Burnett Family

A couple weekends ago, we had a family get-together at Granny and Granddad’s for a cousin who was visiting from Florida. Family is such a special, God-given blessing!!

This has been the most beautiful Oklahoma fall that we can remember having in a long time!

*Cousins*   

Granddad’s dogs have always been a special part of the farm.

You can’t really tell from this picture, but the metal chair Benj is sitting in just decided it was tired of holding people up and kind of gave way, bending back nearly to the ground! Benj decided it made a great, natural recliner. :)

 
Shooting skeet was a blast. Of course, Granddad showed us all up! He’s a pro.

Cousin-in-law and cousin :) – Les and Julie are so much fun!

 
All of us girls love to shoot. I’m the only one left who hasn’t hunted yet, but I hope to remedy that in the near future. ;) Deer season is in full swing right now around here – one doe down and hopefully more to come!

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, we find our hearts full of awe and gratefulness to the Lord for His work in our lives this year! He is so good!!

Ten things we are thankful for…
1. Open doors for many of us to travel and serve the Lord.

2. The gentle way that God prepares our hearts for unexpected turns in the path of life.

3. Our WHOLE family was able to make the trip to Michigan and host the Journey Reunion.

4. All the special people that came through our humble abode this year. :)

5. Growing relationships with our neighbors.

6. Deepening unity in our family.

7. Provision of the Lord for our family’s needs.

8. Protection in many, many ways…I have been on 8 trips this year, not to mention everyone else in the family!

9. Good health – Abbie has been well from mono for about one year now. Praise God!!

10. The privilege of being a part of the work God is doing in the hearts of people!

What are YOU praising God for today?

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same
the LORD’s name is to be praised.”
Psalm 113:3

According to this picture, you would think it is spring…

Yes, our lilacs are BLOOMING.
In NOVEMBER!!

At our house right now, you could be collecting colorful leaves off the ground with the rich perfume of lilacs floating through the air. Crazy! =D I guess the drought caused the lilacs to go into dormancy, and now the big rains woke them up and they think it is spring. =D

According to this picture, you would think it is summer…

We made homemade oreo ice cream last week for a guest who we were trying to bribe to stay longer…it worked! :) It was a little strange to enjoy the treat on a chilly day instead of in the triple-digits, but delicious nonetheless!

According to THIS picture, you should know it’s fall!!

Last winter, we became huge fans of chai tea. The other day, Mom brewed up this new recipe from Taste of Home which we heartily rated as a 5-star winner! We use sucanat in place of the sugar (sucanat is unrefined sugar that tastes more like brown sugar and gives a slight caramel flavor to the tea). Unfortunately, we haven’t tried it with whipped cream on top yet, but it would be delicious!

Chai Tea

2 cups water
2 individual tea bags
1 cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods, crushed
1 whole clove
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2-1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
Sweetened whipped cream, ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, optional

In a small saucepan, combine the first six ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in milk. Return to a boil; boil for 1 minute, then strain. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Pour into mugs. Top each with whipped cream, cinnamon, and a cinnamon stick, if desired. Yield: 4 servings

“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

May our Unchanging God be your stay in whatever
season of life you find yourself in today!

Surrender = {to give up into the power, control, or possession of another}

A probing question has been searching my heart of late. Why do I surrender to God?

Is it because He is sure to give me something better in return for what I’m giving up to Him? Because I have high hopes that He will eventually fulfill my desire? Because I want Him to make it all turn out perfectly good for ME?

Or, do I surrender unreservedly to Him, expecting nothing (not even one thing) in return, but give all to Him simply for the fact that He is WORTHY?

It’s a probing question.

What kind of a God is it who asks everything of us?

The same God who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.

He gives all. He asks all.

-Elisabeth Elliot

May the LORD deepen your level of surrender and give you a fresh revelation of His worthiness!

P.S. Do you remember my thoughts on the drought this summer? Guess what! The LORD sent us 3 inches of rain last weekend. It’s true – the “hard places” don’t last forever. :) One more thought on surrender & rain: I think sometimes we picture the drought as our surrender, and the refreshing rain as when God brings fulfillment of the thing surrendered. It’s more like the drought is our process of struggling to surrender, but the refreshing rain is when we reach the point of real, complete surrender…because that’s when we truly find in sweet fullness of joy that Christ is all we need! Just a thought. :)

Journey Reunion continued…

Each day right after breakfast, we had “God & I Time”, when everyone would find a place alone to spent time with the Lord. Some rose extra early and were out on the lake at sunrise…

    
And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

I wish you could have heard the singing!! Triumphant, whole-hearted, worshipful praise to God…

Robert did a wonderful job leading the music. Our Journey Reunion theme song for the weekend was “Higher Ground”, which really expressed all of our hearts’ desires for being at the Reunion! We sang it at least once every day. :)

Dr. Gothard spoke on the holiness of God and what that means for us as His children, and the importance of feeding on the Word of God daily. His sessions were full of practical truth!

