Thanksgiving Blessings!

We hope you all had a very blessed day of giving thanks to the Lord!

 

Our day got off to a wonderful start with Lydia coming

 over early to help prepare and enjoy a big breakfast.

(We really missed Richie, though, as he was working.) 

 

Then, after our delightful breakfast,

and with a little hop, skip and a jump,

we went over to see these three dear ones,

 

 

 After watching some of the Macy's parade,

we came back to our place to get ready for our big feast!

 

 Looks like Daddy is giving Joe some turkey-carving pointers.

Or is it the other way around? : -)

The feast!

 The moment this young man has been waiting for!

 

After dinner, we had some puppy time . . .

and baby time!

 

We also really enjoyed watching Louie Giglio's "Indescribable" DVD

as part of our thanks-giving to our awesome God!   

 

 

And then . . . the time came to enjoy

Cassidy's AMAZING blueberry cheesecake and

Valerie's apple pie and chocolate pecan pie!! 

YUM!

 

What a wonderful day!!!

We linked this blessed Thanksgiving day visit
over at a dear bloggy friends' place to join in the fun at: 
A Place Called Simplicity


From Our Family to Yours . . .

~ Happy Thanksgiving! ~

"Give thanks to the Lord,

for he is good;

his love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1
 

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men,

for he satisfies the thirsty

and fills the hungry with good things."

Psalm 107:8-9

 

~ As we thank the Lord for all He has done for us,

and for the abundant blessings He has bestowed . . .

YOU are at the top of our list!  ~

 

"O Lord my God,

I will give you thanks forever."

Psalm 30:12b

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us,
and we are his;
we are his people,
the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations."
Psalm 100

May our Lord be pleased
today, tomorrow,

and all year round,

as we all strive to . . .    

"Be joyful always;

pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances . . . "

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 

". . . continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise -

the fruit of lips that confess his name.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others,

for with such sacrifices God is pleased."

Hebrews 12:15-16

". . . be thankful,

 and so worship God acceptably

with reverence and awe."

Hebrews 12:28b



My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness

We really like this song and its lyrics!

We enjoyed playing and singing it for our worship Sunday in November.

And we love Kristyn Getty's beautiful voice singing it!

But we just found this version,

and it just made us especially HAPPY! :-)

~ Enjoy! ~

 

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again;
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With pow'r upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly;
Whose ev'ry promise is enough
For ev'ry step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To him who reigns above,
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,
Whose ev'ry thought is love.
For ev'ry day I have on earth
Is given by the King;
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow him.

Thank You, Lord!

We're praising the Lord for His hand of protection upon an accident Joseph had yesterday!

He fell on a rocky path at church, and his right eye (his only good eye)

took the impact of his fall. 

Because of his very thick eye glass lenses, 

and the Lord's hand of protection,

Joe still has his vision in that eye!!!

His lens was deeply scratched and then popped out,

and the frame of his glasses caused a gash that needed five stitches!

We also praise the Lord for Dr. Ron, that was also at the church at the time,

and was able to take care of him!!! 

c

 

Pure Joy . . .

 . . . both the boy and the puppies! : -)  

 

This is a perfect picture for Valerie's Pure Joy Labradors !

 

The name "Pure Joy" came to be out of
Valerie's love for orphans;

 (James 1:27 verse ~ "Pure religion . . .")

and also the delight to our family of having a
new "bundle of joy" to love through adoption. 

 

(To most folks, it might mean that a
new Labrador puppy would be "pure joy" . . . 

and that works for her, too :- )

Quadruple the Fun ~ Part 5

Happy Birthday, Caroline Joy! 

We thank God for you,

and

we praise Him for all the JOY you bring into our lives!

Your beautiful music is surely one of the many ways you brighten our days!

Thanks for always playing for us! 

 

(Timmy made this sign for Caroline while she
was away at her piano lessons! : -)

You are such a blessing to all of us!!!

We love you soooo much!

 

 

 We love watching you grow into such

a sweet, Godly young lady,

and seeing all the good things

the Lord has planned for you unfold!

Strawberry crepes for breakfast!

"Chicken Acapulco"
(Chicken stuffed with Monterrey Jack cheese and green chilies)
and green bean casserole for dinner!  

Chocolate pecan pie for dessert!

We pray your coming  year will be full

of new blessings

as you seek and serve the Lord with

all your heart, mind and soul!

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In honor of her birthday,

we asked Caroline to play for us a couple of our favorite songs from her repertoire.  : -)

She kindly obliged . . . enjoy!  



Fun Outing Today!

All dressed-up and no place to go! : -)

 

Actually, in the morning, we did get the house and ourselves all cleaned up,

as we were planning to have our scheduled monthly health and safety visit

from Brielle's new case worker at 10am. 

But, it didn't come to pass today, so . . . .

 

we decided to go watch the helicopter at work at a nearby Christmas tree farm!

We were watching him earlier from our kitchen window,

but by the time we got out, he was done for the day.

So, then, we went to DeGoede's Bulb Farm instead,

where we enjoyed a cookie and visiting the big Koi fish in their indoor pond.

 

 And were very blessed to find out that their poinsettias were all stocked

in the close-by greenhouses, ready to go!

Can you see Timmy, Benjamin and Joe?

Aren't they beautiful?!!!!!

 

And we also really enjoyed stopping by to see Lydia!!! 

Sure love living so close to her and Richie!  : -)  

Such a blessing!!!

 

 

Busy, Fun Weekend!

 

Every-so-often we get to enjoy a beautiful sunrise out our kitchen windows.
Thank you, Lord!

"In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun,

which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,

like a champion rejoicing to run his course,

it rises at one end of the heavens,

and makes it circuit to the other;

nothing is hidden from its heat."

Psalm 19:4b -6

 Friday night, we enjoyed having some old friends over for dinner,

and a chance to get caught up with all that is going on in each other's lives.
We had a good time visiting and had lots of laughs!

And they taught us a new, crazy card game!

Then, on Saturday, our family went in FOUR different directions!!!



Valerie enjoyed spending the day with Lydia at her craft fair. 



After a very emotionally and physically exhausting week with trying to save Poli,
and eventually losing her,
Caroline and Victoria were very blessed to drive over the mountains
to pick up these two new ones from a very kind friend and fellow boer goat breeder.
They left at 6am and returned at 10pm!! 
 

This is a picture of all five out of their herd that have come from this same friend and breeder.
(She is one of the top/best boer goat breeders in the area.)
She has been so good to the girls,and the girls have been a real blessing to her with helping to show her goats at shows.
Just this weekend, she needed to sell about half of her large herd,
and as it turned out, she had one that looks just like Poli,
and may also be pregnant!
Amazing timing!
God is sooooo good!
 

 

Meanwhile, Kyle did some landscaping work for some neighbors most of the day,

and the rest of us spent the day shopping!

Today, we had our usual Sunday worship in the morning,
and home fellowship group gathering this evening.
Always makes for a great day!

 

Daddy reading to the boys at the end of our busy weekend!