30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 14

Today, I am linking up with Rachel and Jessica over at Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge.

For each day in the month of November, I will be posting something that I am thankful for. I hope that YOU will join in as well. =)

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:
Music! =) God graciously saw fit to bless us with music and the ability to praise and glorify Him through psalms and songs.

I am thankful that He has allowed me to learn (or work on learning) several instruments. There is nothing like being able to play a song successfully for the first time! =)

I enjoy listening to many different genres of music as well. Bluegrass, soundtracks and crooners are some of my absolute favorites. I love how different types of music can affect you in many different ways. Classical music can be so very soothing, while a fast bluegrass tune can have you tapping your feet in no time! I personally love having a variety of music playing while working on craft projects or chores. It seems to help me work and focus better on the task at hand.

My family would like to play and sing together as a family bluegrass group. We think that it would be a great way to share the message of God’s love to many different groups of people. A song that my family is recently learning to play together is “I’ll Fly Away”.

We feel like this song reflects a lot of our personal family values and it is fun to be able to sing and play together as a family.

~*~Courtney~*~

Don’t forget to drop back by Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge!

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 13

Today, I am linking up with Rachel and Jessica over at Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge.

For each day in the month of November, I will be posting something that I am thankful for. I hope that YOU will join in as well. =)

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:

the sweet little chapel where we meet

My church family. =) My family has been blessed to find a wonderful like-minded church about 15 minutes from our home. We have been attending now for right around three years, and feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the fellowship there.

Every Sunday, we meet in a little chapel, have our Sunday service and share a fellowship meal afterwards. The children run and play through the adjoining field and the adults enjoy each other’s company while comparing notes from the week or seeking advice for projects yet to be accomplished. Us ladies enjoy sharing recipes and crafting ideas, or perhaps even the newest idea that we have seen for our homes that we would like to make or utilize. (Pinterest has been a huge topic of discussion lately. =) )

Every week my family comes away refreshed and ready for the week ahead.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” – Colossians 3:16

Don’t forget to drop back by Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge!

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 4

Today, I am linking up with Rachel and Jessica over at Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge.

For each day in the month of November, I will be posting something that I am thankful for. I hope that YOU will join in as well. =)

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:
Technology. =) My brother has been gone on a job interview now for about 4 months. I am thankful for technology that allows us to keep in touch even though he is many, many miles away from home.

We’ve missed seeing Josh, so webcamming, texting, etc. has been a really nice way to be able to keep in touch. =)

~*~Courtney~*~

Don’t forget to drop back by Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge!

(My computer died this week so I am behind on posts for this meme. This was posted after the linky link had already expired, so I am not on the linky list.)

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 3

Today, I am linking up with Rachel and Jessica over at Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge.

For each day in the month of November, I will be posting something that I am thankful for. I hope that YOU will join in as well. =)

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:

Our house. =) Our house is a special blessing from the LORD that we prayed about for many years. We lived in a small house before, and with so many people, we knew that we would need to find a larger home so that we could spread out a bit.

The LORD saw fit to answer our prayers, more so than I think any of us could have imagined. Our new house has more than enough room for everyone and room for guests and friends as well.

One day, perhaps, I will write out the story of our new house, but for now, I remain,

a very thankful,
Courtney

Don’t forget to drop back by Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge!

(My computer died this week so I am behind on posts for this meme. This was posted after the linky link had already expired, so I am not on the linky list.)

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 2

Today, I am linking up with Rachel and Jessica over at Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge.

For each day in the month of November, I will be posting something that I am thankful for. I hope that YOU will join in as well. =)

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:
My family. =) The LORD saw fit to place me in a house with 12 of the most amazing people that I have ever had the blessing of being around. Each and every one of my family members have their own personality and way of doing things, yet God has allowed us to mesh each of our strengths together to be a strong family unit.

I am so thankful for my family.

My parents are a huge source of wisdom for me. I know that I can ask them about anything and they will help me work through whatever issue I am needing help with at the time. I am so grateful that they have a genuine interest in the things that are going on in the lives of my siblings and I. Us children are truly blessed to have such a godly example of married life and of parents guiding their children and seeking to raise them in the admonition of the LORD.

My siblings are also a huge blessing to me. Even though we have our moments, we all love each other dearly and are working to further build our sibling relationships. I can truly say that my siblings are my best friends. =) We know how to make each other laugh and enjoy working on projects together. We enjoy playing board games and singing at the top of our lungs when our favorite songs come on the radio. There is so much more that I could say, but I will leave you with this: Siblings are the bestest. =)

I am one grateful girl.<3

Don't forget to drop back by Young Homemakers to read more postings for the “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge. =)

Blessings to you!
~*~Courtney~*~

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 1

Today, I am linking up with Rachel and Jessica over at Young Homemakers for their “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge.

