ByGrace

Friday Night Sew-In Results

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

I feel like I got a lot accomplished during this month's Friday Night Sew-In! I'm working on a small quilt that can either be a lap quilt or a wall hanging. When I started the evening, there was this much done:

When I finished, the five flower blocks were done!

I'm working mostly from fabrics I already had. I did buy the green fabric for the center of the flower, because all I had in a green that matched was a solid, and I wanted a tone-on-tone print. I get excited when all my colors look good together!

It snowed all evening while I was sewing. Wes had a meeting to go to, so I was home alone with my music and the snowfall. Aside from having to frog a few seams and completely re-cut and re-construct one portion of a block, I had a peaceful, enjoyable evening. Thanks, Heidi and Bobbi, for hosting!

A New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:52:00 +0000

I'd like to introduce you to a brand new blogger: my sister, Robyn! She has finally jumped into the world of blogging, and I think she's doing a great job. She and her husband, along with their seven children, are missionaries working in North Carolina reaching the Hispanic population.

Drop by and meet Robyn at Mrs. Pacutie!

Friday Night Sew-In!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:44:00 +0000

Tomorrow night, the 20th, is the January Friday Night Sew-In, and I'm planning to start the new year right by participating! I kept forgetting to mention it, and I know a couple of you have mentioned that you like to join in, so I hope you'll still be able to on such short notice. I'll be working on a small quilt that I started this week. I'm hoping to get the top mostly finished, if not completely done. Let me know if you'll be sewing with me!

Getting Back to Normal

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:04:00 +0000

Sigh. Beth went home January 6th. The boys arrived on the 9th, then left yesterday. That was a whirlwind of a week, let me tell you! We did our normal life on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - ladies' fellowship, bus calling, church - but then on Thursday we began a marathon round of The Settlers of Catan. If you've never heard of it, it's a board game of strategy similar to Risk, but settling an island rather than conquering the world. I stink at strategy. But I loved this game - and my boys - so I played it with them and Wes. When one of them would ask why I made a certain move, I usually didn't know. I just moved 'cause it was my turn to move. So, anyway, out of 10 games of Settlers, I won two, one of which was the first game we played, when Sam and Andrew were helping me each step of the way. I don't know how I won the other game. Andrew won most of the other games; Samuel didn't win any and Wes won two, I think.

All that to say: now life is getting back to normal, whatever that is. It's amazing how quickly Wes and I adjusted to our empty nest, which has become our norm.

One new thing in my life is teaching a preschool class on Wednesday nights. I've mentioned before that we run our buses on Wednesday nights. The teachers for that preschool class were two college-age young ladies when we started the new bus program. One of them went back to college last semester, leaving the other one alone in the class. With 15 little guys and gals. So my husband asked me to help her. Then he thought, to give her a break, I could teach for the first quarter of 2012. At first I didn't want to. Believe it or not, this is a tough little group of kiddos! Many of them come from homes where they aren't required to obey and they are allowed to speak and do just as they please. Nevertheless, I agreed to teach the class. I began on January 4th . . . and it's been fun! I'm a pretty strong leader when leadership is thrust upon me, and they seem to rally around leadership, be it an adult's or their own. There are still two or three little troublemakers, but overall, they are turning out to be a good group of children . . . and I enjoy being back to teaching.

I've been working off and on to get things back to normal on the blog. I like to write ahead and schedule my entries to post automatically, but there hasn't been time for that for about a month. I hope to get my writing back on track this week. I also have several sewing/quilting projects I want to do this year, the first of which I began yesterday afternoon, and I want to share them with you as I go. And I have a book list I'm working on, for the first time ever; I plan to make my reading list a tab at the top of the page. I just can't decide if I want to add to the list throughout the year as I finish books, or go ahead and make the list for the entire year, at least as it stands right now.

So those are a few new things for this new year. I feel like I didn't really start my new year until yesterday, since our Christmas was extended into January with the kids' visits. I'm ready for my new year and excited about all the things coming up!

Have a great day, and I'll see you soon!

Monday Ministry Highlights: Vision Night

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:01:00 +0000

This entry was posted at KJV Blog Directory today. Beth is safely back at school, and our boys are coming home today for a week. I hope to get back to regular posting again next week!

On Sunday night, January 1st, we had Vision Night at People's Baptist Church. Our pastor (who also happens to be my husband!) presented his vision for our church this year. I knew of a couple of things he had planned, due to proof-reading the calendar, but I didn't know about everything. By the end of the evening, I was pretty excited about this year too!

