Forgiveness {Thankful Thursdays}

We've all experienced a certain feeling: the one that keeps you up past midnight and it makes you wonder if others know what you’ve done. We all know the unpleasant feeling of guilt. No matter what has happened, big or small, God’s Forgiveness can be given, all we have to do is ask.

I’m Thankful for God’s Forgiveness

Oswald Chambers said, “Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace; it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive sin and remain a holy God.” While we have access to forgiveness, we need to remember while grace covers our sin, it doesn’t give us a free ticket to continue in it.

God’s forgiveness had a price

Sometimes, we have even felt guilty for something that we have not even done. I remember when Jamie attended third grade at the local school for a few months. The classes went to the Police Department and over to the Court. That afternoon, he told me about the trip and that they went into the Court and met the Judge. While he was there, he said that a feeling of guilt came over him and that he had not done anything wrong. I told him, that God may have been showing him what it feels like when you sin. Because of that feeling, Jamie said he was going to work hard on not sinning.

As a Child of God – WE ARE FORGIVEN

In I John 1:9, the Bible tells us if we confess our sins to God, he will forgive and cleanse us.

It’s nice to know we don’t have to carry around our burden of sin. All we have to do is confess it, and ask God to forgive it. I'm thankful for this promise.

Favorite School Supply - PENS

Yesterday we started our 4th week of school. How can that be already? Before you know it, it will be Christmas break and I’m not even ready to think about that. In honor of our 4th week of school, I wanted to share with you, my MOST favorite school supply ever!

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School shopping for us is not like many other families. In fact, I don’t buy anything unless it is something I know we have to have, like spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, paper clips, and posted notes. There are some years, I don't buy anything.

Years ago, I stopped buying wooden pencils and moved on to the mechanical pencils. Even when Jamie was still in lower elementary grades, he learned (quickly) how to use those wonderful non-sharpening pencils.

I can’t help but feel pity for those classroom teachers who are faced with a bazillion wooden pencils on the first day of school. Half of those pencils are not a good quality and end up becoming breakfast, lunch and supper for a pencil sharpener all in one day. ** Parents, please for the sake of your child’s teacher, if you want them to like you, DO NOT send dollar store pencils or those that have a cute papery printed image on them. A good quality wooden pencil like the ones from Dixon Ticonderoga, they last longer than a day or two - trust me, I know because I experienced the dreaded chewing up of cheap pencils for 12 years.

While I love writing with a pencil, pencils are not my favorite school supply to buy. Pens are, and not just any pen, but the Paper Mate Ink Joy pens. The first time I wrote with one was at the lawyer’s office when we rented our house and then again when we closed on it. I almost kept the lawyer’s pen because I loved it so much. What a keen eye our lawyer had, because she wrote down the type of pen it was, so I could get my own. She liked her pen!

Last year, I bought clickable pens. I like retractable pens, but I don’t like to find a pen that has been left open in the pen holder to collect bits of dust. Yeah, that just ruins my doodling artwork. These pens have been known to find themselves anywhere throughout our house and several are in my purse.

This year, I didn’t see the clickable pens, but I did find the pens with caps. I think I like these a lot better. With these, I won’t be finding the rubber grip removed and folded inside out and put back on the pen like I did with the retractable pens. I have no clue who would do such a thing! Who am I kidding,  I do. :)

Whichever pen I use, I find it writes beautifully every time even on the first writing or doodling project. The ink is pretty cool, after year, all the pens that can be found are still writing beautifully and the ink is still a nice “ball point pen” ink - no chunky junk.

Do you have favorite school supply to buy?

17 Years {Thankful Thursdays}

This past week, my husband and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. I’m still amazed at the man God graciously gave me. I’d love to say he is perfect, but we all know that no one can be perfect. But, he is perfect for me, just like your spouse is perfect for you. God knew exactly what he was doing when we met. While it wasn’t love at first sight for me, it was for my husband. He even went to work the next day and told his boss, he met the woman he was going to marry. For me it was more of “keep him at arm’s length”. I tried to avoid him at church and on the softball field because I didn’t want him to read more into our friendship.

