Christmas

221. Nativity scenes of all media, paper, ceramic, wooden, metal, lighted shapes, or sculpted in one piece.
222. Christmas carols on the radio, in stores, at church, on the corner
223. CDs of Christmas music to play again and again
224. Shopping for needy children to make their Christmas and life a little sweeter
225. Baking (and eating) cookies and candy
226. Sharing Christmas goodies with friends or strangers
227. Receiving and sending cards of bleslsing and the Good News
228. A better understanding of what Mary, the teenager, went through on the first Christmas
229. Decorated trees, sparkling lights
230. Evergreens, as wreaths, swags, crosses or centerpieces and red bows
231. The brilliant star followed by many to find the the "light of the world", that today is a guiding light for all the who believe in Jesus

We're ready for Christmas, not when we have all the gifts but when we are ready for Christ - when we're ready to give all of ourselves to Christ.

Christmas Blessings to you all. Earline

Jim

Jim
Tender, humble,
Emotional,
ignited by the Spirit of Christ.
Strong and steady, it was his gift.
A manner of quietness, but ready to lead,

with a handshake, a smile, and a twinkle in his eye.
He brought up his family to know the Savior,
And his wife--- he so loved.

His testimony...he lived it each day.
He welcomed with welcoming words.
And the laughter that rang out from the pew,
we will miss that.

The blessings, they keep coming....
Our cup is full, overflowing full.
Celebrate!
Jim

#123 the blessings of Jim - he is loved

From Cindy Kipp

GIVE THANKS EVERY DAY

Although this is a special day of thanksgiving, we should give our thanks for each and every day. For our lives, our families, our homes, our jobs, our friends; for God's creation all around us and His Spirit within. For Christian brothers and sisters who encourage us, pray with us and for us in times of need or joy; who serve our congration, our community and our world. Today we give thanks for a special, godly man, Jim Kler, who went last night to be with our Lord Jesus. We are grateful for his kindness, his service, his great optimism and his family.

BE THANKFUL

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life rich in fulfillment comes to those
who are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

From "Western Cowman" magazine, November 2011

Things to be thankful for....

*Trains, cars, airplanes, horses and buggies that allow us to travel great distances to share thanksgiving with our loved ones.
*The spouse who complains when dinner is not on time, because s/he is home with me, not with someone else.
*The teenager who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home and not on the streets.
*The mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
*The taxes I pay because it means that I am employed.
*The clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
*My shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.
*A lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
*All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.
*The space I find at the far on end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
*My huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
*The lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means I can hear her.
*The piles of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.
*Weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
*The alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I'm alive.
*Getting too much email bogs me down but at least I know I have friends who are thinking of me.

From Western Cowman magazine, November 2011

"JOY"

I may feel disappointment and the despair may flood high but to give thanks is an action and rejoice is a verb and these are not mere pulsing emotions. While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because He knows that the feeling of joy, begins in the action of thanksgiving.

And true saints know that the place where all joy comes from is far deeper than that of feelings; joy comes from the place of the very presence of God. Joy is God and God is joy and joy doesn't negate all other emotions - joy transcends all other emotions.

Joy is a flame that glimmers only in the palm of the open and humble hand. In an open and humble palm, released and surrendered to receive, light dances, flickers, happily entertains. The moment the hand's clenched tight, fingers all pointing toward self and rights and demands, joy is snuffed out.

It speaks to the whole of my life and the vision brands me: the demanding of my own will is the singular force that smothers out joy -- nothing else.

From "God in the Moment" daily devotional by Ann Voskamp

When Thanksgiving becomes Thanksgiving

If you have not yet read Ann Voskamps blog, www.aholyexperience.com I invite you to do so today. She and her husband are in Ecuador for Compassion International this week. Her first entry is "When thanksgiving becomes thanksgiving". There are daily posts that are just wonderful complete with photos and music. Enjoy! Earline

a while back.

from my journal:

95. Kitchen help standing on a stool
96. New shiny glasses
97. Grammy and Pappy
98. Long. Hard. Days.
99. Escapes to the Park
100. Jr. High Girl Sleepovers
101. Big Boy Loving supper

And as I write it occurs to me that it has been a week
or more since I wrote anything down.
I am so thankful that even if I neglect my God,
Forget to be grateful,
Rush through life,
He never forgets me,
And welcomes me back with Open Arms....

Holly

Forgiveness

I couldn't stop thinking about it. My frustration. My wrong attitude. My anger. Even later, doing a project on the computer, I kept remembering the way things went that morning. Remembering the things I should not have thought, the words I should not have said. I certainly wasn't very Christian. I said a prayer, telling God I was sorry for my actions, my unkind words, my bad attitude. Asking for forgiveness.

130. I can ask for forgiveness because Jesus paid the price
131. I am forgiven in Him

Earline Schuppe

"Dirty Dishes"

As we become more atuned to being thankful in all things, I think we begin to get more aware of the happenings outside our own that also show gratefulness. Here is a great song from the 2011 American Idol winner, Scotty McCleery called "Dirty Dishes".

