Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Happy THANKSGIVING to each of you. 

I am forever grateful and thankful for you, my gentle friends, that visit me in cyberland.  This little corner of blog sphere is very happy you have decided to give a few moments of your time to reading and praying for my little garden.

As you prepare your turkey, mash your potatoes, and dress your stuffing know that I am also praying for you and thankful for you today.   You encourage me so much with your thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement.  This road is bumpy and knowing I have people sending us warm thoughts and prayers is heart humbling; it makes me joyous and thankful.  God has been so wonderful and good to us.   My heart prays for each of you, that you may be blessed.

Happy Blessed Thanksgiving to each of you. 

From our home to yours.... 

FROM Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

 

 



What is Thankfulness?

What does it mean to be thankful? 

I think sometimes we see don't really sit down and study why we are thankful.  I'm not accusing, I know I am guilty of it.  We say we are thankful.  We can have a whole long myriad of things that we list on facebook, blogs, twitter... name you social media....  but the fact remains, we say we are thankful but how often do we really sit down and be truly thankful?  Sadly, for many it takes a tragedy to make us truly humble ourselves and be honestly heart wrenchingly grateful with thanksgiving pouring from our lips. 

Since its November and Thanksgiving will dawn in less than a week, I have been giving a lot of thought to the pilgrims.  Can you imagine how grateful they were when they landed upon our shores?  The joy and thanksgiving must have poured forth in waves from he Mayflower.   

I Imagine a verse like 1 Chronicles 29:11-13 rang forth, shaking the very masts of the boat with the strength of the praise and shouts of thanks.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

 

I am thankful, from the bottom of my heart I am thankful.  I am thankful for the blood that was shed.  When we do communion each week we do it in remembrance of that shed blood.  Its through that blood that we have life.  I am thankful for my loved ones.  God has blessed me with people who help my walk, so that I may grow closer daily to Him.  He brought an amazing man into my life, who has patience and understanding beyond what I can fathom.  He gave us a little girl to teach me to have the same patience that my husband and Lord has for me.  He has allowed me to continue to have my Mom and for us to be friends as well as we age.  He has given me all of my needs and granted me many wants.  I am forever grateful and thankful.

Linking up with Women Taking a Stand and Thankful Thursday.



Rejoice in all things

Yes, rejoice.  ALWAYS. 

Linking up with "THANKFUL THURSDAY"

I am rejoicing that I feel busy... right? RIGHT????  But, is my "busy" about doing the Lords work?  Sadly, maybe I am "BUSY" or feeling busy because I am not thinking of it in the right way, putting God first.  I am very thankful for my life; I really am, but do I show it?  Or do I appear to be full of frustration and complaints?  I really want to "declutter" that attitude and become more thankful in thought as well. 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 we are told to always rejoice; and, as if you might need a second witness to this advice, in Philippians 4:4 we can read "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice." Clark's Commentary on the Bible says, "Be always happy; the religion of Christ was intended to remove misery. He that has God for his portion may constantly exult....  The apostle repeats the exhortation, to show, not only his earnestness, but also that it was God's will that it should be so, and that it was their duty as well as interest." 

Am I doing this though?  When I am "busy" lets be honest about what I am busy with....  Really, truly, BE HONEST.  Yes, I am worldly busy.  I am not busy about God's work though.  I may think I am, but I'm not. If I was, I would venture to say I wouldn't even count it as busy.  Does my daughter look at my constant burning of the candle as something good?  Or rather is it a source of frustration for our family?  If it was something Godly would I count it as busy.....????  Honesty now. 

Yeah, I'm laying it on the line.  I don't care what you do, how you do it, or even what you call it, but for me, all the activities I do don't necessarily make me a better Christian, don't always further the Kingdom, nor do they always glorify Him.  I am human, but I see room for improvement right now.  I am seriously wanting our lives to be less stress-fillled, hence the big undertaking of simplifying our lives. 

I have been successful in many areas....  I am still working on it.  But.... I still look at myself and say I am busy....  my attitude has not changed so very much....  right?  So my goal is to now change that.  The word busy needs to be gone from my vocabulary.  What we speak we soon believe.  So if I change that small thing, and begin to view things in a different light maybe I wont overhear my daughter tell daddy that "mommy was frustrated today....."  Yeah, out of the mouths of the innocent babes. 

I need to rejoice.  Sing praises to Him more.  Writing that I am thankful has helped, and likely has led to God putting this on my heart, so now the next step is before me.

Today I am thankful for God and His loving mercy and grace.  That He loves me enough to show me where I need to make improvements in my life.  That He loves enough to show me that my actions can lead to a calm and loving household or a household that wonders if mommy will be running around like a chicken with her head cut off and getting easily upset. 

