Do not grow weary!

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart."  

                                                          Hebrews 12:1-3

Do you every grow weary? I know there are times that I do, but this verse has something to help us with that. We need to look to Jesus, concentrate on what He was willing to go through for us. We also need to be aware of all the witnessess that are cheering us on wanting us to make it. Don't give up! Keep going! You can do it! Another thing that is important - get rid of the things that are slowing you down and causing you weariness. What is pulling us from God? What is causing us to run slow? Throw those burdens off!

This is something I need to do some thinking, praying and working on. What about you?

Thanks to God....

Thanks to God for my Redeemer, thanks for all Thou dost provide!



Thanks for times now but a mem’ry, thanks for Jesus by my side!


Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime, thanks for dark and dreary fall!


Thanks for tears by now forgotten, thanks for peace within my soul!






Thanks for prayers that Thou has answered, thanks for what Thou dost deny!


Thanks for storms that I have weathered, thanks for all Thou dost supply!


Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure, thanks for comfort in despair!


Thanks for grace that none can measure, thanks for love beyond compare!






Thanks for roses by the wayside, thanks for thorns their stems contain!


Thanks for home and thanks for fireside, thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!


Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow, thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!


Thanks for hope in the tomorrow, thanks thro’ all eternity!

--August Ludvig Storm, 1891 (hymnwriter)

I love the way the writer of this old hymn truly gave thanks in all circumstances. We can give thanks for unanswered prayers as well as answered ones because we have a Creator that knows way better than we do!

I hope this is a day of giving thanks for you!

Alphabet Adventures E-I

We had another fun week of Alphabet Adventures. Here are some photos of a few of the things we did or ate:

On "E" day we had fun exercising during Homeschool time at the Gym Bin.

Megan enjoyed the trampoline.

Aaron was eager to show off his hanging abilities.

We love to eat Enchiladas!

One of the highlights of "F" day was a lovely show put on by these two cute Furry squirrels (Freddy and Freda of course!) Mara got distracted from her schoolwork when she saw them out her window. Pretty soon we were all distracted from our work, but it was Fun!

Here is Jonathan on "G" day, wearing Gray and Green and eating Granola.

Something else we enjoyed on "G" day was Gingerbread. I made the old fashioned cake type (with lots of good molasses and I even snuck in some nutritious veggies!) which we topped with real whipped cream.

On "H" day I made Harvard Beets for the first time. We are trying to eat beets lately (It was something I had never made before) because of some health problems Megan has been having.

 

On "I" day we had to have Ice cream of course!

We had a busy but fun week. I hope your week was wonderful as well!

20 Homemade gifts for under $10

For Frugal Friday today the Theme was to tell about gifts that where under $10. (I missed that memo and wrote a post on doughnuts instead but since that topic is right up my alley I thought I would post on that too even if it is late.) I will honestly say that most of the gifts that we give in this household are under $10. That doesn't mean that they are worth under $10, but because we are willing to put time and creativity into them they cost us less then $10. So, here are a few ideas that I have shared before. The links will take you to other posts that explain them in more detail.

Gifts you can Sew:

• Scrap Quilts (using an old blanket or something of that sort for the filling)
• Skirt and Shirt.
• Pretty Floral Hair Things.
• A busy/quiet book.
• Finger puppets.
• Mittens.
• A Cowboy Kit (Horse head to attach to bike or stick and a saddle bag and more.) 
• Hot rice packs.
• A Purse.
• A floral tote bag.
• A baby poncho and cloth shoes.
• Decorated gloves. (Something a child can do.)

Gifts from Paper:

• Bingo Game.
• A Note Card Set.
• A pretty Rose.
• Beautiful Baskets from Paper Bags.

Gifts to make with your Glue Gun:

• Clothes pin dolls.
• Monogram Bookmarks.
• Stationary folder.
• A Barbie House and furnishings.

There are so many more that could be listed but I think I will finish with that tonight. We have been having fun making simple, frugal gifts around here. I hope you have fun as well! I would love to hear your ideas and please come back next Thursday and link them up to A Handmade Christmas!

Delicious Doughnuts

I mentioned that I made doughnuts the other day, and I was asked a couple of questions on how, so I thought I would share. Making doughnuts is something that brings back childhood memories for me. It was something that my Mom would do every once and a while and that would make that day a special occasion! Her recipe I will share at the bottom of the post but first I will share a new one that I just tried out.

