Joyfull Living

Today's topic for Marriage Monday is " Our Honeymoon: Enough Memories to Last a Lifetime” where honeymoon memories are shared!  After 20 years of marriage, our honeymoon is a cherished memory deep down in my heart hidden under some newlywed years, babies and the realities of life.  In fact, I had to dig into the photo album to clearly remember all the details of where we went!  My wedding/honeymoon was different and a bit bittersweet in the fact that my father passed away suddenly eight days before our wedding.  Realizing that my father would want me to continue on in my new life, we went forward with our plans.  Between the stress of planning a wedding, the grief from losing my father, the worry about my family, the time going away for rest and renewal was a needed blessing.  It was more than a "honeymoon of pleasure", but was a beautiful transition into my new path life.   Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures, my scanner was acting...

Friday With Friends is hosted by Jennifer over at Trading Ashes For Beauty .  Friday With Friends is a time to relax and enjoy getting to know one another through the blogging world!  For today we are encouraged to share a memory of school days and perhaps a favorite teacher. Some of my first thoughts were "oh my, that was a long time ago...", but instantly my favorite teacher came to mind.  Miss Polley was my third grade teacher and a blessing truly sent from the Lord. It was during my third grade year that my home life seemed to get turned completely upside down.  I had been raised in a loving home with a father who owned his own business and did well financially and a mother who stayed at  home with my brother and I.  We faithfully attended church and I was blessed to attend a Christian school from pre-k till then.  Through a few wrong influences, my father began making poor choices that escalated into consequences of losing his business, many...

Last week I attended a coupon workshop and was greatly inspired to work harder to save money on our household budget.  After hearing the workshop leader speak and also doing some research on my own, it is true that there are abundant coupons "out there" and many ways to save money.  Of course it does takes some time and effort!   My first step was preparing a coupon organizer to hold my coupons, grab a Sunday paper and clip away, then go prepared with the store sale flyer and match items on sale with the coupons I had.  Now I didn't do a "big" grocery shopping trip, but just a small trip to Publix to match the items I needed with the money saving techniques I had learned.  I spent $25.74 on my items, but saved over $41.00 by combining store sales with coupons! That certainly inspired me to make this a part of my shopping routine.   Since I don't have a lot of time to pore over coupons and match up deals with sales, what a  blessing it is ...

The lily in this picture is from my yard.  Through the years I transplanted some beautiful lilies from my mother’s yard and from my husband’s grandmother’s yard.  Both of these wonderful women have passed away, but each spring these lilies bloom and provide a beautiful reminder of the many ways that they touched and impacted our lives.   In Psalms 78 God’s Word encourages us to pass on to each generation the praises of God and to tell of His strength, power and glorious works. Generations are to remember God’s faithfulness and keep alive the faith and hope in Him.  We will not hide them from their children,          Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,          And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. That the generation to come might know them,          The children who would be born, That...

Over at I♥Faces they hold weekly photo challenges.  This is my first time entering this week’s challenge which is “Barefoot Week”.  This photo was taken when my family decided one day to take a quick walk on the river.  As we were walking, I looked down and noticed we didn’t have anywhere near “proper hiking footwear” for our little jaunt!  But we had a great time and I captured a great memory.

I absolutely love the convenience of prepared cleaning wipes for the bathroom, kitchen etc. But, my budget does not let me indulge in this very often!  I recently found some recipes for homemade cleaning wipes for a variety of uses:   For each of these recipes, you'll need: 1/2 roll Bounty Select-A-Size paper towels (or Viva can be used, but most others will turn to mush quickly) 1 plastic airtight container (like Rubbermaid) to hold the paper towels One of the following solutions: Baby Wipes: 2 Tbsp. baby lotion, 2 Tbsp. baby bath/body wash, 2 cups water Face Wipes: 2 Tbsp. baby bath/body wash and 2 cups water Bathroom Disinfectant Wipes* : 1/2 cup pine cleaner and 1 1/2 cups water. I have also used the rectangle baby wipe container and poured alcohol over the wipes for bathroom cleaning and disinfecting. Glass/Multi-Surface Wipes: 1 1/2 cups glass cleaner and 1/2 cup water Bug Wipes: 1 cup Avon Skin-So-Soft and 1 cup water ** For disinfecting wipes, check t...

Happy Memorial Day!  So often we eagerly look forward to a three day weekend filled with rest, relaxation and family time.  In our eagerness to celebrate we may not accurately remember or  pay attention to the why we are celebrating: But Memorial Day is set aside  as an American holiday to commemorate United States men and women who died while in military service. It was started after the Civil War and was expanded after World War I. It was once called Decoration Day honoring those who gave their lives in military service to our country.  So as we do enjoy the activities of family and free time this weekend, may we also remember the sacrifice given. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13