I love Mother’s Day – not just because I’m a mother, it’s just a special, sentimental day. We get the opportunity to do something for our mom to tell her how thankful we are for all she is and all she does. If you don’t have a mother find another woman who has been a blessing to you and tell her so.

Mother’s Day is just a few days away. Have you found that special gift for your mom yet? If you don’t get your Mother’s day gift before the weekend rush, you might not survive the crowds in the stores! You have been forewarned! (That is for the men that are reading this.) 🙂

Some people are just so good at coming up with great gift ideas. I’m one who has to do some serious thinking. Perhaps your husband could use a tip (or two). Let me help…

Every woman likes having a little cash to spend. Here’s a clever way to give Mom some money, but also many sweet sentiments.

He grants the barren woman a home,Like a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD! Psalm 113:9

Need a card for Mom? Here’s a link for a down loadable one – FREE!

What mother wouldn’t love getting chocolate covered strawberries? How Does She? has step by step instructions on making these luscious treats!

Does Mom use thank you cards? Here’s another download for some cute ones!

If you can’t afford to send Mom to have a pedicure why not make up a little basket of the things she’ll need to give herself some pampering? This Sally Hansen product is supposed to do it all – strengthen, give color, be the base coat and top coat! Wow! Sounds good. Sally Hansen products can be found at Walmart and Walgreens – probably Target too. The gift could also include nail polish remover, nail file, buff, hand lotion, and cotton balls or pads for removing the polish.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Matthew 10:37

For years my husband has been telling this story using our names as the brunt of the joke:
A husband and wife, prior to marriage, decided that he’d make all the major decisions and she the minor ones. After 20 years of marriage, he was asked how this arrangement had worked. “Great! in all these years I’ve never had to make a major decision.” **Smile**

This month in our ladies’ Bible study we’ve had a lesson on the importance of our choices. We looked in Genesis 13 at the choice that Lot made when Abraham let him decide which piece of property he would like for his own. It seems that Lot’s men and Abraham’s men weren’t able to get along, so Abraham said, “There’s plenty of land here, you go one way and I’ll go the other. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right.” Lot looked up and saw the plain of Jordan and saw well-watered trees and lands. It must have been green, lush, and beautiful. You don’t read that Lot prayed for wisdom about this decision, he saw what he considered the best land and took it.

Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day. We had a dinner at church (sweet) to say goodbye to our music minister and his wife (bitter). They have been driving up to our church from Greenville, SC nearly every weekend for six years. We love them and will miss them greatly. What a blessing they have been!

For my contribution for the meal at church I made Greek Chicken, Corn pudding and Apple pie. The corn pudding reminds me of a dish some Mexican restaurants serve. It has a bit of a sweet taste, but it is a savory dish. This serves 8-10 easily. I made it up and baked it on Saturday, then warmed it before taking it to the dinner.

Here’s the finished dish…so good!

Homemade Apple Pie

I don’t follow a recipe for the pie itself, but if you need a crust recipe, I use this one from a dear lady that made wonderful pies. I watched her make pies with one hand in a cast! Her crusts were prettier than any I’ve made using both of my hands!

Two Crust Pie Dough

2 Cups flour

3/4 cup Crisco

1 tsp. salt

Blend with pastry blender until the Crisco is well incorporated into the flour

Ice Water (enough to make the dough hold together)

Add ice water and mix just ’til dough comes together. Don’t over handle it. Roll out.

I made my whole pie up early in the week, then rather than baking it then, I covered it and froze it. I pulled it out of the freezer and baked it on Saturday afternoon. We had a busy Saturday, so it was nice that the pie was ready to just pop into the oven!

I have a tiny apple cookie cutter that I used to make the embellishments on the crust.

What was cookin’ in your kitchen this weekend?

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without doubt, one of England’s greatest statesman.

Mother’s understand that kind of sacrifice. That’s the kind of love we have for our children. We would literally give our lives for them. Sometimes, however, we need to be reminded in the midst of the “blizzard” to stop and play in the snow with our child. I hope you understand my analogy. We certainly don’t stop in the middle of a dangerous situation and play, but the kind of blizzard that I’m referring to is the day to day routine of mothering.

We get everyone up, we fix three meals each day, we clean the house, we get the children off to school, or teach them at home, we fix scraped knees, return the overdue books to the library, buy the groceries, take the dog for his rabies shot, we shuttle the children to piano lessons, bake brownies for our daughter’s youth meeting, make sure that homework gets completed, get everyone off to bed, and then fall into bed ourselves completely exhausted. But as we look back on the day, we must ask: How many minutes in that very full day were spent just spending time being with your child, one on one, eyeball to eyeball, nose to nose, doing something just for fun?

I heard someone say “When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s difficult to keep your mind on the fact that your primary objective is to drain the swamp.” Those children are around you all day, swimming in your swamp and you stay so busy, but can I just encourage you to take time to be with them? I was challenged by this years ago when we attended Family camp. A dear lady encouraged moms to have “Mom and Me Time.” This was a daily time of thirty minutes devoted to one child. I wish I could say I was faithful to this every day all through their lives, but that is far from the truth, but I do have some very special memories of the times we spent together. I only had two girls, so I could easily spend time with each of them each day, but if you have many children, perhaps you need to spend thirty minutes a day with a different child – make your rounds!