Momma hollers, 'suppertime', and don't make me tell you twice.
Wash your hands and wipe your face. The tables no place for your toys;
And try to use your inside voice, don't dig in 'til we say, grace.
So we put down our forks and bowed our heads.
Then she prayed the strangest prayer ever said.
"I wanna thank you, Lord, for noisy children and slammin' doors,
And clothes scattered all over the floor.
A husband workin' all the time; dragging' in dead-tired at night.
Never ending messy kitchen and dirty dishes."
We all got real still and quiet and Daddy asked, "Hon, are you alright?"
She said, "There ain't nothin' wrong.
Noisy kids are happy kids, and slammin' doors
just means we live in a warm and loving home.
Your long hours and those dishes in the sink,
Means a job and enough to eat.
So I'm gonna thank you, Lord
For noisy children and slammin' doors.
And clothes scattered all over the floor.
A husband workin' all the time, draggin' in dead tired at night;
A never ending, messy kitchen.
For my little busy bees, beggin' Momma, Momma can we please.
Always waitin', needing, callin' me.
Loads of laundry pilin' up, crayons crushed into the rug,
And those little sticky kisses.
And dirty dishes. And dirty dishes."
(Michael Dulaney, Neil Thrasher, and Tony Martin)

Sacrificial Faith Walk

The pain of life stopping and starting, for my friend Cindy for twelve years, has been more than imaginable. For her, life was about continuing to care for her family and not complaining. It was about “living the good” in cancer (I could never do that). Life is about seeing a future through all those pill bottles and blood draws. She rarely cries when those around are swelling with tears. She has walked with pain for so long and most would never know it. She continues to touch the lives of new and old friends that she has contact with. She is so obedient to the…. Lord. (Tears are dropping on my keyboard as I write this) I have witnessed her sacrificial faith walk, which has NEVER been weak. Cindy is… getting stronger and stronger every day. Praise God for this blessing! The family will have a glorious present when she arrives home right before Christmas. It will be a gift that they will keep opening and opening and opening! Praise to our Heavenly Father!!

#27. New Life and a present from God.

Cindy Kipp

From the Author

#2760 for the troubles that cause me to turn toward you
#2761 for the winds and clouds hanging so low
#2762 for the sicknesses that invite me to bring sacrificial thanks
#2763 for the rain in the harvest
#2764 the grief that bears gifts of its own
#2765 for the fear and the weaknesses that keep me feeling your face
#2766 for the crises that draw me to communion - straight into Christ

Ann Voskamp (One Thousand Gifts)

Stuck in Bed

I had a bout with pneumonia a few weeks ago. It was a cold and cough that I let go too long. When the doctor said she wanted to take chest x-rays, I knew I'd waited too long. I had a fever of 101. My nose was sore from blowing it and I coughed so much that my entire torso hurt. When I wasn't sleeping, the time I spent in bed gave me a lot of "God time" and time to dive deeper into One Thousand Gifts. Ann's book, for me, has reconfirmed the Everything is Eucharisteo attitude of my brothers and sisters in Uganda. I am continually amazed at their ability to see God's blessings in the midst of their difficult lives....lives so difficult it is hard to even imagine.
"The ugly can be beautiful. The dark can give birth to the light, suffering can deliver grace. God is grace. All is grace. God is always good and I am always loved. Everything is eucharisteo."
#20 Puffs Plus with lotion

Kelly Huenink

Attitude

There are days when "me" takes over, and I claim the symptoms of bad attitude. Then I get upset with myself which leads to further symptoms of bad attitude. Maybe today it has to do with the flies. Yes, flies...annoying flies are taking over my east kitchen window, buzzing and making quite a commotion. As if a directive was released by the head fly, the attack turns to where I am sitting at the kitchen table. All I want to do is enjoy the beautiful scenery, drink my java, and rake in the warm rays of the morning light, but the flies will have none of it - attacking and dive bombing directly in my path, buzzing my head. As I was just about to complain to anyone willing to listen, including God, something unexpected happened. I started internally singing, "Count your blessings, name them one by one." I began to realize how blessed I was. I HAVE a home with screens and windows and doors; I HAVE climate control temperature inside this home; I HAVE running water with an indoor bathroom; I HAVE clean water to drink; I HAVE clothes that fit most of the time; I HAVE a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, a refrigerator, a stove.....Okay, God, you definitely have my attention and my attitude. "Count your blessings, see what God has done."

54. fly swatter

Helen Duncan

There is JOY in watching for HIM!

The book "One Thousand Gifts" was introduced to me at mid March of this year. Our daughter, Chris, gave me a copy, plus a journal to start my count. I have 172 as of this writing.
At this time, we were visiting with the grandchildlren and I was struggling with a tooth with a root canal problem, plus the prescriptions my doctors had given me. Not a good time.
I read through the book and loved it. Then, I knew I needed to to circle back and read it more slowly, more thoroughly. I underlined special parts and marked so I could go back later and , hopefuly, find them more quickly. As I write this, I know I need to read it again.
The past few years of my life have had a lot of "Whys?". At this point, I can see that I was moved where I was suppose to be, and to better things for me, for part of the answer. It's been an adjustment of great proportions.

