Peeking out of the rut

Posted on November 29, 2007 by Barbara Harper

One of our town’s annual events is a “Dickens of a Christmas.” Main Street is blocked off, various groups stage reenactments of holiday scenes or plays in store windows, there is a parade of people dressed in Dickensian garb, choirs sing and instrumentalists play at various locations, vendors sell hot chocolate and various foods, and there is a carol sing and lighting of the Christmas tree. My oldest son did a nice write-up about this year’s event.

In past years attendance had gone way down and few groups seemed to be participating, but this year there seemed to be a resurgence of interest. In fact, it was almost too crowded to enjoy at some points. We discussed going next year right when the parade starts at 6 and then eating there. They used to only sell munchies and warm drinks, but now area restaurants sell full dinners at a food court. It’s hard to get there by 6 and eat dinner at home beforehand when many of the family members don’t get home til 5:30 or 6. Most people seem to come for the tree lighting at 8, so if we got there early and ate, then maybe the windows wouldn’t be so crowded for an hour or so til people started trickling in for the tree lighting.

Overall we really enjoyed it.

The sad thing is, though, that I hadn’t originally planned on going. I’m getting to be — dare I say it — somewhat leaning toward old and set in my ways. Usually after dinner I like to crash with my feet up and go through recipe magazines or watch TV or read or whatever. I don’t usually like to get out and go anywhere in the evenings, especially when it’s cold and dark. And crowded places make me feel a little claustrophobic. And I have this thing about being able to have access to bathrooms.

We hadn’t talked about going, but I overheard my husband say something to one of the kids about it, and Jason was bringing his girlfriend over for it. I found out afterward that Jeremy considers it one of the highlights of the year. So I was glad we went. I was also glad no one had asked me point-blank if I wanted to go beforehand so I didn’t cast any negativity over it. We talked about the need to get out of our rut sometimes. I’m a confirmed rut-dweller, but it is nice occasionally to get out and about. 🙂

Thanksgiving memories

Posted on November 25, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Updated: I had posted this on Sunday, then noticed last night that My Life as Annie’s Time Travel Tuesday this week is about Thanksgiving memories, so I am using this same post for that. It’s good to have TTT back up and running again!

Joyful Days‘ post about how she spent Black Friday with her mother put me in a reflective mood, so I thought on this close of Thanksgiving weekend I would post about Thanksgiving memories.

I don’t have any specific memories of childhood Thanksgivings except for breaking the wishbone. I also don’t remember much what we did the first few years we were married, though I might if I were to get out the old picture albums. We lived near the university then and I do have vague memories of getting together with other couples. The first Thanksgiving I have a specific memory of was when Jeremy, our firstborn, was three months old and my husband’s mother came for a visit to meet him. Her return flight to Idaho left, if I remember correctly, Thanksgiving afternoon. We weren’t going to do a Thanksgiving dinner since she was traveling that day, but the more we thought about it, the more we wanted to. So on the way home from Wednesday night church, we stopped at a grocery store and got a small turkey breast and other feast supplies, and I remember my husband remarking what a blessing it was to go to a store that close to Thanksgiving and still have plenty of groceries to choose from.

One event that has been a part of every Thanksgiving I can remember at least since we were married is that the churches we’ve attended have had a special Thanksgiving service the Tuesday or Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving in which those attending have had the opportunity to give a testimony about how the Lord has worked in their lives. It’s one of my favorite times of year to listen to dear folks look back at the joys and sorrows of the past year with thanksgiving for all God did for them.

My husband’s former pastor from Idaho has several children who, when they were first married, attended grad school in the Greenville area, and because there were several in the area at the time, their mom and dad would come to visit them for Thanksgiving, and they would graciously invite us. They were like second family to my husband and one of the primary spiritual influences in his life as he was growing up, and I remember those get-togethers fondly.

