A Pair of Bartletts

Can You Smell The Pumpkin Pie?

What are you doing to get ready for the Fall season?

^{I Chronicles 16:8} 

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; 

       make known among the nations what he has done.

 

 

     

 
   

  

Happy 4th of July!

 

Enjoy your family, friends, a good meal together and most importantly, remember those who have kept and are still keeping us free.  

 

 

All Of Our Eggs In One Basket

 

Strawberry Pretzel Salad (A light and refreshing Easter dessert)

We are keeping it light and easy for Easter dinner on Sunday.  This salad has been a long time favorite of mine.  It's called a salad, but it's really more of a dessert, but it makes me feel better to still call it a "salad"!  I hope that you will give it a try.  The first time I heard about it, my first reaction was "strawberries and pretzels? what kind of salad is that?"  But I promise you...it's got a wonderfully unique flavor.  The sugar that is cooked with the salty pretzels and then topped with all of that strawberry and cream cheese yumminess (yes, it's a word).....it's divine!

Let me know how you like it!

STRAWBERRY PRETZEL SALAD

1 1/2 c. crushed pretzels
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. melted butter
1 (6 oz.) box strawberry Jell-o
2 c. boiling water
1 (16 oz.) frozen strawberries
1 (9 oz.) Cool Whip
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 c. sugar

Crush pretzels, not into a fine powder, but just crush them.  You still want to recognize that there are pretzels in the crust.  . Mix together pretzels, 1/2 cup sugar and butter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes in a 9" x 13" pan. Beat together the Cool Whip, cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Spread onto the TOTALLY cooled crust. Add boiling water into Jello. When the Jell-o is thoroughly mixed and free of any powder, add strawberries. Place Jello in refrigerator until it becomes partially gelled. Place on top of the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate covered with Saran Wrap. You can place toothpicks around the dish so that the plastic wrap doesn't stick to the top of the pretty dish.

 

Good Night, See You Next Year

New King James Version (NKJV)
Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea        And a path through the mighty waters,
18 “ Do not remember the former things,        Nor consider the things of old.         19 Behold, I will do a new thing,        Now it shall spring forth;        Shall you not know it?        I will even make a road in the wilderness        And rivers in the desert.         New King James Version (NKJV)

 

A Christmas Card for You!

THE BELL
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you knowWho you are?
I think that this is a VERY cool Christmas card to pass along to everyone.  This was on the blog of my sweet friend, "E-Mom" over at C h r y s a l i s.  She was so gracious to share it with her friends and has asked that we pass it along to others, which I am honored to do.  I am not ashamed to say that I belong to God and He belongs to me!  
Please feel free to pass this along to your readers as well.  I pray that you and your family are having a wonderful and very special CHRIST-mas season!  
JESUS is the ONLY reason!
 

Reading along...Advent Scripture for Today (Matthew 2:10-11)

Got gifts?

 
 

Celebrating Advent

 My sweet friend Joanne Heim over at  The Simple Wife left a great link for a sheet of Advent bookmarks that list all of the Advent candles, and all of the Advent scripture readings as well. You can find the bookmarks by downloading advent bookmarkers here.  

We got a little preoccupied last year and didn't spend as much time together studying the Advent scriptures.  But this year, we are going to purpose to do these readings outside of our own individual quiet times.  I thought that I would share the link in this post so that you can print a copy of your own.  If you would like to read more about Advent, please stop by Joanne's archives from November 2008.  

I will also post the candle lighting and reading guide here.  I pray that you will find this to be a great way to share the true meaning of Christmas within your family and with others.  You can get the advent candles and wreaths to go along with it or you can keep it as simple as just following the readings.  Any way that you choose, just keep Christ in the center of it all.

May you be richly blessed this Christmas season.  Praise God from Whom ALL Blessings Flow!

Many Blessings,

 

Her Most Favorite Tune

 

As Art Linkletter used to say with such verve, "Kids say the darndest things!".  In my mind, that phrase really should have been "Kids say the CUTEST and SWEETEST things!  While my brother and his family were in town for the week of Thanksgiving, we learned very quickly that it was absolutely NO secret that our most PRECIOUS little three year old niece has a favorite Christmas song.  Here on the local dials, we are blessed to have several "all Christmas, all the time" radio channels.  My sister in law had told me that our sweet little Mag-pie has been SOOOOO into the Christmas spirit for the last couple of weeks.  She's at the age that she is just soaking up every little Christmas-ey detail.  One of these details has been the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year".  Every time she hears it in the car on the Christmas station, she gets SO excited and wants to sing along--SO CUTE!  And once the song is off, she begs "can it be da-moswunnafel-time-of-dayear again"?  So, with all of this said....as the first song in my Christmas playlist, I have added little Mag-pie's favorite tune for her (and your) listening enjoyment...and so that she can hear it anytime she wants from her Mommy and Daddy's computer!  Crank up the volume y'all!

