Hot Cocoa for Those Chilly Days!

Hot chocolate is almost a necessity at our house in the fall and winter time! That's why Mother Dear decided to make us up a big bucket of it to last (hopefully!) for a while. She posted her recipe here, and I have to say, it makes the best hot cocoa ever! I just finished a mug of it with breakfast, along with my siblings who raved about it too (of course, I think the little ones just like anything with sugar in it :).

Hot chocolate was also a staple in the winter at my dad's house when he was growing up. He told me his mom would make a gigantic Tupperware bowl full of the mix, and they would all have a cup of cocoa almost every day. Funny thing is, it was the same exact recipe as the one Mother Dear is now using, although she never knew it until Dad tasted the cocoa and saw the recipe.

Dad also told me his mom would make another big bowl of cocoa mix to take with them whenever his family went camping. He said they would have their Coleman stove on every morning and evening with a big pot of water on it, just for the cocoa.

So you see, it is a recipe worth trying! Not exactly handed down from generation to generation, but almost. :)

Memories...

I love my oldest, little brother! He is always ready to help me out of the van, opens doors for me and likes to pretend he's my secret agent guard. Even with his gentlemanly qualities, he's also very cute! He always has been...

Don'tcha think? I love him lots! We make a great team.

Making Pumpkin Pie

Remember when I linked to Miss Mia's pumpkin-pie-from-scratch recipe? Well, I tried it out! It worked very well, and everyone in my family was very pleased with the end result, especially my dad, who loves pumpkin pie. :)

I used one large pumpkin, and two small ones for making the cooked pumpkin.

My preschoolers helped me pull out all the pumpkin pulp, and save the seeds (my "preschoolers" are Creative Genius, Mini Active Boy and MIT #2). We sorted a good bowl full of punkin' seeds, and Mother Dear baked and seasoned them for us. She mixed them up with nuts, popcorn and dried apples for a delicious snack!

That afternoon, while everyone was napping, I made a couple of pies (I snapped a picture of one as it came out of the oven.)

Thanks again Miss Mia!

The Lord is Great!

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength

Ascribe to the Lord the Glory due his name;

worship the Lord in the splendor of his

holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful;

the voice of the Lord is majestic.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,

Siron like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;

the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks

and strips the forests bare.

And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

the Lord is enthroned as King forever.

The Lord gives strength to his people;

the Lord blesses his people with peace.

Doesn't that chapter just leave you in awe of the Lord? Whenever I read it, I am always amazed at how awesome and powerful our God is. And yet, even though He is so strong, He is always there to comfort and tenderly hold His children. I am very thankful for such a powerful and gracious King!

Psalm 29 reminds me of one of my favorite songs to sing, I Stand in Awe. As you read the lyrics, praise the Lord for his majestic power and love!

You are beautiful beyond description

Too marvelous for words

Too wonderful for comprehension

Like nothing ever seen or heard

Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?

Who can fathom the depth of Your love?

You are beautiful beyond description

Majesty enthroned above

And I stand, I stand in awe of You

I stand, I stand in awe of You

Holy God, to whom all praise is due

I stand in awe of You.

Decorating for Fall

I love fall, don't you? The leaves are turning gorgeous colors, the air is crisp, gardens have overflowed with fresh vegetables (by now all shredded, diced and sliced sitting in Zip-locs in the freezer), hot cocoa is tasting delicious on all the cool mornings and while in a warm mug sitting in your lap with a good book in your hand and cuddled up in a blanket...and it's time to decorate for the season! Of course, being as Mother Dear loves to decorate and make things cute, we were armed with cinnamon-scented pine cones, fabric pumpkins and gourds and acorns to grace our dining and living room.

Our home school room got decorated too!

Enjoying God's fall creations,

High-Tec Headache

Well, praise the Lord, we now have pictures off our digital camera...and a computer that doesn't turn off on us every five seconds!! Like I mentioned in my last post, we couldn't upload pictures from our camera to the computer, due to the computer having problems (it would spontaneously say it couldn't connect to the Internet, go really slow, etc.).

Well, my grandparents came through the woods and over the river to spend the weekend with us today (they live three hours away from us), bringing their laptop computer. My grandpa hooked it up to the Internet and Mother Dear uploaded our pictures to his computer, then uploaded them to our account on Snapfish so we can have access at them from here at home when the laptop isn't here.

I know that this state-of-the-art won't be here forever, but while it's residing here in our computer room, I'll enjoy it for the weekend.

