Los-Angeles-Times-farmingonfaith

1. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, what are looking most forward to on Thursday?  Spending the day with my kids, I am  heading home in the morning.I hate goodbyes!  
2. My favorite Thanksgiving dish is ~This year it is Miss Kay's Honey Pecan Pie~ It looks heavenly. I am dying to eat a piece!
3. Do you ever go through periods of time when you get hooked on a specific food? yes~ I love Taco Bell. I love it!
4. What's the best stuffing for a turkey? Grandma's ~ old  fashioned stuffing. 
5. When you were a child, were you ever in a Thanksgiving play, pageant, mock pilgrim dinner, or anything different to celebrate? Yes ~ I was a Pilgrim many times but an Indian only once. Those memories are sweet ~getting dressed up.

 It is so very true. It seems there is a movement trying to silence Christians~ from our schools to our court rooms. Everyone has freedom of speech but those who choose to live by Biblical principles. I am here to tell you I will not be silent about my Almighty God whom I am so very thankful to because He saved my soul and made me whole. Every good and perfect gift in my life~ He gave me and I am thankful.

Abraham Lincoln~ one of the greatest leaders our country has ever known was not silent either. 

Here are the words of Abraham Lincoln~ April 30, 1863.

Abingdon Press has made winter a little more fun with The Quilts of Love series!
I was so excited to receive my first two books of this Quilt of Love Series. I will be getting a new book each month and so far I am not disappointed. Doesn't that sound like great fun?

Aloha Rose grabbed my attention from the very first line. Laney sets out to find her real parents.
She had been abandoned in a quilt and left on the door step of her adopted parents's home. She was adored and loved by them~ a charmed life so to speak. That is until her mother passed away and her father remarried. She felt the need to find her blood family and a connection to her past.

Her father with military connections was able to locate her blood family and she had great hopes of meeting the woman who left her on the steps of her parent's home. Only she didn't realize that she would be seen as a gold digger. Is was a harder road then she imagined it would be.

What a great story~I rate this book 5 stars.




 A little about the Quilts of Love series from the Publishers.

You will never notice that there are no hydrogenated oils in this recipe. I fluffed the flour first and leveled it off when measuring. These cookies are wonderful. I am so excited! Enjoy!

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
1  cup oil ( I used light olive oil.)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together dry ingredients~ set aside.

Mix together oil, brown sugar, white sugar and mix until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Then, stir in vanilla and almond extract. Mix dry ingredients in and last fold in chips.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Take out while still a little doughy. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes before removing.

Book Description

This time of year I can't help but think how it must of felt for our fore-mothers who came to this foreign land. I mean some must have left their mommas and fathers. They had to leave behind their things ~like my friend calls them~their "pretties." I am not a materialistic person but I like my home to feel comfy and cozy. Those "things" make my home feel like home. I mean my beloved Kitchen Aid would be to heavy to bring on that boat over~ I am sure. Yet~ they traveled here for the freedom to worship God. That would take some "big faith."

They came here and made America ~ the home of the free~ and started from scratch. God love them! They must have been kind hearted ladies to embrace and accept everyone as they were on that first Thanksgiving feast~ they were strangers to this land. They had so much to learn and do. So much work to be done. They must have been willing to learn from their Native American womenfolk. 

You know~ as Christians~ we are strangers to this land. We must be willing to work and be kind hearted. We must be willing to share what we have and be willing and open to learn as we go along. But in the end~ I know I am just as Pilgrim passing through. My home is in Heaven with my Heavenly Father. As I reflect on that first Thanksgiving ~ I question myself on just how well I am doing as a Pilgrim in this land?  Am I caught up in just my comfort and happiness~ or am I busy sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Am I too busy to try and persuade others that there is a land far better than than this one. There is a God who loves us and He wants us to live forever with Him after our journey here is over. 

my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Sometimes you just have a heard time finding the perfect gift~ this is gift that will  be cherished each and every Christmas to come. I love these little ornaments. Each one displays a different name of the Messiah.

They are boxed in a wonderful gift box. I was very impressed with the packaging.

 I had planned on giving mine as a gift but decided I just had to keep them myself. Guess I will be ordering another set. Honestly~ these are a bargain at $14.95!


Click here to order a set.

Product Description

About the Author

I was provided these ornaments in exchange for my honest review.

You may purchase the book here~

I learned the song ~ Over The Hills And Through The Woods in grade school~ I just loved it. We practiced over and over again. It was the first song I remember singing on a stage. Sweet memories!

It is that time of year again. We have expectations and fantasies of what Thanksgiving and Christmas should look like. I mean I imagine the Walton style dinner where love oozes and the dinner is picture perfect just like the Norman Rockwell paintings.

