Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving day

This year Thanksgiving dinner was held at Aunt Carmen and Uncle Tim's house in Port Huron.  The day before, all of us girls had a list of items to make and bake.
We cooked pumpkin in the morning and made up the Pumpkin pies in the afternoon.
Spiced nuts are an annual snack at our thanksgiving, so a double batch was stirred together for the morrows feast.
As a change up on the normal apple pie (though we do love plain apple pie!), Faith tried out a recipe for fresh cranberry apple pie.  It was delicious, and definitely something to repeat.
The next day (though warmer than I would have liked) was lovely, more because of the company than the weather.  Grace came along with us, and Josh and Theresa joined us at Aunt Carmen's house. 
The tables were spread and all the ladies hovered around the kitchens putting the last touches on the meal.
"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."
"Praise the LORD!  Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD!"
"For His merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the LORD endures forever.  Praise the LORD!"
"The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him."
"I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works."

"I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High."
"Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!  For His mercy endures forever."
"Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!  For His mercy endures forever."
" Oh, give thanks to the LORD!  Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!"
"Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works."
It was a wonderful time of celebration thanksgiving and fellowship.
~Chs

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Giving Thanks!

  
"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms."
Psalm 95:2

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Colossians 3:17
 


"I will Praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving"
Psalm 69:30

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
2 Corinthians 9:15

"Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God,"
Psalm 147:7

"Amen!  Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever, Amen."
Revelation 7:12

Monday, November 21, 2011

To Wisconson and Back Again

Last week we had an opportunity to travel to Wisconsin.   The Metz girls were throwing a surprise birthday party for Mrs. Metz, and Mother, Faith and I were delighted to be able to attend.  So we set out Monday evening stopping for the night at a charming Inn located in Porter Indiana.  If you ever are over that way (at the bottom of lake Michigan) we highly recommend "The Spring House Inn".  The Inn is made in the Swiss chalet style, and is set in a peaceful wooded area. 
The next morning we awoke and began the second leg of our journey.  We traveled through the flat lands of Illinois, and the "wonderful" experience of toll roads (The payment points are often, and the rest stops, or oasis's, are few and far between!).
Then we made it to Wisconsin, (Goodbye Toll Roads;)and took a quick stop at the Wisconsin welcome center.

This is where we were...
and this is where we were going.  Practically all the way across the state.
So we jumped back into our faithful Buick and continued on our journey.  God had blessed us with a beautiful day; the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun shone brightly lighting up the ever changing landscape.
As we got closer to our destination the lay of the land changed and ever growing hills seemed to arise out of the plains.
Here and there the roads sliced through such mountains (at least they looked like mountain to us Michiganders) revealing jagged rocks and sand layers.
There were many little ranches and large farms set at the foot of the hills, many of which we admired photographed and sighed over;)  One farm had its name painted boldly on the side of a small barn; Almosta.  Almosta Farm:)
We passed many quaint country churches surrounded by corn fields, and finally turned on their road.  Because it was a SURPRISE party we parked in the parking lot of a church a 1/4 mile down the road.
The house was already full of laughing voices and cheerful bustling activity.  Tea was being made, bread cut, desserts displayed, and decorations hung and scattered around. 
We soon received the call from Mr. Metz that Mrs. Metz was on her way.  Quickly everyone crowded into the kitchen and squeezed as far away from the windows as possible.
Despite several Ladies telling Mrs. Metz that they couldn't come to her party (I guess they missed the Surprise part;) she  had no idea of the party being on this particular day, and was entirely astonished and pleasantly shocked.
After Mrs. Metz had recovered from her surprise and had greeted everyone in turn, Elizabeth managed to gather everyone into the living room, for prayer and then tea.
There was an astonishing variety of beautiful, and dainty teacups; enough for everyone, and plenty of delicious and dainty foods.
Once the luncheon was over we played a few games, one being a questionnaire on how well you know Mrs. Metz!
The games over, we squeezed into the living room for the opening of gifts.
There was plenty of laughter and stories and thank yous over each and every gift.
The girls stood after all the presents had been opened, and proceded to sing a beautiful birthday song that they had written for their mother.   After their tribute was finished, we all raised our voices in praise to our Creator, whoever had a hymn book would name a hymn and the number and so it went for the rest of the party. 
As the sun sank lower, the guests all left, except us, as the Metz were kind enough to have us spend the night.
Faith and I were treated to a new experience while at the Metz - that of butchering a goat!  It was quite an educational sight, and Faith is sure now that she could butcher a goat herself if ever called upon to do so:)
The next morning we rose early to help with chores and see the farm in the daylight before we had to head homewards.
The sun had just recently peeked over the hills, as we marched out to the barn to milk the goats.
The Metz have a "slightly" larger farm operation than us, and Faith and I enjoyed helping them milk a couple of their row of goats.
When the chores were finished the girls took us up to the hay loft of the barn.  The Metz grow and cut their own hay, and the loft was filled with stacks and stacks of bales.  We finished our tour of the farm and rather reluctantly began packing.  We left amid waves and hugs, and began to retrace our steps (or the road) to Michigan.
We passed back over the Wisconsin river, as we drove towards Madison, but after Madison we changed our plans, and decided that since it was midday, we would drive through Chicago!
So through Chicago we went, the skyline rising before us, majestic and solid.

