California Forests Come But Once A Year!

I loved this picture from Avila Valley Barn (the fella in the back is my friends son). We went with my friend on Saturday. The kids had so much fun running around the trees. I had to warn them to be careful not to run into people who were walking around to shop for one. My friend said that when she was little her parents would take her to tree places to run around in the "forest". That is exactly what they were doing. Such California kids! Later we got our tree from another place once Rick was off work (much better price, a 7 footer for $21!) and they got to run through the "forest" again. I would never have thought to make that an outing but it sure seems like it could be one. I'm sure my husband's family feel sorry for us with our fake forest, but then, it has to be in the same category as having to own a sun lamp in the great northwest!:)

Singing Elves (Mommy's Favorite)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Beyond Counting Blessings

I'm just as tickled as the next person to read and ponder what people are thankful for. We should practice this every day of the year for certain. Yet, somehow, something deeper has been on my heart this year. I don't know if it's a warning, a precaution, or just a deeper level of being thankful that I'm about to learn.
We, as Americans really do need to gain some perspective. We are all struggling in this economy but the reason we struggle is because of our scale of measurement. The way we define "struggle" would shock a large percentage of the world.

"...research indicates that assets of just $2,200 per adult place a household in the top half of the world's wealthiest. To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world, just $61,000 in assets is needed. If you have more than $500,000, you're part of the richest 1%, the United Nations study says. Indeed, 37 million people now belong in that category.

Half live on less than $2 a day

Sure, you can now be proud that you're rich. But take a moment to think about it, and you'll probably come to realize that the meaning behind these numbers is harrowing. For if it takes just a couple of thousand dollars to qualify as rich in this world, imagine what it means to be poor.

Half the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day. The three richest people in the world –- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffett and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú -- have more money than the poorest 48 nations combined " (gathered from this article)

First of all, doesn't that last bit make you feel like those men should share more!? Just a side note.

Seriously though, we only feel we struggle because we are so pampered. Try these mental punches to your perspective:
1. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy five percent of the people in the world.
2. If you can attend a church or synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
3. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are more blessed than five hundred million people in the world.
4. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish, you are among the top eight percent of the world's wealthy.
5. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
These are VERY sobering, don't you think?
YET! My mind has been pondering something new this year.....
WHAT WHEN ALL YOU ARE THANKFUL FOR IS STRIPPED AWAY? What will you be thankful for then?

Sometimes we surround ourselves this time of year with reminders to ourselves and our children for the things we should for sure be thankful for. In doing that we sometimes mindlessly define our thankfulness by the many blessings we have. Perhaps even the poorest person on the planet could still do this, and should, in that they are alive and can be thankful for that. So what heart response happens when you read this?:
"Though he slay me, yet I will praise him." Job 13:15

Where are we then when all we say this year we are thankful for is taken out from under our feet. Where will we turn? To what hope will we look. What when the reasons for our thanks become no more? What foundation will our hearts rest upon? Will we then despair and say that we have no reason to be thankful anymore?
There is one thing that even when our very breath is taken from us, we can still be filled with thanks.
GOD IS GOOD

He is defined by complete and untainted goodness. Every pain and loss, every despair and deep anguish will be perfected in his healing hands. I just really want to wrap my head around that this year. What if one day I wake up and all around me, my husband, my sweet children, the walls that protect and warm me, the friends who bless me, the food that feeds me....what if it was all taken away? Would my heart find thanks and praise in that place?

Thanks is a funny thing. The more you have taken away, the more you appreciate what you have. I'm sure many of us are feeling that this year. What is left becomes more precious to us. Should we be reduced to walls and food and each other, just think of how we would cherish more just those things. When even that is gone and the world should turn completely dark for us, in the quiet of human nothingness there is for the repented heart a haven of God's goodness. Nothing can take that away we say right? Ah, but there are things that take it away. There are things that make us forget. When all is gone we are blessed to find it's fullness, but when we have even a few good things they can overshadow God's goodness. The THINGS themselves that we give thanks for become why we feel God is good. For that we should repent. I should repent. God is not good because I have been blessed, I am blessed because God is good. Therefore, my blessing continues till I see him face to face.
So, I do want to get some perspective on how really pampered I am. I DO want to be thankful for so much. I also however want to caution my heart not to put stock into those things for the base definition of who I am and what where my richness lies.

Can I give you something in ending this? Copy this verse and keep it close this Thanksgiving. Put it up somewhere if you like, or even put it on the table. It will make your heart swell more than any earthly thing you find to be thankful for:

"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls" 1 Peter:6-9

Be thankful for God's goodness, unshakable and unmeasurable.

Banana Walnut Muffin Perfection

Do your bananas talk to you? Mine do. They start by speaking softly and letting me know they are not prime enough for the kids lunchboxes unless I want them to come home uneaten and oozing from their skins after being rejected on site by my children. Then they start to say "time for some baking!". Eventually if my days are busy they end up yelling at me about how I should be more convicted not to waste and let them go beyond use entirely. Finally, I give in and usually that last moment of sparing them for some noble use, they are at peek baking perfection.
Time for quick bread or muffins, but bread gets boring after a while and is not as portable for lunches or snacks. Still, my muffin history has not been a good one.

I love muffins but I don't like the way many recipes come out. Some are too wet and so the tops run, and some are too dry so they don't rise but become little bricks my kids won't eat. I tried this recipe and loved the way they came out. It was thick enough to allow for bigger muffins but not too thick to be dry.

I don't have whole wheat flour right now so I'm still needing to try it out with that but the white flour came out great.

Banana-Nut Bread (or Muffins)

• 1-1/4c. sugar
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 c. bananas, mashed (very over ripe is best)
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I used walnuts and chopped them pretty fine in my chopper)
• 1 t. vanilla extract
  

Blend sugar, oil and butter together; mix in eggs and bananas. Set aside. Combine four, salt and baking soda; add to wet mixture. Stir in nuts and vanilla; pour into greased and floured loaf pan (9"x 5") or into muffin cups (for big muffins fill 3/4 full). Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until knife comes clean.