- Holly: Sitting on her day bed, teaching herself to knit, writing a story for her blog.... Go
- Holly: Had a good day!! Thinking about the things she needs to do tomorrow... oh and updating her blog ;) Go
- Is at home relaxing... reading the last chapters in Exodus. Go
Currently Reading
Old-Fashioned Country Christmas (Gooseberry Patch)
By Vickie L. Hutchins
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
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It’s Thanksgiving Eve and snow is on its way, I hear three inches! Perfectly in time for Thankgiving.
Mom and Dad just left to go out for coffee and then go get all the fixings for Thanksgiving. No one cooks better in the whole world for Thanksgiving meal than my dear Mother.
So today after I get off work here I am going to clean up my room and get ready to light my candles and get the Christmas music out again. Maybe make something Christmasy like cookies or something too. Though I am sure I will be helping Mother in the big kitchen tomorrow along with Heidi and Hannah too.
I have so much to be thankful for. I was thinking about this yesterday as we heard on the news of a young soldier killed the day before he was to come home for Thanksgiving day, tomorrow. They were interviewing his broken hearted Dad.
I am thankful today for so many things. God is has been and the best part is He always will be good to me.
This cute book I am reading has tons of different Christmas ideas in it. I really like it a lot. I saw one idea here and thought it was cute. Something about potpourri simmering for the holidays is so warm and inviting for the home. So here is a simple recipe I found in this book called “Country Christmas”
Christmas Potpourri
6 thin skinned oranges
10 cinnamon sticks
cloves
2 oz. Orange oil
6 drops of cinnamon oil
Use a potato peeler to make long strips about 1/2″ wide, from the oranges. Stud the peels with cloves, 1/2″ –1″ apart. Pour orange oil and cinnamon oil in a bowl and dip peels in oil. Allow excess to drip off rind. Dip cinnamon sticks in mixture as well. Place potpourri in an attractive glass or ceramic bowl and enjoy! This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled so make a large batch to have on hand for gifts. Should the scent diminish, reapply oil to mixture to peels.
Have a beautiful Thanksgiving…”And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.
Colossians 3:17
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.Philippians 4:6
“The Winter Gathering” is cancelled for this coming January. Thank you for your interest and consideration but as I am sure you have heard “The Character Inn” is being sold and therefore changes are coming very quickly for us all.
We just got back tonight from singing in Detroit and will be leaving tomorrow early for Shipshewana Indiana to sing to some more people over there. I am always excited about going there I love that area. So we will be off early tomorrow morning.
Go see my brother Kyle and his wife, Elizabeth’s site. She has a great, homey writing style that I love. And I also love them very much they are so cute together. I am one proud sister, such a handsome couple.
Currently Reading
Feminine Appeal: 7 Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother
By Carolyn Mahaney
This is such a good book. I am trying to finish it off. Dad got it for me last Christmas and I really used it for the Winter Gathering last year. I am always interested in learning and this lady has good things to say about the home and family. I am really enjoying this book.
Yesterday I decorated the deck in the lobby with Heidi. We strung lights all over the trees. I looked out the window and snow was falling to the Christmas music we had playing. It was beautiful.
Today I awoke after hitting my alarm at least 5 times I sleepily looked out my window to see a dusting of white snow on the streets and on the rooftops. So pretty! This gets me in the Christmas mood.
So today I brought a candle with me to the Front Desk to burn while I do my work here and look at all the lights in the lobby. It’s beautiful and I am thankful today.
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee because he trusteth in Thee” Isaiah 26:3
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
This morning I read the whole book of Colossians and that is one good book of the Bible. It’s small, only four chapters, but very full of good verses that really made me think.
I really suggest sitting down and just reading the whole book at one time. I found so many good verses related to seeking and putting Christ first, what He did for me, and how we are to act here on earth to glorify Christ.
One thing that stands out to me is this verse — “That in all things He might have the preeminence”1:18 Amy Carmichael had this verse on a plaque hanging on her wall.
A neat thing happened the other day I wrote about my friend Karen. That very day Mom brought me the mail and there was yet another birth announcement she had another little girl! I thought that was so amazing that I had just written about her and then I heard from her after maybe 2 years that very same day. Now she has a little girl for Christmas, Kaira Sage.
They are decorating the lobby for Christmas today. So I am listening to Christmas music for the first time this season as I work, but after this I won’t until Thanksgiving because that is only right. There are so many things to look forward to coming up soon with the holiday season.