We have two special meetings planned: a Family Conference in February and the 20th anniversary of our church in September. We also have Vacation Bible School and Family Camp this summer, as well as our teens planning to attend the youth conference at North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, in June. Our ladies are going to a ladies' retreat in Vancouver in April, as well as having our annual Mother/Daughter Tea and Christmas Fellowship. We have some activities planned for our homeschool families and senior saints (whom my husband dubbed Just Older Youth - JOY). We'll continue to have quarterly SNAC activities, and add PBCKidz, children in grades 1-6. We'll have them into our home and play some games and such; just simple things to keep the teens and children close to their pastor.

We saw 15 souls saved last year, many of those being children in our bus ministry. By the way, we moved our bus ministry to Wednesday nights in 2011. We began the year running about 20 on the bus, and now we have an average of 50 each week.

Our theme for the year is Walking By Faith. We're looking forward to our faith growing, but that also means we may have some trials of our faith. In those trials, though, we know the Lord will be in the midst of them and will use them for our growth. Whatever the year brings, my husband is leading us to commit ourselves to the Lord and trust His heart for us.

Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:35:00 +0000

Photo by stockerre

For the past two years, life has rushed past in a blur. Changes came to us fast and furious, and we found ourselves in a new ministry at the end of 2010. We quickly made plans for 2011, and we hit the ground running at the beginning of the year. I felt like I was always trying to catch up with the year, and by the end of the year, I was worn out.

As I was thinking about beginning a new year, I knew that I wanted to slow down and live life on purpose. We can't slow things down so much - the work of the ministry and family life goes on - but I can make plans and be more prepared for things so that I don't feel so rushed.

So the beginning of my goals for this year - my word for 2012 - is purpose. I want to live each day with purpose.

Do you have a word to characterize this year? Do you make goals or resolutions for the new year?

Taking It Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:35:00 +0000

Hi! I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! Ours was very simple - just one small gift each - but it was a good day. We enjoyed church in the afternoon, then dinner with friends later. I got to Skype for a few minutes with my mom and sister and everyone who was there. Beth and I went shopping yesterday, and today I picked up with my Curves routine again. I'm enjoying Curves very much. It's been just perfect for me so far.

I'm taking it easy on the blogging this week. Our annual Pastor's Open House is Thursday night, and Beth and I are working on that. When we're not napping or shopping, that is! ;) It's nice to be relaxing a little bit!

I'm also thinking over the New Year and setting some goals for myself. The word that keeps coming to mind for 2012 is intention. I want to live on purpose and with a purpose. Life is moving ever faster, and I want to live every moment of every day!

We're looking forward to an exciting year. We hope to obtain our permanent residence in 2012, which will be a giant step toward making Canada our permanent home. The new year will be Wes's second year as pastor of People's Baptist Church; we feel like we've got our feet firmly on the ground here and can move forward with confidence. We're looking forward to exciting things for our children next year, and I seem to have finally found my groove with diabetes . . . for now, anyway.

I have more to say about the past few years and my hopes for this new year, but I will save that for another time. I'm finding these middle years of life to be full of adjustments that I never expected, and some of them have been hard to deal with. I don't like to make my blog a platform for my personal trials, so I haven't shared them (and probably won't share much), but the past years are very much a part of my heart for the coming year.

What are you doing this in-between week? Are you making plans or goals for the New Year?

Monday Ministry Highlights: December

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:49:00 +0000

I posted this entry at KJV Blog Directory today, and since it covers lots of stuff that went on here for the month, I thought I'd share it here.

Happy Boxing Day from Canada! Boxing Day here is much like Black Friday in the States; lots of sales, incredible traffic, and crowds of people. Here in Kelowna, we have the only shopping mall within several hours' drive, so we get all the people from the neighboring towns as well as all the people who actually live here! My daughter, Beth, is home from college for Christmas, so she and I braved the crowds at the mall. Parking was nearly impossible, and we had to walk a long way to get into the mall. There were some fairly decent prices, but we only bought what we had specifically gone shopping for.

The month of December was very busy at our church, as I'm sure it was for most other churches. We had our Teens' and Children's parties on Saturday, the 10th. The teens met at the church for games and refreshments and to exchange gifts. My husband and I went up there about 1:00 and it sounded like there was much fun and frivolity going on! The children met at a church member's house and had refreshments as well. They made some fun crafts, which is always a hit with our children.

My husband greeting people before church

At 2:00, everyone met at the church to go Christmas caroling at the local nursing home, where we have a monthly service. We all gathered in the day room, where there's a piano, and sang for probably 30 minutes for the residents. They all seemed to enjoy it, and it was worth the time we took to see the smiles on their faces!

