My wish for all of you ...

Dearest girls,

This Christmas, I wish for you ...

... a renewed appreciation for the gift of Him.

... happy times with friends and family.

... cozy days with a blanket, something hot to drink and a good book.

... many opportunities to bless others as you continually bless me.

Lots of love,

bev

see you after Christmas

One of those Weeks ...

Have you ever had one of those "off" weeks? I am having one this week. For example, today I attempted to make bread as I try to do once a week. I let the dough rise, and punched it down. Then I shaped it into loaves and let it rise again. It looked delicious and smelled even better. However, when I opened the oven to look at my masterpiece, it had risen to an almost gargantuan size. It was ruined.

One thing after another seemed to happen today, and I must admit that I was getting discouraged! Its been a tough week - you can read more about that at my other blog.

What should I have done? I should have stopped and prayed. I should have remembered Isaiah 40:31. I should have whispered Galatians 6:9 to myself.

What did I do? I am ashamed to say that I hid. I put Lena in her crib with a basket of books for quiet time, and I ran downstairs to wrap myself in my cozy blanket. It was only after I spent 10 minutes stewing about all the things that needed to be done, that I remembered...

To pray.
To ask forgiveness from the Lord.
To recall His promises.
To laugh at myself.
To fold up that blanket and start tackling the things I needed to do.

So my dear sister - friends, as you deal with schoolwork, other commitments, difficulties and trials, remember to reflect on His promises. He is faithful.

May We Praise Him

Wishing all of you a happy thanksgiving.

We will be busy the next few days. I must clean from top to bottom today. Tomorrow we head to relatives to celebrate with them, and friday we are having a friendly football game between the men of our church and another. Everyone is then coming to our house. Saturday I hope to take down all my fall decorations and put up winter ones.

What are you doing this weekend?

The Garden of Friendship - Gossip

I think that as women, one of our biggest sins is misuse of our mouths. Whether you are by nature talkative or quiet, you may deal with the temptation to gossip with your friends and aquaintances. So many times I recall a conversation I had and wonder, "was that gossip?"

Will you join me in reflecting on a few points that may help us with this tendency? I need this too!

1. Gossip may often be disguised as, "we need to pray for ..." Using the need for prayer as a reason to talk about someone else's personal business is not okay. I know I have done this, and I am heartily ashamed. There are times when it is legitimate to bring up a situation as a prayer request. Pray that God will give you wisdom in this matter.

2. Be a secret keeper. It is sooooo easy to "let it slip." When friends tell you something in confidence, carefully guard their information. I would like to add that it is okay to let a secret out is when someone tells you something that could seriously harm them. We shouldn't glibly promise to keep a secret when we know we can't. In that situation, it is proper to inform the person that if they do not share their information with someone they trust, you may have to. "A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter." Prov 11:13

3. Gossip is sinful. This sin is not to be taken lightly. Our speech is to be always with grace, seasoned with salt. (Col 4:6) Is what we are saying helpful and edifying? Does it lift another up or tear down?

4. Be humble. Don't be afraid to go back after having an unwise conversation and apologize to the friend you had it with. This is pleasing to God, and it may help your friends to think twice before giving in to gossip. "The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body." Prov 26:22

Any other thoughts on this subject? I could go on and on, but time doesn't permit. How do you avoid gossip?

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Sorry I have taken so long to post and to update myself on your lovely blogs. For some reason, our laptop has suddenly decided not to work on our network. Until we get that fixed, I can't be online as much because I'd be sitting in our office all day and not getting anything else accomplished!

I wanted to share a recipe with you.

I just made this, and believe me -- it is soooooo yummy! The best thing about this recipe is that you can eat some and still have plenty to share!

This yields 3 loaves ...

Here's what you need:

3 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup vegetable oil

I always make my breads without raisins and nuts, but it is still super yummy.

Here's what you do -- so easy!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7 x 3 inch loaf pans.
Mix oil, sugar, and eggs together in a large bowl. Mix in pumpkin puree and water. Stir together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add to the pumpkin mixture, and mix until just combined. Stir in nuts and raisins. Divide batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 1 hour. Cool on wire racks.

I got some foil pans at the store so I could give a couple of loaves away, and they took about 15 minutes longer to cook. Check the bread after an hour and make sure it's done.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

The Garden of Friendship - Helping Others

This is more of a thank you post then an exhortation! Some of you I know personally, and others I know from "blog-land." I have seen the servant's hearts that you have.

One of the ways that we can be good friends is to find little helpful things to do that will make our friend's lives easier.

This post is about my sister, but of course she is my friend as well.

Right now, hubby is very busy and has to be away overnight at times. This is a difficult season for our little family even though it is temporary. I don't like being home alone overnight, and our little daughter misses her Daddy and is sad when he isn't there to tuck her in. We know that he is doing this for the good of our whole family and that it is hard for him too. We only have eight weeks left - Yippee!! God has been faithful as always.

But I digress. My sister has been sweet enough to come over and stay with us when hubby is away. This makes life very happy and we look forward to our "girlie" weekends. I don't know how she puts up with Selena saying "hi dee-dee" over and over and over. And over.

see the smile on Lena's face?

So thank you so much Neesie, for helping us through this season of life. We are going to have so much fun pumpkin picking tomorrow.

Sixteenth Birthday Party

I wanted to share with you the idea of a Proverbs 31 birthday party. My parents had one for me when I turned sixteen, and the effects were far reaching.


Unbeknownst to me, each invited guest was to give me a gift based on one of the verses in Proverbs 31:10-31. Each gift was to be for my hopechest, and was to be saved for the future (for marriage if God so blessed me).

I still have the cards and gifts that were given to me ...

For example:
verse 15 "She also rises while it is yet night ..." I received a beautiful porcelain clock.
verse 16 "She considers a field and buys it..." I recieved a lovely couch throw with embroidered seed packets on it.
verse 18 "... her lamp does not go out by night." I received an elegant crystal lamp, and two pairs of candlesticks -- one brass and one crystal.
verse 21 "...for all her household is clothed with scarlet. She makes tapestry for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple." I received some absolutely lovely purple material and a sewing box.

These are just some of the things I received on that birthday. I also received a gorgeous apron, some cookbooks, vases, and even a set of dishes! It was such a surprise - I knew about the party but not the Proverbs 31/hopechest theme.

Everyone wrote out the verse that they were representing with their gift, and a note to me. These things are reflected all around my home today. People kept up with the theme for future gifts for me also.

When I got married, it was so exciting to take out each carefully wrapped item and show my husband the things I had saved for our future home. I also remember that when we had secured an apartment that we would live in, and my mom and I went to start cleaning and moving in, that I was able to decorate with table scarves, candles and doilies right away.

Do you have any memorable party ideas? If so, leave it in a comment or email me at joyousmommie@girlinside.com.