Weekly Gratitude List...

Monday was a full, busy day and then on top of it all I'm fighting a cold/flu bug. Last night I went to bed early and, therefore, am a day late posting my gratitude list. 

This past week I passed the 12,000 mark in my gratitude journal! This coming fall I will celebrate the tenth anniversary of when I started keeping a gratitude journal. What a life changing blessing this practice has been in my life.

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Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks, 

piling up gratitude day by day in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#11992-#12,018-

4-22-19-

-morning snuggles with my grandson

-the last of the spring cleaning chores finally done

-bluebells from my granddaughter in a vase on the kitchen counter

4-23-19-

-my husband, daughter and son-in-law all safely home from their trip to Ghana

-a yummy homecoming dinner together

-early to bed for jet-lagged Papa and tired Nana

4-24-19-

-sipping a cup of coffee in bed

-sunshine streaming into our kitchen

-my favorite little succulent

-twelve thousand blessings!

-strawberry crepes for breakfast

-lilacs in bloom

-youngest daughter and grands stopping by to see us

4-25-19-

-pink sunrises

-tea and gluten free lemon muffins and a good visit with a friend

-God's work in mysterious ways

-a night off together

4-26-19-

-rhubarb crisp make from the rhubarb in our yard,
(and a blackberry crisp with frozen berries)

-lunch eaten outside in the sun

-G. surprising my oldest granddaughter at opening night of her play

-our granddaughter's acting talent

4-27-19-

-a vase of apple blossoms

-lily of the valley popping up in the flowerbed

-babysitting the two youngest grands

4-28-19-

-this beautifully sunny Sunday

-God's peace

-a fun baby shower for a sweet young mama

still following,

Growing the Fruit of the Spirit...

Today I walked to a vacant lot near my house and clipped a few branches of apple blossoms off of a crabapple tree. The blooming branches look lovely placed in a vase and sitting on top of the cabinet next to my favorite chair in our kitchen nook.

While I love the beauty of fruit tree blossoms, blossoms aren't the fruit, are they?  They are the sign of fruit to come. When autumn comes, that tree in the vacant lot will be full of crabapples. In the meanwhile it isn't stressed out about bearing fruit. It doesn't strive, work and sweat to produce fruit. It simply soaks up water and nutrients from the soil through its roots and absorbs sunlight as well as carbon dioxide through its leaves and the fruit eventually comes!

For too long I've treated the list of the fruit of the Spirit as a to-do list. It was the list of character traits that I needed to strive toward. I needed to try harder to be loving. Try harder to be patient. Try harder to be gentle. Try harder to have more self-control. And then one day, I actually noticed these words in my Amplified Bible. "But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]." Galatians 5:22-23 AMPC  

(Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, April 28th at Woman to Woman Ministries, where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)

still following,

Also happily linking up with:

Sunday Scripture Blessings

Susan B. Mead

Friday Faves-Gluten Free Lemon Muffins

I have several friends that must eat gluten free. I like to have a few simple gluten free recipes up my sleeve to offer them when we have gatherings in our home or at church. Today, one of those friends came by for tea and a visit, so I quickly made a batch of gluten free lemon muffins for her. The key ingredient is Pamela's Gluten Free Whole Grain Baking and Pancake Mix.

Gluten Free Lemon Muffins Recipe

1 1/4 cups Pamela's Gluten Free Whole Grain Baking and Pancake Mix

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon extract

zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray with non-stick spray or place six cupcake wrappers in muffin tin.

Stir all of the ingredients together until combined, but do not over mix.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling six muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake 18-20 minutes in preheated oven until toothpick or cake tester 

inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.

For glaze - mix 1 cup powdered sugar with juice from freshly squeezed lemon 

and drizzle over muffins that are mostly cooled.

I don't have to eat gluten free, but I thought these muffins were pretty tasty myself!

Have a happy Friday everyone

and

a safe and blessed weekend!

 

             

Monday Gratitude...

(All seven grandkids together on Easter Sunday!)

My husband and our secondborn daughter are on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic on their way home from Ghana, West Africa. They will get home tomorrow morning. My daughter's husband got home this morning on an earlier flight and so the three grandkids that stayed with me for the past week are now home with their daddy. What a full, busy, wonderful week it was! 