Some of our teens

The highlight of the year for our ladies is our Ladies' Fellowship Christmas Party. We met in a home where all the decorations are country/primitive. The fun of meeting at someone's home is the sense of comfort and coziness in the meeting. We played several Christmas games, and even tried out a new-to-us game of Catch Phrase. I gave a short devotion before we opened gifts and had refreshments.

Fellowship before church

On the 16th we had our adult Christmas party; then on the 18th, we presented our small Christmas program at the church. We just did a simple program of music, both vocal and instrumental. Several families participated, and my husband presented a very clear message of the Gospel.

The platform set up for the Christmas performance

Finally, on Christmas Day we had just one service, in the afternoon. We rent our building from another church, so we had to fit our schedule to theirs. The one afternoon service turned out well. We had a full house, with several visitors coming with our church family as part of their family Christmas celebration. Again, my husband clearly presented the Gospel. Various members had dinners in their homes, and we were invited to go to one of those. Praise the Lord for church family to celebrate with when our own family is far away!

An impromptu whistle choir learning that they are an impromptu whistle choir

Our sweet church family gave us a large basket of sweets and gifts as a token of their love for us. How fun it was to open that big basket and read the card with greetings from all our church family! They're a joy to serve with, and we praise the Lord for the opportunity to work with these people!

I hope your Christmas season was a joyful one, and I wish you a blessed New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:31:00 +0000

About six weeks ago, I asked you to pray for my cousin, DeWayne Poss. He had just been through a year of chemo and radiation for colon cancer, only to find it had returned quickly. It was very aggressive, and there was nothing more the doctors could do for him.

DeWayne spent the past few weeks at home with his family. He had some good days when he could be up and around, eat, go for a ride, and watch football games, but over the past two weeks had gradually become bedridden and very weak. Updates from his sister indicated he was nearing the end of his life. He seemed to be hanging on for some reason.

Yesterday was Christmas. One of DeWayne's last wishes was to live through Christmas this year. He made it through the day, and sometime overnight, DeWayne passed over to Heaven.

I never once saw a discouraged word from DeWayne. To the very end, every update from his sister indicated that he was still in good spirits, asking only that God be glorified by whatever happened. The comments from friends and family who knew him well show that DeWayne was a servant of the Lord and his family most of all, and that he was a kind and caring friend to everyone. I've seen many words of sadness that he is gone, but most of all I've seen people rejoicing that we will meet again in Heaven. From every indication, DeWayne finished his race well. And that's truly what matters when we come to the end of our lives, isn't it? That we finish well the course that God has laid before us.

Please continue to pray for his family this week. They are so tired. The days ahead will be hard, as you know if you've ever lost a close family member to death. Thank you so much for praying!

On Christmas Day . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Wishing you and your family

Peace

Joy

and

Blessings

on this

Christmas Day!

The Hutchens Family

Wes, Susan, Sam, Andrew, & Beth

Worth the Read

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Photo by Raven

Here are some links to articles around the web that I felt were worth the read the past few weeks. I hope you enjoy these links. I wasn't sure how much people liked them until I was talking to my sister-in-law a couple of weeks ago and she said this was her favorite feature now!

My Top 13 "Meal Ministry" Meals - suggestions for meals that transport well to take to those who are sick, have a new baby, or some other need

Why Does the World Hate the Duggars? - an excellent article expressing reasons why the world reacts so violently to the lifestyle of the Duggar family, mainly their decision to have as many children as the Lord will allow them

No Condemnation - good thoughts from my friend, Barbara, about some of the misconceptions about the verse in Romans 8 that teaches there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus

More Than My Two Front Teeth - asking God for something big this year

The Messy Girl and Her Messiah - I needed this entry about the birth of Jesus from the gospel of Mark

Gingerbread Teddy Bears - another post from Barbara that I just loved! I want to make these for our church children for our Open House next week.

Handmade Sea Salt Caramels - Beth loves these caramels from the local candy company, so I thought I might try this recipe

Handmade Holiday Decor eBook - free eBook to download

Please join me on Saturdays for more links Worth the Read!

Vintage ByGrace: The Best Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Photo by stormwarning

My vintage post this week comes from my December Daily entries I wrote in 2008 and 2009. This one tells of a sermon I heard about the gifts we bring to Jesus to celebrate His birthday, and it's one that I think of often throughout the year. I hope you'll click over to the full post and read it again . . .

Several years ago, I heard a sermon about how God prepared for Christmas. Beginning with Mary and Joseph, the preacher told how Jesus’ people, birthplace, language, and culture were prepared. He brought out some interesting historical things that I'd never considered before, but his final point is what hit home to my heart: God gave us His best; am I giving Him my best?

Read the rest of The Best Gifts . . .

Please join me each Friday for Vintage Bygrace!

