Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior

This hymn has been in my head and on my heart for weeks, so I thought I would share the words here. I have always loved singing hymns, I think it is my special time to be in worship daily.

Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Let me at Thy throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief,
Kneeling there in deep contrition;
Help my unbelief.
Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Trusting only in Thy merit,
Would I seek Thy face;
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by Thy grace.

Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

Thou the Spring of all my comfort,
More than life to me,
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in Heav’n but Thee?

Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

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Thanksgiving Menu

I can hardly believe that it is already the week of Thanksgiving!

I am curious about what other ladies are serving for their Thanksgiving dinners.

Here is what we are having:

Turkey (I season mine with melted butter with salt, pepper and maybe a few other little things added in)

Corn Pudding (no on in our family likes dressings, so I always make this instead)

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (my husband's favorite)

Green Beans

Cranberry Sauce

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

We are celebrating here, with just the five of us. I think it will be a nice quiet holiday :).

What are your plans?

Through God's Abundant Blessings,

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Happenings Around Our Home

What busy, busy days around here! I have been baking a large amount of potato bread to fill our freezer. You would think that the family would grow tired of potato bread, but quite the contrary! Our family has developed a deep love for it, especially topped with apple preserves or apple butter. :) I sent a loaf with a jar of apple butter to work with my husband on friday, so that he could share it with his co-workers.

Yesterday we went to a different church because a friend of ours had asked us to go with her as her visitors for "Bring a Friend" day. It was nice, although I must admit feeling very out of place. Yesterday afternoon the minister from the Mennonite church and his wife stopped by to visit. I was a little nervous, I always get nervous when someone new comes to my house. Is everything tidy enough? Are the children behaving well? Do I have something to offer them to eat or drink? I would like to say that I am always prepared for hospitality, but lately that is just not the case. I felt absolute panic when they called to say they were coming. But we got everything tidied back up rather quickly (it really wasn't that much of a mess) and I made a pitcher of tea ( people here are always enamored with my sweet tea, as it is not common here), and the boys sat mostly still while they were here. It was nice that they had thought to visit us, and it certainly made us feel even more welcomed.

We have decided to order new pre-school curriculum from Rod and Staff. I really like the wholesomeness of their books, and I like that the illustrations are of like minded families . I know that our children will be exposed to others who do not share our beliefs, and will have to learn to be charitable and understanding towards them, but right now they are so little and I would like for certain things to remain sheltered. I would at least like for the curriculum we are using with them to be of the same values that we are teaching them. Anyway, I am excited about the curriculum!

We also decided to go ahead and order some cloth diapers and covers. I have been working on making them, but things have just been so busy so my husband decided that was one thing that he could take off of my to-do list. He also ordered me a new cape dress that we found on E-bay!

It's been busy around here, but I do not see that changing any time soon. I suppose life would be boring if we did not have so much to do!

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The Virtuous Woman- For Unmarried Women

Several woman have asked me how the example of the Proverbs woman applies to them, if they are not married, or no longer married. I thought I would share this as an encouragement.

I realize that some of the terminology here is inapplicable (at least on the surface) since we are talking about singlehood after marriage; however, if you look at the terms in ways that apply to the current situation, I think it will make sense. So in this case we will just define "virgin" as "purity in singlehood".

The Virtuous Virgin

adapted from Proverbs 31:10-31

10- A virgin with virtuous character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

11-Her parents have full confidence in her. She is a valuable asset to them.

12- She brings them good, not harm, all the days of her life.

13- She seeks a fulfilling job (position, such as caring for the parents or other members of the family, helping another young mother in the community, doing good works...) and works with eager hands.

14-She is as busy as merchant's ships, always seeking new ways to work more efficiently.

15- She gets up while it is still dark. She helps her mother provide food for her family and assists others with their duties.

16-She uses good judgment in investing her money. She carefully tends to her possessions.

17- She sets about her work vigorously, her arms are strong for her tasks.

18-She finds fulfillment in knowing that her work is well done. Her lamp burn late at night.

19-She is content as a woman, and fulfills God's plan with dignity.

