We are one week away from Christmas. I can’t believe how quickly time goes! I hope you are all prepared for the upcoming festivities. This week I am planning to finish up a few last minutes preparations before our family gathers in our home to celebrate and I am looking forward to slowing down a bit and spending some quality time with my boys.
Where Can We Find Peace This Christmas?
I love the Christmas season it is the most wonderful time of the year! From the first moment, temperatures turn cool and I get to pull out all of my favorite sweaters and boots. I start longing for the Christmas days ahead. There is an excitement in the air, an expectation, and a longing in my heart.
However, for many people, Christmas can be one of the most challenging times of the year. Especially, for those going through a prolonged difficult season or are grieving the loss of a loved one.
Where will peace be found for the hurting this Christmas? Can we find it in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas rush? Is it something we can buy in a store and wrap up in a bow and put under our tree? Will I find it in my home? Will you find it in yours? Or if I turn on the news and hear of threats of Nuclear war from South Korea will I lose it?
To find out where Peace can be found this Christmas, read more at my friend Mitzi Neeley’s blog Peacefully Imperfect….
Mitzi asked me to share some thoughts on peace with her readers. While you are at Peacefully Imperfect be sure to check other posts in Mitzi’s special series on Peace and see what else Mitzi is up to on her blog.
Have a wonderful Christmas week and rest well in the love of Christ this week!
I love the Christmas Season! It is the most wonderful time of the year! Twinkly lights, the warm glow of candles, fireside chats, lingering long with family and friends over a cup of something lovely all add to the coziness of my home during the Holidays.
I am so thankful that I got my house decorated early for the holidays because I have been battling an upper respiratory infection and have been ill for several weeks. I had hoped to get these pictures out to you all sooner. Instead, I am grateful that I have been able to rest, recover and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Without further ado…
I would like to invite you to my Christmas home tour 2017!
Great Room – We will start the tour in my great room. This year I decided to add touches of dark red back into my main tree in the great room with cream, and mixed metals. I love the way it turned out!
Pictured above is our tree and mantel in the Great Room.
Coffee table vignette – love the deer and the red berries nestled in the green!
Another view of our main tree in the Great Room.
This is the view from our entryway into the great room.
I took this picture from the stairs so you could see another view of the room, and the decorated garlands that hang on the railing above the great room.
Close up of the angel and cross that governor my entry table.
The bar in the great room was a perfect spot for my sleigh.
Music Room – Now onto the music room. I moved my forest of trees that I had last year into the sunroom room into my bay window alcove of my music room. One of my favorite things to do every year is to dig out all of my Christmas decor and figure out how I can incorporate it in new and exciting ways throughout my home.
The main tree in our music room!
View looking into the music room from my entryway. This year I incorporated the green and pumpkin colors from the painting above the sofa into the trees coupled with mixed metals and mercury glass.
This forest grouping of 5 trees illuminates the front windows of our home.
Dining Room – Sits adjacent to our music room. Our nativity scene takes center stage in the room because Jesus is the reason we celebrate this season.
In order to make this appear a little larger, I put a stack of books under the nativity scene and draped this fabric across to cover the books. Notice the word JOY on my candle holders. You will find this word throughout my home this Christmas season.
Garland and a few ornaments nestled into the chandelier add a little touch of Christmas!
The slim tree that I used in the music room last year works perfectly nestled in the corner of the dining room. Decorated with ribbon and poinsettias to carry the touch of red through the house.
Sunroom- This is room our family lives in and I wanted it to have a festive yet more casual feeling. So I went with a relaxed Woodland theme.
Our Woodland tree in the sunroom. Don’t you just love the little fox?
I love the new addition of this bell above my kitchen sink that opens to the sunroom.
This little nook was a perfect place for the Santas.
This concludes my Christmas Home Tour 2017. I hope you are inspired to make your home a lovely place to gather friends and family this holiday season. My prayer for you is that in the midst of a what can be a very hectic season, that the love of Christ will fall afresh upon you and that you will rest in His love.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6 ESV
Make sure you sign up to receive my free Holiday e-book to help you have the Holiday of your dreams!
Hey Friends, I just wanted to wish you all an early Happy Thanksgiving! I snapped a few photos of my Thanksgiving tables and wanted to share them with you before all of the craziness ensures at our home tomorrow.
This year we are doing things a little differently. As many of you know earlier in the year Hurricane Harvey swept through our area with a vengeance and left many people displaced or without a livable home. So we decided to open up our home to Hurricane Harvey victims and families who would otherwise be alone on Thanksgiving!
