Advent beginnings.....

Happy 1st day of the Advent!  What a glorious way to transition from focusing on gratitude,  contentment and thankfulness...to joyous preparation!  We've been preparing to celebrate the birth of our Savior...yes, decorating the house for our celebration and focusing on preparing our hearts to receive the ultimate gift...Jesus Christ.

I collect nativity sets.   A number of years ago, we made a conscious decision to try and make our Christmas celebrations visually as well as spiritually focused on the Lord...not on the commercial or material hype...and since we do well with visual reminders...we try and make our decorations meaningful to us.  We've also been feeling the Lord leading us to simplify...a lot....some simplifying is for health reasons...some for financial...but really...I think He just wants us to simply focus on Him....and sometimes, with the distractions of this world...especially at this time of year, that is hard to do.

As we have for years, we will be doing Advent devotions with our advent wreath every Sunday of Advent.   Ever since my older girls were little, we've used our homeschooling lesson time for the month leading up to Christmas to just do the basics ...a little spelling, grammar and math....and focus on unit studies about Jesus and Christmas.  The unit studies we've used can be found http://easyfunschool.com/IndexChristmas.html  at this link.  We always do the names of Jesus study, the Christmas symbol study and Christmas Hymn studies.

We will also be doing a Jesse tree and devotional from Anne at A Holy Experience.   We're trying to take every opportunity when the subject of gifts comes up, to talk about Jesus being the greatest gift of all.  If Christmas lights and light displays comes up, we talk about John 1:5...and Jesus being the light of the world.  We have some wonderful family times planned...not too many activities this year...and all of us as a family and all centered around Jesus...a special time for our family to enjoy...and to keep our focus on the gift of Jesus.

In the coming days...I'll be sharing some of our special books, devotions, traditions and special times that we have planned to focus our hearts on the gift of the Light of the World....and I hope to hear how all of you are celebrating this very special time!  ~Sue~

Thanksgiving memories....

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration this year!  Wanted to share and save some special remembrances this year...

We made a 'gratitude garland' ...the 6 of us wrote many things we were grateful for and strung them across the mantle...a special, beautiful reminder to be grateful everyday!  Every year, we plan on writing more blessings on our leaves and adding to our garland.

Beautiful roses...sweetly given to me by my beautiful oldest daughter, Meghan....so grateful for all 4 of my special children!

Very grateful for my wonderful husband and our 25 years of being together!

These 2 crack me up!  Sara and Aunt Peppy...sharing earbuds and listening to Glee songs! LOL

Meghan and I with our sweet cousin, Jill!

My special mom and Meghan

Love this picture!  What a crew!  Ron, his brother Sean, Uncle Joe, and cousin Mike (holding Meghan's Godson, Colin)

And...my very tired children! LOL  (Not the best picture of Ronnie...and Anna was so tired, she wouldn't even look...but this is real life, right?! Smile....)

The blessings of family mean so much to us...and we are very blessed to have a lot of extended family on both mine and Ron's side...and we see them frequently.  We finished the weekend off with a family baby shower yesterday...and getting ready for Advent today....will be posting our Advent preparations and celebrations thru out the month....for tonight...we'll finish watching "White Christmas" and pray as we prepare to start the Advent season tomorrow.  ~Sue~

Cultivating....gratitude

It is a daily....ok...minutely, mindfully struggle to cultivate a truly grateful heart...to look for the 'silver lining'...to count your blessings...minute by minute...and then...how very many blessings there are!  May your day be filled with blessings!

This week...a time to keep....

During this week of preparation...we find ourselves preparing for this most wonderful of American holidays...Thanksgiving. As the tradition in our family goes...the Gorecki's will be traveling around sharing meals and yummy desserts with lots of extended family on both sides...enjoying grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins from near and far....and giving thanks that God chose to make us all "family".  There are so many things we are grateful for and we are careful to remember to give thanks every day...not just on Thanksgiving. But, as we are hustling and bustling, I am trying to be aware of the need to rest in the Lord...to slow down, to snuggle and talk and make memories that don't involve involve hustling and bustling...so with that in mind as we cook and bake this week, get ready for a special baby shower and then prepare to start Advent (a very special, joyous time of preparation here) below are some of the books we'll enjoy reading aloud....snuggling under blankets....a fire lit....and counting our blessings.  May you have a joyous week filled with thanksgivings! ~Sue~

This moment...

