Family Friday

January 6, 2017January 6, 2017 RefreshHer4 Comments

country-road-family-friday

Welcome to a new feature on my blog – Family Friday. I’m beginning this weekly post because one great passion that I have is for the HOME. Home isn’t the structure in which you live, it’s the people – your family that makes it a home. But the truth is, there are lots of hard things in every family.

Strained marriages
Financial woes
Parenting stresses
Busy schedules
Miscommunication
In-laws
Rebellion
Sin

How do we keep home a happy place? Is it even possible? Home will never be a perfect place, but yes, a happy home is possible. I know that it is, based on God’s Word.

So, I’m dedicating Friday’s to Family issues. From fun date ideas to parenting issues, I am going to strive to give you some encouragement. It’s not because my home is perfect – as I said earlier, none are! But based on the fact that home is God’s gift, and His Word is our manual, we can learn what He says about creating a happy home. Let’s open God’s Word each Friday and get some practical helps that we can apply to our families.

There’s no better time than the present, so let’s start with an idea that will encourage your marriage.

winter-date-night

Fireplace Date – Cold winter nights need a fire.

Find somewhere where you can sit by a fireplace – Home, Starbucks, Panera – anywhere there’s a fireplace!
Fix/Buy a hot beverage and a baked good to share
Have some fun with one of these activities:
- Take a game with you to play -Dice for Farkle, Card game, Scrabble tiles for Bananagrams, etc. Some Starbucks have board games available for you to use in their store.
- Before the date night, write up a list of questions on 3×5 cards. Flip one over at a time and ask your spouse to answer. Here are 25 to get you started! I found these great questions on the Internet – one place was Intoxicated on Life. 1. What are some books you’ve really enjoyed?
  2.       What books would you like to read sometime?
  
  3.       What are your favorite foods?
  
  4.       What did you want to be when you grew up?
  
  5.       What are some of your favorite memories from your childhood?
  
  6.       What are some of the more difficult memories from your childhood?
  
  7.       What are your favorite hobbies?
  
  8.       What did your parents teach you that you appreciate now?
  
  9.       What did your parents say or do that you found difficult?
  
  10. Who is someone that inspires you?
  
  11. What do you like us doing together?
  
  12. What would you like to do together in future, just the two of us?
  
  13. What would you like to do together in future, all of us with the kids too?
  
  14. What is your favorite passage of Scripture?
  
  15. What is your favorite memory verse?
  
  16. What are your greatest strengths?
  
  17. What are your greatest weaknesses?
  
  18. What overwhelms you?
  
  19. What is concerning you?
  
  20. What are you fearful of?
  
  21. What is the best marriage you’ve ever seen modeled?
  
  22. When did you first know you loved me?
  
  23. Who are the heroes you look up to?
  
  24. What is your earliest childhood memory?
  
  25. What is your greatest regret?
- Make a list of things to do on future date nights
Dress in a way that will show you care. Add a little makeup. Fix your hair.
Hold hands, snuggle up and create a little fire of your own!

I’m open to topics for future Family Friday posts! Do you have a suggestion or request? I’d love to hear your ideas, or if this was helpful today.

Keep your marriage refreshed by having a date night!

Denise Signature 150 px

Christmas · dessert · home · refreshment at home

Simplifying Christmas Prep in the Kitchen

December 9, 2016December 9, 2016 RefreshHer1 Comment

christmas-kitchen-1

The kitchen is a busy place in most homes during Christmas. In order to keep it fun and not a drudgery, I’ve come up with six ways to simplify your work, so you can still be (L)oven your kitchen by the time December 25th arrives!

Get dinner in the crock pot first thing in the morning on a day when you know you’re going to be doing a marathon baking event. That way you won’t have to stop your progress to fix a meal. It will also keep your oven free for those cookies!
Get any cookie dough that has to be refrigerated into the fridge on one day, and then bake the cookies the next day. If you do all the mixing on one day and the rolling and baking on the next you won’t be as worn out!
When you have a few extra minutes, fill a Ziploc bag with the dry ingredients for the cookies, sweet breads, or muffins you’re going to bake in the near future. Label the bag. Then on the day when you mix up the dough, you’ll simply have to pour and stir! You’ve created your own baking mix!!
Keep hot, soapy water in the kitchen sink. As you work, put your baking utensils in the water. Wash them up when the dough is complete, or the cookies are in the oven. The kitchen will be clean when you’re finished and you can turn off the light and go take a hot bath!
Enlist in help! If you have children, let them put the sprinkles on, crush the candy canes, or chop the nuts (with a hand chopper).
You could also invite some friends (or your grown daughters/daughters-in-law) over and have each one bring the ingredients for a cookie recipe. Work together on one recipe at a time. You won’t believe how fast the work goes! Divide the spoil between each of you when you’re finished.
Make some treats that require NO BAKING – (like these Chocolate Peanut butter stacks that we LOOOOVE. Recipe below)
There are many other No-Bake options –

