A Taste of Fall

fall Do you have something that you look forward to all year long?  Maybe it’s an annual vacation, a gathering of friends, or a certain season?

I would have to say that autumn has always been something that I eagerly await each year…the breath taking colors in which God paints the leaves, fall flowers, and plants – hues of orange, red, yellow, and brown,

Autumn Colors   fallwelcome

the refreshing cooler days and the crunch of leaves underfoot, perfect for walks or romping through the woods,

leaves

scents of apples, pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and of course, the tastes! 

appleorchard pumpkin field

 

Here is one treat that our family anticipates each fall…                 pumpkin pie homemade pumpkin pie! 

We acquired this recipe several years ago from a friend and are blessed each time we prepare it (usually in advance) and then savor it at special gatherings throughout the season.

Let’s Start!
First, you’ll need to bake your pie pumpkin.

Baking the Pumpkin

1) Take the stem off. 
2) Cut the pie pumpkin in half from top to bottom. 
3) Scoop out all of the seeds and pulp.  You may wish to use a melon scooper.  (If you desire, save the seeds for roasting.)
4) Place the shells cut side down in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish along with approximately 1 inch of water.  Do not cover. 
5) Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or longer. 

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6) When you can poke it with a fork and it is soft, your pie pumpkins are ready to be removed from the oven.
7) Carefully remove the pumpkins from the pan and let them cool with the cut side up. 

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8) Once cool, scoop out the pumpkin and mash it with a potato masher. 

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Now, for transforming our pumpkin ‘mush’ into delicious filling for a pie!  Make sure you have the following ingredients.   (Please note: 1 1/2 cups of mashed pie pumpkin is needed to make one pie.  It depends on the size of your pie pumpkin, but we typically are able to make 2 pies from each!)

Pumpkin Pie Filling

1 1/2 cups mashed pie pumpkin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 TBS melted butter
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp salt

1) Beat all of the ingredients together.  (Yes, it will be soupy.)  
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2) Freeze the pie filling in a gallon freezer bag to save for another time or pour into a pie shell to bake right away.
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3) When you are ready to bake a pie, simply thaw a bag of pie filling.  Once thawed, place it in a pie shell. 
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4) Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.  Then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake an additional 50-60 minutes. 
(The pie will be done when the top begins to crack and the filling is set and no longer runny and soupy.  It should jiggle a bit like Jell-O, but be firm.)

We have four bags of this yummy ‘taste of fall’ waiting in our freezer…IMG_2624
Well, make that three now. =)
Sometimes it is just too tempting to wait!

His Name

 

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Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever.
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
(Psalm 100, NIV 1984 ~ emphasis mine.)

 

Thanksgiving is, by definition, a time to give thanks.  When we give thanks, there has to be an object of our thanks. We can say that we are thankful for our loving family, food on our table each day, machines to assist in shortening the process of washing our laundry, clean water to drink, nature to enjoy, etc., but do we ever pause to ponder and reflect upon the One who has graciously provided all things?

Who is it that we praise and give thanks to?

After leaving a Celebrate the Truth workshop recently, the question of WHO is the object of our praise stuck with me. This Thanksgiving, I desire to intentionally focus mine and our children’s hearts and gratitude of thanks upon the One True God.  Who is He?  What is He like?  How can we know Him?  God reveals His character, who He is, through His name/titles. I’ve had the book God’s Names by Sally Michael from Children Desiring God for a year now, but had not read it with the kids.  I pulled it off the shelf, began to skim through it, and realized it would be a perfect starting point for our Thanksgiving study.  After including additional Scripture references, scouring our worship music for songs related to His name (Oh, how good that was for my soul!), and creating colorful fall leaves with His names/titles, I think we are ready to center our praise and thanksgiving on our Great God through meditation on His Word, prayer, and song!