I am really hoping to go shopping the day after thanksgiving! I have always wanted to do that and I don’t think we ever have. Of course I have always felt left out on that day when everyone else is shopping and I am not so this year I hope to start I tradition with our girls that we go shopping that day. Elizabeth does with her family all the girls go shopping and I think that is so neat. So…..hopefully this year we will all go shopping unless I have to do Front Desk.
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Monday, November 14, 2005
Today is Monday… I am going to coffee with a sweet friend today and I am looking forward to that.
The leaves are all gone now. It’s looking bare and gray now but it’s still pretty I think.
I love this time of year. I love to get a good book out and light my candles one by my bed and the one on the windowsill. Today looks like the perfect day just for that.
Soon I want to get my Christmas stationary and write my Christmas letter and get that out to family and long time friends. I always like to stay in touch with old friends and at Christmas it seems to be the best time for that.
I have been writing to Karen now for years. We used to love to play together back in Ohio. We lived not more than maybe five country miles from her. She’s Amish and lived on a farm. We played in the barn hayloft and with the kittens (I actually have a picture of this) and rode the horse and buggy to town once too.
Not long ago she sent me a birth announcement in the mail. She is married and now has a little boy. Amazing how time flies and life changes so drastically.
Another lady who stands out in my mind was my teacher for a few days a week. Kyle and I would go to our little country church and in the basement we would meet with a few other kids for school, we loved it.
She was always so nice and friendly and loving she would help me with my work.I loved her because she was so friendly and nice. Beautiful on the outside and on the inside. My family would make fun of me because they said I would come home talking like her. I think of her this time of year and other friends I haven’t seen in such a long time brings back good memories….
Currently Reading
The Savage My Kinsman
By Elisabeth Elliot
I had a good weekend. It wasn’t really relaxing but it was very, very good.
We went to Indiana and then Sunday we left early for a church Dad was speaking at near Kyle and Elizabeth.
I kept thinking as we drove that it was such a pretty fall day. Even though the sun was not out and it was overcast and rainy I thought it really was a neat day.
The wind was blowing hard and the leaves were falling down as we drove to church with our little French Vanilla Cappuccinos from Mc Donalds. It was fun. I loved the weather.
I had such a sense of God’s goodness and love to me. I am so thankful for Him. He is so good. Then as soon as we pulled into church we walked right up and sang. I told my testimony and hearts really seemed to be sensitive to the Lord. Dad spoke on the goodness of the Lord. It was a good message.
After church we went to Kyle and Elizabeth’s house for lunch. She made a wonderful meal the chili/soup was perfect for the cold weather outside. It was sooooo good. Their home is so cozy and warm and beautiful. She loves picture frames and the little home is filled with pictures of them. I took the time to walk around and look at each one.
They are so in-love it’s such a neat thing to see. Their life is so good and Kyle seems to be a sensitive loving husband. Elizabeth loves him and her home and makes it special. She lit candles and the smell of supper cooking on the stove made it a home of love and happiness.
As we all sat around, with our big family we filled their little living room full! Everyone got to talking, laughing, telling memories all at once.
Things got quiet and Kyle began to read Dad his birthday letter and cried. It was so sweet.
We had a good weekend. I left Kyle and Elizabeth’s house with a sense of God’s goodness to them. When things are done in His way and in His time He blesses us beyond measure. I found myself praying on the way home that I too would do things His way and find true happniess in Christ, as they have.
Yesterday I watched one of the neatest movies/documentary I have ever seen. I have always been interested in Jim Elliott and the five missionary men that were killed on the mission field. Something about that story really inspires me again and again every single time I here it. The deeper story I saw here in the documentary was amazing!
It was done so well for a Christian movie. I couldn’t believe it. They interviewed all the wives including my favorite, Elizabeth Elliot. It was great.
Something about these, full of life, young men wanting to serve the Lord so much that they would willingly give up there life for Him inspires me in the deepest part and I too want to give my all for Him.
In January, I think, they are coming out with a movie on the story called “The End of The Spear”. I saw the trailer and it looked great! God continues to use this story to inspire weaker Christians and awaken others to Jesus amazing love.
I felt as I watched this amazing movie, trying hard not to cry, I kept thinking about how these young men left a mark, with their very own blood, on this world just as Christ did.
We are weak Christians. It’s a hard fact to face but the world is full of weak, fair weathered Christians. Compared to these men of faith we lack in so many areas. Yet we serve the same amazing God! I ask God to forgive me and strengthen my walk making me a strong Christian, one who goes out to make a mark in this world, not blend in with all the other “christians”.