For each day in the month of November, I will be posting something that I am thankful for. I hope that YOU will join in as well. =)

TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:
My salvation. I can’t put into words how grateful I am that God chose, in His sovereignty, to send His only son to save us from our sins. I feel so blessed to be one of His own.

1st John 3:16 – “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

I am thankful that God can take this broken sinner, wash my sins away until I am white as snow, and lead me down a path of reformation, restoration, and sanctification.

*Thank you, LORD. Please help me to continue to follow you through everything that I do.*

Don’t forget to drop back by Young Homemakers to read more postings for the “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge. =)

Blessings to you!
~*~Courtney~*~

Friendship Casserole

This evening, we had Friendship Casserole for dinner. This is one of our favorite casseroles, mainly because it freezes and reheats well. It is also one of our favorite casseroles because it tastes quite yummy!

Friendship Casserole
INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs ground chuck
2 TBSP sugar
2 large jars spaghetti sauce
1 16oz pkg of egg noodles or penne pasta
1/2 c butter
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 c parmesan cheese
1 12oz pkg mozzarella cheese (pre-grated or grate yourself from a block)

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Brown hamburger meat, drain fat. Add spaghetti sauce and sugar to meat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cook noodles as directed on noodle package, drain, then toss with butter, salts, and parmesan cheese. Spray 2 9×13 pans with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 of the sauce into the first 9×13 pan, pour half of the noodles over that. Pour 1/4 of the remaining sauce over the top of the noodles. Repeat with second 9×13 pan. Cover both pans with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Yields 2 9×13 pans, or 24 servings.

This casserole is easy to freeze and reheat! Simply place the assembled and unbaked casserole in the freezer, and PRESTO! You have a casserole ready to go for a busy day or night.

Enjoy!

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Blessings, friends. =)
~*~Courtney~*~

Autumn

The seasons have rolled by once more.

It is finally time to pull out the hot cider, extra blankets and floor heaters, for Autumn has come at long last.

I love Autumn. I love everything about it. <3

Darby

Updating

It is always amazing to me to see how much the outside world changes as the seasons come and go. It seems like just yesterday when I was looking out my window at the first snowfall of the year.

With the changing of the seasons, the different activities that my family participates in change as well. I’m going to post updates below on several of the things we’ve been working on.

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As the warmer weather quickly approaches, we are spending more time out-of-doors while we work in our garden and neaten our yard. I am especially enjoying the beautiful flowers that are poking their heads out of the ground.

I’ve been trying to capture their beauty lately through photographing them:

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I’ve also been trying to stretch my cooking wings lately.

The first thing that I’ve been attempting to perfect is loaf bread. The Vermont Maple Honey Oat Bread recipe out of the King Arthur Flour cookbook has been my absolute favorite homemade loaf bread recipe of all time. It is a delicious bread that is wonderful for sandwiches or is fantastic as an addition to any meal.

Mmmmmm…… =) You can’t beat fresh bread!

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Two weeks ago, I was blessed to be able to get my driver’s license. Those of you who know me know what a big deal that was for me, being the last person on earth who wanted to learn how to drive. I’m happy to report that I am actually beginning to enjoy it, *gasp*!

Now that we can drive (my brother, Josh, also got his license on Monday), Josh and I went and got a pizza today. We enjoyed doing something different and I can see how being able to drive is going to be a really nice thing.

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I’m pleased to announce that we have 3 new additions to our family.

Meet Gracie:

Zoe:

and last, but certainly not least, Jack, our first dog ever:

Gracie and Zoe are two of the sweetest cats you’ll ever meet. We adopted Gracie from our local animal shelter. She is right over a year old, and is playing the role of a sweet and *very* patient Mama cat to Zoe, a kitten that we were able to get from some people who lived just down the road from our old house. Zoe is full of spunk and energy, but you can tell both cats really enjoy playing together and they seem to get along really well.

Then we have Jack. Jack is a 3-month-old black lab whom we are still having to get adjusted to. Not ever having had a dog before, we weren’t prepared for how full of energy Jack would be. As long as we can train him well now, he will make an excellent guard dog for our chickens, as well as our home. If any of you have tips on training a dog and wouldn’t mind sharing them, we would be much appreciative, as we are pretty much starting from the ground up.

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I think that pretty much wraps up this post. I hope your day has been wonderful thus far! =)

~*~Courtney~*~