Giving Thanks in November

On this last day of November I am grateful for this month of thankfulness.  Because of it, I am more aware of God's presence in my days and His wise and merciful guiding and leading.  I'm thankful for each person who participated in this annual month of thanksgiving.  Your posts enlarged my heart.  I thanked God right along with you!

I'm especially thankful for Rebecca, who challenges us each November to deliberately and conscientiously give thanks each day. 

O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!

Christmas Bookmark 2008

Christmas Bookmark 2007

(My scanner doesn't reproduce green very well.  The pine needles really ARE green, I promise!)

The 2008 Christmas Bookmark is available until December 10th.

Sunday Hymn: How Blest is He Whose Trespass

From Psalm 32

HOW BLEST IS HE WHOSE TRESPASS

How blest is he whose trespass
Has freely been forgiv'n,
Whose sin is wholly covered
Before the sight of heav'n.
Blest he to whom Jehovah
Will not impute his sin.
Who has a guileless spirit,
Whose heart is true within.

While I kept guilty silence
My strength was spent with grief,
Thy hand was heavy on me,
My soul found no relief;
But when I owned my trespass,
My sin hid not from thee,
When I confessed transgression,
Then thou forgavest me.

So let the godly seek thee
In times when thou art near;
No whelming floods shall reach them,
Nor cause their hearts to fear.
In thee, O Lord, I hide me,
Thou savest me from ill,
And songs of thy salvation
My heart with rapture thrill.

I graciously will teach thee
The way that thou shalt go,
And with mine eye upon thee
My counsel make thee know.
But be ye not unruly,
Or slow to understand,
Be not perverse, but willing
To heed my wise command.

The sorrows of the wicked
In number shall abound,
But those that trust Jehovah,
His mercy shall surround.
Then in the Lord be joyful,
In song lift up your voice;
Be glad in God, ye righteous,
Rejoice, ye saints, rejoice.

Trinity Hymnal #462

Giving Thanks in November

I'm thankful that the last day of our month of Thanksgiving is also the first day of our celebration of the Advent season.

I'm so thankful that, "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

Stripes and Whiskers

Quote of the Week: M'Cheyne

It is good to consider your ways, but it is far better to consider Christ.

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Giving Thanks

It's almost bedtime, but I wanted to add my thanksgiving before going to bed.

I'm thankful for the God's great gift to me; my dear husband and children. I am a very blessed wife and mother.

Heavy Lifting

(I told you it was a mess!!)

Katie, bar the door!

There is one day every year in which you would not be invited in if you came to visit me.  No exceptions. (Except for deeds of mercy, of course.  If you showed up at my door starving or bleeding or chased by monsters, I would surely let you in). 

That day is the day after Thanksgiving.  While other people are out chasing deals and getting stuck in traffic, I am turning my house upside down and inside out--making a mess and stirring up dust.  Yep, the day after Thanksgiving is the day we decorate for Christmas.  We've been at it most of the day and there's still a lot to do before we can sit in the dark this evening in the warm glow of the Christmas lights, but I had to stop and have a cup of coffee and blog a little bit.

Part of decorating for Christmas is putting away those fall/Thanksgiving decorations.  This year, I still had two large pumpkins on my porch so I decided to make good on my promise to Sam and bake the pumpkin seeds.  One thing led to another and I before I knew it, I found myself roasting one of the pumpkins in the oven to make pumpkin puree.  Probably not a very smart thing to tangle with when you're supposed to be taking down and putting up decorations, but that's the way I do things sometimes.

When it was all done, I had pumpkin guts all over my kitchen (and myself!) but now I also have 13 cups of pureed pumpkin in 1 cup portions ready for the freezer.

Well, my coffee is finished and the dining room table is still covered with decorations so I better get back to work.

(You, too, Tom!!)

Giving Thanks in November

Speaking of being thankful for family. . .

Our first grandchild, Elliott.

Giving Thanks in November

Our family joined with our good friends, Andy, Dorothy and Emily, for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal today.  Dorothy and Andy hosted this year and we had a delicious meal around a beautifully set table--talking and laughing and enjoying each others'  company.  I'm so grateful for beloved friends who love us and treat us like family!

I'm very thankful, too, for our own extended families; for mothers and fathers, for sisters and brothers, for sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles.  God has blessed both Tom and me with very close-knit, loving families.  It is a treasured blessing to be loved by each others' families!

I am so grateful for our church family, as well, and for the closeness we experience in Christ! 

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Giving Thanks in November

Last Friday morning I dropped Eve off at the vet for surgery to remove a large growth on her mouth.  She had the first one in 2007, the second this July, and this was the third recurrance.  I'm so thankful that the reports came back benign again! 

It's so hard to see her getting old.  She's getting more confused every day and she idly wanders around the house as if she forgets where she is going.  She chased Ivy away from the front door this morning.  Twice.  Not playfully;she charged at her and won't let her near the door.  Little things like that; little things that are not at all like Eve.  (Do dogs get senile?)  She follows me everywhere with a pleading look on her face.  I think the big collar she has to wear to protect her from scratching her stitches upsets her and is probably adding to her confusion.

She's having a harder time negotiating the front steps now.  She goes down slowly, but she really struggles to get up the steps sometimes.  Poor old girl.

I'm so thankful that we have had the privilege of loving and caring for her these past few years.  She has added so much to our family. 

I love her.