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Joining in this Friday Ritual over at SouleMama....no words...for me....just a peaceful photo thought of 2 little best friends.....Have a blessed weekend!  ~Sue~

Inspirational dinner....

After praying about 'stretching' groceries even more...and praying about what to have for dinner that would be warm, filling, healthy...and I already had the ingredients for...I found this recipe today!  So THIS is what's for dinner!  Perfect!  Go to Family Balance Sheet for the recipe for italian sausage white bean kale soup!  (with some GF garlic bread with parmesean cheese....perfect warm, filling dinner! ~Sue~

Heritage Field Trip Fun!

Our family has a membership to the Heinz History Center...a wonderful museum affliated with the Smithsonian.  This weekend, we enjoyed a whole day wondering around the wonderful old building that used to be the Chautauqua Ice House.  It was Heritage Day.  The above photo is of the Slovakian dancers.  I, particularly, was touched by this group as they sang and danced to all the songs that my grandmother loved and I shared with her long ago.  Baba would have loved this!  Some of the people are the same as when Gram and I used to go see them perform many years ago.

Anna loved learning the art of making Slovenian lace...getting the hang of the rhythm  of crossing the bobbins in the right order.  She asked if she could have one of these at home!  (I'm not sure, but I think they may be pretty expensive)

These gorgeous Slovenian easter eggs were so beautiful!  I have a friend who does this art and am hoping to learn over the winter.

Ronnie had such a great time talking with these gentlemen....one from Scotland and one from Wales.  Discussing the legends of King Arthur and the areas he most likely would have been from fascinates Ronnie right now.  He and one gentleman had both watched the same documentary and enjoyed discussing it together.

Anna loves herbs and really enjoyed making her own sachet filled with lavender, rose hips, orange peel and chamomile.

taking a break from a lot of walking on 5 floors of the museum. (typical Sara....performing!)

A new exhibit that we hadn't seen yet, that is loaned by the Smithsonian is the  History of the American Flag.  Very cool exhibit!  So many authentic flags from the 1700's, 1800's, both Confederate and Union flags...along with World War II flags and memorabilia...all the way thru the 60's and 70's and a large display from 9/11 as well.  Very beautiful, humbling, educational tribute to the symbol of our great country.

My little readers read everything...and they also had a lot of hands on displays for the children including the proper way to fold a flag.

While the guys went to the Steelers and Penquin sports museum, the girls and I toured thru the Heinz exhibit...one of my favorite spots! (and the girls, too!)

Anna's advertising campaign for Heinz Spagetti! 

One of the kids favorite things to do is pack the pickle jars!  As Anna is now into helping me do anything I'm doing, including canning pickles, she had fun packing pickles at Heinz!

We enjoy educational field trips, but we really enjoy them when we can do them as a family.  What a wonderful day we had!  Finished it off by coming home to a delicious dinner, and watching the Duggar family start their tour of Europe...the kids were mesmerized by life in Scotland and Ireland...the castles, the farms the highland games....This is one family field trip memorie that will always be special to me!  ~Sue~

Yarn Along....

Joining with Ginny for her weekly Yarn Along...sharing my 2 favorite things...yarn and books!  This week, I crocheted a hat and booties for a special cousin expecting her first baby and am working on finishing the baby afghan before the shower, the day after Thanksgiving.  Working with 2 strands should get it done quickly.  Am reading many books, but thought I would mention this one (before I need to return it to the library)  Paleo Comfort Foods is a great cookbook!  For anyone learning about low carb/no carb healthy living, this book has many recipes and advice to make what feels like "normal" food healthier.  Check out more yarn and book goodness over at Small Things today!