Giveaway Winner & A Cozy Day

We were up before it was light. I was so excited to find out who was going to be blessed with "A Life That Says Welcome."

I got my little yellowware bowl and filled it with all of the names ~ 44 to be exact.

Here's my helper making sure the names are all mixed up.

Pick a name, Lily!

Drum roll, please...

And the winner is...

Cris - I sent you an email to the email address that you left in your comment. Congratulations!

Moving on...

This past Saturday was rainy and cool. Perfect day for baking bread. So that's what we did.

We got started before the sun had completely risen. I like to start bread first thing in the morning since it is a long process.

(That little bouquet of wildflowers was picked by Lily. She loves to pick flowers for me to put on the kitchen windowsill.)

Then I lit my pumpkin spice candle. There's just something so warm and cozy about a yummy-smelling candle this time of year.

Here's my little helper after donning her apron. She loves to wear aprons! I think it's just so cute. I feel so blessed to be able to share these opportunities with her.

Here she is hard at work, kneading the bread...

And here's the finished product. Boy, were these rolls yummy. I found the recipe for them at Farming on Faith.

We also made a huge pot of chicken and rice soup while the bread was rising. Lily helped with that too. She used her Pampered Chef knife

I can't remember the exact name of this knife. Maybe safety cutter? I have two, one for each of my kids. There's no way they can cut themselves with it, but it still manages to cut food. This is another one of those products that I love because it allows for my kids to participate in food preparation without me having to worry about their safety.

And I was able to put to use some of the inspiration I've gleamed from "A Life That Says Welcome" on Saturday as well. Some of our youth were painting at the parsonage getting it ready for our new pastor and his family. The parsonage is just down the street from our house, so I invited them all up at the last minute for BBQ pork sandwiches on the homemade rolls.

I had exactly one hour from the time I invited them until when they were to arrive. And I had to be on schedule because they were all going to the "silver ring thing" conference at 6pm. My first reaction was to panic. But I gained my composure and focused on what I had learned in the book, and I pulled it off - BBQ pork on homemade rolls, ranch-flavored fried potatoes, and garden corn which I had frozen at the end of summer. I also had the huge pot of soup to serve as well.

And you know what? We had a good time. And they were so appreciative because they were planning on just grabbing bags of potato chips to eat on the way to the conference.

And I don't share this story to give myself a pat on the back. Rather, I share it because of something that I learned in the book. So many times, we hesitate to show hospitality because we're worried that our house isn't clean enough, the food isn't good or gourmet enough, or it's just not the right time.

But really what matters most, is that our guests feel the love of Christ while they're at our homes. That's what really makes them feel at home. Showing how much we care for them by opening up our homes and ourselves to serve them.