Christmas Performances

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

As I was writing yesterday's post about Christmas music available online, I remembered that there were two performances from the church where our children are attending college. Instead of tacking them on to the end of that post, I decided to give them their own entry.

This first video is Lancaster Baptist Church's Christmas Musical, A Baby Changes Everything. Our daughter, Beth, is in the choir, and our older son, Samuel, is the shepherd Seth. If you can't see the video for some reason, here's a link to watch it directly from YouTube: A Baby Changes Everything

The second one is the West Coast Baptist College Choir's Festival of Music. Beth is in this choir also. Here is the link if you can't watch the video here: WCBC Festival of Music 2011.

Both of these videos are well over an hour long. I realize you probably don't have that long to just sit and watch a video, but if you do get the chance, I believe you'll be blessed by them. Lancaster Baptist and WCBC always produce excellent programs. Enjoy!

Christmas Listening

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:24:00 +0000

Photo by John-Morgan

I thought I'd take a minute to share with you the Christmas music we're listening to this year. In years past, it's been hard to find good, conservative Christmas music that honors the Lord unless it's on our own CDs. This year has been musically wonderful, with several good radio stations that we can listen to either on the computer, on Wes's iPhone, or my iPod in its docking station, which I love so much because it's like having a stereo!

The Number One internet radio station for Christmas music for me is Abiding Radio Christmas. I haven't been as pleased with it this year as I was last year, but only because they've added vocal selections to their programming. I prefer just the instrumental music! But it's all good, and I listen to this station quite a bit.

Wes likes to listen to the radio station of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, KNVBC. They are playing strictly Christmas music, pre-empting all their regular broadcasting, through Christmas Day. This station has become our default station this week, as they are playing not only gospel and Christian Christmas music, but also some traditional secular favorites that are still conservative. No Santa Baby here!

A few very conservative Christian stations we've found this year, besides KNVBC:

The Lighthouse - a ministry of Souls Harbor Baptist Church, Milwaukee, WI. I've enjoyed this station all year. Could it be because they play music from several Christian colleges, including West Coast Baptist College, and one of that college's CDs (Look to God) has one of my sons singing on it?

Gospel 90.3 - a ministry of Landmark Baptist Church, Haines City, FL. Wes and I both enjoy this station for its classic, conservative gospel music. You'll hear more southern gospel and bluegrass here.

Heaven 88.7 - a ministry of Fargo Baptist Church, Fargo, ND. I haven't listened to this station very much, having just discovered it a few weeks ago, but I've looked at the church website and found it to be a fundamental Baptist church. The music I have listened to has been conservative and Christ-honoring.

Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) - This radio station (plus much more!) is not a local-church ministry, but it is soundly fundamental. They play very conservative music, along with broadcasts of various ministries. They're featuring 31 Days of Christmas Music this month.

I'll be back tomorrow with links and video from Lancaster Baptist Church, where our children are attending college, of some their Christmas productions.

The Week in Words

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read.

From Smockity Frocks' Facebook status . . .

"Rubs me the wrong way: "That child is ___ because he is homeschooled." FYI: There are shy/obnoxious/rude/nervous/silly/awkward children the world around who are schooled in a variety of ways. Homeschooling doesn't make children (fill in personality trait)."

So true! So many people see faults with homeschooling where there are none. It would be good to remember that there are problems, quirks, and problems among all groups of people, not just homeschoolers. This is true of every group of people.

From friends' Facebook pages . . .

"Knowing how it feels when those we love and care about let us down should make us think twice before doing things ourselves. Will this ruin my good name/testimony? How many others will be hurt/disappointed? Will my lost friends still see "Jesus in me"?

This spoke volumes to me about considering the consequences of our actions before we do them.

"Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian." ~ D.L. Moody

Another sobering reminder that our actions are important!

This one, also from a friend, made me chuckle . . .

“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart.” ― Erma Bombeck

Vintage ByGrace: A Mother's Function

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Photo by stormwarning

I've had this little poem for a long time, since my own children were little. It speaks so clearly to the importance of a mother's role in her children's lives, so I wanted to revisit the original posting of the poem on my blog from November 7, 2005 . . .

To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area,
deciding celebrations, labors, banquets, and holidays;
To be Sears within a certain area, providing toys, boots, cakes, and books;

Read the entire post, A Mother's Function . . .

Join me on Fridays for more Vintage ByGrace!

Wednesday in the Word: Three Wise Women

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:39:00 +0000

tommaync

Sorry this is late today. I have been really trying to write my blog posts ahead of time so that (1) I have new content for you most days of the week, and (2) I am not slapping something on the page at the last minute. I did good for a couple of weeks, but this week I've fallen by the wayside. Life has just been too busy.

