SunflowerHill

Sick of the nick picking this and that ,about this election ?

             In God WE Trust

  The path we travel is narrow and long ,beset with many dangers. Each day we must ask that Almighty God will set and keep His protecting hand over us so that we may pass on to those who come after us the heritage of a free people ,secure in their-given rights and in full control of a government dedicated to the preservation ot those rights .Without God ,ther could be no American form of government ,nor an American way of life .....thus the Founding Fathers saw it ;and thus ,with God's help ,it will continue to be , Author Unknown

One man with courage makes a majority.Andrew Jackson

Let us remember that revolutions do not always establish freedom . Millard Fillmore

I was looking though my poem books and found these. It fits what was going on in todays world ,so I posted it .Our world is getting worse everyday . You have to keep your faith and seperate your family from the wickedness of our world .Remember what the bible tell us about this .Shaune

Sunsets and favourite things

So as the sun sets on our day I realized that it truly was a beautiful day here on our vineyard....life is good and God is good.

We have so much to be thankful for....food to eat as we made homemade pizza tonight...the children decorated their pumpkin shaped cookies...siblings who are getting older but are never to old to decorate cookies. 

Karisa  phoned home three times today needing "cooking" advice...it's so nice to see her trying new recipes for her dh....she is becoming a great homemaker...and not to mention a good cook like the generations that have passed her.

The weather is changing along with our leaves...the rain and wind are forcing the leaves to fall sooner than usual which proves to all that Autumn and the signs of winter will soon be upon us.  It's time to bring out the winter clothes and put on our quilts (which I did on our bed already).  The children have skating lessons, so "snowpants" are coming out from their bins also.

Dh has been working so many hours this past week and we miss him terribly.  Daniel woke up this morning and realized that dad had already left for work, and the tears began to fall...we are all tired of eating without him and spending the evenings alone as well.....  hopefully our routine will get back to norm soon.  BUT we are very thankful that dh has a job and is able to be the financial provider of our family.  This then allows me to stay home and do everything I was called to do as a wife and mother.... even though we wait every evening for him to get home (kids are usually already sleeping), we know that it is only a season and we have the entire winter to be together.

I continue to add names to my  "prayer bowl"...It's so wonderful that we can pour out our hearts to a God who knows everything and who cares about each of our lives.

Our daughter Stephanie goes on Thursday for another biopsy....so we need prayer.......Audrey goes for her biopsy, so she needs prayer....we continue to pray for George who also has cancer....and those of you who emailed me....we continue to also uplift you in prayer.  Dh is going for an ultrasound for a lump under his arm, so we could use prayer for that also.

Life has changed for us in so many ways this year and I am constantly reminded of God's blessings in my life.  I was thinking today of all the things that I love and am grateful for....and because this is my personal journal that I am making also into a book, I thought it  important to type out my favourite things and my blessings...so here are the things I am most thankful for:

My God,

'My family,

The word of God,

My health and the health of my family,

Friends,

Eyes,

Ears,

Sunshine,

Wind,

Sunsets,

Sunrises,

Church,

Food,

Doctors,

Dentists,

Vitamins,

A place to lay my head at night,

A roof that doesn't leak,

Adoption,

Freedom,

Here is a list of my favourite things:

Antiques,

All shapes and sizes of candles,

Any kind of pie (except mincemeat)

Raspberries,

Wooden bowls,

Homemade ceramics,

Grandma's quilts,

Soft blankets,

Afghans,

Woolen socks,

Tea,

Coffee,

Buttons,

Evenings by the fire,

Smells of bread baking,

Turkey roasting in the oven,

Old oil lanterns,

Braided rugs,

Hardwood floors,

All seasons

 So as I was typing this dh called and said he is on his way home... The children are so excited and want to get "everything ready for him"....so I must be off.  I wish each of you a blessed evening and thank you for stopping by for a visit.

I need some help!!! Can you help???

On my path to homemade Christmas, I have decided to make my 4 year old neice (she will be 5 in November) a baby doll.  I have seen several online, but I am not one who can just whip one out without a paper pattern.  So I am looking for patterns to a simple little girl doll with yarn hair.

Here is a link that will show you what I am looking for: (I just hate to pay $15 for the pattern if I could find one for free)

http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/

It's Already Monday Again! *sigh*

I usually don't mind Mondays.  Sometimes getting back into our normal weekly schedule is a good thing.  Weekeneds are usually busy and hurried around here for some reason, and Matthew usually works most Saturdays, so Sundays are full of daddy time and by Monday, well, Mommy is ready for daddy to go to work, and get Noah back on his schedule.  (Have you noticed kids work better with a good schedule??? LOL  At least mine does!)

This weekend was so nice and laid pack though, and we enjoyed having daddy home for the whole weekend with us.  Saturday we lounge around in jammies most of the day, and spent lots of time listening to Noah giggle and have so much fun with daddy.  He is definately a daddy's boy in the evenings and on weekends when Matthew is home.  I don't mind it at all.  Of course I am included in most of their things, but sometimes I find it a good time to get away for a nice bubble bath, or some other excuse for a little alone time and refreshment!!! 

