Reading the Bible

   
      It is confession time.  I don't read the Bible nearly as often as I should.  I pray daily and believe and have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior but to be honest, I don't read the Bible much anymore.  I am so embarrassed to say it but it is true.  There are times that I read it because I feel obligated to read it. (I know, I am awful.)  Or I pick it up and read some of Psalms or Proverbs.  Last night I was trying to find something to read at the fireworks stand today and seen the Bible and decided to bring it.
    Let me tell you what...I am on FIRE for it.  I started at Genesis and read 37 chapters today.  Everything was exciting again.  I learned stuff from verses I have had read over and over.  Today, it was just different.   It was so interesting and wonderful.  I took 2 full pages of notes over those chapters too.  Thank you Lord for patience with me and for igniting a thirst for Your Word again.  Forgive me for losing interest.
    Has this ever happened to you?

Merry Christmas!!!

   I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  I hope everyone got everything they wanted and got to share the day with loved ones.  Please take a moment to thank the Lord for the blessings you received today and every day.  Happy birthday Jesus!!!

Prayers again please...

   Once again, we are needing prayers.  We have a bill that is due by Tuesday for $170 and we do not have the money to pay it.  Please pray that God will provide a way for us to pay this bill.  I am setting up downtown and doing a bake sale so also pray that my stand will be shown God's favor and we can make the money we need.
Thank you,
In Christ,
Melody

Pizza and Bowling!

     Last night our family was fortunate enough to get to go to Pizza Hut and go bowling.  It was the first time in a long time that we were able to do something like that and we had a fantastic time.  Gift certificates for things like that always make an awesome gift to families that do not get to do stuff like that very often.  Anyway, we wanted to share pictures from our family night.  Hope you enjoy!

  Thank you for allowing us to share our special night with you.
In Christ,
Melody

Boy Scouts and Bachelor's Degree

    To begin with, I received my Bachelor's Degree in the mail this past week.  I graduated with honors (cum laude).   It was a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Visual Communications Degree with a concentration in Digital Design.  I just reapplied to the university to undertake my Master's Degree program.  I am going for a Master's in Education degree with a focus on curriculum and instruction for educators.  This doesn't really pertain to anything...I just wanted to share this accomplishment with you.  :-)

     Also, tonight was a special ceremony with our Boy Scout troop.  Tonight we held a ceremony because one of the new boys to the troop earned his right to be called a Scout tonight and earned his Scout badge.  We had the ceremony, which my son Brandon (who is the Senior Patrol Leader) got to perform and then had cake and punch. It was really nice and we really enjoyed it.  Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

                                                 John (the new Scout) and Brandon during the ceremony.

                                           Some of the friends and family there to watch the ceremony.

                                                                   John and his mother. 

    Well, thank you for letting me share.

In Christ,
Melody

Blessings and Hardships

       Satan is not a nice fellow.  It seems like every time we get a blessing, Satan comes along and tries to steal it.  

        We have been really struggling financially for some time now.  (Like most of you are too.)   We have been trying to make some extra money by selling our goodies.  By doing so, we are half way keeping our head above the water.  But guess what?  Just learned that some cuts are being made and we are going to lose about $250 a month in income.

      That may not seem like a lot to some people but that is HUGE to us.  We have already scaled down a lot and do not have any other areas to scale down to adjust.   We do not have cable tv or anything like that.  We haven’t had cable/dish or whatever for a couple of years now.    We don’t have a home phone, only a cheap cell phone. 

      Our car is an older model full of dents with a broken windshield.  I am not complaining.  It gets us around but I am just saying we don’t have anything fancy.  We have what it takes to get by.   We have chickens and a pig and do a lot of home canning. 

     We own just a pair or two of shoes each and enough clothes a piece to get by.  My kids don’t own Nike or Abercrombie items.  We buy our clothes at Wal-mart or the thrift store.  We do our laundry in a 5 gallon bucket .   

       How can we work in a $250 cut?  I don’t know but I know God knows the answer.  Please pray for our family and I know God will see us through. 

In Christ,

Melody

Favorite Holiday Recipe (linky)

     One of my favorite holiday recipes is CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON.  When I first heard of this, I almost gagged but it is surprisingly delicious.  We love it.  Salty and sweet never tasted so good together.   They make great gifts and they are great to sell at bazaars and bake sales. 

