Flying Solo

Saturday "Thanksgiving Appitizer" and A Movie

 

Pumpkin Dip

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon frozen orange juice concentrate

Directions:

 

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in the pumpkin. Stir in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and orange juice until smooth and well blended. Chill until serving.

 

 

  
We Are Marshall

A true story, based on devastating events, set in Huntington, West Virginia, about a small town steeped in the rich tradition of college football. For decades, players, coaches, fans and families have come
together to cheer on Marshall University's "Thundering Herd." For this team and this community, Marshall football is more than just a sport, it's a way of life.

We want your recipes! We want your favorite movie! And we want your pictures of dinner with freinds! Email them to [email protected]
 

Fridays with Ken

Ken, our topic this month is entitlement. We live in such an entitled culture. Why is it that has seemed to get worse over the last couple decades?

I believe that it’s a combination of our consumer culture and wealth.  I remember a day not too long ago when you could go to the movie theater without having to sit through commercials.  There are hundreds and hundreds of ways that we receive messages about our lives that point out some kind of dissatisfaction and how to fix it with a purchase.  We simply take the bait.

How do we maintain a spirit of gratitude?

It’s important for us to start with the fact that we gave up the garden.  We will not find the satisfaction we seek in this life…it is only found in Christ and will be fulfilled in heaven.  We must begin with our spiritual condition…we have nothing apart from God.  We can’t take a breath without God’s grace.  When we come to the realization that we own nothing then everything we have is a gift.

 

Ken Edwards is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and has earned a Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling and a Master of Arts in Religious Education of Southwestern Seminary. But his discernment matches his education and for me often the greater gift. He lives with his wife Janet and three children in Franklin, Tennessee. And this is him enjoying what he loves, the mountains in Wyoming. Except he's usually behind the camera. And he has been kind enough to spend Friday’s with us. What he is offering us regarding his time is a gift. I hope we will take advantage of it.

 

Got Question's for Ken? Email your questions to [email protected]

Thursday Thumbprint

A few years back I wrote this on my old blog…

Since Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, I wondered if we could spend them thinking about things we are thankful for. The idea came to me the other morning lying in bed with the cloud over my head about as gray as the cloud that loomed outside. I knew why it was there. It was that lovely week of PMS when all women take one moment to tell Eve how much they wish they could slap her. I'd ask for forgiveness when I was through, but I have to say there is a brief moment each month that it takes all I have to not despise the woman.

But as I was lying there I gave myself a task. Keep your eyes open for things to be grateful for. No complaining for the next two weeks. Only talking about what your thankful for. Now, granted this has been a year and a half of noticing all the beautiful places God has moved in my life in even a more real way than in years past, but this truly cognizant approach to my day had me quite amazed at all I saw. Here's my list for this past week. I challenge you to do the same this week and share with us what you noticed...

I'm thankful for memory. Especially when I get to a room and can't remember why I walked in there. Then, it hits me...and I think, "Whew, glad I remembered that."
I'm thankful Maggie will stare at me until I feed her in the moments when I don't remember.
I'm thankful for the people who have invested in my life when it offered them nothing much in return.
I'm thankful for those three hours dinners with my best friend and no lack of conversation.
I'm thankful that Leo decided to open a restaurant and make chicken wings.
I'm thankful for a season that makes us pause to remember what we're thankful for.
I'm thankful for the woman who created cute socks to sleep in.
I'm thankful for those days when the weather is so perfect that you have to drive around with the sunroof opened and the windows rolled down.
I'm thankful for the Gamecocks.
I'm thankful for people who found their words worth writing down and time in my day to read their books.
I'm thankful for travel size Lysol.

Denise

Got a Thumbprint you would like to share? Email it to

[email protected]

 

Wednesday 1 on 1 with Karen Finley

Our interview this month is my friend Karen Finley. Karen and I met a couple years back at one of our Fun and Frolic weekends with my precious friend and mentor Ann Platz. Karen has a beautiful story. She grew up the child of an evangelist and school teacher. She had wonderful success in the corporate world, and spent the last seventeen years working in conflict resolution for Bell south. She also has spent the last thirty years as a member of Mt. Paran Church in Atlanta, where she works with the Women’s Mentoring Program.

Karen we are thrilled to have you with us this month. I know this past year and a half has been life-altering for you. But before we share that would you share some of your life with us.

30 years ago I thought I had everything in the world going for me. I had a beautiful home out by the Atlanta Country Club. I was married at the time to a man who I thought was a great husband to me.  I was raising two of his children, Suzanne and Mathew. Suzanne was 3 when I got her and Matt was 7.

 

Ten years into that marriage my husband said he didn’t love me anymore and wanted a divorce. He asked me not to take it personally, but he wanted out of the marriage. The night he left I went up to our bedroom and cried out and said Lord I trust you to get me through this. At that time it was pitch dark in the room and I believe the Lord gave me a beautiful visual of his presence. It was as if three round circle lights appeared in a triangle and then went into one light. I knew instantly it represented the trinity; God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. I fell asleep and was comforted by the sweetest peace.    

It wasn’t long before another woman quickly took my place in what had been my home and with the children. That was hard. The doctor said I had a walking nervous breakdown…I could not eat or sleep. I woke up shaking every morning and would have the dry heaves going to work. I was scared of the unknown. During this same season I was diagnosed with melanoma cancer at this time. It was one of the most painful seasons I’ve ever known.

 

Tuesday Tips

Tips on learning to be more grateful…from Denise…

Read the newspaper
Visit a homeless shelter with your family and serve a Thanksgiving meal.
Think of those who have lost loved ones this past year or who are struggling with illnesses.
The next time it rains remember that the earth will never flood again completely.
Look up at the heavens before you go to bed at night- find a star- and realize that the One who created it- also created you…

Got some of your favorite Tips you want to share? Email them to [email protected]

Monday Musings

This month our theme is gratitude. Which is interesting since my mind has been on this generations entitlement mentality. Do not forget, I too am a part of this entitlement generation. I see it in myself every time I drive through the McDonald line and the fast food doesn’t come to fast. When something isn’t as I wanted it to be I see the self nature in me roar to the surface with the raging question, “Do you know who I am?”

And life has a way of reminding us more and more of who we really are if we are truly listening. We are priceless it’s true. The Creator of heaven and earth created us. He knows every hair on our head. He had a destiny for us before we were even a thought in our parents head. But we were created for one reason, for Him. For His good pleasure. Not ours.

An entitlement spirit thinks it deserves something. But when we come to the end of ourselves, when we walk through the dark seasons in life this mentality is a dangerous companion. Because this is the spirit that will take us to a bitter, angry place.

But the true heart and life that God intended. The thankful heart, the grateful heart, takes us is to a place of truth. When the terrible happens in life, when we walk through a divorce, when we lose our spouse to death, when the hand on the clock is rushing by quicker than a speeding train marking the days of our “still single” state, our thoughts are different. Sure we cry tears, experience the pain of our loss, but we also realize that anything….anything…we have at all is simply because God is so exceptionally kind. And any other way of thinking is a slap in the face of the Creator of our souls….May this month we be aware. Aware of our hearts and even more aware of His.

Sunday Reflections

This is your time. Reflect with us about your week, your friends, or what God has become to you. This is your space. Your time.