Give Thanks – It’s a Good Thing {Thankful Thursdays}

The Bible is full of encouragement on giving thanks. It is the only book you can trust the author when reading; we don’t have to worry about someone’s philosophy hidden between the lines. It’s a book everyone can learn something from without needing a post graduate degree. I was reminded earlier this week when I Give Thanks – It’s a Good Thing.

 Give Thanks

I was reading Psalm 92:1-5 the other day, the pages fell open when I laid my Bible on the kitchen table. At the top of the page in big letters I read “GIVE THANKS” with an arrow pointing to the verses. As I read those verses many beautiful things that God has done for me and my family went through my mind. There were even a few things I don’t consider beautiful, but they were all part of His plan.

When I look back on those beautiful things the feeling I have is warm. But with those not so beautiful things I still feel a little disappointment and hurt. It is easy to remember all the good things in life and share about them with others. I tend to hide those other things in my heart’s closet to try and forget about them. Believe it or not, I have even found those things to come in handy when trying to encourage someone. There are times I have pulled them out, given them a shake, and looked at them carefully. Thankfully, there is one good thing (we can see today) that came from them – we came out on the other side because of the gracious mercy of the Lord.

Whether we are in the middle of a storm or we have passed through the storm, we have a merciful God who deserves the praise and thanksgiving because He will not/did not leave us. If we are not experiencing a storm, He deserves the praise and thanksgiving for allowing our life to be at peace in this moment.

No matter where we are today, we can praise the Lord and give Him thanks for the loving kindness and faithfulness He has shown us.

Give thanks, because it is a good thing!

5 Christmas Gift Ideas for the Christian Friend

Sometimes buying gifts for a Christian friend can be hard. But when you keep in mind their interests and hobbies purchasing items can be a little easier. Hopefully, this list of  5 Christmas Gift Ideas for the Christian Friend will help in coming up with ideas for you to consider.

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5 Gift Ideas for Christian Friends

1. A Journaling Bible and supplies – journaling Bibles are very popular with some right now. Just be sure to get a single column Bible so there will be enough room for design. The supply list for Bible journaling is amazing – pens, pencils, markers, watercolors, stamps, and ink pads.


2. Nativity scene – I have a friend who collects nativity scenes; her collection is amazing. What better gift could you give a friend at Christmas?


3. Willow Tree Figurines – these are beautiful while yet not overly showy. I have The Angel of Learning that was given to me while teaching school; it has a special place on my table with my old books. A perfect gift!


4. Calendar – calendars are the perfect gift idea. Everyone needs them and uses them whether at home or at work.


5. Jewelry – I think jewelry is a fantastic gift idea. Whether you are looking for gold, sterling silver, or mixed metals. Your friend will be happy. (This is a friend’s company. I highly recommend her, she has made several pieces for me and I can’t say enough about them.)

** Bonus**

6. Home Baked Goodies – I know what you’re thinking, but in reality any friend would love a container of goodies made by you. While the gift may only be temporary, it will be something they enjoy and won’t have to worry about dusting later on.

As I mentioned at the top, think about their interests and hobbies. Receiving knitting tools, yarn, or something to be used in the kitchen would thrill me. I’m sure your friend will be happy with what you give them.

Are you an Rakuten or Swagbucks member?

Remember before making any purchases online click through RAKUTEN so you’ll earn a percentage back . If you use SWAGBUCKS, you can also earn more Swagbucks (to cash in as FREE gift cards) while shopping.

Are you shopping for friends this holiday season?

BeingThankful During the Christmas Season

Keeping the thankful spirit during the Christmas season is hard for many. The added stress from spending extra money on top of the already mountain of stress from everyday life with marriage, work, and bills; it can be mind boggling. When we focus on the real reason there is Christmas we can become a little more at ease. Without Christ there would be no Christmas, there would be no reason to celebrate.

4 Tips to Help Stay Thankful During the Christmas Season

Turn off the TV – many commercials are aimed at children. The makers and advertising companies know when a commercial is seen by a child they are going to ask repeatedly for something until a parent gives in.

Be upfront and truthful – there is nothing wrong with children knowing there’s a limit to Christmas spending. Children need to learn at an early age that money doesn’t go that far when they are writing a wish list.

Focus on the elderly – whether they are church members, family members or strangers there are many shut-ins and nursing homes full of elderly people just wanting someone to reach out and care for them. Preparing little goody bags with lotion, Chap Stick, mints, and tissues will bring a spirit of thankfulness during the season of giving. While you think you may be blessing someone else, don’t be surprised when you are blessed by just holding a hand and listening to someone.

Help a needy family – your local church and schools know of families who are truly in need. You may even know of a family who you could bless this season.  When I was teaching school, several classes adopted a family. My 5^th grade class along with the 6^th grade class went in together and bought presents for a young man their age. Watching the excitement on those students’ faces when they brought in money and items was amazing. They knew there were others not as well off as they were but actually doing something about it blessed those kids more than anything I had seen at that time.