      They are also super easy to make.  All you need is thick sliced bacon (the thicker the better), semi-sweet chocolate chips and shortening.     To begin:  place the bacon on a cookie sheet and place it in a preheated 400 degree oven.  Bake for 20 min.  You can cook it for a shorter amount of time for softer bacon but I think the crisp bacon works so much better.  Once the bacon is cooked, blot it with a paper towel to absorb the oil and remove from pan to cool.  As it cools, place the chocolate chips (1 bagful/2 c.) into a microwave safe bowl.  Add in 2 T. shortening and "nuke" for 30 seconds at a time, stirring often, until completely melted. 
     Once the mixture is melted, use a pastry brush or the back side of a teaspoon to coat one side of the bacon completely.  Once that side is completely dry, turn over and coat the back side.   Package them up prettily or eat them.
    Here is how mine turned out!

What are some of your favorite Christmas recipes?   
Here are a few more sites to find more great holiday recipes:
Smockity Frocks
The Common RoomLife in a shoe
Raising Olives
  In Christ,
     Melody

Christmas Traditions

         Christmas is coming soon (as if you didn’t know).  J    I was sitting here today thinking about past Christmas’.  Growing up, our family always celebrated Christmas with a few traditions.  Family gatherings always took place at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house (my Dad’s parents).  My grandparents had 7 children.  If I figured it up right, those 7 kids had a total of 22 kids (give or take a kid or two).  Add in all the other relatives that showed up, I am sure we had around 50 people there every major holiday. 

        At Thanksgiving, we all did a name exchange for Christmas.  I always wanted to get my cousin Tangy’s name but I think I only got her name once in all the years.   The big party at Grandma’s was always on Christmas Eve.  Grandma had a huge Christmas tree and all the kids put on a play for the grown-ups.  We practiced one night a week from Thanksgiving up until Christmas Eve.  We did the nativity story.  I don’t care if you were 2 or 22.  If you were a “kid” then you did the play.  After the play, it was like a talent show.  Some kids may sing a solo or duet; some may read a poem; some may play their musical instrument.  Good or bad, everyone loved it.

       Then we all got together and sang Christmas carols and then there would be a knock on the door and Santa Claus had arrived.  He had a gift and a bag of fruit, candy and nuts for every single child and adult there.  It was WONDERFUL!   I wish that could have continued forever but things change. 

     My Grandma passed away and with her passing went that Christmas tradition.  Each family just started doing things on their own. 

        My immediate family had a tradition all their own.  Christmas Eve once we got home from Grandma’s, we sorted all the presents into stacks by names.  Christmas morning, as kids, we always woke up as early as possible, I mean, like 4:30 or 5 a.m. to open gifts, so having the gifts in stacks was easier.   We would all wake up and make a bee line to the gifts.  After the gifts were all open, Dad took us all out to breakfast.  We usually went to Holiday Inn because as a child, we didn’t have IHOP’s, etc. that were always open. On Christmas Day, about the only place open for breakfast would be a hotel’s restaurant.  (BTW, my Dad is still doing this today.  I don’t go anymore because I live 5 hours from there.)

      Now that I have my own family, we really don’t have that many new traditions of our own yet.  On Christmas Eve, we sit around eating homemade goodies and singing Christmas carols.  We talk about why we celebrate Christmas and we sort out the gifts.  On Christmas morning, we still get up super early and now either Ron makes a big breakfast for everyone or if we have the money, we go out to eat too. 

      I would love to implement in some new traditions.  Can you help me?  What does your family do now or when you were a child?  Give me some ideas. 

In Christ,

Melody

God is Awesome!

God is Awesome!

     God is truly awesome and knows us so well and ALWAYS provides for us.  He knows what we need. 

     I have been running myself to death lately.  Seven days a week I am on the computer updating my ads on Facebook.  I have ads on 8 different pages with 3-10 ads per page.   To update them all takes about 2 hours and they need to be updated twice a day.  If you don’t update the ads, then the ads are so far down the page, no one can find them.

     On top of that, I have people responding to the ads each day.   I average probably 10-15 comments a day to reply to.  Then there are the emails.  I get 25 or so emails a day regarding my products.   They all need answered and usually have 2-3 replies back and forth each. 

        Then 2 days a week I am also doing deliveries (yes, that is on top of updating, replying, etc.).  I deliver to several different cities on Wednesdays and Fridays.  I usually leave home about 12:30 in the afternoon and don’t get home until sometime between 6 & 8 p.m.  

    Oh, and did I mention on Tuesdays and Thursdays, besides updating ads, responding to comments, and answering emails, I am also helping to make all the goodies that have to be delivered?  Thank goodness my hubby and oldest son help me out there.   

     And now that the holidays are near, I am also setting up in my town with tables on the weekend to sell my goodies.  And the point of me telling you all this you ask….