Life is short.  God is good and the most important thing I can do as a Christian wife and mom is to pray and be full of a rejoicing heart.  So yes, I am thankful, that God shows me my faults and allows me time to try to change and become more the woman He would desire for me to be.  I want my daughter and husband to view me as calm and capable, someone they can confide in without fear that it will lead to "mommy getting frustrated." 

Thank you gentle friends.... 

A little thankful note

I am convinced that you can only be thankful when you sit down and express it, think about it, maybe even mourn a little for those things which you thought you needed but God showed He had other plans.  Yes, thankfulness means sitting down and actively being thankful.  Taking a few minutes out of your day to express it.  Each November 1st we have a Thankful Tree in our house on which we have Bear write her thankfulness on each evening or morning.  This is my method of doing the same thing; writing it down, taking time to think about it and reflect on the days events.  God is so good and worthy of my praise.

• I am thankful we had a great camping adventure.  No rain, no mishaps, and plenty of fun.
• I am thankful we were able to connect with old friends whom we thought had abandoned us when we were told we couldn't break bread in our old fellowship (because we were seeking a new church for study and learning--to grow).  It was nice to at least talk with them and for Brother Ken to listen to my hubs about why we felt we needed more, that God was leading us and giving us a searching heart, a yearning heart for His word.
• I am thankful that my hubs easily agreed to me repainting my kitchen.  I started it in 2009 and then got hurt, but I was never happy with the colors.  I am going a different route in late August and told him we might go with a cabin/lodge or fishing theme but we are painting and I am downsizing my vast tea pot collection.  I want to simplify and renew the kitchen.
• Thankful for doing well in my classes this short summer term.  It has been hard, but worth it so far.  I am on the back stretch now.
• Thankful for an understanding family, work, and the joy I am given.

What are you thankful for today?

Happy tending my gentle friends.  I am so thankful for each of you that come to my blog, read my "diary", pray for us, and comment.  I love comments on my blog.  It helps me to feel connected to you.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. 

Psalm 28:7

Linked up with Women Taking a Stand and Thankful Thursday.

Thanksgiving Greetings

May you and yours be blessed this Thanksgiving. We are thankful for each of you.  I am also thankful for the family God has blessed me with, and our home and our health.  God has certainly blessed us.

The last of the harvest --back in October

BE THANKFUL

Be thankful for home

Be thankful for food

Be thankful for birds that fly

Be thankful for sleep

Be thankful for flowers

Be thankful for clouds in the sky.

Be thankful for friends

Be thankful for rain

And the rainbows that follow close by.

Adding a leaf to the
Thankful Tree

We have had a busy week.  Last week we celebrated the First Thanksgiving with our small group of other homeschool friends.  We had quite the preschooler happy feast.  Peanut butter and Jelly, fruit, goldfish crackers, juice and crapes.  The girls decorated paper with hand print turkeys and played dress up.  It was fun.

Saturday, after much thought we traded in our van for a vehicle that would get cheaper gas mileage.  We will miss the luxury of heated mirrors and tons of room, but we wont miss the huge gas bill every week. 

This week we also created a homemade magnifying glass....  a ziploc style bag filled with water.  :-)  This was Sarah's idea and we went with it and what a learning adventure that was.  We also created placemats for Thanksgiving day.  That was a big adventure as well!  So much paint everywhere.  Sarah said, "Mommy the handprints are the funniest part."  I had to laugh right outloud at that.  I bet it did seem like a really fun project to be told you MUST paint your hands and print paper.  Then she created stories surrounding the pictures.  One poor flock had to deal with a tornado, another a bad rain storm and another had "turkey poop and eggs" all over. 

Sarah also started Tae Kwon Do (TKD) couple weeks ago and she is having a blast doing it.  She is starting to learn to count to 10 in Korean.  If you are local and want to look for a place for your children I can highly recommend Master Pae's.

I made my first ever batch of Beef Jerky this week.  Sarah and I cut the meat and cured it with the spices, etc., and then dried it for what seemed like, days!  :-)  It turned out very good I think and Bob loves it.  I will be making more and it may even end up in some Christmas presents.

Giving Thanks

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,

For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,

For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,

For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home --

Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,

For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!


For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the "Land of the Free" --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures:



Day 23 of our Thankful Tree

One of our last days of outside fun.



Look Mommy....  I am making TURKEYS!



Looking at her uncles guitar.... 
She says Uncle Jr is in a rock band...





Our Turkey Placemats!

 A Thanksgiving Dinner

by Maude M. Grant

Take a turkey, stuff it fat,

Some of this and some of that.

Get some turnips, peel them well.

Cook a big squash in its shell.

Now potatoes, big and white,

Mash till they are soft and light.

Cranberries, so tart and sweet,

With the turkey we must eat.

Pickles-yes-and then, oh my!

For a dessert a pumpkin pie,

Golden brown and spicy sweet.

