Friday

 

I put a turkey on to slow roast. Don't mind whatever is on the bottom of my stove. Not sure what that is. Just look at the juices flowing down through the breast meat and out into the pan. That will become delicious gravy for our co-op moms' Friendsgiving tonight!

It's going to be such a good time. 20 ladies, everyone brings a side dish. My pal Britt is hosting and making the mashed potatoes. We have a group chat going so people could tell us what they were going to bring, and some of the dishes are green beans, candied sweet potatoes, cheesecake, pumpkin dessert, cranberry sauce and rolls, homemade chai, a lettuce salad, apple cider, apple pie, fresh fruit, corn, cornbread. 

The most important thing is being together and sharing our joy in the goodness of God.

For our prayer I am going to share an excerpt from Every Moment Holy that I shared at my Christmas tea last year. I found it online.

"To gather joyfully is indeed a serious affair.

  For feasting and all enjoyments gratefully taken are, at their heart,      acts of war.

  In celebrating this feast we declare that evil and death, suffering and loss, sorrow and tears, will not have the final word.

  All good things will be restored. Feast and be reminded!

  Now you who are loved by the Father, 

  prepare your hearts and give yourselves wholly to this celebration      of joy, to the glad company of saints, to the comforting fellowship      of the Spirit, and to the abiding presence of Christ who is seated        among us, and as our honored guest, and still yet as our conquering    king.

 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, take seat,   take feast, take delight!

 Amen."

Isn't that stirring?! I love it!

                                           Here is a table I set many years ago now.

                                                                    And another

                                                                 one more.

I have been slow roasting my turkey for so many years. Ever since I read about it in Emilie Barnes book on Traditions.

source

Emilie Barnes father was a chef in Hollywood many, many years ago. The slow roasting method is from him. It is so simple. Clean your turkey, put it breast side down in your pan, cook for 1 hour at 350 degrees, then turn it down to 200 degrees. You cook it for three times the normal cook time. If you would cook your turkey for 3 hours, you'll cook this one slow and low for 9 hours. It comes out perfectly every time, and it will not burn or dry out!

For our family Thanksgiving, since we usually eat around 2:00 on the day, I put the turkey in the night before, and let is slow roast until about an hour before we eat. I do a huge turkey and it usually cooks about 15 hours. We let it rest and then put the meat on a platter.

If you like the Norman Rockwell turkey on a platter at the table look, you will not get that with this method because the meat will fall off the bones!

You will have happy smiles, though! The breast meat is never dry. It is quite flavorful too, as the juices run through the meat the whole time it is roasting.

Delightful!

Weekend

 

The weather in November is often gray and gloomy, but so far this month has been very fine. Blue skies and sunshine. Mild temperatures. Lovely.

Saturday was like that with a bit of blustery wind, but we made our way to our local library where a craft fair was being held. Our granddaughter had a table and was selling bracelets. I bought two, and wore one yesterday to church.

Then we drove out to the next county to shop at World Market and Trader Joe's.

It was fun. 

On the way home we stopped and picked up our 7 year old granddaughter for her first sleep over!

She was so excited.

We made banana muffins together, then I made BLT's for dinner. After dinner clean up she got crafted for a while. Then she got into her jammies, and we went to my room to watch Moana. She was tired and headed to bed, but got up shortly after as her mom came by with new sneakers for her.

She was excited to get to pick up her little sister to go to church, and they had a great time. They both got prizes from the prize box for saying their Bible verse!

Tim and I took them home and then he and I went to the park by the dam in Maryland that is home to many birds including Bald Eagles. We saw a pair of Eagles flying around and landing, over and over. I believe they are the pair who have the nest up the hill behind the parking area.

We ate lunch in the car, enjoyed the mild weather and the beautiful day, talked about the sermon. It was nice to have several hours together without having to get something else done.

Today is windy, and it was bright and clear when I got up this morning, but now clouds are coming in, though it is not supposed to be rainy today. Clouds and sunshine are forecast.

I hope you had a good weekend.

Friday

 

This is me taken yesterday. I am now 63, and this photo was only edited to remove the back of my seat that was showing and a bit of lint on my shoulder!

Hi Friends!

I hope you are all well. The election was not good, but it's also not the worst.

I am praying for wisdom, for all of us to see God's hand in it, and that we may grow closer to the Lord.

I am not a doomer. I'm a born optimist, so when I say things like "grow closer to the Lord" I don't mean it as the world is going to end. I simply mean it as we need to get back to our roots as a nation. We've strayed far from walking with God, and more into modern philosophies. 

God, however is still God. He is the king over everything. He has provided all we need - life, salvation, righteousness through Jesus, eternal life.

I confess that I don't talk about the Lord on this blog very much. I've spoken so much about politics that you may think that that is where I think my salvation will come from. But no, friends, my salvation is from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

Do you know why it is called a Song of Ascents? It was a psalm song on the journey to Jerusalem which is a high point in the land. Not the highest but if you were coming to Jerusalem it was all uphill! This song reminded the people that God was with them and a helper and keeper.

We could use that kind of reminder daily, right?! I am going to work to memorize this Psalm.

This week the Lord has reminded me that even if we had the most amazing country, when people die without the Lord their souls will forever be separated from the Lord. That should be what matters most to me.

I will always be passionate about our nation, and want us to be a Godly nation that does good for it's people. I hate to see how people are so confused and lost and hurting.

My focus on my blog is going to be less politics. After 7 years of writing my Information Friday posts, I am taking a break. Maybe permanently - we'll see. 

I want to share uplifting things, how we open our home for hospitality, care for my aging parents, love on our adult kids and grands.

I put most of my posts into draft mode earlier this year, after a few of my kids asked that I remove photos of them and their families from online. I have been blogging since 2007, and that is thousands of posts, so the quickest way to honor their request was to remove all the posts! 

I may blog more than just Mondays and Fridays, and I may actually post on Substack. You can find me there at @deannarabe696945.

Have a great weekend.