Ladies' Retreat 2012 (better late than never!)

It's high time that I posted about the ladies' retreat I was blessed to attend at The Wilds of New England back in early September.  In fact, if I don't post about it today I am very likely to forget just how much of a blessing it was.

I went as part of a group of seven: five friends from church, plus my daughter.  We had a cabin to ourselves, which was a fun time of fellowship.  As an added blessing, we were so close to the bathhouse that we didn't even need flashlights to go there at night.  (We did need flashlights to get back into the bunks without disturbing anyone too much, however!)

Our cabin is the one on the left.  Just visible beyond it is the bathhouse.

How do I even begin to sum up such a wonderful experience?  I have friends who think they wouldn't enjoy a ladies' retreat.  How can I describe this so they'll understand what it's like?  Probably one of the outstanding components is, first of all, just the opportunity to get away.  I love my husband, I love my home, I love the ministries God  has called me to.  I seldom wish that I could get away from home.  But this opportunity is good for me.  It gets me away from my responsibilities and allows me to  focus on learning and growing spiritually.  It gives wonderful times of being encouraged in my faith.  It's a blessing to be able to share this with other like-minded women.

There are amazing times of laughter, singing, and sharing.  There are uplifting times of hearing music that praises our Savior.  There are edifying times of being taught from God's Word -- not to mention God and I Time, where each individual gets alone with God and focuses on what He is teaching her.

This campfire is in the area I chose for my God and I time.

Our speaker this year was Beneth Jones, and what a blessing we received from her.  She spoke from Proverbs 30:24-28 on some of God's "little things" in creation that can teach us great lessons -- specifically the ants, the conies, the locust, and the spider.  This passage was so appropriate for a camping retreat in New England.  I had not brought a notebook with me at all, assuming she would have handouts.  But no!  She thinks people get too distracted by handouts, always whispering to their neighbor to get points they missed, etc. and that they may miss too much that way.  So at the first session, I was scrambling to find something to write on.  I ended up using the back of a couple of bookmarks!  For the next sessions, I brought along my prayer journal and used some blank pages I had in the back.

If you are wondering what the different creatures can teach us, read Proverbs 30:24-28 and see what lessons you can find.  I can't take time to write all that she shared (and she pulled out an amazing amount from each illustration) but, briefly, from the ants we learn foresight.  From the conies, which are a "feeble folk", we learn that we also are "feeble folk" in our own strength, and so must live protectively.  From the locusts, we learn the importance of community, and from the spider we learn diligence.  Such important lessons!


One thing that is always a blessing at The Wilds of New England is the beautiful surroundings.  I didn't get a lot of pictures this year, but did get some of the flowers and of the fall decorating.

A tangle of late-summer flowers

Aren't these beautiful?  How can anyone not believe in a great Creator when they see such intricacy?

Display on a doorstep

A fall display in a corner

The food is delicious too, and it's always fun to spend time in the Sweet Shoppe and the coffee shop.  This fall in the Sweet Shoppe they were offering a pumpkin nor'eastah (sort of like a Blizzard® or McFlurry®) made with pumpkin pie filling whizzed together with vanilla ice cream.  So yummy!

The Sweet Shoppe

It's especially nice to head to the coffee shop early in the morning and come in to find a crackling fire and a good cup of coffee. 

The fireplace in Cool Beans

 All part of the retreat experience!  An Italian cream soda (this one is coconut) later in the day is nice too.

The wall art in some of the buildings is lovely too.  Even the art is edifying.  I love these.

Sorry about the glare, but isn't this beautiful?

The mission statement of The Wilds

All in all it was a great time of refreshment.  I was so thankful for the opportunity to go to this fabulous retreat again this year!

Ham and Bean Chowder

(Photo from Taste of Home)

With November nearly upon us and cold weather coming, it will be soup season for many of us.  Here is a recipe for a good soup I made last week:  Ham & Bean Chowder.  It's an older recipe from a back issue of Country Woman magazine.  In my opinion, this is one of the best uses for a leftover ham bone.  I am trying to clear out the freezer to make room for some Christmas baking (which I hope to start soon) and there was a ham bone in there, left from Easter.  It was from a spiral sliced ham and had very little meat left on it, but it still added good flavor and a little bit of meat to this yummy bean soup.  Give it a try next time you have a leftover ham bone.  If you enjoy bean soup, you will like this one.  I do cut down on the cheese, using about 3/4 cup or so, and it is still plenty flavorful.  I served this with cornbread, but you probably guessed that!

