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

Long ago,  "the parlor" was a place where the family would gather after a busy day of hard work..... a place where families would gather to sing a song around the piano as mother or sister played a tune.... a place where the family would sit and listen to the radio for hours of enjoyment......

Does your home have such a place?

In our old 110 yr old farmhouse we have such a room...... we have tried to recreate some of that "old fashioned" wholesomeness that just can't be found in the modern homes of today.... our parlor serves many purposes in our family. It is the place where I meet the Lord each morning.... as the sun streams in thru the windows in the morning... it is the place I gather my children together for prayer, for worship, and for our daily bible readings...... it is the place we play games, sing songs, and it is the place where I sit at the end of the day to read aloud to my children..........

There's the piano where my beautiful daughter hannah often sits for hours and plays, while we sing and lift our voices......we even have an old fashioned radio that we enjoy....... it plays CD's too...

Then there's the comfort of sitting and enjoying each other's company......I guess I could have gone with a more "modern" decor.... but I oh so wanted to "recreate" yesteryear.......lace curtains don the windows..... doiles on the couches....... a crocheted afghan to place on cold knees......we draped the walls with an old fashioned wallpaper similiar to the one the walls originally had......

It's wonderful to see the house a glow from a distance..... the lamps turned on to elude a shining warmth emanating from the front room that houses our "parlor"......

My 15 yr old son and I were in the city last week and he noticed that the houses all appeared so dark......so few were lit at dusk........ he mentioned to me how much he loved driving up to our old farmhouse to see the whole house lit up....... I reminded him that many families have both mom & dad working, so no one is home to "turn on the lights" sort of speak......

I hope that as home keepers we  may never doubt the work we do in our homes to keep the "lights on" in our homes and hearts......... to make room in our busy lives for time to gather to share, to sing..... to pray, to worship........ to listen , to laugh and to "be" together as families, surrounded by our loved ones.

As my children grow & mature, they now share with me how very important this role is in their lives...... how much comfort they take that there is a place called "home" that they know will always have the lights on ,  waiting for them with open arms....

This is the essense of being a home keeper......

May God bless each of you as you keep your home fires bright & burning!

~ gloria ~

The children are all excited.... they are busily putting on hats, gloves and boots to head outside to enjoy the first soft snow of the season.....it's really a "wet" snow right now, but it's supposed to get colder as the evening comes and we should have some snow on the ground by morning. What a wonderful way to begin the CHRISTmas season!

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

Praising Him!

gloria

ps. I have changed my blog template to reflect the changing of the season.......

As I begin to prepare for our holiday meal tomorrow, I am once again reminded of how very blessed we are in this nation and how abundantly we are blessed with food. So many folks have so very little to eat in this world.  In that spirit I have purposed to simplify our Thanksgiving meal.  We will not be "over doing" it this year.  We will be having a simple meal. This year there will not be the usual multitude of side dishes as I usually do.  I want to focus on cultivating a spirit of Thanks tomorrow not on spending all my time at the stove.   So, with that said our menu will be the following:

Turkey & cornbread stuffing

Mashed potatoes & gravy

Sweet Potatoe casserole

Maple Pear Salad

Homemade pumpkin pie

I know.. I know... it sounds simple...... but when you stop to think about it.....it's really truly a "feast" don't you think?

So many in our world today do not have access to clean water let alone a huge turkey with all the trimmings!

My family does not need a huge amount of food to graze on all day..... they do not need 2 or 3 or more deserets to choose from........

This year I have purposed in my heart to avoid the physically feasting and focus on "spiritually feasting".......

It's going to be a different kind of Thanksgiving this year.

Perhaps not in the "traditional" sense......

But God is leading..... and I so want to follow His lead..........

What about you all?

What is God leading you to do tomorrow?

Whatever that may be, I do hope & pray each one of you enjoy a lovely day, feasting on the goodness of the Lord -- because He is so good!