Matthew was a joy to be around this weekend.  He was able to leave the stress and uneasiness from work behind him this weekend, (sometimes easier said than done), and we talked and prayed alot about his new job position, money matters with the refinancing on the house (our house appraised low, so to get us locked into a lower interest rate, we need to come up with $4300.00!!!) and we are waiting on God for an answer right now.  I must admit, at dinner on Saturday I went into panic mode, and Matthew had to bring me back to reality and the fact that God is taking care of this!!!

But last night, sitting here alone together after Noah was put to bed, Matthew's face went from fun daddy to stressed responsible money maker.  I could see his whole body fade a little.  I asked him if he still had a headache.  He said no.  I said are you nervous about going to work tomorrow??  He said yeah I think I am.  We talked about it a little.  We prayed about it, and I hope he is feeling better about everything today.  It is alot of pressure, alot of politics and backstabbing going on in the office, and he is feeling the stress.  He was able to relax this weekend and have fun, but as of last night, he was dreading going to work today.  He even asked me if he could call in dead.  I said, no and don't even joke about such a thing!!!!!

On a good note though, I know God is taking care of everything!!!!  Matthew has unofficially been tol the position (of his former Supervisor) is his.  The company will be hiring another person part time to help, but Matthew thinks the new person will most likely answer to the president, Jim, and not himself.  OH well, he gets paid the same, either way since it is a salary job. 

Antoher good note is that I opened my mail today, and received a check from our gas district.  We are on monthly billing.  Instread of paying very little in the summer (because we only use gas for our water heater then), and large bills in the winter (for our hot water, and heating), they average it out and we pay that amount for each month.  They adjusted our monthly amount last year (only about $10 more a month), and now realize we overpaid for the year.  So we received a refun check of $ 248.65!!!!  YIPEEEEE!!!  How wonderful.   Of course, this will immediately be put into our emergency fund (for emergnecies, and possibly for the refinancing if needed) as soon as I can get to the bank this week.

We also canceled several extras in the last few months, like caller ID, etc. on our home phone, and they have been crediting our account.  So this month's phone bill was lower that usual, and our cell phone was only $9.74 after getting a refund from calling them and telling them I had charges on my cell phone bill for games that I had not received and a voicemail package that I had not signed up for. 

God is good, and I know he will provide for our needs and right now, our need is to find out how long we have ot get the $4300.00 for the refinancing.  It sounds like alot of money, and to this one income family IT IS!  But in the long run, it will save us ALOT of money if we can get the much much MUCH lower interest rate!! 

Ok, that's enough for now.  I am signing off to get some dusting, windexing and vacuuming done.  I had on my menu planner soup for tonight, but once again, I am changing it.  LOL  I rarely ever go a whole week having exactly what is on the menu planner.  It is warm out today, about 80 degrees, so I am thinking hot soup is not a good idea.  I will have to look through my monthly dinner planner and pick out something else from another evening.

God Bless you!!

showers a plenty

October 6th

Hi everyone.  Today we were supposed to go to Destin but last nite I hurt my ankle.  Dh was upset at me all day about this. That doesnt make sense to me.  Its not swollen, thank God.  Just hurts to bend it right now.

October 16th is our anniversary.  10 more days away.  We dont have anything planned for that day yet.  We will call Dh's daughter to wish her a happy birthday since it's the same day too.  I found out on October 18th will be the 80th birthday of my step Mom.  I know I want to be there with her this year but not sure if it will be for her birthday or Thanksgiving.  Really it depends on how I feel and if I can sit in a car for a 20 hour drive.  Approximately 10 hours a day. 

I still miss my dog Misty.  I have a picture of her on my screen and every nite i close my computer and say good nite to her.  I miss her tale wagging and being with me all the time. 

I'll close for now since today was a quiet day.  Hope everyone has a good nite.  Until later.  Byeeee  Jeanne

Old canning Lids?

Continuing on the theme of recycling and using, I saw this post on someones blog - sorry, forgot who's...

Recycling Canning lids - I don't have a lot - just started... but I hate throwing them away!  So here are some ideas for them - we need pictures but that is my only complaint - being the visual person I am :)

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf60768970.tip.html

Home Made tomato Soup

I made this from the many tomatoes I have ripening.

6-8 tomatoes (approximately 4 cups chopped)

1/2 onion

1 green pepper

1Tb garlic

1tsp salt

1tsp pepper

2 cups milk

chop the produce in cuisinart, dump into pot.

Add remaining ingredients.

Bring to a boil and then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes. 

One Bowl Brownies

My daughter and son - 11 and 7 are making this for dessert tonight!

This recipe is from  www.cooks.com

Kettle Corn

• 1/3 cup corn oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• Salt to taste

Over a medium-high flame, heat the corn oil in the bottom of a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Sprinkle in 2 or 3 popcorn kernels. When the kernels pop add the sugar, and then the remaining popcorn. Cover with a good lid. Shake the pan over the heat while the popcorn pops. When the popping stops, remove the pan from the heat. Immediately pour the hot popcorn into a bowl. Try to remove any oldmaids with a spoon or fork. The popcorn will be hot and sticky so be very careful not to burn yourself. The popcorn should be lightly coated with a beautiful amber caramel. Salt the kettle corn to taste and serve to thankful recipients. Makes a large bowlful. Tastes best while watching a movie with friends and family.

I found this recipe at:  http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com

Maybe we will try this this week for our Bible Study Group - Yummy!