Find refreshment for your heart, home and life
I’ve shared often that I love looking at the answered prayers marked in my prayer journal and many of you asked how I set it up, or what I use. Today I’m giving you a tour of my journal via the video below! I hope this will answer your questions and set you on the path to the blessing of much prayer!
Leave any questions you may have in the comment section. Don’t forget to email me at RefreshHerblog@gmail.com if you would like the download for the prayer journal!
The holidays are over and it’s time to pack away all the glittery décor into their red and white plastic containers and let them camp out in the attic.
Sigh.
Taking down the Christmas decorations wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t leave our homes looking as plain as a gingerbread house straight out of the cardboard box!
At least that what it can feel like.
My attempt at redecorating after Christmas is to think “winter.” I ask myself what we see outside in the wintertime and try to incorporate those elements into my home. I’ve taken pictures around the living spaces of my house to give you some ideas as to how I did that. Maybe it will inspire you might do the same.
Here we go!
Add layers onto your furniture just as you would your body. It’s gives the look of warmth and coziness. Quilts and throws on chairs and the sofa and also tucked into baskets are ready for folks to pull around them on those frigid days. Runners, place-mats, and tablecloths are other layers on the furniture that add warmth to a winter home.
Add lots of low lights – candles, hospitality lamps, plug-in’s, and battery-operated strands are all great for adding the warmth that light adds. I put a string of battery-operated star lights inside this basket, just for the soft glow it adds!
If you have chalkboard signs, design one that’s appropriate for the season.
A hot chocolate bar all set and ready for use is a welcomed sight on a cold winter afternoon or evening!
I love these little wooden coffee spoons I found at Hobby Lobby. I think they’re perfect for stirring a cup of hot chocolate!
Here’s another chalkboard design for anytime of the year. Oh, we need the Lord, don’t we?!
Add fresh greenery from your grocery store floral department. It can make things feel more alive!
A heart dish holding pine cones will welcome in Valentine’s Day!
There are lots of other elements you could add like,
Don’t let your house be cold and uninviting during these winter months! There are lots of ways to cozy it up while we wait for the tulips to start popping through the frozen earth!
Do you make a conscientious effort to transition from Christmas to winter décor? How so?
If you’re a regular reader of Refreshher, you’re noticing a big change in the way my blog looks today! I felt it was looking tired and needed to be refreshed. So, with a bit of a nervous stomach (would I lose everything on my blog?!), I set out to change its appearance. I’ve been wanting to do this for some time, and I finally took the plunge.
I have to admit that I had help! Whitney, my daughter from Come Home for Comfort was here visiting and helped walk me through the process. She made it much easier to click the tabs that would bring about the change!
This blog is committed to helping others refresh their hearts, homes and lives.. With a brand new year before us, maybe it’s time to stop and look carefully around you and see what needs to be refreshed in your life. I’m not just talking about updating a blog’s appearance, but at the things that are at the very core of your life – your surroundings, your routines, the presentation of your home, for starters.
I remember that even the simple task of reorganizing tools in a drawer in my kitchen last year made baking so much easier! Sometimes just a small change can turn even the most simple things into pleasures! How could change in these three areas specifically help you in this new year?
Ask the Lord to bring godly, wise people into your path, and then glean from their wisdom so you can bring the changes that are necessary in 2018!
I get excited now when I open up my blog home page and see the new, fresh look! What changes are you ready to make?
P.S. Thanks for your help Whitney!! You always inspire me!
Happy New Year Friends! I missed posting and interacting with you last week, but it was nice to have a little vacation with my family over the holidays! I hope your Christmas and New Year were memorable and special! More about that later this week, but let’s get on with a new recipe, shall we?
One favorite theme at the holidays is the food, right? Maybe you’re limiting yourself from certain food groups now that the celebrations are over, but if you have children in your life, I have to share a new French Toast Stick recipe that I made for my grandsons and we ALL loved!
French Toast sticks that you buy frozen are usually tough, but these are soft and easy for little ones to hold and chew. Take a look!
This came from another Gooseberry Cookbook, which are some of my favorites!
French Toast Sticks
4-5 Slices bread
3 C Rice crispy cereal, crushed
1 T Sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 C Milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 C butter, Melted
Cut each slice of bread into 4 strips. Combine crushed cereal, sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.
Mix together eggs, milk, vanilla and salt in another bowl. Dip each bread stick into egg mixture and then (quickly) remove and dip into sugar coating. Place sticks on an ungreased 13 x 9 baking pan, pour melted butter over top. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Makes 16 – 20 sticks.
I served these with warm syrup. Yum! They were scrumptious!
Prep the ingredients the night before for a quick breakfast in the morning. Then when you’re ready to bake, do the dipping into the egg and cereal mixtures and place in the oven.
Now, don’t you wish it was time for breakfast???!!!!
Our family had so much fun the day before Thanksgiving having family photos made in the field behind our country house. The farmer hadn’t cut his hay yet, making it the perfect backdrop. I wish I could show you all of them, but for sake of our little guys in foster/adoption process, I can’t show you their faces, so you’ll have to settle with just my photo with my husband, Dale!
This is our 36th Christmas as a married couple. You know what we say to each other?
I like you.
And
We like us.
I really do like him.
A lot!
Of course I also love him, but liking someone means you
accept them for just who they are,
look more at their good qualities than their faults,
smile when you know the punchline of the joke they’re telling (again),
serve them when you’re tired,
listen when they talk,
smile when you catch them looking your way,
and stay together for as many Christmases the Lord gives you together because you never know which one will be the last.
Yeah, we like us. And we look forward to spending time together this Christmas. Our girls are spending the holiday with their in-laws and because we really do like “us” we will have a great time together! We won’t be sad, because we’re back to where we started all those 36 years ago, and WE LIKE IT!
Merry Christmas to each of you! Rejoice in Christ and let all the things troubling you fade into the background as you keep your eyes on Him! I’ll see you after the holidays are over!!
RefreshHer 