The things we did in those thirty minutes varied each day, and changed as the girls grew older. But this isn’t just for little children – teens need to spend time with you just as much – perhaps even more! With young children you could:

• bake something, or work on a dish for the supper meal together, play a board game, play on the swing set, draw on the sidewalk with chalk, teach your child to play hopscotch, ride bikes, play badminton or H-O-R-S-E on the basketball court.

With an older child you could:

• Teach a daughter a hobby – scrapbooking, card making, sewing, or cake decorating (anything that interests her). Have her teach you something about the computer! Discuss a book you’re both reading – Set Apart Femininity, for example. Go to Starbucks and have a beverage and play a board game there. Play an outdoor sport such as tennis.
• Talk to your son about being a man, a leader and a gentleman. Have him teach you about his favorite sport. Jogging or walking together each day would be a great way to spend thirty minutes with your child, and be able to talk (if you can talk and exercise at the same time!)

The ideas are endless – the point is – just plan to have Mom and Me Time. Mark it into your schedule and make a plan for what you’ll do. Time together will build a strong relationship and will provide you with wonderful memories you’ll both treasure. The Scripture says, Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Make a sacrifice while your child is with you – you won’t believe how soon they’ll be gone.

With Love,

Last Saturday I had the privilege (and fun) of attending an interior decorating class entitled, “The Grand Entrance.” I’ve been looking for a way to meet people from the area, I love to learn about decorating, and the class was free, so I attended! The class was held at Gracious Designs, located in downtown Jonesborough, TN.

I don’t have a foyer in my house, and I honestly thought I wouldn’t be able to apply what I’d hear to my own home. I was wrong! The interior designer was so practical and full of good ideas. I thought I’d share with you the things she told us about creating a beautiful entryway to your home.

The entryway begins outside your house. Think about the driveway, the sidewalk or the door you walk through to get inside your home – that’s the area that you want to make appealing to those that would be arriving. As we think about the exterior entrance here are some thoughts to consider:

• Take time to clean – Wipe down cobwebs, sweep away dead leaves on the sidewalk, wash grimy windows, and polish tarnished doorknobs. These are the first impressions people get of your home. You never get a second chance to make a first impression!
• Grace the sidewalk with flowers. White flowers will reflect the light and even give a moonlight garden at night. Red and yellow flowers are the brightest flowers. You could also choose lavender, which is aromatic, as well as beautiful!
• Add a piece of seating at your entryway – a chair or a bench welcomes people to sit down and relax.
• Place a colorful rug at the door. Replace it as it becomes discolored.
• Hang a seasonal wreath on the door, or install a doorknocker on the door to make a beautiful statement to those entering.

Next our instructor gave us tips on the interior entrance way and how to make it grand. I was so excited after hearing these suggestions that I spent a couple of hours that evening rearranging things in my living room to create the look she described. So far I haven’t spent a dime to make these changes. I can’t promise I won’t purchase something in the future, though! 🙂 Here are her suggestions for the interior entry way:

• Your entry should be a postcard of the rest of your home. It should tell a story about who you are and what you love. For this reason, I placed a small Bible and a framed verse on the shelf – this tells those who enter that the Word of God is important to us and that we love the Lord!
• If you do not have a defined entry (like my living room), create one by using “floating furniture.” As in the picture below, you can create walls by putting a small table, a room screen or hall tree at the door. I took the bookshelf that had been against the wall next to the door and turned it perpendicular to the door. I also turned the chair’s back to the shelf to give it even more of a walled effect.
• Provide seating in the entry. A purse can be set down, or shoes can be put on or taken off here. I’m not crazy about this little bench, but it’s what I had and it works fine.

Below is the view coming into the front door. What you see in front of you can also be considered the entryway.

• All five senses should be stirred when you walk in.
• Smell – This is the first sense your sub conscience notices. A bowl of potpourri or a candle will give a pleasant fragrance.
  

• Taste – How do you taste an entryway? Have a bowl of candy there to offer your guests. See the little bowl with the pink wrapped chocolates in the picture below? Come visit and taste for yourself how good an entryway can be! A treat at the door just says, “I’m glad you came!”
• Sound – Have a CD player near where pleasant music can be played. A small table top fountain is also a relaxing sound. Wind chimes outside your door are another option. I like to turn Pandora.com on my laptop since my computer sits on my desk in the living room. This is another option for sound.
• Touch – Have a variety of textures. Add shiny glass, textured flowers or potpourri. Mix the smooth cabinet with a runner or other fabrics.
• Sight – Place a small lamp or candle there. In the picture below you can see a little tin light. That light also gives off potpourri fragrance from little potpourri rocks inside! I love this light. It was a gift from a dear friend, Vickie. I need to find out where she got it so you can find one for your house. It’s so cute and it smells so good!

Also included in sight is a mirror in the entryway. Have you ever walked into someone’s home after your hair has been blown every which way on the walk from your car? It’s nice to have a mirror for added reflection in the room, but also so guests can take a peek and see if something needs to be fixed! The little mirrors in the picture below were my solution to the mirror need. I had these tucked away. The bottom mirror is for those my height and the top is for those as tall as my husband, so I’ve think I got it covered!

The last picture is the way I turned both wing back chairs in order to create an entry way. It created conversation seating, and with the ottoman between the chairs and topped with a tray, it provides a place for cups or glasses.

I hope this gives you some good ideas of what you could do to create an inviting space in your entryway! What will you do first? Tell me about it!

Under His feathers,