Today, I’m thankful for my husband and 17 years of marriage.

Our marriage is far from perfect; we have our ups and downs. We have elevated discussions just like everyone else. But, there are the times that are good - Good times that outweigh the rough times. There are times that are enjoyable, times that are sweet, times that are romantic, times that are creative and fun, and the times that are peaceful and quite. I’m thankful for all those times – the good and bad.

I’m thankful the Lord heard my childhood prayers all those years ago, to allow me to be a wife and mother. I’m thankful for a marriage that started out as a friendship. I’m thankful for the protection God has placed on our marriage. I’m thankful.

Meal Planning According to Better Homes and Gardens

The other night, I was unable to sleep. I had finished the last of the stack of library books that sit on the night table beside my bed.  I was laying there wide awake when I realized that I had my 1946 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook under the bed. I know... a strange place for it, but a perfect place until I could get some round ring stickers for the pages that were torn.  Anyway, I pulled the book out and began to read. Of all the cookbooks that I have, I have never actually read any of the "information" in the books.  Would you believe there was meal planning in the cookbook?

Meal Planning According to the
Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

I found some really neat things other than some new recipes that I have made. Those of you who make a meal menu for your family, you'll enjoy this.

MEAL - PLANNING IS A GAME that's fun if you play it with imagination and zest. If you play it well, you will win satisfaction for yourself and cheers of enthusiasm from your family. It's important to plan well-balanced means, but it's equally important to make those meals appetizing and attractive, with plenty of variety.

Imagination and zest really tickled my funny bone. Because I've never thought of meal planning as a game and when I use my imagination, I'm trying to come up with meal ideas without breaking the bank that we all will actually eat. There's no game playing for me. :)

I love the little tip about introducing new food occasionally and take a family vote; vary the method of preparing those dishes that are served often. Even in the 1940's wives were dealing with the same problems many of us face weekly when preparing meals for our families.

When I read this little chapter I thought "HOW NEAT!" Wives way back then were into meal planning for their families. We've seen old TV shows and movies that talk about Meatloaf Monday or Spaghetti Wednesday, many wives created a menu plan and stuck with it for every day of the week. This was a good way for the family to know what is for dinner each day of the week. And I'm sure it also kept down the hassle of knowing what to buy at the grocery store. But for me, I need a variety of meals to look forward to cooking and enjoy with my family. Although, we do have Pizza Friday every other week.

To some, menu planning is a new thing and for others it's not so new. It's amazing to read meal planning has been around for at least 70 years, and I think that is pretty awesome!

Two Lessons from Two Friends {Thankful Thursdays}

I started today’s post the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. I did so because my husband was editing pictures. I’m amazed at how less distracted I am when not staring at the computer screen. I think I’m going to have to do more writing like this. While I was worrying over what I was going to write about, two precious friends came to mind. While one is already in heaven, the other is newly retired from teaching school. Both of these ladies hold a special place in my heart because they taught me so much. I’m going to share just two lessons from these two friends.

Two Lessons from Two Friends

Susan was the first teacher to visit me in my classroom on the first day of teacher orientation. I was scared to death because this was my first year with my first class. Susan knew this and was such an encouragement to me that day; she was excited about me being there since she knew my brother.

Susan and her family were missionaries to Papua New Guinea for many years. She was full of wisdom when it came to all natural healing and home remedies. I still drink a cup of orange juice with hot sauce for a sore throat. Yep, you can imagine! I even double up on echinacea and elderberry during cold and flu season.

During the last couple of years of teaching with Susan, I was taught to be faithful to God no matter what was going on. While watching helplessly I saw the decline in Susan’s health. During many months of searching for answers while her health declining, Susan always had a smile on her face. When asked how she was doing, Susan would smile and say, “Oh, I’m alright but isn’t God good? He gave us another day to serve him.” For a while, everyone thought Susan would have to retire, but the Lord answered many prayers and led her to a specialist who could help her.

