my blessed life

Hello, sweet blog friends! Are you excited that summer is here?  I sure am!  Our family is ready for our annual, long break from regular schooling and is looking forward to lots of fun over the next few months.   I am also happy to be back in blogland!  I've missed it a lot and hope to find a better rhythm over the summer--one that is more sustainable for me in this season of life.   Some things that we have planned for this summer are family reunions, summer reading programs, a birthday celebration, vacation Bible school, a Great American Road Trip, maybe even camping--if I can talk my husband into it! What do you have planned for the summer months?  I'd love to hear about your plans!

A few years ago I never would have thought I would be jumping in my car and heading off to meet up with internet friends with whom I had only had virtual communication before.  But this past Monday night I was so excited to meet up with a couple of blogging friends who live in the same region that I do.   One friend, Jennifer, I actually know in real life, but have only met a few times through homeschooling activities.  She lives in a different town and so most of our communication is through the internet.  Jennifer has a lovely new blog called Godly Glimpses .   Crystal met up with us from yet another town not too far away.  She has a wonderful blog called Serving Joyfully .  She and I are both a part of a bloggers group on Facebook and have only interacted there until this week.  Ironically, she and Jennifer had "met" in a different Facebook bloggers group as well.  So this was a fun little reunion for us all!   These ladi...

Just wanted to share this great quote with you today from Christin at Joyful Motherin g.  I am so enjoying getting to know her heart and I appreciate her nuggets of wisdom. Today I'm busy keeping my own priorities in order: cleaning up the kitchen, doing homeschool with my kiddos, helping my mom work in her newly-remodeled kitchen, ...and more! I hope that you have a wonderful and productive day as well! Blessings! ***** Don't miss a thing here at My Blessed Life!  Subscribe by email,  follow this blog, and "like" the Facebook page today!

I've had a few links I've been wanting to share lately and today is as good a day as any to do that, right? Right! A new-to-me craft blog a friend shared with me: Live a Little Wilder ~go check it out! Sarah has some wonderful projects to share with you! A great homeschool mom's blog: Just Another Day in Paradise ~Kathy and I are kindred spirits! I am so glad that we are becoming friends, even if right now it is only online. I just know we'd be great neighbors! A great mommy blog: Three Meals & a Baby ~Amber is a pastor's wife and her blog is filled with tons of fun stuff about her adventures with her husband and little girl. A fun site I'm still browsing because there's so much to see: Becky Higgins ~a great site with free downloadables, recipes, products for sale, you-name-it! So there you go. Have fun checking out these wonderful blogs! And have a great day!

Well, it's over. At least the moving part. Well, almost the moving part. Vince is coming with the final load today. But I got here yesterday! I seriously thought the packing would never end. I mean, who know we had so much.... ahem .....stuff. By Tuesday night when I finally crashed in a hotel bed after midnight I could no longer feel my feet~they were just numb! I wish you could have seen me today, driving our pickup truck with a backseat full of 13 potted plants: 2 houseplants, 1 pot of flowers and 10 tomato and pepper plants. It was like a garden nursery in there! They seem to have fared well on the trip and I really do hope so because they have been doing great. There are the cutest little tomatoes and peppers growing all over them. (On a sidenote: I'd love to know what you recommend for an organic/all-natural pest control for the veggie plants. Please tell me!) I am so ready to get crackin' on the unpacking now! My sweet mom went over to the house this...

Well, it has been one busy week! I was so glad to sleep in a little this morning. In case you're wondering why I'm so tired (and why I've been a little scarce around here), we've been attending a conference in Arkansas this week. It has been wonderful though~well worth the exhaustion! Now I'm ready for a slower-paced weekend and time to absorb some of the nuggets of truth and wisdom I've gotten at the conference. I thought I'd share a couple of new blogs with you today. The first one is authored by one of my cousins, Serina : Simple Solutions~Tangible Results She has recently begun this blog to share some of her amazing grocery budgeting tips, recipes, and frugal ideas. I saw her at the conference I attended this week and picked up one of her booklets (which is listed on her sidebar). It is chock-full of great stuff! Go check her out!! The next one is by a real-life friend, Stephanie: God made dirt....and dirt won't hurt She has two little boys (can you ...

The recipe for these cookies arrived from Martha Stewart in my inbox today and I just had to try them. So yummy!! This past week Roberta Anne at Little House In The Desert gave me this sweet award. Thank you, Raggedy Girl! The rules for this award are the following: 1. Put the award up on your blog. 2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you. 3. Nominate at least seven other blogs. 4. Add links to these blogs on your blog. 5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog Personally, I'd like to pass this on to all of the wonderful followers of this blog ! Y'all are such an encouragement to me and I enjoy keeping up with you at your blogs, too. So grab this award and display it proudly!

Well, Vince is finally back home from his trip to Peru. Yea!! We were all so glad to see him again! He had a great time and I'm sure will be talking more about it all on his blog . I loved this picture of him telling the kiddos all about his trip using my dad's globe (we're still at their house). I'll be back soon now that I have my usb cord for my camera! Vince took it to Peru with him (oops!) and I couldn't find one here at my parents' house to fit my camera , nor could I get my memory stick to fit any ports on their computer. Arrrgh ...oh well, I can now upload pics and post about what we've been up to. Sorry I was unintentionally scarce this week.... P.S. And I had to show you a pic that I sneaked and took at the airport last night while my mom and I were waiting for our *men* to arrive. It was a large group (I only got a shot of maybe a third of them) of family and friends who were all decked out in Red , White & Blue. They had on *Uncle Sam* ha...

Here's a little Christmas card for you! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season with your friends and families. May it be very blessed! I'll be taking a little bloggy break this week as we celebrate the holidays with our family and friends, but you'll hear from me soon. I'm too addicted to this thing:) And besides, the holidays do give one much blog fodder, right?! Merry Christmas!!

This summer I ran across this button on my friend Betsy's blog which led to the discovery of Steviewren and her lovely blog, a little birdie told me so . She was hosting her first postcard swap and since I {heart} postcards I signed up immediately. I decided to stamp my cards (with rubber stamps). I used to stamp a lot before the kiddos came along and I am gradually starting to stamp again. I feel pretty rusty, but I had a great time getting those creative juices flowing again! Sorry I forgot to take any pics of the cards I made, I'll try to remember next time... Eventually there were 10 of us who participated in the swap and since the first of October I have been enjoying these little treasures arriving in my mailbox. It has been so much fun! There have been all different kinds of postcards and they're from all different places. I just had to share all of this wonderful creativity with you: a lovely picture of New York from Pat at Milli Fiori Favoriti : a night scene of...