Too Soon to Say

Check out this post on Mrs. B.'s blog. It is a really neat illustration of how God is in control; we need to not be narrow-minded as we see Him work.

Punch-bowl cake

This simple recipe was in my local newspaper some time ago. It comes from the cookbook Down-Home Southern Girl by Queenie Payne. It's really good, and it's easy! Be sure to use butter cake. It's good! :)

(It is, of course, supposed to be made in a punch bowl. I made it for an outdoor party and didn't want it to be in anything that could tip over; so I just used a regular bowl.)

Note: Because my bowl wasn't quite large enough to hold all of the ingredients, I also made a smaller one. I didn't have enough cherries, however. Instead, I put sliced bananas for that layer. It was different, but also good. There are tons of variations that you could think of.

Ingredients:
1 box butter cake mix
1 15-ounce can crushed pineapple
1 15-ounce can cherry pie filling
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
1 16-ounce container whipped topping, thawed
Pecans, optional

Instructions:
Bake cake according to instructions on box. Divide into three parts. Crumble first part in bottom of punch bowl. Pour prepared vanilla pudding over it. Crumble second part of cake on top of pudding, and then add pineapple over it. Crumble third part of cake, and then pour pie filling over that. Then spread topping on top. You may shake nuts on top if you like. Chill until ready to serve.

Real beauty

This short video reminds me of this verse: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." (Psalm 1:1) This verse does not only apply to listening to advice from ungodly friends. It also applies to acquiring our philosophies from any ungodly source. The unseen ungodly people behind most advertising are trying very hard to change our minds in order to fill their own wallets.

Let us not walk in their ungodly counsel. Let us get our view of true beauty from the Bible: "Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (I Peter 3:3, 4) I dare say most of us could use some work on our meek and quiet spirits. I know I have tons of room for improvement!!

That rare quality of having a godly, meek quiet spirit is truly beautiful.

Let's reclaim Christmas!

Please read this article from abcnews.go.com:
Christmas Returns to Wal-Mart Marketing

According to this article, the voice of Christians who demanded that our God be given the recognition that He deserves at Christmas time has been heard! Hallelujah!

If you read my previous post, you will know that the whole "happy holidays," "holiday tree" stuff really infuriates me. God should get the credit for this holiday! This holiday is Christmas!!

It is wonderful to see that our efforts have begun to pay off. This is a good reminder to us that we can make a difference.

Let's continue to make a difference by giving these stores some feedback. According to the article, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, and Macy's have begun using "Merry Christmas" in their stores; and Best Buy has not. And I know that last year, Target was also very anti-Christmas. Here are the links to the contact pages to these businesses. If we send them e-mails thanking those who have made the right choice and also send e-mails to the other stores politely informing that we are offended by their actions and will not shop there until they choose to show some respect to God, then they will listen! And remember, if you are able to send a snail mail letter, those tend to carry a little more weight.

These businesses need to hear our thanks:
Wal-Mart

Kohl's

Macy's (fill in the part that says "Other Order Questions")

We need to ask that these stores begin using the word "Christmas":
Best Buy

Target

K-Mart (In their weekly ad, I counted that 75% of the time that the word "Christmas" was clearly appropriate, they used the word "holiday." The 25% that they did use "Christmas" was usually something like the name of a CD that they can't control. They did have a little slogan with the word "Christmas" on the bottom of some of the pages, but I think that their other efforts overpowered that one gesture.)

If you know of any other stores that are doing the right thing, put in a comment and let us know so that we can shop there and thank them! If you know of any other stores that need some more "prompting" from us, let me know and I will try to get their contact info also.

Please get this information to your friends so that we can let these businesses know that we care about our God and do not want to see Him left out!

An inspiration to be a lady

On Sunday after church, Mom and I were invited to lunch at the home of a single lady from our church. She has done such a beautiful job with her little house! I think that she has excellent taste. Her home is just gorgeous!

I was so impressed by what a sharp lady she is. Even though she has never married, (which is sad, because some man is really missing out!) she has applied herself to homemaking and ladylike things. Everything in her house makes it quite evident that a lady lives there. Everything was beautifully arranged, and each item that she has was carefully chosen. She has a lovely collection of quilts and needlework projects that she has made. The beauty of her house is obviously the result of a ton of hard work. She also prepared an outstanding meal and was quite hospitable in every way.

It was a great example to me that she, an unmarried woman, had still created a ladylike, God-honoring home in which to receive guests and minister to us by practicing godly hospitality. I sometimes think that it would be nice to join "the club" of women who have the opportunity to do all of those things that women like to do. I feel that my heart is in those areas but that I am unable to do much because I am unmarried. And in one way, I cannot deny that this is at least partially true: because I must work full time, obviously some things have got to go.

But I need to be faithful with the opportunities that I do have. This lady has truly honored the Lord with her femininity and her obvious lack of laziness. It was a great reminder to me to take every possible opportunity and use it to its fullest potential. It is exciting to be a lady serving her Lord!