What a fine Thanksgiving treat!

Happy Tending!  And HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

A Tree of Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful for each of you!

Happy November!  How many of you are doing a Thankful Tree, or some other thing, in celebration of your thanks this month?  Please feel free to share a link or a photo, or even a description of what you are doing this month.

Sarah before heading out.

Halloween was so much fun.  We went trick or treating with some friends from our homeschool group.   Every year the Proctor District in Tacoma shuts down the main section of the district and all the businesses hand out candy and goodies to the little ones.  Its always as much fun seeing the costumes as the actual trick or treating for us.  Sarah had so much fun pointing out all the costumes and laughing at the funny ones.  Many, in some fashion or another, make their own so you can get a great mix of ideas and characters.  We seen one family of bees and the father was a beekeeper, another family was Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, and Thing 2.  Of course there were a lot of princesses, butterflies and lady bugs to be had, as well as a smattering of pirates.


As for me, the month has gotten away from me.  I can't believe it is already the second week of November!  We are still drying apples and have a gallon or so already dried.  I love them but Bear is still not overly fond of them, as of yet.  Our Thankful Tree is shaping up.  I think this doing a tree this  year is really giving Sarah the opportunity to learn what being thankful is about.  She is also older and able to understand a bit more.  Some of her things are funny, as only a child would think of:   Things like being thankful for movies, crayons.....  Another friend that is doing a Thankful Tree as well said one of her little girls reported that she was thankful for princesses.  Children are adorable!

Taken Day 3

Putting the leaf on the tree.

I am about to get started on my Christmas crafting and gift making.  In this frame means I will be starting to make Jam, next week I think.  That depends on time though.  I may wait until finals are done. This year we are doing a more handcrafted approach to Christmas.  Our hope, for all involved, that it will be more of a special time.  One that is remembered for being with loved ones and remembering why we, as Christians, remember the season.  Sarah was given a gift card for her birthday and we allowed her to buy whatever she wanted and she picked out an 18 inch doll, so I plan to make her a few outfits for it.  I discovered at Joann's Fabric the other day that they sell a variety of shoes that I will be able to buy as well to go with the outfits.  I will be making her a few barbie dresses as well.  Then she will very likely ask Santa for the one big gift, which is what we have done in years past.  So far she really wants a Electric "ROCKIN'" guitar.  We shall see.  :-)  She has done very well with her acoustic, of course she doesn't play yet.  But she enjoys pretending that she does.

I have been wanting to try my hand at those homemade shaped crayons as well and tried those last week.  They were fun!  Very easy to make as well though it does kind of make for a smelly few hours from the wax.  I think some will end up as Christmas presents this year.  shhhhhh.

I think we enjoy the crayons!

Little Miss. Lauren 

 The month of November is all about harvest as well.  Last week we learned about animals harvesting nuts and even ground oats and made muffins from items we have harvested ourselves, including applesauce from early this fall.  We also have made bird feeders to hang in the yard.

Toilet Paper Roll Bird feeder:
How to make your own!

• EMPTY Toilet Paper Rolls (enough for the children to make at least one a piece)
• Peanut butter
• Paper plates (one per child)
• Butter knife (one per child is helpful to lessen the "I WANTS")
• Bird feed/seed of your choice 
• Yarn or twine
• Scissors (use your judgment, you know your child, cut the twine yourself or if they are old enough they can)

Directions:
Over each empty toilet paper roll slather peanut butter.  Place a goodly amount (1/2-1 cup) of birdseed into the paper plate and then put the roll with the peanut butter in the plate and roll repeatedly and cover all the peanut butter with the seed.  Cut twine into about a 12-16 inch section and feed through the roll and tie ends together to make a hanger.  Admire your child's handiwork and then bundle up and head outdoors while you child finds the perfect spot to hang it.  Enjoy seeing feathered friends snack on the treat.



Next order of business is to cook and puree our pumpkins and freeze for later bread and pie!


Happy Tending my friends!

More Bird Feeder Pictures!

Little Miss Cerridwen

Winterize

I think we are gonna have some winter weather this year here in the Pacific North West. Last year was so mild, I remember we went out the first part of January looking for snow and were unable to find more than patches.

Thanks giving will be here before we know it. Can you name a handful of things you are thankful for? I think most can say they are thankful for their job, home and family. I want to also add I am thankful for a kind and loving husband, the blessing of a healthy little girl, my mom, friends that care about us locally and even far away. Family that we can't see often enough, though we love them dearly and even Ollie, our furbaby. Most of all, I know for me, none of my life would be possible if it weren't for the love of God and the Son he gave up for our sins. The blood of Christ is so important to me (Acts 2:38).

So I hope each and everyone that is reading this finds their November filled with love and joy and all those that they hold dear. May your garden be overflowing!

Happy Tending,