Reaching Your Jerusalem on Halloween

I love all things fall.  Not so much Halloween.

I do love the story my mom shared with me this week.  Last Friday was their small town's trick or treat times.  (Here in Nevada - it is always October 31st no matter where you go.)  She said it was a beautiful evening.  My dad and her sat in the front of the house on their lawn chairs and passed out suckers for two hours to the kids that came by trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

You see, my parents pastor a church in that town.  They live in the parsonage adjacent to the church.  Mom said that there were many kids and teens that came by that had attended church before.  She said they were able to reconnect and catch up with many of them.

I loved this.  

Reach your Jerusalem.  Reach your neighborhood.  

One sucker at a time.

Thanksgiving Recipe: Cranberry Sauce

Guest post:  Jenny Musser

Today I'm going to share an amazing recipe for cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving Dinner!  This recipe is so easy and you can make it the night before.  It's as easy as opening a can and slicing up that perfectly molded can shaped "cranberry sauce".  I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website @ Cranberry Sauce.

  

Ingredients:
1 cup cranberry-raspberry juice
1 cup of sugar
1 package (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:
In a large saucepan, bring juice and sugar to a boil. Add cranberries; return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the berries pop, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat; stir in lemon juice. cool. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled. 

Yield: 11 servings.

Fall Recipe: Savory Stuffed Pumpkin

I first made this recipe that I found in one of my first cookbooks as a young married woman.  We were living in a one bedroom apartment on the third floor in a little town overlooking a lake.  My husband was in Bible college.  Good memories!  I made this and he really enjoyed it!  It is a fun presentation for a fall dinner.

Savory Stuffed Pumpkin

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds ground turkey or beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 cups cooked rice
1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 large pumpkin (8 to 9 pounds)
Canola oil

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the soup, mushrooms, soy sauce and brown sugar. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rice and water chestnuts.

Wash pumpkin; cut a 6-in. circle around stem. Remove top and set aside. Discard seeds and loose fibers from the inside. Spoon beef mixture into pumpkin; replace top.

Place in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Rub oil over outside of pumpkin. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1-1/2 hours or until pumpkin is tender. Scoop out some pumpkin with each serving of beef mixture.

Enjoy!

Is Your Life Battery Dead?

This morning, the temperature dropped to freezing outside - 28 degrees actually.  I went to turn on the furnace to take the chill off the house and there was no power to my thermostat.  Not having used my furnace since last spring/winter, I hadn't noticed that it needed a new battery.  

Did you know that you can't get a fire in your furnace without that little thing called the thermostat?  You have to add power to the thermostat to get the fire to heat your entire house.

So is the same for your life.  You need to add power to your soul before you will be able to live victoriously!  

Stay consistent in your Bible reading.  Don't skip out on that church service.  Stay faithful to your Sunday School and Connection Class.

Each time you miss a time to "power up", the weaker your spiritual battery becomes.  

Eventually, you will be "dead".  

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  

Wherein time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desire of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as other.  

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2

Quicken is to make alive.  In order to make something come alive, it needs a source of power.

Don't leave behind your source of power today!  Decide to be faithful to your Bible time...don't miss your church services.  You will only have the power on your life when you are charged by the right power source - Jesus Christ!!

Wardrobe Tips and Ideas for your Brown Riding Boots this Fall Season

Fall is here and with the change of seasons come a change in wardrobe.  I came across this article and I wanted to share some of the photos and ideas with you. 

Building a wardrobe, you will want to have certain items that you can interchange and use over without the same boring look.  One staple this fall/winter is a brown riding boot.  You can spend a good amount of money on boots - I bought mine on sale at Sears for $19.99.  

Here are a few ideas to make some really cute fall outfits with those riding boots.  

By the way, you can make or break a nice outfit by the shoes/boots that you wear with it.  Make your outfits pop with a classy shoe!

*The following photos and tips are from 

10 Ways to Wear Your Boots this Fall and 15 Tips to Keep Your Outfits Balanced.*

Pencil skirts are a great combination with boots, but you have to be careful with the proportions. 

Tip #7. Choose pencil skirts that hit at, or right above your knee so that you have several inches of open leg. Don't let the boots and skirt touch! 

'

A-Line shaped skirts are another great option. But again, make sure there is space between the hem of your skirt and the top of your boots. 

Tip #8. Choose a top that's darker, like my burgundy one here, to help balance out the big dark section on my legs and keep the outfit from being bottom heavy. 

Dresses and boots are a great pairing for fall, and an exposed bare leg is a perfect transitional look. Again, make sure you have plenty of space between your dress hem and your boots. 

Tip #9. Use a scarf to add a bit of bulk toward the top of your outfit to balance out the heavy boots at the bottom. 

