The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Day of Rest

In our home, Sundays are considered a day of rest. I don't mean that we sleep late and linger over brunch. On the contrary, we rise early enough to get a bit spiffy and have a little breakfast and coffee before heading to church for a morning of Bible study and worship. How is that restful? Getting up and out of the house so early? Well, it's more of a resting in the Lord. And it's pretty wonderful. Worship brings rest. The refreshment we receive while gathering with brothers and sisters to worship God and learn from His Word sets our hearts and minds in restful peace for the week ahead. Through the teachings from Bible class and sermon, we are assured of God's providence in our ... Read more

Cranberry Orange Rolls

Hello there! I have one last holiday goodie to share with you today. For the six months before Christmas, I'd mostly given up gluten and sugar. I felt great! The cravings pretty much went away but every now and then I would tell my husband that I was really wanting to sink my teeth into a warm fluffy cinnamon roll and that it would be one of the treats I was going to enjoy making and eating during the holidays. Then, by the time Christmas rolled around, I was in a very cranberry mood and decided it was a cranberry roll I wanted! So, one day between Christmas and New Year's when my husband was out and the kids were down at the creek, I went into the kitchen and started to experiment. I ... Read more

Christmas Memories 2021

Hello, friends! I got behind in my holiday posts due to illness in December, so today I'm going to try and quickly wrap up Christmas and New Year's in one clean swoop of a post. We began decorating the weekend following Thanksgiving, but it took me a few days to really get into it and finish it all. I don't like to get too themey with Christmas--I mean, Christmas is a theme in and of itself, right?--but the last couple of years I've gone with more of a natural, woodsy vibe. I adore the outdoors and the woods behind our house, so it just felt very natural to use evergreen garlands, pinecones, and starry twinkle lights. Last year I used blue for my main accent color; this year I went ... Read more

“Make Sure You Add Some Sprinkles in 2022!”

Happy New Year! It's 2022!! I have a festive little New Year's party to share with you today, compliments of my niece! At the young age of 7, my niece is already the party planning extraordinaire!! Her mama (my sister) has taught her so well! She reminds me so much of my girls when they were growing up, throwing parties for baby dolls and family pets. So precious. One day recently, my sister mentioned that my niece would probably enjoy a day at my house "baking and making". Of course I said yes immediately, and we later decided to throw a cousins' New Year's celebration! It was a small affair due to so many of the cousins already committed to other holiday obligations, but, as ... Read more

This Little Hand

I'm taking down Christmas decor today and, as with every year, I’ll be enjoying a little trip down memory lane as I pack away each of my children's keepsakes. I've always especially cherished their handprint art, knowing their little hands would never be that tiny again, and wondering where the Lord might lead them in life. The little Santa trivet below was made by my oldest when she was just 5 years old!And now?... And now that hand has a ring on it!! We are thrilled that God has led her to a wonderful man who proposed on Christmas Eve-Eve, and will soon hold her hand in marriage. I will post more in the coming days from our Christmas holiday but wanted to go ahead and share our ... Read more

Teach Them Tuesday: Thumbprint Angels and a Christmas Story

Yesterday I mentioned a Christmas party we had with our homeschool friends. My friend, Kelli, hosted the event and did an amazing job planning and orchestrating a rotation of activities to accommodate our large number of kiddos! She arranged areas around her home for four stations: story, craft, cookie decorating, and games. She took care of the story time and asked three more of us mamas to take the other stations. I was assigned the craft station, so I planned a craft that would go along with the book Kelli would be reading in her station. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston, is a heartwarming story about a little girl, Ruthie, and her parents living in the ... Read more

Let’s Get Christmasy!

I must admit that as soon as Thanksgiving is over, I start to feel a bit overwhelmed with all there is to do for Christmas. Anyone else? My social battery runs low with back-to-back events, and I get a little saddened by the commercialization of the season. Last week, after a couple of days of near panic, I voiced my concerns to my husband, pulled myself together, and made the prayerful decision to focus on two things: Embrace the season with its flurry of activity while pulling away each day for quiet advent reflection. I'll share on advent in another post, but today I'm sharing some of our activities from our first week of December. We got our tree and decked the halls! The cat is so ... Read more

Weekend Getaway

Back in October we took a quick fall getaway to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Throughout the years, we've taken many day trips to enjoy the gardens and trails. Due to its close proximity to us we've never needed to stay overnight; however, when trying to think of a place we could spend a pleasant, outdoor fall break that would be close enough to allow us to wait until our college-aged daughter got out of her last Friday afternoon class before leaving town, Callaway Gardens seemed like an ideal destination! We stayed in a cozy 2-bedroom cottage on Sparkleberry Lane. How cute is that name! We loved staying in this cottage! It offered plenty of space with a great ... Read more