There was a song a few years back that has kept coming to me....
JOY COMES INT THE MORNING (William J and Gaither, 1974)
If you've knelt beside the rubble of an aching, broken heart,
When things you gave your life for fell apart,
You're not the first to be acquainted with sorrow, grief, or pain,
But the Master promised sunshine after rain.
CHORUS

• Hold on my child, joy comes in the morning,



• Weeping only lasts for the night



• Hold on my child, joy comes in the morning



• The darkest hour means dawn is just in sight

This song has really spoken to my heart, and the book "One Thousand Gifts" has been another part of the process for this time.

The scriptures say, "Count it all joy." But deep in my heart, I had hit a spot where it was hard to even count. The scripture verse: "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you...." I Thessalonians 5:18 (a verse I memorized in Sunday School as a child) has tied in--it's not to thank Him for the bad things but to thank Him in them. This brings me to some of my 1000 Gifts. We have a jonquil planted at the southeast corner of the house. It doesn't bloom every year. This year it put out two beautiful flowers.

6. Two gorgeous jonquils

8. Relief from pain

26. The jonquils are still with us (they got snowed on and temperture was cold enough to finish them off, it seemed to me...but they were still there until their time of blooming was done - so it shall be with me.)

4. Miss Lucy kinda likes me (She's the grandest cat. Teaching our grandchildren about how to love and care for a special critter.)

123. Hailed wheat -- reminds me how many times it's been good, SO good.

130. A cancer surgery -- once you hear it, you'll hear it again and again. This time no pain, no purple hand from the IV and ultimately, a good report. PTL!

So the count and the life lessons go on...with HIM, and surely to more than 1,000.

From Mary Lee Kues

Mama's Thoughts

It was midnight. I was lying in my bed but not really sleeping. The hassles of my life were jogging laps around my brain.
Would our finances ever balance out?
Are my teenagers coping with the pitfalls of such a complicated stage of life?
Am I giving all I can?
Will I ever catch up with the daily tasks that endlessly pile up before I can sweep or wash or fold and put away?
Sleep didn't have a chance in the race and then an interruption.
The squeak of my name which usually echoes through the night at least once from my clan. And I stumbled from my bed to solve the next crisis.
It was Milo. He was thirsty. An he wanted ICE water. So I continued my half-sleep walk to the kitchen and as I opened the freezer door the realization hit me like a glacier crashing into the sea...I CAN get my baby ice water.

Some mamas have to walk a mile to get their babies a drink.
Some mamas have to give in and provide dirty water that they know
could make their children sick.
Some mamas have to weep at the begging voice of a thirsty little one
for they have nothing to give.
But I could get a clean glass, turn on a faucet, plunk in a few ice cubes and deliver to not even parched lips.
And in light of this, what did I really have to worry about?

It was a few weeks later that I got my copy of the book "One Thousand Gifts"
for a study at church.
Sunday afternoon flew by as the words settled over me like a sweet salve to my soul.
You know when that happens?
Everybody fend for yourselves...Mama's lost in a book.
The book is written by a mom of six. Smothered in dirty socks and crusty dishes.
And she begins to track all of the little things that make her life so sweet.
A journal of gratitude that shifts the focus from worry and stress to an acknowledgment and
thankfulness to God for what is amazing, right before her eyes.

And so as I turned the last page, I opened my own journal and wrote the first enty:
1. Ice cold water in the middle of the night.

From Holly Kurtzer

Journaling 1000 Gifts

Dear Sisters in Christ, (9/28/2011)
It has been ten days since our Ladies Night and the introduction of our theme for the year, "One Thousand Gifts". I hope you have taken time to write down some of your blessings as we begin this journey of being thankful in all things, at all times. If you were no able to attend our program and get a journal, you can use a notebook, notepad, paper, or special place on your computer to list the things you love, what makes you happy, what sees you through a tough day, or anything you are grateful for.

Since I started my journal, I find I am more aware of the gifts around me each day. I feel I am seeing things more clearly with less focus on the negative. It is the desire of the Women's Ministry Team that some of you will be willing to share how this listing of God's gifts is affecting your lives through emails, or a blog, or in the Women's Newsletter. We are grateful for each one who is taking this journey with us.

One on the biggest struggles in my life currently is having a mother with Alzheimers. A woman who once led state and national committees and traveled the world, is no longer able to remember any of those things, has not been able to walk for a few weeks now, and is afraid of everyday life with the confusion she is experiencing. Without the Lord by my side, I would not be able to face the effects of this devastating disease. Since reading "One Thousand Gifts", I have found great comfort in the words of another woman with personal struggles and looking for joy. I am able to find things to be thankful for even on Mom's worst days.

Singing Amazing Grace and believing the words
Watching the faces of the elderly singing hymns together
Mom can still sing hymns
Mom's gratefulness for the little things I do
Mom still says, "This my daughter, Earline" to residents of the nursing home
Sharing her favorite food, ice cream

It is seeing through eyes opened by God's Grace that makes all the difference. It is trusting that God is good and ever present. Earline Schuppe