We had our Ladies' Fellowship Christmas party Monday night. This is the highlight of the year for the ladies, as we all bring snack foods and gifts and play games. We laughed a LOT Monday night! For the devotion, I taught a much-abbreviated lesson about the three wise women who surrounded Jesus' birth. We're always hearing about the three wise men, but not so much about the women!

These three wise women, of course, were Elisabeth, Mary, and Anna.

Each of these ladies was very different from the others. Elisabeth was a wife of many years, in "the ministry" as the wife of a priest and of the priestly line herself, and right at middle age or so. We know that she was past her child-bearing years, at least. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was still a single young woman, most likely a teenager, and of the special tribe of Judah through which the Messiah would come. Anna, on the other hand, was very old. We figured up Monday night that she was probably at least 105 years old, but she'd been a widow for 84 years, having only been married for seven years. She was of the tribe of Asher, one of the "forgotten tribes," and so maybe was not considered as being from a very important family.

Each of these ladies had a prominent characteristic.

Elisabeth was a supporter. We see that she supported her husband when everyone was questioning him (Luke 1:59-63). She also supported Mary, when Mary came to her as an unwed, pregnant teenager. I would imagine that most everyone else in Mary's life was anything but supportive, but Elisabeth, being a Spirit-filled woman, realized that the baby Mary was carrying was the long-awaited Messiah, and became the first woman to praise the Lord Jesus! (Luke 1:41, 42)

Mary is known as a surrendered woman. One of my favorite verses in the Bible was spoken by Mary: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word." Luke 1:38 Just to read a bit between the lines, I think Mary may have wondered how she was going to explain this pregnancy to her parents and friends, and especially to Joseph. She probably realized life was not going to be easy for her during the pregnancy; she would lose friends, lose their respect, and maybe lose her fiance and his love. But even as she knew these things would happen, she surrendered herself to God's plan. And even though she didn't understand how things would happen, she surrendered herself in faith, believing God's Word.

Lastly, Anna was a separated woman. She wasn't just outwardly separate, although she was definitely outwardly separated to the Lord, as she was always at the temple (perhaps lived there) and fasted and prayed night and day (Luke 2:37). She had to have also been separated to the Lord - dedicated to Him from the heart - because she was familiar enough with the scriptural prophecies to realize that the baby Jesus was the Messiah she had been waiting for. She had a good relationship with God and knew His Word.

These three women, so different from each other, also had some things in common.

Each woman recognized Jesus for who He was: the Messiah and Savior.

Each woman readily submitted to God as their Lord.

Each woman realized the power of the Holy Spirit in a real way in their own lives.

Each woman received their personal promises from God.

I want to be a wise woman and learn from each of these women's lives. I want to be a supporter of those around me, surrendered to the Lord's will even when I don't understand it, and separated to the Lord not just outwardly, but out of a true heart of love for Him. Let's dedicate ourselves to Him!

He's 23

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Sam is 23 years old today.

Preaching in school last semester

As you know, our older son, Sam, graduated from West Coast Baptist College in May. This year he's earning his Master's Degree in Theology. He's still involved in much of the music around the campus, as well as the drama department and missionary prayer band. His latest endeavor has been playing some percussion (I guess that's what you'd call it) in the orchestra. He has played the cymbals and jingle bells and several other noise-making stick-type things that add some fun to the music. As most of the orchestra events are live-streamed, we get to see him in his tuxedo, banging, crashing, and jingling away. He gets teased a lot - especially the time he crashed the cymbals when it wasn't time - but he takes this role just as seriously as he does everything else in life. I've never seen a ~~boy~~ young man do everything he does so heartily! He's been like that since he was a little boy. Everything. Is. Serious. It serves him well, as he does well in almost anything he tries.

Sam is on the far right, but I'm not sure what he's playing

Sam is scheduled to begin working for the college next summer as a summer tour leader. He will be responsible for a tour group representing the college as they travel in a particular region of North America, and he'll do that each summer for the next 3-5 years or so. During the school year, he'll be teaching some speech classes and working in the music and drama departments. Sam had planned to do an internship at a church for several years before going to the mission field, but none of us had expected it to be at Lancaster Baptist Church, where he has attended college. After this period of internship, Sam will raise support to go to The Philippines as a missionary. I'm so pleased that he's given his life to the Lord, but I agree with several friends whose children are beginning to grow up and go into various ministries around the world: I would never stop him from going, but how am I going to let him go? If any of you wiser mothers have figured this out, please let me know!