     Well, I am explaining it all so you can understand things.  So you get the whole story.  Anyway….

     My MS has really been acting up a lot lately.  I have a lot of confusion and memory problems with it right now besides some of the physical issues.  I have been only sleeping about 4-6 hours a night.  My mind is too busy to shut down and since I am having issues, things are taking a lot longer to do so I worry I won’t have enough time to do it all that I get up to start the day earlier.  For example, the ads usually take me 2 hours and some days it is taking me 4 hours to do. 

     Ron, the boys, and several of my friends have really been worried about me.  I know I needed to slow down but this is what is paying our bills right now.  And with Christmas coming up, money that is already tight is SUPER tight.  I felt like I couldn’t slow down because we need the money so desperately. 

     This is going to be the smallest Christmas EVER, as far as gifts that I buy for my children goes.  My 13 year old son asked me to take back one of his gifts so he could have the money from it to buy me a gift because I won’t be able to give him any money this year to buy something for me.  It is tight but it is tight for everyone this year I know.  Hey, we have each other and we will be together so that is what really counts.  Right?  Right!

     So, a few days ago my phone stopped working.  Makes it hard because I always call the people I am meeting to tell them I am in their city; I call and ask them “Where are you?” and stuff like that.  I also have some customers that do not use the computer and only call or text me their orders so the phone is pretty important.  This week I have had to really adjust.  It is a pain not to have a phone but not totally necessary.  It is difficult without one but I can adapt.  The Internet is the one thing I really, really need for my business so I didn’t slow down a bit. 

     But ya know what?  God seen what I was doing to myself and knew it was wearing me down and affecting my health so He helped me.  Two nights after my phone had issues, our internet went out.  Called the company and either the satellite got out of alignment or the modem went out and it will be up to two weeks before a technician could fix it.  At first I was upset and stressed.  But then I felt peace and thanked God for allowing this to happen. 

       I would not have slowed down on my own.  God seen it all and knew that I had to be forced to slow down.  Only by God’s love and His gift to us, was I able to slow down.  I had nights I laid in bed with my feet up and watched some tv with my family.  I finally had time to organize my desk.  I mixed up some homemade spices.  I filled out my Christmas cards.  I took a deep breath. 

    See?  I could have looked at the phone issues and the internet going out as a bad thing.  But it wasn’t.  It was God giving me what I needed at the time.  I may not have WANTED it at first but I NEEDED it and I thank Him for allowing it to happen.  God is truly awesome and amazing and I give Him all the glory and praise.

In Christ,

Melody

    

Puppies...

   Well, we are soon to be over run with puppies.  My son's Brussels Griffon had 3 puppies on Sunday and our Morkie is due this week and my son-in-law's mutt is due any day now also.  So, in other words, in about 2 months be expecting me to try and sell or give away a mess of pups.  :-)
      And for those who have been following me for awhile know that I planned to take this week off.  Thanksgiving week was SOOOO busy.  I had to cook 7 turkeys, 3 hams, and 39 pies plus the side dishes last week.  I was whooped.  We made deliveries all day long on Wed. before Thanksgiving.  In fact, we did not get home until 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.  Anyway, I said I would take this week off.  Guess what?  Ain't happening.  I have had too many messages and texts to do that.  I have already over $150 in orders and I don't deliver until Friday and Saturday so it should be a pretty good week.  Oh, well...got to pay them bills.  :-D
   Have a blessed week!

Phoneless....

     I recently had my phone accidentally turned off and after a few days of having it off, I am ENJOYING it!!!!   The first day, I spazzed.  I worried about what text messages and phone calls I might be missing but within a day, I was really liking the silence.  Silence really is golden. 
     I do not miss the cell phone at all.  I am seriously considering not turning it back on at all.  Do you ever feel this way?  

Thanksgiving

    Hello and I hope this finds each one of you all doing well.  Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving?  We actually celebrated Thanksgiving a day late and did it on Friday.  We were so tired of all the baking and deliveries we did on Wednesday that we just rested and ate pizza on Thursday.  We had a delicious meal today though.  I made a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, dressing, and rolls.  For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, chocolate pie and butterscotch pies.  We got stuffed and enjoyed a beautiful meal together.
      Did you all remember to count your blessings?  I sure did.  I am thankful forth most for the Lord.  Without Him, I would be nothing and have nothing.  But I do have Him and He has been so good to me and my family.  I am thankful for my family and my friends; for the opportunities I have and for the home I have.
    I am also thankful for this blog and the friends I have made through it.
In Christ,
Melody

Runestone State Park

   I just wanted to say that if you have never been to the Runestone Park in Heavener, OK or if it has been a long time since you have been there to please take some time to visit.  The park is unlike any other place in Oklahoma.  The Runestone is simply gorgeous to behold and worth even the longest drive to behold.  You don't know what you are missing and it is worth the journey!

