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Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 02:57 by haflinger - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Can I do a different template with out loosing what I have for info? thanks Brenda

How to Make Hot Cocoa

Posted on 2008-Dec-1 at 10:38 by Boltbabe - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Can I Have Some More, Please?

Decadent Hot Cocoa

Hot cocoa is a winter drink that is not only comforting, but can create a wonderful setting for sharing memories with your family. A cup of cocoa gathered around the table while listening to an audio, cuddling on the sofa for a read aloud, or making breakfast a special time is some simple examples of the Hot Cocoa Effect. Our family really enjoys hot cocoa moments, so whenever we our headed out on an RV trip during I am sure to pack ingredients for hot cocoa. So over the past couple of weeks when I was checking my convenience inventory and found that I was running low it was time to re-stock. However, with my long To Do list and health issues on the forefront I decided to purchase this item in those little convenience packets. What a terrible costly mistake I made! Firstly, the cocoa tasted a bit like cardboard or something. Secondly, the cost per serving was astronomical compared with homemade. This is a mistake I won’t make again, especially since cocoa is SO easy to make. I have TWO tried and true recipes for hot cocoa; one instant (great for on the go) and one that is made stove top, for an absolutely decadent and rich cup of cocoa. Both of the recipes are ones you will want to make regularly and once you drink them, you will NOT want to go back to those pre-packaged types.

Happy December 1st

Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 08:22 by Chas - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

How exciting! Here we are, just 24 days away from that blessed holiday... Christmas! And what did we wake up to this morning? SNOW! Yes, if you can believe it, it was snowing here. No it did not last long, but for those of us around these parts it was really exciting! Especially the children. Abram rushed to the window and then ran to his room, put on at least 4-5 shirts and 3 pairs of pants and his overalls on over everything... he looks so chunky because of all the clothes. It was really cute.
I have been sick most of the weekend, I got sick after our party Saturday night and have been sickly since. I feel MUCH better today, but am still quite weak from the sickness.
I have much to catch up on around here, so I must tarry. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

***Just popping back in to say, Vision Forum is having another amazing sale! EVERYTHING is 20-50% off!!! EVERYTHING!!! Shop now and get your Christmas shopping done early! :)
Also! If you are interested in becoming an affiliate with this great company, click here!!!
My Cup Runneth Over...

New Sewing Machine

Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 03:33 by Isabella - 2 Comments - Link

Why am I up so early? Am I Crazy? Yes! I was suppose to get up at 5 but I kept watching the clock so I decided to get up out of bed. I am driving to buy a "new" sewing machine this morning. If all goes well, I will be there by 8:30, purchase it, and be on the way home. Please keep me in your prayers this morning. I am directionally challenged and this is a new place(20 yrs since I have been to this city/ never this place) for me. My dh gave me directions last night and it was VERY frustrating. This is when he is from MARS and I am from VENUS or whatever. lol. I am not sure if directions should be the Number One cause of DIVORCE in America. I am going to look over the direction while the house is quiet. If all else fails, I will go the long way. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. I

Daily Devotion 335

Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008 at 03:24 by Sister Lori - 0 Comments - Link

December 1

Influence

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Matthew 5:14

The Bible contains many figures of influence. Leaven is one, picturing the gradual fermenting of influence into a whole mass, for good (Matthw 13:33) or for evil (Luke 12:1). A canker is used in 2 Timothy 2:17, a sore in the flesh which is fatal unless stopped. Tares are another influence, choking the good wheat (Matthew 13:24–30). In John 12, when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with spikenard, the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. It did not just stay on Jesus’ feet.

In our Scripture reading, Jesus uses two figures, salt and light, to teach us that our lives spread influence. They speak either of godliness, influencing for truth and righteousness, or that of darkness, and that which will be cast out and destroyed. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

When there is light, one can see. Light is life! Without it we perish. Christians are to let their light shine so others can see God. Paul told the Corinthians, “Ye are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).

My life, whether godly or otherwise, speaks. It does not stay only with me, but it also influences others. Christians are the salt of the earth. The power of influence is mighty!

Edward Hochstetler, Hicksville, OH

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Bible Reading: Matthew 5:1–16

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

2 Peter 2

Ezekiel 43, 44

Used by Permission of Vision Publishers

PO Box 190, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Phone: 877-488-0901

E-Mail: [cs@vision-publishers.com]

'Under God' pastor dead at 97

Posted on Mon 1 Dec 2008 at 12:20 AM by GrandmaRosie - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

'Under God' pastor dead at 97

Associated Press - 11/30/2008 6:40:00 AM

ALEXANDRIA, Pa. - The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97.

Docherty died on Thanksgiving at his home in central Pennsylvania, according to his wife, Sue Docherty.

She said her husband of 36 years had been in failing health for about three years.

"George said he was going to live to be a hundred and he was determined," she said in a telephone interview Saturday. "It's amazing that he was with us this long."

Docherty, then pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, just blocks from the White House, gave a sermon in 1952 saying the pledge should acknowledge God.

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was unfamiliar with the pledge until he heard it recited by his 7-year-old son, Garth.

"I didn't know that the Pledge of Allegiance was, and he recited it, 'one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,'" he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press in 2004. "I came from Scotland, where we said 'God save our gracious queen,' 'God save our gracious king.' Here was the Pledge of Allegiance, and God wasn't in it at all."

