Jesus and Santa

Thanksgiving Celebration

I had a wonderful time getting together with our families. All the Goldman's, Kruses, and my family gathered at Grandpa and Grandma's house, with some other people, there was a total of 39 people! At 1pm, on Thanksgiving day we all arrived at the house with turkeys and lots of other food. We ate, then we talked, then we ate dessert, then we started the annual AGK talent show! When that was over, we ate some more, and we talked some more, and we played some more. Then there was clean up time...fun...fun...fun :) God has blessed me with so many blessings, among them was the fellowship that we all enjoyed, the talents that we watched, the abundant food, and so much more.

"The Fiddlin Twins!"

Mummu and Karissa

"Hmmm"

Someone got very tired

Why does Karissa have two plates?

Karissa, me, Anna, and Katrina

Levi and Jared, the hippy pilgrims

Thanksgiving Blessings

Last Sunday, Dad (Pastor Kenny Anderson) gave a sermon on "The 7 "S's" We Should be Thankful For"...I just thought I would post them so that you too can be thankful for the wonderful blessings God has given us, as 2 Cor. 9:15 says- "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

1. Salvation- What more is there to be thankful for, than the redeeming work of Christ. Without His coming, His death and His resurrection, without the Father choosing to save His elect and sending His Son to take on His wrath and justice, we would all be condemned to pay the penalty for our sins. But instead there has been provided a path of forgiveness, a way unto salvation. Be thankful, all of you, the elect, for the salvation provided to us by the blood of our Lord and Savior. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Rom.5:6 "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:57. Thank God for saving you, in spite of you!


2. The Sovereignty of God- So many people say that they believe in the sovereignty of God, but do they trust in it? And are they thankful for it? 1 Peter 5:6-7 says "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." We need to be emounsly grateful for the fact that we serve a sovereign, all just, and loving God! "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7. We as believers should believe in the comforting confidence of God's sovereignty, so that we may be at peace in the Lord.


3. Spankings- We get to thank God for the sufferings that He gives us, and they will only be appreciated when we understand the sovereignty of God. Prov. 13: 24 shows us that love is displayed in discipline, for it reads "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." When you are being disciplined, when things are hard and life isn't easy (the pilgrims sure didn't have it easy), it all goes to show that you are a son or daughter of God, and that you are loved by God. 1 Peter 4:12-13- "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed." We are to expect hard times, to not be surprised when we are challenged, and when those times come, we should rejoice that we got to share in the sufferings of Christ! Be thankful for the hard times, for the spankings!


4. Scripture- The Word of God is living and powerful, over the blood of many martyrs, we can now read it in our own language. It is a gift for which we should be thankful. David showed His delight for the Word of God in Ps. 119, where he calls is sweeter than honey, a delight, a light, and a path unto righteousness. God has given us His Word, so that we may know His plan for our lives, so that we may know His laws and precepts, so that we may walk in the path of light and not stumble in the darkness. Through the Word of God, we can read about the salvation provided unto us through Jesus Christ. It is a precious jewel, for which we need to show our gratefulness!


5. Sanctuary- Not only has God given us salvation, shown His love through spankings, and given us His Word, but He has also given us His Church, His body of people. Ps.35:18- "I will thank you in the great congregation;in the mighty throng I will praise you." 1 Peter 2:2-6 "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." We as a body are the Church,we are members. one of another, and we should be thankful for one another, we should be thankful for our cooperate worship!


6. The Supper- As we come to the Thanksgiving table, we should remember the ultimate meal- the King's Table! God has provided His Son as the bread and wine, He has invited us to enter His heavenly home and to sit at His table! Matt. 26:26-28 "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Just as Christ gave thanks, so we should be thankful for the invitation to eat at His Table, the ultimate Thanksgiving meal!


7. The Spirit- after Christ ascended to sit once again at the right hand of God, He did not leave us unequipped, but He gave us His Spirit, so that we may proclaim the gospel and conquer the world with His truths! "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

These are just a few of the great blessings that God has graciously bestowed upon us. Remeber the Lord and His works, not just on Thanksgiving, but throughtout the whole of your life!
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thess. 5:16-18

Happy Birthday Destiny

Today is the birthday of a very special young lady. On this day, fifteen years ago, God blessed us with Destiny Jane. All who know her cannot deny what a joy it is to be around her. I have been blessed to be able to have her as a dear friend. She has taught me so much over the years. She is always honoring her parents, loving her siblings, and is so patient and loving towards others. Whenever she is around other people she always makes things so much funner...and never thinks about herself but rather what the other person wants!

