School, Seasons and Sad Momma’s

August 25, 2017August 25, 2017 RefreshHer7 Comments

I want to take just a minute to encourage moms today. From one who has been there, I realize that this time of year can be an emotional roller coaster for women who may feel they aren’t needed in their children’s lives quite like prior years. My only longing is to give a biblical perspective to guide a mom’s heart. So, here we go…

Late August can only mean one thing for children – school is back in session. For some of their momma’s, there is relief of no more slamming screen doors, frantic baseball schedules and camp-bound teens. They greet the fall and its changes with a happy sigh and open arms.

But for some moms, this school session brings sadness because they’re not just staring at lunch boxes and back packs; they’re staring at the changes it has brought. Perhaps…

One child has left home to head to their first year of college.
A daughter is in their last year of elementary school.
A son is in his last year of junior high.
All children are out of school and out of the home due to graduation and/or marriage.

The type of changes could go on and on, but the truth is, every year we live is going to be full of what we often stiff-arm – a change in the seasons of our life. Here’s a beautiful reminder in God’s Word in Ecclesiastes 3 about the seasons of our lives:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

²A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

³A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

God has given us a mother’s heart to love our children, to love parenting and nurturing them, so how are we to deal with an end or a change of those seasons? How can we find joy and a reason to move on when our role is different and we don’t feel quite as useful or needed as a mom?

Think on Truth. We are commanded in Philippians 4:8 to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. Therefore, if I let myself constantly think about those early days of my child’s life, and how much I miss when my girls were toddlers on teenagers, all I have to do is look into their current photos to realize that that is not the truth for today. Today they are grown, married and moving on in God’s will.Thinking about the truth of today could remind us that our kids are maturing; they’re developing into people that can serve God. Are they doing what we raised them to do, to serve and love God? Wonderful! Praise His name! If they’re away from the Lord, we can remind ourselves of the Truth that the Word we poured into them will not return void. God loves them more than we do and is pursuing them. What comfort Truth gives!
Enjoy the memories of former days with a proper perspective. Isn’t God gracious to allow us the blessing of being able to remember those past seasons? It’s fun to flip through photos and recall the years now behind us. But while you’re recalling those times, be honest with yourself and remember that those days also brought some hardships.We home-schooled our girls almost completely through, meaning I was a home-schooling mom for twenty years. While I loved it and was thankful for the opportunity to pour into my girls’ lives, I remember days when I just wished I could go to Walmart alone! Some days I tired of dissecting earthworms and reading book reports. It’s easy to focus on the highlights and get discontented with here-and-now. Be real when you’re looking back.
Honor your children and God when you reflect. If this next description is you, I honestly mean no ill, but I ask you to consider the reality for a minute. What adult wants their mom to post pictures or comments about their child, desiring that they were “a little boy once again?” I’m sure none of us would have wanted our mother-in-law to post toddler pictures of our husband because that’s how she wished she could see him. What girl wants to be remembered today as only what she was many years ago? If we really want to honor our children and be respectful of them (and their spouse, if they’re married) we will remember those former days only in our heart, and not on social media. Being considerate of their maturity is one small way to honor who they are today.How can we honor God in the way we remember our past seasons? Don’t think that your best days of serving Him was when you had children at home, or when they were littler, or more needy of you. Do you have a mate? Are you pouring as much energy and time into him? Each year as your children need you less, transfer that energy to your husband. If you have a ministry at church, give it your all. Find a younger woman to mentor and be a blessing in her life by spending time in God’s Word, working on projects together, praying with/for her and helping her in this busy season of her life!

I’m really not trying to get hate mail, but I only desire to encourage women to live as God would have us. Today is a gift from His hand, meant for serving, enjoying and laying up treasures in heaven. Don’t regret what’s gone – reboot and move on! This is a new season, Mom! Thank the Lord for yesterday and ask Him for a new opportunity to get out of bed, then put a smile on your face and be happy today! That might just mean going grocery shopping…alone! =)

What has been the most difficult time in your role as a mom?

