Joyfull Living

I'll be away at summer church camp this week!  Your prayers for the campers and counselors would be appreciated!  It is our  hope that camp will be a fun experience, but also provide an opportunity of young hearts to be open to the leading of the Lord. 

He loves righteousness and justice;          The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. Psalms 33:5 In a day and time where bad news abounds, this verse is like a breath of fresh air!  As Christians we are able to look beyond the confusion of the world to see God’s goodness. The goodness that manifests itself through creation, every day.  Through sunrises and sunsets, the song of a bird, the love of a family etc., we can visibly see that God holds together the earth and provides our substance.  By being alert to the goodness of the Lord, we can surround ourselves and find that the earth is full…of the goodness of the Lord. Perhaps the best way to apply the doctrine of God’s goodness is to live a perpetually thankful life.  Jonathan Edwards

Do you have a secret life?  Most of us quickly answer NO!  But as we ponder deeper, often there are vague, small differences in our life at home and our life out in public! Since I have been a stay at home mom for several months, I'm adapting into a country lifestyle pretty well.  As the temperature heats up, my old fashioned sundresses work best for my daily attire.  Now that the garden is coming in, most days are spent putting up fresh vegetables.  Last week green beans came in...with abundance!  Fresh produce demands attention and waits for nothing, it must be dealt with immediately.  One day I had spent the day snapping beans and canning them.  There was a large bowl full of beans left to be snapped which would go into jars to be canned and then I would be finished with this day long job.  But as it happens, time got away from me and it was time to take my youngest to baseball practice.  Usually I make an ef...

I've wrote over At the Well today about grace in our marriages.  Grace is a process of receiving and in turn giving out.  Marriage is the perfect place to practice grace!!

This is the first week of summer vacation at our home.  School is done and we are transitioning into the lazy days of summer.  But, I can't seem to get a handle on things!  There are books to organize from our old homeschool year to the new year and they always seem to be on the kitchen table!  My husband is recovering from surgery and at home with us for a few weeks, which is very different from when he goes to work each day.  The garden continues to produce and vegetables sit all around waiting to be preserved.  Church obligations come fast and furious...cook for family breakfast, VBS, camp etc.... 'stuff' I need to deal with seems to be everywhere!   Clutter seems rampant and a million things that need to be done seem to scream at me. I need some order here!!! In the midst of these chaotic days, I do purposefully sit down to read God's Word each morning.  Being involved in a Summer Book Club, I am reading The Min...

Although I love to save money, I often do not take advantage of combining sales and coupons like I should.  Many people share how they regularly shop CVS and Walgreens weekly and stock up on essentials such as toothpaste, deodorant etc. for free. It can be done, but some weeks, I don't have the time to dig through to find the match of coupons and sales. This week I saw the ad for CVS and found a few items that I use were on sale.  I went for guidance to Southern Savers CVS page and found additional coupons that I had overlooked!  It takes strategic planning, but I'm headed to CVS and some of my bargains include Free Oral B Pulsar toothbrush 5 Vitamin Waters for $1.00 (after coupons and Extra Care Bucks) 2 John Frieda hair products - $6.00 Ban deodorant for $.24 and the plan is to finish up with $2.00 Extra Care Bucks in my pocket as I leave! On a good week, this is time and effort well spent!  

The theme for today’s Texture Tuesday is “Words”.  That is one of my favorite things!! I love to write, talk, share quotes and read.  Words are wonderful! But as a Christian, God’s Word is the most important thing to read.  Unlike regular words that are read or spoken, God’s Word can be imprinted on our hearts and lived out in our life.  In the Bible we find grace, mercy, comfort, help and guidance.  When His Words are written on our heart, we have life and hope to sustain us and love and grace to extend to others.  This picture was taken at a museum and then edited with a vintage/sepia tone and  “Paper Stained” texture added.   

This is the last week of our first year of homeschooling!  We made it!  Looking back over the year, my heart is full of thanksgiving for God’s great grace.  Have you ever been in the place where God calls you to do what you think is impossible?  Then with His grace and strength, He enables you to do it!  It has been a year full of new beginnings, new hobbies, learning and growing and I am so thankful! Some blessings this week I’m thankful for are: Gardening (another skill/blessing learned this year).  Our bounty of onions! Preserving onions for future use: A boy and his dog: Basket of canning goods to give away: Learning about and making healing muscle salve: Grandma’s quilt and the memories it holds: “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits,          The God of our salvation!  Selah”  Psalms 68:19 

This morning my  husband made the 'rotten bananas' comment to me again!  I keep bananas around and when they ripen, use them for baking.  It is a pet peeve of his to see brown bananas laying on the counter.  Although I've explained that if they turn a little brown, they are  not 'rotten', he can't get past the  sight of browning peel! It is also time for blueberries to come in around here.  So, since I had been pretty stingy with last year's blueberries, it is time to pull some out of the freezer and use them. I found a delicious sounding recipe for Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake I have in the oven right now!  It uses whole wheat flour along with all purpose for additional nutrition.  I'm also included another recipe for Banana Blueberry Cake which is super easy.  Scroll down for the easy one! Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake Streusel Topping: 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup old-fashio...

Eat your veggies!! We all know how important it is to eat and serve vegetables to our family. It is recommended to eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day.  By purposely incorporating fruits with breakfast and snacks and adding a vegetable or two with lunch and supper, our daily quota can  be met and our bodies gain needed nourishment for optimum health.  Once we decide to add more vegetables to the diet, there are ways to prepare them to make them more nutritous.  Here in the south, we were raised on vegetables that were either deep fried in fat (fried okra, fried squash, fried green tomatoes,  etc.) or cooked for hours (green beans, collard greens etc.).  Both methods almost completely ddepleted the nutritional value of the vegetables.  Here are a few ways to keep the nutritional content at its peak when preparing vegetables. Steaming:   Steaming is fast, preserves nutrients, and it works best for fresh and frozen ...