The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Teach Them Tuesday: First Favorites

I believe one of the most rewarding works my hands have been blessed to do as a mom has been holding a book open to read to my children. In my very unprofessional opinion, reading to a child in our laps or sitting beside us gives opportunity for physical closeness and quality time together, making it a wonderful way to bond with that child. I have always loved reading with my kids, and, like many of you mamas, would have done so regardless of homeschooling. Today I'd like to share my favorite early literature guide for children. First Favorites by Veritas Press has a very special place in this mama's heart. It was the tool that helped expand the subject of reading into a love for ... Read more

Fourth of July 2020

I hope you all had a great Independence Day! We enjoyed some "safe" entertaining over the weekend which gave me a fun reason to decorate a little. Nothing too fussy--just flags, flowers, and chalkboards! White crepe myrtles and flags tucked in blue and white vases were just enough! I added flags and patriotic ribbon to old wreaths. Pretty simple! This one is in the front hall by my front door. I snatched the blue bow from my lemon wreath. And this one sits on my mantle. The night before the 4th, we had some friends over for hot dogs and fireworks! Most of our time was going to be spent outside so we cleaned up the backyard and put out a few festive ... Read more

Teach Them Tuesday: My Bible Coloring Book

Good Tuesday morning! Today I want to share a coloring book that I used with my kids for many years. It's Shirley Dobson's My Bible Coloring Book. This recommendation is not just for moms, but would also be great to have on hand if you're a grandmother, aunt, babysitter, or Bible class teacher! It covers 119 Bible stories with a coloring page and scripture reference for each Bible story. It's a fun way to go through the entire Bible with children. For my pre-readers or new readers, I would either tell them the story or read it from a beginner's Bible and then let them color the picture. Later, when they were independent readers, I would cycle the coloring book again, having them read ... Read more

A Stroll Through Huntsville Botanical Gardens

I'm delighted today to bring you photos of our recent trip to the beautiful Huntsville Botanical Gardens in Huntsville, Alabama! My two daughters, my son, and I went to visit my sister and her family a couple of weeks ago. After having to cancel travel plans for The Biltmore Estate in March, and then for Virginia and DC in May, we were all thankful to still be able to get in our summer trip to my sister's home--a tradition we've kept since even our oldest children were just little ones. One of our favorite excursions while there has always been the Botanical Gardens. When we were just young mommies to babes in strollers, my sister and I would push our little nappers around while we ... Read more

Spring 2020: Counting Every Blessing

Spring 2020 was a doozy. These days just the mention of 2020 comes with sighs and eye-rolls. Covid-19 has brought hardships, stress, and loss to many. Our family has dealt with the heaviness as well in a number of ways, but the Lord has also showered blessing upon blessing on us. I love the song "Counting Every Blessing" by Rend Collective and have had that song in my head since The Rona hit. So today I'm counting every blessing of Spring 2020! And because there were so many, this is an incredibly long post, but mostly photos. Blessing 1: The Great Outdoors Not a single day passed during all of isolation where the sun did not rise! And with each sunrise came new mercies and ... Read more

Looking Back: Winter 2019/2020

Hello again! Yesterday I posted some highlights of FALL 2019. Today I'm moving on to WINTER 2019/2020! As soon as Thanksgiving was over and the fall decorations were packed away, we went straight into Christmas festivities. My tea ladies and I kicked off the season the last weekend in November with a tea lunch at a beautiful tea room, all decorated for the holidays! This leisurely tea time was our calm before the holiday storm. The first weekend in December, our family went to cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm we've been going to since our oldest was a baby. I took a lot of family photos, and won't post those here, but it was a lovely, sunny day on the tree farm! It's ... Read more

Looking Back: Fall 2019

Hello, friends! This week I'm going to play a little catch up here on the blog. I'd like to begin with some highlights of our past school year, but even just the highlights would be too much for one post, so I'm going to do this in three posts: fall, winter, and spring. Today I'll share FALL 2019! We started our twelfth year of homeschooling in late August 2019. The chalkboard below was our photo prop for first-day-of-school pictures. One of our favorite ways to end the summer season and start a new school year is with an outdoor performance by our city’s symphony! My oldest daughter and her friend invited some of their college friends who were new to the area as a way of ... Read more

Papa Melvin’s Workshop

It's really hard to know where to start a post when a loved has passed from this earth to go home to heaven. I could brush over it and keep posting about cooking, cleaning, and other aspects of daily life. However, I would be remiss to not stop and pay tribute to a truly great man. My father-in-law was hardworking, honest, and devoted. He lived a life committed to the Lord through years of providing for his family, adoring his wife, raising his kids, and serving his church and community. Later in life he enjoyed the fruit of his labor with a retirement that offered almost a decade of cruise vacations with his bride and woodworking in the shop just behind their house. Melvin was quite ... Read more