My View from the Front Pew~~~Polite or Profound?

  Last night my preacher husband gave the homily at our community Thanksgiving service.  The part that stood out the most to me was when he spoke about the two types of gratitude.  You can have polite gratitude.  This is when someone holds the door open for you at Wal-Mart and you say "thank-you."  You probably don't even know this person and are just saying "thank-you" to be polite.  The second type of gratitude is profound gratitude.  An example of this would be when someone saves your life or the life of someone you love.  You run to them, wrap your arms around them and say "THANK-YOU."
     There is no one who has done more for us than Jesus.  He died so that we may have our sins forgiven and have eternal life.  This Thanksgiving, which type of gratitude will we have towards Him?  Will we give a polite "thank-you" or a profound "THANK-YOU" to God?

 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.

Psalm 100:4

The Nativity Dilemma

I hope all my blog peeps had a:

 

My youngest had a great time making this before our Thanksgiving meal.  We put it on the easel at the buffet.

 

We had a great week last week out of our normal homeschooling routine.  This week I've been busy decorating for Christmas and getting back into the swing of home education before more holiday celebrating.

 

  The other day, I had a bit of a dilemma with my nativity.  Last year this is what it looked like:

The Nativity sat on my TV with our new Advent wreath.  I liked that the two were side-by-side.  I liked how my wise men were traveling to see Jesus.  What I didn't like is that I did not use any "hay" around the nativity set, because I was afraid of having it that close to the fireplace and candles.  It just looked plain. 

 

 

So, after a few different tries, I decided on this:

 

I was so pleased with how it turned out.  I love that this is the first thing that you see when you walk through our front door.  Before, I had put a few Santa/elves things here.  (We don't have many.)  But, I think this is so much better.  My whole family agreed.  AND...I have hay!  (or I think it's Spanish Moss.)  My kids really liked the idea of the Wise Men being somewhere else in the house, traveling to see Jesus.  I explained to them that the Wise Men are still traveling, but their nearby presence is just symbolic.  (They bought it.)

 

Now....what to put next to my Advent Wreath???

 

Next post!!

 

..



Thankful Garland

 Yesterday I took a little time in between cleaning the house and raking leaves to make our "Thankful Garland".  I used materials I already had in my craft closet, so this was a "freebie"!  All that's left to do now is to write what we're thankful for on the leaves.

  

 

Give thanks with a grateful heart...



Sunday Morning with my 4's and 5's

Bible Story: David Thanked God  (1 Chronicles 15-16)

Bible Phrase: Say thank you to God.  Psalm 136:1

We made Thanksgiving chains. 
Boys and Girls wrote on each strip what they wanted to thank God for.

Group Time
So excited to have a room full!  I think here I'm talking to the children about playing instruments.  I warned them that there may be some naughty instruments in my bag, and that it was up to them to make them be quiet until the music started.  :)

We enjoyed making a joyful noise to the Lord.  One little girl even shouted, "Praise the Lord!"

I shared with them how King David had some people play instruments as they went into the new Tabernacle (church).
They were thanking and praising God for their new tent church!

My New Bread Hook

 

Isn't she beautiful!?  So bright and shiny and industrial looking.  I ordered it just the other week, and was sooo excited when my bread hook came in the mail.  It is replacing my white one, which was beginning to chip. (I can't have that, since we have a tiny bread baking cottage industry.) 

 

 

Here are two white loaves I made today.  They are for our church bake sale tomorrow.  I plan to make more bread this week for Thanksgiving and beyond.  I think I'll have warm bread or rolls for Thanksgiving Day.  I'll make extra for grilled cheese sandwiches while family is here.



Harvest/Thanksgiving Decor Switch-out

I shared with you in my "Autumnal" Nesting" post some of my harvest decorations.  With just a few switch-outs I'm now ready for Thanksgiving.  (I also took down my "Harvest Blessings" flag outside and replaced it with my "Happy Thanksgiving" flag.)

 

 

If you squint your eyes, the Viking ships look like the Mayflower!  HA!  (This is our school corner...so the ships stay!)

I purchased these pilgrims last year at major clearance.  I don't even think I paid a dollar for them.  My little pumpkin plate was a Bingo prize from a Fall Festival.  :)

I re-purposed the fall leaves from my Trunk-A-Treat.  They are kinda cheapy, but look much better when bunched together a bit. 



I changed my Bible Verse...and that's all I did to my mantle.




 

There's more I'd like to do, like add a "Thankful" tree or maybe a "Thankful" garland.

  I found this on Pinterest today....nice and simple so I can remove it when we build a fire...
Maybe I'll give it a go...








Holiday School: A Thanksgiving Reading

    

 I wanted to share a Thanksgiving Reading/Devotional I found recently.  I plan to read this to my children on or before Thanksgiving Day.  We don't have family arriving until after Thanksgiving Day, so I am working on some fun "Holiday School" things for us to do together since we'll have more time with just our family.  (Note: to save myself colored ink, I just copied the text and pasted it onto a blank document page, then printed that out.)

Happy Thanksgiving!