Thankfulness, Day 4

We're thankful for new friends...



After several months of praying and searching for an associate pastor, the Lord answered our prayers by bringing the Savage family to our church. We are so thankful to have them, and look forward to getting to know them better in the months to come!

Thankfulness, Day 3: EDIT

It was brought to my attention that the last picture on my Day 3 post hadn't shown up originally. Anyway, it's fixed now. Andrea, I had a picture of you at the end of that post, but it wasn't showing up because I messed up the formatting. I hope you know that I am thankful for you too, and I certainly include you with the rest of my sweet, silly sisters (whether you want to be or not, haha) ;)

Thankfulness, Day 3

I'm thankful for my sweet, silly sisters...



...all of them!

Thankfulness, Day 2

I'm thankful for good hymns, new and old, that point me to Christ and His cross.



One of my favorite hymns is, "My Heart is Filled With Thankfulness", by Keith & Kristyn Getty. I hope these lyrics bless you as much as they have blessed me.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to him who bore my pain
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace and gave me life again
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness and clothed me in his light
And wrote his law of righteousness with power upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to him who walks beside
Who floods my weaknesses and strengths and causes fear to fly
Whose every promise is enough for every step I take
Sustaining me with arms of love and crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to him who reigns above
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose every thought is love
For every day I have on earth is given by the King
So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow him.

A Month of Thankfulness

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
- Thessalonians 5:18



Two years ago, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, our pastor in Louisville preached a sermon entitled, "Thankfulness: the Soundtrack of the Christian Soul". For whatever reason, it was one of the sermons that had the most impact on my life while we were there. It helped me understand the place (and importance) of thankfulness in the Christian life - every moment of every day, no matter what.

I just listened to that sermon again today, and was re-inspired to live a more intentionally thankful life. So, this month I will be blogging about thankfulness. Mainly, I'll be sharing the things I am thankful for. I'm hoping to make it every day, but we'll see. I would love for you to join me, if you have a blog (or even if you don't!). If you want to participate, just leave me a comment & I'll post a link to your blog along with my post every day. If you don't have a blog and would like to participate, feel free to leave a comment on my posts. Or, find someone every day to share your thankfulness with.

If you decide to participate or not, please please please listen to this sermon. It's worth your time.

Don't Forget...

...to vote tomorrow!

Spurgeon on Autumn

“To the Christian it should be great joy, by means of the harvest, to receive an assurance of God's faithfulness. The Lord has promised that seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, shall never cease; and when you see the loaded wain carrying in the crop you may say to yourself, "God is true to his promise. Despite the dreary winter and the damp spring, autumn has come with its golden grain." Depend upon it, that as the Lord keeps this promise he will keep all the rest. All his promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus: if he keeps his covenant to the earth, much more will he keep his covenant with his own people, whom he hath loved with an everlasting love. Go, Christian, to the mercy-seat with the promise on your lip and plead it. Be assured it is not a dead letter. Let not unbelief cause you to stammer when you mention the promise before the throne, but say it boldly—"Fulfil this word unto thy servant on which thou hast caused me to hope."

Shame upon us that we so little believe our God. The world is full of proofs of his goodness. Every rising sun, every falling shower, every revolving season certifies his faithfulness. Wherefore do we doubt him? If we never doubt him till we have cause for it we shall never know distrust again. Encouraged by the return of harvest, let us resolve in the strength of the Spirit of God that we will not waver, but will believe in the divine word and rejoice in it.”

Pictures

I love having such beautiful subjects to photograph :)

We Have a Winner!

And the winner is...Mrs. C (Teresa), who chose the 14" Oval Dish in Black Onyx. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway. It was a lot fun, maybe we'll do another one in the future.

A (Le Creuset) Giveaway!

Yep, you read that right! We're having a giveaway. Just call me Pioneer Woman.

Here's the deal. The people at Cookware.com contacted us a few weeks ago about doing a giveaway. They want to give one of our sweet blog readers some Le Creuset cookware for free. Needless to say, we agreed. (as Scott likes to say, "if it's free, it's me!")

So, if you would like to participate, you could win one of the following:

this Le Creuset 9" Square Baking Dish (with bonus 5" dish) in Caribbean


or

this Le Creuset 14" Oval Dish in Black Onyx


They're both beautiful, right?

Here's how it's going to work - leave us a comment on this post with:
1. Your Name (doesn't have to be your full name).
2. Your email, so we can contact you if you win.
3. Which item you would choose (if you win) and why.

One entry per person, please. (for shipping reasons, only residents of the US and Canada are eligible)

Enjoy! I'll be back here to announce a randomly chosen winner next Monday, October 19.

-Emily

P.S. While you're waiting, go check out Cookware.com to see their great selection of of kitchen products like KitchenAid, All Clad, Rachel Ray Cookware, and Le Creuset, just to name a few!

P.P.S. Please realize that this is just for fun! This is still our family blog and will remain that way - you won't see us putting up those annoying blinky ads trying to make money. There is absolutely nothing in this for us, we just thought it would be fun to give you all a chance to win something!

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

I just found this recipe at TheKitchn.com for homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and I have to say - it is delicious! I can't affirm or deny their claim that it tastes "just like Starbucks", because it has been a few years since I've had one from Starbucks. Regardless, it's delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe - TheKitchn.com



This recipe is definitely enough for two people - the recipe says it can be one large serving, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't all fit in my xtra large mug. Also, I only used half the sugar called for in the recipe, and it was perfect for me. If you like your coffee drinks pretty sweet though, I would use both tablespoons.

Pittsburgh Pictures

Last Saturday we took a day trip to Pittsburgh with my side of the fam - Mom & Dad, the girls, Jeff, and Andrea. We've been talking for almost a year now about taking a day trip to Pittsburgh so we could show Scott & Andrea our "old stomping grounds".



We started the day out with a trip up Mt. Washington on the Duquesne Incline.






the view from the top is stunning!









One of the reasons we made the trip was to visit The Original Hot Dog Shop (know locally as "The O"), a family favorite when we lived in PA. Despite their name, the Hot Dogs are just OK...we go for the fries! They're the best fries you'll ever eat.