Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Service

Last night we went to Calvary Assembly for the annual Community Thanksgiving Service, we hadn't been to one of these in years and years. It seems "Once Upon a Time" ago we used to attend these. Steve got a call from Pastor Todd last week asking if he'd like to participate in the service under the title "community leader" as he's the Chairman of the Board for the Norwin Chamber of Commerce,of course he said ' yes'. Pastor Todd then asked if he knew of any other men who would like to maybe take part as well and he immediately recommended his friend and mentor, Dave Painter. It was very interesting how the Lord worked in this matter.

Steve was given a verse from Corinthians to read and Psalm 100, but Dave was told to speak what was on his heart. Now keep in mind Pastor Todd does not know Dave, nor had he ever even met him. Those that know Dave, know he would have no problem filling his time with something very valuable to hear, not just something light and fluffy like "Be thankful for everything". Dave chose his own text and talked about how we need to give thanks to God for His sovereign work in our lives by drawing us to Himself. He stressed how the Holy Spirit causes us to become alive in Christ. It was interesting how a speaker or two after that reiterated that when they spoke. The emphasis then was taken off being thankful for material blessings and we were reminded to thank God for spiritual ones, ones that will never perish. Others spoke about remembering that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, reminding us to be good stewards of our blessings and be sure and give them away, not just keep them to ourselves. We were reminded that just the very breath we have and the promise of a new day that we so often take for granted is a blessing! sounds so trite when you read it but I know I was reminded that just waking up in the morning is something I take for granted, each new day is a mercy I see.

It was a good night and Pastor Todd was very pleased at how the service went. He commented that you never know when you give a group of men, from different backgrounds, free reign to speak their hearts. It was evident that God was superseding the service and leading through His Spirit based on the prayers of this Pastor and others as the emphasis for the night was on our Lord Jesus Christ.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thanks-Living week

Well this being Thanksgiving week, (which probably should be called Thanksliving reminding us how blessed we are to live in this great land and have the freedom to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are taking a break from normal school work and reading up on the Pilgrims and their lives. We also watched "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving", heh heh for fun. Stephen and Emma are working on completing a lapbook, I'll have to get some pics. posted when they get it finished. Ruby is working on her very own lapbook around the song "Five Little Pumpkins", which she really is enjoying.

We pretty much have our meal planned, I've got the turkey thawing in the fridge (hopefully it'll be thawed by Thurs. morning). I remember a year or two when the bird was not thawed totally and going into near panic at the thought of not having it cooked on time. The plan was to take it out on Sun. night to begin the thawing process, but I remembered this about 1a.m. and couldn't convince myself to make the trek across the cold garage floor to the spare fridge that's out there to take it! I told myself I'd ask Steve in the a.m. when he kissed me good-bye to do this and I did, only to discover about 10 a.m. it was still in the freezer! so glad I checked.

Our meal will be shared with Steve's family, my mom is heading out to my nieces house this year. So it'll be a meal for only about 16 without Kara here and little Isaiah not ready for turkey in this form yet.

Kara is at Derrick's house, but we've enjoyed talking and seeing her on skype (webcam)! This is so great! Our new computer has a webcam built in and Kara just got her new Mac which also has one. So now I don't feel so detached ! We even got to meet Derrick's dog, Sparky this morning when his Dad brought him in to say hello! lol Of course we lifted Buster up to repeat the gesture!

Steve is speaking on Tuesday night at the local community Thanksgiving service over at Calvary Assembly. Not sure if he's just reading something or actually commenting. Those that know Steve probably would say that there's got to be some commenting involved there somewhere even if it's just a reading assignment! lol So we'll head there tomorrow evening, then to our own church for Wed. service. He's still got such a bad head cold, I'm praying it improves some by tomorrow as his voice is a bit raspy. Even more than that I'm praying he improves before heading out into the woods for hunting season. I always worry he'll come back with pneumonia after going out sick into the woods, the weather usually is damp. But this is nothing new, seems this happens every year at this time.

Praying you all have a blessed celebration on Thursday. We certainly have could never count our blessings, but that should never stop us from trying! Praise God who loads us down daily with more blessings then we can ever begin to list of course the most important being eternal life!
I decided to start a family newsletter and post here throughout the year. I'll do our Annual Christmas Newsletter here and post pictures. So if you desire you can stay up to date with our family.

The children will write various posts throughout the year, so check back occasionally!

If you have a blog, be sure and send us the link.