Funny - Letter from a farm kid

I got this in the e-mail from my friend EM. Thought I'd pass it along, just for a laugh! :-D

(NOW AT San Diego MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING)

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on "route marches," which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The country is nice but awful flat. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,
Alice

WoodWick Candles

You must try a WoodWick candle. I have seen them sold at Cracker Barrel and on this web site. They smell wonderful! Because they have a wooden wick, they make a crackling fire sound when they burn, which is nice. But the really great part is how good they smell! Wow.

I had noticed them at Cracker Barrel, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to spend approximately $20 on a candle that I didn't know I would like. But then I was at a friend's house, and they had a WoodWick candle burning. It smelled great. We blew it out and went out; and when we came back, even though it had been hours since the candle had been burning, it still smelled good in the whole living room. The next day I went to Cracker Barrel and bought one for myself. I bought the caramel scent, and I love it! It smells much stronger and lasts much longer than my Yankee Candle. I can't wait to try out the other scents.

Article about political contributions

I found this article interesting. We frequently forget that the business we support are supporting many organizations themselves. Where we buy our products does make a difference! This article is about supporting political parties, but of course business also support many other causes as well.

I am glad to see that Target supports the Republicans. Last Christmas, we were all horrified to see their strong refusal to mention the word Christmas in their stores at all. I, for one, am very much offended by the phrase "Happy Holidays." I will not buy anything with that phrase on it! Why call a Chrismas tree a holiday tree? What other holiday is it for? It's not for New Year's. It's not for Kwanzaa. It's for Christmas. But they just don't want to use His name or recognize Him at all.

This Christmas, I encourage you not to buy anything that says "Happy Holidays" where it should say "Merry Christmas." These executives only listen when their wallets are affected. Our God has done so much for us; how can we do Him this great disrespect?

Well, enough venting -- back to the topic at hand. :) Here is the article:

Buy a Latte, Support a Political Party

Caught in the web

Here are some sites/blogs that I would like to recommend:

http://charmingthebirdsfromthetrees.blogspot.com/ - The author says, "This blog will be used to encourage a more feminine and beautiful way of living. I will post a variety of different quotes, inspirations, and stories in addition to my own journey."

http://grammarnerdsunite.blogspot.com - A new blog for people who like grammar. Check it out!

http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com - This is a great site with some fantastic articles. I have many of their articles saved in a notebook.

http://makingahouseahome.blogspot.com/ - She has some neat posts, as well as some great links to other blogs and sites.

Blingo - Click on the blue button I have on my sidebar. It is just a search engine, but prizes are given away for searching. If you sign up through my button and you win something, I win something too! Yay. :)

The sad decline of Charlotte Church

I warn you that if you read this article, you will be offended. It is very sad to see what has happened to her. I will definitely not be interested in hearing her music now.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060930/OPINION03/609300405/1008/OPINION01

Using the best words for His glory 1

Okay, I realize that this is a bigger deal to me than it may be to some of you. But as a dedicated English teacher, I cannot help but use this medium to promote the proper use of our language. After all, we would never want our careless presentation to detract from the message we have to deliver.

God is a God of order: grass grows upward, water flows down a hill, and so on. Although the Bible does not contain grammar instructions, the nature of God shows us that there are absolutes. This philosophy applies even to the everyday use of words. When a word has a defined meaning, it is important to use the word correctly. More and more frequently, people have been using words to say things that those words do not exactly mean. If this continues, we will eventually have chaos instead of communication as everyone uses his favorite word to mean whatever he wants it to mean.

Occasionally, I would like to present a few common usage problems and the solutions for how to avoid them. Let's do what we can to preserve the meaning of our language. (Don't worry. I do not plan to include grammar diagrams in any of this series.) :)

I'll start with a simple one: anxious vs. eager. We seldom use the word eager, and we seldom use the word anxious properly. According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, anxious means "uneasy and apprehensive about something uncertain; worried." Eager means "having or exhibiting keen interest, intense desire, or impatient expectancy." Basically, anxious and eager both indicate one's emotions while waiting for something. Eager indicates a positive excitement, and anxious indicates a nervous expectation.

Therefore, if you told me "I'm anxious to see you next week," I would wonder what it is about me that scares you. I'll try to be nice, really. The gracious thing to say is "I'm eager to see you next week." Unless we honestly mean that we dread what is ahead, eager is the better word choice.

Bottom line: when talking about a future event, use anxious when you are nervous about it and eager when you are looking forward to it.

Speak out about Rosie O'Donnell's comments

Surely you have heard about Rosie O'Donnell's hateful comments about Christians on The View. This is outrageous! Why is she allowed to say whatever she wants to about us?
To send an e-mail to ABC about this, go to this address:

https://secure.afa.net/afa/activism/takeaction.asp?id=214

Remember, Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." We cannot sit idly by and watch people like Rosie tear down the name of our God, comparing His followers with terrorists. The least we can do is send an e-mail. The network must see that there are people out there who care. There is also a mailing address (click on the link and scroll down) if you would like to send a letter too. I have heard that letters are much more effective than e-mails or phone calls, but any little bit will help.

If you are not familiar with what she said the other day, read this article:
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51956