She has made some very fun memories over the years with us! Whenever Destiny and Karissa are in the car with me, you can be sure of two things...first is that we probably look like a bunch of silly girls, for all we do is laugh and laugh and we have no idea at what we are laughing! Secondly, you can be sure that we will most likely stop at a Dutch Bros. for a smoothie, even if we have to dig up ever cent that we can find! Oh...and one other thing, you can be sure to see Destiny in the back seat either rummaging through my purse (for whatever reason, I have no idea), or stealing my makeup! Also her and Karissa, take pleasure in jumping on me, right when I am dozing off to sleep after talking to them till 1am! Yeah...those are great memories :)

Destiny is such a remarkable woman. She never ever seems stressed out at about anything, but at all things she brings laughter into them. Like what it says about the Prov. 31 woman- " Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come."
Destiny's love for her Lord and family, shine through all that she does. God does indeed have a truly wonderful plan for such a wonderful woman!
I love you Des, and pray that you shall continue to prosper in the work of the Lord, and His plan for your life!

Happy Birthday!

Another Anderson!!!

What joy that I am yet another older cousin. Uncle Troy, Aunt Heather and the rest of the Troy Anderson family welcomed Ethan Chase Anderson into their family on Nov. 8th, 2008, as do we all. God has blessed us once again with another one of His miracles. Image...I am now the oldest cousin of 31! And there are still more to come... What a joy indeed!

"I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
Ps. 139:14

It's Fall!

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7

For Your Pure Pleasure

This post is for your own pleasure, I have absolutely no reason why I am posting it other than that.

This evening, I had the sole delight to cut out a chicken's backbone! Have you ever done that? It was quite the experience :) Note the following dialog-

Kaila-"Hey Mom, I'm suppose to cut out the chickens backbone for this recipe. How am I suppose to do that?"

Mom-"I don't know. Just get a knife and cut it out, but watch out for your fingers (I have a bad reputation of cutting myself)."

Kaila-"Okay...here goes nothing."

10 minutes later, Mom walks into the kitchen only to find me still sawing away at this little 5lb chicken.

Kaila-"I think I hit a bone and am stuck on it."

Mom-"Just cut through it...but watch your fingers."

Kaila (2 min. later)-"I did it!(swinging the bone around) I just cut out the whole backbone of a chicken...how cool is that!"

Mom (thinking to herself) -"She's got some problems."

So if ever you come across a recipe that requires you to cut out a backbone...just give me a call...I know exactly how it goes...NOT :)

It was fun!

What Single Girls/Woman Can Learn From "Fireproof"

A couple weeks ago, we were blessed to go see the latest movie produced by Christians. Fireproof, was a movie based on saving your marriage. Caleb (Kirk Cameron) is a firefighter who (as the movie puts is) is a hero to everyone except his own wife. When they finally decided to get a divorce, his father steps in and challenges Caleb to put it off for forty-days in order to go through the "Love Dare", a journal that calls one to do certain acts of kindness towards the other spouse. When it seems that all is failing, Caleb is brought to Christ, in order to understand the true meaning of love.
In the end Caleb eventually wins back the heart of his wife, and they continue to strive to make their marriage fireproof!

Though the movie was more geared towards married couples, I, as a single girl, still gained a great lesson from it. Throughout the movie, we are introduced to a co-worker of Caleb's wife, Dr. Gavin , who sets out to win the heart of Caleb's wife. She in turn responds positively, and we are left with the picture of her giving her heart away to man who is not her husband.

As single girls, we need to guarded our hearts and not let them be easily stolen. The picture that was portrayed by Caleb's wife giving her heart away is a perfect picture of what it looks like when we give our hearts away to someone whom we do not plan to marry, or when we are not even ready for marriage. When we give our hearts away, it is almost like adultery in God's eyes for He has already picked out our future spouse, and when we give away our hearts to someone He has not chosen, then there is nothing left to give to the man that we do marry. We as single girls, need to learn to guard our hearts, so that when we do meet the man we are going to marry we can then fully give him our whole hearts. If we go through life falling in love with the next cute boy, by the time we meet our true prince charming, we will have noting left to give to him.