Goals for week beginning 10/28/2012

The New Hampshire Troubadour, October 1948

So here are my major goals for this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 4
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Memorize Psalm 145:1-5
*  Read 2 chapters in Building Your Home on Holy Ground
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 5, the living room/Zone 1, the dining room, entry, etc.
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

And here's how last week went:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- DONE!
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 4 -- DONE!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- DONE!
*  Memorize Psalm 145:1-5 -- mostly done
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this, especially toward the end of the week
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times -- managed 4 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays; send 2 packages out on Saturday -- DONE!
*  Keep up a good water intake -- did okay with this
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 4, the bedrooms -- not as much as I wanted to
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week -- nope.
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews -- DONE!
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September -- not yet
*  Make basil butter -- nope; basil went bad before I could get to it
*  Clean up the garden -- pretty much DONE
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do - DONE!


I'm thankful to have accomplished as much as I did and hoping for an even better week ahead.  Hurricane Sandy may have a bit to say about just how much I get done!

Back-on-Track challenge, Week 1

So much for my thought of checking in every day or two on this!  Here's my report for the past week; how I did in the four areas I was challenging myself in:

*  health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep -- did okay with this.  Probably did best with the "getting enough sleep" part.  Exercised 4 days.  Did better with eating right/getting enough water toward the end of the week.  Still need to work on all of these specifics.

*  spiritual life -- especially Bible study, Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture -- I'm happy to report that this went very well.  Bible study is something I love and, aside from the time spent simply reading my Bible each day and the time spent studying the Bible for my Sunday School lesson, I hadn't been finding time for.  This week I set some specific spiritual life goals for each day and I'm happy to say that I met each one.  That said, I am not resting on my laurels but will continue to work on these!

*  homemaking -- getting back into the routines that work for me; getting better at time management -- I'm still not where I want to be with the homemaking routines OR the time management, but there's been definite improvement.  It helps me so much to make an overall plan for my week and to fit the different tasks in where I am most likely to have time to accomplish them.  Making a daily time schedule -- just a simple list on a piece of scrap paper listing the things I want to get done and when to do them -- helps me tremendously too.

* creativity -- blogging more often and trying to craft some birthday and Christmas gifts  -- hooray!  Did well with this; managed to get the birthday gifts all finished AND into the mail in a timely way, and have done some work on Christmas gifts and planned others into my schedule (see above).  I did manage to post in both blogs fairly often, too.  I sometimes think I have more ideas for posts and crafting than I will ever manage to accomplish in this life!

So all in all I am pleased with the first week of the Back-on-Track challenge and am hoping it goes even better this week!

An autumn morning by the fire

 
It was really not light enough outdoors to read until 7 a.m., and it was foggy, with the occasional drip of moisture from the trees overhead.  Nevertheless, conscious that this might be one of our last possible Saturday mornings to have our quiet time by the campfire, we proceeded with our plans.  Mr. T brought out our camping chairs and little table and built a fire in the campfire ring (and I soon found myself drawing my chair closer to it).  So nice to sit by the fire in the beautiful autumn woods and read our Bibles and pray amid quietness and the background crackling of the campfire.

(These pictures are from earlier this summer; our camera is not working right now.  The leaf below is a scan from a previous autumn; I love its pink and green color!)

Apron Giveaway at Retro Revival!

(Photo from The Vintage Sheet Blog)

If you love aprons as much as I do, you'll want to check into this Apron Giveaway at Retro Revival.  It's actually a guest post by Heather of The Vintage Sheet Blog, and includes a wonderful-sounding orange dessert recipe as well as the giveaway of a pretty orange apron.  The apron is a half apron made from a vintage pillowcase.  Ordinarily I am not much of a half-apron wearer, preferring the type with more protection from spills, but I would make an exception for this one.  It is just so cute!  Wouldn't you love to win this apron?  I know I would!  Head on over to the Apron Giveaway and get in on the fun!  A winner will be randomly selected on Sunday night, October 28.

Fall Apple Dip

(Photo by Taste of Home)

 This is an old favorite recipe I had sort of forgotten about.  While our family was here visiting from out west, we planned a small gathering for extended family one Sunday afternoon, and I had asked people to bring a favorite fall snack to share.  I had a few ideas of what I would make myself, but ended up with this old standby I hadn't made in years.  Here it is:

FALL  APPLE  DIP

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature  (I use Neufchatel)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Apples 

Orange juice

Blend together cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla.  Place in a small bowl.

Wash, core and slice apples -- Honey Crisp apples are a real favorite, but for this occasion I think I used Ginger Gold and Cortland -- dip into orange juice, then drain and arrange in concentric circles on a pretty plate.  Place bowl of dip in center.  Refrigerate any leftover dip.

And that is it.  Simple!  It went over well with those at the get-together, and I won't wait so long to make this recipe again!

