Giving Thanks Saturday

"Such a blessed people should be a thankful people." Cotton Mather

The week of Giving Thanks at Kelli's is coming to an end today. I have been surprised by the JOY of thanksgiving through this little blogging adventure, wow. I wan't even sure if I was going to do it at first and then decided kind of last minute to step into it. Honestly, I don't like to commit to things for the fear of having to follow through with them but this little challenge turned out to surprise me in the end. I didn't have a problem staying commited like I thought I would and God had a few lessons for me to learn along the way. The journey is not over nor will it ever be and I know that He has many more lessons for me as I continue to walk slowly through each path that He has paved specifically for me. This week has made me realize how much I take for granted in this life and has inspired me to give thanks always...

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Now, I want to share a few pictures from my home:

Here is our "Giving Thanks" tree, isn't it cute? It is the best branch that we could find. Also, the leaf prints are the cards we are going to send out today to family and friends telling them why we are thankful for them.

We had so much fun painting our leaves and then making their prints on the paper.

Oh, I just had to share this BEAUTIFUL baby Butterfly with you!! I love her!

My boys left to go out of town today... it wasn't planned but the opportunity presented itself and we all jumped on it. It would have been selfish of me to pass it up, I miss them terribly but I am thankful that they were blessed to go visit with their Nana and a lot of other family that they love so much and don't get to see very often.


"A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart."

Charles Finney

Thanks Kelli for encouraging me to grow in grace and cultivating further in me a thankful heart. I have SO enjoyed myself this week just examining my life and seeing the blessings more abundantly and praising God through them.

I pray that all of YOU who were involved in this Giving Thanks week were as blessed as I was and more!

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Liz, this is for you!!

I started making my own laundry detergent in order to save a little bit of money. I have been doing it for about 6 months and make it about twice a month for a family of 5. It is very simple and I am pleased with the cleanliness of our clothes. Here is a link to a site that has several different ways to make it, I personally use the powder version for its simplicity. I can't say exactly how much I save a month on my laundry but I would guesstimate around 8 dollars a month which in a year equals 96 dollars, I know it doesn't seem like much but it is important to remember that the little things add up.

Today Thoughts....

So I didn't get up at 5:00 this morning to meet with my King, which put me in an imediate grumpy mood, just ask Expresso. I had to within the first few minutes of my morning push the roof off and pull the walls down, which simply means had to ask God to forgive me (roof off) for my sinful behavior and my husband(walls down). I even went to bed at an early hour of 9:30. Mornings are always hard no matter what time I go to bed, I just personally hate them! I wish they would leave me alone, but I know that is impossible and must learn to love them, just like those difficult people in my life. Nancy Leigh Demoss expresses my thoughts exactly:

I battle my flesh, which loves to sleep, is easily distracted, and does not like to sit still and be quiet. I battle my schedule with its never-ending "to do" list. I battle interruptions-many of my own making. There are many mornings when I allow my pillow, the phone, or piles of office work to win out, and have ended up spending only a few hurried moments with Him.

A few hurried moments describes my devotional time this morning... that darn pillow! Maybe I should get a rock to sleep on, that would be less tempting to go back to sleep on.

Later in my morning I got a call from my friend who had to cancel our evening dinner plans due to sickness. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to our fellowship with my friend, I have been looking forward to it since last Thursday but quickly got over it realizing that there is a reason for everything.

I do have some good news though... I made my own homemade babyfood last night saving a good bit of money. It was fun! I made green beans and blueberries. This morning I used the blueberry juice leftover from the food for her cereal, she loved it. I still have some breads to make today.

Also, I only spent 78.76 yesterday at the grocery store! But it isn't going to stay that way if I don't get busy baking some snacks and bread. That is good, but not good enough. There is still more room for improvement. Today I am going to print out my price book pages and record my prices from yesterday.