Summer 2010 Tour Group

Most of our friends and family ask one question in relation to Sam, and that is, "Does he have a girlfriend?" The answer to that is, "Yes!" Her name is Juliana, and I've mentioned her several times on the blog. They've been dating for almost three years now. Both Sam and Juliana are surrendered to the Lord's will for their lives, and they're submitting themselves and their relationship to Him and their parents. Juliana seems to be a perfect match for our boy, and we're anxiously awaiting what the Lord will do in their lives!

Sam and Juliana on Thanksgiving

Twenty-three years ago today, I looked into the face of our first baby and tried to imagine what the years might hold for him. The Lord has done so much more than we could have asked or thought that day! He is our treasure, as are all our children, given back to the Lord the day he was born. Our constant prayer is that he will give himself continually to God and that we will see him faithful throughout his life to serve our God. Nothing - and I literally mean nothing - could bring us more joy than to know our son walks in Truth.

Preaching last semester

Happy Birthday, Samuel!!!!

Your dad and I love you beyond words!

We have no idea. Just Sam being Sam.

The Week in Words

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

From Michele at A Quiet Gracious Life . . .

"Four things you can never recover:

The stone after the throw.

The word after it's said.

The occasion after it's missed.

The time after it's gone."

~ Unknown

How true those words are! I've said many a word in haste that I wish I could take back. It took me many years to learn to hold my tongue, and I'm still working on it, in case you're wondering when I arrived! I've missed occasions to witness, to say "I love you," to help a friend in need; I can never get those occasions back. And time . . . how I've wasted time! This little poem just spoke so clearly to me! Thanks for using it, Michele!

From Pastor Paul Chappell on Ministry127, in the article Before You Click Send . . .

A simple acrostic that has helped me check my conversation reminds me to THINK:
T—Is it true?
H—Is it helpful?
I—Is it inspiring?
N—Is it necessary?
K—Is it kind?

I've tried to keep my online communications under these guidelines. A couple of months ago I clicked send on a comment on a friend's blog without thinking through my comment, and I had to go back and delete the comment and apologize. What I'd said wasn't kind or helpful or necessary, but by the time I got back to correct it, she had already seen the comment. We have to be so careful when we can click that send button so quickly! It's just as important to think before sending as it is to think before speaking . . . and it should be easier!

Book Review: Pioneer Woman Cooks

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Written by blogger, ranch wife, and mom of four Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman Cooks is full of home-style man-pleasing recipes that Ree actually cooks for her family and the cowboys on the family's working ranch in rural Oklahoma. I had seen - and made - several of her recipes before the cookbook came out, so I knew the recipes would be down-home fare that my own man would love.

Ree delivered . . . and so much more than recipes.

The first few pages give an overview of Ree's family, Marlboro Man and the kids, as well as the details of her favorite kitchen tools and ingredients, butter taking a starring role, of course.

This cookbook is a photo journal of life on a working cattle ranch. Each picture was taken by Ree herself and chronicles their family life, right down to working calves in the mud and riding the range at dawn; their pets, which include basset-hound-who-thinks-he's-a-ranch-dog Charlie and his faithful sidekick Suzie; a wild-mustang beauty contest; and the behind-the-scenes ranch action that most of us never see, like fighting wildfires, feeding cattle in the frozen winter, and the difference between chaps and chinks.

The heart of the book, of course, is the recipes, such as Meatloaf, French Breakfast Puffs, Cinnamon Rolls (my introduction to PW), Onion Strings, Pinto Beans and Cornbread, and Ranch Dressing - all of which I've made and all of which my husband wolfed down with satisfaction. Except the Onion Strings. That was my love (I actually had no idea she still had these recipes on her site till I saw a link to one on another blog; then I checked to see if there were more, and I was amazed she has them there free for the taking, when she has a cookbook that she could sell you). I have a long list of dishes yet to make, like Chicken Fried Steak, Flat Apple Pie, Rosemary Scalloped Potatoes, Comfort Meatballs, and Potato Skins (I'll forgo linking to these; I feel bad doing that when they're in the cookbook!). Each recipe features step-by-step instructions accompanied by pictures narrated in Ree's unmistakable style of a friend come to visit in your kitchen. It's next to impossible to go wrong with Ree's clear instructions and pictures, and nearly impossible not to laugh as you read the stories behind some of the recipes.

There are two things that keep me from wholeheartedly recommending this book. One is that there is one recipe for an alcoholic drink and several mentions of wine in the book. The other is Ree's sometimes earthy humor, glibly referencing body parts and functions and such like. If you take offense to either, you might not want this cookbook. Personally, I think the recipes, the stories, and the pictures far outweigh these two issues, as they're only minor mentions in the book's 240+ pages.