We took the Chicago skyway, which rose above the city and passed right by Lake Michigan.
It was the first time Faith or I had seen the Lake from this side:)
Soon we saw the sign welcoming us to our home state, and we settled in for the last leg of our journey.
God blessed us with a beautiful sun bow which shone in the sky as the sun set, a beautiful reminder of the beauty of our Creator.  It was a wonderful trip, and we were very happy to be able to see our new friends again.  Thank you for your hospitality Metz family, may God bless you!

~Chs


Friday, November 18, 2011

A Smelly Story

God's amazing creatures come in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes.... and smells.
A week or two ago we were "fortunate" enough (okay well maybe fortunate is not quite the right word:) to run into one of God's more, umm, shall we say, scented little mammals.  You see, Josiah had set out a couple of live traps when he had his meat chickens out in the meadow, and one morning we were eating breakfast and noticed an unidentified object stuck in one of Josiah's traps.  Josiah and Dad headed out, ready to dispatch the troublesome animal, but soon had to call for reinforcements.  It was a skunk!!
Armed with my camera (to document the story) and a pitchfork (to help open the trap) I trotted off to assist in the stinky rescue.  After many futile attempts, and amid the stomping of the little fellows feet, we managed to open and prop up the front door.  Problem solved right?!  Wrong.  He wouldn't leave.  We tried to persuade him out (picture three adults calling and whistling to a skunk as if it was a disobedient puppy) and we tried to intimidate him out.  It was during one of these maneuvers when he released his back up plan.  Dad and I were South of him, Josiah was North of him, and the wind.... You guessed it, was coming from the North right towards Dad and I!  Wow! He certainly was equipped with a very powerful defense system.
When the smell had died down a bit we began our rescue efforts again.  We just about had the back door open, when.... He walked out!!  Just like that - he waddled his way to freedom.  Suddenly, to our rising horror, he turned, looked at us, then ignoring our shouts and pleading cries of "No NO! Don't go back, PLEASE!!!!" he proceeded to reenter his happy little home, also known as our trap.
Uhuh.  Pitiful isn't it.  So we left him there.  He wasn't going to come out if he didn't want to anyways, so after wasting an hour or so of our morning (besides the adorable pictures of course:) we finally did what he wanted us to do.  We left him to his own devices with both doors open just in case he ever decided to go in search of a more suitable abode.  And he did, but not until lunch time, and of course he left in secret silence, not even saying goodbye or leaving a thank you note. 
So much for the gratitude of animals.

~Chs