A Quiet Respite Served with Christian Hospitality

September 15, 2025September 13, 2025 RefreshHerLeave a comment

Happy Monday, friends! We were on the road this past weekend with D and D ministries. It was a joy to speak at a church staff training and encourage the folk regarding their ministries where they serve. I had the blessing of speaking to the women in a split session. Dale preached three times on Saturday and three times on Sunday. I guess you could say we jumped into the fall schedule with both feet! It was a blessing!

We stayed overnight in the home of Church members, and we were served so sweetly. Our gracious hosts served in such a way that made it seem easy. Yet it’s humbling to be the guest because I know how much work goes into that. I always pray for our hosts the week before we go, knowing the load that they carry.

The gracious people who housed us worked ahead before we got there. I could see it in every detail.

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Cleaning · Fall · gratitude

Early Autumn Blessings

September 12, 2025September 11, 2025 RefreshHer2 Comments

Wow, this week it seems like fall has slipped in around the corner and into the countryside where we live. The mornings have been quite brisk. Mid-day it is warm, but when the sun lowers just a tad in the early evening, the chill sets in once again. I have to say I’m enjoying it after some pretty hot days last summer. As we were taking a walk after supper last night I mentioned to my husband that fall is becoming a favorite season. I love the long shadows in the early evening, the crickets chirping, the comfort of a throw on my lap while on the backyard swing, and the brisk morning temperatures. I’m also seeing the beginning of colors in the trees and bushes. Beautiful.🍂

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podcast · trust · unanswered prayer

Trusting God’s Hand

September 10, 2025September 10, 2025 RefreshHerLeave a comment

You can listen to this post on Refresh Her Podcast.

How sweet it is to walk with a young child. Their little chubby hand grasps one finger of the adult that is guiding them. But as that youngster grows and begins to want some independence, what do they do? They take their other hand and try to wiggle their finger out of the hand that is guiding them. They want to go their own way without the help of anyone else.

That illustration is a picture of what we do as we push back from God’s ways. Recently as I read II Kings 5 about the man Naaman and leprosy, I saw the same kind of attitude that I often display.

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cakes · Celebrations

Chocolate Cake From Scratch – Easy and Delicious!

September 8, 2025September 7, 2025 RefreshHerLeave a comment

Birthdays and cake just go together! I think it would be a sad celebration without one! When my girls asked me to make a cake for our family vacation and family celebration, I looked at lots of options, then landed on our long-time favorite – Triple Chocolate Cake. I think deciding which cake to make was harder than actually making it! First on the list was making sure I had all the ingredients on hand. That didn’t mean a run to the store because I am enjoying the blessing of occasionally having my Kroger grocery order delivered. I was able to get a rate for being a Kroger Boost member $35 for the year. That allows me to have groceries delivered the next day at no charge. For the most part it’s been wonderful. Why?

It keeps me home.
If I forget something, it allows me to add things to my order up to about two hours prior to my delivery time.
For the most part, I’ve gotten everything I’ve ordered.

However, a happy accident happened when the Devil’s Food Cake Mix didn’t show up in my delivery. I was planning to make the cake layers for the Triple Chocolate Cake on that day. Since I didn’t want to undo the blessing of the delivery, I went looking for a cook chocolate cake recipe that I could make from scratch instead. The happy accident was that the recipe I baked made the Triple Chocolate cake recipe so much better that I’ll never use that box mix again!

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Family life · traditions

Family Vacation Memories

September 5, 2025September 5, 2025 RefreshHer2 Comments

This Labor Day was the third Ham Fam Vacay, the first being 2017 and the next, 2022. We had the blessing of a three bedroom condo in Pigeon Forge – just perfect for all three families to have room to sleep, cook and play for three days and nights.

We are blessed with family relationships that are not stressful or forced. We can only credit this to each of us having a relationship with the Lord. He models perfect love and acceptance to us that we then strive for towards one another. Of course, we often miss, but for the most part, we enjoy a human love based on God’s Divine love.

We wanted to enjoy meals at the table together in the peace and quiet (well, kind of quiet!) of our condo, and also as a way to reduce our cost, so my girls and I divided up the mealtimes and each of us were assigned certain meals. We did go out for one special lunch – more on that in a minute. First, let me give you a sampling of what was enjoyed in our condo…

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