THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

November 22, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving

LIFE IN THE FOLD

Thanksgiving is a good reminder to be thankful. Even though this should be our attitude 365 days a year, we sometimes forget and focus on what we don't have or the negative. But when we change our focus and begin counting our blessings, it changes our attitude and uplifts our heart.

Here is a list of some things that I am personally thankful for:

I'm thankful that I had godly parents who taught my sisters and me about Jesus and raised us in church. They were role models and examples that we could look up to with honor and respect. Because of that, my sisters and I all accepted Jesus into our hearts when we were children and have all lived christian lives since that time.

I'm thankful for God blessing me with a godly husband who loves me and whom I love. I respect him and am thankful for the life that God has given us together. Overall, we've had a very blessed marriage and have seen God provide and protect us these past 18-plus years. I'm grateful for all the many things that Jon is to me and that God has always been involved in our personal lives and our marriage. I wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone else and am thankful that God chose Jon to be my husband and me to be his wife!

I'm thankful for being debt-free. When we've had debt for our house and vehicles and various things, we've been able to pay them off quicker than the length of the loan, which has been a goal and important to both of us. We don't like being in debt and work hard to pay it off on the occasions that we need a loan. But thank God, we are now 100% debt free.... and have our real estate taxes paid for the year!

I'm thankful for the material things that Jon and I have been blessed with. A comfortable home, dependable vehicles, comfortable furnishings in our home, etc. But I'm also very thankful for those things that I now have that I grew up without: central heating and air (I grew up with a wood stove and box fans), running water and indoor plumbing (yes, my family had an outhouse and cistern until I was age six), garage to park my car in (which I never had until Jon and I got married), and even most of the modern technology that wasn't a thing when I was growing up.... cell phones, computers, tablets. And I even grew up without a TV in our home, until I was probably 16-17 years old when we were given a tiny one by my brother-in-law, when he and my sister got married.

I'm thankful for a close family that loves and genuinely cares for one another. I'm thankful to have married into a family that gets along well. I'm thankful for my sisters whom I share a strong bond with. I'm blessed with nephews and nieces and their families.

I'm thankful for the freedom to attend church and worship God freely! I think we often take that freedom for granted. I'm thankful for the Word of God and that we are able to have copies of the Bible in our homes and on our devices and read it whenever we should want.

I'm thankful for the gift of music. I'm thankful that God blessed me with the talent and ability to sing and play piano by ear. My parents and sisters were/are all good singers. Music can soothe and relax and bring about peace.

I'm thankful for the love of reading and books!

I could go on and on...... There are so many, many things to be thankful for!!

I encourage you to take time, not only during the Thanksgiving holiday, but every day to think about all the things you are thankful for and how God has blessed you and your family. There are many scriptures, especially in Psalms, that speaks about giving thanks to the Lord; therefore, it must be important!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

I'm thankful for most of what Loretta has listed. But I don't have a single note of musical talent to be thankful for, though.

We are also thankful for our health, and the health of most of our relatives and close friends. We and our siblings are getting older. So many of our generation and our parents' generation are (as Loretta's and my doctor puts it) "getting to that age" where we start getting more and more issues. Loretta and I have lost most of our collective aunts, uncles, and parents. And several siblings and in-laws have had major health issues already. We are thankful that Loretta and I have had good health, and for our relatives who healthy or are recovering well.

We have seen many in-laws of in-laws with severely dysfunctional families. It's enough to make me and Loretta especially thankful that both our families get along so well. We aren't perfect by any stretch, but none of us has any restraining orders against anyone else. We can disagree without resorting to shouting obscenities or throwing punches. We sometimes get frustrated, but can also laugh about it. In fact, we get along very well. And we're very thankful for that.

ON THE MENEWE:

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

Cut bacon strips in half. Bundle green beans together; 5-6 green beans in each bundle. Tightly wrap each bundle of green beans with one-half strip of bacon and place folded side down in 9x13 baking pan. Once all green beans bundles are complete, set aside and prepare glaze for the top.

Begin melting a whole stick of butter in a small nonstick pan. Once melted, add brown sugar and stir until glaze has a syrupy consistency (don't overcook). Pour glaze over green bean bundles.

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until bacon looked thoroughly cooked.

*Note: You can decrease the amounts if you want to cook a smaller pan.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Many, many years ago I taught preschool at my church. We only had about 17-20 students and another lady from our church and I were the teachers. Actually, it was probably more like a "Mothers Day Out" before that was a thing, because it was only three mornings a week.

One year we had a Thanksgiving program for the parents. We dressed the kids up in pilgrim hats and other things.... and some were dressed as turkeys. We used large black trash bags for the turkeys and stuffed them with wadded up newspaper; then they had on construction paper head pieces. It was about a 20-30 minute program with a little play and songs.

When it came time to perform, one of the little boys began crying when we dressed him in his turkey costume. We thought he was nervous about being in front of all the adults! The other teacher and myself tried to calm him and bribe him and whatever we needed to do to get him to perform without sobbing!! His mother came up to us afterwards and said that he absolutely hated dressing up in costumes, which was why he was upset and crying. We felt bad, but had no idea that was the problem!! Thankfully, the mother wasn't upset with us, but saw the humor in it.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good; His love endures forever. Psalms 107:1

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org