Refresh your “momma” heart,

Uncategorized

Talk To Yourself

August 23, 2017 RefreshHer2 Comments

Uncategorized

Tips For the Best & Easiest Grilled Dinner

August 14, 2017August 14, 2017 RefreshHer5 Comments

We’re one of those families who uses the grill all year long. We grill while on vacation. We grill in the winter. It’s just hard to beat dinner cooked outside! Add a couple perfect sides and you have a dinner you’re glad you stayed home for! Let me give you a few of my favorite tips for a fast and delicious grilled meal.

Tip #1 – Shorten the time on the grill

Grilled Chicken is so good with that charred flavor! But it takes so long to cook over the coals that it’s hard to:

Be patient enough to stand out in the sun for an hour.
Cook the meat to done-ness without ~~burning~~ charring it to a crisp.

My favorite way to speed up the process is to use the crock pot or oven and pretty much cook the chicken. That way I have dinner prepped and on its way, and it’ll only take about 15 minutes to finish the main dish.

At that time, I (which means my husband!) will just heat up the grill and put the meat on long enough to add the barbecue sauce and get it thick and caramelized. By then it also has gotten that nice grilled flavor!

I don’t do this for most other meats, but it’s a time-saver with chicken! I also like to do my ribs in the crock pot first so they’ll be tender. See pic below! Mmmm!

Tip #2 Make the perfect baked potato

If you ever had a potato from Red Lobster, you’ll understand when I talk about the potato skin being crispy and salty. I never do mine in the microwave, but the method I use is so simple and easy to prep.

Wash and dry potatoes.
Place on a foil-line baking sheet.
Spray the potatoes with cooking spray on all sides. Pierce each with a knife.
Sprinkle course salt over all sides.
Bake at 400 degrees for one hour.

The potatoes will be crispy, salty and delicious! I prep them and get them into the oven early in the day, then set the oven to auto bake. It comes on when it’s time and is ready for the table when the meat is being taken off the grill! When I do a sweet potato, I slip it into foil and bake it for an hour at 400. It doesn’t need the process done for the regular potato.

Tip #3 Microwave the corn.

I know there are some good tips to cook corn on the grill, but for ease, I started using this microwave method a couple years ago.

Shuck the corn and wash ears.
Remove silks.
Wrap a paper towel around each ear. Run it quickly under water to wet the paper towel.
Place corn in the microwave and cook about 1-2 minutes per ear – depending on your microwave.

Tip #4 – Put foil on your grill racks.

This tip is only if you like keeping a clean grill, but hate scrubbing the racks. You’ll still get good grill marks on your food, and you’ll have far less clean-up!

Tip #5 – Spray the foil with cooking spray

This obviously helps the food not stick. Meat does tend to stick to the foil, so this just keeps it from making it difficult to flip the food over to grill the other side.

These tips make grilling out so much easier, and you just can’t get any better than a menu of

Barbecued chicken or ribs
Baked potato
Corn on the cob!!

What is your best tip for grilling out?
Have I used the word “grill” enough in this post?!! Ha! We love it!! So go and GRILL something!

With love from my country kitchen (and patio),

baking · Cookies · dessert · freezer · Uncategorized

For the Love of the Best Cookie

July 31, 2017July 31, 2017 RefreshHer4 Comments

How could you even have a bad day on an afternoon when you bite into a Snickerdoodle? The name alone makes me smile! In case you’re somehow not sure what a Snickerdoodle is, it’s not a type of dog, rather it is a cookie drenched in a cinnamon/sugar bath and baked to a soft, sweet perfection!

I introduce you to The Snickerdoodle…

It amazes me to find that some of my favorite recipes of all times have escaped being posted here on my blog! I went to search for this family-favorite cookie recipe here in my recipe index and was amazed that it was absent! In order to fix that, I baked up a batch of cookies, snapped away at pictures, and ate a couple cookies in the process, then froze the rest for upcoming company! They’re safer in the freezer!

I love this recipe because it’s very quick to whip up, but the cookie isn’t like some mediocre recipe. This is a Ten! No kidding. It makes 3.5 dozen normal size cookies and good luck at eating only one. You might want to double the batch – which work just fine! They do freeze well, if you don’t trust yourself with a whole pile of cinnamon/sugar heaven sitting under your nose!

Here’s the simple and wonderful recipe:

Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbl. sugar
2 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions
Cream together shortening, sugar, and eggs. Sift together and stir in flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough into balls the size of walnuts. Roll each in mixture of the sugar and cinnamon. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes at 375 degrees or until LIGHTLY browned.