Goals for week beginning 10/21/2012

Okay, so here are my goals for this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 4
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Memorize Psalm 145:1-5
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays; send 2 packages out on Saturday
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 4, the bedrooms
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September
*  Make basil butter
*  Clean up the garden
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


And here's how last week went:


*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- didn't get to this
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 3 -- DONE!  Finished it!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- DONE!
*  Limit sugar  -- not too much
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times -- managed 3 times, plus a hike
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas -- not too much
*  Keep up a good water intake -- did okay with this
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- managed this most nights
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- only posted a few times
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms -- plus one extra room (I am choosing the home office) -- did okay with this; not the best
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week -- did some of these
* Do some serious preparing for Christmas gifting and crafting -- not as much as I'd hoped
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews -- DONE! 
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September -- hopefully I'll do it this week ...
*  Make basil butter --not done
*  Clean up the garden -- mostly done but not finished
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!


And, if you noticed my new "back on track" challenge, you will know I am even more serious than usual about the goals for this week.  I'll keep you posted!

Trying to get back on track!

If you're been visiting at my kitchen table for awhile, you know that periodically I see the need to try and challenge myself to establish better habits in areas of my life. (The areas are not always the same, which is sort of encouraging in a way, showing that at least some progress is being made.)   I mentioned last week that I was going to try and start out on another back-on-track challenge today.  I don't want to wait for a new year to try and establish some better habits.  So I am going to try and challenge myself in these four areas :

*  health and energy -- specifically eating right, exercising, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep

*  spiritual life -- especially Bible study, Scripture memory and meditating on Scripture

*  homemaking -- getting back into the routines that work for me; getting better at time management

* creativity -- blogging more often and trying to craft some birthday and Christmas gifts.

 I will be starting the challenge today -- and, working on the principle that it takes 21 days to establish a habit, will end the challenge on November 11.  I will try and post every day or two as to how I am doing with the four areas.  If anyone cares to join me in the challenge, you are more than welcome!

Roasted Vegetable Chili

(Photo by Taste of Home)

It's probably heresy to some people, but we do enjoy a good meatless chili from time to time.  When our family was here visiting from out west, we  had a number of different get-togethers with friends and relatives so they could see everyone they hoped to during the visit.

One Friday evening we had a fun get-together with old friends.  Our daughters and their sons had grown up together; now, all are married and have kids.  So we ended up with a group of 25 people which included a large number of young children.  The other ladies were going to help with the food, so I decided on a menu of different kinds of chili, cornbread, and raw vegetables with dip, along with apple desserts to end the  meal.  One lady brought a classic chili, another a white chicken chili, and I decided to make a roasted vegetable chili.  I thought I had tried a recipe for one and liked it, but do you think I could locate that recipe? 

I ended up doing a Google search and finally settled on this recipe:  Roasted Veggie Chili from Taste of Home.  As you can see, it makes a large amount.   In fact, I could see quite quickly that it wasn't going to fit into my largest kettle, so I changed quite a few things about the recipe, but people did enjoy it.  We had enough left for another meal, and served that the night before our family traveled back to Nevada.  It made a nice easy meal following a busy day of packing and preparing for an early morning departure and a long day of flying.

Here are the changes I made to the recipe.  First of all, I used well-drained canned whole kernel corn rather than using fresh or frozen, and it worked fine.  I cut the chicken broth way back, to about 1 quart rather than four, which seemed like an awful lot.  I didn't want to go to the trouble (or calories) of thickening the chili with the butter and flour as specified,  so I thought cutting down on the broth would make it thicker.  It still turned out quite thin; in fact, people thought it was more like a soup than a chili, but after chilling and reheating the second time I served it,  it was thick and chili-like, so I guess I would recommend making it a day ahead and then reheating.  It was more flavorful after a few days, also.  Even though there is chili powder, cumin, cilantro and cayenne in this, the flavors didn't really assert themselves until the second time around.  (I did cut the cayenne down to about a half teaspoon or less.)  I didn't have any tomato puree, so substituted a 28-ounce can of "kitchen-ready" crushed tomatoes in heavy puree.

All in all, we really liked this and I would definitely make it again when there is a large group of hungry people to feed on a fall or winter evening!

"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold ..."

Roof line of cabin by day

The first weekend of our daughter's visit here with her wonderful hubby and children, we took them up to our favorite lake way up at the top of our state.  We had rented a cabin there that easily housed all of us plus our other daughter, her husband and family, and two more granddaughters.  It was a wonderful time together -- we had never done anything like that before -- and I hope eventually to share more pictures.  For now, though, I just wanted to share this simple thought from the first evening.

My husband and I were sitting in the living room by ourselves for a few minutes.  I had something on my mind -- a concern that I had tried to leave back home and was trying to leave completely in God's hands.  But still it niggled at the back of my mind, as things like that will do.

And then -- I happened to look out the windows.  The living room wall on the lake side is mostly windows (and fireplace).  The picture you see here shows some of what I saw, but not all, since the picture was taken earlier in the evening. 
 
The gorgeous blue color out the windows was the same but a deeper blue, of course.  And against the cobalt blue sparkled innumerable stars.

