Perry Noble's thoughts on this election.

Many of my friends are political radicals. It is unbelievable to me, how far our country has swayed from God. BUT..I keep proclaiming that It's okay..no matter who wins.. GOD IS IN CONTROL! Read Romans 13: "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience (vv. 1-5).


Here's Perry's thoughts.. I agree with them! Don't worry ya'll!

Perry Noble
I’ve just about had enough…and am so glad I left the country yesterday…that way I don’t have to listen to this crap anymore.

And no, I’m not talking about the politicians and their crazy adds on television that are right in line with a middle school “yo mama” fight!

I’m talking about the Christians who have prostituted themselves with the political process and taken their eyes off of Jesus as their Savior and put them on either McCain or Obama as their Savior.

It’s STUPID!

Should we have a political opinion as Christians? HECK YES! Should we vote? ABSOLUTELY! I think a Christian who doesn’t vote is completely missing an opportunity that God has blessed us with as citizens of this country.

BUT…we can’t actually think that the salvation process is tied to who happens to be in the White House!

In reading through the Gospels the other day something HIT ME like a ton of bricks…the Jews missed the fact that Jesus was the Messiah because they were looking for someone to deliver them from the politics of Rome.

Let me say it more clearly–they missed Jesus because of politics!!! (And religion as well…but that’s another post!)
For a Christian to claim that the world is going to be doomed to hell because a particular party happens to “control” the White House is a slap in the face of a Sovereign God.

He reigns! Read through Scripture & it is so clear…God has used kings and princes that were sold out to Him…and He’s also used those who had no love for Him at all…all for HIS glory!

So…next Tuesday…go vote! “For who,” you ask…well, here’s an idea…ask Jesus who to vote for…and then do what He says. (Yes, it REALLY is that simple.)

Then…whoever gets elected…PRAY FOR THAT MAN OFTEN! Even if the guy you want to win doesn’t…all the more reason to pray!

One more time…YES, we should have political opinions…and YES, it is OK if they are strong AND we believe in the cause…BUT PLEASE let’s not make the mistake of thinking that God is somehow limited by the policies and philosophies of a particular party!

The Silk Road Fair Trade Market!

I found a new favorite... YOU'VE GOT TO CHECK OUT THIS PLACE!!

WWW.SILKROADMKT.COM

One of the women in my mastermind group is named Wendy Farmerie. She is the owner of the Silk Road Fair Trade Market. I LOVE..LOVE..LOVE Wendy's store! It is wonderful! Not only does the store carry beautiful things from all over the world but when you buy an item, it helps people in impoverished countries! This is not a plug by the way..this is what I truly feel! Not only am I going to buy most of my CHristmas gifts at The Silk Road, but I really..really want some things for my Christmas gifts from Wendy's store! *Joe* and *Girls* HINT HINT!!!!!!!
Wendy carries Nativity sets from all over the world! I am in love with these Nativity sets. I don't collect anything...I'm not one that likes things..but I have fallen in love with these Nativity sets!! I want to collect them..and some day I want my grandchildren to come to my house and look at these little Nativity sets and I will be able to tell them the nativity story. I can just see their little hands touching the little figures..and asking questions...*SIGH* I desire!







These are some pictures of the Nativity sets I love the most! I am going to buy myself two of them! The Zulu ones from South Africa and the coconut shell from Haiti! THe rest are on my wish list *cough* *cough* Joe Hougelman!! :

Listening to..

I love Michael W. Smith's music! My neighbor knows him personally and said he is truly the nicest and most down to earth musician he's ever met!

Now reading..

This book called "A New Kind of Christian" by Brian McClaren. Brenda and I often share books after we've read a good one! She and I both share a passion for bringing others to Christ's Kingdom! We also love learning about the post-modern generation and their thoughts and ideas about Christianity! I definitely find myself agreeing with the post-modern thoughts on church! Which is why I want to plant a church in my community! I was telling someone the other day about my dreams for the future and they said, "Susan, the Tavern is going to be your church. You can bring people to Christ wherever you are at. Perhaps you'll have Bible Studies, or small groups, or whatever God leads at the Tavern." SO true!!! God has enabled this to take place! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH He is AMAZING! I am shouting it from the rooftops. Okay..shouting it inside of my mind.. DANCING..Jumping for Joy..in the little coffee house in New Wilmington... GOD IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A banana Cream pie!

EMILY is an incredible Pie Maker! She's been baking us some delicious pies for the restaurant this fall! OUr customers have been raving about them! Yesterday Emily baked us a Banana Cream Pie to bring home! Emily.. YOU ARE AMAZING and so GIVING and GENEROUS and THOUGHTFUL!!! WE LOVED YOUR PIE! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!! Thank you for ALL you do for me and my family! You are another person that God has put in our lives that has blessed us in many, many ways! Too many to count! Suzy

Nikki and Ally playing in the leaves!