This is such an important lesson that most girls these days do not understand. They think that we have to "try out" different guys through the dating system. That we have to find our own prince charming. We must remember that God has a man picked out just for you and me, all we have to do is wait till He brings him into our lives, and prepare for that special moment when we can give our hearts to the man that God has chosen, in His good time!

Ellie and Anna

Brian Regan - Cooking Shows

"Blessed are the Uncool" pt.2

Chapter 2- Rebellion on Stage

Without an audience there simply is no cool. If you take aways it’s audience cool disappears into thin air because cool is both a mood and an attitude-- though in a slightly different sense from everyday language.

• Mood- "the social environment in which perception, emotions and thoughts may occur." It is basically via a mood that we relate to our surroundings.
  
• Attitude- If cool requires a receptive audience, the main piece of performance is attitude- 'a projection of mastery over the entire environment. Cool glories in the spotlight saying, "I'm better than you. I am an individual, you are just a clone."

One of the primary vehicles cool performance is rebellion. Cool rebels can't build a new society because their commitment to the cause is surpassed by their commitment to rebellion. The "revolution" of cool rebellion is an individual affair.

Not all rebellion is wrong, and not all individual rebelling is about being cool. There is a kind of rebellion practiced by the prophets. Prophets are messengers from God, messengers who are against wrong doing in a government or society. Prophets are almost always universally rejected. The most famous case of a prophet’s loneliness is Elijah's complaint to God in 1 Kings 19.

But there is a big difference between the lonely rebellion of a prophet and the rebellion for rebellions sake of the hipster. Prophets stand alone against evil, at first, but their greatest hope is for everyone else to soon join them. Cool rebels, on the other hand, don’t want to be joined by the world; that will just make them want to find another way to stand out and apart from others.

Loneliness is a very serious matter for God. God expects us all to live in community. Human nature is communal, because we are made in the image of God, and God is love. Christianity is a radically relational and historical faith. Cool lives in the here and now, but the beloved community is focused on a moment in space and time, the moment of Immanuel, God-with-us. We can survive the loss of our cool because our faith is rooted in the compassion of the God, who is Immanuel. The loneliness of cool rebellion is met by the Church in the gift of reconciliation.

"Blessed are the Uncool"
-Paul Grant

Happy (belated) Birthday Karissa!

Even though Karissa's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, I still want to do a post about her.
When Karissa was born, little did I know that she would become my best friend, but God knew. He gave me the greatest sister that there could ever be. Karissa is always there to encourage me to be a better woman, she is always there for me to talk too (for I talk a lot!), she is always guiding me in any decision and she shows me the fault of my actions in the most loving and gentle manner as any could.

They say that the greatest friend listens. At night when the day is all done and gone, I lie in my bed and me and Karissa have a long chat, but now that I look back at those nights, I realize that I did most the talking. She is always there to listen to my griefs, my joys, my sorrows and my plans for the future, and yet she guides and directs my fiery nature. She rebukes me in a most loving and kind way. The greatest leaders are servants...and that is Karissa.

I thank God for the gift that He has given me in my sister, Karissa. I pray that our friendship shall continue to grow through all the upcoming years of our lives.
I love you Karissa!

Happy 16th Birthday, Sis!

You're Invited!

Centennial Play

On the twenty third of August at 6:30 p.m, at the Roxy Ann Grange in Medford, there is going to be a stage production on the War for Independence, put on by your local homeschool students. This play is focused on the time that America became a free nation and is written by a home schooled senior, Kaila Anderson.

The story is about a young man and woman, who live in Virginia in the year of 1776. It is the story of a nation, that is struggling to regain her freedom that she once had, and of the people who believe in their country and are willing to make sacrifices for her freedom. It is about families who face hardships together, and who rely on the strength of God. Come see a story of love, loss, joy, hardships and eventually victory!

All this is to take place on the twenty third of August, at the Roxy Ann Grange in Medford (1850 Spring St. Medford OR). The evening shall begin at 6:30pm, and following it shall be a dessert social. There is an admission fee of $2 per person, or $5 a family. For more information contact Kaila Anderson- (541) 665-5238.

Anderson Clan

All the Cousins

"Dress Up"

This picture got first at the Jackson County Fair,
in the black and white division