Tip #10. Don't be afraid to pair black and brown - they're both neutrals so they go together just fine!

As you get into the colder months, tights with boots are a great combination. Since there are only a few inches of tights exposed, try a fun bright color like blue or pink or gold! 

Tip #11. A jacket, like this denim one, is another good way to balance out your boots. 

Tip #12. Try pairing your tights with the pencil skirts and A-line skirts! 

Leg warmers are a fun boot accessory, just like socks. You can wear them over jeans, or with a dress as shown here. You could even layer them over tights with a dress or skirt! 

Tip #13. Try a pair of patterned ones, like a cute stripe or argyle, but make sure the rest of your outfit stays more neutral to create balance.

Love these ideas and tips and I hope you do too!

Ideas and Helps for Your Church Harvest Party

This Saturday, we are having our fourth annual Harvest Party for Sierra View.  I thought I would share the details of this day.  Perhaps it will give you ideas and guidelines for your church fall events.  :)

This link is the basic events and details of the day.  This is e-mailed and printed for our church family.

Harvest Party Planner

If you are the event coordinator for your church events, you probably will need to enlist help for larger events.  For those volunteering, it is helpful to give detailed instructions on their task for that day.  This link is the details involving tasks for the Harvest Party.

Harvest Party Volunteers and Duties

For our Harvest Party, we like to give goody bags to the children that attend of things other than candy.  Here is the sign up sheet for our Harvest Party Goody Bags.

Harvest Party Donation Sheet

Feel free to share any other ideas you may use at your church fall events!  Happy fall!

Thanksgiving Checklist, Seven Layer Salad Recipe and Simple Centerpieces

Thanksgiving is just a month away!  Here is a checklist from the Thrifty Couple that you may enjoy using for your holiday plans this year.

Thanksgiving Checklist

Want a salad recipe for your Thanksgiving meal?  Try a Seven Layer Salad this year...

Seven Layer Salad

Frozen peas - 1/2-3/4 cup each layer

Shredded cheese - 8 oz.

Chopped green onions - 1 bunch

Chopped lettuce - 1 bag of romaine

Bacon - 1 lb. fried and chopped

Mayo - Add to lettuce (around a cup)

Boiled eggs - 1 dozen - sliced

Layer all above ingredients into two layers into a pretty glass dish.  

Want simple Thanksgiving centerpieces or accents to your dinner?  Try candle holders filled with various autumn items...

Corn

Nuts

Cranberries

Different colored beans

Mini pumpkins or gourds

Or the tastiest...candy corn. :)

The Power of YOUR Perception

Stop it.  Just stop it.

How do we feel that we are justified in our judgments of others, institutions or situations?  How is it OK to talk about another Christian who we have felt has judged us?  Are we not doing the same thing?  Judging them for judging us and then judging them for not being like us? 

I'm pretty tired of Christians bashing other Christians.

I don't care whether you share the truth or not.  The fact is when you share your judgment call on another person...

you have now influenced another person or several people to share your same perception on that person or situation.

Let me give you an example.  My husband was driving home one day on the freeway and witnessed a motorcycle driver speed through traffic and knock off the mirror of a vehicle he passed.  The motorcycle driver was driving recklessly and my husband was following him.  Closely.  Witnesses saw my husband following this driver closely and turned in his license plate to the police.

Long story short.  He was arrested.  Spent the night in jail.  A lawyer and $7,000 later - his felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon was dropped.

Because of two witnesses' perception of the situation, we were put into the situation.  

Was my husband trying to run this driver off the road?  No.  Was he following him closely?  Yes.  Could it have looked like he was?  Yes.  

However, it was based on perception that my husband found himself in jail facing a felony charge.

Perception.  KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.  Did you ever think to yourself that your perception of someone or something may be incorrect?  And did you ever think that sharing YOUR PERCEPTION of someone or something may ruin that person?  

I sure realized this as now we have $7,000 in debt that we have to pay off.  Perception.  It sure can be a powerful thing.  

Don't you get tired of someone afar off...not really knowing you or a part of your life...making judgment on who you are?  It's not right.

But it is EQUALLY not right to make judgment back on that person.  So wherever you may find yourself...

The judged or the judge...remember one word...

PERCEPTION.

And then shut your mouth and KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.

Recipe: Avocado Pie

This may sound like a very odd recipe but I promise it is a keeper!  This recipe is from my friends, Megan and Lisa, and has become a mainstay at our church potlucks.  In fact, my 7 yr. old asked for this as her birthday dessert just yesterday.  Try it and you will love it!

Avocado Pie

1 large avocado
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lime juice 
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
graham cracker crust

Mix ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Cool.

