Recipe - Creamy Grapes

My mom served this once, and we all fell in love with the recipe.  While we all enjoy grapes just the way God made them, occasionally it's nice to do something a bit different.

Obviously, with four pounds of grapes, this makes quite a bit, but feel free to cut the recipe in half.

CREAMY GRAPES

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 C sour cream
1/3 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 lbs seedless red grapes
2 lbs seedless green grapes

Beat the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until blended.  Add grapes and toss to coat.  Refrigerate. 

A Fun Song: Matthew's Begats

Two young ladies from our church sang this song at our Family Christmas Program.  Many of us fell in love with it.  And while I don't have a video of the two gals singing it, I still wanted to share it with you.  So, here's someone I don't know singing the same song.  ~smile~  Enjoy!

Recipe - Sparkling Grape Juice

One of our family traditions on special days is to undust the goblets and break open a bottle of sparkling grape juice.  But one bottle is hardly enough for the five of us to get a glass each.  Then it's gone, and what fun is that?!?  And the stuff isn't cheap, so when I stumbled across this "recipe" for homemade sparkling grape juice, I knew I wanted to give it a try.  The nice thing about making our own is that we're not limited to grape or white grape.  We tried this today (Christmas eve) with "berry blend."  And I bought "strawberry-kiwi" for Christmas day.  I mixed it up in a nice pitcher, and everyone was able to drink up.  ~smile~

SPARKLING GRAPE JUICE

2 liters of club soda (chilled)
12 ounces of frozen juice concentrate (whatever flavor you want to try!)

Put the concentrate in a pitcher, and add 6 cups of the club soda.  You won't use all the club soda, but if you use too much it might taste a bit odd.  So, don't just dump in the full two liters.  Stir and enjoy!

My New Ironing Board!

While I was surfing the 'net the other day I came across directions on how to make a small ironing board out of a wooden TV tray.  (http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2010/01/a-woman-a-plan-an-inexpensive-tv-tray-new-pressing-board.html)   I loved the idea.  When Alicia and I are sewing, it's always a bit of a hassle to leave the sewing machine and go to the ironing board.  But this one is table-top height, and extremely portable.  So, we can set it up right next to our sewing machine, and we're all set to go!  And when it's not in use, it can fold up flat.  Now I'm eager to use it!

I had a wooden TV tray already, and I had a scrap of some really cute fabric for the top.  I had to buy the cotton batting and some twill to put between the cute fabric and the batting.  Here's the one I made:

Recipe - Russian Refresher

Once the weather starts turning colder, I love my hot beverages.  I'm not a fan of coffee.  I like hot chocolate, hot vanilla, hot cider, chai, tea, and Russian Refresher.  I'm not sure why it's called Russian Refresher, but it is a refreshing drink.  And as a bonus, it's good cold, too!  I keep my mix in a quart jar.  Enjoy!

RUSSIAN REFRESHER MIX

2 C powdered orange drink mix (Tang)

1 3-oz pkg presweetened powdered lemonade mix (1/2 C)

1/2 C sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

Mix well.

To serve: Add 1 Tbs (or to taste) to 1 cup of boiling water.

What I'm Reading - God's Smuggler

I'm usually always reading a "real" book to the kids.  That's one of the perks of homeschooling... having time to read together.  Today we finished reading the book "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew. 

I remember reading this book many years ago, likely while I was still in high school.  I remember that it made an impression on me, and I thought our kids might appreciate it as well.  So, I dusted off my copy, and we dug in.

I loved re-reading it, and the kids loved hearing it for the first time.  We loved hearing the different ways in which God answered prayers.  We loved hearing about a "hopeless" situation, only to find that God turned that situation around.  We were challenged to think about areas in our lives where we lean too much on our own understanding.

The book has been around for awhile (obviously, since I read it over 20 years ago!), and I know that not all of those countries are currently closed to Christianity.  But there are other countries that are closed to Christianity.  Believers in these countries need our prayers and our support.  My kids grasped this.  During prayer time now, they often pray for Christians who don't have access to a Bible or who are being persecuted for their faith.

What struck me the most about this book was Brother Andrew's attitude that "A child of the King wouldn't have to do _______."  God doesn't want His children to grovel.  He doesn't want us to be devious.  He wants us to live lives that are noble.  He wants us to trust Him in all things and for all things.

What a mighty God we serve!

If you want to be encouraged in your faith, I strongly recommend (and I'm sure my kids would, too!) reading this book!

How to Tie a Knot in a Piece of Thread

Yeah... That sounds rather simple, but it's something everyone will have to do at some point in their life. Even people who will never sit in front of a sewing machine will want to sew a button back on a shirt at some point. So, everyone should know how to tie a knot in a piece of thread.

My daughter and I are taking sewing classes, and one of the things we learned early on was a quick and easy way to knot thread. (On purpose!) However, it was so easy, that I promptly forgot how to do it! Eek!

Well, Alicia is mending some of her doll's clothes and of course, we needed to knot a piece of thread. After a brief search on YouTube, I found what I needed. The sound on the video isn't very good, but you'll get the idea.

Happy sewing!