God'sNames Book

thankful verse

 

 

 

 

leaf sample

 

 

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The ‘Thank Him Tree’ list and printables were created to be used in conjunction with Sally Michael’s God’s Names, a Bible, a natural and simply made ‘Thanksgiving Tree,’ and an optional praise song list. Print out the verse card and the leaves, laminate (if you desire), and cut. Then, as you read and study the names and character traits of God, attach the corresponding leaf to your tree and thank God for who He is and what He has done

Living He Loved Me, Dying He Saved Me

So many things have been competing for our attention: multiple showings of our home (over 30 in a month!), trying to make time for goodbyes, continuing work on the spelling curriculum, and just keeping up with the day to day homeschool with our kids.  I am realizing that we just moved away from our home church and family two weeks before Easter – and we have not intentionally done a thing to prepare our hearts to remember and celebrate.

But, God has been working His own plan without us even realizing. So, I share our family’s unplanned meditations for celebrating Easter this year…

With encouragement from close friends to memorize longer passages or even an entire book from the Bible, our family began memorizing Ephesians about a month and a half ago.  We are all at different sections within chapters one and two, but we are constantly hearing it, reading it, and letting His Word soak in.

Chapter one speaks of all our blessings in Christ – our adoption as His sons, the redemption and forgiveness of our sins, how God has chosen and predestined us, how we have the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, and how we have power through Christ.

In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ~Ephesians 1:7

As we continue into chapter two, we are soberly reminded of who we were without Christ –dead, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. ~Ephesians 2:4-5

Now, as we read the account of the first Easter from Scripture (as found in Matthew 26-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 22-24, and John 18-20) we are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice for us.  Oh, how our blessings in Christ are so interwoven with His suffering!    ‘In Him’, ‘in love’, and ‘according to his pleasure’, Christ died to save us from our sins and lavished on us the riches of His grace. Undeserved, unmerited – We have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  To the praise of His glory!

isaiah 53

Looking back, another way that God has been allowing us to meditate on His love and sacrifice for us is through song.  Glorious Day by Casting Crowns was sung at our commissioning service at the end of February.  We have been singing it ever since!

Glorious Day
One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine
Oh, glorious day

 

How do you see God preparing your heart for celebrating our risen Savior this Easter?

20 Days of Thanks – 1st Day

Today is day 1 of our family’s 20 Days of Thanks!

20 Days of Thanks Button

 

The kids all seemed to choose to say thank you to God for different family members!

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We won’t be posting our thanks everyday, but I think we are off to a great start!  The kids got busy right away writing and drawing their thanks.  They especially enjoyed being able to take photos with the camera (which they don’t typically get to do). =)

Why not ask your children to share what they are thankful for!

Praise the LORD.  How good it is to sing praises to our God. 
How pleasant and fitting to praise him!
Psalm 147:1

Go ahead and print your own FREE 20 Days of Thanks booklet from Hubbard’s Cupboard or print one from This Reading Mama which has kids think of things they are thankful for related to each letter of the alphabet.  Both are simple ways to intentionally build hearts of thankfulness!

20 Days of Thanks

Ann Voskamp, in her book 1000 Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, states…

God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.

Leading up to Thanksgiving this year, I desire for our children to get a small taste of the 1,000 gifts challenge by drawing, writing, and maybe even taking some photos of things they are thankful for in their own lives.

20 Days of Thanks Button

I created a booklet for our kids to record their words and drawings of gratitude – simply called ‘20 Days of Thanks’.  Each day has a short verse of Scripture to meditate on, a space for drawing, and a space for writing.  Due to the various ages and fine motor abilities of our children, I made several versions – unlined for our toddler, single lined for our PreK child, regular dotted lines for our first grader, and some smaller lines for our third and fifth grader who will be using cursive.

Here’s a quick peek…

20 Days of Thanks cover   20 Days of Thanks sheets

and a link!

‘20 Days of Thanks’ booklets – FREE to print for your own family!

Also, come see how we used these printables on the first day of our 20 Days of Thanks.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.  (Psalm 103:2)

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