Christian Households, Community Brew

Do we REALLY have a Christian household? What does it mean? Is mine one?

I'd like to say that we all do. But what does it mean to really have a Christian home?
Some say that the definition means that everyone inside the home knows, understands, and fulfills their God-given role.

Some of the verses that apply here are, don't worry, I won't write them out. You can check them out on your own time:
 Ephesians 5:22-26
 Ephesians 6:4
1 Timothy 5:8
Proverbs 31
Genesis 2:18-20
 Ephesians 6:1-3

Some say that a Christian home is defined by what the parents are doing and teaching.

And some say that a Christian home is simply, one where God is alive and present in the parents.

But what happens if your home happens to be childless for now, or maybe forever?

Does my home mean any less because I don't have children to teach and train in the way of the Bible? I don't believe so. Even if you are a spiritually mismatched couple, your home can still be a Christian household. 

I believe that what really makes a "Good Christian home" is you... your outlook on life, your willingness to put God first in everything, your humbleness that you are nothing without him. Basically, it's your relationship with our Lord that makes your home a Christian one. A home is just a building, it has no feeling or emotions. It's simply property. It is the human life/lives that reside there that makes a home. This quote has always followed me, "People are more what they hide, than what they show." How you act when you are alone is a true representation of who you actually are, than who you pretend to be when in public, or in the blogosphere. Everyone can carry their bibles and sing along in worship, but do you crack open that bible on a random week night?  I think that, above all else, is the definition of a Christian home... how much of God's word do you seek at home, when no one is watching. No one is perfect, God knows that. But he wants us to be willing to try, strive to know him, strive to be like Jesus as much as humanly possible. In doing this, any home you live in will always be a Christian Home. 


I am also linking up with Madison and Rachel today for their Community Brew Link-up! This link-up is designed to create open, honest, and vulnerable friendships and to create community. 

Link up with us!  Is there anything you do to make your home feel more "Christian?"

Last week, I fell in love with a lake

Whew! I'm all caught up on unpacking and settling back to normal life. I love a good vacation away, but it is always difficult to unpack once you are home! I suddenly get a major case of the don't-wants. Maybe I was just exhausted, I know Ginny was! Poor puppy slept for 2 days after we came home, and was only getting up to go out and eat! She had a blast on that boat, smelling the air, and even licking a few fish... yes, I just put her on blast for that one.

The lodge sits on a lake that is wayyyy up North in Wisconsin. It took about 7 hours to drive it. The vet gave us meds for Ginny's motion sickness, so she was drugged most of the driving days and slept most of the way. Which reduced my stress of seeing her poor little face looking sick and throwing up all over the car.

Y'all, the nature... ah, that was so beautiful on the drive up. Nothing but trees, mostly pine, and lush greenery everywhere you look. I didn't mind the drive during those couple last couple of hours. We arrived, settled in, and started having fun!

This was my first time going on the formerly known as the "Guy's Fishing Trip." They go every year, for a week, to the same lodge, and fish for muskie. (Have you ever googled this fish? Looks like monsters!) This has been going on for over 30 years. Just in the last year and this year, some of the wives and a couple of kids go with them.  The cabin was ancient, the bed felt like concrete, and it's hard to not be on top of each other in one large cabin, but the company was great and we had a good time playing with the niece and nephew! Ginny was getting love from everyone, so of course that little cow was happy. All in all, it was fun, I have to say!

I had absolutely no cell service, which was a blessing and a curse. My Dad had to have surgery, not emergency surgery, but it was decided to be done in 2 days, so it was a big deal! This was on the third day of the trip. Thankfully, the main lodge itself had wifi, so I sat in there for hours talking to my Mom and sister through facebook, waiting to hear what was going on. It took hours longer than expected, and he had difficulty in recovery with his heart rate being way too low, but he's back home now and moving around, praise the Lord for that one!

After that, the mission of the fishing trip was simple, the Mr. was to catch a muskie, and I was to catch 32 fish, since I'll be 32 this month! These were croppie fish, small and plentiful in this lake. I completed that mission minutes before we were heading in on the very last afternoon of the week. Sadly, the hubs didn't catch his fish, so there is more determination for next year!