Once cool, add topping.
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar

How to Have a Healthy Countenance

The past week and half, I have been doing the 30 Day Praise Challenge as part of my devotion time. Each day, I read five Psalms and I choose a characteristic of God that I want to praise Him for that day.

Just now, I was finishing up today's Psalms and I came upon this verse...

"I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God."

That was today's characteristic!  He is the health of my countenance.  I really loved this and Googled some more thoughts on it and up popped a 

sermon from Spurgeon from March 25, 1875.

Wow.  I want to share some gems from this sermon regarding health of my countenance...

God’s Countenance is our help, and He, Himself is the health of our countenance!

It may not please God to lessen the burden, but it comes to the same thing if He strengthens the back.

Give a man health in his countenance, and he laughs at that which would have crushed him had he been in another mood! 

Everything depends upon the man’s personal condition! Our happiness depends more upon our own personal condition than upon our surroundings. 

 God is our health! But again, God is the health of our countenance because our relation to Him is the test of our health. 

Alas, that our relation to man should seem to be so much more important than our connection with God! 

To set man before God is unrighteous and shows the essential injustice of unrenewed hearts, for 

when their hearts are set right, men feel that they would sooner a thousand times offend their fellow men than once offend their God; so that you may judge of your spiritual health by your relation to God! Do you love Him? Do you trust Him? Do you speak with Him? Do you pray to Him? Is He your Friend? Is He your delight? Is His Will your will? Do you take pleasure in that which pleases Him? Does your life run parallel with the life of God? It is well with you if things are so—it is on the way to being well with you if you desire to have them so! But if, on the contrary, God’s Will draws one way, and you the other, the Lord cannot be wrong, and you are clearly proven to be in an ill case. The Lord is Holy. “Holy, holy, holy,” say the angels, and if you are not like He is, you are unholy—that is you are not whole, you are not spiritually in health—your very nature is diseased. God is our health, then, because our relation to Him is the test of it.

The text intends to teach us that 

God must be to each one of us the Restorer of our spiritual health. 

Spiritual health is produced by God's coming to us, for the medicine for a sick soul is not something out of God, but God himself!

But I must pass on to the third matter, namely, that THIS HEALTH HAS VISIBLE SIGNS. “He 

is the health of my countenance.” The health of a man is mainly judged of by his face. Truly, you can tell something of it by his gait, and every limb of the body, more or less, evidences his condition—but the countenance is the window of the soul—the mirror which reflects the nature. True sanity towards God, or at any rate, the beginning of it in the work of Grace, can be seen! It is not a close secret hidden from observation—it displays itself! 

The Lord gives outward evidences of His inward work!

Let me tell you, though, I am afraid some Christians do not prove it, that the Lord Jesus smoothes 

the wrinkles of care from the foreheads of His patients. When Christians are under the influence of Divine Grace, they know no care; they cast their care on Him who cares for them!   They do the little they can do, and leave the rest with their Lord, and all goes well, and their life is peace. 

If Christ has cured you, why do you conceal His work?

If God begins to heal you, He will never give up the work till He has achieved it.

Wow.  This sermon and thought is exactly what I have been needing.  

I hope in some way - it will be a blessing and a help to you too.  (You can read the entire sermon on the link below.)

The Secret of Health by Charles Spurgeon

Planning a Meal for a Revival

We have our very first Fall Revival beginning tomorrow at Sierra View!  My husband requested that we provide food for those who come.  Many folks will be coming from work and he wanted to provide a quick meal to enable more folks to come to the services.

Perhaps this idea is one you can use for your church function.

Our menu is as follows:

Monday

Lasagna

Toss salad with Italian dressing and croutons

French bread

Cookies

Drinks:  Ice water/tea/lemonade

Tuesday

Enchiladas

Toss salad with ranch dressing and tortilla strips

Tortilla chips and salsa

Cookies

The church will be providing the drinks, bread/chips and the cookies.  One lady will be making all the salad.  We signed up volunteers to bring the lasagna and enchilada dishes.

The meal will be served from 5:45 - 6:15pm.  Services begin at 6:30pm.  

We also have a schedule of set-up/clean-up for each day - Sunday - Tuesday.

I hope this helps you in your next event.  

Homemaking Tip: Storing Lettuce

*Guest Post:  Jenny Musser*

My sister, Rachel, shared this tip with me a couple years ago and I thought I would share it with you.  This is a great money saving tip!

I always like to keep lettuce around to make a salad for lunch or to put on a sandwich but it always seemed to go bad before I could eat it all. (I have heard that the metals in a knife blade will react with the lettuce and cause oxidation so tear your lettuce by hand.)

Ok, all that for this simple tip!  Here it is.  Put a paper towel in with your lettuce. It will absorb all the moisture from the lettuce and keep it fresher longer!

