And Like A Good Neighbor!

Well I got this idea in prayer on how to be a better witness to our neighbors, but it still took a little preparation to put it all together. What came to me was to make some goody baskets and hand deliver them and hopefully get to know them (neighbors) a little bit better. So my husband and I put together the baskets to deliver them today. What we started with is this simple ordinary basket we picked strawberries in last year (Below)

I did some baking for part of the goody baskets as well. Here we have little loaves of apple bread. I also made some banana nut bread as well.

Here are the loaves after I put on the topping.

Then we put together bags of Pecans, White Chocolate covered pretzels and chow mien noodles, and plum preserves from over the summer (Below). Oh and I almost forgot we put in some candy canes too!

Then I took the baskets and covered them with burlap material and tied the top with Raffia with the help of the Jeff's thumb to hold the knot. Next I used multi-colored tissue paper and laid it inside and I started putting in the goodies. And here is a close look at the final product.

I had an idea that I would put together five baskets for the five places we wanted to bring them to so below is all five of the baskets and off we go to deliver the goodies.

We were able to deliver 4 of the 5 baskets this afternoon and the neighbors all loved them. We we had some good conversations and a guided tour of one of our neighbors houses. My husband was also able to volunteer his help to one of our neighbors that needs a few things done around the house and are unable to do them. I remember a statment from a while back that we heard and that is "it takes so little to be above average" and I am glad we could do something like this for people we live around everyday. We also are seeking to exceed the expectation of a good neighbor this year!

Homemade Winter Centerpiece

Since Christmas 2009 has become a memory I had to take down all our Christmas stuff, and in doing so I had to remove the Christmas centerpiece I had on my table; however, since it is still going to be winter for quite a while I took a little bit of time and some left over items and I was able to make the winter centerpiece shown below. Maybe this will inspire you to take something and make one of your own. If you do reply with a picture if you want and we can see how many creative people are still out there. I know some of you reading this wont be able to resist the challenge...lol

First we started with some logs cut and screwed together in different sizes.

Then you take some pine cones

And glue them into different places.

Then add some greenery

And some berries

and then get some snowmen or whatever you have for winter and set them around on the logs .
(The snowmen we didn't glue in place in case we wanted to use something else later)

Finally the finished product.

Anyone want to venture a guess at where this wood came from? (Thank you Sister Judy!)

Let it Snow!!!

Well we sure woke up to surprise this morning didn't we? As soon as we knew there was snow on the ground we went and got out the camera to take some pictures. Of course Jeff had to turn the lights on because they look so much better in the snow, don't you agree? Seeing that Jeff is from the North, hence the name of this blog, it is nice for a little of the north to reach us down here.

Here is a few more pics of the snow around the house.

Here is one looking down our street.

There was enough to cover the car too!

Then since there was snow we had the bright Idea to get a family picture at 7:30am on Saturday. So off Jeff went to get the ladder to set the camera on and use the timer to take the picture..........

Ok well as you can see above a 2 second timer just isn't long enough! lol

Yes a 10 second timer is much better!

On the way back inside we thought we would write a message in the snow.

Stockings Galore

Well, I'm going to be joining some friends who are doing DPP , so to start that out today I made stockings at Kimi's house. We had a great time and lots of good laughs. This year we have two new children I needed to make a stocking for, Joey(chasity's husband), and Heidi( Jud's wife). I was very pleased with the way they turned out. Tanner of course had to have a giant stocking, because he is the baby (even though he is 17 now). He still thinks he should get what ever he wants, he calls it the baby syndrome, I call it spoiled.It turned out to be a wonderful day and was very productive. Wish you could have been here Tammy I know Kimi would have really liked that. Well can't wait till tomorrow to see what everyone is doing, including myself. God Bless!!!!

This is some of the different material we had.

Here are our sewing machines, were ready now!

We used a newspaper for the pattern and it worked very well.

Here is Kimi working on the hangers for them.

Here they are all finished. I haven't hung them yet, but that will come soon.

Life is always changing

Well a lot has happened since my last blog. First of all we have a new daughter (since our son got married), and we are so blessed to have Heidi in our family. Heidi is going to be such a great asset to our family and to our church. We love her and thank God that he sent her for our son. After all that our mom and dad came down from Wisconsin to help do some work around here before winter sets in. I had been praying for the last two years about a mantel and fireplace, but we just could not afford one because the whole unit costs quite a bit of money, but about a month ago a guy that worked with my husband had one he wanted to sell for a $150.00. what a blessing!, but it even gets better than that because it turns out all he wants is a gas heater to hang on the wall in place of the mantel. Well last year we had someone give us a gas heater, so when I told him I had a heater he just said "let's just swap then" wow it opens your eyes to see that God really does care about all of our desires even if they are not always spiritual. In all of this, the wedding and parents coming in, my husband started a new job and it has been a big change for the whole family, So please be praying for us. Well I will be posting pics of the wedding really soon but here is one of the new fireplace. God Bless

Busy Weekend!!!!

This was a very productive weekend. We awoke at about 8:00 Saturday morning (I don't know when the last time was that we slept that late on a Saturday) we got our Bible and prayer in first thing and then the race began. I made pumpkin muffins, bread, boiled the chicken for the dressing and got the cornbread ready as well. Lately I have been doing as much of the Sunday dinner as I can on Saturday it is so much easier than trying to come home and cook everything in between services. After all the cooking was done, I rearranged the living room and did all the laundry up. Then finished any other housework that needed to be done. Then after all that we had a family soup dinner we had to go to. It was the first one we had ever attended and we had a wonderful time. Everyone who came had to bring a pot of your favorite soup I of course took Santa- Fe-Soup. It was great to see lots of family we had not seen in a long time and the same time having lots of fun. Below are some pictures of my work on Saturday.