All in all, I thought it was going to be just an "OK" time, but I had lots of fun! The best part was the early mornings. I'd get up earlier than the rest, make coffee, and either sit inside by the window, on the picnic table outside, or on the very end of the dock and have my bible study. It was so peaceful. I felt so connected to the word. It was an amazing feeling just sitting outside, connected to nature and my Lord.

OHH! And the kinda cool, kinda creepy part- there was a bald eagle nest in a tree right by our cabin! I thought it was the coolest thing until one of the Uncles said the eagle went crazy when it saw Ginny outside, and it could probably pick her up and take her off! OH NO! After that, I was on Operation Eagle-Ain't-Gonna-Get-My-Puppy watch!  Thankfully nothing happened!

Check out some of these gorgeous photos!

I can't wait to go back next year! 

And, the essential oil mix I made for bug repellent worked 95% of the time! I'll have that recipe up later this week! 

Hey yo!

Hey y'all! I'm back! Actually, we came home Saturday afternoon, but I was so exhausted I took a couple of days to recover from the trip. Everyone does this, right?

I just wanted to give you guys a quick update, we had a blast fishing, but missed a day while my Dad was having surgery. I sat in the lodge (the only place with wifi) for 6 hours awaiting word that he was out and headed home. Thank you to my Prayerful Bloggers group and everyone else for praying for him! That means so much to me. He's moving around at home and healing.

So, I should be returning to blogging everyday maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. Oh, and if you have an Etsy order, I plan on getting those ready and mailing them tomorrow!

Until then, please enjoy a couple photos! I can't wait to do a full recap of the trip and share all of the wonderful photos of this gorgeous lake!

Finding Beauty Friday, The One with the Guinness

Happy Friday, Y'all! I hope you are having a fabulous day and gearing up for an even more fabulous weekend!

I link up with the talented Aimee from This Darling Day for Finding Beauty Friday! You guys should link up any photo you think is beautiful!

I wanted to share a piece of Ireland with you. So, after our Ultimate Europe trip last year, we spent a week in Killarney, Ireland to unwind. It was the perfect end to the trip. This photo was taken when we hopped on a 3 hour tour around Killarney and were filled with Guinness! Which, per the Irish bartender, guys are to drink two Guinness to the girl's one... yeah, that didn't happen but we still had a blast! The beauty of the Irish countryside everyone talks about, yeah, they're not lying... it's almost magical!

I can't wait to return from our fishing getaway and tell you guys all about it!

Confession- I am a journal hoarder

Can I just be real? I loveeeee journals. Love them. I was the kid that became so excited to buy new school supplies that I didn't care that it signaled the end of Summer freedom. Yeah, I was that girl. As an adult, it's still pretty exciting to stroll down the office supply aisle and find some sort of new fancy smancy pens or notebooks. Don't ask me why, it's just how I roll.

Now a days, the Mr. isn't exactly thrilled when I come home with yet another journal. Not so much me buying it that bugs him, but me buying it when I know good and well I have at least 3, or 10, empty ones I haven't even touched yet! I can't help it! Journals are my weakness!

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I filled a journal completely because I get so excited to start a new one! Growing up, I worried that my brothers would sneak in my room and read them. So I would try to write in code, Any of you ever tried this before? It may work at the time, but months and years down the road, you call yourself an idiot because you're reading pure gibberish. So then, I try to go all out and write down every thought. Reading over it, I think, "Oh man, my grandkids will think their grandma is a loser," and I start only hitting on the high points of life. Which isn't a true representation of life either.

My dear friend Charlene, over at From Bisons and Buckeyes, uses her journals to write down entire blog posts! Such a great idea for when you are on the go & only have your journal in your purse to keep you entertained!

So, at this point in my life, I have moved beyond all the journal games. I'm trying to match the journal word for word with what's in my head and my heart. I know that people may read them, and that's okay. I decided to be true, be me, at all costs. I've also learned that keeping separate bible study journals and a life journals is silly, so I've combined them. Looking back now, it's nice to see what I was studying in the bible, and how it's influencing what's going on in my life at that moment.



For now, my methods are working, and I'm happy to say, maybe I won't look like such a loser to the grandkids.