In that instant God brought these verses to my mind:

"To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
"Lift up  your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth...
"Hast thou not known?  hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding."  (Isaiah 40:25-26; 28)

God brings out that starry host by number and calls them all by name by the greatness of His might.  He is strong in power!  He is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth!  He never becomes weary!  There is no searching of His understanding!  As I pondered these thoughts in that moment, I was comforted, encouraged, and, yes, rebuked.  God is in control.  He is holding all things together.  My small concerns are very small indeed in the light of eternity, and I may safely leave them in His omnipotent, loving hands.

Goals for week beginning 10/14/2012

Vintage postcard from my collection

I'm taking a deep breath and jumping into a busy week of trying to get things caught up around the house and otherwise.  Here are my major goals for the week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 3
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms -- plus one extra room (I am choosing the home office)
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week
* Do some serious preparing for Christmas gifting and crafting
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September
*  Make basil butter
*  Clean up the garden
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

And here's how things went last week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- nope
*  Add some information to Sunday School lesson 2 -- DONE!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- nope
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas -- nope
*  Keep up a good water intake -- did okay with this
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- nope
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- nope
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 2, the kitchen -- nope
* Do some serious planning and preparing for Christmas gifting and crafting -- did some planning, not so much preparing
*  Replace all of our clothes in the drawers and closets (we had moved them to make room for our guests to unpack their own things) -- DONE!
*  Harvest basil before we get a frost and make basil butter and/or pesto -- picked the basil but haven't used it yet
*  Clean up the garden -- not completely
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

Certainly I am hoping and praying for a more productive week this week.  The weekend will bring a much-needed and sure-to-be-refreshing couples' retreat at The Wilds of New England!  We are looking forward to that so much!  And I am planning to use that time as a jump-start into another Back-on-Track Challenge to start next Monday.  Perhaps others might like to think about joining me as I try to get back on track with my goals for homemaking, spiritual growth, health and energy.

Goals for this week

Scanned from a favorite note card

Our visiting family leaves early tomorrow morning, so I will be attempting to get back to some sort of normalcy in my goal setting.  Here are my hopes for the rest of this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Add some information to Sunday School lesson 2
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 2, the kitchen
* Do some serious planning and preparing for Christmas gifting and crafting
*  Replace all of our clothes in the drawers and closets (we had moved them to make room for our guests to unpack their own things)
*  Harvest basil before we get a frost and make basil butter and/or pesto
*  Clean up the garden
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


And here's how last week went:


*  Have a meaningful daily quiet time each day -- DONE!
*  Continue to plan carefully, yet remain flexible -- DONE!
*  Eat healthfully and get enough sleep -- did okay with this.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible -- did okay with this.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories -- DONE!

And as for my specific goals:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- not done
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- not done
*  Limit sugar -- so-so
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays -- not done, although I did manage to make a mini super hero cape!
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible -- got quite a bit of exercise just with our activities this past week
*  Keep up a good water intake -- so-so
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- not done
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat -- not done
*  Harvest basil; make pesto and basil butter -- not done
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

I am encouraged that for the general, most important goals I set for my time during this visit, I did manage to achieve them.  As you can imagine, though,  I'm hoping for a more productive week this week and am also hoping to be busy enough not to miss our family too much as they head back to Nevada.   It's been a wonderful visit and many terrific memories have been made, but we all need now to get back to our regular lives and continue seeking to live each day to God's glory and praise.

Goals for the week

Better late than never, I guess.  Life has been exceedingly busy with our  house guests.  There is just not time to get to the computer and post much of anything.  We spent the entire day on Monday at the ocean.  Very beautiful, but our camera battery has died and Mr. T has had no time to even think about it (it goes without saying that I haven't had time either), so we will be relying on others' photos.  When I get some, I will post a few!

Anyway, as for my goals, they remain:

*  Have a meaningful daily quiet time each day.
*  Continue to plan carefully, yet remain flexible.
*  Eat healthfully and get enough sleep.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories!

And here are some specific goals I'd like to accomplish this week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat
*  Harvest basil; make pesto and basil butter
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

Here's how last week went as far as general goals:

*  Have a meaningful daily quiet time each day -- DONE!
*  Continue to plan carefully, yet remain flexible -- DONE!
*  Eat healthfully and get enough sleep -- did pretty well with this.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible -- did pretty well with this.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories -- DONE!

And as for my specific goals:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- not done
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- not done
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this, not the greatest
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays -- not done
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible -- not done
*  Keep up a good water intake -- not the greatest
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat -- not done
*  Harvest basil; make pesto and basil butter -- not done
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE on most days.

I am thankful that my general goals are getting accomplished and that I have managed a couple of my specific goals.  I'm attempting to be realistic with them!