Here is the living room prior to rearranging.

This is during the moving process.

Here is one view of the finished Product.

Here is another view of the finished Product.

Here is wheat being ground into flour for the muffins.

Here are the muffins fresh out of the oven!

Here they are in the serving tray with the oatmeal chocolate chip muffins I made the day before.

Here is the boiled chicken for the chicken and dressing for the next day.

Here are a few pics of the soup dinner.

Here is my mom with her FAVORITE son-in-law
(of course it is her only son-in-law so Jeff can't brag too much but he sure loves her.)

Here are more of the soup dinner.

Let me tell you they were not shy on the soup either and it was great.

You Never Know What Life is Going ToThrow Your Way

Here lately life is been throwing us some curve balls. Just when everything seems to be going good all of a sudden your life is upside down. Recently my husband had a opportunity to change jobs. What a decision that was for our family. So we did what any intelligent person would do we took it to God and our Pastor. This was difficult because my husband has a very good friendship with his boss, but after much prayer and advice from our Pastor my husband will be changing jobs. We were very excited and just looking forward to relaxing since we had made the final decision when my husbands appendix ruptured. We were so surprised he just had a little stomach ache or so we thought. The next thing we know he is in the surgery room and shortly after that the doctor came out and said everything went great he was doing fine and he could go home tomorrow. Then the following Wednesday he had a slight pain in the lower part of his stomach which turned out to be a pocket of blood in the pelvic wall from the surgery so they had to go back in and drain the blood off. Thankfully it was not anything more than that. He is at home and doing good we were so blessed to have the friends and support we had during this time in our life. Most of all I thank God for being our best friend. You really never know what tomorrow will hold but we do know who holds tomorrow. God is just as much God in the inbetween moments as he is in the highest points of our lives. Praise God!

Apples, Apples, and more Apples mixed with a little fun too!

I have so much to blog about to get caught up with all the pictures I have been taking. This day my sister-in-law Yolonda and my brother had come to spend the week with us and we decided to take a day and can some apples. So I called my friend Kimi who also had apples to do and said lets make a day of it. Oh my what a day of fun we had; Everything we made that day was so great. After all the labor and hard work we thought the men should do the cooking for supper so they grilled and then we played games. It truly was a profitable day that we will continue to enjoy this winter. Here are some snap shots of the progress throughout the day.

Here are some of the apples we needed to get put up. Mm mm mm Macintosh apples, my husbands favorite.

Yolanda is busy here peeling and coring the apples all at the same time. That little machine has been well worth the $25. Kimi is also pictured lending a helping hand and a big smile as well.

Here are the apples cooking on the stove after peeling, coring, and cutting.

Well the apples do need to be stirred you don't have to use this expression shown above unless you are just having that much fun. Well of course she is having that much fun because she's with me. Ha Ha Ha.

See she is having that much fun. We always have such a great time together.

Well here is some of the finished product ready to be tasted!

Well now it's time for games. Catch phrase anyone?? Boy David must have a hard word because Jeff sure is thinking hard.

Here is Grant trying to describe the word without saying it. What a blast we had that day and we hope to be able to get back together soon.

Every Day I'm still Amazed by God!

Today, I awoke very early and thought I will just get up and get my day started.Of course JJ our baby (our dachshund) had to go out so I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed out the door with him. As I was sitting on the front porch I began to watch a Squirrel and he was making a nest for winter. I watched as he took each branch and chose it so carefully and if it wasn't what he wanted, he would just let it fall to the ground and would get the next one. I just began to think how God takes care of all his creation. He gives us everything we need to live but it is up to us to use our resources. I'm so thankful that my God always supplies our needs. We know this by what Matthew recorded Jesus saying in Matthew chapter 6 verse 26-33 "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Sometimes we just need a reminder when things aren't going as we think they should he is always in control. God Bless and may everyone one have and a blessed weekend!

Our Mini Labor Day Getaway!

Well were back from our mini getaway at my mom's house. We had such a great time filled with lots of laughs and lots of rest. My husband helped fix my nannies roof and went fishing while I learned about quilting. My Nannie has been trying to teach me how to quilt for some time now, and I think I finally have the hang of it. The one time we did leave the house we took the boys shopping to the mall in Tenn. and Tanner of course needed everything. Tanner has this thing with shoes......i.e. he never has enough of them. Then Jody of course didn't need anything as he is perfectly content with what he has. After we left my moms on Monday we drove to the Wisener's home for Labor Day brunch. We had pancakes, eggs, and hash browns which were all absolutely delicious. Then the men played a game of football while the ladies talked. We then decided to get out the fall items from storage and put them out. This was very exciting for us ladies but not for the men, so they decided to go target shooting ( you know getting ready for deer season). Thanks you guys for having us because we had a great time and we always love the company. Then it was time to go home to prepare for the rest of the week, but before we got started with all that we had to grill of course, I mean it was Labor Day you know, and grilling is required. With school starting we are still trying to get into the routine, and the older I get the longer it seems to take me. I have included some of the pictures of us at the Wiseners below . God Bless