20- Her sensitive spirit sees when others are hurting, she reaches out to them and gives them words of encouragement.

21- When problems arise, she has no fears, because she has an open relationship with her Heavenly Father, and knows He will provide all her needs.

22-She wears comely dresses that are neat and modest. Her beauty radiates from within.

23- Her companions are well respected. They, like her, are of noble character.

24-She makes favorable impressions, and supplies her friends with valuable advice.

25- She is clothed with strength and dignity. She is free of anxiety and worry.

26- She speaks with wisdom and is a wise and loving counselor.

27-She is concerned for the welfare of others, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

28- She is called blessed. That is, one who enjoys happy circumstances and from whom joy radiates to others.

29-Many women do great things, but a noble character surpasses them all.

30- Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

31-In every aspect of life she will be highly esteemed. Her crown of splendor awaits her at the pearly gates.

I pray you will find this adaption of some encouragement. Always remember that if God is calling you to something, then He has a special purpose for you. He does not ask us to do things just for the sake of doing them. He has reason and purpose behind the things that He does. We may not always understand them at the time (or even ever), but there is a purpose. May God bless you in your role as a Virtuous Single Lady!

Through God's Abundant Blessings,

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My Precious Little Students

The boys have been really liking our new schedule, and being back into our routine...especially having school time. We rearranged things to have a separate school area and play area, as we were finding the toys to be too much of a distraction in the school room (which is also where we do our Family Worship Time and Bible Study). The boys love the new set up! I am going to repaint the walls in the toy room a pale blue and paint a picket fence along the wall, as well as stenciling a Scripture verse on the wall. Jacob loves the idea. And I love having the toy room so close by as I work in the kitchen. I will be sure to put up pictures once it is done (although it will have to wait until after all the canning and baking is done;))

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What do you do with 45 lbs of potatoes, half a bushel of apples and 4 large pumpkins?

...a lot of baking, canning and preparing foods for the freezer! What a joy to have such an abundance! The boys had quite a bit of fun "helping", although all of the apples near Joshua seemed to be mysteriously missing bites...

The best part of all this baking and cooking is the wonderful smells that are filling our house. The boys have decided that they really like potato bread and apple butter (which is a rather good thing since we have so much of it :))

So far we have made apple butter, apple preserves, apple maple jam, potato bread and rolls, latkes, and quite a bit of baby food apples. This was our first attempt at canning, so I am so pleased with the results!















My wonderful husband brought me home a bouquet of pretty pink flowers in appreciation. There is still much to do with all of this food, but it is such a good feeling to know that I am filling the pantry with good things for my family to eat!

In His Abundant Blessings,

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Feeling Overwhelmed

Good Morning Ladies

I had a bit of a rough day yesterday-nothing serious, I was just feeling a little overwhelmed and tired. So I got a later start on really getting things done, but I did end up making 2 loaves of potato bread, 3 pints of Apple Maple Jam, and 3 pints of Apple Preserves, and a big container of Apple Baby Food for Joseph. I also made a batch of latkes which we ate for dinner with some sausage, a loaf of the bread, and preserves. The preserves ended up being a little on the runny side, but they taste good. They Apple Maple Jam turned out really nicely, it is very sweet, but delicious. I still have about 7 lbs of mashed potatoes in the refrigerator to work with today, and still 30lbs left that are still in the bag. I am about three-quarters of the way through the apples though. My family REALLY likes the potato bread, so my husband asked that I use the majority of the mashed potatoes for that. I think that of all the bread I make, this just might be our favorite. It is fairly simple to make, the kneading takes a little muscle power, but the recipe itself is simple. My only hindrance is that we only have two loaf pans, so I cannot make massive batches at a time. But I think if I plan it right, I can have loaves rising that will be ready for the second rise in the loaf pans by the time they are cooled from the loaves before that. Anyway-sorry to ramble on...

I really need to use those pumpkins today. I am thankful that it has been so cold here (we just set them outside the back door), so it is as if they have been refrigerated. But it looks like the sun is peaking out, so I don't want them to warm up too much.

I am curious if anyone else "puts up" food for the winter. We have gotten a late start, but I think we can get it done :).

