One Year of Mercy and Grace

"I waited patiently for the Lord;

He turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and the mire;

He set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand."

Psalm 40:1-2

Christmas Open House

It is a dark and bitterly cold winter night.

You are pregnant, alone and with no place

to lay down and sleep in the warmth

of home or family...

where can you go?

who will open the doors to a girl like you?

Does this sound like a familiar story?

Perhaps from the 2nd chapter of Luke?

Actually it is the story of many

frightened girls in Clark County!

There are places for girls to go who are under 18

but no beds anywhere long term for 

a homeless woman who is pregnant over 18...

Except Avonlea Acres

My dear friend and her husband have been

called into this ministry for several years

and now the Lord has opened to them 

a 6 bedroom home with separate living quarters

for the house parents. 

And that's the privilege we had this week-to decorate

this home for a Christmas Open House.

If you are interested in stopping by the 

Open House is from 1-6 this Sunday.

Please see the website for contact info

as the address cannot be posted for safety reasons.

Even giving $5 a month gives a girl a chance 

at a new life, to know Christ, to learn

parenting skills, go to school, 

to start to believe they are

worth something...

AND to save the life of a little child.

Slowcooker Oatmeal

I'm linking up with 

 Slow cooker Oatmeal

Hmmm

Well this is an interesting recipe!

For one thing I'm not an oatmeal lover to begin with

so I was trying to find a recipe that maybe

I would like as oats are a good source 

of fiber.

However that also doesn't help to give a very 

unbiased taste test.

As you can see the color is really dark brown and

(I think kids would say "yuck it looks like p...!")

The taste was okay, very smooth and 

surprisingly still chunky with apple

despite cooking overnight!

The nuts were no longer crunchy so that

was unusual also.

 If you are an oatmeal fan and

you'd like to try the recipe

it is at All Recipes

under

Slow Cooker Fruit, Nuts, and Spice Oatmeal

Advent Calendar

Thanks to Delightful Order

I was able to quickly put together

an Advent Calendar for my Grand daughter

(before the whole month flew by).

Using the free printables

I glued little treats behind each number

 and then just glued on the tags.

I used a wood silverware drawer organizer

for the shadow box.

The only part that was disappointing was that 

there is so little available for small

items that depict the nativity:(

Funny, I thought that's what Christmas is...

Jesus' Birth!?

Getting Ready for The Season

This year I really wanted to 

keep the Christmas Decorating 

to just some simple changes

instead of a whole redo of house and home:)

So I just added in some gold, copper 

and bronze berries into existing

arrangements and added a few touches 

of burlap- like the stockings I made,
and the pillow from my sis-in-law.

 Everything feels brighter and warmer now
so I can move on to the best parts of the season-
being with the people I love, baking, listening
to music, reading gentle Christmas books
and crafting/sewing gifts.

3rd Birthday Prep

I've been working on the Party Planning

for Brielle's 3rd Birthday.

Today was the final prep day

before the party.

 New hat !

 Birthday invites.

All the printables you see are from a 

downloadable party set I purchased

from Sweet Scarlet Designs.

 My trusty Cricut has been cutting steadily for days...

crowns, circles, signs etc.

One fun and easy thing we made was

marshmallow pops. 

You melt the candy chips,

dip the marshmallow in it,  coat with 

your choice of sprinkles, then

 insert a lollipop stick. 

(The finished product will

be seen in a later post.)

I also made a dress for Brielle

. Because she always says the clothes I make her are "ouchy"

I used flannel instead of cotton this time

and hope she can be persuaded to 

wear it!

Pumpkin Scones

I'm linking up a day late at

 With Pumpkin Scones

I'm not going to put the recipe because they

weren't very good!

Too dry and the recipe didn't call for any

type of sweetener,

so they were not tasty to me:(

My morning has to have a little sugar or honey...