I’m surprised that Thanksgiving is only a week away. I am still undecided what we will be doing. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday yet this year, probably for the first time I’m just not excited about it. I have almost always been the one to host the dinner and cook the meal and have always enjoyed it immensely. We are not able to be with any of our children or grandkids this year either.

We are considering for the first time ever eating out, if we can find a place that is open, just Larry, me and mom. I will probably still cook a turkey at some point as we do like it once or twice a year, especially the leftovers. We were invited to be with my uncle and two of my cousins and their families. My aunt passed away this past January and I just feel like it might be nice for them to be together without extended family for their first Thanksgiving without her. I still miss her terribly and we spent the afternoon with my uncle last week at his house. It is still difficult for me to be in their house without my aunt. She was like my second mom.

I guess this is a good opportunity too, for me to apologize for the gaps in posting to my blog. I am struggling with putting it on hold. I love writing, but I’m being pulled by the Spirit in a lot of different directions right now and it is hard to explain. I feel a new awakening for some very intense bible study. I feel I have been resisting the Spirit’s working in my life to the point I’m becoming weary. It is very hard to explain, I guess I can only say if you have gone through this you will understand.

I love writing and I am truly humbled (and quite honestly) amazed that anyone would read my blog on a regular basis. I have made many new friends through blogging and I want to maintain these friendships. I have had severe “writers block” for a few weeks and it still continues.

I do want to take this opportunity to recommend some other writers who I read daily and they have become dear friends to me. Greg England, Trey Morgan, Judy Poyner, Dee Andrews, Patrick Mead, Amanda Sanders, Sarah Stirman, John Dobbs, Steve Tucker, Warren Baldwin and Doug Young. Also, JEL, check out the beautiful pictures she posts on her blog. These wonderful people will make you laugh, cry, be amazed and finally make you say Wow!!

You can find them and other very good writers on my website under “Blogs I Visit”. I love reading their posts and they have all encouraged me so very much with their comments and emails. I am praying to meet many of them at the 2010 Tulsa Workshop.

I hope to be back on a regular basis, I’m just not sure when that will be. This is not an easy decision for me and I desire your prayers; and though I may be absent for a while, I pray I won’t be erased from your thoughts.

I will leave you with some quotes. Those of you who know me well know that I love quotes.

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.  ~Norbet Platt

The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air.  All I must do is find it, and copy it.  ~Jules Renard, “Diary,” February 1895

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you.  And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.  ~Arthur Polotnik

Authors and lovers always suffer some infatuation, from which only absence can set them free.  ~Samuel Johnson

This recipe comes from my California Bed & Breakfast Cookbook

 “The use of croissants instead of bread results in an ethereally light pudding. A very easy and versatile recipe—the pumpkin pie spices make this a wonderful autumnal dish.” ~ Innkeeper, Grand View Inn

4 ½ cups large croissant cubes
6 large eggs
4 egg yolks
1 cup brown sugar, divided
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup pecan halves
Whipped cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread croissant cubes in a 9×13-inch baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Beat eggs and egg yolks with a mixer at low speed until well mixed (or mix by hand). Add ½ cup of brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, salt and vanilla, mix well. Add pumpkin; mix well. Add milk and cream; mix well.

Pour egg mixture over croissant cubes; stir briefly until croissants are well moistened. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup of brown sugar and pecans. Bake bread pudding for about 45 minutes, or until custard is set and top is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature with whipped cream.

Makes 8 Servings

Today I’m sharing an article from our church bulletin, written by Russell Hill. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The following article speaks powerfully about how God views our priorities. The Hebrew writer encourages us to throw off everything that hinders. I hope that those who were here Wednesday night have been evaluating what that is in your life and asking God for the faith to throw it off. As the song goes none of self and all of thee: that is our calling! Please take the time to answer the underlined question about your life with all sincerity because the difference is life or death!

Ebenezer. I know what you are thinking: scrooge. I bet I was right! To me, Charles Dickens ruined the beauty of the name Ebenezer when he wrote the Christmas Carol. Yes, Ebenezer is a name of beauty; at least it is better than Ichabod! Oddly enough the two names are almost inseparable and teach us a lesson on just how important putting God first is. Israel went out to do battle against the Philistines, they should have won but the didn’t. The survivors retreated back to safety. After regrouping, they decided the reason they lost was because they didn’t have the Ark of the Covenant with them. When the ark showed up, they still lost and the enemies captured the ark. At the same time as the battle was going on, there was a woman in labor. News got back to her that her husband and father-in-law were dead and the ark captured. All this news overwhelmed her and she ending up dying during the birth of her son. The boy was named Ichabod (which means, “no glory”) saying, “The glory has departed from Israel.” Twenty years pass and the ark is still not back where it needs to be.

During these twenty years the children of God did not seek Him and life was not very good. Finally Samuel, a priest of God, called the children of God to repent and return to God. They all gather to worship God. Well, the Philistines heard that they had gathered and decided to go and attack them. An amazing thing happened. Israel won the battle. They went out to worship God and ended up winning a battle. It was then, twenty years after Ichabod; that Samuel took a large stone and named it Ebenezer, which means, “the Lord helps”.

In the days of Ichabod, Israel went to fight and lost. In the days of Ebenezer, Israel went to worship and won! In the days of Ichabod, God was an afterthought. In the days of Ebenezer, God was the first thought! Ebenezer is a name that is declaring, “GOD CAME FIRST.”