Simple Fall Decor for your Church Foyer

I wanted to share the simple and perfect fall decor that Jenny did for our foyer.  :)  She always does a great job - I am so thankful to have her!

This Sunday also began our last quarter of the year - ReThink Missions.  

Church family, would you pray 15 minutes a day for our Fall Revival that begins Sunday?  I need revival.  Let's pray!

The Story of my Grandpa's Salvation...Written by my Dad

My dad wrote an article for the Christian Womanhood magazine.  The article is the story of his father's salvation.  

Just a few days ago in our Awana club, I shared the testimonies of two of our young ladies in our group - Addie and Emma.  I asked the girls why it was important to share how you were saved with other people.

Their response - so maybe they will be saved too!  

Exactly!  Share your salvation story today.  You don't know the impact it may have on someone.  

This story is about my Grandpa and Grandma Holt.  My legacy.  My heritage.  My favorite part of the story is when my grandpa bought a bus for the church.  

What can you do today to impact lives for eternity?  

Thank you to my dad for writing this.  Love you!

By the way, you can subscribe to this magazine!  It is a wonderful Christian ladies magazine.  Do so today at the link below!

Christian Womanhood Magazine

Field Trip: Virginia City - Part 3

Friday, we took a last of the season trip to Virginia City.  They have been having Flashback Fridays - the first Friday of the month - which is free admission to nearly 20 of their museums/historical places.  This Friday was the last one and we went to finish up our tour.

Jenny and Reagan went with us so it was definitely a girls day out with eight lovely ladies!

One of our stops was the Silver Terrace Cemetery.  This photo was taken from the cemetery overlooking the small town of VC.  Just gorgeous!

Reagan Musser and Autumn

My girls are the four from the right.  Then Reagan Musser on the left.  And Reagan Allen in the stroller.  Taken at the St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Also, another great photo of the Mackay Mansion overlooking part of VC and the mountain ranges in the distance.

Taken at the cemetery....the best I could get. LOL!

The sagebrush in bloom!

The Gold Mill in VC.

Our last stop was the Gold Hill Hotel.  Awesome little place that you can still stay the night and eat at the restaurant.  Lots of history.

Virginia City is such a neat little piece of history.  Check out the other parts of our trip here!

Field Trip: Virginia City - Part 2

Field Trip: Virginia City - Part 1

Church Administration: Policy and Procedure for a Church Vehicle

We have a church van that the Lord blessed our ministry with back in March.  With the blessing comes a large responsibility.  Placing policies in place regarding a ministry vehicle is important.  When we were given the vehicle, we created the Van Reservation Form.  

Why implement a form like this?

1.  The church office approved all use of the church vehicle.

2.  There would be no conflicts of use. 

Below is our Church Van Reservation Form that you are welcome to download and adapt to your own use in your ministries.

Church Vehicle Reservation Form

Ideas for Decorating Simply for Autumn

Guest Post:  By Jenny Musser

I'm back from enjoying the last few lazy days of summer!  I try really hard every year to wait until October to put out my fall decorations.  I do not decorate as much as I use to...just my porch and a few pumpkins around the house. 

For my front porch, I change out my wreath, pillows and add a few twig pumpkins.  I have had this fall wreath for a few years and it was just kinda plain and I wanted to add something to it this year.  Monograms and initials are so big right now...they put them on everything!  I found this cute polka dot M at Kirkland's this summer on a visit to California.  The pillows on the bench are the same blue ones I had on all summer long and I just bought some pillows covers to go over them.  Hobby Lobby has a great selection of pillow covers.  I have some all around my house.  I got these when they were half off, so both for $8.  

Here is a link to their website where you can check out all the great colors and patterns.  

Pillow Covers @ Hobby Lobby

For decorating inside, I really keep it simple.  A few years ago, I saw a pumpkin on a candle holder and I thought it looked really cute and simple.  So, I just put out a few pumpkins, light a fall candle and call it a day! 

Happy Decorating!!!

Recipe: Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup

Fall has arrived...it is 39 degrees this morning...and soup sounds mighty good! :)  This is one of my favorite soups - perfect for the first day of October.

Rustic Italian Tortellini Soup

1 lb. sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans chicken broth
1 3/4 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package cheese tortellini
1 package (6 oz.) fresh baby spinach
fresh or dried basil
black pepper and red pepper flakes
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Fry sausage and onion.  Add garlic.  Put in pot and add broth, water and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil. Add tortellini.  Boil for 7-9 minutes.  Reduce heat: Add spinach, basil, pepper and red pepper flakes. Heat through until the spinach is wilted.

6 servings

Serve with garlic bread or Bread Machine Dinner Rolls and topped with shredded Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!