Joyfull Living

In my early years of parenting, I read some advice that I put into practice.  It went along the lines of when young children were being disciplined for disobedience that the children must understand what they did wrong and a thorough discussion must be given for them to understand what they did wrong and to avoid the same mistakes in the future.  I found out that this one area was one I could do well!!  Talk and explain so they could understand what they did wrong?? Yep!  I nailed it!  And I continued this tradition for many years.  Through toddlers, pre-school, school age we talked things over. I found pre-teens and teenagers seemed to need a little more attention  and the issues got a bit more complicated, so I explained in detail....even more!  And to make sure they understood, it would be sit down, look eye to eye and they were expected to graciously receive my wisdom.  Now, this technique worked well for smaller children, but quic...

Congratultions to Miss Debbie for winning the brownie pack!  Thanks to all who entered!

PineCone Research is a paid survey opportunity that now has openngs for new applicants.  Here is a ltitle bit of information about them :" PineCone Research is at the forefront of "online research", today's sophisticated and leading-edge approach to gathering consumer opinions. Consumer input is vital to the development of new and improved products. Traditional survey methods, although effective, can be inconvenient and time consuming. Online research helps solve this dilemma. With online research, you can answer surveys from the comfort and convenience of your own PC and at a time that is convenient for you." Here is a some information about how it works from the PineCone website: We will notify you by email of upcoming product surveys. •You will be provided with a password which will enable you to access the survey at a designated website. •We will pay for completed product evaluation surveys. •Occasionally we may ship you a product to test. •Project e...

Today’s Texture Tuesday’s theme is free choice!  My first thoughts gravitated to a fall mountain picture from last year’s vacation or some kind of floral shot.  But creativity thinks beyond what is comfortable!! So today’s picture is based on what is going on in our home – FOOTBALL!  With our youngest son playing little league football and our older sons spending every evening (it seems!) in front of the tv watching the game, football seems to rule at our home right now! Textures added were:  November, Magic Scratches and Thursday.

Are you an organizer?  Does everything have it's place in your home?  This is one of my aspirations and I have been relentless in finding a technique that works for me!!  Probable every woman would answer that order is important in the home, but how do we find order out of chaos?  In my quest for order, I have tried everything from a book that schedules every hour of the day to home management binders, to meal planners, tons of printables for notes and to dos.  Still, perfect order eludes me.  Do you know about " Principle and Methods"?   A principle is "a basic truth, general law or doctrine used as a basis of reasoning or a guide to actions and behavior".   A method is "a procedure or way of doing something".   Among the Christian community, especially women, we share many principles, but the methods will vary widely.  God's Word instructs us to be the keeper of our homes, which is a principle we hold, but there are inn...

On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. Constitution Day is a time for us to continue their legacy through our citizenship. I found a  great site to share as we celebrate U.S. Constitution Day 2011, the 224th anniversary of our nation's founding document. First, here are some fascinating facts about the Constitution:  Did you know? · The U.S. Constitution has 4,400 words. It is the oldest and shortest written Constitution of any major government in the world. · Of the spelling errors in the Constitution, “Pensylvania” above the signers’ names is probably the most glaring. · Thomas Jefferson did not sign the Constitution. He was in France during the Convention, where he served as the U.S. minister. John Adams was serving as the U.S. minister to Great Britain during the Constitutional Convention and did not attend either. · The Constitution was “penned” by Jacob Shallus, A Pennsyl...

It has been said that sons hold your hand for a short time, but will hold your heart forever.  As a mom to three sons, this surely rings true! For years I have prayed for my sons.  The tools of prayer calendars, biblical prayers, qualities to pray for children and others found a place in a notebook and are refereed to often.  Of course the greatest 'mommy prayer' is for their safety and protection.  Any mom will understand that one! This year, another prayer need for sons has been brought to light in my heart, but it is not so pleasant.  The need for COURAGE.   All boys and men need courage.  But courage is not taught in words, but gained through action - tough action that only that little boy can do.  Mom can't hold his hand and walk him through it, but she must sit on the sidelines as courage develops in the heart and mind and a battle is fought and conquered - on his own. Courage grows as fears are faced and overcome....

Today’s Texture Tuesday’s theme is “Do”.   That seemed to be a little hard to come up with for me.  Then, over the weekend, I found these two cuties “doing" nothing but enjoying themselves and loved the reminder that sometimes we just need to just be instead of do , or just do while being still and enjoying life!   Then, since I couldn't make up my mind which picture I liked, I edited them both the same way! Both photos were edited in Sepia Tone and the textures added were “Autumn Burst”, “Serious Magic” and “Warm Sun” were used. 

Today's Marriage Monday's topic is " Communication".   A pretty hot topic for marriage huh?  We all know men and women communicate differently and that it brings clarity and better understanding if we study these differences. Normally, women are known to be 'talkers'.  They love to share emotion, thoughts, desires and long for connection.  Men seem to like to talk less and are perfectly satisfied to receive only the point of the matter - the cold facts! Here are a five quick differences: 1. Women’s brains are always “on.” There is more neural activity in the female brain at any given time than in the male brain. 2. Men just want the facts.   Men usually ask fewer questions to stimulate conversation in their work relationships and often end conversations more abruptly than women. 3. Women focus on friendship first. Women tend to build relationships when they sell. They don’t tend to go into a transaction focused on the final outcome but wantin...

One day last week, we heard the noise of an airplane circling around and around.  Now, in the country, this is a very unusual sound and my first instinct was to hide under the bed!  But curiosity got the best of us and we peeked out the window to see a crop duster plane.  These are small planes that ‘dust’ or spray fertilizer on fields of crops.  The plane was dusting a field nearby and turning around right over our  heads!  Of course we grabbed our camera: This interested my son so much, he took a video!!  Here is a crop dusting demonstration:

I'm over At the Well today sharing about a lesson I learned from a new set of pots!  Hint...old brides are never too old for a shot of freshness in the marriage!!  Come read about it HERE!

This week’s challenge picture for Texture Tuesday came from a special moment at home recently.  My 10 year old son came to get me with one of those “come look” pleas.  Not really wanting to stop what I was doing, told him no, but after he insisted, I went and he had found this butterfly gathering nectar from a flower head just like we had read about in the science book and he had wanted to show me! For the texture challenge I used Crackerjack along with Just Cause and Pourvous.  Capturing a beautiful moment and then working to enhance it with texture!  This made my week!

Today is September 1!!  Every year when this date rolls around, it brings a spark of joy to my heart.  I just love September!  Autumn is my favorite time of the year and in the deep south where August temperatures are brutal, September holds the promise that this intense heat will soon give way to more manageable weather.  It is almost in sight when we can spend evenings in the yard in the cool of the evening, catching balls with the boys, doing yard work which is totally abandoned during the summer months, sitting on the swing reflecting on the blessings of daily life or taking an evening walk while enjoying spectacular sunsets.  To celebrate September, today I searched for some desktop wallpapers for September.  Here are some cute ones I found: Revive Our Hearts - Beautiful wallpaper to delight the eyes and a Scripture to see every day to lift up the heart. Leelou Blogs offers an adorable computer desktop calendar for September.  If you are cr...