1st Annual Music on the Mountain

     I just wanted to personally invite you all to the 1st annual Music on the Mountain to be held at Runestone State Park in Heavener, OK.  It will be tomorrow (Saturday, November 19, 2011).  It will start at 11 a.m. and go until dark.  It costs only $5.00 a carload.  This is going to be great.  A kaleidescope of celtic, acoustic folk, and rock music.
       There will be food, refreshments, vendors, games, and facepainting.  Many performers and vendors will be in costume (viking/celtic) and you are encouraged to dress up too.

      There are over 7 different singers/performers.  It is going to be great and I will have a booth set up right near the restrooms and I encourage you to stop by and say "hi".  I will be selling my jams, jellies, salsas, apple butter, gifts in a jar, cold soft drinks, cookies, brownies, etc. 

    Hope to see you tomorrow!

Ideas for Christmas cash

     Hi!  If you are like me, coming up with extra money for the holidays can be difficult.  I have been fortunate this year of coming up with several ways to make extra money.  Baking goodies for people and selling the items I have canned has been great.  Here are some ways that you can perhaps make some extra money for Christmas:

•      Babysit for people while they do their Christmas shopping
•      Wrapping presents for cash
•      Baked goods (make pies, cookies, etc. for Christmas parties)
•      Hang Christmas lights for cash
•      Do their grocery shopping or Christmas shopping for them.
•      Do their card writing
•      Sell filled stockings 
•      Make and sell "gifts-in-a-jar" products
•      

     Do you have any more ideas to help other people make extra money this time of year?  If so, please leave a comment.  :-)

Our pig, almost a month later

Well, it has been almost a month since we got our pig.  He is doing well.  Growing fast.  In fact, he is growing really tall, so much so, that he is looking thin.  He eats and eats but is growing UP so fast, that he looks slimmer but he is getting a pot belly.  We are steadily increasing his food and are feeding him his pig food, grains and scraps so hopefully he'll stop shooting up and start shooting out soon.  :-)

Your Thanksgiving Recipes and Traditions

     Hi, everyone.   Thanksgiving is almost here and I wanted to hear from each of you and find out about your holiday traditions and favorite recipes.  Please share them with me and my viewers.  I would love to hear what you do.
      I remember growing up, we would always go to my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving.  All my uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.   There were probably at least 50-75 people there and it was great.  We always ate a huge meal and then a bunch of us would go play football and cards and dominoes.  My mom always had to bring her homemade chicken and noodles and hot rolls.  Other relatives brought their specialties.

    Nowadays, it seems these types of things rarely occur.  Traditions are becoming obsolete.  Let's keep them going.  Share with me.  Share with us. 

Baked goods

I have been doing so much baking lately that I thought I would share a few pictures of the goodies we have made.  We have been selling a lot of products lately and have a long list of repeat buyers.  I am glad everyone is enjoying our goods.

Here is some banana bread we make.  We also do pumpkin bread, cinnamon swirl bread and lemon bread.

Here is a pumpkin roll.  We also do lemon rolls and red velvet rolls.  $10 each

These are some of my truffles.  $8.00 a dozen.

Mint chocolate fudge.  $8.00 a pound

Cherry chocolate fudge. $8.00 a pound

Banana cream pie.   $7.50 

Chocolate meringue pie, $7.50. 

Cookies and cream fudge, $8.50 a pound

Chocolate fudge, $8.00 a pound

Congratulations to me!

    For those who may or may not know, I have been attending college for the past few years.  Tomorrow, on Sunday, is my last day of class and when I complete my Bachelor's Degree program.  At the ripe old age of 43, I will have my degree.  I have cried many a tears over the past few classes and am so relieved I made it through this journey.  But the thing that surprises me most is I got a letter from the university today letting me know I made the Dean's List.  Woo hoo!

Thanks for letting me brag a bit.

My how time flies....

Where does the time go?  Seriously, time just flies by and before you know it a week, a month, a year has passed by.  Life is just getting in the way of, well, life.  :-)  We have been SOOO busy with our new business "Gravitt's Goodies".  We make and sell jams, jellies, salsas, apple butters, candy, fudge, casseroles, pumpkin rolls, breads, baked goods....well, you get the idea.  Sells have been crazy and we are doing really well.
     Our pig is fattening up nicely.  Our chickens are doing good and laying us plenty of fresh eggs.  Homeschooling is going good.  So, what is going on in your life?