Praising Him,

gloria

" Do you believe that I am able to do this?"  ~ Matt. 9:28

 God deals with impossibilities.  It is never too late for Him to do so, as long as that which is impossible is brought to Him in complete faith by the person whose life and circumstances would be impacted if God is to be glorified.  If we have expierienced rebellion, unbelief, sin, and ruin in our lives, it is never to late for God to deal triumphantly with these tragic things, if they are brought to Him in complete surrender and trust.

  It has often been said, and truthfully so, that Christianity is the only religion that can deal with a person's past. God "will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten " ( Joel 2:25) and He is trustworthy to do so unreservedly.  He does so not because of what we are, but because of who He is.  God forgives and heals and restores, for He is "the God of all grace"  ( 1 Peter 5:10). 

  May we praise Him and trust Him.

    Nothing is too hard for Jesus

    No man can work like Him.

We have a God who delights in impossibilities and who asks,  " Is anything too hard for me?" ( Jer.32:27) . 

 ~~ Andrew Murray ~~

Our furnace has been acting up this year..... not major stuff but enough to be a bother at times... with the weather getting cold, not having a working furnace is not an option.  It's been frustrating at times to wake up and realize "once again" the furnace is not working! But the Lord tell us "all things work together for our good to those that love God".... I really do believe that!  The "good" news about our latest bought with furnace problems is that it has placed a fire under my husband to F I N A L L Y give me the "go ahead" to purchase a much needed wood stove!  All I can say is : FINALLY!! This is our 3rd winter in our old farmhouse, and although we have replaced all the windows and added insulation where we could, it still is a 110 yr old drafty farmhouse.  My heart has been burdened to get a stove for years now......knowing how much the propane bill amounts to in the winter time ( last winter it was roughly $800 a month in propane!). I have been in prayer about it for some time......and not wanting to nag my husband about the stove issue, I just left it at the Lord's feet.  Well I am thrilled to announce that tomorrow I will be picking up a stove! I also have the go ahead to purchase the stainless steel liner we needed to line our old chimney with. ( very $$)  I am so excited! So are the kids! They are looking foward to a warmer winter!

Because we are on a very very tight budget, I could not purchase the stove I had originally wanted. ( a soap stone wood stove, that runs about $2,500 ) .  I looked at many different stoves, and found this one was in our budget ( about $300) and made of cast iron vs. metal,  & should do the job.

 Doing a little research on the history of the potbelly stove, I found that these stoves were used in the 1800's and 1900's to heat large areas -- such as train depots. Because of their "belly" design they do give out lots of heat.  This model is a reproduction of the old time stove. Made by www.vogelzang.com

We are going to save about $100 on this model because we have a coupon from the store where we will purchase it from. So the stove will cost us about $200, pluse $400 for the steel liner kit.

If you do have a potbelly stove, I would love to hear from you!  Do you find it heats well? I did the consumer research on this model and found good reviews.

In any case, I am grateful we will be keeping much warmer this coming winter!

~ gloria ~

I know most of you know that I have an artsy blog and I hope you will come by and visit. For those of you that don't I would like to share some of the things that I have been working on these past weeks. A while back I went to a watercolor class with my bestest friend from Florida ( you may remember me talking about it HERE. ) Well I have been working on my technique but on a much much much smaller scale. I went from painting on 12 X 18 canvas to 2.5 X 3.5 inch cards. Anyway, here is some of my latest works. To see more visit MY ARTSY BLOG

Thanks for coming by today and be sure to leave a comment.

For Today…November 24th, 2008

Outside my Window…  The temp is a mere 31* , the sky is grey, the trees are bare and there is still a bit of snow on the ground. I don't see a bird in site, nor a dog or a horse. I think everyone is hiding somewhere keeping warm from the chilly chilly night we had.  

I am thinking…of catching up on laundry (gosh there has to be an end in there somewhere)

From the learning rooms…. lots of school lessons. I think we are going to start doing 'presentations' again. Seems the children can use some practice in that area. We will begin with researching an inventor, making a visual and then planning out the speach part of it. We are also starting a new Unit Study using the book "Number the Stars by Lois Lowry". We will learn more on the civil war and the areas in which it all took place. Should be an exciting week.

