Good morning to you all on this last day of April! You know the old saying “April showers bring May flowers”. While that’s certainly true in nature, April has offered another kind of shower. The Lord has rained blessing after blessing on our family this month. One of the reasons I blog is to remind myself of all there is to be grateful for amidst daily routine and even seasons of trials. It’s like my gratitude journal in the form of photos and stories. April has had its challenges, but as I scan through the photos on my phone, I’m reminded of everyday delights the Lord has granted. And yes, one of those blessings is all the flowers popping up around my yard from that good April ... Read more

Good morning! I hope your week has been a great one so far! Our Bible study group meets every Wednesday night to study the Word of God and enjoy some fellowship. It’s a welcomed time of midweek refreshment! The first three weeks of the month we just do dessert and coffee, but the last week we have a big meal. The host family for that month provides the main dish while the rest of the families bring sides and dessert. Last night’s meal was baked ham and sides, and it was glorious! My guy had recently put in a request for Pineapple Cheese Casserole, so when I heard we were having ham at small group, I knew it would be a good opportunity to fulfill his wish. I wasn’t going to post another ... Read more

Now that spring is officially here and summer is on its way, I’m starting to think about liter menus of grilled meats with sides of salad! One of my favorite salads to pair up with grilled chicken, pork, or hamburgers is this super-easy Orzo Salad. It goes together so quickly and is very forgiving with any substitutions you might need to make. Easy Orzo Salad  Ingredients: 1 box orzo pasta  1 *bottle Ken’s Steakhouse Greek dressing 1 container cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and halved 1 English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and then sliced  1 **6-8 oz. container feta cheese  Kalamata olives (a couple of handfuls will do)  Cook the orzo according to the box directions. Drain and let ... Read more

Good Friday! Just popping in this morning to share a cute little resource for your Easter festivities! I’ve mentioned before that I get so much creative inspiration from other blogs. Lately, that has come in the form of some really fun gift tags from Memory Makin’ Momma!  I love, LOVE gift giving! The packaging is a fun part of that for me, and special gift tags are the cherry on top! For Easter I ordered these Peter Rabbit tags and some others with a beautiful floral cross and Bible verse. Memory Makin’ Momma not only offers the tags for purchase ($5 for the PDF file, sent quickly to your email to print as many times as you like—can’t beat that!), but also gives great ideas for using the ... Read more

Good morning! It’s Good Friday Eve which means Easter Sunday is upon us! Spring and Easter always have me thinking about lemony things, so today I’m sharing this recipe for Lemon Curd Cake! If you don’t already have a dessert in mind for your Easter lunch, this would be a perfect one! I’ve had this recipe for so long, I can’t even remember where it came from, but it’s been the ideal cake for many Easter Sundays, Mother’s Days, and ladies’ luncheons. Moist, tangy, and sweet—It’s a lemony delight in your mouth! Lemon Curd Cake  Cake: 2 cups A/P flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 3/4 tsp. baking powder  1 tsp. baking soda  1/2 tsp. salt  3 eggs  2/3 cup oil 2/3 cup lemon juice 3/4 cup sour cream Jar of ... Read more

It’s Fri-YAY and I’m shouting YAY for the weekend annnnd for CUPCAKES! My post yesterday was all about strawberries! One of the recipes I talked about was for Strawberry Jam which I found on Memory Makin’ Momma’s blog. So delish! Today, I’m finishing up my strawberry recipes with these pinkalicious cupcakes in which I used my strawberry jam as an ingredient in both the cake and the icing!  I found these adorable cupcake liners and picks at Lifeway a couple of weeks ago and, knowing we were about to go strawberry picking, I couldn’t pass them up! I love that they have strawberries on them, but even more that they quote a line from that lovely old hymn “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”. It ... Read more

Happy Thursday, lovelies! And *happy* is the word that comes to mind when I think of strawberries, so there will be a lot of HAPPY in this post! I could use a little happy today, couldn’t you? After bringing home a plethora of strawberries from the field last week, my kitchen has seen an explosion of strawberry pastries and jam! Basically, anything we’ve baked this past week has had strawberries in it! So here goes!! Streusel-Topped Fresh Strawberry Pie  I’ve mentioned before that Sunday is our day of worship, rest, and good food! Our Sunday lunch almost always includes PIE. Last Sunday I made Streusel-Topped Fresh Strawberry Pie from The Recipe Rebel.  You can find the full recipe on her ... Read more

Around here, Friday is the day to "fluff the nest", which is just a much cuter way of saying "clean the house". Am I right? So my Friday posts are all about tidying up and getting the house fresh and in order for the weekend. Some weeks my nest-fluffing comes more easily than others. I need motivation each Friday. Well friends, today my house is going to need more than just a fluff! After all that’s gone on the last couple of weeks, the current condition of my house is beyond fluffing! While I would love to say my kitchen looks like the photo above, the reality is the photo below! There’s an Andy Griffith episode called “Andy and Opie, Housekeepers” where Aunt Bea comes home from a trip to ... Read more