How do you journal?

Raspberry Macrons, Bread and Wine link up

Hi there! This is my first time linking up with Rachel from Oh Simple Thoughts for her Bread and Wine link up! This is what Rachel has to say about the link up, "The Bread & Wine Project is a recipe link up with a purpose. It is a link up about much more than food. The hope is that through this linking up we will push each other to use our homes as mission centers. That we will begin to view our homes, and dinner tables as safe places to bring people in and love them like Jesus."

This week's prompt was Crowd Pleasing Dessert. So today, I wanted to share my macron recipe with you! I'll link up next week when I get back from vacation, but I just couldn't wait for you to see this recipe! I love these little things! And, I have to say, while we were in Europe, I tasted the "Official French macrons" and this recipe is really close to the official ones! It is a bit time consuming, but oh so worth it.

Ingredients for macron cookies:


3 egg whites
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1-2/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup almond flour (or finely ground almonds)
Red food coloring

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, I use SilPlat.

2. Beat egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until whites are foamy; beat in white sugar and continue beating until egg whites are glossy, fluffy, and hold soft peaks. Sift confectioners' sugar and ground almonds in a separate bowl and quickly fold the almond mixture into the egg whites, about 30 strokes.

3. Spoon a small amount of batter into a plastic bag with a small corner cut off and pipe a test disk of batter, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, onto prepared baking sheet. If the disk of batter holds a peak instead of flattening immediately, gently fold the batter a few more times and retest.

4. When batter is mixed enough to flatten immediately into an even disk, spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet in rounds, leaving space between the disks. Let the piped cookies stand out at room temperature until they form a hard skin on top, about 1 hour, or 15 minutes like I do.

5. Preheat oven to 285 degrees F (140 degrees C). Bake cookies until set but not browned, about 10 minutes; let cookies cool completely before filling.

For the filling, you can use anything you wish! Even your favorite jam or jelly. In this recipe, I bought a qt. of fresh raspberries and boiled them down with 2tbsp of water and 1 cup of sugar. I boiled on medium high heat for about 20 minutes until it starts to gel. I waited until it was cool, and then spooned them onto a cookie and sandwiched it with another cookie.

SO delicious! This one is really rich in sweet flavor, so just a couple for each person should work well!

I love sharing sweets with company. It's such a nice way to end an evening and send everyone off with a sugar rush!

What is your favorite crowd pleasing dessert? Comment below, and link up with us! 

Covering cork boards with fabric

  Hey y'all! Let me show you a super easy way to spruce up your work space! Ok, the worst part about this DIY is.... having to go to IKEA. Or, I should say, having to go to IKEA and not walking out with millions of things but just cork boards! I adore that store! Actually, you can get the cork boards from whereever you find them, but at least with this DIY, you can tell your Hubs you just have to go to IKEA for the right material! Wink wink, nudge nudge.

OK, so supplies you will need,

1/2 yard fabric of your choice
3 cork boards
Staple gun & staples
pencil
scissors


Let me say that I used a staple gun, like the heavy duty ones. I'm pretty sure you could just use a regular stapler or even a strong glue, like E-6000 if you wanted. I just used the heavy duty stapler because I knew I'd be using these as memo boards and I wanted to make sure that fabric stayed right where I put it.

Now, basically lay out the fabric on the floor, good side up. I placed the cork boards where I wanted them, and traced around them with a pencil.

Next, I took the scissors and cut 2 inches away from the cork circle. You want to give yourself 2 inches of fabric that will be wrapping around the back of the board. Make sense?

Then, I put the fabric, good side facing down, and centered the cork board on top. I started stapling on one side, and went directly to the other side and pulled tight. I continued this process of pulling, folding and stapling all the way around. This doesn't have to be perfect, as you can tell from the messy back of mine. No one will see it, unless you do a blog post...

Ginny getting needy for attention...

And there you have it! I just used a small nail and nailed those babies directly to the wall. I also use my sewing straight pens as thumbtacks, but you can really use whatever you want.

This was so easy and cheap! It can make a big impact on your space with minimal damage to your wallet! The best part is, I can always change the fabric when I get tired of this one.