One of our most memorable Thanksgivings occurred when one member of that family moved to Tennessee and everyone was invited there. We had recently moved to Georgia, and there wasn’t at that time a direct route from where we were to where we were going, so we decided to swing by Greenville, attend the Thanksgiving praise service of our old church, stay with friends overnight, then drive up to TN early Thanksgiving morning. All went according to plan and we really enjoyed the visit with our old church and friends until Thursday morning: as we pulled out of our friend’s driveway to leave for TN, our car stalled. I don’t remember what was wrong with it, but we just could not get it going. It being a holiday, no mechanics were open. Our friends had plans with family in town for the day and we couldn’t impose on them any further. We ended up getting a rental car, leaving our car with our friends, and calling later to have our car towed to a mechanic. Finally on the road, we were late for the meal at our friends’ in TN, so we stopped at a Burger King. I was very thankful one was open, but as you look at the other diners, you do wonder what their story is and why they’re at a Burger King on Thanksgiving. Back on the road again and reaching those twisting mountainous roads in TN, Jesse got sick — all over the rental car and everything anywhere near him. We had to pull over to the side of the road and deal with the mess (and from henceforth Dramamine became a part of our traveling routine). Finally we got to TN in time for the reheating of leftovers and making of turkey sandwiches in the evening. There was plenty of food left and we enjoyed fellowshipping. We ended up driving back home to GA the next day and turning in the rental car there, having to make a return trip to Greenville later in the week when the car was fixed.

I think we may have traveled to my folks in TX or my husband’s in ID once or twice: more than likely it was Christmas rather than Thanksgiving. But at some point when our children were small we decided to stay home for the holidays rather than deal with the stress of traveling with young children when half the nation seemed to also be traveling (and in the case of ID we faced uncertain weather in the winter months). Plus neither of our families had a distinctively Christian emphasis on the holidays and we wanted that for our children. Though I think having our own family celebration was good for us, in many ways now I kind of regret not spending more holidays with extended family.

I don’t remember what year I made my first turkey dinner on my own but I remember being very nervous about it. Now, however, a turkey seems to me one of the easiest meals to prepare. It took me years to learn how to make gravy, though: I always bought packets of gravy mix or jars of ready-made gravy just in case.

Our Thanksgivings in recent years have pretty much been like this one was. I usually get up fairly early to get the turkey in the oven so we can eat between noon and one, and I enjoy the quietness of the morning with beautiful praise music on our local Christian radio station. I then get my shower and have devotions, and everyone else gets up at various times. We eat around midday, have pies some time in the late afternoon, and leftovers or sandwiches later in the evening. It’s nice for me that once the kitchen is cleaned up, I’m pretty much “off” for the rest of the day. My good husband carves the turkey, then after the meal gets as much of the meat off the bones and cleans the roasting pan for me. We save the bigger bones for turkey bone soup (one of my all time favorite things) some time within the next week. This particular Thanksgiving afternoon and evening we napped, played a game, and watched Ratatouille in the evening (a cute movie if you can get past the idea of rats in the kitchen…). We’re all so scattered between school, work, and various obligations in the weeks before and after Thanksgiving that it is nice to have a fairly laid-back relaxing day with just the family.

Sometimes after dinner we go around the table and have everyone mention something they are thankful for. I wish we did it every year. We did learn not to do it before the meal — everything gets cold on the table and people are hungry.

It also used to be a part of every Thanksgiving that I would call my mom in the evenings. Sometimes my brother and sisters would still be there and I’d have a chance to say hi, but often everyone would be gone and we’d have a chance to chat. That’s one of the things I’ve missed most since she passed away.

As for Black Friday — no way, no thanks!! As I mentioned a day or two ago, I really don’t like crowds in stores, so I wait to Christmas shop til weekdays when there are fewer people around. Lately I’ve done more and more shopping online anyway. Quite often we’ve done some kind of home project in the days after Thanksgiving. But this year we just relaxed, enjoyed each other, and regrouped for the next several busy weeks until Christmas.

I enjoy it when we have five Thursdays in November like we do this year. With Thanksgiving falling on the fourth one, it seems like we have an extra week between it and Christmas. Personally I like to savor the last week of autumn before transitioning to Christmas — though I have been looking at Christmas pictures and graphics for my header, so I may go ahead and change it over sooner than I had planned.

My post about what I am thankful for is here.

I hope your Thanksgiving went well!

You Might Be a Redneck This Thanksgiving If…

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Barbara Harper

… you’ve ever had Thanksgiving dinner on a ping-pong table.

… Thanksgiving dinner is squirrel and dumplings.

… you’ve ever reused a paper plate.

… if you have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say Cool Whip on the side.

… if you’ve ever used your ironing board as a buffet table.

… your turkey platter is an old hubcap.

… your best dishes have Dixie printed on them.

… your stuffing’s secret ingredient comes from the bait shop.

… your only condiment on the dining room table is ketchup.

… side dishes include beef jerky and Moon Pies.

… you have to go outside to get something out of the ‘fridge.

… the directions to your house include “turn off the paved road.”

… you consider pork and beans to be a gourmet food.

… you have an Elvis Jell-o mold.

