The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Christmas Decor ’23

Good morning, friends! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I have truly enjoyed all of it this year! The baking, the shopping, the gatherings, the goodies, the movies, the music, the decorating, and the worship! I had to cut out a few things this year, like getting Christmas cards printed and mailed, but it's a balance, right! I always hesitate to share photos of Christmas decor because I never want to appear that I'm showing off (I just enjoy decorating!) but also because Christmas decor has become so controversial. Has anyone else noticed that? The right time to put up your tree, the right kind of tree, and the right color schemes for your tree. In fact, there are arguments about ... Read more

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very “Merry Christmas” from my home to yours! For those of you experiencing heartache this year, please know I prayed for you this morning. May the peace of Jesus be with you today. ... Read more

Christmas Advent ‘23

When my kids were little our Advent time was usually incorporated into our school day. Some years I worked with them on memorizing the account of Jesus’s birth in Luke 2 (tip: The Charlie Brown Christmas movie helped with that!) Some years I read through a children’s devotional book and we made a craft or did a service project to go along with that day’s message. Having older kids now ages 19 and 12 in the home, we’re enjoying a more mature type of Advent. I’ve mentioned before that our family has a Bible time after dinner. It’s nothing rigid and not even every night but just a few nights a week when everyone is home and we can read through a chapter of the Bible and discuss. So, during ... Read more

Is it Worth it?

"Mom, I bet you have a LOT of people who read your blog!”, my son commented as we were cleaning up the dinner dishes one evening recently.“Well, I have about fifty subscribers, but usually just about fifteen of those regularly read my posts”, I replied. “Wow, that’s not very many!” A little blunt reality check from my boy, haha! And then his next question kind of caught me a little off guard. "THEN IS IT EVEN WORTH IT?” Being put on the spot, I gave a pretty generic response like, "Well, I enjoy it, so yes." But I have to admit that the question stayed in my mind for a bit after that exchange. Is it worth it? If you blog, you know a lot of time goes into a post, and for ... Read more

BING-HO-HO-HO!

For the last year and a half, my son and I have been calling BINGO at a local assisted living home on the third Monday of each month (used to be Wednesdays but changed to Mondays this year). My friend, Teresa, works there and makes everything magical for the residents! She is so creative and plans the best activities! So, when she put out a call for Bingo volunteers, I jumped at it. And it's been a BLAST! The regular Bingoers know us well now and we have fun joking around throughout the hour we're there. I was especially looking forward to going back this month for a little Christmas gaming with our spunky friends! Our sweet little neighbor girl joined us this time! Her mama, Rivers, is ... Read more

Let’s Call it Cozy!

Good morning, friends! How are you doing with the time change this week? I was talking with a young friend this past weekend who was lamenting this season of nightfall setting earlier and the evenings being so dark and almost depressing. I told her for many years I used to dread the time change in the fall for the very same reason, but that a couple of years ago I changed my opinion of it by changing the word I used for it. I decided that instead of calling it "depressing", I would call it COZY! COZY because if it's dark and chilly outside then inside is warm and comforting with the glow of flickering candles and a crackling fire in the fireplace. A sleepy kitty totally gets this! We ... Read more

Fall Camping Weekend ’23

Good Monday morning! I'd planned to have a nice post out early this morning, but we came in from camping yesterday and I wasn't feeling my best. By last night I had a full-blown migraine and had to go to bed, so I wasn't able to work on this last night. I'm just going to quickly share a few photos and give a little detail about our weekend. So sorry for the lack of order in this post! We have a yearly tradition of camping with two other families each October. We love camping with our friends and have special memories from each year. They are all great campers and we've learned a lot of handy camping tips from them! We go to a local campground which is also a historic site by the ... Read more

October Tea and Scones: A Little Apple Inspiration

It's time for another tea and scone of the month! Actually, it's past due since October is almost over. I was traveling this week, so I had this recipe post ready to go before I left town so that I could post it while gone but I couldn't get it to post from where I was. I'm back home now and the problem is resolved! October is the time for fall festivals, so this month's pairing is inspired by the classic caramel apple! I had fun experimenting with this recipe and after a couple of tweaks, I think I have a recipe you'll love. My special taste-testers all gave it their seal of approval. I took a basic cream scone recipe and mixed in chopped apple, toffee bits, and apple pie spice. I ... Read more