Healthy Living

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Cynthia Blue

It's been a crazy, health-conscious week or two around here. With my shoulder still recovering from tendinitis, I'm having to do specific arm/shoulder exercises every day to increase my shoulder's range of motion. Wes and I are trying to become healthier in general, so he and I have a goal to walk every weekday morning right after breakfast. That happens sometimes, but more often than not, we each go to our corners of the apartment after breakfast to do our own thing. A friend gave me a free 30-day trial at Curves, so I started that three days a week, and I really like it. It's a nice workout without wearing me out. And there are lots of ladies my age or older there who seem to be friendly, and they love my accent and seem to be fascinated with South Carolina, my home state! LOL

And then there's that diabetes thing.

Every three months I have a test affectionately called the A1c (not really affectionately; the full name is long and not easy to understand). What this test does is give the doctor a kind of overview of how well the blood sugar has been managed for that three month period. The result is expressed as a percentage, and good blood sugar control, which helps prevent diabetic complications, is measured as less than 7%.

My A1c tests over the past nine months have been going higher, from 7.5 to 7.8. I know that doesn't sound like a huge amount over the basic guideline, nor does it sound like a huge jump over the course of the year. But it does show a trend: my sugars are going higher rather than staying the same or going lower. So my doctor decided to do something about it.

He first suggested the addition of yet another drug, a new one in a new category of diabetes drugs. This one make me skittish because new classes of drugs, while they may do a bang-up job of whatever it is they're supposed to be doing, tend to have some unforeseen, often nasty, side effects. And I don't like to find out later that now I'm at risk of a sudden heart attack or liver failure because of that unforeseen side effect. The other option was insulin, which usually strikes fear and dread into people's hearts and makes them think I must surely be near death if I have to take insulin. That's not true; insulin is just another drug, not a death sentence.

Before starting a new drug of any kind, though, the doctor sent me to a nurse practitioner, who apparently has more time and knowledge about diabetes than he does. I saw her yesterday, and she was very encouraging and helpful. She will not begin a new medication until I have some more diabetes education, a chat or two with the nutritionist, and implement daily - yes, daily - exercise. And checking my blood sugar three times a day. Every day. She was very insistent about that! She said that exercise is THE most important aspect of my diabetes treatment, as exercise makes the cells more receptive to the insulin my body is making, either on its own or through medication. She gave me some literature handouts on diet and cholesterol (my triglycerides are high), which are simpler than any I've ever seen, and I'll be having appointments with the diabetes team nearby to help me make sensible changes to my life to try and manage this disease before it manages me.

I've been at this point several times in the last few years: things aren't going well and changes have to be made. Up till now I've been able to adjust medications and keep on going at my current eating and (non) exercise level. I've reached the point now, though, that I am going to have to make some lifestyle adjustments to (hopefully) avoid having to add yet another medication to my routine. I'd seriously appreciate your prayers as I try to figure it all out with the help of my health care providers. I want to stick around a few more years and enjoy my family! And keep pestering you readers with my little day-to-day things that really don't amount to much in the overall scheme of things. Thank you for reading and for being more than just readers - for being friends!

Wednesday in the Word: Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

A couple of years ago my now 18-year-old daughter had her first opportunity to make dinner for her dad. She's done lots of baking and some cooking, but this was the first time for her to cook an entire meal without me around to answer her questions and reassure her that she was doing fine. After a quick phone call to ask exactly how to coat the chicken, she was on her own, and her dad said she made a fantastic meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas. And it all got done at the right time, too, which is more than I can say for many of my meals as a young woman!

A few days later, Beth said to me, "You know how you've always said that when the chicken's done, the juices will run clear? Well, I kept cutting into that chicken, and it would look kinda cloudy, but then I cut into one piece . . . and the juice was clear!" I laughed right out loud! Had she doubted all this time that I knew what I was talking about? That maybe only the chicken that I cooked would miraculously have clear juices, but no one else's ever did? My response to my daughter was, "All you had to do was experience it yourself to find out that I knew what I was talking about!"

Photo by How I See Life

This teaching moment reminded me of how often we doubt that God really knows what He's talking about.

"Give and it shall be given unto you . . ." Luke 6:38

"Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7

"Believe . . . and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24 (I discussed this and similar verses and some people's "genie mentality" last week)

"The just shall live by faith . . ." Hebrews 10:38

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse . . . and prove me . . . if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing . . ." Malachi 3:10

No. It's just too simple, and besides, God wouldn't really do that for me . . .

And then we are surprised when we give unselfishly and we receive more than we gave away. We pray about something and God answers. We give 10% and God blesses us in some way, financially or otherwise.

We're absolutely amazed that God actually means what He says!

All we have to do is experience it for ourselves to know that God's Word is true, that He does care and that He does keep His promises.

