children's Ministries. It was such fun to love on those kids and enjoy them being there. There were all happy faces that night. It was also a great opportunity for my kids to be involved in outreach.

Here is our trunk close up:


As you can see we did "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Here is the kids with the trunk: :)


Here is one of our favorite people at church. He is an elder and is also a "Kids for Christ" (Children's Church) teacher. He loves kids and it shows. My kids are just crazy about him.


So that's a little peak in what has been consuming my time as I was one of the people doing the planning. Our church has been growing so fast that I am spending alot of my time on the "Children's Director" stuff. But it is all good and great fun!