Homestead Happenings
Issue #79
November 2009
Happy November!!
Hard to believe November is here already and the time has come to
start planning for the holidays! Life on our homestead has been busy. My son
left for Manila in October to spend time with his fiancée and her family. Both
my son and his wife-to-be will be coming home the beginning of December. We are
all looking forward to the holidays with them both here and to begin planning
their wedding!
Thanksgiving is a great time to stop and reflect on life and give the Lord
thanks for all His goodness. This month’s article is on thankfulness. I also
have included information on cooking turkey and using up those turkey leftovers
as well as links to some of my favorite holiday recipes. Plus a few more goodies
added as well. I hope you enjoy this months newsletter!
Have a blessed holiday this month!
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Thank You! Crystal :)
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Thankfulness
By Crystal Miller
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you.
Dictionary definition of: thank
tr.v. thanked, thank•ing, thanks To express gratitude to; give thanks to: We
thank God daily for His provisions
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. The thoughts going through the minds of
my children and I have been a turkey dinner, making pumpkin pies, dinner rolls
and sweet potatoes. We are all very excited. In all of this excitement I have
not wanted to lose sight of why we celebrate this day. It is the desire to spend
a day expressing our gratitude to God for his provisions in my life and His
blessings.
I want to make sure my children understand the importance of this day. I want
them to realize that each and every blessing they receive is from the Lord! I
want to instill in them the need to be thankful on a daily basis even when this
holiday has passed. I want them to learn the value of expressing gratitude.
I have been amazed at how much my attitude about my life and any difficulties I
may be going through or discontentment I may be feeling can so dramatically
change when I simply remember to stop and thank the Lord, no matter what.
Remember the Bible story where Christ healed 10 lepers and only one came back to
thank Him? This story has made me stop and reassess myself and take a look at my
life. Am I stopping and thanking or running ahead and moving on with my life?
Often times, thankfulness is a concerted effort. Who can be thankful for things
that don’t seem to help us at the moment? Or who stops to be thankful for all
that we take for granted in our life?
Thankfulness of the heart will change your life. It can be a healing balm on
situations that could be looked at with depression, gloom, hopelessness and
discouragement. Looking at a situation and stopping and thanking God for it will
result in surprising changes within you!
Instilling a thankful heart in ourselves is a work, but passing this onto our
children is, for me, the motivation to press on! In light of my desire to always
encourage my children to be thankful I have started a tradition with them at
this time of year.
Each year I try and do something to give my family time to reflect on all we
have to be thankful for. I like to start a few days to a couple of weeks ahead
of time. We begin by reading books on the first Thanksgiving. Learning about the
hardships that our forefathers went through is important. They set the example
for us, especially when it comes to being thankful when life is difficult. Then
we examine our own lives and I ask them to share what they are thankful for this
year.
My favorite method of doing this has been to make Thankful Tree. I cut out large
leaves in fall colors and I leave these leaves in a basket with a pen next to
them. As the days before the holiday approach everyone takes the leaves and
writes down something they are thankful for and attaches it to the tree
branches. As the tree fills up with leaves we have them trailing down to the
ground (the base of the tree) and some years we have had big piles of leaves
around the base of the tree.
What has been the best part of this process is that at first everyone one is
thankful for the basic things in their life. I am thankful for my mother,
father, good food to eat and so on. This is good as it is recognition in their
own minds of what God has provided so that they will not take things for
granted. But as the day’s progress they ponder this topic in detail and then
more thought out and meaningful blessings begin to appear on the tree. One child
is thankful that someone showed him how to tie his shoes, or someone is thankful
for a hard working father, or someone is thankful for trees that provide wood
and warmth for our home, someone is thankful for a quiet life that gives them
time to think. The list goes on and on. Thankfulness is often a searching of the
heart and this takes thought and time.
Every year that I have done this my family and I have found that when we do
finally sit down to that wonderful turkey dinner our hearts and minds are
overfilling with thankfulness to God for all the ways, big and small that He has
touched our life.
I have kept many of these leaves from year to year as well. It is enjoyable to
read them and remember those years, what was happening in our life and the
blessings we were experiencing that year. Even in bad years or years filled with
sorrow or disappointment we find that we have much to be thankful for. God is
good all the time, His love never ending and His provisions for our life
complete in all we need and for this we “Give thanks in ALL things for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning me”.