Giving Thanks in November

I'm thankful for books--oh so many, many books!  I've got several going right now (mostly commentaries) and I'm listening to the Two Towers on my iPod while I work around the house or sit at my drawing board or walk on the treadmill.

I'm grateful for MP3 books and sermons that occupy and edify my mind when I'm too busy to take time to lay on the couch and read with Ivy curled up on my chest. (She makes a great book prop!)

But mostly I love 'hold in your hands' books.  I love turning the pages and keeping my place with a spiffy bookmark and marking my favorite passages.

Here is a short list of the books for which I am most thankful:

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul

The Christian Life by Sinclair Ferguson

Holiness by J. C. Ryle

The Works of Jonathan Edwards in 2 Volumes

Berkhof's Systematic Theology

The True Christian's Love to the Unseen Christ by Thomas Vincent

These are the books that have formed me; that I return to over and over again.  There are others, I'm sure, but these are my all time favorites. 

What are YOUR favorite books?

A Letter a Week: S

Grrrr.  I'm not at all happy with this one, but there's no time at present to re-work it.  Believe it or not, all the pen work was done with the same ink, but the fine lines look much darker than the letters that were executed with a broad nibbed pen. There are smudges and smears but let's just pretend a couple of beautiful snowflakes fluttered onto the paper and left their mark, shall we?  That sounds much nicer than my hand dragging across the page before the ink dried, doesn't it?

You can find more ABC Wednesday entries at the ABC Wednesday Anthology blog.

Update on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 12:35PM by Kim from Hiraeth

You may not be able to see them, but the smears really are there!  See?

Giving Thanks in November

Today I am especially thankful for a well organized studio. I have all of my inks, nibs, guide sheets, colored pencils, papers, and supplies right at my fingertips. It's a pleasure to sit down at my drawing board and begin to work. There are just a few steps to the paper cutter, laminator, and paper storage cabinet. My scanner/copier is right at hand, too.

At the end of a busy day, my studio looks like a bomb went off in a paper factory, but because I have a place for everything, it doesn't take long straighten up my drawing board and put everything away.

I am happier and more creative in an orderly environment. 

I'm also very thankful that I have discovered a copperplate nib that works well for me and feels responsive in my hand.  I'm making progress every day and can see the day coming when I will be able to add copperplate to my repetoire.  A lot of my time has been occupied in learning this new hand.  It has been difficult and challenging, but I love a challenge and there is such a sense of accomplishment in learning something new.

I'm thankful that I have the privilege of working at something I absolutely love to do!

Serendipity

I was practicing my copperplate lettering this morning and decided to see what would happen if I used a piece of watercolor paper.  I think it's a cool effect.  It reminded me of a frosty window pane. . .

Giving Thanks in November

I really did mean to enter a thankful post each day in November. Yesterday, however, got away from me.

Yesterday was catch up day. No, I didn't catch up on housework or laundry or even reading. It was catch up day because the events of the past couple days finally caught up with me. Like a little wind-up toy, I teetered over and stopped for a while. The stress, the fears, the joys, Friday's succession of meetings with doctors and electro-physiologists, and testing and the over three hour battle through Chicago rush hour traffic at the end of a very long day finally took its toll.

Saturday I scurried around and prepared a rather unorganized Thanksgiving dinner for my family with all the trimmings. I thought it would be a mess since my Thursday evening shopping time and my all day Friday cleaning and baking and cooking time was lost. But everything turned out fine. Our growing family sat down together: Tom and me, John and Beth and Elliott, Jake and Sam. Seven of us around the table. The cheesecake didn't get baked, but we didn't need it. We revealed in the completeness of our circle and reflected on how different that day would have been if Jake did not have a defibrillator. It was another day I will never forget.

Yesterday I slowed down and rested. I stayed quiet all day. I thought a great deal about how many, many times and how many, many ways God has intervened and spared Jake's life. The enormity of what almost happened settled in around me, but amidst the horror of those thoughts, God was there, comforting me, encouraging me, reminding me of all that He has done.

I also came to grips with the truth that had Jake died Thursday night, I would still be thanking God for sparing his life so many, many times. O, the comfort and peace that comes from knowing that God is sovereign and He is GOOD!

So yesterday I missed my Sunday thanksgiving post, but I did not miss thanking God for His unfailing mercies and unfathomable grace.

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning:
thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation:
thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Quote of the Week: Matthew Henry

We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, and immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master.

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry Commentary in One Volume, pg. 127 (Leviticus 8:35)

Sunday Hymn: Mighty God, While Angels Bless Thee

MIGHTY GOD, WHILE ANGELS BLESS THEE

Mighty God, while angels bless thee,
May a mortal sing thy name?
Lord of men as well as angels,
Thou art every creature's theme.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Lord of every land and nation,
Ancient of eternal days,
Sounded through the wide creation
Be thy just and lawful praise.

For the grandeur of thy nature,
Grand beyond the seraph's thought;
For created works of power,
Works with skill and kindness wrought.

But thy rich, thy free redemption,
Dark through brightness all along,
Thought is poor, and poor expression,
Who dare sing that awful song?

Brightness of the Father's glory,
Shall thy praise unuttered lie?
Fly, my tongue, such guilty silence,
Sing the Lord who came to die:

From the highest throne in glory,
To the cross of deepest woe,
All to ransom guilty captives,
Flow my praise, for ever flow.

Trinity Hymnal #5