Repost: Creating link for Rebecca's lovely letter!

 This is going in Rebecca's Hearth and Home  and I had to repost here to have a link. Long story but here it is!

"We are all pencils in the hand of a writing God, who is sending
love letters to the world."
Mother Teresa


Dear Creative Ones by God's grace and gifts,

Have you ever been in awe over what goes on in a kitchen and/or dining room?
There are so many things that transform from one fairly plain and simple
"something" to a dish that feeds a family, a soup that soothes a weary soul,
or a beverage that comforts with the warmth it gives.

Over the years, the Lord has just given me... as I've heard the same of with
others...recipe after recipe thrown together that became instant favorites.
He has shown me grand meals from a needy pantry, given me grace to offer a
chair to a tired friend, relative, and stranger, and provided what I've
needed to serve not only beverages and meals but hospitality and hope.

In an effort to preserve some of these recipes, sentimental moments, ideas,
and creative gifts from God over the years, I have started many little
kitchen notebooks. There have been notes jotted in spiral notebooks, papers
punched and placed in three ring binders, folders filled until they became
so stuffed I couldn't keep up with them, and more.

I finally think I know the best way to preserve these! I can make a Nutmeg
Notes Scrapbook! I had already decided to change my Home Notes Journal into
a scrap book and realized that one specifically for the kitchen and dining
would be a great addition:)

It has dawned on me that not only would these books be a wonderful way to
hand our family blessings down the line and for enjoyment by us as the years
go by... but this might serve many a need in the long run. When someone
asked: "Whatever happened to that recipe for.... ?" maybe it will be in one
of those pages! If we are trying to remember the circumstances around a time
God sent someone to our table over coffee that served like an angel... maybe
they'll have been journaled right in our little (or huge) book!


Phm 1:6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective
through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake.

Unlike many of our photo pages where it is somewhat important to make sure
things look a certain way or are preserved in a special manner... this book
of kitchen notes can be fun! What creativity can abound!

Just one of my prayers is that I won't let my usual strong need for
perfectionism to come anywhere near the pages of this book bec/ I know it
will die unfinished somewhere gathering dust.
Finances won't allow for me to go out and buy a special memory book for this
so I am going to use a three ring binder and this will mean my book will be
the 8 1/2 by 11 or whatever that is size. I have some page protectors so
I'll start it off by adding some of those for the pages I really need
covered.

The notebook I found here has the clear plastic cover that you can slide
pictures or whatever in so the plan I'm building is to use a Scripture and
print it out along with what picture/s I want (probably art I'll down load
from the computer relating to the theme) and I'm ready to start!

If you want to do any version of this... and it will be one of those ideas
where each book will serve as totally unique for each family... here are
some add-ins that I am looking forward to filling mine up with:

*Hand written anything. I want to write down Scriptures that come to mind
during cooking and/or cleaning, when guests leave, as I'm sipping coffee at
a gleaming polished table :) and so on. Things the children say, culinary
and kitchen quotes, grandmother's advice and more.

"Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing
heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart
to cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord."
John Baillie

*Hand written notes, letters, recipes, and so on from others. Won't these be
a treasure?

*Absolutely favorite recipes for our family and those recipes handed down
the generations...

*Menus we loved, grocery lists we frequently have, and/or lists of product
prices to add receipts to. These could be full sized or scaled down to fit a
few per page can be included and for mine, I want our breakfast schedule,
lunch plans, and dinner menu samples added.

*A directory of Stores we frequently shop from for groceries and cooking
supplies along with numbers and latest "finds".

*Photos of food we fix, times we have in the kitchen baking cookies,
laughing over cocoa, and/or the millions of other opportunities for pictures
in and around this part of our home. I also want pictures of my cabinets,
drawers, kitchen nooks and crannies bec/ I would have loved to have these of
every kitchen we ever had if I only had thought to do it!

*Labels. I simply adore labels of just about any kind! I love labels on
canned and boxed goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, wacky ones on various
rarely bought items, and more. These would provide free tags and other
embellishments to my book and a wealth of them! Pages can be done using the
colors in these labels as inspiration or they could be scanned into the
computer and printed black and white, sepia, or any color scheme needed to
match any page wanted.

*Paper clips can be added to hold little fragments and slips of paper,
receipts, and other little pieces along the edge of the papers or in hand
made pockets. Another pocket idea would be making full use of the incoming
mail and using the envelopes we usually throw away. We could cut the top
off, wipe some ink or acrylic paint on the edges and dry brush a distressing
color/texture on the front to match what we are doing. These can be filled
with all sorts of food/dining/kitchen related items!

*A list of each person's favorite foods, not liked foods, and staples we
keep for each of us. In our home, some examples are:
My husband loves sweet potatoes so much that even though his allergy test
revealed a reaction to them ... he still eats them. I love coffee but drink
too much of it so I'm bringing my teapots back out... our oldest son loves
the fried chicken fingers my husband makes with his honey mustard sauce, our
next to oldest son loves carbs of any kind and always fills his plates (when
we dine out) with French fries and any other carbs he can fit on the plate
and our other teen son thinks peanut butter is a gift from God. Our daughter
loves deserts and our little one loves strawberries and little yogurts we
get at the grocery store.

*Recipes are a given and they can be hand written, printed from a computer
directly onto the paper in the book or on another piece of cardstock and
adhered to another page making its own border/frame/mat.

*Herbs! Notes on herbal care, varieties planted and used, ways used, herbal
remedies, and more. I have been trying to keep up with the many natural
remedies we employ around here for YEARS and haven't managed it. Maybe with
this it won't be so hard to keep up with!

*Essential oils and how we use them in washing dishes, mopping the floor, to
aid in disinfecting, and more!

The reality to a book like this is that the possibilities are vast and
expanding ever still as another of this or that gets added. God's abundant
blessings, provisions, guidance, inspiration, and gifts of all kinds can
dance from these pages and we can share them with our children's children if
it is His will...

May your kitchen, dining area, and heart all be filled to overflowing. It
matters not so much as where you store your memories and how you keep them
as it does that they live in your heart. Capturing them is just part of the
fun:)

I wanted you to know, each and every one of you, that I prayed for you this
morning. I don't always remember to do this but it blesses my soul when I
do!

Love,
Sandy

© Sandy Willoughby, 2005

For those of you on the Home Notes letter... I'm working on a letter
focusing on a Homemaking Scrapbook!