Past Sukkots

Well, I know Sukkot has long been over, but I thought it might be fun to post some pictures of a couple of past Sukkots. I would put up this year's Sukkot pictures, but do to our computer having issues, we haven't been able to get them uploaded. But, you can read about what we did this year for the feast on Mother Dear's post, Visitors.

Sukkot 2006, when we went to Oregon to join other Messianic believers for eight days to celebrate the feast:

At the Shabbat dinner:

Active Boy loved playing the bongos with one of the guys at worship time!

MIT #2 was so little back then!! Here she is waving a flag with all the other kids.

Everyone helped out in building the sukkah!

Active Boy blowing the shofar...

Sukkot 2005, at home. We built our own sukkah, and just celebrated with each other.

Our sukkah:


Some of the boys, getting ready to go to sleep. It actually ended up that each of them, one at a time, trickled in to get into their cozy warm beds. :)


Singing Christmas songs (Jesus was born on Sukkot, you know), tweaked a bit for the holiday. :)


I would love to hear about your Sukkot if you celebrated it this year! How did it go?

When the Frost is on the Punkin

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock,

And you hear the kyouck and the gobble

of the struttin' turkey-cock,

And the clackin' of the guineys,

and the cluckin' of the hens,

And the rooster's hallylooyer

as he tiptoes on the fence;

O it's then's the times a feller

is a feelin' at his best,

With the risin' sun to greet him

from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bareheaded,

and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's somthing kindo' harty-like

about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer's over

and the coolin' fall is here -

Of course we miss the flowers,

and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin'-birds

and buzzin' of the bees;

But the air's so appetizin';

and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning

of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur' that no painter

has the colorin' to mock -

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel

of the tossels of the corn,

And the raspin' of the tangled leaves,

as golden as the morn;

The stubble in the furries -

kindo' lonesome-like, but still

A-preachin' sermuns to us

of the barns they growed to fill;

The strawstack in the medder

and the reaper in the shed;

The hosses in theyr stalls below -

the clover overhead! -

O, it sets my hart a-clickin'

like the tickin' of a clock,

When the frost is on the punkin

and the fodder's in the shock!

James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

Sukkot: A Feast of the Lord

Last Sunday night the Feast of Tabernacles began, which is "Sukkot" in Hebrew. Our family greatly enjoys celebrating this holiday every year, and I have asked my dad to share what it is all about, and why we celebrate it. If you have any questions or comments for him, feel free to send him an e-mail to the address at the bottom of this post.

And now, here is my father explaining the Biblical feast, Sukkot.

In Leviticus 23:2 God says “these are my feasts” when referring to the festivals Moses presented to Israel to observe. Over the centuries they have been the Guardians of the Feasts of God and developed the practices involved with them. Since these feasts belong to the Lord it benefits any believer that would take the time to know how to celebrate them.

God calls His Feasts “moedim” which means “appointments, memorials, rehearsals”. As such, those who observe these feasts learn more about the Messiah and prepare for things to come.

Without going into a lot of detail about each feast, let it be known that it is self-evident that each one portrays the ministry of the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ). There are three spring holy days that were fulfilled with his first coming and there are four fall holy days or feasts that will be fulfilled with his return.

The Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread (Pesach pronounced PAY-SOCK) revealed him as the Lamb of God and the matzah without leaven (sin) pierced, bruised and broken for us. (1 Cor. 5:6-8)

Firstfruits (Yom Bikkurim) revealed him as the firstborn from the dead. 1 Cor. 15:23, Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:18

Pentecost (Shavuot) revealed him as the one who writes the law on our hearts. (The Law of Moses was given on the first Pentecost) Jer. 31:33, Rom. 2:15

THESE WERE ALL FULFILLED BY YESHUA!
THESE FALL FEASTS HAVE YET TO BE FULFILLED BY HIM:

Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah): the resurrection of the dead (the last trump) & the announcement of the King Messiah; reveals him as Giver of Life and King of Kings.

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): Final Judgment including that of the scapegoat (Satan) reveals him as the Merciful Judge.

Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot): reveals him as the first Tabernacle God dwelt in; God will dwell in/with all mankind eternally.

The Eighth (Day) of Assembly (Shemini Atzeret): reveals the Age to Come, when the Son will give up all things to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28), when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (Rev. 21:1)

Particulars about Sukkot: each family builds a sukkah (think manger) and as much as possible, eats and sleeps in it every day for a week. This recalls the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness dwelling in sukkot. It also recalls the incarnation of the Word of God who was born on this feast day (think Christmas). It is a harvest-time festival and hence a time of thanksgiving (think Thanksgiving).

