The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

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

Easter Eats 2020

Hello again! I'm back today with the Easter menu I prepared this year. So, from breakfast to dessert, here goes! I'd been saving this recipe for Strawberry Bread since last spring and decided to make it for breakfast. Definitely making this again! It was so good and moist, and more like a poundcake than a bread. I put out a bowl of chocolate eggs to go with it. After breakfast we had a meaningful time of worship and then finished up lunch preparations.***** Easter Menu Brown Sugar Glazed Ham (recipe below) Cheesiest Mac and Cheese Bacon and Pea Summer Salad (With one change: I cooked and crumbled the bacon because I didn’t have packaged bacon ... Read more

Birds and Bunnies Easter Table

Easter this year was definitely different from our norm, wasn't it? Considering there would be no new Easter outfits, no neighborhood egg hunts, no gatherings with extended family, and no full pews at the church building for Easter service, I delighted in all the encouraging posts and messages about the TRUE meaning of Easter NOT changing. JESUS IS RISEN! In that regard, our Easter was very much the same and just as meaningful as always! Everything else is just fluff. Speaking of fluff, I did still try to fluff up our table for Easter lunch! It wasn't at all what I'd planned earlier on with ideas of fresh flowers and pretty pastels. As for the fresh flowers, this past year we ... Read more

Easter Story Cookies

Good morning, friends! It’s been quite a while since I last posted here on the blog; so much has happened the last couple of months. I’ll catch you up on everything  soon, but for now, I’d just like to share something fun and positive towards Resurrection Sunday. It’s a wonderful hands-on story recipe called Easter Story Cookies that I used to make with my girls when they were little. Baking and stories were always a couple of our favorite things to enjoy together, so this cookie recipe that illustrates the story of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection was the perfect opener for our Easter weekends! I forgot about this activity as the girls got older, but I recently ran across ... Read more

Last Minute Ideas for Valentine Blessings

If you’re needing some last minute ideas for Valentine gifts for teachers, grandparents, or friends, here ya go! During Valentine’s week, the kids and I like to drop off a little gift for the grandparents. Ideas for past years have been baked goodies, lotions (for the grandmothers), jars of mug cake mix, and such. We were trying to figure out what to deliver this year when I spotted these pink and white azaleas in Publix last weekend. I thought the two-toned petals were so unique! Given that both my mom and Joel’s mom have green thumbs, and with spring planting time right around the corner, I knew they would enjoy these long after Valentine’s Day! And since these beauties ... Read more

Galentine’s Bash 2020: Donut and Hot Chocolate Bar

I adore Valentine’s Day! It is such a sweet occasion. The pinks and reds, the sprinkled goodies, and the LOVE! Not just romantic love, but the love one another kind of love. The love of Christ! My girls have been lavishly blessed by precious friendships in our small group, and Valentine's Day seems the perfect opportunity to celebrate that Christian sisterhood with a Galentine's Bash! After last year's cookie and hot chocolate bar was a success, Country Girl and I decided to do something along those lines again this year, but with a new twist. With a little thought, we decided on a DONUT and HOT CHOCOLATE BAR! It was so much fun, and we will definitely be doing it again! The ... Read more

Valentine Cookie Bar

Here’s a fun idea for a Galentine’s Party! (aka: Valentine party for the GALS in your life). Last year my daughter and I hosted a Galentine’s party for the girls in our Bible study group and the cookie bar was so much fun! Just set out stacks of heart shaped cookies, individual cups of pink icing, plastic knives for spreading, and all the pink and red sprinkles and candies your heart desires. Now, let your girls go all artsy and decorate their own Valentine cookie! Tomorrow our sweet friends will be back for another Galentine’s party and my girl and I have something else planned that we think will be just as cute, but I’m not saying yet what it is. You’ll have to check ... Read more