The Christmas season is not easy, but it can be easier if we keep our focus on the real reason – Jesus Christ!

10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Teachers

10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Teachers that will be loved, appreciated and used. As a former classroom teacher, I know a thing or two about receiving gifts from students and their families. No matter what the gift was, I knew that I was cared about for an effort to be made in gift giving. I even had some sneaky moms who would ask around about things I liked and disliked.

10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Teachers

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1. New School Supplies – Teachers love school supplies! Many teachers purchase their own supplies to use in their classrooms. For some, a teacher’s budget is stretched very thin when purchasing their cherished Colored Sharpies, Pens, Post it Notes, Note cards, and Stickers.

2. Movie Night Basket – Creating a personal basket with movie favorites like popcorn, candy, soft drinks and even a DVD is thoughtful.
3. Magazine Subscription – Teacher’s have a life outside of school. If you know they have a hobby or a certain interest, a magazine subscription is a wonderful gift idea. If you’re not too sure on an interest, an educational magazine would be welcomed for the classroom.
4. Personalized Stationery – I’ll never forget the cute little notepads I received one year. I loved them! Any teacher would love to have a set of their own personalized stationary to send those pleasant and not so pleasant notes home.
5. A Tumbler Cup – Not all teachers use coffee cups, but they will use a tumbler type cup. An added bonus would be either small lemonade or iced coffee packets tucked inside.

(Thanks Megan and Kelly for allowing me to use your photos to share these awesome gift ideas.)

6. Mints and Hard Candy – Teachers do a lot of talking and many times throughout the day they need a little something to keep from getting a dry throat and mouth.
7. Chocolate, Favorite Soft Drink and Snack Items – Teachers have favorite drinks, your child probably knows what that drink is. I’ll never forget my 4^th grade teacher’s favorite drink because she had a glass bottle of Mr. Pibb every single day at lunch. It became my favorite when I was a teen and it still is to this day.

8. Handmade items – Some of my favorite gifts of all were the ones that were created by students themselves or even their mothers or grandmothers. I have a couple of little crocheted runners I still use that I received my very first year of teaching.
9. Gift Cards – One gift that most teachers enjoy receiving! Whether they are for restaurants, coffee shops, a local school supply store or even a gas station. These gifts while not “personal” they are gifts that are truly appreciated.
10. Cash – While this is what many think of as an “if all else fails” gift, teachers spend money just like you and me. Cash comes in handy while shopping and who knows the teacher in your child’s life may be saving for a large purchase or has had an unexpected bill to come up.

Are you an Ebates or Swagbucks member?

Remember before making any purchases online click through EBATES so you’ll earn a percentage back . If you use SWAGBUCKS, you can also earn more Swagbucks (to cash in as FREE gift cards) while shopping.

Do you have other gift ideas you would add?

Gettin' It Done Thanksgiving Week

I don’t have a lot to share today other than my Gettin’ It Done Cleaning List. I wanted to post it earlier but after going hunting with my husband and trying to finish up my Thankful Thursdays post that went out early this week, I was brain dead on writing what I wanted to share.

The last free week for cleaning was in the middle of my 31 Days of Homemaking Series so I didn’t share my list that week. With all the writing I was doing at that time, I was numb. But I’ve been looking forward to this week because I wanted to make sure I shared what was going on here.

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Gettin' It Done - Thanksgiving Week

The room for deep cleaning this week – the bathroom. I am so thankful that little room is indeed LITTLE. It doesn’t take much time to deep clean because I’ve started using The Works in my toilet and Scrub Free Shower Spray in the tub again.

I stumbled across The Works in our Chemistry book. It was recommended for an experiment and since I was not going to need the whole bottle for said experiment I decided to try cleaning the toilet. Our water is horrible and leaves a green buildup on everything since the cleaner has hydrochloric acid it I knew it should work to blast away the build up.

I remember when Scrub Free came out. We were newly married and my sister in law mentioned using it. After scrubbing the tub and using it every day, I was impressed. It’s been years since I’ve used it, but with this horrible water, I knew something was going to have to be done because I just don’t like scrubbing the tub every few days.

Since I don’t do a lot of cooking for Thanksgiving and I have a deer tag that needs to be filled, I’m going hunting Thursday morning with my husband and son as long as it is not snowing. Here’s my menu for Thanksgiving: Ham, Green Bean Casserole, Corn Pudding, Deviled Eggs, and Sweet Potato Pie. The pies will be cooked on Wednesday and the green bean and corn dishes will be readied for baking on Wednesday night.

My quilt squares are coming right along. I decided to make the quilt just a wee bit bigger than I had planned so I needed a few more squares to piece together. Hopefully, this quilt will be completed sometime next year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I have some gifts I’m knitting. I have some of the adorable boot cuffs for my niece going right now. After seeing how cute these are, makes me wish I wore boots – not really. I have a friend who is expecting a precious baby girl in February who will be receiving a special gift in the mail. Just as soon as it is finished and she receives it, I’ll post a picture.

I hope you all have a Blessed Thanksgiving
with your family and don’t eat too much!

