The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

This fall, the kids and I have enjoyed lunch on the patio most days which almost always leads to shenanigans with the pets! One particular day, a couple of weeks ago, turned into a silly fall photo shoot with our fur babies, and we thought these photos would be a fun way to say "Happy Thanksgiving" today! Barney, our most exuberant pet, didn’t stick around too long. We were pleased to get him in at least one good photo. To our surprise, the cat and the bunny are pretty comfortable with each other, but, we’ve realized that the cat thinks the bunny is another cat, and the bunny thinks the cat is another bunny. And so now we call them "the sisters"! Happy Thanksgiving from our ... Read more

We Are God’s Children

The photo above is of my sweet little girls when they were about one and six years old. It's one of my favorites because it captures such a tender moment between sisters--one sharing and one listening. Doesn't it just look like one sister is spilling her whole heart while the other is fully engaged and encouraging her? When I found out our second baby would be another daughter, I envisioned their relationship exactly like this photo. Of course, I knew better than to think every moment of every day would be perfect, but I hoped and prayed they would be friends and love each other dearly. Now let me back up to the years before our second daughter was born and our first daughter was our ... Read more

Snickerdoodle Pie and Pumpkin Ice Cream

I wrote this post last fall but didn't get it worked into my posting schedule. Hopefully I'm not too late for this year either. At my house, we are still very much enjoying the flavors of fall and I'm trying to squeeze in every last fall recipe and tradition before Thanksgiving. But, now that I think about it, I make this dessert all through the winter too! Snickerdoodle Pie is like a extra thick, extra soft snickerdoodle cookie baked in a pie shell and it's sooo delicious. Add a scoop of pumpkin ice cream and it's over-the-top good!! Snickerdoodle Pie (I do not even remember where this recipe came from. I searched the internet to find the original source but only found other ... Read more

A Simple Sweet Sixteen Weekend

Last weekend our younger daughter turned Sweet 16! She's our quiet, low key girl so she's never one for a big fuss or for being in the spotlight. With that, plus all the complications with trying to plan a gathering during Covid, she opted for a quiet weekend with a few of her favorite things. Favorite Thing #1: Friday afternoon we finished school and headed for the barn. We lease a horse at a community barn down the road from our house and she rides two or three times a week. The fall weather has been gorgeous for riding lately! We just love autumn days at the barn!! Midnight is so cute and fuzzy right now with his winter coat coming in. He looks and feels like a soft stuffed animal. ... Read more