Feeling Thankful

"Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, 'O Lord, no one but You can help the powerless against the mighty!  Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You alone.  It is in Your name that we have come against this vast horde.  O Lord, You are our God; do not let mere men prevail against You!'"
~2 Chronicles 14:11

How awesome is that verse!?  A friend posted it on Facebook and I really loved it!  I threw it into this blog post even though it really has little to do with anything else in this post.  But randomness is always fine with me! lol

In other news, here's the Missa-K looking precious as ever, sitting with her dad at the CHA Patriotic Program!  Hello, All-American Girl cuteness!! ❤ Rach texted me some videos of the boys who all had a song or part to perform in it (Jace & classmates singing "You're a Grand Old Flag," T-man and classmates playing the role of sailors on a rocky boat - he hammed it up and did great, and Carter looking ever so serious in his role as a Continental Army drummer.)  It was all the perfectly cheesy cuteness you would expect from that event!  If it had been at night rather than during the school day, I would've definitely tried to be there for it!! But I'll make sure I don't miss the Christmas program! =)

Good gosh, I love her so much!!!

Yay for the PhotoMix collage software. Rach decided to update her pics of the kids with more recent ones, so Mom and I had fun making a 4-pic collage for each of them! :)

Also, yay for these s'mores brownies, made by me!  Definitely a first, so be impressed. lol

I actually did all the cooking for this Friday's dinner... we had two kinds of crock-pot chili (regular and white chicken chili), cornbread muffins, Aunt Carol's crunchy salad (thanks to Jen Hatmaker raving about it - first time I've really made a salad and not used a pre-made kit - it went well!), and the gooey s'mores brownies!!  Yaaaay for fall foods! =)

It was a fun group of 8, but I failed to get a group pic of us - sadness.  It was Chet, Karli, Kyle, Sarah, Angie, Laura, Tiffany, and me!  After dinner (and after Tall Kyle washed the dishes because he's awesome and always does that without being asked), our topic was sharing places where God has brought good out of bad in our lives - where He has used something painful or hard to teach us something or give us a new perspective, or where He has redeemed something we thought was irredeemable. Lots of great stories were shared, and it was just really encouraging to think about God's hand working through my own life, each of those friends' lives, and how He has worked to weave our lives together. We talked about how God orchestrated those connections, and that was cool to think about, too. Yay, God!  He works all things together for the good of those who love Him, and what the enemy means for harm, He is able to use for His glory and our good!! I may do a full post on that topic soon...
Anyway, I was proud I pulled this off, and I did not fail to get food pics. lol The top left = Chet and Kyle being sad they can't eat sweets. lol

Ending this post with another fantastic verse that speaks to me right now, especially the last part about trusting God and walking in His light rather than trying to live in our own light... our delight and our sustaining joy and what our hearts turn to in worship has to be God Himself, or it will end in great torment for us. So good and true!

“The Sovereign Lord has given me His words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning He wakens me and opens my understanding to His will... See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side! Who will declare me guilty? 
...If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment."
~Isaiah 50:4–11