Simple Gifts for Christmas...Joy-filled and Christ-centered

Gift making is underway at our home with many helping hands to make the load lighter {although not always neater}.  We are excited to give you a peak at what we will be sharing with family, friends, neighbors, music instructors and others of whom the Lord has brought into our lives.

With the colder weather sneaking back into our Florida days and nights, this makes for the perfect gift to warm the body...



Thanksgiving Learning & Living

This coming week we will stop to give our Lord Jesus Christ thanks for all the many blessings He has given us and reflect back on the history of lives that sacrificed, laboring in order that future generations would have opportunities to enjoy freedom to worship.

We will prepare our home for guests joining us on Thanksgiving Day and we will prepare our hearts by expressing gratitude for all we have, enabling us to extend thanks and hospitality with those the Lord has brought into our lives.

Plans for our week include sending our Thanksgiving Family Newsletter out with photo cards to many family, friends & loved ones.  We will put our hands to preparing little blessing baskets for neighbors & others to express our thanks for them.  We will prepare our meal, cooking & baking special foods together making memories & sharing traditions along the way.  We will surely recall prior Thanksgiving Days, telling the next generations of God's faithfulness & of the wondrous deeds He has done.  Here's a look back at just some of the memories of more recent Thanksgivings...


Making Memories with Country Flare...

Making Skirts....

Prelude to the Fall Jamboree


Each year our family makes plans to attend the Fall Jamboree and this past weekend was that time again.  The blessings of this time of memory making and sharing in the joys of friendship are always plentiful.

It is always a time for new skirts and this year was no different.  The days fly by around the Smith home so Friday night was here before I knew it.  Kailynn asked Friday afternoon if I would make her a new skirt to wear to the Jamboree and I didn't foresee any reason I wouldn't be able to.  She had picked out the fabric from my fabric bin and the plan was set in motion. 




The Dawn of a New Day...



Today, is a new day. His word says:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24
When these times have such a weight and heaviness to them, I must now ACTIVELY renew it with truth and this is one of the verses that I will recall. The outcome of the election is what it is...and God is still in control. Be renewed and reminded:
  • “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
  • God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. Psalm 46:1-3,7
  • ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10
  • Casting the whole of your anxieties on Him, because for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
  • Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22
  • I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Psalm 16:8
I read a post this morning which also called me to be hope-filled {in Christ}. Our work is set before us, let us not grow weary and be down-cast. Kelly's post is titled, "More Important Than Voting in the Election." Let us all seek to encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. {1 Thessalonians 5:11}

By His Grace ~

 
 
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