We love you sweet girl!

 

 

Some Sweet Things To Be Thankful For

I have been uploading and editing some pictures tonight and thought I would share some of my favorite shots from Thanksgiving.  These are two of our nephews and one of our nieces. They are the sweetest children and the most precious little apples of our eyes.  My sister and law and I took the older children to the park last Friday to get some energy out and to pump the ducks and geese full of all of the extra bread and crackers from home (waste not want not!).  Our "littlest" niece (7 months old) didn't quite make it to the park...she stayed at home to hang out with her Nana, Gramps and Uncle Rob.  The weather was just incredible--the sun was shining, the air was cool and not a cloud in the sky....and the company was even better!  What precious things to be thankful for....

 

Matthew 19:14 (New King James Version)

¹⁴ But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

 

 

Thankful for Thursday

I found these great reminders for all of us this Thanksgiving week.  I hope that you will enjoy them as much as I did!

 

 I pray that you will spend incredible family time together doing the "little things" together.

 

I pray that you'll get "the perfect bird" for your perfect Thanksgiving table.

And lastly, that you stay one step ahead of the arrows of the Enemy! 

From my family to yours I pray that you will have a very peaceful and very meaningful Thanksgiving celebration with your families.  I pray that you will speak words of edification that others may be built up.  I pray that you will stop and remember all of those things that should make us fall to our knees in humble gratitude.  I thank God for my precious family and friends, but most of all I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for my salvation in Him.   I'll leave you with one of my favorite Puritan Prayers, "The Valley of Vision". 

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.

 

 

What Are You Thankful For?

As I sit here writing this post, I am just overcome with joy and the sweet peace of the Lord.  Rob and I are in Beaufort, North Carolina on a trip that we had to make at a moment's notice.  Rob's Dad has been battling heart failure and up until recently, has been in the hospital.  He is home now and his attitude is as sweet as ever.  The heart failure is at a very serious level right now.  But in all of this, we did not rush from home to go fourteen hours and three states away, only to mope around and have "woe is me" spirits.  We came to celebrate the life that Dad has and that he is the patriarch of this great family.  We came to change tradition.  I'm sure that you celebrate Thanksgiving in November, which is perfectly okay.  However, for us, we decided that it needed to be on a different day this year.  As a matter of fact, it was today.  And it was so sweet, so special and so tender.  As Daddy Bartlett sat in the wheelchair on his oxygen, he offered the most precious prayers to his heavenly Father who lives in his heart.  Dad didn't know his earthly father, but I assure you, he knows his heavenly Father.  He offered sweet and tender thanks for all of his children and grandchildren that were there surrounding him.  And our Momma Toni continued the prayer and thanked God through teary eyes for everything that He has done in this family and will continue to do.  It was a most precious time....one that I will never in my life forget.  My brother-in-law, Woody, and I actually decided that as a matter of fact, we'll celebrate Thanksgiving as many times as we want to all throughout the year.  I understand the story of the pilgrims making their way to this country and all that they were thankful for.  But today, my friends, I regret to say that I was not thinking about the country.  I was thinking about my husband's most precious family and how banding together at this time in Dad's life was the most important thing that I could have ever been a part of.  We thank God and praise HIS HOLY NAME for salvation in Him.  We praise God for the work that He has done in this family and for all the work that there is still to be done.  

Thank you Father God for a truly blessed day.  Thank you Lord for each day this week that we will continue to spend with our precious family.  Praise you Lord!

Happy Labor Day weekend and Roll TIDE!

This is a quickie blog post just to tell everyone Happy Labor Day! I pray that you will all have safe and cozy holidays with your family and loved ones. Pray for a couple of families that I know of who have had deaths in the last two days. Praise God that even though we will miss them, we will also be secure in the knowledge that they came to a saving relationship with Christ! Please live well and love much this holiday. Tell someone how much you love them and can't live without them! I'll be back in the next couple of days! Abundant Blessings to you 

 

 Ps...ROLL TIDE ROLL! That was a great way to start out the Crimson Tide season!!