I bake mine for exactly 7 minutes and then let them sit in the pan a few minutes to cool before putting them on the cooking rack. They may seem a little underdone, but I think they’re best when they’re soft in the middle.

Do someone a sweet favor and bake up a batch to share!

Just curious, what’s your favorite cookie?

With love from my country kitchen,

home · Home decor · Uncategorized

Creating A Cozy Summer Home

July 14, 2017July 13, 2017 RefreshHerLeave a comment

Home is described as the sweetest place on earth, the place we hang our hats and our hearts, and the place that is like no other. As a Christian homemaker, it’s my desire that my home would radiate the love of Christ; that others would feel His presence when they enter our doors. Would that not be the ultimate of being an inviting home? That happens when the people that live here know the Lord and fellowship daily with Him. We, the dwellers of this place, must be filled with His Spirit so that others can know His love, His peace and His joy. We can open our doors and use our home to share that kind of love – what a privilege!

There are also ways that we can make our homes inviting, cozy, warm, restful and peaceful right now in these summer months. We often only think of cozy-ing up our home during the cool months when the hearth is lit and the aroma of comfort foods are wafting in the air. But summertime offers lots of ways to make our residence a cozy and inviting place.

Here are a few suggestions:

Open the doors, curtains and shades to let the light in! While there is beautiful sunshine outside, invite it inside! Pull up the shades in the morning and leave them up. The warmth of the sunshine will brighten every corner all day long.
Rearrange the furniture so you can make the most of the sunlight and outdoor views. I have a small table in my bedroom that I put near the fireplace in the winter. When summer rolls around, I bring it close to the window so I can sit there and sip my morning coffee and have my Bible reading beside the view of the backyard. I can see the sun hitting the hillside, watch the birds, and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors early in the day.
I also recently turned the couch to face the living room windows for the same reason. Think about how you might be able to enjoy the outside view from inside and arrange your furniture accordingly.
Make livable space on your porch, deck or backyard. Patio lights, fire pit, candles, outdoor rugs, chairs, table and umbrella can create a whole other room for your family to enjoy while it’s warm. There’s nothing like sitting outside after dark and star gazing while a fire is burning. (Oh, and right now is a great time to buy outdoor furniture and accessories! There are some great sales are going on!!)
If you entertain outside, you don’t have to make sure the house is dusted! Who doesn’t love to sit out at a fire pit, talk in hushed tones and roast marshmallows?!
Burn floral or fruit fragrance candles. Beautiful scents are important when you walk inside, and so are the soft lights of flickering candles. Put one on your entryway table to burn when your family is planned to come home, or when guests are arriving.
Keep the entryway spotless. Step outside your front door and LOOK at it. Most people drive in the garage and never see what guests see at their front door. Make sure the rug is fresh, the porch is swept, and the glass door is free from dirt and fingerprints. Put a perky, colorful plant near the front entryway. Hang a fresh wreath on the door. Get a new garden flag (again, you might find these on sale right now!).
The inside entry should be welcoming, too. A soft light, good fragrance and a pretty, eye-catching flower arrangement, wall-hanging or picture that draws people in are good elements in the foyer. I love Yankee Candle Plug-ins. They last a LONG time and smell so good when you walk in the front door.
Lighten up the linens. Use light colors on the beds and table, if you can. Remove any heavy throws from couches, chairs or beds, replacing with lightweight quilts in lighter colors. I keep a white quilt on my outdoor swing for the cool nights when we’re outside. It doesn’t look like a wool blanket would, but is inviting and comforting without being too hot.
This is a good time of year to freshen the house with paint. Add a light color that will be calming. Paint the room you use the most. Get a friend to help and the work will be done in half the time, and you’ll have a ton of fun while doing it!

Cozy up your home for summertime and then invite some people over to enjoy it with you! The warm months won’t last forever, so enjoy these elements of coziness at home before it’s time to light the fireplace inside!

Next week I’m going to be showing you some recent updates I’ve made in my home. I hope you’ll check back and see what I’ve done!

Now tell me, what makes your summer home inviting to others?

Stay refreshed at home,