We are excited to open our home to multiple families, and even some people from our church that we have never met. With a house full of people to serve I decided to take a shortcut and use paper plates.
If you notice on both tables I paired paper plates with chargers so that I can enjoy beautiful tablescapes and not worry about doing dishes. Which allows me to linger long and be present with family and friends. Simple easy short-cuts like this are great stress relievers without comprising the look and feel you desire. For more ideas like this be sure to grab your free e-book Enjoy the Holiday of Your Dreams!
I am headed to my kitchen to begin preparations for tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful time of celebration with your friends and family! Be blessed.
“Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings”– William Arthur Ward
I am busy preparing my home for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. If you are in need of inspiration and a few tips to help eliminate stress this holiday season, then I hope you have taken time to subscribe to the blog and get your free copy of my first e-book, Enjoy the Holiday of Your Dreams.
The holidays can either be a time of great joy or tremendous stress. Sometimes life is challenging, and often times things don’t go the way we plan that they will go. When we find ourselves in the midst of difficult, even painful circumstances, sometimes it seems impossible to find our way through the muck and mire of devastation.
When life throws us a curve ball, how can we be thankful?
We have a choice. Having a heart of gratitude in a tough time is a choice.
Every day we make choices, and those choices affect how we live our lives. We can choose to be….
Thankful
Joyful
Loving
Kind
Gracious
Merciful
or not.
The Holy Scriptures tell us that we should not deceive ourselves, we reap what we sow.
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. – Galatians 6:7
If we reap what we sow, then I want to sow good seeds! And that is exactly what this devotional book, A Pocketful of Seeds inspires us to do. Sow good seeds because when we sow, life happens.
When I picked up Debbie Johnson’s devotional book A Pocketful of Seeds, I was delightfully surprised. This is not your average devotional book, each one of the 365 daily devotions is an opportunity for you to sow seeds and spread love and kindness. Each short inspirational devotion is followed by a daily seed which is an inspiring quote or a scripture to spur you on to make the world a better place because every day we have a choice to make.
Every day you are given an action item, “a seed” to plant or sow. From Fairtrade coffee to immunizations, and foster care or adoption to forming a new habit or mentoring a teen. A Pocketful of Seeds isfilled with wisdom and inspiration and this book has something for everyone!
As Christians, we are image bearers of Christ, and by sowing seeds in love, we can change the world one seed at a time!
Thanks to the Blog About Network I have one copy of A Pocketful of Seeds by Debbie Johnson to give away to my blog readers. Now through the end of November 2017 please comment and share this post with your friends to be eligible to win a copy. The winner will be announced on December 1, 2017.
Do you ever struggle to feel loved? I know I have, whether it is my own insecurity or guilt that plagues me as young women I struggled to feel loved by God. Maybe you know what I am talking about because this is something that you have struggled with yourself. Or perhaps you have thought of God as some ruler maker in the sky that is keeping a list of those who are naughty and nice like Santa Claus. However, this could not be any farther from the truth. God not only loves us, He is love.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. – 1 John 4:8 ESV
Do you truly deep down in your bones beyond a shadow of a doubt know that Jesus loves you? Sometimes it is difficult for us to comprehend the great love of God, and if this is something that you have ever wrestled with then the new Zondervan devotion by Lindsay A. Franklin entitled, Adored – 365 Devotions for Young Women is the perfect devotion for you.
The King of the Universe adores you! #Adored
The fact is, God doesn’t just love us. He adores us. And maybe we struggle to understand that because we look in the mirror and wonder why the great big God of the Universe would look at us and think, “Yes. She is my adored, beloved daughter.” But make no mistake: no matter what our insecurities try to tell us, God does delight in us, his beatiful creations. – from the introduction of Adored
I fell in love with this book from the moment I saw it from the deep rich blue dreamy cover to the beautifully designed devotional pages within. It is a hardbound book that can easily fit into your backpack or sit out on your nightstand. There are 365 days worth of devotions, and they are not dated so you can start whenever you like and work your way through. There is room at the bottom of each page to record a note, a response, or a prayer.
Each daily devotional is focused on God’s great love for us coupled with a short scripture memory verse and a daily devotional that address the ups and downs of everyday life but also explores profound spiritual truths. Adored addresses difficult topics that girls face like self-worth, bullying, social media, friendships, and dating. The overarching theme of this devotion is to show girls and young women how greatly loved and adored they are by the King of the Universe.
This is wonderful little devotional is out just in time for the holidays and would make the perfect gift or stock stuffer for any young woman in your life!
Thanks to the Blog About Network I have one copy to give away my blog readers! If you would like a chance to be entered to win a copy of this devotion please leave a comment below and share this post with your friends on social media. The winner will be announced on December 1, 2017.