What easy and cheap ways have you found to decorate your nest? Comment below!

Grace Upon Grace

Good Monday morning! It's a new, fresh, shiny week! As you read this, I am in a car, traveling 8 hours to a lake in Wisconsin, with a Mr. who is not a morning person, and a doggie who gets car sick after 5 minutes. Yeahhhhh.... if you'd like to send up a quick prayer for me, that'd be greattttt.

I'm so excited to unplug and relax in nature this week. I will do a little fishing, but not much. I just want to soak it all in. However, I have a confession, I did smuggle my laptop on the trip. Shhhhhh, the Mr. won't know until we are already there! Ha! I will relax, but when I have an idea for a blog post, or a craft project, if I don't write it down, it's lost forever!

Anyway, I normally do Weekly Wishes on Mondays, but this week, I won't have any other than relaxing. So, when I found the sweet Jordyn from She Who Fears, I knew I had to participate in her link up! I am a few days late, but that's okay. Also, I have no idea to actually schedule this post to link up when it publishes, so I will have to wait until I get back, but that's okay, too!

This is how it works- From Jordyn's site-
"In other news, it's Monday again, and not just any Monday--but Grace Upon Grace Monday where I share with you how Jesus is exhibiting His grace in my life (which is also like a mini update for you all) and then I give you the opportunity to link up and do the same! My heart behind this is that we would become more intentional in recognizing God's work in our lives--even when everything's all topsy turvy--and that we would grow in fellowship with one another as we visit new blogs and comment, encourage, and love on one another! "

Sounds great right? Sort of counting blessings on a Monday, which I'm sure everyone needs a little extra encouragement in the beginning of the week! The catch is, you have to link 4 points, or blessings. AND visit other's blogs to leave encouragement. That's pretty simple! 

So, here we go...


+one Going on this fishing trip is exactly what I need right now. I was raised primarily in the country, where it took 30 minutes to get to the nearest Wal-Mart. Yep, that far out. While I love having any and every store I can think of, literally 5 minutes down the road, I get restless being out of nature after a while. It feels like it's a bit harder to hold onto my joy everyday when I feel cooped up. I'm so thankful we get to go to the middle of nowhere so I can recharge my batteries.

+two THE LIBRARY! This place is amazing. I love the fact that it's absolutely free, (except when you loose a book, guilty right here) and that you can even download music & ebooks, and borrow a nook! Who does that?! Love it. Just being in there and strolling around is soul-soothing to me. I'm so happy God gave me a mind that craves the written word, and that I live in a country where we can have such free programs available to us like libraries. 

+three  I did email my church, I will miss the next baptism while on the fishing trip. :( They don't know when the next class will be, but I plan on staying on top of this! I guess it will give me a bit more time to really get ready for it. Trusting in God for the right timing at this point.

+four Speaking of class, I sent away my application for the Christian university! I'm so nervous and excited! I have absolutely no idea if I will ever get a job using the degree (when I finish) but I feel the need to learn everything about the bible and what better way than to get into a university and be tested on it? The Mr. is always saying if you really want to do something, put money behind it and it will push you to go for it. So that's what I'm doing! I'm really excited, no, like really excited for this! 

+five I'll throw in an additional point just because I'm so darn excited for this one. One of my dreams, and mind you, I'm a huge dreamer, is to own about 40 acres of land in Colorado and build a small house. Originally, we wanted log cabin, those are quite expensive and I didn't want us to have to work until we're 70 just to pay it off. Looking more into eco-friendly options, I discovered the container houses. It's worth a Google, go see them! Well, the Mr. isn't keen on that idea so then he said watch the show called Tiny House Nation. Y'all, I'm HOOKED! I don't know if we will go that  tiny, but at least under 1000sqft would be amazing! Can you imagine building your home where every inch is multi-functional? I just, I can't even deal right now! I'm just going to get one of my journals and start drawing house plans and projects! Ekk! The Mr. and I just want a simple sort of life. One where we are in fresh air, not tied to technology and "stuff". 

Source

And there you have it, my first Grace Upon Grace link up! 

What do you think, is the Tiny House Movement genius or too much hassle? Comment below!