Thank you, Lord: Thankful Thursdays {Linkup #35}

Happy Thanksgiving! I know I’m a couple of days early, but I wanted to get the Thankful Thursdays Linkup running early because of the holiday.

It’s the season of thankfulness. Everywhere we turn we see the words thankful and grateful but sadly for many being thankful is not a part of their daily life. I want my family and others to hear and see me being thankful for the things in my life. One day, I want to be remembered as someone who was truly content and thankful for what I was given.

Thank you, Lord

We have so much in our lives that we can be thankful for if we sat down and wrote about each of them we could fill the pages of a book. While I could list out a ton of things I’m thankful for I won’t because I’ve shared over the past weeks many things I’m truly thankful for. I’ve even shared ways to help create a Thankful Spirit and how Thankfulness Leads to Contentment. A couple of things I have not mention that I am thankful for are my faithful readers. Those of you who allow me to enter your email boxes, thank you! If you visit the site here, thank you! To my faithful Thankful Thursdays Linkup participants, thank you! If it weren’t for you, I would not have met some of you through your blogs and received wonderful encouragement from your writings; I’ve even learned a thing or two and I thank you for that.

I love the song I Just Want to Thank You Lord. The lyrics hit just about everything we can be thankful for in our daily lives. These are my favorite words of the song:

For being a friend so dear, giving my sad heart cheer,
For holding my hand when I could not stand, thank you, Lord.
For giving your life for me, on a cross at Calvary,
For taking my place, mercy, and grace, thank you, Lord

I’m so thankful for a Friend who is beside me every day. He gives the grace and mercy that I need on a daily basis, and I'm thankful for that.

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10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Teen Guys

Christmas will be here in just a little over 5 weeks. Are you ready? Me neither. Thankfully this year, I’m not sitting at a dead end road like I was last year for gift ideas for my son. He created a wish list and, believe it or not, they are all small things except for one. To make it even better, I can order them all online without having to deal with crazy shoppers. These 10 Gift Ideas for Teen Guys should help you in making decisions while shopping this year because they were compiled by my teen son.

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10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Teen Guys

1. Beanies- I have a hard time calling what I grew up knowing as a toboggan a beanie. I think of Spanky from the Little Rascals every time I hear beanie. Call me Crazy!

2. Earbuds – most teens now days have music playing where ever they go. Having extra earbuds come in handy for those active guys.

3. Sporting Event Tickets - Most guys love some sort of sports and event tickets are sure to please the one in your life. Don’t have a sports fan? Concert tickets will more than likely put a smile on his face.

4. Gift Cards – fast food, coffee shop, and gas stations are all places where teens go, after school and on weekends. Gift cards will help feed them and get them on their way again.

5. Cash – there is nothing like cold hard cash to a teen. Whether they are saving for a special purchase or hoarding their money away, cash in the hand can go a long way.

6. Favorite Snacks and Drinks – these are gifts I started giving several years ago to my son. He knows every Christmas there will be a case of Yoo-hoo and Mt. Dew under the tree. I even include his favorite candy along with several bags of his favorite chips. These are always a big hit!

7. Hammock – if you are living in a warmer weather climate and your teen enjoys being outside, a hammock would be a nice thing for him to enjoy relaxing in.

8. Movie Tickets – teens like getting together during the holidays when school is out and head towards the mall and movie theater. Having pre-purchased tickets help when that hungry teen is going to spend a small goldmine in the snack line of the local theater.

9. Cologne – believe it or not, many teen guys tend to care about smelling good. I couldn’t help but giggle of the thought of Old Spice being a popular item for teen guys nowadays. I remember my dad wearing the original Old Spice when I was a little girl. Yep, it’s not that Old Spice but scents like Timber and Bearglove are quite popular and smell pretty good too.

10. Novelty Tees – I just love this Bacon Chemistry Tee shirt. If you have a teen who loves bacon like I do, well what can I say?

Are you an Ebates or Swagbucks member? Remember before making any purchases online click through EBATES so you’ll earn a percentage back . If you use SWAGBUCKS, you can also earn more Swagbucks (to cash in as FREE gift cards) while shopping.

Do you have a teen guy you are shopping for this year?

Hymn Appreciation: We Gather Together

Adrianus (Adriaen) Valerius (1575-1625) was a Dutch poet and composer. He is known mostly for his poems dealing with peasant life and the Dutch War of Independence.  At the time We Gather Together was written, the Dutch were at war against the Catholic King Philip II of Spain and Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship - which resulted in "Wilt heden nu treden" (We Gather Together). The hymn first appeared in a 1626 collection of Dutch patriotic songs, Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck.

As indicated by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, We Gather Together's first appeared in an American hymnal was in 1903. It's popularity continued among the Dutch. In 1937 when the Dutch Reformed Church in North America decided to put away traditions that they had brought with them to the New World in the 1600's of singing only psalms; they added hymns to the church service, We Gather Together was chosen as the first hymn in their first hymnal.

The modern English text was written by Theodore Baker in 1894.

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!