Hi! Friends, Happy November! We have finally had our first cold snap here in Texas. The leaves are falling off the trees, pumpkin spice everything is available in the stores, and Halloween has come and gone. The holiday season is upon us as we look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year!
This is my absolute favorite time of year! I love to celebrate Thanksgiving because I have so much to be grateful for in Christ! As Thanksgiving passes, we are ushered into the Christmas Season which is all about the Christ child, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to ransom us, save us from our sins and restore us to God.
After Christmas, we look forward to the New Year! A time to access the past year, a fresh start an opportunity for new beginnings. A look ahead to things in store for the next year.
If anyone you have been with me for awhile, you know that I love the Lord and strive to be the woman that God has called me to be and part of that calling for my life is to be a wife, mom, and homemaker. But I also love the holidays and all that it entails!!
[ctt template=”2″ link=”d4v4e” via=”yes” ]We are made for community, and we are encouraged by time spent with loved ones.[/ctt]
One of the reasons why I love this time of year is because I get to invite friends and family into my home and share my gift of hospitality, express myself in new and creative ways through trying new recipes and sprucing up my house with holiday decor in the changing of the seasons.
I am a foodie, love to decorate my home, and all things sparkly and floral. I am almost finished decorating for the holidays and will put together a holiday home tour video for you! If you like this sort of thing you may want to check out some of these posts from last year for some holiday inspiration.
This year I have a created a free e-book to help inspire you and provide some of my best tips to help you enjoy the Holiday of Your Dreams free to all of my blog subscribers!!!
Sign up to receive your free copy click the link in the sidebar if you are on a computer or at the bottom of the page if you are on a mobile device to access the ebook Enjoy The Holiday of Your Dreams in Four Easy Steps.
I can’t wait to share all of the good things about the holidays with you from now until the end of the year! I will still share words of encouragement and will continue to do book reviews. I have some fantastic books to tell you about in the coming weeks that would make great Christmas gifts!
Christmas food. Homemade gingerbread cookies with ingredients for Christmas cooking and kitchen utensils on wooden table, top view
Do you have any holiday plans yet or a favorite holiday tradition? I would love to hear your holiday plans and any hints you have to make the holidays full of joy and free of stress!
Have you ever received a compliment, only to feel slighted by the but that follows? But can be an eraser word. Let me give you an example of what I mean.
I love this pasta dish you made, but why did you put mushrooms in it?
The compliment, “I love this pasta dish” is completely eradicated by the use of the word BUT and the statement that follows. But is a mighty word, and when you couple the word but with God, you have two of the most powerful words in the English language.
Our circumstances may look grim, but God can change our circumstances. I love what the psalmist decrees in Psalms 73:26 ESV,
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
The Psalmist knows he is weak and knows that circumstances can be overwhelming, but he gives us hope in that God is strong. There are several scriptures where the words “but God” are used, and there is resurrection power in the words “but God.”
Let’s look at a few examples from scripture.
“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” Acts 3:15 NIV
and
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV
I am so thankful that but is an eraser word when followed by the word God! There have been so many times in my life where my heart and flesh were weak, but God’s love and power changed the course of my life forever…….
Come visit me today over at Brenda Ottinger’s site Chasing Community to read the rest of this post. Chasing Community
This post is for everyone who is interested or involved in online ministry.
The Lord moved mightily in our midst at the Declare Conference on Oct 2-4, 2017! I am finally able to share some highlights with you after coming home to sick kiddos, fighting off sickness myself and a very hectic schedule!
The Declare Conference equips women in their calling as digital evangelists and Christian communicators, if you missed my post on the Declare Conference, you could check it out here, Going to Declare Conference 2017.
Authors, bloggers, speakers, agents, and acquisition editors from across the globe descended on the DFW area for three days with the common purpose of Making Jesus known.
The Declare team was fabulous! A shout out to Michelle, Anne, Rachael, Jen, Eryn, and Kristin. Y’all are the bomb and definitely know how to host a fantastic conference! The conference was bathed in prayer, and you could feel the presence of the Lord in our midst!
Special thanks to Courtney of CocoPaige Photography who took all of the amazing photos at the conference that are featured in this blog post.
[ctt template=”2″ link=”3xhUq” via=”yes” ]This year’s theme was Sweet as Honey, and it was indeed a very sweet time![/ctt]
One of the sweetest parts of Declare was connecting with old friends, meeting face to face with digital evangelists that I have been friends with online, and making new friendships! Amy Elaine Martinez, and I have been online friends for a while, we virtually bonded over the marriage of our sons to their sweet brides and all that entailed. It was so great to meet face to face, and share our hearts with one another. Amy just finished writing, “Becoming a Victory Girl” I am a part of her launch team and will tell you more about it during the official book launch in January.
