Abundant Blessings Homestead

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Thankful

Daily Devotion 327

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house . . . ; he kneeled upon his knees three times a day.

Beep, beep, beep! “Why is that vehicle in front of us rolling backwards while we wait on the red light?” questioned the driver we were traveling with. The eighty-year-old man did not realize that he was to blame, for it was his vehicle that kept easing forward until it almost made contact with the car ahead of us. My wife and I were witnesses from the back seat of his car.

How often the Lord sees our misdeeds, while we blame another. In the Scripture reading today, Daniel was put to the test. He would have had plenty of reasons to blame others. Yet not one accusation escaped his lips. Daniel was aware that the prohibition against prayer had been signed by the king, but it did not make him stop praying to his God. He trusted God and blamed no one. He did not even blame the king for signing such a decree. Because of Daniels fervency in prayer, his life was spared.

A Day for Christmas

In pre-Christian times, the birth of the "Unconquered Sun" was the most important festival of the Roman Empire. In adapting some of the practices of non-Christian festivals, the early Christian church captured the spirit of the festival, which was rebirth, and transformed it to signify the coming of Christ. Thus, Christmas now celebrates the birth of the "Unconquered SON".

In all Christendom, Christmas remains the most festive holiday of all the year. But it has not always been so. The history of the day owes much to those secular winter celebrations. Christmas past has ranged from lavish celebrations to actual bans on any observance at all. Added to this mix of sacred and secular, celebrations and bans, were charming and unique customs from many cultures, all of which contributed much to what is now the rich tradition of Christmas Day.

The Gospel stories of Jesus' birth do not reveal to us the year or the date of His nativity. Biblical scholars have long agreed, however, that there is enough factual evidence to place Jesus' birthday in the year 6B.C. We are told that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, and it is known that Herod's reign ended with his death in 4B.C. Just before he died, Herod ordered all male children under the age of two to be executed. His order, issued out of fear, was meant to rid the world of the boy being hailed as the new King of the Jews. Jesus, if He were born in 6B.C., would have been approaching the age of two when Herod's violent decree was issued.

For more than three centuries, as Christianity spread slowly throughout the world, Christians remembered and celebrated the birth of Christ on different days and in different fashions; it was not until the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity that December 25 became the official Christmas Day. Constantine had taken root in Roman culture in the third century A.D. On December 25th, Mithraists celebrated the festival of Dies Invicti Solis, or the Day of the Invincible Sun, in honor of Mithra, who was said to have been born on this date. When Constantine declared himself a believer in Jesus Christ, he left Mithra behind, but he decreed the official Roman day of celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ to be December 25, the same day as the celebration of Mithra. This was also the season of the Roman holiday of Saturnalia and the Kalends of January, two highly spirited celebrations marked by great feasting and revelry. In those days, Christianity grew in a world full of mythology, superstition, and competing gods; and Constantine understood that the best means of winning converts was not by forbidding the old celebrations, but by turning the old traditions to the new Christian purpose.

One element almost all pre-Christian cultures and religions shared was the winter solstice celebration--rituals and festivals meant to help the people through the darkest, shortest days of the year and hasten the return of spring. Christmas Day became the new center of the winter solstice, and Jesus Christ the new light in the darkest time of the year. In 350 A.D., Pope Julius I decreed December 25 as the official Christian celebration day for the birth of Jesus. Two centuries later, Roman Emperor Justinian gave further permanence to the date by declaring it a civil holiday on which all work must cease. Jesus Christ may not have been born on December 25, but more than fifteen hundred years have proven that there is no more wonderful time to celebrate His arrival.

Grandma is dying

We are going to go see Shannon's (my hubby) grandmother in the morning. We went to see her about 2 weeks ago. We did not think she would make it this long but she has.

Grandma will be 82 years old on Monday. She has been going down hill for the last year. Only 5 % of her heart is working.

I am going to miss her. I love to hear her tell of the good old days. She talks of the times when her and her hubby grew food to feed the family because they could not afford to other wise.

To hear of how the went from town to town picking veggies and fruit. To the lessons her mother taught her. How they survived all this hardship and still helped other out.

We all feel blessed to have her as long as we do/did. The start of this year the Dr.'s told us to see her because she will not last much longer. Grandma is still here. We are even more blessed because we got a picture with grandma and 5 generations!! Our grand babies made the 5th generation.

Mom called us to tell us she is much worse and passing out today. So we will go see her. Mom says grandma will be here for a few more days, she thinks.

The world is a much sadder place when we lose people with such history that they can and do share with us. When the world was a nicer place, people cared and helped each other out even when they had nothing them selves.

I miss my grandparents. My grandfather went home almost 14 years ago and my grandma went home 6 years ago. I loved to sit a listen to them tell me about the good old days.

Hunting Season

Years ago, when Grandma was still alive (she died in 1993), we would all gather at her house on those cold winter weekends during hunting season. The men (or boys as she called them....the "Great White Hunters to others) would gather early in the morning in the barnyard and map out where everyone was going to be hunting that day, so that there were no "suprises"!!!

When it was a decent hour in the morning (no I don't consider 5 am a decent hour! LMSO), the ladies of the family would gather at Grandma's house with soups, sandwiches, and lots of baked goods and extra coffee pots and crockpots and prepare the hunters luncheon. My oh my, we had pies, cookies, cakes, and lots of candies for the men, and of course, us kids would jump in and grab a bite too of course

There was a set time for everyone to meet back at Grandma's farm house for lunch. As the hunters piled into the house to warm up and get some nourishment, the ladies of the family were the waitresses. The kids and womenfolk would eat before or after the hunters. Coffee pots were passed around and everyone had a second piece of pie because sittting in a deerstand and tracking deer was a hard job!!!