I pray you all have a blessed Thanksgiving Day and that your hearts are filled
to overflowing with thankfulness to HIM!
Crystal :)
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Visit Crystal's Country Store!
New
eBook from The Family Homestead:
Freezer Cooking with Meal Starters:
The the Stress Out of a Busy Day by Being Prepared!
For more info: http://crystalscountrystore.com/freezercookingebook.htm
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In The Kitchen
This month the talk is all about turkey! First off do you need some info on how
to roast a turkey? It may be your first time or you may just need a refresher
because it has been a year since you roasted one! Here is the info:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/howtoroastturkey.htm
Now after Thanksgiving you may find yourself with a lot of leftover turkey and
wondering what to do with it. Well maybe some of these ideas will help:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/turkeyleftovers.htm
Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes
I cook very traditional foods for Thanksgiving. I don’t experiment a lot
because my kids all have their favorite recipe that I make and would be
heartbroken if I experimented and tried something new! ~smile~ So here are a few
of my tired and true favorite foods that I make each year:
Mashed Potatoes:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/yummymashedpotatoes.htm
Sweet Potatoes:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/favoritesweetpotatoes.htm
24 Hour Fruit Salad:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/24hrfruitsalad.htm
Spiced Cranberries:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/spicedcranberries.htm
Hot Mulled Cider:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/mulledcider.htm
Holiday Eggnog:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/eggnog.htm
Pumpkin Pie:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/pumpkinpie.htm
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In The Home
Looking for an easy project to do with your children? How about making a
Thankful Tree?
http://thefamilyhomestead.com/makeathankfultree.htm
Need an easy centerpiece for your dining room table for Thanksgiving?
http://thefamilyhomestead.com/simplethanksgivingcenterpiece.htm
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Herbs and Family Health
With the cold and flu season upon us it is nice
to have some simple herbal remedies to help in the event you get sick. Two herbs
that are easy to use and easy to have on hand are ginger and slippery elm.
Ginger
The part of the plant that is used is the root. Ginger makes a good tea to drink
when you have a cold as it helps with stuffed up noses. It is also known as a
mild sedative and can help with fevers. Add a little ginger (and garlic) to your
pot of chicken soup to help fight the common cold. Or make yourself up a cup of
ginger tea; it is very easy to do using fresh ginger root. You can purchase
ginger root in the grocery store.
Ginger Tea
Grate 2 T to 3T fresh ginger root. Add to 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and cover and let this steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Strain and
sweeten to taste with honey. If you are fighting the common cold add a slice or
two of fresh lemon to the water too.
Or an alternative:
Use 1 teaspoon of ginger powder and add this to a large mug of hot boiling
water. Let this steep for 5 or more minutes. Add honey to sweeten. You can add
lemon juice to this tea if you would like.
Slippery Elm
The inner bark is used in this medicinal herb. My most common use for slippery
elm when you have a cold is helping with sore throats. A tea made of this herb
is very soothing for a sore throat. You can purchase the herbs through a health
food store or from
http://www.bulkherbstore.com/ or
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/
.
Slippery Elm Tea
Take one teaspoon of the dried herb and put it in a small sauce pan. Pour one
cup water over and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover with a tight fitting lid.
Let this simmer for 20 minutes. It takes this amount of time because the herb is
a bark and needs the extra simmering time to extract all its helpful properties.
After the simmering time is up, strain the herb out and sweeten it with honey to
taste.
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FYI
Have you ever thought you saw some article on my site but then find you can’t
locate it again? Well, finally I now have a search page to help you out! Here it
is:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/search.htm You can find this link on
the top of the main page of the site too.
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Facebook
The Family Homestead is now on Facebook!
Click Here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Family-Homestead/115582552812
If the link is not working you can do a Facebook search for: "The Family
Homestead" and will easily find it.
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That is all for November! I hope you all have a blessed month in your home!
You can Email Me:
crystal@thefamilyhomestead.com
My Website: The Family Homestead
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com
My Store: Crystal’s Country Store
http://crystalscountrystore.com/index.htm
Visit My Blog!
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/quiverfull
Clipart by Lisa’s Country Clip Art:
http://www.countryclipart.com/ and/or Graphic Garden:
http://www.graphicgarden.com/
and Marchia's Graphic Garden:
http://graphicgard.topcities.com/
Copyright: Crystal Miller, 2009 Please ask permission before using any of my
articles other than for personal use!
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