The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

One Week. Six Meals.

I love menu-planning! But sometimes I get into ruts and find it helpful to look at menus posted on other blogs and Instagram. Seeing what other women are cooking really inspires and motivates me to get in the kitchen. Last month I participated in the 31-day "Happy Homemaker Challenge" on Instagram, hosted by Whitney at Come Home for Comfort, and one of the photo prompts was called "On the Menu". So after posting my menu for the week, I thought I might as well snap a photo of each night's meal and post them here. Our weeks are pretty busy, but I still want to put healthy meals on the table. These are a few of my easy go-to's for quick, healthy weeknight meals. Monday~ Greek turkey ... Read more

Teach Them Tuesday: First Day Traditions for Homeschoolers

This Friday starts a new school year for our us! We sure like our little family school! It's been quite an adventure for the last 12 years with sooo many fun memories made! One of those memories is our back-to-school tradition, and today I'd like to share with you how we make the first day of school special and a success. I have many photos from all of our first days of school, but almost all of them have my kids in them (naturally) and I don't post photos of my children on the blog. First of all, I had to come to realize years ago that cramming in a special breakfast, back-to-school buckets, first-day photos, notebook-making, and a full day of schoolwork in each of our subjects was ... Read more

Summer Farewell Tea

It seems so hard to believe that summer break is drawing to a close. My kids and I have been trying to get in all the last bits of summer fun with individual groups of our friends and family before school schedules start. We make a point to get together with my niece and sister-in-law, and another mother/daughter duo a few times a year to enjoy artsy teas, outings, and lessons for the purpose of indulging our inner hopeless romantics, haha. Realizing we'd not yet managed to work in a summer activity with them, we quickly pulled together a back-to-school tea. We all homeschool (except for my oldest daughter who is in college), and both my niece and our friend are beginning their senior ... 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

Mexican Pizza {On the Lighter Side}

When I was a teenager, my favorite thing to order off Taco Bell's menu was a Mexican Pizza. To me this was the ultimate fast food treat! Two fried tortillas with a layer of refried beans in between, and then topped with taco meat, cheese, and taco sauce. Add to that my soft drink of choice in those days--Dr. Pepper--and oh, it was such a good meal! There have been a couple of times I've replicated this delicious Mexican treat at home, and while it's pretty easy to put together, it's not so healthy. So I've come up with a healthier recipe for Mexican Pizza! Rather than frying the tortillas, they are toasted, and I only use one tortilla instead of two which helps cut the carbs back a little. ... Read more

Bath and Body Summer Refresh

We're definitely in the peak season for heat and humidity in Alabama! These days, we don't even have to be working outside to feel it. Just cooking and cleaning inside can have us feeling like we're melting. Oddly enough, I really don't mind the heat and don't even mind working in it as long as I can freshen up afterwards. So when the work of her hands brings on the sweat of her brow, here are my summer faves for staying fresh! They are all $5 or less each! Body Wash: For the second summer in a row, Softsoap Pink Peony and Sea Salt is once again my favorite body wash. I like its mild floral scent and salty texture. A shower with this after early morning exercise gets me off to a ... Read more

Entertaining Guests During a Pandemic

Without a doubt, Covid-19 has changed much of our social life as we've known it. For the first couple of months we were in almost total isolation. After taking measures those first couple of months to safeguard our family's physical health by staying away from people, my husband and I began seeing the need to balance that with safeguarding our family's emotional health in being around people. So as it's become more apparent that the virus isn't going to pass on by too quickly and that we're in this for longer than originally anticipated, I'm exploring ways of having friends and family to our home in safe and responsible ways. I thought I'd share a few ideas I've come up with for ... Read more