  I thought it would be nice to avoid the grease that comes with normal homemade doughnuts so I found a recipe for No-fry Doughnuts. Here it is:

• 2 Tablespoons (or packages) yeast
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 4 1/2 cups flour (I used around 4 cups of whole wheat flour)

In mixing bowl mix together 2 cups flour, yeast and sugar. Add the water and milk, stir together. Then stir in salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs and shortening. Beat well for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double. (50-60 minutes)

Then turn the dough out onto a well floured area and roll it around lightly to coat it with flour. (The dough should be soft to handle.) Roll dough to a 1/2 inch thickness. With a doughnut cutter (or you could use a large glass and some sort of small circle to cut them out as well) cut out doughnuts and using a spatula place them on a greased baking sheet, placing 2 inches apart. Brush them with melted butter and let them rise utnil double in size, for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, bake the doughnuts 8-10 minutes until golden. Immediately brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Yeild: 1 1/2 to 2 dozen doughnuts.

When I made these I was a little in a hurry so I rushed the rising times. I think they would have been better if they had gotten their full time. I also didn't immediately brush them with butter when they got out so the cinnamon and sugar didn't stick real well. Henceforth they were not very sweet. Everybody still liked them so maybe that was a good thing!

Now for our old tried and true, but greasy, recipe.....
                                                           Mom's Doughnuts

• 3 1/3 cups flour (When you are deep fat frying it doesn't work to put in to much whole wheat flour as that seems to attract the grease more.)
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 teaspons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients together and then stir in the wet ones until it is well mixed. Put on floured surface and roll out. Cut out with doughnut cutter and fry in 375 degree oil. You will need to turn them so that both sides get golden and then place on paper towels to drain. Dip in powedered sugar or cinnamon and sugar. They are very yummy for a once in a great while treat!

Homemade doughnuts are a much more frugal way to go then buying them and though not the healthiest thing you can make, homemade ones can at least be made better then the ones you can buy.

So if you want to make a normal day special, why not make a batch of doughnuts? Do you have any tried and true recipes that you would like to share? If would be fun if you would add them in the comments, or leave a link to your blog post where you have the recipe.

For other frugal ideas please visit Life as MOM.

A Handmade Christmas ~ Week 5{Decorating}

Welcome to week 5 of A Handmade Christmas!

This past week has been a busy one of decorating for us! Decorating is something I really enjoy as it gives me a chance to be creative and also to do fun activities with my children.

Much of our decorations are handmade. Except for the Christmas lights that Ken uses outside, I don't think I have ever bought anything to use for Christmas decorating. We simply use things that we have on hand or can find in nature. That of course keeps things very frugal (which I like) but also it encourages creativity.

One of our recent projects was candles making. This is our third time to make candles and we decided to try something new: striped candles!

To make candles we simply use old candles that have burnt down to far, or gotten yucky in some way as well as any other wax we can find around the house. I wrote a post with more details here.

To make striped candles (which I didn't explain in previous posts) you simply put in layers of wax one color at a time letting it harden in between. For the tilting stripes you prop your "mold" (like salt boxes) at an angle. Stand it up flat when you do your very last layer.

We also cleaned out some of our old candle holders and filled them with new candles.

Little canning jars are perfect containers for candles as well.

I had seen a neat idea in the Martha Stuart magazine for adding a snowy look to candles. Above Mara is putting modge podge on the outside and then we rolled it in Epson Salts. The finished look was like this:

Candles are fun for decorating your own house with. Our family thinks they are pretty essential at Christmas time. Candles also make neat gifts. If you have old candles and such laying around at your house you might find that they are very economical gifts as well. I will warn you, this is a bit of a messy projects but if you enjoy that sort of thing like we do than you might find it to be very fun!

Today's project was a new wreath for our front door. I thought it would be fun to make one that I could leave up all winter and the picture above was the result. We think it is rather fun!

Materials used were:

~Grapevine which I shaped into a wreath (given to me by a friend).

~Greenery (which I was able to gather after some trees had been cut down on our church property).

~Pinecones which I painted the tips white on and then dipped in Epson Salts so they looked "snowy".

~A white ribbon for a bow.

~ Old white tights for the snowman body

~ Some little old white t-shirts to stuff the snowman.

~An old sock (with a little piece of ribbon) for the snowman's hat.

~Black buttons for eyes and buttons.

~Felt for nose, mittens and scarf.

~Sticks for arms and a backbone.

~Glue gun to stick it all together.

Now it is your turn! Please join me and share your handmade ideas!

To link up~

~Write a post about anything you are doing that is handmade for Christmas. (Gifts, decorations, food, etc.).

~In that post please link back to here.

~Then using MckLinky, add your link to the list. Please make sure it is linking to your specific post (not just your blog).

~Then have fun following the links to see others' great ideas!