Christian love

Do You Despise Your Mother?!

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Sarcastic, disrespectful children – it’s a bit shocking to hear, isn’t it?  Ugly words get hurled, like mud balls on the playground creating much more disaster than a load of laundry.  But who are the children?  Who are their parents? I’m not referring to teens and their 40-somethings mom and dad.  I’m talking about grown adults who are hurling the words and attitudes at their elderly parents.

Perhaps it started when the parents got sick and needed special help from their children.  Maybe it began when one of the parents died, leaving just one – alone, struggling, hurting and needy. It cuts into the world and time of a busy adult already struggling with other issues of their own children, marriage and jobs.  This creates pressures and sometimes also causes wrong responses and attitudes towards the people we love and should care for the most.

Our loving God, who knows what happens in families, put a Scripture in Proverbs to remind us to guard our hearts, and to treat our aging parents with love, respect and care.

Why would a child have the temptation to “despise their mother when she is old?”  She may:

  • Be in pain and be “short” with her responses
  • Be low in finances and be very frugal, to the point that you’d be tempted to shake your head
  • Be worried about health issues and be discouraged
  • Be lonely and need your company more often
  • Be sick and need your care
  • Be forgetful and need your helpful reminders of things, appointments, places and belongings
  • Be hard of hearing and need you to repeat yourself more than once

All of the above mentioned reasons could very well test a person’s patience, but let’s face it, when we were young children at her feet, did we not test her patience?  Did she not give us extra attention when we needed it? Why then would we despise her for her needs?

It’s no mistake that the Lord, the Giver of our parents, placed this Scripture in His Word because He knew there would be a temptation for some to “despise” their mom at a time when she may need her children’s understanding and love the most.  Don’t allow the changes that have come to your parents in their latter years to build resentment towards them.  Love them they way that you would want to be treated.  After all, you will indeed reap what you sow.

Lovingly,

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Uncategorized

A New Twist On Chili

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Turkey Chili

I ventured away from my favorite Cinncinati chili recipe last week and tried one with ground turkey, rather than ground beef.  I was amazed at how delicious this was!  This recipe also replaces the beans with corn – a nice swap out in my book!  I served it with avocado, sour cream and tortilla chips, and they were the perfect accompaniment!  Turkey makes it much more healthy by reducing the fat, but you could really fool people in your family with this perfect blend of tomatoes, spices and meat!  They’ll never suspect they’re eating healthier!

I found the recipe on My Fitness Pal’s recipe site.  This is super easy to throw into the crock pot, so you can have a hearty supper ready when you get home!  Here’s the recipe:

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

Ingredients

  • 1 lb 99% Lean Ground Turkey
  • 1 teaspoon Oil
  • 1 medium Onion, minced
  • 1 medium red Bell Pepper, diced fine
  • 1 Garlic clove, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen Corn kernels
  • 10 oz can Mild Diced Tomatoes
  • 8 oz small can plain Tomato Sauce
  • 1/4 cup low sodium Chicken Broth
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher Salt

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the turkey, season with salt and cook, breaking up with a spoon until turkey browns and is no longer pink; place into the slow cooker.

Add the oil to the skillet and sauté the onion, garlic and bell pepper over medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes. Spoon over turkey into the slow cooker and stir in corn and tomatoes, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, paprika and salt, mix until well blended. Pour chicken broth into the crock pot and add the bay leaf.

Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or LOW 6 hours. Serve with desired toppings.

When leftovers look like this, no one will complain!

chili leftovers

Hope you’ll give this recipe (and ground turkey) a try!

With love from my country kitchen,

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Fall · Home decor · seasonal decor

Hand-Sewn Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

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fabric pumpkina

When I attended the Ladies’ retreat at Wolf Mountain camp this month, I got to participate in their fun Craft time!  Woo-Hoo!  They were making a couple crafts, one being the adorable fabric pumpkin pictured here.  It was made in about 30 minutes and was super easy to do.    I chose a paisley fabric for mine, which I thought was so cute.  A soft velour would be nice, too.  Let me walk you through the simple steps.