****************

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks, 

piling up gratitude day by day in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#11,966-#11,991

4-15-19-

-God's provision

-middle grandson being such a good boy for me

-the different colors of dogwood blooms

-ten year old granddaughter calling me to talk

-chatting with my oldest granddaughter before bed

-texts from Ghana from my guy

4-16-19-

-waking up in the wee hours for some quiet time before the kids wake up
--spring lambs in the fields on the drive to the oldest grand's school

-taking a little afternoon nap while my grandson naps

-prayer and study and good conversation with our small group

4-17-19-

-horses frolicking in the grass

-the trees with their spring green leaves

-calls, texts and FaceTime with my guy while he's gone

4-18-19-

-a friend from church putting a new battery in my car for me

-singing with my grandson

-the sweet presence of God in our worship and prayer time tonight

4-19-19-

-Good Friday-thank you, Jesus, my Savior, my once and for all sacrifice for sin

-going to the zoo 

-God's peace

4-20-19-

-apple blossoms

-God's help with all the to-dos for tomorrow

-hope

4-21-19-

-Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

-a video from my hub's week in Ghana

-God's help with my message for today

-a wonderful afternoon at our youngest daughter's in-laws

still following,

Easter 2019

(Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, April 21st at Woman to Woman Ministries, where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)

still following,

Also happily linking up with:

Sunday Scripture Blessings

Susan B. Mead

Friday Faves-Easy Easter Cookie Bars

When I saw the recipe for M&M Cookie bars on Leslie's blog,

I knew I wanted to try them.

I chose to use peanut butter, (not peanut), M&Ms instead of the plain ones.

 I also chose to brown the butter and sprinkled the top of the bars 

with a wee bit of sea salt before baking them.

Oh my goodness!  These are so easy to make that you don't expect them to be such a 

soft, buttery, gooey, sweet, peanut buttery bit of heaven.

Click on Leslie's recipe and try it!

You won't be sorry!

(Leave her a comment and tell her Elizabeth sent you!)

It's almost Good Friday, friends.

Have a Blessed Good Friday

and 

Easter weekend!

 

             

Monday Gratitude...

My husband and middle daughter and her husband just arrived in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa this morning. They will be there for a week visiting our dear friend, Bishop A. and participating in a big Easter conference with Bishop's networks of churches. I chose to stay home this trip so that I could take care of the three grandkids making it possible for both my daughter and her husband to go. I also wanted to be at our own church during Easter. I will miss waking up to the sounds, sights and smells of Kumasi, the worship and dancing at the church and the faces of those we've come to know and love. But, then I'd miss my oldest granddaughter's blow by blow accounts of a current movie she's watched or the latest happenings at her school, my oldest grandson's deepening man voice telling me about his current sporting events and the latest shoes he wants, and my almost five year old grandson's insistence that the only Bible story that he wants to read before bed, over and over and over again, is David and Goliath. Life is about choices isn't it? I'm content with my choice to stay home this week and so thankful to the God who continues to bless me abundantly above and beyond all that I could ask or think.

***************

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks, 

piling up gratitude day by day in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#11,939-#11,965

4-8-19-

-an early morning chat with my seven year old granddaughter

-a sun break on this rainy day so I could take the grands on a walk to the park,
(no school today so I'm helping to watch them)

-the grands gobbling up hot cross buns warm from the oven

4-9-19-

-green living house plants in most every room

-the ability to stock up on good food to eat

-talking with friends

4-10-19-

-God's help with an upcoming sermon

-waking up rested

-praying with a friend

-little white ramekins on sale for future lava cake making

4-11-19-

-our youngest daughter's birthday

-the song of the red winged blackbird

-our granddaughter's new pink glasses

-a powerful night of prayer

4-12-19-

-rivers swollen and swift with rain

-puffy, cotton candy cumulus clouds

-old fashioned blue bells

-lunch with youngest daughter and her family

-the blue hour sky

4-13-19-

-dogwood blossoms

-errands and lunch with my guy before he leaves for Ghana tomorrow

-a break in the rain for a walk

4-14-19-

-praying with my husband in the wee hours before he goes to the airport

-pink sunrise out my kitchen window

-a friend willing to help me with my dead car battery

-the grands staying here with me this week

still following,