thanksgiving blessings

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i have so much to be thankful for.

my heart overflows with gratitude

for the blessings

that the Lord has bountifully bestowed upon our family.

i could seriously never express them all, 

but here are a very small few.

{small in number, not in blessing}

God is soooo good, isn't HE?

i thank Him for dying on the cross for a lowly, wicked sinner like me, 

giving me the Hope of spending eternity with Him.

my {healthy} Hope.

i thank Him for His Word, our Great Treasure, that clearly shows us the path we ought to be on, gives us answers to every question, problem, or burden that we may be dealing with, 

and comforts us in our deepest times of need.

i thank Him for my family, and how unique and special each and every person is to me.

i thank Him for an amazing church and church family.

i thank Him for our pastor, a true shepherd, 

who faithfully preaches the Word of God and tends so diligently to his flock.

i thank Him for a loving husband, who teaches me{in actions} about unconditional love 

and having uncompromising vigor for the Lord.

i thank Him for the privilege of having children, that teach and bless me continually with their child like faith{and crazy antics}. 

i thank Him for my home, my haven, a place of solace, warmth and comfort.

i thank Him for full tummies, and never having to wonder where my next meal will come from.

i thank Him for warmth.

a warm home, a warm heart.

i thank Him for my friends, all of you, who have been such a blessing to me.

i'm really, really thankful that His mercies are new each day, 

because i mess up.

a lot.

the list could go on and on and on.....

i pray that your thanksgiving is filled with love and blessings from the One who 

is the Giver of all good things.

tomorrow we're headed to not one, but two thanksgiving dinners.

we have a guest coming, too! yay!

i can't wait to load up my squash bake{heavenly}, grab my crew, 

and count. my. blessings.

much love to you all!

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Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 100

xo

{advent} calendars...decisions, decisions

well hello there again!
two posts in one day...
i know. i know.
my husband took the kids tonight and i am all alooone.
very rare, indeed!

i have been cleaning and watching Pride and Prejudice.
what a shocker!
IAmSoPredictable.
i would actually rather be watching Little Women right now,
but our VHS hook up isn't, well, 'hooked up', so i'm stuck.
no, i have NO idea how to hook up cords and cables.
:D

i've been browsing pinterest a tad this evening and started looking at advent calendars.
i want to make one with the kids soon!

here are some of my favorites.

1.

source

2.

source

3.

source

4.

source

5.

source

6.

source 

so what do you think?

do you use an advent calendar?

do you have any other awesome ideas for me!?

please, please share!

my favorite one {for easy sake} is #2,

and the one i would love love love to have is #3.

#4 comes in close, too.

man, i am indecisive. 

i'd love to see your ideas and hear which one here you would choose, if any.

hope you have a great weekend!

xo

Overruled

Your rights as a parent are fading fast.

This docudrama briefs you on what has happened, how the government believes it can treat parents, and what you can do to help keep the UNCRC from tearing down our nation…

ParentalRights.org’s goal is to pass the following amendment to the U.S. Constitution to protect the fundamental rights of parents in raising their children:

“SECTION ONE: The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

“SECTION TWO: Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

“SECTION THREE: No treaty may adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.”

Get involved: Sign the petition, follow them on Facebook here and here, spread

the word to your friends and family, write your newspaper, call your Congressmen.

Donate to ParentalRights.org
{HERE}

Protect your Children by Protecting Your Parental Rights.


i hope you take the time to listen to this.
it is worth every second.
how scary that this could happen to any of us.


xo

information via simply vintage girl

:::field trip fun: lefse edition:::

i told you i would be back!
:D

i may be a few hours late,
but here are some pictures of our lefse making adventure 2011!

 look!  a pac-man lefse!

you can be sure i rolled that beauty.

;)

my adorable niece, violet.

 i love my mother-in-law.

she has taught me so much.

perfection.

maddie is all business when it comes to domestic affairs.

especially in the kitchen.

elly takes the pin for a bit.

 my sister-in-law, ashley, and my girls.

 get in line!

as you can see, 

it was a successful day.

:D

what a blessing to have wonderful in-laws.

i really try not to take that for granted.

i am so thankful for all of them.

if you have been reading around here lately, 

you know that my niece, Charis, is in the hospital.

i am going to keep asking you all to pray for her,

because she needs it desperately.

you can even grab my picture on the sidebar and spread the word.

i believe in the power of prayer.

i believe that God can and will do mighty things in our family,

especially for Charis.

her tests came back negative for leukemia and several other things, 

but the doctors are at a loss for what is causing the infection and fevers.

God is our Great Physician.

He knows everything and has it all under control.

we pray for precious Charis' healing and for God to be glorified throughout this time of trial.

thank you so much.

prayer changes things.

"The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!"

J. Hudson Taylor

i hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

deer hunting starts around these parts tomorrow.

can you feel the excitement?

oh, i can!

blaze orange, license tags, and a rifle tucked in it's case are all present here at the krause house.