Funny~ when I remember going to my Grandma Baker's I only remember how happy I was that we were all together~ laughing and having a good time. I don't remember the dinners at all. My grandmother only had one arm so the only thing in the world she could not do with one arm was peel potatoes~ no kidding. (She could even drive a stick-shift car.) But she had a way of making instant potatoes taste like real. They came in a great big gallon can. She doctored those babies in such a way not a soul knew they were instant. Other than her potatoes ~I don't remember what she served.
But honestly~ I don't even remember where we all managed to find a place to sit. Looking at that house today it is so amazing to me. It was the size of a "cracker jack" box.  She must have been stressed over trying to make it all work.

Yet~ why do we slip back into the fantasy of having a perfect day. The truth is families are not perfect. There are those that are quiet and those that are loud and boisterous. There are those that are gentle and kind and those that are well~ not so. But none-the-less we are still family. Warts and all! Sometimes the problem comes in the fact that that we would rather run back to a make believe world ~to a family we wish we had instead of accepting and being okay with what they are really like.

I don't know about you but I would rather spend this Thanksgiving giving thanks for my family members…….just as they are. Accepting each and everyone for just who they are~ as they are! How about loving them enough to look past each other's faults as we seek to see them just as God sees them~ fearfully and wonderfully made. We are all flawed with weaknesses. Brokenness is a fact of the human condition.

The truth is we are ordinary people who have ordinary lives. That is exactly where God wants to work ordinary miracles to make flawed humans to become more like Him and His Image. How about we look at ourselves and our family~ that we love~ as those that are totally loved and accepted by God~ no matter what they look like~ act like ~ or how they behave.
Let's give ourselves permission to have a less-than perfect Thanksgiving dinner with non-perfect people  but with a perfect God who has blessed us with this wonderful thing called Family.

Sometimes I feel invisible~ do you ever feel like that?  I know that people see me. Caleb sees his mom who helps him with school and serves him food. Brian sees his wife. The girls see the mom they can call when they need a mother. My friends see a person to have fun with and share their heart with. On and on we can go with all the things we are known for ~the things we do.

But sometimes I wonder if anyone really sees the me underneath all those different hats I wear. My stars~ sometimes I wonder at times if I have become the roles that I play so well that I lost myself.

Some days we just go through the motions filling our day with people, activities and busyness and at the end of the day you wonder if anyone notices the real you under all those hats. The fear that troubles your soul. The dreams you have and the adventures you would love to take. We show such a spit and polished surface to the world but how many people really see underneath those hats?

The good news my friend is that when you have a day when you feel no one sees you~ there is One who does see under your mask. He sees your fears, your hurts, and your dreams. God sees and knows the real you. He sees you even in your weakest moments and darkest days.

Remember Hagar from the Bible. She was the servant of Sara who was used and abused to bear a child that Sara could call her own. She was rejected, pregnant and eventuality kicked to the curb~ the wilderness curb that is. I am sure she felt there was not a single soul who really cared enough to look at her hurting soul. BUT GOD~ saw her.

Good Morning Blog Friends~

You really would not want to have a chat on my farmhouse porch this morning. It is a frosty 12 degrees  here at Farming On Faith. Jack Frost came to call yesterday and I am hoping we warm back up to get a few outside projects done before he settles in for a long winter's nap.

Whew this time of year is busy~ have you already felt the pace of life speed up? Me too!

Here is our chat for today. If you would like to join in the chat click here!

1. Would you rather sit in front of a fireplace with a roaring fire, soak in a lovely bath, or spend free time on your computer? Oh my stars on any given day it is all three. But I guess if I had to choose my favorite it would be a bubble bath! That just keeps this girl's world turning! 
2. Milk chocolate or dark chocolate? Milk chocolate~ I know it is not the healthy choice. I love chocolate !
3. Have you ever tried a recipe from a blog or Pinterest? Oh my stars ~ yes! All the time. I mean nothing is better than a tried and true recipe. 
4. Do you have a guest room? If not, do you have a spare room that you use for something other than a bedroom (sewing room, office, craft area, etc)? I have three guest rooms, two actually are used as such. I am going to make a frilly~ girly office in the third. It is the next thing on my list of projects since the move. 
5. Is your hair curly, straight, or something in between? Well it is so straight but I curl it every day so most people would never know that! 

Sometimes kids can be down right mean. It is our job as parents to teach our children to be kind and accepting of other children especially when other children may look or be different.

In this adorable little paperback book is a story that will last with your child forever. Catie Caterpiller looks different from any bugs that Herbie and Bella the bunnies have ever seen. They criticized Catie for how she looked and behaved. Mayor Benny shows up and gives them a much needed lesson showing them that things are not always as they appear. In the end the little bunnies learn to be accepting and also experience the joy of forgiveness from the little Catie.

It is a valuable lesson and a great book.

This book has been provided to me in exchange for my honest opinion.