If you haven’t had these and you’re a chocolate and peanut butter fan, trust me when I say that you need these in your life!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Stacks

Ingredients:
Ritz crackers
Peanut butter
Chocolate bark

Instructions:
Spread crackers with peanut butter, top with another cracker. Dip crackers into melted chocolate bark.I melt my chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted. Set cookies on waxed paper until chocolate hardens.

By simplifying things in the kitchen, you’re also staying refreshed during a busy time of the year!

Happy baking,

Denise Signature 150 px

Christmas decor · Crafting · home · Home decor · seasonal decor

Simple Christmas Decor In My Kitchen

December 2, 2016December 1, 2016 RefreshHerLeave a comment

Happy December, y’all! I’m in full decorating mode and almost finished!!

I shared with a friend that I was decorating, and she lamented that she didn’t really have places to put decorations because their home is filled with people, rather than furniture (which is a really great thing!). As I thought about her statement, I thought that there are lots of ways to add Christmas decor or touches that don’t require lots of space. Let me show you a few pictures of my kitchen and I think you’ll see what I mean.

christmas-counter

I added a small basket of ornaments on my cookbooks that I use as a platform for my lamp. Just a simple ornament tied to a lamp, doorknob, or coat hook adds a touch of Christmas! That picture has a sheet of metal in the frame so I can use it as a magnetic board. I change out the picture with the seasons, using an old Susan Branch calendar.

Christmas cabinet.jpg

If you have open cabinetry, it’s the perfect home for Christmas decor! I don’t have a lot above my cabinets, but every Christmas I put these blocks up on top. I made mine at our church’s Pinterest party a few years ago by simply free-handing the letters and Christmas tree on the blocks.

christmas-pantry

The wreath above is hanging on my pantry door. I added fruits, pine cones and a cookie cutter. You could add a wreath to any room or door inside or outside without taking up one inch of needed space!

Christmas buffet.jpg

This table is in my dining room. I’m still working on this space, but as seen in the things I edited onto my photo,like a little greenery, or seasonal cups and saucers, the room looks ready for Christmas!

christmas-candle

Lastly, making your home smell like Christmas is another way to create the holiday atmosphere in your home without taking up much space at all. A plug-in fragrance, a candle, potpourri or simmering pot of citrus and cinnamon would all be great. My sweet neighbor brought me this Yankee candle, and if you want your house to smell amazing, you need one of these! This is Iced Gingerbread. (Right now you can buy one large candle and get one FREE!)

All of my decor are just simple touches – nothing elaborate at all. Refreshing your home for Christmas can be minimal, yet make your home special for your family.

If you need some other ideas for decorations that don’t require much space, here are a few more ideas…

Candy canes in your current decor – baskets floral containers, or a glass jar.
Holiday linens – Place mats, tablecloths, napkins, dish towels
Slipcover couch pillows with Christmas/winter slipcovers.

Make a pinecone garland to hang anywhere – you don’t have to have a mantle!
Print off free printables. Frame and hang!

25 free Christmas printable:

Have you started your decorating for Christmas? What’s your favorite way to add a touch of Christmas to your kitchen?

Each week in December I’ll be posting ideas to help you simplify Christmas. The next post will be on Wednesday in the form of a video. I hope you’ll stop in to hear the six ideas I’ll be sharing!

Stay refreshed,

Denise Signature 150 px

Family life · home · Marriage

Monday Marriage Matters November Recap

November 30, 2016November 29, 2016 RefreshHerLeave a comment

Another month of Marriage pictures and posts are now behind us. This is my weekly attempt to intentionally pour into my marriage, because my marriage matters to God, and it must matter to me, too.

I’ll describe the pictures from left to right.