The last time I saw Susan was in 2002 at a teacher’s convention. We both were teaching in new schools and were able to spend time together in several workshops. I’ll never forget the last words she said to me before leaving, “No matter how dark a situation you will go through, God is there - he knows, he sees, he feels your pain and he hears your prayers. Don’t ever give up on God because he will not give up on you.”

Nancy is my kind of friend. She is as honest and down to earth as the day is long. Nancy is not one to put on airs or change her beliefs just to fit in. If you really don’t want to know the truth about something, then Nancy is not the one you want to talk to about it.

Nancy was my classroom neighbor, I was teaching 5th grade and she taught 6th grade. The first year of 5th grade was full of questions; thankfully that 6th grade door was welcoming enough for me to ask for help. She comforted me every morning the first six weeks of school when I cried my eyes out for leaving my precious little boy to return to the classroom.

While I only taught 5 years with Nancy I learned

to live for the Lord no matter what, hold your head high when you know you’ve done the right thing even if it doesn’t turn out the way you had hoped. Just because your children choose to wander from what they were taught doesn’t mean you didn’t do your job or have been a bad parent. It means they had the freedom to choose the life path they take as adults

. I just pray I can remember this lesson if my sweet boy walks a different path in his adult life.

While I was relieved to move down to 1st grade, I was a little jealous of the new 5th grade teacher who would be my special friend’s new neighbor - we would no longer share lunch and break times together while laughing at crazy things that happened in the classroom or at home.

After 34 years of teaching there have been hundreds of lives touched by Nancy. While some only think about the students who walked through her door, there have been many parents and staff members who can say, she left a lasting impression on me. I know, because I am one.

While I learned many more things from these ladies, I am thankful for these

two lessons from two friends

.

Two Social Media Workarounds that Work

Over the last year, I have had a love-hate relationship with two of the biggest social media outlets. When I signed up for Facebook in 2008 I did so to keep in touch with people in my life who are far and near - I love seeing and reading about their families. I’m just like everyone else, I like looking at all the DIY projects and yummy food recipes on Pinterest. But what I do not like is being forced to see things that really don’t pertain to me and my likes.

Today, I’m sharing with you Two Social Media Workarounds I found that keep my feed page on both sites clear of what I don’t want to see.

Two Social Media workarounds that work

Facebook - in the last few years, we have all noticed changes: notification popups, the ticker, the trending, suggested posts, suggested pages, the bombarding of games, etc. Things many of us don’t want to see and deal with. Seriously, who wants to see what your friend is commenting on? I don’t because it is NONE of my business.

A friend of mine shared on FB about trying Fluff Busting Purity extension on her web browser. I was curious, so I added the F.B. Purity-Clean Up Facebook to Chrome. When you add the extension, log into FB and you will see FBP in the blue bar at the top of the page. You will want to click it to get the pop-up page where you click on all the things you do not want to see; you can even add certain words to the white list and voila – no more junk! Be sure to click save and close for the extension to work. (all those things I mentioned we don't care to see, are included in this)

When you visit their website, it talks about downloading the app. I did not go that route since I’m cautious of what is downloaded on our computer. If you are like me then just use the extension/add-on version. They work with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Fluff Busting Purity has been around for years, and to no surprise when you try to share their link anywhere on FB, you get an ugly popup telling you the site is unsafe and you can’t post the link.

Pinterest is following suit – telling you what you want to see. Just because I create a board for a certain interest, doesn’t mean I want to see picked for you pins popping up and forcing the pins of those I follow further down the page. Promoted pins, really?! I understand bloggers and business owners pay to push traffic to their sites, but do I need the same pin showing up 5 times in three scrolls of the mouse wheel?

Try contacting Pinterest regarding these two horrible types of pins – you get nothing!
{crickets chirping}

This post when first shared in 2015, listed a Chrome extension called pinBlock. It didn't take a year before it stopped working since Pinterest is defensive in keeping their promoted pins upfront and in the user's face.  Because of this, I had to go on the hunt for another option. That is when I found the Promoted Pin Hider extension. Today is June 12, 2020 and I've been using this extension since 2018. I've not had any problems with it. The owner stays pretty up to date with keeping things working.