… your secret family recipe is illegal.

… you serve Vienna sausage as an appetizer.

~ Author unknown

Thanksgiving Bible study

Posted on November 17, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Here are just a few verses dealing with Thanksgiving. This is by no means an exhaustive study: it’s just a result of looking up “thanks” and “thanksgiving” in an online concordance. Many of the passages would fit under multiple headings and I am sure there are others that could be added. But this is a good start. It would be profitable to study many of these verses within the context of the passages they came from.

And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will. Leviticus 22:29.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7.

It is a sacrifice:

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15.

It is often a testimony to others of God’s person and work:

That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Psalm 26:7

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Psalm 69:30-31.

Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. II Corinthians 1:11.

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. II Corinthians 4:15.

For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. II Corinthians 9:12-14.

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 7:11-12.

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. I Chronicles 16: 8-9.

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. I Chronicles 16:35.

So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. Psalm 79:13.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most high: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Psalm 92:1-2.

Often coupled with joy and singing:

And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. Nehemiah 12:27.

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. I Chronicles 16: 8-9.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:2-4.

Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God. Psalm 147:6.

Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Psalm 18:49

Psalm 93:1-3;

Often coupled with prayer:

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalm 50:14-15.

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:17.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7.

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2.

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:16.

A result of meditating on God’s Word:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Colossians 3:16-17.

A result of being filled with the Spirit:

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Ephesians 5:18-21.

Reasons to thank the Lord:

It’s commanded:

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4.

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2.
His greatness, His creation:

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Psalm 95: 1-5

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. Psalm 107:21-22.

His comfort:

For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. Isaiah 51: 3.

His bountiful supply:

Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. II Corinthians 9:11.
His unspeakable gift:

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. II Corinthians 9:15.

Meat:

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. I Timothy 4:3-5; Matthew 15:36

Deliverance from enemies:

And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. II Samuel 22:49-50

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. I Chronicles 16:35.

Psalm 18:48-50

His goodness:

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. I Chronicles 16:34; Ezra 3:11; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136.

His holiness:

Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Psalm 30:4.

His deliverance from sorrow:

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Psalm 30:11-12

His righteous judgments:

At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments. Psalm 119: 62.

Victory over death:

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:56-57.

Causing us to triumph, making Himself known through us:

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. II Corinthians 2:14.

His working through other people:

But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. II Corinthians 8:16.

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:16.

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints. Col. 1:2-4

I Thessalonians 1:1-3; 3:9-10; II Thessalonians 2:13-14.

Saving us:

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14.

All things:

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20.

In everything:

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:18.

Authorities:

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. I Timothy 2:1-3.

His power and reign:

Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned Revelation 11:17.

Results in worship:

And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:9-11.

Other passages:

Psalm 105:1-3

Thanksgiving decorations

Posted on November 16, 2007 by Barbara Harper

For Kelli’s “Giving Thanks” week and for today’s Show and Tell Friday I wanted to show my Thanksgiving decorations.

I got this little Pilgrim and Indian group at a craft show when we lived in GA.

This is a similar little group but I bought it somewhere else that I can’t remember. Can you tell I like happy-faced tole-painted people? 🙂

I’ve shown some of my Boyd’s Bear figurines before. My husband just got this Thanksgiving one for me last year.

And here’s a little stuffed turkey — stuffed with fluff, that is.

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.“

Quotes on Thanksgiving and thankfulness

Posted on November 15, 2007 by Barbara Harper

“Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as… served the company almost a week… Many of the Indians came amongst us and… their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought… And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are…far from want.”

~ Edward Winslow, Plymouth, Massachusetts, December, 1621
Christian, Pilgrim

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues
~ Cicero

O Lord, that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.
~ William Shakespeare

The Pilgrims came to America not to accumulate riches but to worship God, and the greatest wealth they left unborn generations was their heroic example of sacrifice that their souls might be free.
~ Harry Moyle Tippett

Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow, A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves
~ Henry Ward Beecher

Measured by the standards of men of their time, [the Pilgrims] were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came – rejected, despised – an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy destined to free mankind.
~ Calvin Coolidge

Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is “good,” because is it good, if “bad” because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.
~ C. S. Lewis

No people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with the gratitude to the Giver of good who has blessed us.
~ Theodore Roosevelt

Thanksgiving, to be truly thanksgiving, is first thanks, then giving.
~ Unknown

In the old Anglo-Saxon, to be “thankful” meant to be “thinkful.” Thinking of one’s blessings should stir one to gratitude.
~ Unknown

This is the holy reasoning of love; it draws no license from grace, but rather feels the strong constraints of gratitude leading it to holiness.
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

O Thou Who has given us so much, mercifully grant us one more thing: a grateful heart.
~George Herbert

More Thanksgiving -related content on this blog:

Thanksgiving Bible Study
Thanksgiving devotional reading is here.
Last year’s collection of Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here and A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.
Thanksgiving poems are here and More Thanksgiving Poems are here.

