children

Beginning the School Year Well

August 4, 2015August 25, 2015 RefreshHer4 Comments

Most schools in our area start their fall semester this week. I won’t go on my rant about how short the children’s summer is when they start so soon, or how much better it is to wait until after Labor day, but will choose instead to offer some encouragement for both the moms and the children as the new year of education is in front of you!

I thought I’d share some great ideas I’ve found while perusing the Internet. Sharpen your pencils and sit up straight – these are some cute ideas!

I think it’s so important to connect with you child at their lunch break by fixing a great lunch for them, and/or tucking a note inside to encourage them in the middle of their day. The Huffington post had this smart idea to paint the inside lid of their lunch box with chalkboard paint so you can leave a note for them! Love this!
Photo by http://www.babble.com/style/
Here’s a yummy looking “sandwich” that will have all the kids wishing that was their lunch!
Photo by http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Another take on PB&J
Photo by Welch’s
Google “Creative children’s lunches” and you’ll get cute ideas like these:
If you have an older daughter who is learning to sew, you could make this fun bag together for her pens, or even for an emergency kit for her backpack. Or Mom could sew and she could do the embroidery!
Make the effort to spend one-on-one time with your children to remind them they are never alone at school. Perhaps a Gospel Wordless book bracelet would remind them that the Lord Jesus is with them, and will also remind them to be a witness to their friends at school.
A simple version for an elementary child is here.
Here’s a version for older girls that you could make or buy.
Spend time praying with your child before the new year begins.
Pray for:
- Their teachers to be a right influence
- Them to have friends that will help them to stand for what is right
- Your child to have courage to stand for biblical truths
- Your child to be a testimony and witness to the lost students
- Your child’s protection
Also pray with your child every morning before they leave.

Even if you’re a homeschooling mom, you can also make lunch a special time to rest from their studies and provide some “down time” with outside activities after they eat. You have the advantage of correcting attitudes right on the spot, but be sure to start each day praying for your child’s day to be Christ honoring and productive.

Remind your students that every subject has value; even Algebra is profitable! Why? (My girls know where this is going! They heard it many times in our home!) Because God says so:

In all labor there is profit. Proverbs 14:23a

Here’s to a great school year!

Lovingly,

Baking Bread in the Crockpot

August 3, 2015August 25, 2015 RefreshHer6 Comments

We’ve all used the crock pot for that great Chili recipe or to cook a Roast, but have you done much baking in that little crock? Me either…until I found this great recipe for an Artisan Loaf of bread that is baked inside the crock pot, and then made golden under the broiler for just a few minutes! Here’s the result of my recent experiment:

I love this recipe because you mix up a dough and then refrigerate it. The mixing up takes less than ten minutes. Then it goes in the fridge overnight. The next day you can pull off a pound loaf and bake it, or wait up to two weeks to bake it. The dough will take on a Sour dough type flavor the longer it’s refrigerated. The dough will make four Artisan loaves.

Here’s the dough in my container that has been in the refrigerator:

The recipe tells you that the dough is easier to handle after refrigeration. So simplify your life and do that step! The site has a video to show you how to form a loaf, if you’re not sure what to do with the dough after you pull off what you need. It’s super easy, and fast!

Here’s my loaf in the crock pot. I didn’t have Parchment paper, so I used my Silpat mat. It worked fine.

All crock pots will vary the time the loaf needs to bake. Mine took about 90 minutes to get firm and not squishy on top. I took it out and put it under the broiler a few minutes to brown the outside. The hardest part is waiting until it’s cooled to slice into it!

Here is their recipe for the dough, and you can also find the videos to help if you have any questions.

Of course you can also bake this bread in the oven, but on a hot summer day, or a day when your oven is being used for something else, this is a great way to bake up a delicious loaf of homemade bread! Hope you’ll try it!

Have you done any baking in your crock pot?

With love from my country kitchen,

organization

Saving Magazine Articles With No Paper!

July 31, 2015August 25, 2015 RefreshHer2 Comments

My sweet husband subscribed me to four magazines. I love flipping through their pages and being inspired by the decor, recipes and style. However, it doesn’t take many months before that wonderful media source becomes a pile of glossy pictures. I know that between their covers they have great content, but in their stacked condition all they’re doing is collecting dust!

A few months ago while looking through my Southern Living, I found so many great recipes to save, but didn’t want to cut the magazine and have to file all that paper. So, I came up with a plan to keep the recipes without having to save the magazine or clip the article from its binding. Here’s how I did it:

Once I found an article or recipe I wanted to save, I picked up my Smart phone and Googled the magazine and the title. I found this…
Then I clicked on the one that had the exact title I was reading and went to their site.
Once there, I found the Pinterest Button and “pinned” it to the board where it fit and I could find it easily. For this Steak recipe I put it under, “Make for Dinner.”
Done. I did this for any article – decorating, style or food that I wanted to keep. When I was finished, I could toss the magazine or share it with a friend.

I go through that process while I’m looking at the magazine. It saves time, paper and table space! No more piles! No more clipped articles waiting to be filed away! It’s my new way to look at and save my magazines!