Which one are you, an Ichabod or Ebenezer? Perhaps the reason we lose a lot of the battles in life is because God is an afterthought! I think Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Let me encourage you to live in the days of Ebenezer, put God first!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Cor 9:24-27

Hebrews Chapter Eleven is referred to as the “Faith” chapter because it gives so many examples of accomplishments by men and women and their faith. Chapter Twelve talks about God disciplining His sons.

Reading this chapter spurs one toward some honest inventory and some change when we consider the message. First of all, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, those we read about in chapter eleven, the writer of the letter says; let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Heb 12:1

We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Heb 12:2-3

In 1 Peter 2:9 the KJV reads that we are to be a peculiar people. The world should be able to recognize that we are different than they are and that we belong to God. Can the world see that we are different? This is where the honest inventory comes in. If we are not different then we need “throw off everything that hinders and get rid of the sin that so easily entangles us”. We can’t do that until we are honest enough to look for and recognize “what hinders us and what sins are entangling us and then be honest enough to admit it.

As the Olympic runners got rid of everything that might slow them down in their race, Christians must also get rid of whatever weighs us down or ties us to the world. It can be one thing or many and it is likely different for each one of us. A few examples could be television, sports, work, the list is endless.

This world is not our home and we are encouraged to remember that heaven is our goal. We are to stick with it and keep our eyes on Jesus our example. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Heb 12:3-5

What a reminder! How many of us have resisted sin to the point of shedding our blood? I certainly know I have not! Remember the joy set before us. Just like those before us, those following Jesus grew weary, they wanted to go back to what they were used to, and things were getting tough. Then they got these words of encouragement… “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. Heb 12:5-7

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Heb 12:11

The joy set before Jesus was reconciling us to God. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. Eph 2:15-17

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:6-8

I believe I have mentioned before that Russell has been teaching Hebrews in our Wednesday night class. We studied from chapter twelve last night. I pray I have effectively shared the wonderful message in this chapter the way Russell shared it with us and I sincerely pray you will find a quite place and a quite time and reflect on these scriptures and thoughts.

This is a very tasty dish to compliment your Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner. It may be served as a side or a dessert.

Cranberry Surprise

1-12 oz  package fresh cranberries-ground
1-6 oz package Raspberry Jell-O
2 cups water
½ package mini-marshmallows (8 oz)
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1 pint whipping cream*
1 cup sugar

Boil water, stir in jell-o until dissolved; add marshmallows and let cool until marshmallows are partially melted. When cool add cranberries, nuts and coconut. (I grind the cranberries in my food processor).

Whip the cream and slowly add the sugar. Fold into the above mixture and chill.

* You may substitute Cool Whip for the whipping cream. If you do then omit the cup of sugar.

My mom made this for holidays when I was a kid. It is mmm, mmm good!

I can’t think of words anymore beautiful than this Psalm to close the week with.

I truly desire these will become my words and these thoughts become my thoughts. That I can push ‘me’ and the world out of the way, and that I can say without hesitation, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Gal 2:20

 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.

But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God’s name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced. Psalm 63

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

For those of you who enjoy the ins and outs of the written word. This has been sent to me on more than one occasion. So I decided to share.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound. 
2) The farm was used to produce produce. 
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8)A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object. 
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it. 
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. 
English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France .. 
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. 
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. 

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and  hammers don’t ham? 
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? 

Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and end and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? 

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? 

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? 

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. 

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out they are invisible. 

Feel free to add your own!

More from “Wisdom”

My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.  Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. Prov 4:20-27

There are many words of advice in the verses above. The first in verse four is to pay attention. We can hear something and be listening and not paying much attention. At times we may find ourselves in the “deer in the headlights” mode. These verses are a good way for us to take a little inventory.

Keeping God’s instruction in our heart can also keep us from a massive amount of misery. We can listen to things that are not in step with God’s will and be filled with darkness and enticed into things that are spiritual hindrances.  So we need to pay attention and listen closely.

We know from experience how quickly little children can be in danger if we let them out of our sight. In a matter of seconds they can be into something that can cause great harm to them. I believe in the same way if we don’t keep the Word in our heart in every aspect of our life, if we let it out of our sight we leave ourselves defenseless against the devil’s schemes.

We are to guard our heart from things that influence how we live, to avoid and put away perversity and corrupt talk. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

Finally, we are to make level paths for our feet. The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. Prov 4:18-19

 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. Deut 5:32-33

As many know by now, I love Proverbs, probably because I need the reminders so much for myself. Look again at the riches of wisdom in Proverbs 1:2-6 — for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young — let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance —for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise

If we seek wisdom and apply it in our lives, God promises to protect, direct, and perfect our path.

This is a simple yet very tasty side dish and a great way to get kids to eat their carrots. The recipe comes from one of those cookbooks high school kids used to sell. The person who submitted it wrote that it is a recipe from her Dutch great grandmother. She thinks perhaps the name was made up to amuse her large brood of children.

4 large potatoes
4 large carrots
1 onion
salt and pepper
half and half
butter

Peel potatoes, carrots, and onion. Cut into large chunks as you would for mashed potatoes. Cover with water and boil until tender. Drain off water and allow to stand a few minutes for vegetables to dry off.

Mash vegetables, adding salt and pepper to taste and half and half, mixing until smooth and creamy.

When the mixture is all fluffy with a beautiful shade of pale orange, transfer it into a pretty serving dish and put a big chunk of butter on top. May serve with or without gravy.