Join us for Kelli’s “Giving Thanks” event this week at There’s No Place Like Home.

And since I have thirteen quotes, I’ll include this for a Thursday Thirteen. 😀

(Top and bottom graphics are from Snapshots of Joy)

Thanksgiving poems

Posted on November 14, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home is hostessing a week of Giving Thanks. Bloggers can link up every day this week through Saturday with Thanksgiving poems, memories, recipes, decorating ideas, etc., to get our hearts into a Thanksgiving frame of mind and not let it slip by on the way to the Christmas season.

So far I have been linking to posts from last year because I had put up a lot of Thanksgiving posts then, like Thanksgiving devotional reading and Thanksgiving “funnies.” But I had posted several different poems, so I wanted to put those all in one place, plus add a new one or two.

Giving Thanks

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman’s hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the “Land of the Free” –
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

~ Author Unknown

Thanksgiving

Dear Lord—I’m thankful for the home I knew in early youth,
Where I first heard from Mother’s lips the story of your truth.
I’m thankful for the fellowship with friends who ever hold
Within their hearts Your gift of love, as world events unfold,
I’m thankful for Your peace that stills my heart, and light that guides
My course, as chaos rushes by on swiftly changing tides.
But thankful most—for faith that looks beyond a mortal sky
To truth—to your unchanging truth that cannot ever die!

~ Sarah Mizelle Morgan

From The Valley of Vision:

Praise and Thanksgiving

O my God,
Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with thee
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly,
I love thee above the powers of language to express,
for what thou art to thy creatures.
Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

For All The Blessings Of The Year

For all the blessings of the year,
For all the friends we hold so dear,
For peace on earth, both far and near,
We thank Thee, Lord.

For life and health, those common things,
Which every day and hour brings,
For home, where our affection clings,
We thank Thee, Lord.

For love of Thine, which never tires,
Which all our better thought inspires,
And warms our lives with heavenly fires,
We thank Thee, Lord.

~ Author unknown

Another one I posted last year, but I will just link to since someone else posted it for the “Giving Thanks” week already, is Edgar’s Guest’s “Thanksgiving.”

More Thanksgiving -related posts on this blog:

Thanksgiving Bible Study
Thanksgiving readings and devotionals are here.
Some Thanksgiving quotes are here.
More Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here and A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.
More Thanksgiving poems are here.

Veteran’s Day

Posted on November 11, 2007 by Barbara Harper

“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died; they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for their county, for us.

All we can do is remember.”

~ Ronald Wilson Reagan
Remarks at Veteran’s Day ceremony, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, November 11, 1985

Veterans Day (2001) Message from the Secretary of Defense

Eighty-three years ago, an armistice was signed between the Allies and the Central Powers. As the guns of both the victors and the vanquished fell silent, World War I — “The War to End All Wars” — slipped into history.

For the next twenty years, “Armistice Day” was celebrated with parades and speeches, simple ceremonies and sacred observances. For many years, buglers played “Taps” at 11 o’clock at the main intersections of towns across America or the village greens — I was one of them. And for two minutes, all the traffic and daily transactions ceased as citizens stopped to honor those who had fallen in the defense of liberty.

Today, we celebrate “Veterans Day,” but while the name has changed, its meaning and purpose remain the same. It is a day to honor and to remember those who died and those we are blessed to still have with us.

Their collective experience — from the gas-filled trenches of World War I to the deserts of the Persian Gulf — covers much of the turmoil and change of the 20th century. Their stories are the story of our history, for America rose to greatness on their shoulders.

But Veterans Day is also a day to honor and to recognize not just the Greatest Generation, but the latest generation — those who today wear the uniform and bear the responsibility for defending freedom and protecting our American way of life. And while this is true even when the country is at peace, it is particularly so when America is — as it is now — at war.

Like the thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who went before, you have dedicated yourselves to the strength and survival of our nation, and willingly placed yourselves in danger to secure peace and freedom. In so doing, you have assumed the highest responsibility of citizenship, and your country is grateful. Never forget that you serve in the finest military in the greatest nation on Earth, a military and a nation dedicated not to oppression, but to freedom.

