I’ve missed you! I apologize for being quiet for longer than usual. Yes, we got our daughter “graduated” and moved to another state for her internship. We had fun celebrations with her! Soon after, I had a ten-day jaunt to see family and friends. So, you can see that my absence was for good reasons. But, I did miss you and I’m happy to be back – hopefully with a more evenly-spaced blog posting schedule. 😉 Part of my time away was for our high-school girl’s trip we take each year – a group of seven women of which I’m blessed to be included. I tasted new recipes from some…
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Embracing Joy in the Hard Seasons
I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day! When it comes to embracing seasons, we don’t want to miss out on the beauty of our calendar seasons when we are in the midst of a hard season of life. We can get so bogged down with the tough seasons that the beauty in our surroundings can escape us if we’re not intentional with our focus. After missing the joy of spring last year, I was somehow surprised at the blessing of our daughter visiting two weeks ago and planting my porch pots with beautiful flowers. I wasn’t able to do that last year, and I’d nearly forgotten how much I…
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Are You One Of THOSE People?
Not too long ago, I realized I might be one of THOSE people. Do you know to whom I’m referring? Those people are extremists about whatever is their thing. Whatever your area or thing, are you afraid people see you as one of those? It occurs to me that, when people don’t quite understand why we do the things we do, they may see us as extremists. When we are serious enough about our Christianity, our health, or any other area of life, to make serious changes in our actions, people notice. As the saying goes . . . Actions speak louder than words. There was a time in my…
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7 Healthy Layers For Flavor-Filled Green Smoothies
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6) Now that spring has brought warmer weather, I’m back into making smoothies again – especially with my favorite ingredient – Chocolate. If you don’t want chocolate every day, the orange-flavored creamsicle smoothie is a flavorful option. It was a little harder to get excited about drinking these frosty, frothy concoctions during winter, but it’s not hard AT ALL in warm weather. I think you’ll love these green smoothie recipes featured today – two chocolates and the creamsicle. Yes, greens go into these smoothies, but they don’t all turn out to be green in color. …
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How To Know the Sky Isn’t Falling
Remember Chicken Little, repeating over and over, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling”? Do you ever feel that way inside – like it’s really happening in your life . . . our country . . . our society . . . our world today? Isn’t that the goal of most of today’s media – to make us feel a sense of doom and despair? Do you fear for your future here in the good ole’ US of A? If you are signed up to receive emails with gloom or conspiracy content, I suggest that you unscubscribe. Rather than listen to the news media hype, do something far better…
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Weekly Salad Prep Starters
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. (Proverbs 6:6-8) Hello, my friends! We had a wonderful weekend family reunion in Tennessee, and I got some large doses of Vitamin P. P is for pleasure, which gives us a shot of positivity, fun and laughter, good food, and great times with friends and family, making memories with those we love. I hope you had a great weekend, too. When thinking of Vitamin P when I’m at home for “regular” life…
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Flavorful Ten Veggie Salad, Easy ‘n Quick
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What Is Your Cup Of Trembling?