What are you doing today?

Through God's Abundant Blessings,

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Good Morning Ladies

I hope this morning finds all of you well. It is a chilly, gray morning here. Yesterday it was so cold in here that I had to try to turn on our little fireplace in the dining room to have a warm enough place for my bread to rise. I think I will have to do this again today, as it is awfully cold! I do like this nice fall weather though.

Well today I am canning apple preserves, making more loaves and rolls of potato bread, and quite a few other things I have yet to decide upon. You would not believe how challenging it is to use up these potatoes. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love new ideas.

What do you ladies have on the agenda today?

Through God's Abundant Blessings,

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Good Morning!

Good morning dear sisters in Christ! I pray this day finds you all well.

We have had a busy weekend. A friend of ours came across a deal on potatoes for 15 lbs for $1! They are leftovers from I think she said a food service supply house. So we now have 45 lbs of potatoes that need to be used very quickly. We also came across a deal on apples, a half bushel for $5 ( I believe that is 25 lbs). And then a friend of ours had pumpkins left over from her harvest gathering decorations, so we have 4 large pumpkins that also need to be used right away. Needless to say we have a LOT to do in the kitchen! Saturday we peeled, cored, and sliced the entire half bushel of apples, and 15 lbs of the potatoes. We already have those pototoes cooked and mashed for making potato breads and pancakes that we can freeze. We also canned a batch of apple butter. The apple butter turned out very delicious so I am quite pleased! I think I am going to be quite busy in the kitchen over the next few days.

We also started a huge reorganization project around the house this weekend. We had a spare room that I used to use as a craft room (although I found I never had time to go back there so I had moved all of my things to more practical locations) so we decided to turn that into a play room. We were finding that having toys in the school room was a distraction, so moving everything into a play room just made sense. There was quite a bit of rearranging and moving things to different rooms, so the house feels like it's in a bit of an upheaval right now. But I am working on getting it all straightened out. :)

I will get the next verse of Proverbs 31 sent out later today.

Hugs and Blessings,

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Harvest Blessings

Our new friend is going today to a shop in town and is picking us up a few bags of potatoes, she found them for 15 lbs for a dollar! It looks like we are going to be having quite a few potatoes in the near future! She is also giving us a bunch of the pumpkins left over from her harvest gathering decorations, so I am going to be making some pumpkin recipes as well. It is so neat how God can provide for our needs, even when we are not struggling financially. I have learned that many times He provides things for us that we do not yet know we need, so perhaps He is supplying food so that funds may go to other needs. We may never know, but I am thankful nonetheless!

I started a new Yahoo Group. I had never really thought about doing something like that, as I am really rather shy and tend to like to leave the leading up to someone else. But the subject kept coming up and finally I realized that perhaps I should listen! I pray that God will use this tool for His purposes and that someone may be blessed by it. Maybe it will be an encouragement to me as well :).

We have reworked our schedule again. We tend to rework it frequently to keep it updated and working best. We tried a little different approach this time though as we were discovering that often times we would need to rearrange our day according to the children's needs. So we wrote each block of time on a separate index card for each family member and put them up on the wall. This way we can take a card and swap it with another if we need to move things around. So far we really like it and it is working well. Jacob liked that I color coded it (a child after my own heart :)). He was excited to start following the new schedule and frequently runs over to ask which one we are doing next. It would be neat to have pictures of the different activities and then make a schedule with pictures for the little ones to follow. I may have to do that at some point...

I finally finished the cross-stitching that I was working one, and have already begun another project. I have also been struggling to learn to crochet. I do not know why but I just cannot grasp this skill. It frustrates me because knitting came easily, as did sewing, and so many other skills, but I just cannot figure this out. I am stubbornly determined though to learn, so I will just have to keep at it!

I am thinking that I might do a verse by verse study on Proverbs 31. I have really been thinking a lot about what the role of a biblical lady really is, what all does it encompass, where are my strengths and weaknesses. I just feel as if I am really wanting to grow in this area. Perhaps I will start a study on the new group...

Harvest Blessings,

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