So fun to reconnect with incredible women like Blythe Daniel far left on the picture below and Debi Chapman, who were both on the Q & A from Declare Alumni. I have known Debi for many years through our school and debate homeschool days, and to now be connected now as a digital evangelist and co-laborer of the gospel is absolutely precious. Debi is the lovely lady holding the microphone. Debi is the host of the Refresh Gathering. I attended the inaugural event and wrote about my experience here. Refresh Gathering It was a breath of fresh air for my weary soul, and I am so excited that details about Refresh Gathering 2018 are available, so be sure to visit Debi’s website DebiChapman.com to see all of the wonderful things she has going on.
The Conference kicked off with a sweet time of praise and worship. It was a little taste of heaven as women from all denominations, races, and ages sang praises to the Lord. Pictured below on the right, is my sweet new friend Heather Bock, who radiated Jesus!
The Declare Conference speakers were all phenomenal! Sara Haggerty kicked off the conference with a talk entitled Performing for an Audience of one. And all I can say is wow! Sara is the author of Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to Noticed.
Sara’s message pierced my heart as she spoke of our lives having two storylines one internal storyline and one external line, and how what happens in the hidden moments is what comes out, and it is in our weakness that God can do something with us. But the thing that she said that most impacted me was that we are to be messengers, not an echo. As we spend time in the secret place with the most high God that is where he takes our desperation, and our weakness and turns it into our message. Sara said, “Our best stories will come out of the unseen, out of our broken.”
Kat Lee was amazing and inspired us with a practical Map for Online Success, and gave us something tangible to walk away with but the highlight of her talk ended by showing us the No Man’s Land clip from the Wonder Woman movie. Which was a perfect illustration of our shield of faith and the fiery darts of the enemy. If you haven’t seen the movie, then you have to check out the clip below.
Next, Melanie Dale hit a home run with talk, “Oh Honey: Communicating Things that Stick But Don’t Leave a Mess.” Then Crystal Stine taught us “How to be Social without Selling our Soul.” Followed by a “Mastermind Time” where we formed groups based on our common area of interest to partner and encourage one another. I loved meeting other ladies that were interested in book publishing, and look forward to collaborating with them!
I spent time with the agents Jesse Kirkland, Stephanie Alton, and Blythe Daniel. These ladies area wellspring of information about the publishing industry. An impromptu surprise meeting in the hallway with Vickie Crumpton of Rivell proved to be very informative as was my appointment with Kara Leonino from Tyndale House.
Unfortunately, I took advantage of sleeping in and missed Shazzy Fitness, who was there to provide early morning workouts! Maybe next year?!?
Emily Thomas of momstrugglingwell.com was our emcee and knocked it out the park with her session on podcasting!
Food trucks and coffee trucks were a fun way to meet our nourishment needs!
I took two full pages of notes when Jamie Bates spoke to us about, “When God Changes Your Direction.” This talk focused on the evolution of our callings, and how we see our calling as a destination, but God is focused on the journey, our direction and our surrender to his will. One the most profound things she said was something to the effect of, “The enemy wants you embittered and isolated, ” and as women in ministry we have a target on our backs.
As an online evangelist, this is why gathering together face to face in community is so important!
Day 2 ended with dessert and dancing! Wynter Pitts kicked us off on Wednesday morning with a sweet devotion followed by more great speakers, sponsors, and vendors. One of the sponsors that really impacted me was Save the Storks!
Save the Storks partners with local pregnancy centers to offer services for expectant mothers to support women in crisis during their pregnancy and after their baby is born. One of the coolest things they do is a Mobile Medical Unit that has a mobile ultrasound unit to provide ultrasounds for abortion-vulnerable mothers. The statics are amazing on the number of women that choose life after coming to one of these mobile units.
Save the Storks was founded in 2011 by Joe and Ann Baker with the goal of launching mobile medical units across the country to serve abortion-vulnerable women through pregnancy resource centers. Please visit their website savethestorks.com to see how you can help save the storks and make a difference in the lives of women in crisis pregnancy.
Mary Wiley exhorted us about the hard road of publishing and encouraged us to be obedient to God because if we have the wrong motives, and are seeking fame or fortune, that we have a target on our back. Publishing for the wrong reasons has lead to family’s falling apart because in Christian Publishing it is all about God receiving the glory! She had many great things to say, but don’t you just love her facial expression pictured below?