There was little effect from that initial sermon, but he delivered it again on Feb. 7, 1954, after learning that President Dwight Eisenhower would be at the church.

The next day, Rep. Charles G. Oakman, R-Mich., introduced a bill to add the phrase "under God" to the pledge, and a companion bill was introduced in the Senate. Eisenhower signed the law on Flag Day that year.

Todays Quote......Thomas Watson

Posted on Sun 30 Nov 2008 at 10:58 PM by GrandmaRosie - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there
is a storm without, He will make peace within. The world can
create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble.

-- Thomas Watson

What’s Been Coking in my Kitchen?

Posted on 2008-Nov-30 at 07:40 by Crystal Miller - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

This afternoon was a little busy in the kitchen. It was a quiet afternoon and seemed like a good day to get a few things done. We ate up just about all our turkey. It lasted Thursday, Friday and Saturday for lunch. On Saturday evening I took what little meat that was left off the bird and used most of it in a Mexican rice casserole. I mixed about 5 cups cooked brown rice with 3 cups chopped turkey, 1 can spicy tomatoes, a little salsa and put it in a 9x13 pan, topped it with cheese and baked it until the cheese was melted and all was hot. While that was baking I made a double batch of my Cuban black bean patties (a new recipe that is in my Cooking with Beans! eBook). We had the rice casserole, black bean patties and salad for dinner.

Today I took the carcass and covered it with water, added a chopped onion, chopped celery and salt and it is currently simmering on the stove. I will leave it simmering until tomorrow morning and turkey soup will be tomorrow’s dinner.

That still left today to figure out what was for dinner. We are all ready for a break from turkey so I pulled out a bag of cooked red beans from the freezer. There were probably 5 cups of beans with their cooking broth. I also had a ½ lb of cooked hamburger in the freezer (last week I only used a ½ lb in one of my soups and froze the other ½). I added this with the beans and a can of diced tomatoes. I sautéed in olive oil, onions, celery and peppers and added this to the beans along with some chili powder and Tabasco and a little salt.. and voila! Chili Bean Soup for dinner! I am serving it with tortilla chips and a salad.

While I was cooking up my soups Leanne and Sierra made a triple batch of apple cinnamon muffins. I bought a 20lb box of organic Fuji apples on my last Azure order and have been working to use them up. We have eaten a lot of apples, made 3 apple pies and now 3 dozen muffins. The box is almost gone now..

Here is the recipe for the muffins:

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour

¾ cup cane juice crystals

1 ½ t baking powder

1 t cinnamon

½ cup milk

6 T butter, melted

1 egg

1 cup grated apples

In a medium size mixing bowl combine whole wheat pastry flour, cane juice crystals, baking powder and cinnamon. Add remaining ingredients and stir until the flour is just mixed in. Bake in a 375 oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Makes 1 dozen

And if that was not enough going on Emily decided to make peppermint mocha lattes for her, Leanne and Sierra! LOL.. It was pretty impressive looking...

I don’t have a recipe for her coffee creations printed down yet.. maybe someday!

That is all the cooking for today!! Hope you all have had a pleasant and blessed Sunday on your homesteads!

Our Little Country Church...

Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 05:40 by blessed mom - 6 Comments - Post Comment - Link

At the end of a country gravel road sits a 110 yr old country church......it's a small, simple church..... just one room... no bathroom ( there's an outhouse!) I feel blessed that my family attends this little church...... where the Bible is still preached each and every Sunday and where the Hymns of our faith continue to be sung by the young, the middle aged and the elderly...... It's a humble little place...... no big praise bands here.... no fancy awanas programs or children's worship service.......

What you will see though is young families as well as elderly couples praising God and praying. You will see the young children sitting with their parents as there is no "children's church" here..... nope, this is a family integrated church..... that means church is held like it was 100 yrs ago before the Sunday School programs came into style.

I am blessed to have a pastor that believes children learn to worship best by worshipping with their parents.... that no child is too young to sit under the teaching of God's authoritive word.

We may be few in numbers, we may be humble farmers , carpenters and laymen..... but we love the Lord and seek to worship Him in Spirit & truth.......

These little country churches dot the midwest...... these churches were the backbone of America once a long time ago...... the farm families that lived in this area all attended this church... communities would gather in their local church for worship, and for fellowship........

I truly feel like I am a part of history ...... 4 years ago this church was ready to close it's doors.... there was just 3 elderly couples attending.... then my pastor felt called of God to come pastor this church..... and now 4 yrs later we have about 40 people attending... we are still small in numbers, but children are now raising their voices to sing Amazing Grace once again....

Another generation of Christian families are coming to hear God's infalliable word.......

Oh sure, we could be driving into the city to attend the new mega church with all the fancy programs for kids, teens and moms........we could be listening to the praise bands.....

But you know what? I really love our little church...... we know everyone, it's "home"..... but more than that I know that each Sunday I will hear God's word preached.... not a sermon, or a 10 minute talk, but our bibles are opened up and we dig into God's word......

I am so thankful for our little country church at the end of the gravel road......

Praising Him,

gloria

thanksgiving in the hospital

Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 09:46 by Charity - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Sorry I didn't get a chance to do what I said I would do.

We spent our thanksgiving in the hospital we found out my baby is diabetic. We didn't get home till last night. So I now have two children who are diabetic. It is going to be hard but God will get us through. Please say a prayer for us.

Thank you

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