Thanksgiving Resources

A blessed Thanksgiving, family and friends! 

These two resources have been helpful in reminding our family of the deep meaning and real lives behind the first Thanksgiving. 

As this excellent Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production points out, somewhat like the history of Joseph in the Old Testament, Squanto was stolen into slavery and spent years learning and serving... which then prepared him to return home and be raised to a position of influence at the right time to help save the lives of others.

Those "others" were the Pilgrims, part of whose history is so interestingly recounted in Barbara Rainey's book (with accompanying music CD which we enjoy each year.)

Speaking of the time when the Pilgrims dropped anchor on November 11, 1620 off the shores of what would become New England, one of their young leaders, William Bradford, wrote:

"I cannot but.. stand half amazed at this poor people's present condition;... Being thus past the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles... they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies;... What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace?"

And the rest of the history shows that sustaining grace through all the hardships. How thankful we can be for such a heritage represented in this celebration! 

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! 

Our New Porch!

We are thoroughly enjoying the newly finished porch and the changing light throughout a sunny day!

Though not heated with the house, this rebuilt porch is now fully insulated, so it can get too hot for comfort even on chilly days with the sun shining. Should be amazing this winter!

Fall Birthdays and Projects

October went out with one birthday, and November came in with another!

Now we have a 4 year old who will soon have a 2 year-old sister and newborn sibling!

Meanwhile, work continues full-force around here. Our amazing finish carpenters have put in 11 days so far between the basement and porch. They did a beautiful job framing the awkward, deep doorway cut between the old and "new" basements.

Dad's choice of wood ceiling for the basement "library" is lovely!

And Dad and I put in a long, intense day to finish the porch tile with grout.

Finally, this week I learned to can pumpkin!

Both of Grandma's pressure canners are coming in handy. And it was perfect having our carpenters at work in the porch during the first time I tried the smaller canner. The wife of the husband-wife carpenter team could coach me through using the "jiggly-top" version of pressure canning between cutting boards for trim!

Chronic Lyme and Stress

My family and I pulled ticks off ourselves countless times every year growing up here on the prairie, but back then our immune systems were so good that our bodies naturally kept any infections under control.

It wasn't until a wide range of stressors (physical, environmental, and more) came to the overflowing point that our Limbic Systems (part of the nervous system control center deep in the brain) couldn't handle it, and we crashed physically.

With years of supplements, protocols, and avoidance of all the things we were suddenly sensitive to helped somewhat, it wasn't until we started addressing the Limbic System dysfunction that we could even hope to get to the root of all the issues stemming from our bodies being stuck in the chronic stress response.

Want to learn more? There is a free workshop going on this week with so much helpful information! You can join here if interested: 

https://www.limbicsystemrewire.com/sensitivityworkshop

[Replays are available during the event even if you do not have a Facebook account to watch it live.]

~ Hannah

P.S. - Know anyone who could find this information helpful? Feel free to share this post!