We got a PIG!

      Yes, it is true.  We got a pig.  I saw an ad online about a man having 8 week old pigs for sale for less than $50 so I knew we couldn't pass it up.  I talked to the man yesterday and me and the boys went and picked him up today.  Man, oh man.  He is a big boy for just 8 weeks.  Ron figures he weighs about 40 lbs. (and he should know since he carried from the car to the pen.)  :-)
      The pig is a Hampshire neutured male.  We bought him, not as a pet, but to be raised for meat for our family.  Ronny, 7, is already having issues with it but Brandon understands.   They wanted to name it but I said the only thing they could call him was "Pork Chop".  I am not trying to be cruel but it is a fact of life that he is to be raised as a supplement to our family.
     We plan on feeding him table scraps and chopped feed corn.  A 50 lb. bag is less than $11 so to raise the pig to maturity will cost about $75.  Not a bad investment for over 100 lbs. of meat we will get out of it.
     Do you raise pigs?  Any tips you want to share.

                                              In his new pen, already rooting around.

                                                 The pig sleeping in the dog pen in the back seat of my car.

Hand print Ghosts: Halloween Craft

    I have always loved doing hand print crafts with my children.  It is such a fun way to make keepsakes for years to come.  I have many hand print crafts from past Thanksgivings and Christmases but none for Halloween.  We had to change that and have made these.  Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we had making them.

Conner making his hand-print

Ronny and his hand-print

My hand print ghost

Ronny adding the eyes and mouth to his ghost

Conner adding the eyes and mouth to his ghost

Ronny and his finished ghost

Conner and his hand print ghost

Happy Birthday, Phineas!

Today is my grandson's 2nd birthday.  In honor of him, I dedicate today's blog to this precious baby who has brought such joy to my life.  Being a Grandma is great because of him.  I love you Phineas!!!

 

Phin-e-as-us.  Phini-Phini-eas-us.  Phin-e-as-us.  Phini-Phini-eas-us!

October: Halloween Crafts & Goodies

Oh, what a procrastinator I have been.  I have not felt well and then I let life get too busy but I am back and am going to try to diligently blog at least 5 days a week.  Anyway...with October comes Halloween and the fall.  For our home school group I am looking for fun crafts we can make that is Halloween or fall related.  Also, any great recipes that you may want to share.  I will try to blog about the crafts we do with step-by-step directions so please leave your comments to give us suggestions on what to do.

Canning

Whew!  I am tired and will be a lot more tired too!   I recently advertised on Facebook that I was selling jam.  Boy, I never thought I would get this big of a response.  I have over 50 orders for jams right now and have a table at the upcoming horse auction.  I plan on making at least 100 jars for the auction.
     Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to death.  Money has been really tight and this is a true blessing for our family.  For those interested, here is a partial list of jams, jellies, etc. that I sale.

Jams

·        Strawberry

·        Peach

·        Pear

·        Plum

·        Raspberry

·        Blueberry

·        Blackberry

·        Triple Berry

·        Pineapple

·        Apricot

·        Strawberry-Peach

·        Sweet Cherry

·        Rhubarb

·        Tomato

·        Tomato Jalapeño

·        Strawberry-Banana

Jellies

·        Grape

·        Dr. Pepper

·        Root Beer

·        Mountain Dew

  

Butters/Salsas

·        Apple Butter

·        HOT! (wear your big boy panties) Salsa

·        Salsa

Drink Mixes

·        Instant Russian Tea Mix

·        Instant Mocha Cappuccino Mix

·        Instant No-Sugar Added Mocha Cappuccino Mix

·        Spiced Mocha Mix

Soup Mixes

·        Chicken Noodle Soup mix

·        Instant Potato soup mix

·        Friendship Soup Mix

·        Texas Two-Step Soup Mix

·        Colorful Soup Mix

·        Minestrone Soup Mix

·        Herbed Rice Mix

·

Brownie/Cookie Mixes

·        Brownie Mix

·        Cowboy Cookie Mix

I  also sell baked goods.  

The many faces of Ronny

Hi, everyone!!
   My 7 year old Ronny was especially expressive on Friday while doing homework.  As he did his assignments, I could not help but photograph him.  I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as I do.  

I am just really thankful there is no one around to photograph me when I am deep in thought.  I am sure I do not look nearly as cute as he does.

Have a blessed week!
In Christ,
Melody