You’ll need:

  • A rectangular piece of fabric
  • Thread and needle
  • Twine
  • Pillow Stuffing
  • Paper bag for stem

Instructions:

  1. Turn right sides of the fabric together and stitch up the side seams.  I’ve drawn it on white paper to give you an example.  The right side is the folded edge, the left is open.
    wpid-20151022_191442.jpg
  2. Turn fabric right side out and make long basting stitch all the way around the top, leaving a long thread in which to pull and gather the top of the pumpkin closed in a minute. (You’re not sewing the two pieces shut, you’re sewing on one piece of fabric all the way around your circle, so you can gather it and stuff the inside.)
    wpid-20151022_191536.jpg
  3. Pull the thread a little to cause the fabric to gather and make an opening.  Fill the pumpkin as full as you possibly can with the filling.
  4. Pull the threads around the top to close the pumpkin.  Gather the fabric at the top and leave as little bit of the fabric on top as possible – about 1/2 inch.  Sew or tie the top closed. You could even close it with a rubberband; it will be covered.
  5. Using the paper bag, cut off a piece, about 4′ x 8-10″ and twist into pumpkin stem shape.  Using hot glue, attach to the top of the pumpkin.
    wpid-20151013_091446.jpg
  6. Take a long string of twine and starting at the top, leave about two inches, then wrap it vertically around the pumpkin to give it its shape, ending at the top.  Wrap pieces of twine around the paper stem.  Attach with hot glue, or tie off.
  7. I added extra twine around the whole stem, as you can see in the picture below. You can cut out a leaf shape from a contrasting fabric and attach it with hot glue as well.
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I also added little “tendrils” of twine to the top. You could add a little Spanish moss instead. Just be creative and use what you have. Raffia is another possibility.

Wouldn’t it be cute to have several sizes and coordinating fabrics?  I’ll add to my collection, I’m sure.  I hope you’ll making one of these – they’re so easy and lots of fun!

One another note – We’re having a Men’s Conference at our church starting tonight.  You can go here and see times of the services. We’d love to have your husband, sons, brothers or friends if you live in our area!  It’s going to be a wonderful time in God’s Word where men will be challenged to be mighty men of God! What woman wouldn’t want her husband to attend that?  Let’s be praying for them as they attend!

Stay refreshed,

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Fall · Outside decor

Fall Porch Tour

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One of the things that I love about our house is the fact that we have two porches!  They both have seating and a view, too, making it a great place to rest!

Keeping the porches clean and decorated is fun because that means I get to be out there enjoying the countryside beauty and the quiet.  I have been adding fall touches to my porches and this week I finally got some pictures taken.  Now you can see it too!  Ready?

The before picture of the patio table is found here.  I’ll probably wrap the table up and put it in the garage once winter arrives.  Until then, we’ll enjoy hot cups of coffee and cozy nights out there!

Have you decorated your porch for fall?  What do you add?

From my country porch,

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womanhood

Comparison Kills

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Growing up as an identical twin, comparisons were as inevitable and as sure as the sunrise. Anyone that didn’t know my sister and me well would line us up side by side and look at one and then the other. “She’s a little taller. Oh, She has a mole under her left eye. Her face is fuller (never what any girl wants to hear!). Her eyes are rounder.” On and on it went until they could find a feature that would allow them to “tell us apart.”

Unfortunately, however, most females don’t just compare themselves to their sisters for the sake of identification. It continues through the years as a part of our very worth. In the teen years, we compare ourselves to our peers, where we wish “our hair was straight like ______’s, or curly like _____’s”. We also wish we had more of a personality like the popular girl in the youth group or at school. Then we grow up and compare ourselves to other women. Her weight, marital status, number of children, spiritual gifts and talents, career, and fashion are all put on the scales of comparison and leave us most times feeling like we just don’t measure up.

The result of comparison is never good. If we come out on the “short end of the stick,” we feel worthless. If we come out ahead, we deal with pride. So what is a woman to do? We must do the thing that is necessary any time we want to know the truth – Look into God’s Word!

Being 4’9′ made me always feel inferior. I’d compare myself to my tall friends and wish my life away that I was their height. Then when I heard a message on Psalm 139 in my early 20’s, the Lord finally brought me to the place to accept everything about the way the Lord made me.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are thy works;
and that my soul knoweth right well.

I was no mistake, no funny joke to the Lord. He designed me this size, and His creation is not bizarre or wrong, no matter if others would laugh or tease. How could I look into the face of my God who created me “fearfully, wonderfully, and marvelously” and tell Him He made a mistake when He planned my height?

Height is trivial. But then so is…

  • Your nose
  • Your teeth
  • Your body build
  • Your hair type
  • Your number of talents
  • …

The issue is, will we use what we have for God’s glory? He used

  • Small statured Zacchaeus
  • Young David
  • Paul with his thorn
  • Left-handed Ehud
  • Tempestuous Peter
  • Doubtful Thomas

What do you wish you could change about yourself? If it’s part of God’s design, learn to accept it and determine to be useful for the Lord’s honor. Comparing yourself to others will result in death – death of your usefulness, death of your spirit. You are just the way God purposed. Instead of living with comparison that kills, enjoy spiritual life that invigorates!

P.S. And do twins a favor and don’t line them up for your comparison. Let them be the individuals God designed them to be. In time you’ll learn who’s who as you get to know their personality. (I was the ornery one!)

Lovingly,