It is a custom to leave some seats open for heavenly guests (known as Ushpizim): Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David, who collectively are known as the Shepherds of Israel. Yeshua referred to a future time when this will literally come to pass. (Matt. 8:11)

The 7th day of this Festival is known as Hoshanah Rabbah (The Great Supplication) and was the occasion for something called the Water Libation. Priests would collect water from the Pool of Siloam. They would lead a parade of rejoicing worshippers to the Temple where the water would be poured out on the altar. It was at this occasion that Yeshua said: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37,38

In conclusion, I hope that the reader will “search all things, prove those that are excellent”.
“To him is the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all the generations of the Age of the Ages. Amen.”

Blessings,

Randy (shep98270@yahoo.com)

Learning to be Frugal

My mom has just named me "The Deal Girl" of the family. Now isn't that a lovely name? :)

So, to start my journey of finding coupons and deals to save our family money - and maybe even make a little, I ran over and took a look at Money Saving Mom and A Full Cup to see if there are any great deals anywhere (I'm a bit limited though as to what we can get, since our printer isn't working, so no printable coupons, and this is the first week I've started to save the Sunday's paper coupons, so no deals with coupons from previous adds.) I didn't really find anything great this week, but am hoping to see something next week, so I can buy (or ask Dad to buy on his way home from work) my first money saving item. :)

The way Mom has started me off in this great learning experience that I'll be able to carry with me for the rest of my life, is by instructing me in the way of keeping the coupons I save. She told me whenever I find/get coupons, I need to put them in a file folder, marked with the starting date of the coupons, and put them in the filing cabinet. Each week I need to do this, as well as weed out any coupons that have expired.

For instance: Say the date is 10/26, which is a Sunday. After stopping by mine and Mom's usual place to get our free paper and arriving at home, I take out all the coupon inserts and put them in a file folder marked 10/26. Then, I look through my oldest file folder of coupons and throw away any that are outdated. When I have a good chunk of time to spend on the computer, I go online to find great deals on stuff, and using my handy dandy coupons I've saved, paperclip them to a little slip of paper saying where and how to get the deal I've read up on. Finally, I go to the store to pick up my free, or nearly free, items. Sounds like fun to me!

Do you know any other sites, besides the ones I've said, to read up on good deals? How about your way of organizing your coupons and recent deals you'd like to take advantage of? Any tips for a coupon beginner? I would love your advise!

Thanks,

It's Getting Cooler...Time to Switch Out the Clothes!

I'm not sure why, but despite September 22nd, the start of Autumn, it never truly seems like fall until it's time to get out those cozy warm sweaters, heavy denim skirts and fuzzy socks.

Personally, I love that time! The air is just starting to get crisp, the leaves are turning bright reds, oranges and yellows and fresh vegetables - and, of course, in Washington - apples are in abundance. It seems like the perfect time to dress in your snuggly turtle necks and long skirts with leggings underneath, don't you think?

Well, here around our home, that time is here! I am fully enjoying the feel of warm jammies under heaps of blankets during these cold (in the low 30's!) nights, and constantly wearing my new-from-the-thrift-store slippers throughout the day. I've switched out my clothes from my spring /summer wardrobe, to my fall/winter wardrobe, and thought you might like to have a peek to see how it went.

Here's how my drawers and closet looked before I started attacking them:

After taking those before pictures, I started to "switch". First, I dragged my box of "cold" clothes out of the clothing storage room off of the laundry room, which is conveniently a few doors down from my bedroom.

Then, I started to go through all my spring and summer clothes, seeing ones that could be kept out (like my white tee-shirts, which I like to layer sweaters over), clothes that needed to go into the Goodwill bin (that I don't like or are too small) and the clothes that can go into the now spring/summer box. After getting all those sorted out, I did the same with the fall and winter clothes.

Sorting and putting away:

Finally done!

Here's my Spring/Summer Box - not as full as when all my bulky winter clothes were in it!

A Little Date

Last weekend, Active Boy took me on a walk to this quiet little stream down the street from our house. We had a nice time talking, and doing a little exploring down by the edge of the water. Of course, Active Boy couldn't leave without climbing something, so he had fun climbing the trees over the stream, while I snapped some pictures.

Thanks, Active Boy! I enjoyed our little "date". :)