Do you have piles of magazines, too? I hope you’ll set up a Pinterest account if you don’t have one already and simplify and refresh your life with this new “clipping” tool!

Stay refreshed,

Family life

The Hearth in the Home

July 30, 2015August 25, 2015 RefreshHer2 Comments

Will you indulge me to repost some of my “way back yonder” blog posts on Thursday’s? I’ll pick through some of my favorites and find things that I think will be relevant to my readers today. Let’s start with one that focuses on one of my favorite topics: Home.

In yesterday’s patriotic service at our church I participated by reading a monologue as it would be written by the Statue of Liberty. An ending phrase has gone over and over in my mind as I’ve pondered its meaning in my country and my own heart as well. It read…

“O people, restore me to where I can once again see a land of beautiful homes – A land where homes are never separated – a land where home is viewed more by what is on the inside than what is on the outside – a home where these three gifts will always be: the hearth, the flag, and the place of prayer.”

What does it mean to you that you keep alive the gift of the hearth? Wikepdia says that a hearth is “a brick– or stone-lined fireplace or oven used for cooking and/or heating. Because of its nature, in historic times the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature: its Latin name is focus.[1]This concept has been generalized to refer to a home place or household, as in the terms “hearth and home” and “keep the home fires burning.” In fireplace design, the hearth is often considered the visible elements of the fireplace, with emphasis upon the floor level extension of masonry associated with the fireplace mantel.

Following this definition I see the hearth as a symbol of the warmth of a family inside a home. It’s not the kind of warmth a real hearth would have brought, but the kind of that comes from being together, spending time talking, sharing in the lives of those that live there with us. I believe this can only be done by the diligence that it took to keep the fire burning in those old- time fireplaces.

One integral part of family warmth is mealtime. I don’t mean the hurry-up and eat and get out of here kind of meal. This is the mealtime where the meal is lingered over, empty plates are pushed back and conversation happens. We have often read a book together after our supper meal. Having Bible reading or devotions works well at this time of day when everyone is gathered together.

The hearth’s warmth can be spread outside to the front porch or the deck. Last weekend we enjoyed having company and spent Friday and Saturday evenings out on the deck talking, sharing dessert and coffee, and also listening to stringed instruments being played and hymns being sung. I could just feel those “home fires burning” during those sweet times of fellowship.

Often the piano in the living room has served as our “hearth.” Because our girls play we have the blessing of being able to gather ’round it and sing together. Game boards have also served in bringing us together in laughter and closeness as games were played with stiff competition and fun.

Each family may interpret the “hearth” in a different way. The important thing is that we do all we can, with the Lord’s strength to keep it burning, and that we each understand that the hearth in the home truly is a gift.

Are you making the most of the gift of your hearth? How are you accomplishing that? Ask the Lord to give you ideas, if that gift isn’t being maximized!

From my hearth,

dessert · Home decor · Husband · Marriage

All Things Sweet

July 29, 2015August 25, 2015 RefreshHer4 Comments

This week seemed to have a theme…it’s called sweet. Come take a peek from my porch to see why I say that…

A couple of friends shared delicious, peaches from their peach trees. Wasn’t that sweet of them? And oh my! They were sweet and yummy!

They were delicious in our morning yogurt, and on ice cream, but my favorite way to use them was to put them IN ice cream! I found a recipe on Cooking Light for Homemade Peach Ice Cream just before the peaches were brought to our door. As Rachel Lynde from Anne of Green Gables would say, it was “Simply providential!” So after a little bit of mixing and freezing this was the result…

This made for a sweet treat on a hot July day!

Then, on Thursday, it was Free Tea Day at McAlister’s Deli. They have really good Sweet Tea, and we had to indulge! We went to Sonic Drive-in (because it was also national Hot Dog Day) and had our lunch for a whopping $2! Gotta love cheap dates!

While I was praying one morning, Liza Jane came and pushed her way between my arm and the chair and then put her paw up on my face!
How sweet is that?!

I have to wonder sometimes if she isn’t an tool of the devil rather than a little angel; she can be very demanding while I’m trying to pray!

I got to spend Monday early afternoon at the beautiful spa in Johnson City, thanks to a bunch of sweet friends who gave me a gift card! The massage was so wonderful! The pedicure afterwards was a lovely indulgence as well!

Before I went to the spa my husband sent me to have lunch at Wellington’s so that “this day could be all mine.” Again, his love and sweet gestures are over the top and I know I am spoiled far more than my furry feline friend!

The restaurant is so beautiful and the food was great! It got me all ready for a couple hours of spa treatment!

On Friday Alli and I worked on painting her kitchen chairs. They were old library chairs that needed a little spritzing up, and she chose a pretty yellow that will add lots of warmth to her kitchen. Thankfully we got more paint on the chairs than we did ourselves, but we were pretty covered in white primer and yellow paint!

Time with my girls is always a sweet blessing! We laughed, talked, ate lunch and got lots of paint on those chairs (and everywhere else!)!

So that was a good bit of the sweetness I enjoyed since last Wednesday! How would you describe your week in one word?

With love from my country porch,