Swine Flu

We took Emily to the doctor today and she tested positive for swine flu. Please pray for her. She has been running a 104 degree temperature all day and is pretty sick. Dan had to drive 30 miles away to find a pharmacy that carried the medicine.

Thanks for your prayers!

Thanksgiving Menu

We were planning on visiting Dan's parents for Thanksgiving, but I'm going on three weeks of being sick. Emily woke up ill yesterday and Nathan today. So unfortunately, we had to change our plans.

I scrambled, but came up with a menu for us on Thursday.

Here is the plan:

Pumpkin soup
Roast turkey with cornbread dressing
Dinner rolls
Mashed potatoes & gravy
Butternut squash
Green beans
Green salad with all the fixings
Cranberry sauce

Dessert: choice of pumpkin or blueberry pie with homemade whipped cream

Sparkling cider

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Gum Drop Cookies

I made these today and they were delicious. I'm pretty sure they will go over well with the children. They like cookies and they like candy. Put the two together and you can't go wrong.

I thought I'd share the recipe.

Gum Drop Cookies
1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 and 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 1/2 cups gum drops (use scissors to cut into small pieces)
2 cups quick-cooking oats

Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs one at a time and then add in vanilla. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Add to the butter mixture until well blended. Fold in gum drops and quick oats.

Roll into 1" balls and bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Thank God for Friday!

Psalm 147:1 ~ Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God,how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!

I can't believe another Friday came around so quickly. Since Thanksgiving is next week, I thought it especially fitting to give praises to God and thank Him for the many wonderful things He has done for me.

♫ Nathan told me yesterday that he just loves school and said, "You should have put me in a long time ago!" That made me laugh out loud because the reason I pulled him out was because he was miserable at the time. But praise God, he is happy and doing well!

♫ We are seeing hope for Nathan. He is doing well at his art. He is joining the volunteer fire department as a junior firefighter and is so excited. It may never turn into a career for him, but we don't know and it gives him some purpose!

♫ I have three children who work very hard in school and love it. They aren't star students, but they get an A in attitude and determination.

♫ I have a wonderful husband who loves me and works hard to provide for our family.

♫ I get to work part-time at a job that I love and yet, still be home when the children are home and turn it down when I need to.

♫ Praise God for modern medicine that allows us to heal from things that normally would be life-long, or life-threatening illnesses. Stephen has started a thyroid medicine because his levels were low, giving him very little energy.

♫ A beautiful home and wonderful landlord!

♫ God's mercies, which are new every morning!

What are you thankful for today?

Budding Artist

Nathan brought home two paintings this week that he did in school and I was floored at how good he has gotten. I think he really just needed a little direction!

Both of these paintings were pictures that he found online and then drew them freehand and painted them. He did a wonderful job.

The first was a Mario Brother.


The second was Jesus with a lion and lamb. I'm amazed at this one!


I think he gets his talent from Dan's mom, because I can't draw anything.

Here are a couple of drawings she did for us.




See what I mean? Anyway, I'm so proud of him. Hopefully, he can keep it up!

Wednesday Words of Encouragement

As I was reading Proverbs, the following verse made me stop and think.

Proverbs 28:26 ~

"He who leans on, trusts in, and is confident of his own mind and heart is a [self-confident] fool, but he who walks in skillful and godly Wisdom shall be delivered."

It also called to mind these verses:

Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight."

Everything in our culture tells us to be self-confident, to love ourselves, to trust in yourself and no one else. Yet, these verses seem to be saying the opposite. We are not to trust in our own mind and heart and emotions. Why?

Because without trusting the Lord for our decision and asking for his guidance and wisdom we will make mistakes. Our emotions are fickle. We can be indecisive. We can make wrong decisions. We are to depend on the Lord for everything.

I'm trying to learn to seek the Lord's will and ask for wisdom before I make any major decisions. So often though I want something, I make the decision and then I ask the Lord to bless it. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten into trouble or just a mess by doing that. I'm learning to pray and wait and pray and wait some more before making major decisions.

Let's work together to walk in skillful and godly wisdom!

Comments

Hello blog friends! I love blogging and it has opened a whole new group of people to me that I enjoy chatting with. I do want to say that I appreciate each and every one of you who leaves me a comment. I hardly ever respond to them because I would be online forever if I did that. However, I read and cherish each one.

I did receive a rather unkind comment today from an anonymous reader about a grammatical error I made in my post about Nathan. I fixed it because I do try to use proper grammar. However, I'm human and I type fast and sometimes I make a mistake. I fixed the error, but I would say that if someone ever notices a typo I make, please feel free to let me know but I just ask that you do it in a respectful way. I have feelings and I'm dealing with all kinds of things in my life that are very stressful. I don't need to feel like I can't post on my blog without getting blasted for my English.

I notice that usually the very unkind comments (which are very rare) come from people who are not willing to make themselves known.

For those of you who have been reading and commenting, I just wanted you to know how much I do appreciate you all! I love taking a few moments here and there and visiting your blogs as well and I do try to leave a comment from here and there. The end of December will mark two years of blogging for me. I think I'll have to do a giveaway or something! ;-)