I am thankful for…  A healing Lord., ("Lord, heal this vessel of mine, take away the symptoms of this oncoming cold and open my airways so that I make breath easily and carry on making the improvements in our home. AMEN.)...  my husband, my children and my friends, my creative hands, my art. I am so thankful for my fully stocked pantry, meat in the freezer and the ability to learn to be more frugal.

From the kitchen… It is completely silent, no-one up yet to make any noise. I can smell the aroma of the pot of coffee my dear hubby started before leaving to get a load of hay. MMmm think I will go and grab a cup. :-)  

I am wearing…blue pajama leggings, an green over sized t-shirt. and thick warm comfy socks. I found these leggins at the thrift store the other day and oh how I wish I could find a dozen more. Seems these are perfect for me. My legs often hurt so much during the night (A combination of neuropothy and fibro) and with the way the hug the ankle they don't climb up exposing my ankles to the cool air. I have really got to hunt some down. :-)

I am reading…"Preparing My Heart for Advent: A Spiritual Pilgrimage for the Christmas Season"
by Ann Marie Stewart, My Bible, and Numbering the Stars.

I am hoping…that all my friends around the world and all of my extended family members are warm, fed, and blessed beyond belief.

I am creating…several new postcards and ATC's for swapping (you can see these HERE ) and lots of little Christmas tree ornaments. The children and I are working on making 200 so that we can bless the children's cancer center for Christmas.

I am hearing… the heat running,  the wind blowing and the clicking of the computer keyboard. Ahhhh quiet!

Around the house… not a creature is stiring., not even a mouse!

One of my favorite things is creating creating and receiving art work. Sharing the day with my family and spending time with hubby when he is off work. Hummmmm wonder what we will do today!

I am praying for…my families unity, a clean and organized house, all my friends hither and yon.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week…finishing the organization of all the totes spread here and there and putting them down on the storage shelves, cleaning up the whole office so I can do something with these walls.

What I accomplished since last week…quite a few postcards and ATC's, crocheted a lot of dish cloths and pot holders, practiced my watercolor techniques. oh and lots and lots of school work!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Have a wonderful week everyone. If you would like to read more of the Simple women's daybook entries just visit HERE.

Here is a list of Homestead type gifts that I have been compiling and thought I would share:

Buy 2qt plastic containers (like the ones you see in my pantry photos) and fill with bean soup mix or granola. Tie with ribbon and add a recipe. You can also buy a crock pot real cheap these days and give the soup mix with the crockpot. Make it even more speical by adding a Dishtowel Angel (Google for instructions online).

72-hr Emergency Kit - Buy a 5-gallon bucket that doubles as a portable toilet (you can find these a most camping stores or online). Fill the bucket with a roll of toilet paper, bag of toiletries, collapsable water container, tarp, tube tent, 1st aid kit, crank radio, flashlight, waterproof matches, purifying water tablets, safety goggles, space blanket, utility cord, garden gloves, poncho, emergency whistle, and food ration bars. Make a note that they should put a change of clothes in the bucket too. This is great to have in a vehicle for emergencies or makes a great gift for a hunter!

Buy honey from a local farm. Wrap with decorative ribbon and a note that says "You're So Sweet!"  You can also add a big tea cup and herbal teas.

Nuts! Bags of nuts fit nicely into stockings. My husband loves pistachios but they are $10 a pound here so they are a rare treat. Try www.nuttyguys.com for nuts in bulk at good prices. You can also give these in plastic containers wrapped with ribbon and a note that says, "I'm Nuts About You!"

Have a friend take a photo of your family. Try dressing alike (maybe blue jeans with white t-shirts) and pick an area of your yard or a local park for scenery. They take the digital images of your choice and go to www.shutterfly.com. You can make big photos to frame, cards, mugs, t-shirts, key chains, etc.

