Thanksgiving Day List.

The Thanksgiving season is a good time to remember what we are thankful for, but usually don't remember all the time.
On this day I am thankful for: Salvation. God's mercy and grace. God's guidance. Family and friends. Work. Skills. A house. Living in the country. Living in America, which is still the freest nation in the world. Those who have sacrificed there lives defending that freedom. Our forefathers who founded a Christian nation. People who encourage me, and love me no matter how crazy I get. The yummy food I'm cooking right now.
Leave a comment with what things are you all thankful for.

Thank you for reading this short entry!

The wonder of nature vs. blinded minds

Today is such a cold day that I thought I would get some blogging done. I am one of those writers that needs inspiration to write anything, and I didn't have any. I was thinking of ideas while hanging the wash when I saw a gaggle of geese flying south. I started having this chain of thought, wondering why they weren't flying north, why they flew in such a perfect formation for cutting into the air, etc....how could they be a product of evolution? Then I started thinking of all these other animals, humans, and the earth's form in general. My mind was just blown at how anyone could think it was a product of random chance. I think it would take a lot more faith to believe in evolution, than to simply believe God's Word that He created it all; when there is not any evidence to support evolution, but Nature itself proves that it has a Creator. I was just amazed at how blind the world's mind was to the Truth, wanting to believe something harder to believe than God, then I realized that that was another evidence of the truth of God's Word.

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 

I believe that the main cause of the wickedness of this society, besides sin and the fall, is the philosophy of evolution. Not only does it deny that there is a God that you will be held accountable to, but it debases humans to the level of animals, and worse. Christians, instead of holing up, and keeping quiet, have a greater responsibility to shine the Light of the glorious gospel of Christ, preach the Word, and stand up against this rampant evil.

Sarah

Whole Wheat Bread Tips and Recipe

I have had several people who buy whole wheat bread from me ask how I get it to rise so much so I decided to share my recipe. Now the way I get my bread to rise so well is that I add wheat gluten to it. You can get the wheat gluten from the bulk section of Shetler's.

For one loaf of bread you need, 4 cups of whole wheat flour, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp yeast, 4 heaping tbsp wheat gluten, 5 tbsp oil, 12 oz warm water. Mix all the dry ingredients together thoroughly, then mix the oil and water in. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, then spray the top with cook spray, cover, and set to rise in a warm place until it doubles, about half an hour. After in has risen this first time punch it down and knead it again. Then shape it into a loaf, and place in your greased bread pan. Spray, or butter the top again and set to rise for about another half hour. Finally you bake it in a pre-heated 375F oven for 30-35 minutes. It is done when you tip it out of the pan and tap the bottom, and it has a hollow sound. Let it cool on a rack. Enjoy!

What's Wrong With Hallowe'en?

Dear Readers,

Today is a day where children everywhere dress up as witches and ghosts and go around asking for candy. I do not celebrate Halloween, and I am going to give you my reasons in this blog entry. My obvious reason is the dressing up as these wicked characters. But if you leave out the costumes, my reasons go far deeper. I am a huge history fan, so I'm going to give you some history about Halloween.
First thing, the word 'hallow' means something very holy and sacred; and e'en is a word that basically means 'evening'. It was called that because in the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic "church" celebrated a day called 'All Saints Day' on November first. On this day, they celebrated all their saints from the past. They belived that on the evening before this holy day, all the demons, and satanic powers came out and would try to ruin the next day with nasty tricks, hence the name 'hallow-e'en'. Anyway, they would dress up as these characters and go down the streets with jack'o'lanterns, and try to scare the demons away. That is why I don't celebrate Halloween, and why I don't believe that anyone should. The way it is celebrated has changed over the years, but I believe that it still is a tribute to Satan.

Random blog update :)

Well there haven't been much exciting events to blog about, so I thought I would just let you know what I've been up to lately. 

Before this, I have been job hunting. It isn't going well so please pray about that if you think to.

So, today I cleaned some gutters in Springfield. If you don't know what get's in there, you're lucky! LOL Just imagine years and years of decayed silt-substance that fills up the entire gutter, AND you have to reach your bare hand in there and get it out. In the cold, and the wet! Okay, so I dramatized things a bit. I actually do not mind doing it that much. 

On Tuesday, I am going to be playing violin for an English Contra dance. That'll definitely be an experience! I am super nervous about it since I have never done anything like that before, but I'm sure it'll be fun! And you're all invited! Let me know if you want any details. :)

I have also started this diet/exercise thing. I want to lose 30 pounds by next summer, now that I have announced it to the world, I can't back down. LOL So, I have been walking every day. I never knew how many benefits walking daily has. I feel more energized, and healthy than I have in who knows how long. I have also started using this protein drink from Arbonne. I love the drink, but I only started it today, so I guess it'll be awhile to see what results it brings.

I hope you all are having a great season!

Fall on the Farm

Well it's fall again, one of my favorite seasons. I actually like all the seasons because there's something special about each. My favorite things about fall are the nice breeze, the sunshine, the bright colors, pumpkins, hot cocoa, and the all-around festive feel to the season. We have been busy harvesting and covering crops to protect them from the frost. And we planted some mums. They are sooo pretty. I will also have to start doing some deep fall-cleaning....soon. Here are some pics!

William with his corn

John and his pumpkins

Mums

More mums.

Have a great week!

Sarah

Farmer's Market

Every week I bake to sell at the farmer's market, which coincidentally, is what I'm doing right now ;)  I make different kinds of bread and pies, and I wake up really, really early to make fresh cinnamon rolls. It is very tiring, and sometimes I absolutely hate doing it, but mostly I really enjoy doing it; and it pays pretty well too. A couple days ago, our fridge gave out, and we had to stick my dairy products in the freezer until we got it fixed. I took my whipping cream out last night to thaw, and this morning I was like 'what! it's still frozen?!' because I couldn't hear it when I shook it. So I opened it to see what was up. It had turned to butter or something like butter! Now I have to get another carton, oh well, that's one of the risks of business. LOL.
One thing I love about when I am able to go to the farmer's market is when I see Camp J-O-Y people there. It's so cute whenever little kids, that you recognize, but don't exactly remember who they are, run up to you and ask if you will be there next year, or say 'I remember you', and other things like that. I also like it when I wear my camp shirt there, and adults talk to me about it. There was this one lady, in her 30's or 40's, who told me how she had been saved down there when she was younger. I really love just hearing these random people tell me stories, it's so cool!
Well, I guess I'm done for now.