A Life of Thanksgiving!!!

We were very happy to celebrate Grandma's birthday this year on Thanksgiving!  She has been a wonderful influence on me and a blessing to everyone she meets.  I have always said that if I could be half the woman she is I would be complete!  She is not as strong as she once was and needs a lot more help getting around these days but she still lights up a room and we love her and cherish every moment we get with her.  Grandma has always been the center of our whole family, She is a Godly woman and lives out his love daily.   She has always set a wonderful example of what A life of Thanksgiving looked like.  She has never forgotten to be thankful for anything and is quick to remind you that in all things and situations God has control and that we should be thankful.  She will tell you how much she misses Grandpa, she will see him again in Heaven when the good Lord calls her home but she will also tell you that she is thankful for what time on earth she had with him.  She has never said she got cheated when he left her early, even if we all feel that way for her.  She will tell you that taking care of ailing parents was not easy at times but she will never tell you she would have changed it because she knows that too was a blessing and something to be thankful for, because of the wonderful friends she made in the process.  She would never tell you that one of those friends life was made better because she had my grandma.  No my grandma never takes glory she only tells you how thankful she is for every challenge, obstacle and blessing in her life, and how blessed she is to have all of us, 4 wonderful Daughters, 2 son in laws, 1 Foster son,  13 Grand Children 11 grandchildren in laws, 31 great grand children, and 1 Great Great grand son!  That my friends is a lot to be thankful for!  I will never be able to repay her for all that she has done for me because she has no idea the influence she has had on me as a woman, wife, or mother.  I don't know how many more years we will have with her But one thing I do know is how very thankful God chose her to be my grandma, and how precious every moment I spend with her is to me!!!  

FL Cristen, Shania, Me, Taylor BL My mom and Grandma!  I have lots more pics but today this is the only one I could get to load.  

Tired!

So last night I had the hubs make me a cappochino way to late in the evening and ultimately did not sleep well.  Why do I do that to myself?  I LOVE LOVE coffee and really drink way more of it than I should.... Going on the list of behaviors I want to change.  when I am tired and worn out I often think of

Isaiah 40:31 

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD 
   will renew their strength. 
They will soar on wings like eagles; 
   they will run and not grow weary, 
   they will walk and not be faint.

I find great comfort in knowing that no matter what my savior will get me through!  

So I have been thinking a lot about gluttony with the holidays upon us and really feel like this year we are scaling back.  We say that every year and never do.  I Love CHRISTmas and so does every other member of our family.  We do not over do birthdays...we can stick to our budget on Birthdays but for whatever reason we can not stick to it at CHRISTmas. However we always pay in cash!!! We have never used a credit card for CHRISTmas.  We don't use credit cards period!!!  but this year we even bought and gave 2 of the kids an expensive early gift.  We generally do not buy random gifts for the kids they have what they need and do not feel the need to shower them with gifts.  We shower them with Love, family time, hugs, kisses, warm food, roof over their heads and all the things they need.  In general my family has a heart for giving more so than receiving.  We celebrate the real reason for the season....God sending his Son to live and die for our sins, the birth of our Savior.   So why is it at CHRISTmas we over do it?  Is it a form of gluttony?  I mean really do we need all this stuff?  It is just stuff right?  Are we as a family sugar coating the real reason for the season? are we doing enough?  Could we do more?  Give more?  Has the Holiday become routine?  I think this year we will find some new traditions that will allow us to give more, God has blessed us and I want to be a blessing to others, an example of Gods love.  I think I will make a list of what we do, and see if I can find some new things we can do!  Some new meaningful traditions.    I hope you do as well!  

yummy!

The homemade summer sausage I made on Saturday turned out amazing!!!  especially for having never tried anything like that before!  by no means was it perfect but with deer season being upon us I decided that we needed to empty our fridge of some deer meat and this was quick and easy to do.  I can't follow a recipe unless it is in a cookbook...if I look it up on the internet I tend to combine....as I did with this and here is what I came up with!

Summer sausage

2lbs ground deer burger

2 pounds ground deer sausage (breakfast sausage)

1 pound of thick cut platter bacon

Morton tender salt as per the directions on the bag.  

2tsp of mustard powder

2tsp of meat tenderizer(I don't think this is necessary)

2tsp cayenne pepper

2tsp of garlic powder (next time we will use 2tsp of chopped garlic)

2tsp of onion powder (next time I will double the mustard powder and omit this)

2tsp of liquid smoke (I could have used more but was a bit scared to over power)

4TBSP of steak seasoning 

chop up the bacon into small pieces and combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Use your hands and get it mixed real well.  Then run it through a meat grinder.  (we have the old crank type but this tasted so good we bought the attachment for my kitchen aid mixer it will be in on Friday)  after grinding it all up together roll it into log shapes put it on a shallow cookie sheet, and bake in oven at 175 degrees for 6 hours or until the internal temp reaches 160 degrees.  We rolled ours over several times during the process.  allow to cool and then place in zip-loc and store in the fridge.  

So I have been on a cooking spree the last few days.  I also cooked up some homemade Veggie soup (with venison tenderloin) I ended up with way more meat than we needed for our soup and I used the leftover to make up a homemade pot pie.  Apples were on sale at the grocery store for 38cents a pound so I bought 2 dollars worth and made apple pie and apple bread...yummy!!!  I know it was good cause hubby came by the house this morning with one of the guys from work and got apple bread to share!  

well I have orders to get out and if you haven't already you should totally check out   

Cristel Dezynz on facebook!!! 

Worship!!

