The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

In Your Morning Prayers

Prayer is an 24-hour, around-the-clock practice for me. “Practice” may not even be the correct word. My relationship with my Lord means there is communication between us throughout my days as need arises—“Please Lord, intervene here.” Or when I want to share in a moment with Him—“The sun is gorgeous today, Lord! Thank you!” Or, in those moments in the middle of the night when worry rears it’s ugly head and I find myself awake with fret—“God, please carry us through this.” I can’t imagine only speaking to my husband once in the morning and then being done for another 24 hours! What kind of relationship would that be?! As with my husband, my communication with God never stops. ... Read more

At My Sister’s House

My younger daughter is playing soccer this spring which is keeping us on the go! When we saw that she had two games in my sister's home city, the two of us were excited to plan an overnight trip to visit with Allison. The day before leaving, we got word that the games were cancelled due to rain, but my sis said, "Come on anyway!" And we did! It was a very quick and fun 24-hour trip. Allison and her family live in a beautiful older home in a historic district. The photo above is of the stone courtyard in back of her house. I took this photo looking out her back door. Such a lovely and peaceful spot under this gorgeous saucer magnolia! If I'm not mistaken, I believe she transplanted this ... Read more

February Fun

I’m late on completing a couple of posts I have in the works, one of which is my son’s birthday post from two weeks ago, but I wanted to pop in and give a quick hello. We are eagerly anticipating another birthday this weekend (my daughter is turning 21!) along with Valentine’s Day! The plans are low key, yet special, and it's always fun to plan menus and movies and bake festive goodies, no matter the occasion. So, in addition to our regular schooling and activities this week, the youngest two and I have been birthday shopping, gift wrapping, cake and cookie baking, and Valentine making!! After school today, we're getting out to make some early Valentine visits to the grandparents. Can't ... Read more

Weeknight Fried Rice

Our family is in a season of busy, bustling weeknights with my teen daughter going to evening soccer practices, and my son taking taekwondo two nights a week. It's taken some trial and error, but I think we've finally settled into a workable dinner routine that still gets us together around the table with a homecooked meal most weeknights. In order to make this work, I'm always on the lookout for meal ideas that are quick to put together and easy on the budget, but still as healthy as possible. I recently tried this Ground Beef Fried Rice recipe from The Salty Marshmallow blog that uses ground beef, rice, and frozen veggies. Our whole family LOVED it so I just had to share the recipe ... Read more

7 Things by 7 Thirty

Many years ago, I heard someone say that how we spend the first two hours of our day can determine how the rest of our day will play out, and anything in our day that is a top priority should be done in those first two hours. At the time of hearing this, I already had an okay morning routine, but this piece of advice gave my routine a much better focus. I started to think about the things on my daily list that I will not have the discipline to finish if I don’t do them first thing in the morning, and came up with what I call my “7 Things by 7 Thirty”. I wake at 5:00 each morning and need to be mom of the house at 7:30, so that gives me 2 1/2 hours to get these 7 things done. Here they ... Read more

An Alabama White Christmas

In Alabama, we rarely have snow, but we do have the white sands of our beautiful beaches! Our family headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama a couple of days after Christmas for a 50th birthday getaway for my husband. We could not have asked for a more gorgeous week to be there! We've always preferred to travel in off-seasons, no matter where we go, when crowds and rates are at their lowest. Even for a winter beach trip, there is plenty to do to make it an enjoyable vacation. We had no agenda, but just went from one leisurely activity to the next. Walking on the beach is a must for any season. My girls and my son did swim in the ocean one day, and had a great time, but my husband, my ... Read more

A Happy 50th!

I'd like to wish a Happy 50th Birthday to the man who loves, leads, protects, teaches, entertains, and provides for our family--my wonderful husband! Joel is rock solid, tends to our needs, offers wise counsel, lives by the Word, leads us in Bible study, washes copious amounts of pots and pans, is a work horse in the yard, and brings stability during our most fragile moments (and with 3 women and a 9-yr old boy in the house, emotions can certainly run high at times!) We celebrated early with a trip to the beach with the kids and Joel's sweet mama, the woman who delivered her big New Year’s Eve baby 50 years ago today! For some fun entertainment on our trip, my mother-in-law brought Joel's ... Read more

Family Nativity Dinner

For about the last ten years, our family has kept an annual tradition of a Nativity Dinner in December. Some years it's just us, some years we invite friends, and some years we use the menu for our small group Christmas party. Since we were home for Christmas Eve this year, we planned our Nativity Dinner for that night, with just us, and it was so special! I arranged my tablescape earlier in the month to stay set up through all of the holidays, New Year's included. My table arrangement is similar to last year's New Year's table, but with a few tweaks. And I kept with the same Christmas Biltmore inspiration I used in the den. This was such a fun and colorful table to put together, ... Read more