Sometimes we feel we deserve the trouble in which we find ourselves. That’s the case when we’re fully aware of our wrongful acts and intentions. When my children disobeyed, they had consequences. I made sure of it. What better way to teach them? Does that mean God does the same? God cares for us, His people . . . His children. Just like all children, we regularly mess up. The Old Testament shows how the Israelites, over and over again, followed the circular pattern of blessing — turning from God — eventual full rebellion — consequences — repentance — and back around to blessing. Full circle. I was drawn to…
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Flavorful Ten Veggie Salad, Easy ‘n Quick
Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. (1 Timothy 4:4) It’s very easy to survive at my house – as long as you like leafy greens and healthy veggies! Making a colorful, delicious salad begins way before putting it all into a bowl. It begins at the grocery store. Shop the produce aisle for color. First, we begin with four types of lettuce. Many grocers sell a mixture of pre-washed baby greens of some sort (and sometimes more than one choice). Look through the leaves and notice the different shapes and colors. I counted three different greens in my…
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Weekly Salad Prep Starters
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Spiritual and Physical Satiation
Therefore God’s people return there and drink it all in like water until they are satiated. (Psalm 73:10) As warm temperatures topped into the 70’s a couple of weeks back, I suddenly couldn’t resist the urge to set our tables for spring – both in the kitchen and in the dining room. With no guests expected, why was setting tables so important? (I had other things more pressing on my list, for sure!) For many months of last year, I didn’t set tables at all. After blogging for five years about lots of things in the home, like setting fun tables, God had taken me in this new direction of…
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Let Scars Be Your Reminder
Are you experiencing warm weather yet? I laughed at hubs last week because he appeared from the bedroom, dressed for the day . . . in shorts! Me? I still wear winter clothes, jackets, and even gloves. (I’ve always been cold natured, but this is getting ridiculous!) It’s a little warmer here, so hubs is anticipating hot temperatures ahead. When thinking of hot weather, I’m reminded that we’ll be wearing cooler clothing that allows more skin to show. That means, scars and other skin imperfections will be exposed. I have a long scar on my face, of all places, where it is always exposed. (Thanks to our dear Tennessee Walker,…
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3-Ingredient Easy Natural Shampoo
I don’t remember where I found this shampoo recipe last year, but I was in the process of learning the medicinal qualities of essential oils at that time in my tough season of illness. So many of our products sold in stores these days are loaded full of harmful chemicals under long, ambiguous names we don’t recognize as harmful. Since my shampoo recipe includes using essential oils, I thought I should spend some time covering some general information for you. The original recipe for my shampoo probably came from either Dr. Axe or from Dr. Eric Z. Dr. Eric Z at Natural Living Family is an expert, among other topics,…
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Bible Study Blessing or a Burden?
As I ran the vacuum this afternoon, I was pondering the fact that I haven’t published a blog post as usual today. Since this is Wednesday, I feel a burden to “get it done”, to “check that box” and not “let God down” on my commitment to be faithful to Him through my blogging. I haven’t been stressed about it per se. But, I do feel a responsibility similar to the keeping of my physical home. As I often laugh while doing “laundry for the Lord” or “toilets for Jesus” (as quoted by a friend long ago), those thoughts bring a new attitude. When we do what the Lord calls…
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Almond Joyous Healthy Hack
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8) Before we get all springy with making salads with fresh garden veggies, let’s pause to splurge on a sweet treat I relied on last Christmas. Why do you need this now? Well…..mostly because I shared the base to start this recipe last week – the Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk. The whole reason for that post last week was because I discovered quite by accident when making this candy that I was actually making the sweetened and condensed milk in the early steps of the process. So, for today, we…
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What We Say To The Hurting That Isn’t Actually Biblical
When you’re in a tough season, people struggle to know what to say. They want to comfort you, and they search for words that will bless you. Bless their hearts! They truly mean to help you . . . but sometimes miss the mark. Some have the gift of speaking loving truths into your life at just the right moment. But not all. What’s wrong with being honest? Why not say “I don’t have a clue what you are going through, but I am praying God will fix it.” Or, “I’m praying for you in your pain and grief.” (Or, we could do like my friend in this post.) Personally,…
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Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
“Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. (Proverbs 16:24) This dairy-free, refined sugar-free sweetened condensed coconut milk is the basis for some sweet treat recipes I’ll share in the future. This sweet concoction will healthfully replace your usual sweetened condensed cow’s milk. Hurrah! I learned over the Christmas holidays that it’s extremely hard to resist the unhealthy treats unless you have your own healthy alternatives within arm’s reach. If you allow yourself even a small amount of processed sugar, the cravings are ON! Don’t we regret the decision of one simple cheat resulting in a full-blown hard-to-resist pull of addiction? The cheats…