My friend Karen

Karen came over for dinner tonight! Karen is one of the most Godly women I've ever known. She is also like a surrogate grandmother to my girls. She loves us. She loves me. I love her too. : ) Karen ministers to a lot of people. She is a Christian counselor and always has good advice. She is a great listener! I know that I can call her any time of the day and she will listen and give advice that is full of Godly wisdom! Karen also leads a Bible Study at Jameson Health place once every other week, teaches sunday school, occasionally preaches, leads a discipleship class... *phew* She's dedicated her life to the Lord!
Karen..thank you for your friendship and your love for me and my family! You are loved and appreciated so very much! Sue

Just finished reading...

Do you watch Jon&Kate plus eight? I am one of the many people who have fallen in love with that family! I bought the book for my niece Amanda who loves the show too but ended up reading it myself! Kate praises and gives glory to God all through the book! It's a beautiful testimony and praise to the Lord! It's also a great book! Go Kate! You and Jon rock!

Vote your Values!

A Radio Interview

I was interviewed by Titan Radio today! They are interested in our story about buying the Tavern. It is so much fun to share our story! There's a lot of buzz going on around town! : ) The New Wilmington boro employees came in to our restaurant for lunch today. They have been so kind to us! I feel so much pleasure and excitement being a part of this venture! Everyone around us is seems so excited too! I also made an appointment to be interviewed by the Globe newspaper in New Wilmington. They are going to tell our story! In the newspaper, I am going to not only share our testimony, but ask people to write to us about what they loved about the Tavern, What they didn't love about the Tavern, what kind of food they'd like to see us have, what kind of baked goods are they interested in..any stories..critiques.. anything they'd like to know...we are going to set up a blog, to share our story, a web site, and an email address! We want this restaurant to be LOVED by the town of New Wilmington! We want to exist for the purpose of serving good food, at a reasonable price in a friendly and clean environment! We want people to feel like they are HOME at our restaurant! We want to fall in love with people and have them fall in love with us! We want to make everyone feel loved and respected and fed well when they come through the doors of the Tavern! But most of all..Most of all, we want to give Glory and Honor to God in EVERYTHING we do with the Tavern!!! OOOOOOOOOH! I'm sooooooooooo excited!!

Anne

I had lunch with Anne last Tuesday. Anne is beautiful and intelligent and witty. Anne is creative and talented. Anne is kind and generous. Anne is giving! Anne loves Jesus : ) Anne is a leader. She is able to lead groups of people very well. She organizes the New Wilmington Business Expo each year. She leads the Bell Choir for Westminster College and for her church. She also leads the choir. Anne owns her own business and is successful. When you have a free minute please check out her site! She has beautiful floral works of art for sale!
www.annebrueningoriginals.com I am really attracted to Anne's leadership skills. I am learning from her. There is a lot more to learn..we've just touched the surface. We've been having so much fun getting to know each other through emails, through our lunches and through our mastermind group! I like how Anne lives. She doesn't need things. She's had to be dependent on God for so many things..and she will tell you that God has always provided! Anne wants to gain her financial freedom so she can give back to God what has been given to her! Anne's spreadin the love!
Today I am praying especially for you Anne! I pray that God sets you free financially. I pray that He continues to provide for you, but not only for your needs, I pray that He abundantly blesses you! Did you ever read the prayer of Jabez? I pray that He expands your territory!!! IN Jesus's name, Amen!

Spread the Love!

I'm going to go one step beyond my previous post...

SPREAD THE LOVE! You do it too! I have an average of 13 readers a day at my blog. That's thirteen on average of you who can also spread some love around! Come on..choose one act of kindness that you can do this week for someone, and then send me an email of what you did, and I will post it in my blog! It will be fun to think of something you can do, and I promise you..it will feel sooooo good, for you to something for someone else! Come on readers....let's do it!!! Join with me to create A Love Movement!!!

Spreadin' the Love!

I call my neighbor Jim, Santa Clause. He works for the largest Christian Record Label in the country. Jim likes to give us presents from his supplier. He gives us many presents!! Last week he gave us about 20 of the latest cds, even before they were released to the public. Last night we found a box sitting on our porch. It contained 35..YES THIRTY FIVE Instrumental, and worshipful praise and inspirational Christian CD's for us to use at the Tavern! We like to play Christian Music at our restaurant. Today Jim calls over from across the street.. "Susan did you hear the latest Michael W. Smith Cd?" "no, but I'd love to!!!" He brings it over..here ya go You can have it! I said, "Thanks Santa Clause." He is so wonderful. It's the love of Christ inside of people that pour out onto others... That's what I'm talking about. Do you know what I mean? That's how I felt when Terri showed up at my restaurant to help out!! So now it's my turn.. I've had so many blessing bestowed upon me lately it's time for me to pass it on...
Hmmmmm.. I am going to try to do two acts of kindness this week. Something unexpected..something above and beyond the norm.. It's going to be fun thinking of what I can do!! I'll keep ya'll posted when I spread the love!!