Today we celebrate and salute the men and women who have served so gallantly over the decades to keep us free. We offer them our love, our thanks and our promise that we will never forget their valor or their sacrifice.

We offer the same to you, as you voluntarily put your lives at risk so that we may all live in freedom.

God bless you and God bless America.

Donald H. Rumsfeld

Bloggy Happenings

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Via Barb this morning I learned of two neat bloggy happenings.

New to me (but I’ll be going back to visit!) Molly-Coddled is giving away a Taste Of Homes cookbook and a one-year subscription to any Reiman Publications magazine listed here. How cool is that?! I love Taste of Homes and its spinoffs — they are always tasty recipes and usually fairly easy to make because they are tried and true recipes from real cooks in their homes. Details about the contest are here. The deadline is 9 p.m. Friday night, so time is short.

Then another new-to-me blogger, Kathleen Marie at The Open Window, is holding a Christmas Ornament Exchange. The name-drawing will be November 16. Details are here. This looks like fun — I’ll have to think about what I could do for it.

Gibee at Kisses of Sunshine is hosting a Homemade With Love Holiday Gift Idea Exchange — think of a gift that you could make for the holidays, make up a sample, post a picture and instructions, then link to Gibee’s on November 12. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of great ideas!

I’m off to clean — company’s coming tomorrow!

Our Fourth

Posted on July 5, 2007 by Barbara Harper

We enjoyed a pretty restful day at home — restful except that I hadn’t made it to the store on Tuesday and had to go Wednesday morning. It was pretty busy (so at least I wasn’t the only one!) but the cashier said it had been really busy the day before. Then I spent the afternoon baking cookies.

Our church had a short service and a fellowship dinner. The church supplied fried chicken, beverages, and paper products and we were supposed to bring cookies, cakes, or pies for a contest plus a side dish. Last year we were to bring something red, white, and blue for dessert, so I borrowed and idea I had seen in Family Fun Magazine (but I can’t find it on their site now!) and dipped some strawberries in melted white chocolate and then again in blue sugar (leaving red showing at the top, then a line of white, with the blue at the bottom so you can see all three colors). So I was trying to think of another red, white, and blue dessert when this was announced and I had to switch gears mentally. I ended up making the cookies I usually make for most church or school functions, a chocolate chip recipe with vanilla pudding mixed in. And I won the adult cookie division! There were only 3 or 4 ladies who made cookies, so it wasn’t a terribly big deal. But it still felt nice. 🙂 My prize was a cookie sheet and a really cute kitchen towel with chocolate chip cookies on it.

Unfortunately the cookie sheet won’t fit into my small oven, so I might give it to the church kitchen or see if someone else can use it.

By the way, here’s a free tip and it’s not even works-for-me-Wednesday. 😀 When we first moved into this house, my tried-and-true favorite cookies were not turning out right, burning and sticking to the pan. I had never had that problem that I can remember. In trying to research and find out what was wrong,. I read that your cookie sheets have to have a proportionate amount of space around them in the oven for the hot air to circulate and for them to bake evenly. I got smaller cookie sheets, and, voila, everything turned out fine. I can only get a dozen cookies on the size sheets that fit, so it takes ages to make a triple batch for a church function with some left over for home.

The fellowship was fun, the food was great, and we got to visit with some good friends.

Often we go to a nearby colonial battlefield where they have a yearly fireworks display, but this time I was tired and overfull and just didn’t feel like dealing with the distance and traffic. Jeremy really had his heart set on seeing some fireworks, though, so he and Jesse and Jim drove around to see if they could find anyone shooting some off. They finally did see some pretty nice ones. Unfortunately we can’t have them in the city limits. We used to like to get some little ones (the interesting kind, not the kind that just makes noise. One of our favorites was a little tank that spewed fireworks out the back while it rolled).

I flipped back and forth between some of the special holiday programs on TV. Some times in the past they’ve been pretty good, but there wasn’t much interesting this year.

Then I curled up with the book I’m reading and enjoyed a few pages before I fell sleep. 🙂 I’m reading The Restorer by Sharon Hinck — great stuff!!

Here’s that recipe:

Pudding Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 pkg (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine butter, sugars, pudding mix, and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Mix flour with baking soda. and gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chips. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes (mine usually take 10-12 minutes). I used to add chocolate chunks or miniature Hershey’s kisses just for something different, but I haven’t been able to find those lately.