A Blogging Sabbatical

Dear Readers,

When I once asked my husband why he doesn’t read more, his response was this: “I want to spend time living life instead of reading about others living life.” Though you may find plenty of things to argue with about that statement, you have to admit that there’s also a whole lot of wisdom in it.

After several weeks of consideration, I’ve decided to take a blogging sabbatical. Perhaps I’ll return to it in a few months or maybe not until my chicks fly away from home or maybe never, that’s up to the Lord’s prompting. Anyway, I have felt the need for the last several months to trim away excess demands on my personal time – my desire to read, craft, add to my blog, read other blogs, etc., has been replaced with an increased desire to spend time with my boys. Perhaps my desires are changing as a result of watching my oldest begin trying out his wings, realizing that my time with him grows short. And so, I want to put aside a good thing to spend time on a better thing.

I have so appreciated all of you who have encouraged me in the writing of my blog and for your many kind comments. It is a joy to share life with you all – and if we never meet this side of Heaven, I look forward to looking you up There.

For the love of Him,
Julie

A Blogging Break

Taking a blogging break for awhile – am busy with remodeling the living room, taking trips to the cabin, and, most importantly, just plain hanging out with my too-fast-growing boys!

Seasonal Pumpkin Bread

One of the best pumpkin bread recipes I've tasted - moist and spicy.

Seasonal Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 C. flour
1 tabl. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
4 large eggs, beaten
1 C. sugar
1 C. brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks margarine, melted
1 - 16 oz. can pumpkin

Grease two 9X5" loaf pans. Put oven racks in lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl; set aside. In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugars. Whisk in margarine and then pumpkin. Beat wet ingredients into dry ingredients until smooth; divide into two pans. Bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Let cool a few minutes and remove to rack to cool completely.

Harvest Time

(Photos by Eli)

More Inspiration

I sat there entranced as I watched Miss Alice. I had noticed that in her presence often I would have big thoughts, ideas that went so far beyond my usual ones that they astonished me. It was not so much what Miss Alice said that sparked the thoughts, rather what she was.

-- Catherine Marshall, excerpt from Christy

The Red Caboose

My mom and I spent the day together shopping on Friday. For lunch we stopped at the quirky and quaint Red Caboose Restaurant. Located in the heart of Amish farmland, the restaurant is a dining car with a view on one side of the Strasburg Railroad and the surrounding countryside. The other side of the car gives a view of a small gift shop where you can watch toy trains running through a lay-out. We enjoyed our sandwiches, went through the gift shop and then took a peek at the motel lobby - besides being a restaurant, the Red Caboose has several dozen train cars lined up outside in which you can spend the night! With a view tower to climb, a playground, and a barnyard of animals, the Red Caboose is the perfect place for train-loving kids. I wish I would have known about the place when my boys were little - they would have loved it. In fact, the Red Caboose has been around for quite a long time. Marty's grandmother told me that friends of her's spent their honeymoon at the Red Caboose!

More Goatie Photos

(Photos by Eli)

The Moon

(Photos by Eli)

Inspiration As I Clean

I was as surprised at the room before me as Miss Henderson had been by something about me. There was warmth and color and shine here: firelight gleaming on polished brass and the gray satin of pewter; firelight reflected on the well-scrubbed and waxed puncheon floor; the turkey reds and cobalt blues of what looked to be hand-loomed materials set off by old pine and cherry furniture. A bank of windows all across the back of the room let the outdoors in, with the winter landscape and the towering peaks like a gigantic mural.

-- Catherine Marshall, an excerpt from Christy

Steam-O-Rama 2011 - An Autumn Tradition

In the Finger Lakes

We spent the last day of our anniversary trip in New York State. We drove up through Bath, New York - stopping at a little market in a park. The produce stands were so pretty dressed in their autumn colors and bounties.



We then stopped at the New York State Fish Hatchery and took a fascinating little self-guided tour of this 100+ year-old operation. We viewed the hatch house and tanks FULL of various kinds of trout and had fun throwing fish food in to watch them go crazy!

We spent the rest of the day driving up along Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, as well as through miles and miles of gorgeous vineyards. We rolled our windows down to inhale in great gulps the incredible scent of ripe grapes that perfumed the air. What a sweet memory -

On Our Anniversary Trip

Sunday afternoon was gorgeous, just begging for a walk - we took a long one on a section of State Gameland. (See the turkeys?)





On Monday we took a long drive over mountains and through valleys. We came across the little town of Millheim and found the IngleBean Coffee Shop at lunchtime for tea and salad. It's a neat little place and is part of the Triple Creek Lodge housed right upstairs.



And today we took another long drive on this rainy day - the leaves are really beginning to change in Pennsylvania's northern mountains.



We came over a hill and thought this was someone's idea of Halloween decorations. But when we stopped to investigate, we realized that these vultures were real - one perched on every post of that fence!

A Passion for the Impossible Book Review

A Passion for the Impossible - The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffman Rockness is the biography of a woman who knew God in an intimate way. Lilias Trotter was a missionary to the Muslim people of Algeria in North Africa in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. God gave her a wonderful artistic gift which could have made her famous in the art world. Instead, Lilias decided to use her gift to minister in the depths of the African desert. If you want to be encouraged and spurred on to greater work for God, read about the life of this little-known woman who loved Him and His people with all her heart.

Autumn In A Dish

Try this easy-peasy pie crust in your next apple pie . . .

Apple Pickin' Time

(Photos by Eli)