Highlights of October

This month is flying by and I haven't made much of an effort to post on this blog. The month started off with our trip to Madison for the weekend (see previous post on that adventure!).  Here are some more highlights:

Tea -
 
This is a new tea that I bought in Madison - love the flavor! The added bonus of caffeine-free makes it great to drink any time of day for me. I'm loving the hot teas more now that the days are cooler. I usually start my day off with a mug of hot tea with breakfast or I make a flavored tea latte (green chai, coconut chai, or mango oolong with 1/3-1/2 cup of almond milk added) in my travel mug to sip on my long drive to work in the mornings. I drink several more cups  (2-3) at work in the morning - mostly Sencha green tea - and often have a cup of vanilla spice at night before bedtime. Love my teas!

Worship -

We are loving our new church so much! Our choir sings only once a month, but we do all three services (Sat night, 2 Sun mornings) so it makes for a busy weekend when we do sing.  For the past six weeks our pastor has been doing a series on prayer and it has been powerful! I have learned so much! The weekend in October that the choir sang, we also did a special Sunday night service called a Night of Worship and Prayer. It was an emphasis on everything Pastor Philbeck had been bringing to us in the past few weeks, worshipful songs of praise to our Lord, and a time to bring our prayers/petitions to God. What an evening of blessing and praise to God! Here's a link of one the songs we sang: Revelation Song (this will link you to our Worship Pastor's blog - click on the link to see/hear the video. Can you spot me in the choir? ). I didn't get permission from Brian to post this video to my blog so I'll just link to his - the blessing you will receive is beyond compare!

 

IKEA -
 
Last weekend my dear friend, Bonnie, invited me to go with her to IKEA in Cincinnati. I had never been before - what a fun store! We spent several hours browsing through the model rooms, oohhing and aahhing over all the fun furnishings. I actually had a couple things on my list to get and I snagged those, plus a few more. I left the store only spending less than $45, but know that a trip in the future is bound to happen. Lots of great ideas and fun ways to organize areas in the home.

Soup -
 
Emilee and I have been itching to make some soups lately, so yesterday after our grocery shopping trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joes (we do this twice a month), we decided to dive right in to making some great vegetarian soups. Pictured above is the split pea soup (flavored with liquid smoke to replace the pork that is so popular in this soup- tasted wonderful!). We also made a butternut squash/white bean soup and a minetrone soup.
 
(Roasting the butternut squash and onions)

I also roasted some pumpkin that my mom had brought me from their garden a few weeks ago, pureed in my food processor and froze for future use in recipes (smoothies, breads, muffins, or as a mix-in for morning oatmeal).

Today our Sunday lunch with the kids consisted of a sampling of homemade soups with some Irish Soda bread that Emilee had made. It was all very good!

 
Loving these Autumn days and nights!

 

Comments

[Tammy]

Thanks Denise. I so enjoy your Sentiments.

[Ryan McHone]

really like that version of the song. never heard a choir sing it. Love the phillips, craig and dean version! Thanks for posting. I dont get to Tabors blog as often as I used to!

[barb hendrickson]

Thanks, Denise! That is one of my all time favorite songs. I appreciate you sharing the video.

barb

[Francis C. Moore]

Yes, I did spot you in the choir. I had listened to the song on Brian Tabor's blog. Wow! I would love to visit your new church sometime when the choir is singing. I miss seeing you at church. Francis C. Moore

[Dawn]

The pea soup looks very interesting, not at all like what I make. Recipe, please? Or did you make it up?

[Betsy]

We sing this song at church quite often and I love it.

We visited our daughter in Portland, OR this past weekend and I also made my first visit to IKEA. We spent about $80.00 on an office chair and drawer organizers. A VERY good bargain considering that a comparable chair at our furniture store in Spokane cost $278.00! I've decided it's one of my new favorite stores!