:D 

xo

linking up here and here.

it's lefse day!

well, it sure seems like i hardly have the time to pull together a 'decent' post these days.
yaknowwhatimean!?
there's just not enough time to sit down and actually gather my thoughts
and say what i wanna say.

do you have that problem?

that being said,
i'm going to do it again.
just bits and pieces here today.
:D

it's lefse making day!
it's lefse making day!

today is the one day of the year that we go over and assist
my amazing mother-in-law in a wonderful tradition.
it's potatoey, it's floury, it's messy, it's buttery, and sugary.
yum.
it's sooo good.

image

so for now, you get a beautiful image i snatched off the internet, 

but i'll be back later to add to this post and show you our fun.

:D

{he was supposed to be smiling}

:D

today, i am embracing the camera.

today, i am thankful for opportunities to do things together as a family.

today, i am asking for your prayers for my niece.

please don't stop.

thank you so very much, friends.

until later today...

praying that you all have a wonderful day!

xo

8.  today i am thankful for interrupted schedules, and the sweet prayers of my friends{near and far} that intercede for our needs.

thank you SO much.

comfort food and a {prayer} request

since i don't have time for my 'most organized Christmas ever' post,

i thought i'd pop in and say hi.  :)

tonight it's all about comfort food over here.

i'm impatiently waiting for the individual meatloaves and baked potatoes to finish baking.

i slathered the potatoes with garlic grape seed oil and the house smells so good.

pretty soon i will pile up the meatloaves with ketchup.

yum.

do any of you like meatloaf with your ketchup?

:D

ok.  enough small talk.  :)

there's something weighing much heavier on my heart tonight.

i wanted to ask you, my friends, a favor.

would you please pray for my niece, Charis?

i have mentioned her before, but not in detail.

she is four.

at nine days old, she received a heart transplant.

an absolute miracle.

she battled cancer this summer{a very aggressive kind}.

she went through two rounds of chemotherapy. 

she is back in the hospital with a terrible mouth/throat infection,

she hasn't been able to eat or drink hardly at all,

and she had a biopsy of her bone marrow today along with a pic line put in.

you never think that something like this will touch your family, 

but when it does, your faith is stretched, and you learn to trust in ways you never thought possible.

i am learning.

my husband and i had the privilege of visiting with Charis for a few hours yesterday.

she doesn't talk much because of her mouth pain, but our time together was precious.

i will treasure it forever.

we are petitioning God to do great things for Charis and her{our} family.

we pray that He will be honored and glorified throughout this time, 

and that His perfect will will be accomplished.

i was reminded this morning that nothing  we experience in this life,

whether it be physical pain, emotional torment, or any struggle of any kind,

is foreign to our great God.

He knows what we are feeling.

he has experienced the pain, grief and devastation that we feel.

we are not alone.

He desires for us to get on our knees before Him.

He never tires of our prayers.

He is my refuge, my strong tower, my hope, my strength, my shelter, and my friend.

so, all comfort food aside, i guess i just wanted to ask for your prayers tonight, friends.

we need them.

xo

7.  today i am thankful for precious moments shared with my loved ones, and my GREAT GOD,  who is my refuge and strength in times of uncertainty and trial.

thank you, Jesus.  

rejoice in the LORD

one of our family favorites.

find more about Patch the Pirate here.

read ron hamilton's story here.

praying you all have a blessed day, friends.

xo

{ten on ten}

my first ever.

here ya go.

our freshly powdered slide and swing set this a.m.

my burnt cinnamon and raisin sprouted bagel with cream cheese for breaky.

{note the messy cream cheese job}

yeah, i was pouting after i burnt the bagel that i  was so looking forward to.

wahhhh!

a mid morning hot chocolate break.

elly.

a trip to our favorite place.

{the thrift}

henry and his new thrift store hat.

{yes, i washed it first. i have ocd, remember?}

beautiful words the Lord gave me this morning.

He has been teaching me a lot about this lately.

:D

slushy snow fort.

homemade chicken and rice soup for supper.

{made with our homegrown chicken}

i'm such a copycat.

 my friend, sandi, is an amazing cook, and she teaches me a LOT.

:D

me and the hankster.

well, i believe that about wraps things up for my first {ten on ten} post.

how fun was that?

:D 

playing around with the camera is kind of fun for me, although i, in no way, pretend to be 

something that i am not.

i am a complete novice,

an admirer of other peoples amazing photo talent.

i would like a better camera.

but this one does the job for now.

i am able to photograph my children and document our lives, 

which i love.

6. today i am thankful for my camera,

 even though it is old and has vision problems.

it views the world through a blurry lens, 
and it functions very slow.

 but it is mine, and so i thank the Lord for it.

i haven't forgotten about the thankful on paper challenge, either.

i have so much to be thankful for, and so many people i want to thank,

it's hard to narrow it down.

but i will.

i definitely will.

also, if you haven't heard about the happy day project, 

check it out!

it's not too late to join in.

bless and be blessed.

happy day, friends.

glad we got to chat today.

xo

linking up here, here, and here.