Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!! 2009

"O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever." ~Psalm 107:1




Remember to give thanks to the Lord!!!

The Purpose Of Thanksgiving

Somewhere in the years since George Washington delivered the first Thanksgiving Proclamation we have lost sight of the intended purpose of the day. I thought it would be beneficial to publish it here as a reminder. I hope you'll take a moment to consider the words of one of our founding fathers and take time over the next few days to do as he directs.

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

-- Post From My iPhone

Friday, November 13, 2009

Cochran Chronicles

Greetings Everyone!  I hope these blog posts find everyone doing well and enjoying the beautiful fall that the Lord has given to us.

Our family has been doing quite a lot around here, so I'll try to briefly re-cap some of our doings below.

This past Sunday was mommy's birthday.  So we had a fun day as a family celebrating the day with her.  After church, we spent the day in Oklahoma City running errands and just hanging out!

On our property- Fall is certainly upon us (which is hard to believe it's already this time again! :) and we've been doing a lot in preparation for winter.  Over the past month we... built a new goat shed on our back 2 1/2 acres and put up new fencing all around our back acreage so we could move the goats back there (the goats were getting out of the old fence :).

We completely went through our shed, sorting through and organizing everything!!!  We also came up with a lot of stuff that we just didn't want or need any more, so we've been doing a lot on eBay and Craig's List.

I also was able to get my bee hives all bedded down for the winter which went well and felt good to get done.  I ended up combining my two new hives for the winter with the help of an older gentleman who lives nearby and has been bee-keeping for over 30 years!  It is such a blessing to have someone with a lot of experience so willing to help and near-by too.

A couple of weeks ago, a family from our church came up and spent the day (the fathers with the help of some of the kids) cutting/tearing down an extremely big pile of trees, dirt, brush, etc.  It went great and is looking so much better.  We were blessed by and so grateful for the help!

In our home- We are finishing up some re-organizing and more switching of rooms to try and make things even more efficient.  It has gone well and will be nice to have finished in the near future!  We are also keeping up with school and all of the day-to-day stuff that life involves. :)

Shenandoah- Is crawling and pulling up everywhere!!!  It is hard to believe she will turn one next month.  Time goes by so fast.

Last but certainly not least, we've been happy to participate in doing a couple of baby showers over the past month for two different families in our church who have been blessed with another gift from the Lord.  We have several other showers soon to come in the future as well! :)  Regretfully, I've been unable to retrieve the pictures of the showers from our camera.  So, I hope that you will view the lovely posts that my good friend, Sarah,  did on her family's blog.  You can view pictures from the Bender family's shower here and the Ocker family's shower here.

Well, that's about all for now.  Enjoy the pictures of Stasia's birthday below.

Blessings and Happy Fall!

~ Savannah

Stasia's 8th Birthday Oct. 20th

Happy Birthday Stasia, We love you!!!


Her Sign


The Birthday Girl


Stasia's Castle Cake


 Stasia and Sayer

 


Stasia and Seth

 
Stasia and Sienna


Stasia and Sabrina


Stasia and I (Savannah)


Stasia's Birthday Prayer


Daddy and Stasia by her birthday countdown sign.