 
Eating another de-LI-cious meal!!

 
Upon request, Mr. Gothard did Q & A during lunch. :)

Afterward, Wayne Fagala led us in a prayer time. We took the words from the hymn “Day By Day”, discussed them, and prayed. It was unique and powerful!

Each afternoon, two hours were set aside for recreation and fellowship! As you can see, volley ball was the favorite, although a few went kayaking/canoeing, took walks, or spent more time alone with God.

Numbering off for SPEED volley ball!

Go, Carinna!!

Those guys really had it going!! =D

Another one of our featured speakers, Eric Ludy, arrived that evening. He and his wife, Leslie, have authored many books for Christian young people and have a discipleship ministry based in Colorado called Ellerslie. Eric’s books and sermons have made a tremendous impact on our family over the last couple of years, and we were SOOOO excited that God miraculously made a way for him to come! If you haven’t checked out the Ludys’ ministry, I would strongly encourage you to do so.

His first message was on the Costly Gospel – how God takes us to deeper and deeper places of surrender that result in us finding our all in Him.

Fortune ladies’ quartet – “Holy, Holy, Holy/Holy is the Lord”

HQ guys’ quartet – “Are You Washed in the Blood”

In his second message, Eric explained how we can reckon our old man dead and let Christ live His victorious life IN us. I’ve heard those truths all my life, but that night gave me a new perspective. Oh, may we not just know these things in theory but in actuality!

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.” -Heb. 3:13

“…exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the Day
approaching.” -Heb. 10:25

Can’t wait to tell you about the next day! Stay tuned…

Here’s a go for a recap of our preparations and first night of the Journey Reunion!

Northwoods Conference Center (NWCC)

This place is stunningly beautiful in all seasons of the year…especially fall!

 
We arrived on Tuesday evening, ate chicken fajitas on the dock with the staff, got settled into our rooms, and loosened our stiff joints with invigorating volleyball…the first of many games to be played. :)

Wednesday: It was so nice to have a whole day to set up and prepare – everything was a “calm busy”.

There was LOTS of cleaning to be done, centerpieces to put together for the dining room tables, bouquet for the podium, and this and thats. :)

I loved how these centerpieces turned out = rustic elegance. :)

We even managed to squeeze in time to get our annual family pictures. Might as well take advantage of such a beautiful location while we’re there, right? We know from experience that it’s much more efficient to have someone else behind the camera, instead of using a tripod, running back and forth to check the pictures, etc., so we were grateful that Chad Paine helped us pose and snapped the pictures for us! Sorry, you don’t get to see any of them, yet. :)

Thursday: The cleaning crew worked hard to finish up all the last details, we set up the registration table, and people began arriving!!

***YEAH!!!****

By the way, John-Clay did an AMAZING job designing the website, name tags, schedules, and all our promotional materials!! Everything looked classy, professional, and fun. :) Thanks, J-C! We’ll definitely “hire” you again next time. ;)

It was rewarding for us to see the excitement on people’s faces as they arrived, so happy to be there! Several had stories of miracles God worked that allowed them to come. He is so good!! What a blessing to reunite with old friends.

After so much anticipation over the last months, weeks, and days, it’s hard to explain how thrilling it was for the Journey Reunion to BEGIN! =)
That evening, Bob Norvell preached for our first session of the weekend. His message was a fitting exhortation on evaluating whether we have active revelation of God in our lives, and to be Samuels (and Samuelas :) in this world.

God worked in special ways to allow the Fortune family to be there. They served in many capacities throughout the Reunion, including ministering to us in song.

Dr. Gothard, who began the Journey to the Heart ministry five years ago, led everyone in an hour of prayer. WOW! It was a precious time with the Lord and each other as we all knelt and communed with God.

We could sense immediately from this first night, a beautiful spirit of unity that lasted throughout the conference. This special group had invested their time and money to get away and seek God.

Everyone wanted to be there.
Everyone wanted to go deeper.
Everyone wanted to seek God with all their heart.

And as He promised, He richly rewarded us! (Hebrews 11:6)

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in
the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
Jude 1:20-21

More to follow! :)