It is essential for every couple in every stage of their marriage to take time to take inventory of their relationship. We attended a couple’s conference last week to do just that even though we were busy and maybe didn’t really have the time to do it. We needed it and it was a blessing!
Dale captured this picture when we were home visiting my parents for Thanksgiving. After 62 years of marriage, they are still tender and affectionate with one another. I see my husband watching. and observing their relationship and emulating what he sees. I am thankful for the example and the challenge to make our marriage even better in the second half.
I’ve heard people say that a happy marriage is made up of two forgivers. Humbling myself to say, “I’m sorry for being selfish” is a difficult position, but a necessary one. I’m Thankful for a forgiving God and a gracious husband. My marriage is more important than my pride.
This picture just makes me laugh!! When people see how crazy this guy is, they assume that our lives are constantly filled with nothing but laughter and knee-slapping moments. That’s very far from the truth, of course, and life is filled with all the trials and struggles that everyone else faces. But I am thankful that there are times of laughter that make the hard times easier to face and that we get to share those moments together.
Holding hands and praying is one of the BIG reasons we have a happy marriage. We both know how desperate we are for the Lord’s help. We cannot be what we ought to be unless we cry out for God’s intervention. I’m so thankful for a husband who takes me to the Throne of Grace over and over again!

Even if you’re not posting pictures of what you do to pour into your marriage, I trust that you’re making intentional efforts to make your marriage better every day. If you put it on auto pilot, you will end up in a place you don’t ever want to be!

What have you done today to show your mate that your marriage matters?

Denise Signature 150 px

entertaining · Gifts · home · Thanksgiving

Being the Best Guest/Best Hostess

November 23, 2016November 23, 2016 RefreshHer4 Comments

doors 1.jpg

If you’re blessed enough to be a guest in someone’s home for Thanksgiving tomorrow, let me remind you of a few things that will make your hostess sorry to see you leave!

Take a thoughtful Hostess gift – even if you’re going to your mom’s! It doesn’t have to be expensive – just thoughtful. Here are some ideas:
- Tea Towel – A Christmas one she can use right away would be nice!
- A Bag of coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate – Find something they’d love. Maybe include a couple pretty mugs (unless the already have 1,000,000,000,000)
- Homemade cookies or muffins on a pretty platter they can keep.
- Homemade bread wrapped on a cutting board they can keep.
- Delicious smelling candle – Those 3-wick candles are wonderful!
- Box of chocolates
- Guest book
- Holiday magazines, slipper socks and packages of hot chocolate so she can relax after the crowd has gone home!
Offer to help and then stick around and do it. Don’t say, “Let me know if I can do anything and then leave the room. Offer to:
- Wash up any dishes in the sink
- Fill glasses with ice
- Pour beverages
- Cut the pies
Keep your children in tow. In other words, keep them from destroying your host’s home. Bring things for them to play with while the meal is being prepared and keep them out of the hostess’s way. Teach them to respect the property of the host. We recently had little ones in our home (2 and 4) and you hardly knew they were in the house. They played with toys, chatted, obeyed their parents, and were a joy to entertain!
If you’re staying overnight, remove the sheets from the bed the morning you leave and fold them and stack them on the washer. Remake the bed without the sheets and leave the room tidy. Place wet towels and washcloths on the washer, too.
Let the hostess rise in the morning and have a few minutes to get things together for breakfast. It’s nice to get the coffee going and breakfast laid out before guests are staring at you! =)
Don’t stay longer than you’d arranged. Leaving promptly is as gracious as arriving promptly.

Now if you’re going to be the hostess, here are a few reminders that will keep your guests wanting to return:

Have something your guests can snack on before the meal is ready. Crackers and cheese, a veggie tray or chips and salsa would be great.
Be prompt with the mealtime. If you invite your guests for dinner at 1:00 don’t be peeling the potatoes then. The gravy should be ready to pour at 1:00. There’s nothing worse than wondering when the meal is going to be ready.
Think ahead about who will be there. If little ones are coming, make it as easy on the parents as you can.
- Have a place for the children to sit so they’ll be comfortable and won’t have the parents worrying that they’re going to destroy your white covered dining room chairs.
- Put away anything you don’t want broken.
- Have a little stash of toys you can bring out for the children to play with.
- Set a table just for the children. Include crayons and coloring place mats and fun treats.
Provide snacks in the room for overnight guests. Packages of crackers, granola bars and water bottles are sufficient. Pieces of fruit would be nice, too.
Provide your Internet password for overnight guests.
Let them know exactly where the towels and washcloths are. Keep your pretty “untouchable” towels stashed away. Nothing like standing at the sink with drippy hands wondering which towel to use!
Have breakfast foods prepared and frozen. The night before, put breakfast foods out so your guests can help themselves. Set out coffee cups and creamers, too.
Make your home inviting by playing soft music and lighting candles.
Be interested in your guests. Ask them questions and listen with caring ears. Have prayer together before they leave.

I’ve had the blessing of having VERY gracious guests, and I’ve also been the recipient of VERY gracious hostesses. Let’s each put our best foot forward and strive to be a blessing – no matter if we’re on the giving or receiving end of the Thanksgiving Day celebration!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!!!

With a grateful heart,

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