After they ate, and left for their second hunting session of the day, the women would clean up, and retire to the living room for some good conversation and crafting. Some women sewed items by hand, crocheted or knit, or did embroidiery while the kids played.

Around sunset, the woman would gather in the kitchen again to make sure everything was set for another round of hungry hunters. Mostly the same foods were served, but there was always a backup plan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and storebought cookies and treats just in case they ate too much for lunch. This rarely happened since the women fixed many soups and sandwiches for the whole day. One year there were 4 extra hunters who ate with ours, and we were glad to have the back up sandwiches, etc.

After eating, the men would retire to the living room to share hunting stories (they were the best stories too....like the year my brother shot a dear and forgot his tag in the truck about 100 yards away. A conservation agent just "happened" along about that time, checking people for lisences and tags, and gave my brother a fine for not having the ticket on him. LOL Poor guy. Oh well, taught him a lesson didn't it) while the women cleaned up, put things away, and packed up leftovers, the kids, etc. Everyone went home tired, and ready to do it again the following day.

I miss those times. Grandma died, and the old farmhouse is inhabitible and falling in now. It is weird how people say, so and so was the one who held the family together. I used to think they were crazy, but in this case, it is true. Grandma certainly held the family together. It just isn't the same without her. The boys are still gathering in the barnlot to talk before hunting starts, and they still have their deer stands in the same trees, but they meet elsewhere now to eat lunch and supper. It might be good food and conversation, but many of the men are gone now, and several of the ladies are too, replaced by the next generation of hunters.

Prayer need for the grand babies bad!!

I am in need of prayer for the grand-babies. Michelle went to Vegas to pick up the grand-babies. She took Gill and his parents. They were to meet my father but he is the hospital because his liver is not working.

What we need prayer is because Michelle's father is coming to Vegas to see the babies. Michelle's father molested her and more. We were in court for 14 years with him. He was found guilty but, nothing happened to him , no jail , nothing. His mother kidnapped Michelle 5 times too. Again nothing happened

Michelle has never told Gill or his parents about that. So in the morning Michelle father is going to meet them and be around the grand-babies. I would not mind so much if Michelle told Gill and his parents the truth about him. Not here is my dad.

To me I see then meeting just Michelle's father. Not the man who took her childhood away. The man we were in court for almost 14 years with trying to keep her safe.

Yes, I know she is an adult, she can make her own choices. But when it comes to the babies that is different. She wants to send the babies to stay with him for 2 weeks. The babies are 2 & 3 years old. They can not protect themselves from him.

I asked Michelle if they know the truth and she gets mad. I feel that they need to know the truth and then decide for themselves.

Please pray for the grand-babies to be safe and that Michelle does not let him see them alone.

The Joy of giving and serving!

Today our church hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner for those in the community that we knew of who were struggling and could use food. Not all of the people who said they were going to come made it, but the one's that did were such sweet people.

What just blessed my heart was to see the people in our church donate cooked turkey and all the trimmings, their time, their love and service to those who did come. The smiles around that room were amazing to watch. On top of all this, the families were also able to take home an uncooked turkey and a bag of groceries (all donated by church families) for an entire Thanksgiving Meal at home. To see their faces and hear some say that they felt so pampered and loved brought joy to my heart as I know these people have it really tough in life right now. I watched a little boy cover his plate of food that he couldn't eat and package it up to take home for leftovers. He was so excited to have food to take home with him. It broke my heart that a couple kids were too shy to come in, but people graciously took food to them and they ate in the van.

I just pray that those who came could see Jesus today in the lives of those who served! I pray that the Holy Spirit will draw them to Himself and that they will allow God to become Lord of their lives. May God receive all the glory for today! He is so worthy of praise and He makes this heart glad and thankful! :)

This week's frugal finds!

Last weekend I posted about my latest project -- refinishing our old pedestal table....... I sanded the top off and applied new stain and it turned out like a brand new table!! I have also been on the lookout for pressed back vintage chairs. I have been checking www.craigslist.org for good deals and this past week I was able to pick up some more chairs! I actually picked up the following chairs, 4 of them in this style for $75 and the owner also gave me the pedestal table that came with it! Not sure what I am going to do with the table for now... but I cleaned the chairs, and applied new stain/finish.

The chairs were fairly worn, especially in the seat area. I prepared the chairs by clearning with mineral spirits and then adding some stain & finish. You do not have to completely strip the wood of it's original varnish to give it a "fresh" new look..... just clean well and then apply a stain / finish wood sheen product. I used Minwax finish -- it's a stain & finish in one, and I applied a colonial walnut color. Really easy to do. Just rub on with a soft clean cloth. Make sure to wipe off any residue of the stain after applying a coat. It dries within a few hours. I have applied this stuff to old antiques to freshen them up. It works wonders!

I also picked up these antique chairs....... aren't they beautiful? I love the "cut" out at the top....I need to get them cleaned up with a coat of the finish/stain too.

So far, I have 10 used chairs I have been able to pick up for great prices and I need to find 2 more!

It's a little work to find a bargain -- but well worth the money saved! These chairs are over $100 a piece brand new, so the savings is big!

Discovering Twila Paris ..

I recently came to listen to the music of Christian Artist, Twila Paris..... and all I can say is "wow"! This Christian Woman truly has been given the gift of music! She clearly uses her music to glorify the Lord! If you have not listened to twila's beautiful music and heard her lovely voice...... you need to!