Lauri Mackaness

Lauri is the real estate agent who handled the sale of The Tavern to us. She wasn't our real estate agent. She was the sellers agent. But.. we spent a lot of time together, and Lauri spent a lot of time taking care of us..talking to us..explaining things to us, and walking us through this whole journey of buying our new restaurant. It felt like she became an advocate for us...maybe not an advocate..but I don't know...friend? Helper? In our corner? She didn't just help us..she was definitely *in my opinion* fair to both parties! She helped the seller get his real estate sold!
Lauri is an INCREDIBLE woman. Not just an amazing real estate agent, which she is..but she is also a wonderful mother and a loving wife. She is a community leader and a beautiful, beautiful Christian woman. I have so much respect for her not only as a business woman, but as a person. Lauri, I hope you see this post someday if you google yourself. : ) You have been so wonderful to us. Thank you so very much. I pray that God pours His blessings all over you and your family. I know He has already and I know that He surrounds you with His love because He lives inside of your heart! Remember to always seek and trust Him in EVERYTHING you do! Don't second guess yourself. Trust your instinct which comes from the Lord!
God Bless You and Thank you Lauri! Susan

Should we have a huge menu with many choices or a smaller menu with fewer choices?

A few years ago, a professor from Columbia University completed a series of studies that resulted in an article “When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?” In one experiment, they set up a tasting booth at a grocery store. They offered 24 different exotic flavors of jams for people to taste in one instance. In a separate instance, they only offered 6 varieties. Customers who stopped by the booth received a coupon for a dollar off the purchase of a jar. In this experiment:

More people stopped at the booth that offered more choices; however, folks tasted the same number of jams in both locations.
More importantly, 30% of the people with a choice of 6 jams actually purchased a jar. Only 3% of the people with a choice of 24 jams made a purchase. Fewer choices generated more purchases.
Barry Schwartz wrote in his book The Paradox of Choice:

When people have no choice, life is almost unbearable. As the number of available choices increases, as it has in our consumer culture, the autonomy, control, and liberation this variety brings are powerful and positive. But as the number of choices keeps growing, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begin to appear. As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates.

We will be working on the menu soon. This is something that is going to be very difficult for me. How do we choose what goes on the menu when we have so many good items? I want to have everything..but I know that's impossible! We changed something on our Neshannock Creek Inn Menu this year. Instead of having sandwiches listed by themselves, we now have them come with a choice of fries, slaw or soup. Some people seem to get exhausted having to make the choice. What kind of soup? They usually get two or sometimes three choices? I'm finding that a lot of people like the choice to be made for them. For example if they are getting a battered Cod Dinner, they like it when it says Battered Cod with homemade macaroni and cheese and a side of slaw.. instead of this.. Cod? Would you like it baked or Battered? Battered? okay.. how about scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, baked potato, sweet potato, fries or potato wedges? hmmmm can you repeat those? *I say them again* ummm are your fries homemade? no.. okay sweet potato. Salad, slaw or cup of soup? What kind of soup? Wedding or French Onion. Salad. What kind of dressing on your salad? Argghhhhh!! See what I mean? It gets frustrating for the customer to have to make all those choices sometimes! What do you think? Do you like having lots of choices or do you trust an expert to make the choice for you?

Emily's Halloween Party!

We love you Emily! Thank you for loving us so much and giving so much of yourself to everyone! You are the most generous, loving Lady I have ever known! My family is blessed to have you in our life!






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It's official..

Today we finalized negotiations. : ) Our closing date is November 30th. We plan on opening in January 2009! There is such a testimony to tell. I will begin sharing with you the whole journey as soon as I have some time to write. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. Joe and I are in awe of our God! IN AWE! Please keep praying for us, and for our future home and restaurant. Please ask God to surround us with his love and care and protection. Please pray for my family. We COVET your prayers! They are very valuable to us. We love you all. S,J,A,L

She's so beautiful.

Alexandra Nicole

"Every day you either live by priorities or you live by pressures. You either decide what is important in your life or else you let other people tell you what is most important in your life." - Rick Warren

"In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." - Titus 2:7-8 (NIV)

Nikki