Make Bordom Buster Buckets! Take a 5-gallon bucket from your local X-Mart or home improvement store then fill with goodies. This is good especially for kids. Fill with art supplies, books, toys, crafts, cheap DVD movies, snacks, candies, etc. For adult women make a bucket with a relaxing CD, robe & slippers, bath salts, book or journal, magazine, etc.

Magazine subscriptions make good, inexpensive gifts. You can even send online versions of their favorite magazine by going to www.zinio.com.

My boys get to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it is always Pajamas. You can also sneak into the stockings other needed items like socks, underwear, a new toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.

Laundry Detergent - This kit will save someone "loads" of money! Take a 5-gal bucket and inside put some bars of Ivory Soap, a box of Arm & Hammer washing soda (not baking soda) and a box of Borax. Attach this recipe to make their own laundry soap:

Shave 1 bar of Ivory soap into 5 cups of water. Slowly bring to a boil then simmer until all of the soap is melted. Pour 3-gallons of hot water into the 5-gallon bucket. Add 1 cup Borax then stir until dissolved. Add 1/2 cup Washing Soda then stir until dissolved. Pour in the soapy water and stir. Set overnight, it will become a gel. Use 1/3 cup per wash in you washing machine.

Pancake mix - make up some pancake mix or buy some from Bob's Red Mill and put in a 2-qt plastic container then add decorative cookie cutters to make shapes. Tractor Supply had some metal ones shaped like a horse which would be great for a horse lover!

Cornbread mix - same as above but pair with a Cast Iron Skillet

Raisin Bran Muffin mix - same as above but pair with a muffin time, a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon

**You can also add dishtowel dolls to these**

Give the gift of time. Make gift certificates or coupons for free babysitting, free petsitting, free car washing, a home cooked meal, breakfast in bed, playing a board game, trip to the park, trip to the bowling ally, etc. Kids love time with their parents more than getting toys!

Let the kids make wrapping paper. Use butcher paper or newsprint and let the kids color, stamp or paint their own designs. They can even use stickers. When I was little, my family used the Sunday comics to wrap gifts.

Give the gift of heritage. Buy a family crest design, print it out and frame it. www.houseofnames.com You can even print a geneology of the history of the last name.

A recording of yourself reading books, doing silly songs, a puppet show, etc. Get the whole family involved and send to a loved one who can not be with you this Christmas. It is sure to brighten their day.

Well, that is all I have for this evening. It's time for me to clip my coupons and get ready for another busy week. Below I am posting a song I created from the old Hank Williams Jr. song "A Country Boy Can Survive." Mine is called, "A Homestead Woman Can Survive." I hope you enjoy it. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

I sent this letter to the editor of my local newspaper in response to an article in today's paper:

  In his article, Mr. Rice does confess that there is self-interest involved since he is the editor of a newspaper that needs local businesses to do well in order to keep buying advertising space. He even admits that we are suffering through a severe economic downturn and that retailers have good reason to be nervous about “Black Friday.” Mr. Rice mentions he will not be using credit cards and that he will be spending less this year but his assumption that most of us can afford to buy Christmas gifts as he can is highly optimistic. Granted, I don’t want to see local businesses fail and more people lose their jobs but the mentality of “we have to continue spending to keep the economy from crashing” is what got us into this mess in the first place.

  So can you afford Christmas gifts this year? Even in the best economy, experts agree that you need at least three months of wages saved to get you by until you can find another job. Do you have enough in savings to pay at least three months of your mortgage and utility bills? Do you have enough food stored to feed your family for at least three months? If the answer is No, then you don’t have enough money to buy Christmas gifts! I can guarantee that your mortgage company will not take Guitar Hero as payment should you lose your job!

  Mr. Rice, I think you have a moral responsibility to your readers to tell them to take care of themselves and their families over providing profit for local businesses. You telling us to go shopping on Black Friday is like the government telling us to buy a new GM car to keep them from going bankrupt, whether we need a new car or not. This Friday, my family and I will be staying home.