Weekend Trip ...

My family and I went for a jaunt last weekend to attend a gospel meeting and spend some time together ... it was lovely!

 Parking our boots for the weekend ...

 Traveling basket .. which wouldn't be complete without Tea.

Clouds and fall colors from the hotel window.

Okay. Ryan recommended we visit Powell's book store while we were in the area ... and wow. It changed my life.

Well, that's a little dramatic. But I did come out with a muuuuch lighter wallet than I went in with! *grin*

This is an a-ma-zing bookstore!! The literature section was incredible -- I'm so tickled with the edition of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop that I found. A long time ago, I found two of his other novels in the same edition at a homeschool bookstore, but I haven't seen any similar since ... until Powell's. ;)

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock ...

 

A delightful Chinese restaurant ... YUMMM ...

Sliver moon.

More fall colors and clouds. (I have a thing for them! ;o)

Pioneer Woman episodes!!!

Yes ... more fall colors ... and clouds ...

Was this ever the trip in which I came home with way more than I left with. Ryan generously scalped his monstrosity of a lavender bush, and I now have handfuls and handfuls of some incredible smelling dried lavender!! Thanks Ryan!! 

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October evening ...

Quilts and a holiday cookbook...

Soft light and late blooming Dahlias ...

Susan Branch's Autumn and J. R. Miller's The Family ...

Pumpkins in the dark ...

Caramel Apple Cider ...

Beautiful music ...

Pumpkin Spice Tea.

Ah, October evenings. I love you.

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WHY are we serving God?

 

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It is not wrong to have deep desires, nor is it wrong to make fervent supplications of God. But our desires must be humble, and our supplications must not be demanding. Our doing of what is right must never be contingent on whether God sees things our way in regard to how the universe should be run. It may challenge our faith to do so, but we must always acquiesce in God's will regardless of how His will may affect us personally ... The love to which we should aspire is one that loves God for His own sake, worships Him without compensation, and serves Him without self-interest. These things aren't easy in a world where most of us listen to station WIFM (What's In it For Me?).

Diligently Seeking God, Gary Henry
:: October 10 ::
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The Saturday Evening Post: Of Pumpkin Scones and Motherly Kindness

Tuesday night a few weeks ago, I announced that It Was Time, and I intended to get a Starbucks Pumpkin Scone on my way to work the next morning. I like to plan ahead when it comes to these big things -- celebration of fall, coloring leaves, and all that! ;) 

Pleased with my plan, Wednesday morning in the wee hours (5:40AM to be exact) I steered into the local drive through and cheerfully gave my order. And that remarkably inhospitable Starbucks had the audacity to tell me that they didn't have Pumpkin Scones! Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins (which the Starbucks lady tried to convince me was a suitable substitute, but that is not a substitute at all, no indeed) -- but no Pumpkin Scones, not a one. Someone has apparently messed very greatly with Starbucks Priorities. Or maybe they weren't aware of the fact that October was only two weeks and one day away?

Well. My pumpkin-sconeless morning in tatters, I wended my way to work and later related the woeful story to my mother over the phone. She was duly sympathetic. However, the day went quite well in most respects and by the time I got home in the evening, I had mostly recovered my equilibrium and spirits. In fact, I wasn't even thinking of the morning's sorrowful events when I went into the kitchen and found, on the counter top, the following note accompanied by the results of some surprise baking:

DeeDee,

For your coffee time in the morning!

Love,

Mom

PS: Please put the rest in a bag.

I have a very, very sweet mother. :o)

The End.

Jane Austen on Siblings

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Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply; and it must be by a long and unnatural estrangement, by a divorce which  no subsequent connection can justify, if such precious remains of the earliest attachments are ever entirely outlived. Too often, alas! it is so. Fraternal love, sometimes almost everything, is at others worse than nothing. But with William and Fanny Price it was still a sentiment in all its prime and freshness, wounded by no opposition of interest, cooled by no separate attachment, and feeling the influence of time and absence only in its increase.

~ Mansfield Park: Chapter 24

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How Deep ...

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How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure:

That He should send His only Son,

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss;

The Father turns His face away,

As wounds which mar the chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon the Cross,

My sin upon His shoulders;

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Cry out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there,

Until it was accomplished;

His dying breath has brought me life,

I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything,

No gifts, no power, no wisdom:

But I will boast in Jesus Christ,

His death and resurrection!

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer!

But this I know with all my heart:

His wounds have paid my ransom.

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 Stuart Townend

A Capella version here.

Good reading!

        

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Ryan Sollars, a friend of ours and a brother in Christ, has recently written some excellent material I wanted to share! He's put out two e-books centering on God's view of children in the home, His plan for homemakers, and the heart Christians should have in embracing God's plan for both. I've been encouraged by these e-books. His website is here, and the current materials are here:

How Should Christians View Children

and

Homemaker: A Calling From God?

Ryan has done a great job in outlining the Lord's plan for the family unit from the beginning, and our responsibilities to follow the plan today for His glory. Do hop over and take a look -- and don't forget to check back again, since he has more writings in the works! :)

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