I like not seeing the extra junk! Do you use something else to keep from seeing the added mess being pushed into your feed? If so, I’d love to hear what you are using.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Peanut butter, there’s something yummy about the peanutty taste (especially with apples). YUM! Homemade Peanut Butter is even tastier than you can imagine and it only contains healthy things. While the convenience of grabbing a jar of our favorite brand maybe something that is a cheaper to do, it’s what’s inside that makes me go “hmm”. We’ve cut out almost all hydrogenated oil products - yep, it’s in peanut butter - one step at a time.

Homemade peanut butter is easy to make.

When I began researching homemade peanut butter, I found several articles stating you need a certain peanut or there were several steps that I didn’t want to take to make my own. Shelling peanuts was out of the question, dealing with the papery skins I didn’t want to deal with, oven roasting – it’s summer time for goodness sake, I wasn’t heating up my kitchen. I even found one where the raw peanuts were boiled before roasting - one step I didn't want to deal with.

I bought my peanuts HERE. Talk about super fast shipping! It was well worth the $14 to have my box of peanuts delivered to my doorstep by the FedEx man within four days.

After doing some reading on the perfect type of peanut for making peanut butter, I went with THESE since they were labeled for peanut butter and I didn’t have to do anything with them other than pouring them into the food processor bowl.

Depending on how big your bowl is, you may be able to process the whole pound of peanuts, if not (like me) you can chop them up in batches. Just chop them until they become coarse, crumbly little pieces. If you have two batches, you can add all the peanuts in at this time, depending on your bowl.

Drizzle the oil in the peanuts while processing. The peanuts will begin to ball up, but keep processing, they will become smoother. My peanut butter did not become as smooth as store bought, but we like it just the same. At this time, I also added the honey and salt. It did take a couple of times of tasting to get the sweetness we like. If needed add more oil/ salt/ honey at this time.

Storage - I’ve read different things about storing the homemade peanut butter in the refrigerator. I put my jar in the cabinet for a week and did not see a difference. I then put it in the refrigerator and it became thicker and harder to spread, so back to the cabinet it went.

You may find the oil will separate from the peanut butter, just give a good stir before using.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 lb peanuts
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 Tablespoons honey

Directions:

Place the peanuts in food processor bowl and chop until coarse. Drizzle the oil while processing until peanuts began to come together. Add salt and honey and continue processing until tastes and smoothness is acquired. Store in an airtight container.

10 Verses to be Thankful for {Thankful Thursdays}

We all have favorite Bible verses we cling to when we need encouragement. Many times, those verses are a reminder of what God has in store for us when we stay close to Him. Today I’m sharing 10 verses that are special to me and I’m thankful God placed them in the Bible to remind me of His great love.

These are just a few of the verses I'm Thankful for

John 3:16 - because of God’s love for you and me, He sent his only Son to die on the cross for our sin. Because of this selfless act, we can have an eternity with God.

I Corinthians 15:57 – God will give us the victory over sin and death.

Romans 8:38 – no matter what happens, those who accept Jesus as their personal Saviour cannot be separated from God’s love.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 – God knows everything about our lives. Even those little dark secrets we’ve not shared with anyone – God knows them and yet He still loves us. When we go to Him in prayer, He will hear and He will answer.

Proverbs 3:5-6 – God is trustworthy. When we need His directions He gladly gives it when we seek Him.

Jeremiah 33:3 – God hears our prayers and He will answer.

Psalm 34:4 – God will deliver us from our fears, all we have to do is ask him.

Psalm 71:1 and I Corinthians 14:33 – God does not cause us confusion. We can trust Him in everything.

Psalms 136:1 – God is good! His mercy lasts forever. He doesn’t get mad when He has to show mercy to us on a daily basis. Did you know "his mercy endureth forever" is mentioned 26 times in Psalm 136?

While there are many more verses in the Bible for which I am thankful, these are just a few that are dear to me. Do you have a favorite Bible verse? If so, leave me a comment, I'd love to know your favorite verse.