Have you experienced God's fulfilled promises?

He has set the table for you; experience His goodness for yourself!

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."

Psalm 34:8

Recipe: Chicken Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Recently, Wes and I had Chicken Pie for supper. I don't have an exact recipe for it, but I'll tell you how I make it. My family loves this dish, along with its cousin, Beef Potpie, which I make when I have leftover roast beef. It's yummy comfort food on a cold wintry day, and it's always well-received by guests. I think it's because it's just old-fashioned comfort food.

The amounts I'm sharing will make a 9x13 pan, but the pictures show our smaller pan. When it's just the two of us, we don't quite need a 9x13! ;)

Disclaimer: I am not a food blogger. No way, shape, or form. So my pictures are just for information purposes and not so much artistic form. Just so you know!

First of all, cook some chicken. This can be parts, breast meat, a whole chicken, leftovers . . . whatever. I use probably 2 cups or so of meat.

Veggies. My husband doesn't like many vegetables, so I choose carefully what I put in my meat pies. He likes potatoes, corn, a little bit of peas (sometimes), and maybe a smattering of carrots (not very often). You can add whatever veggies you'd like. I think it would be good with some onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. For hard veggies like potatoes or carrots, I dice them into small pieces and boil them for about 5 minutes to soften them a bit before I put them into the pie. It won't be baking long enough to get the harder veggies tender.

The filling. I make a broth-based gravy as my filling. Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a large saucepan. I told you this is comfort food! Add 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and stir it till smooth, then let it cook for a couple of minutes. Whisk in 4 cups of chicken broth (either from the chicken you cooked, a can, or made from instant bouillon granules) and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Keep stirring to avoid lumps forming. Add in your chicken and any veggies, then pour into a 9x13" pan.

The topping. This is the yummy part! I usually make a biscuit-dough topping. Measure into a 1-cup measuring cup 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and finish filling the cup with flour. Add another cup of flour. Cut in about 1/4 cup of shortening (or lard if you live down south!) till the mixture looks like small peas. Add buttermilk to make a wet dough that you can't knead with your hands. Drop mounds of this wet, sticky dough on top of your hot filling. I use an ice cream scoop for this. Make sure your filling is hot or your biscuits will still be doughy in the middle when the outside is done.

Bake. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until your filling is bubbly and your biscuits are nicely browned.

I usually serve this dish with a salad, since there are meat, veggies, and bread already included.

A topping variation is to use a regular pie crust. My family likes it either way, but I've gotten raves from guests over the biscuit topping. It's really good!

Got a good recipe for chicken pie? Share it with us in the comments or by email!

The Week in Words

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Only one quote this week . . .

I've been reading How To Be a Writer by Barbara Baig recently. I'd never heard of her before beginning this book, but I love her philosophy! Here is what she says about "talent" in relation to writing (which I feel can be applied to any creative pursuit):

Talent is the assumptions we make about other people's abilities that keep us from developing our own . . . The question is not: "Do I have any talent?" The question is, "Am I willing to find out whether I really want to do this?" Barbara Baig, How To Be A Writer, p. 32

Those words spoke so deeply to me on several different levels. I play the piano, and I think I have a bit of natural talent, but what made me pursue and improve my playing was "really wanting to do this," more so than talent.

That gives me hope for writing! I've considered writing seriously for a while, but never thought I could really do it, because I don't feel that I have writing talent. But can it be possible that what I've considered talent in others is just assumptions about their abilities? Maybe they were just more willing to find out whether they really wanted to write rather than having some mysterious talent. That's something to consider in so many areas!

Worth the Read

noreply@blogger.com (Susan) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Photo by Raven

A Collection of Posts on New Year Planning - by Cary Schmidt. I always enjoy Bro. Schmidt's blog posts, and his New Year Planning entries have been among my favorites. Here they are, all in one post!

From Lazy to Self-Disciplined, Part 1 - The beginning of an excellent scripturally-based series for homemakers, written by Teri Maxwell, author of Managers of Their Homes. See for yourself why I love reading behind Mrs. Maxwell! Read the rest of the series: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

What Does Your Daily Agenda Say About You? - A convicting and motivating post about what your daily life says about you.

There Is a Big Difference Between Neat and Organized - Neat is nice, but the extra work to be organized pays off

Free Printable Christmas Tags:

We Love To Illustrate For Children - six sets of tags for children's gifts

Sweetly Scrapped - in black and white so you can color them yourself

Sweetly Scrapped Christmas in July - these are in color

Sweetly Scrapped - several different colors of the same style

Karla's Korner - beautiful tags from my favorite designer

Just For Fun:

The Five Best Toys of All Time - Have you played with any of these?