Today started off just like any other Sunday.....We got up got ready for church, ran out the door hurried, went to church, taught Sunday School which by the way is a blessing!!  We(hubby and I)  had no Idea when we accepted the position of teaching the Junior High class that we would be blessed, and transformed in the way that we have which makes it a blessing to teach these kids.  Today we had 2 visitors....and the only bad thing about visitors in a junior high class is how hard it is to get quality time with a visitor when you have 15 "regular kids" in there all in a hurry to tell you about their week.  I really feel like we fail in this department miserably!!!  I always feel like we could do better with visitors.  Did we make them feel welcomed and included?  did we give them the idea that we are fun but yet serious?  Did they feel comfortable?  Were we polite?  (we as in the whole class, cause with 7th and 8th graders this can be a real issue)  I know we can do better and need to come up with a plan of action for when we have visitors.  If you have suggestions or know something that has worked for you I would love to hear about it!!

We also spent some quality time with a young man from our Youth Group today.  He started coming to our church for all the wrong reasons but has come to know the Lord and really started building a relationship with God for all the right reasons.    His life is being transformed and we are happy to be a positive influence for him as well as a safe place to fall when he needs it.  He is being a good influence on his younger siblings who have both accepted Christ and have been baptized as well.  Not because anyone is telling them to but because each of them have felt the need to and are doing this all on their own accord.

Today while spending time with him we had a great discussion on how he could better be a witness to his family.  (He brought it up, not us)  This young man doesn't have a good influence at home, and doesn't have a good home life.  I was very proud of him today for his yearning to be a witness to the adult members of his family and I am going to be in prayer about this and how God wants to use me in this situation.

I will leave you today with this scripture:  119th Psalm 9-16

 ⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? 
   By living according to your word. 
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; 
   do not let me stray from your commands. 
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart 
   that I might not sin against you. 
¹² Praise be to you, O LORD; 
   teach me your decrees. 
¹³ With my lips I recount 
   all the laws that come from your mouth. 
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes 
   as one rejoices in great riches. 
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts 
   and consider your ways. 
¹⁶ I delight in your decrees; 
   I will not neglect your word.

Quality time

The sweetie in my last post is doing much better, we hope to have her home and out of the hospital soon!  Praise God!  Today I am thankful for a God loving family that truly enjoys each others company, and that little sweetie is finally turning the corner and feeling better, awesome answer to prayer!! 

Hubby has been working 6-7 days a week 10-12 hour shifts since April so we were really glad to have him home at a normal time this week and we didn't know how to act with him home on a Saturday so we Cleaned, and are trying to make summer sausage out of some deer burger and deer sausage.  I will let you know how it turns out later.  We scrubbed the kitchen and cooked supper and well we just enjoyed each others company all day!!!   Oh how I have missed that, I know the kids have too.  We are thankful for hubby's job, and the way that it provides for our family, but we are also thankful to have him home to spend quality time with us.  

The kids went to a joint birthday party for two really sweet girls from church, I whipped up some really cute headbands with flowers on them for both young ladies.  T and S were like "awesome mom.....we didn't spend a thing on these gifts and well like they are amazing!"  oh Teenagers and the word "like" it cracks me up. 

 I did find some time to make up some puppy bows today as well, I was asked by the local Humane Society to donate something for their silent auction and I decided that I would include some of my people stuff but I was gonna make it fun and put some boutique style bows for dogs in there as well.   (I had fun making them)  We all love our four legged friends mines a Black Lab named "Ya Ya" Yadier Molina Wesley.  She has no Idea that she was named after a guy, who just happens to be my favorite Baseball player, who happens to play on my favorite baseball team and is best friends with my second favorite player......anyway here is a pic of Molina and Pujols together, the two of them giving God the Glory!  

See why I love these 2 guys?  yeah they are both pretty amazing!! How much greater would the game be if there were more guys like this in it?  If the money and the fame went away today these guys are gonna be ok because they have God!  

Kevin and Shania are off taking a driving lesson....hard to believe my baby girl has her permit already.  I hope you all enjoy some quality family time and enjoy one another for you never know what tomorrow will bring!  

Thankful for more than I deserve

Today as I was going through my day, running errands, taking pics for my etsy, and facebook, more errands, groceries, etc. I got a phone call from my Best Friend telling me they were sending her youngest
by ambulance to the childrens hospital.  Right in the middle of the day her precious healthy, honery, beautiful little girl was sick.  I took some time and prayed for safe travel, the guidance of the doctors, pain, fear, and nerves of all.  As of right now we know she is in good hands and that her and her family need prayers.....because as parents we know the hardest thing is not knowing and not being able to make the pain go away.

Then I started to try and go back to my day....but was left feeling very very overwhelmed with how blessed I truly am.  Really blessed beyond measure, it is pretty amazing.  I am thankful for an amazing husband who works hard, and provides so much for us, 3 beautiful healthy kids, lots of family and some of the best girlfriends one could ever ask for. A roof over my head, 4 vehicles, a wonderful church family and last but not least a heavenly Father who is was and always will be able to forgive me when I don't think I can forgive myself.  Right in the middle of ordinary life he sent me this amazing fall day, and a reminder of how truly blessed I am to live in a country that allows me to Pray whenever, wherever I choose, and so many veterans who have fought to keep that simple freedom.  Thanks to all of you!    

Ok well now that I got that off my chest I will let you know what else I was up to today.....I was cranking out some scarves, and photos of scarves!  Who doesn't love a scarf?  really I would totally wear one every day!   To your left is a Oodle Doodle Noodle scarf made by me and Shania that's her in the pics.  The one on the right is a drizzle scarf I made

 another pic of the Oodle Doodle Noodle Scarf

the rest are pics of the Infinity Scarf all are available for purchase  on my etsy!   The Infinity is amazingly versatile you can wear it so many different ways we ran out of time today to even photograph all the different ways it could be worn.  These can all be made in different colors.