my blessed life

What a fun book for tween and teen girls!  I was excited to share Redo Your Room: 50 Bedroom DIYs You Can Do In a Weekend with my 12-yr-old daughter.  She is on a year-long quest to plan out a bedroom redo for her 13th birthday (did I mention that she likes to plan ahead?), so this is a great jump-start for her idea board! Complied by the editors of Faithgirlz! and Girls' Life magazine, this book is chock-full of creative ways to personalize your space.  It begins with getting your room organized and gradually moves into style, walls and windows, closets, and everything in between.  (I'm hoping my sweet girl will spend a little extra time on the organizing chapter ;) ).   After getting your space all clutter-free, organized, and furniture in the right spots the remainder of the book focuses on fun projects for each area of your bedroom.  My girl has quite a few pages bookmarked already!   The projects featured in this book are generally inexpensive and

I'm back in the saddle again after a week off from cooking last week--we were out of town most of the week and on the go the rest! My focus this week is getbackintoroutineandgetthishousecleaned !!!!!! Thus the emphasis on slow cooking and grilling this week.  I'm minimizing my kitchen clean up!  It's all about prepping ahead of time and not thinking about dinner all day long. Here's what's cooking at our house this week: Monday:   {slow cooker} Spaghetti with Salad and Garlic Bread Tuesday:   {grill} Sliders: Classic and Aloha styles with Chips and Baked Beans Wednesday:   {slow cooker} Honey Garlic Chicken Sandwiches  Thursday:   {slow cooker} Mexican Chicken with Rice Friday:  {grill} Korean Chicken with {slow cooker} Baked Potatoes and Asian Salad Saturday:   {dinner out in Nashville with friends} This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie .

I don't know about you, but I think spring fever has hit our house.  It has been a struggle to focus around here!  I can remember when I was in school and the weather began to warm up, it was SO hard to think about my lessons.  And when you're at home I can only imagine how much harder it is for my kids to focus on these warm and sunny spring days when they're just dying to get out and play.  So I'm trying to be much more flexible these days and remind myself that it just as important as their studies some days. In fact, I feel as though I am in a process of relearning how to teach my children.  Their learning styles are growing and developing and I am learning so much more about how they learn--especially my son.  Since discovering some of his learning struggles I am having to rethink how I do things with him.  Even small changes can make big differences and get much better results!  I have to say that this past week and a half have been SO MUCH better than maybe

First of all, I have to say that we had a lovely Easter weekend and I hope that you did, too!  We enjoyed a relaxed Easter brunch with our family following our morning worship service.  SO much nicer than standing in line in a crowded restaurant!   My kiddos were excited about their baskets--although waiting until after church was a bit difficult for my oh-so-impatient son :)  That's what happens though with your dad is a pastor and has to leave super early in the morning.    Last week's meal plan went so very smoothly~made my week so much easier!  After the busy weekend I haven't been much in the mood to plan yet for this week, but I'm pressing though. Here's what's on the plan for this week: Monday:   Sandwiches & chips (made with an amazing fresh loaf of sourdough bread!) Tuesday:  Dinner out at Bob Evans since the kids can eat free :) Wednesday:  {small group night} I'm taking Baked Cavatini Thursday:   Cheesy Ham

I love Easter!  Not only is it in the lovely season of spring, it represents all that makes life worthwhile--HE LIVES and because of that I can live in fullness of life, too.  Not just in Heaven, but even here on earth.  I'm so thankful for that! As long as I can remember Easter has always been a "busy" day for me.  I grew up in a minister's home so my dad was always preaching somewhere on Easter--whether as a guest minister or in the church he pastored for several years.  Then I married and my husband and I have also been in ministry full-time for 14 of the 18 years we've been married--the past 4 years as senior pastors. And the Easter weekend just gets busier.  But it's a good kind of busy.  Like today, we were at our church nearly all day for a fun event we like to call Easter Eggstravaganza.  It's a fun day for our church to simply bless our community with free food, games, petting zoo, some fun giveaways, and an egg hunt for the kiddos.  It i

" I know you may have already seen some buzz around the internet about this great new book, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway ;) Motivate Your Child , by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, is an exceptional book.  They are the founders of the National Center for Biblical Parenting and have joined forces to write, as the subtitle says, "A Christian Parent's Guide to Raising Kids Who Do What They Need to Do Without Being Told". Wow.  What parent doesn't need to know that secret?! Believe me, I snatched this book up the minute I had the chance! Motivate Your Child is divided into two main section: Moral Development in Children and Spiritual Development in Children. "Internal motivation is a heart issue." -Motivate Your Child This book is all about giving parents biblical tools to teach and train their children in how to correctly navigate complex issues that we all deal with like the conscience, guilt, conviction, repentan