We heard powerful messages by Jenn Jett, Mandy Ballard, Jan Greenwood and Amy Ford. Jan closed us out with a powerful message to prepare us for re-entry back home. She challenged us to the guard the deposit that we were given at Declare, cover the seed, and water it so it will bloom.
All of the speakers were amazing! I would love to recap everything that was said by all of the marvelous speakers, but instead, I encourage you to find them online and see their ministries for yourself, you will not be disappointed.
God showed up and He showed off at declare. Check out the beautiful rainbow, a sign of God’s covenant to his people that radiated across the sky above the Declare event!
If you are a digital communicator, author, speaker, blogger, social media evangelist then you must sign up for The Declare Conference 2018 to experience it for yourself. Next year’s theme is Warrior! I am so excited and can’t wait for next year’s conference!
Have you seen the show American grit? My husband loves the show, and we watch it together. John Cena is the host of the show and men and women from all walks of life go to a camp where they live and compete in a series of physical, sometimes mental challenges until eliminated. The last man or woman standing is the one who wins the prize.
Grit is a personality trait that is defined as courage and resolve; and strength of character. Synonyms include courage, bravery, pluck, mettle, backbone, strength of character, strength of will, moral fiber, steel, nerve, fortitude, toughness, hardiness, resolve, resolution, determination, tenacity, perseverance, and endurance.
As a parent teaching strong character is one of the most important things that we do with our children. We accomplish this by many different means, and sometimes we wonder does what we are doing with our children even make a difference? My answer is Yes! It absolutely matters.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5 ESV
We can rejoice because that character produces hope and character matters.
I would like to commend my son Ian today for his grit. Let me explain, every year we approach the beginning of our school year by seeking God’s will in prayer of each of our children. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, our plans for this school changed a few short weeks before school began. Through much discussion and prayer, Ian asked if he could play football this year. He played football in junior high but took off during his freshman year and wasn’t physically active over the course of the past year.
Sign-ups for the season began last year in the spring, and by August 1st the team was formed and already out on the field training and conditioning. The problem for us is that on August 1st we were across the country on a much need vacation after a whirlwind summer of wedding planning and the marriage of my eldest son.
I submitted a request to play with the Tomball Christian Warriors and told Ian I was not sure if he would be able to play this year. As we waited, we committed it to prayer and planned out the rest of our school year. We pray we make plans, but the Lord orders our steps.
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. – Proverbs 16:9 ESV
On our way home from the east coast much to our delight we found out Ian was able to play. He needed to have a physical and concussion baseline test before we could get out on the field. I immediately scheduled those appointments, bought Ian some practice gear and by the middle of August Ian was on the field. He joined late, but he made the team.
After a year of physical inactivity, the first few weeks on the field were pretty rough. In full gear with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees and the killer Texas humidity, running around the field for hours in the blistering sun provided to be quite challenging.
One day we picked Ian up and he wasn’t looking so great. Drenched with sweat I could tell he was exhausted. I thought he rolled the window down in the back seat to get some much needed fresh air, but instead, he painted the side of the car with the contents of his lunch. Another day on our way home from his coop class he was so tired that he fell asleep in the car on our way home from class, and fell asleep again in the car on the way home from practice.
Football practice was really kicking his butt but through his grit, determination, and hard work he was recognized by his coaches on the field. During the last quarter of the first game of the year, Ian was put on the field, and he did a great job as left tackle! After the game, his coach told us that he did a great job and that he would get him back on the field sooner.
Ian pushed and persevered through hard work and determination, despite being behind, starting late, and getting sick. Coming home after practiced battered and bruised. Getting out on the field and giving it his all day after day. He has proven himself to his coaches, his peers, his parents and himself. All of that grit has paid off and has earned him a starting position on the varsity team.
[ctt template=”2″ link=”Ebsfn” via=”yes” ]Life is challenging and it takes grit and determination to succeed.[/ctt]
Picking ourselves up when we have been knocked down by life and getting back up produces character in us. Showing up day after day when we have been beaten up by life and just taking the next step forward somedays is all we can do.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4
The trials that we face in life are what test our faith, and through our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and the sanctification process we become more like Christ each day and that is true grit!
I would love to know what Christ-like character traits you see your children exhibiting that you could encourage this week? What traits would you like to further develop in your children? This week I challenge to live aware of your child’s character. Find something worthwhile that they are doing that you can praise them for, and watch to see how their character may flourish.
After a year of physical inactivity, the first few weeks on the field were pretty rough. In full gear with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees and the killer Texas humidity, running around the field for hours in the blistering sun provided to be quite challenging.
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