The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

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

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

Scarecrow Treats and a Fall Bible Lesson

The following post is one I put together last year but did not get worked into my posting schedule before the fall season was over. I've just about missed it for this fall too! Today I have couple of fall goodies that my son and I have been working on for his friends and cousins. I started doing these when my girls were younger so it’s been a lot of fun to repeat with my son. Candy scarecrows are so cute to pass out to the kiddos for a fall treat! You just need a box of raisins for the torso, Smarties for the legs, Tootsie Rolls for the arms, a round candy for the head, and some raffia for the neck straw. Use hot glue to attach candy pieces together in the shape of a scarecrow. Of ... Read more

Teach Them Tuesday: Teaching Them to Teach

I love all the teachable moments God presents in a single day! A few days ago my son was helping me with some yard work which always holds many opportunities for life lessons. First, we raked back all the pine straw from the beds to expose the weeds. I talked to my son about how the weeds in our lives could be sin or bad influences, and sometimes we need to expose the weeds that we haven't realized are there by asking God to search our hearts. Next we pulled the weeds out of the ground and I showed him how to get down to the root so they won't grow back so quickly. He often just pulls off the tops, so I explained how that would cause us to have to weed the bed again in just a couple ... Read more

Communion Bread Recipe

The pandemic has definitely changed many of our normal activities, and I can say with all certainty that what our family has missed most has been meeting in person with our church family each Sunday. We are at least blessed to gather remotely for Sunday morning worship, and a special part of those online gatherings is the inclusion of the Lord's Supper. When isolation first started back in March, I made a batch of communion bread, freezing much of it and never imagining the pandemic would last long enough for us to use up the whole batch, but I've already made two batches since we've been home. I know many of you already have your own recipe for communion bread, and for that reason I had put ... 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

The Blessing of God’s Refusals

A couple of weeks ago while I was walking in the early morning hours, I noticed this turtle in the grass, just about to crawl over the curb and into the street. Aware of the morning traffic that would soon occupy the road, I reached towards the turtle to pick him up and turn him in a safer direction. He flinched and defensively pulled his head back, not trusting my intentions. I picked him up and turned him around, hoping he would crawl back towards the woods from which he'd emerged. I don't think he was too happy with me interrupting his desired path, and for a minute there it looked as though he was turning around to head back towards the street again. I stood in front of him to block the ... Read more