Be Still and Know...Then and Now

I’m not entirely sure what happen last week but sadly I had only one picture to show for the entire week which I am including with this weeks pictures. This week I made a more diligent effort to try and think 365 and I did much better, plus I also had a few memorable moments all thoughout the week that made the desire to take pictures more enjoyable. Sometime you just don't have picture worthy moments happen ever day! Saturday, November 20 I made a triple batch of my Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce. I am ready for the holiday season and I don’t have to make any more Cranberry Sauce for a while. Sunday, November 21 ~ No pictures :( Monday, November 22 My daughter was about ready to loose her mind as most of her friends had all seen Harry Potter 7 ~ Part One. I don’t normally spring for full price movie tickets but I made a special exception in this case. I forked over the cash and took her and a friend to see it! I thought it was too long the DD thought it was AWESOME! ...

Since we traveled to my SIL for Thanksgiving with my husbands family I did not get to do much in the line of cooking. I made a small contribution to the meal with the addition of a Pineapple Upside Down cake but that was the extend of my culinary effort on the actual day of Thanksgiving. Not being one to allow a small thing like not actually being home on Thanksgiving stop me from actually having Thanksgiving I decided that being thankful is really a constant state of mind anyway so we have postponed our smaller family celebration until this evening. Skoots1mom and her family will be joining my small family and we will gather around my table for a Delayed Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving 2010 Menu: Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Ham Roasted Turkey Breast (Marinate in a Brine for 24 hours) Homemade Macaroni & Cheese Broccoli & Rice Casserole with Mushrooms and Roasted Red Peppers Stuffing & Gravy Creamed Peas Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce Hot Spiced Tea ...

I may not be deadline driven or win any medals for efficiency but I do like to think that I have retained some ability to follow through with the things that I start even if it takes me a very long to time to see it through to completion. This final installment in our summer vacation post has been lounging around in my drafts folder all summer long and finally after many long days of being neglected, plus the DD is making pancakes for breakfast and I was wasting time on the computer anyway so I thought I would give it a go. So here it is the FINAL 2010 Summer Vacation post! We hit the Petrified Forest on the last leg of our vacation. It is just outside of Phoenix which was our destination to catch our flight home. I was not sure what I was expecting but it was defiantly the last amazing jewel in our vacation crown so to speak. It was AWESOME! The colors, the amazing beauty, the vistas were simply inspiring.  On 07/01/10 we made it to The Petrified Forest National Park . It is...

Having just spent the day at the grocery store getting ready for next week I am a bit tired and a bit overwhelmed as the pending holiday approaches. I think the older I get the need to simplify become more and more attractive. My tolerance for family drama and an all the wonderful things that go into those holiday family gatherings can be a bit much for me in my hormonal stage of life. However I am trying to breath through it and remember what it says in the the instruction manual Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. I think I may have that tattooed on the palm of my hand so it will be readily available to me a a moment notice. Thanksgiving is really one of my all time favorite holidays, not because I have a lot of warm and fuzzy memories but because most of the good memories I do have revolve around spending time with my grandmother in her kitchen. When I am in my kitchen and getting a meal, even a big production like Thanksgivin...

The hubs was out of town, or to be more precise he was out of the country, on business all week long so when the cat’s away the house mouse takes the week off. No cooking, very little cleaning and basically it’s a girls week of just hanging out. Sunday, November 7 On Sunday we got the first wave of fundraising letters in the mail. With the increased cost of the this mission years trip and the broken down payment schedule I feel certain that there will be multiple mailing as well as a few other money making opportunities like a bake sale and maybe a church wide garage sale to help off set the cost of the trip. Monday, November 8 Leftover Cream of Mushroom Soup and a Grilled Cheese. This meal constitutes the only time I spent at the stove or in the kitchen all week long. Aside for exerting the effort to place a frozen pizza in the oven Thursday evening this was the extent of my foray into the kitchen all week long. No pictures on Tuesday, November 9 or Wednesday, November 10 Th...

Sometimes moments of clarity happen when you least expect it. I don’t know about you but sometime the writers of the bible don’t seem like real people to me. It is hard for me to see them as flesh and bone individuals that walked around in the real world. The world we live in today seems so very different from the world that the Patriarchs lived in. Thousand of yeas have passed yet God’s word is eternal. When I think about Abraham or Moses I think in terms of Prophets and great leaders. For me it is sometimes hard to see past the great acts of God that surrounded the Patriarchs and look at the real flesh and bone humans that they were. Isn’t that just human nature, we allow our vision to be clouded by what are perceptions are or from what we can see on the outside. Things of the past seem so far removed from what our life is like today. The imagery of Moses using a cell phone or Abraham consulting his GPS is just an hard to picture as it is for me to place myself in a caravan of wan...

Last week we were delving into Jeramiah and Ezekile. I love the imagry of the Valley of Dry bones. This week we are reading the Psalms. I noticed somethng today as I was finished up this weeks study. Psalm 90 was written my Moses, one of the oldest of the psalms. Moses shares his thoughts on God’s eternal nature and man’s limited time on earth by reminding us all that we are like the grass that springs up in the morning but by evening is dried up and withered away. God is everlasting and we are not. As I read through this psalm this morning I noticed what, in my opinion, is a perfect example of a rhetorical question. PS 90: 11 “Who knows the power of your anger?” Do you think that Moses was looking for an answer? After witnessing the power God firsthand, he watched the plagues descend upon Egypt. He stood by and watched the firstborn fall into death. He witnessed the power of God’s presence as it passed over all the faithful during that first night of Passover. He saw the wat...

Sunday, October 31 A few years ago they began to hold a Halloween party on the town square. This has been a wonderful alternative option for those who feel hindered by allowing there children to Trick or Treat in unfamiliar territory. The Halloween Festival on the Square is wonderful for children of all ages. They have inflatable's, lots of fun carnival games as well as all the familial hot dogs, pop corn and cotton candy and it is all free. The children all come in her costumes as well as a lots of grown-up children in their costumes too! There is a live band and balloons and face painting…the fun just goes on and on and on. Well we met Muffinhead, mom and dad over at the square and had a good ol’ time chasing after balloons and filling up her trick or treat bag. I think Bumble Bee’s were a reoccurring theme as we ran into several fellow bumble bee’s I don’t know who this little guy is, but his sweet little face just captured my hear and mom let me snap off a picture of thos...