Pumpkin Bread and Tidbits

This week has been a week of baking and preparing. On Monday I taught the children how to prepare pureed pumpkin from fresh pumpkins and taught them how to bake Pumpkin Bread. We started out by cutting up the two pumpkins I got them for Halloween, cutting out and discarding the stem. We seeded the pumpkins also. I saved some of the seeds to dry out for us to use in the garden next growing season. After we cut the pumpkins up I showed the children how to place part of the pumpkins in a shallow baking dish , add a little water and then baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 30 minutes until they were done. In the mean time I also showed them how much time is saved by cooking the pumpkins in the microwave. In other words we experimented. All a part of our home schooling. The time for the pumpkin we cooked in the microwave was about 15 minutes per each 1/4 of a pumpkin. When it was cooked we scraped the flesh of the pumpkin off the rind and placed it in my blender and blended it on the puree setting. I used to do this with a potato masher, so the blender made the work a lot less and we got done in a shorter time period. So in the time it took to bake the pumpkin in the oven we had all the other pumpkin cooked, pureed and put up in the freezer.

Then we made Pumpkin Nut Bread. Some of the loaves I did not put nuts in as I am allergic to certain types of nuts. The bread turned out quite well. The children truly enjoyed learning, helping and baking the bread. We give the bread away as Christmas gifts to family and friends for Christmas gifts.

On Tuesday we made Coconut Cherry Bread as I had several hints for it as gifts this year. I made it to give as gifts a couple of years ago and the people I gave it to commented on how well they liked it. So this year I got some hints to give it as a gift again this year. Saturday morning I made a new recipe of bread to give as gifts. It is Banana Berry Nut bread. I did not know how it would turn out but it tastes very good, even if I do say so myself. The good thing about bread is that you can bake it in advance and freeze it up to three months before it has to be used. So since I will be making and baking cookies and candies this upcoming week I made the bread ahead so I would not be so rushed. The children are a big help to me. I thank God for them and for allowing me to share some of what I know with them that may help them sometime in their life.

Zak and Elizabeth are both going to be in the Christmas play at the church where my parents attend. Sister Joyce is the one who is writing and organizing the play, as she has the past few years now. Sister Joyce is an inspiration to me. She is one of these lovely ladies that shine with the light of the Lord within her, I mean she truly shines. She has this glow about her. She has had cancer and God healed her of it. Then she got Multiple Sclerosis. She has her good days and her bad days but through it all she still praises the Lord. She is a blessed dear Sister to me and I love her so much. My bother, Bill, is going to sing " The Old Rugged Cross" in the play . Sister Joyce asked him to as she kneels before the cross. I know that a lot of people have sang the song before but to me no one can sing " The Old Rugged Cross" as well as my brother, Bill. It is not because I am related to him or prejudice about it in any way. So many people request for Bill to sing that song because he puts his feelings, his heart, and soul into the song when he sings it and you can feel it. I love singing with my family.

On Saturday night we, my brother Jim and I, sang with the group he plays with," Old Kentucky Sounds" at a little country church. We had a very nice service I asked if I could sing a solo and my dear sister in Christ, Lavern, told me I could. The Lord had laid the song" Mary Did You Know " on my heart Saturday morning and I had been singing it all day around the house. I knew that the Lord wanted me to sing this song on Saturday night. I was thankful that I did for I received a wonderful blessing. I love listening to Sister Lavern sing. She has such a wonderful voice. After I sang " Mary Did You Know" Lavern said out loud," that was beautiful." I sang the song because God had laid it on my heart to sing. After the singing was over Lavern came up to me and she said, " Nancy I love that song. All week I have been playing it on the piano and trying to sing it, except I could not hit the high notes. You hit the high notes and it was beautiful." I thanked her as she knows I sing for the Lord. When I sing I close my eyes and I see myself singing to Jesus, the Lord God. That is to whom I sing to when I sing is to the Lord. I feel His presence so strongly when I sing. All I do I do for Him and all praises , honor, and glory are due Him. With Him I have everything, without Him I have nothing.

God gives each of us talents. We are to use our talents for Him as He is the One who blest us with them. How many people do you know that are truly gifted with wondrous talents yet they use them for self gain or for the world or to serve the devil and his ways ? I know a lot of people who do this or ones who have given up and do not use their talents the Lord has given them at all. I see so much gone to waste for the world, the devil and what he is. I wish people would open their eyes and use the gifts/talents that God has given them to serve Him and to spread His Word and Message with others. We can plant the seed of God's Word within someone by these talents/gifts God gives us. That is why we are given these talents/gifts is to serve God with them, to share Him and His message with others.

How have you served the Lord today ? Have you shared God's message , His Word, with someone? Have you spent your time with God today ? Or did you spend your time playing computer or video games ? Did you spend your time out partying with friends, driving around , Christmas shopping, or just wasting time doing nothing ? Did you think to pray ? Did you give God praises ? How did you serve God today or how did you spend time with and for God today ? Did you place other things, other people before God today, The Bible, God's Word, tells us that if we love our children, our spouse , anyone or anything else more than we love God, and if we put any of them before God, then we do not Love God and we are not honoring God by doing so.

Every day we live we have the opportunity to put God first in our life. How often do we truly place God first ? If one does not place God first in their life they are giving God's place to someone or something else. That is not good. We are to honor God above all else. How often do we fail in this displacement of God/Jesus ? Daily for some. I have found few people who truly place God first , each and everyday, in their life. The people who come closest to doing this are the missionaries and all those who are actively out there spreading God's Word and sharing Him with others.

We have come to a time when we, as Christians, are being persecuted for speaking about God and His Holy Word, the Bible. We are at a time when others can say bad hateful things about Christians and have no repercussions for doing so yet if we, as Christians,speak out against those same ones who speak out against us we, the Christian, get in trouble for it. That is discrimination. Yet every day in this world Christians are discriminated against and it is being allowed by those who are in authority of the governments of the world and within the United States of America. Every one else is allowed to have a voice and speak out except the Christian. They say that what we say offends them but they do not care that what they say offends us Christians. They say it is okay to offend us but that we cannot offend them. There is something very wrong with that picture. They say they can discriminate against us but that we can not share God's Word with them as that is discriminating against them. In truth the Word of God is striking as a two edged sword. It hits their heart and soul and it does what it is supposed to do, it is letting them know that what they are doing is sinning, going against God/Jesus and they cannot handle that. They have to cry that it is discrimination, when in truth it is the truth of God's Word hitting their heart and soul. God's Word cuts deeper than any weapon ever forged by the hands of man, that is why people who are sinning want it silenced, because it is hitting the mark it should. I pity all those people who are trying to silence God's Word, as it will never happen. God wins in the end people, it is the people who are the losers. I just wish more people knew this and that their eyes and hearts would be opened to the truth. Yet I know that it will not be, for God tells us of how it will be. Then those who try to say that God is not real will one day, sadly, know the truth. I pray for all those who, for one reason or another, daily reject the Lord and refuse to believe in the One and Only true God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ. Prepare to meet the Lord before the Day of Judgment. Prepare to spend eternity with Him in Glory, for the only alternative to spending eternity in Glory with Jesus/God is spending eternity in eternal torment and pain in the Lake of Fire. Prepare for Eternity now before it is too late.