HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Oh, we have so very much to thank God for today. God has blessed us in so many ways, like a wonderful family, good friends, a warm home with soft beds, plenty of good food to eat. But the thing that I am most thankful for is God's mercy and grace. Mercy can be described as being forgiven for things that you are guilty of. Grace is simply unmerited favor. How sweet is that! God forgives us of all our sins, and all we have to do is humble ourselves, and accept the gift that he offers. There's a verse in the bible, John 3:16, that tells us that God sent his only Son - Jesus - to pay the price for our sins, and he did all of this just because he loves us. That truly is something to be thankful for.

So, in the spirit of thankfulness, I'd like to offer this little Thanksgiving Day freebie:

Click the preview to download (Sorry - this link has expired)

Hurry it's only available 11/26/09 - 11/29/09

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

I'M BACK!!!

Oh, it's shameful that I haven't blogged in such a long time. It's been a really busy summer. It should be easier to get back to creating now, since I'll be home more now since school has started again.

PLEASE READ: I know that a lot of you also visit a friend of mines site, Kathy Winters Designs. You may or may not know that Kathy's husband has been in the hospital with kidney failure, heart trouble, and eye sight problems this past week. In fact, they almost lost him a couple times. They live in Michigan where the recession has had them struggling to get by for months. They have no health insurance and it is unlikely that he will be able to work again. Anyway, I'd like to ask all of you to please, support Kathy with your purchases. Please go to her store at Scrapable and purchase as much as you are able to. Even one purchase will help. If we all pull together we can make a difference for a truly sweet lady that has been so generous to all of us.

Kathy's store is located here: http://www.scrapable.net/shop/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=46

Thank you for your anticipated response.

Click the preview to download (sorry, this link has expired)

Here's a little Autumn freebie for you. It's from my Autumn's Allure kit which can be found at my store HERE

Have a great day,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you spend this day giving thanks to the Lord for your many blessings.

We know that thanksgiving has been celebrated by many cultures throughout history. However, here in the United States of America, we know of it's first celebration in December of 1621. The pilgrims, under the leadership of William Bradford, and their Indian friends with their leader, Massasoit, shared a three day feast giving thanks to the Lord for their provision.

In 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George Washington, we celebrated our first Day of Thanksgiving to God . That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which President Washington was a member, announced that the first Thursday in November would become its regular day for giving thanks, "unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities." Yet, despite these early national proclamations, official Thanksgiving observances usually occurred only at the State level.

Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday.

Lincoln's original 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation came - spiritually speaking - at a pivotal point in his life. During the first week of July of that year, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives. Four months later in November, Lincoln delivered his famous "Gettsysburg Address." It was while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he committed his life to Christ. As he explained to a friend:
"When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ."

Here is Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation:
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
[Signed]A. Lincoln

I hope you've enjoyed this short history lesson. The truth of this holiday and what it stands for seems to have been swallowed up in the modern culture, changed in the history books, and turned into a day for parades, football, and getting ready for the black Friday sales.

You can find all of this information online. Here's a couple good sources where I copied text from: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g007.html , http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/source/sb2/sb2w.htm

Since you have taken the time to read through this post, I'd like to thank you with this little freebie that I created to go with my Autumn's Allure kit. You can download it HERE (Sorry, this link has expired)

Have a wonderful day of thanks to the Lord,
Laurinda

Autumn's Allure Quick Page Freebie

Here's another quick page to go with my Autumn's Allure kit. I've placed a little tag in a vellum envelope in the cluster of items. The tag has Psalms 69:30 ("I will praise the name of God with song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving") printed on it. I hope you like it.

Download HERE (Sorry, this link has expired)

Thanks for stopping by,
Laurinda

Autumn's Allure Quick Page Freebie

Here's another freebie for you from my Autumn's Allure kit. I've used one of my little embroidered scarecrows along with some stitching and felt leaves. The little, wooden tag hanging from the frame says, "Thank you Lord for our many blessings". I've also added a little piece of wire mesh with the words "Autumn Days" on it. I hope you can use it. The rest of the kit should be available very soon. I'm just working on the previews now.

Download HERE (Sorry, this link has expired)

When you download please leave a comment.

Thanks for visiting

Laurinda

Autumn's Allure Kit and a Freebie

Here it is, my Autumn's Allure Kit. I've finally finished it. This was a fun kit to create with the beautiful fall colors, embroidered and felt elements and of course, a little gingham, and lace. There are 129 elements and 29 printed papers. I went a little overboard with the quick pages and ended up with 6 for the kit and 3 for freebies. So yes, there's one more freebie quick page to follow the one available today. I hope you like it. Click on the previews for a more detailed description. Please note that not all pieces are shown in the previews - they just wouldn't fit.

129 Elements

29 Papers

6 Quick Pages

Another FREEBIE Quick Page

Download HERE (sorry, this link has expired)

When you download please take the time to say a little thank you in the comment box.

Thanks for stopping by,

Laurinda

A Little Freebie From My Autumn's Allure Kit

Here's just a little tidbit of my new kit called Autumn's Allure. This cute little embroidered scarecrow is created in PNG format so he can go on any background paper that you choose. I hope you like him. Stop by again to find more pieces of Autumn's Allure.

Download HERE (Sorry, this link has expired - still want it?...
Buy any one of my kits, send me a message saying which 2 freebies you'd
like and I'll send you the links - it's that easy)

If you download, please leave a comment for me.
Thanks for stopping by,
Laurinda