Homemaking

Pursuing Beauty

February 12, 2012 By Courtney 29 Comments

On Thursday, I’ll be flying south to sunny Dallas, Texas (it’s 20 degrees and snowing here in Ohio so I’m looking forward to it!). I’ll be speaking at Sally Clarkson’s Mom Heart Conference! It’s going to be a great joy to share a hotel room with Angela (my partner at GoodMorningGirls.org), listen to Sally speak all weekend long and it’s like the cherry on top of a great weekend to get to speak. Sally said over 420 rooms are booked for the conference – so the turn out is great – even more than last year!

So I dug through my archives and found my post from last February when I attended Sally’s conference and I thought I would share with you some of what I gleaned. Sally’s daughter Sarah opened the conference with a talk on Living Thoroughly Alive. She encouraged us to cultivate time for beauty in our lives.

The Bible starts “In the beginning God created…”

In nature we can see God’s grandeur and beauty – we cannot watch television and experience this.

God is the source of beauty.

Whatever keeps us from his beauty keeps us from his presence.

Sally and Sarah tag teamed as they gave practical ways to express beauty inside our homes.

1. You can read books together – to make books even more beautiful – do it beside a fireplace with a warm glow.

2. You can serve the family a warm dinner – but if you add a candle and some light music it becomes an event.

3. Take the time to make holidays extra special – celebrate life together – this builds a beautiful strong foundation.

4. Read good books – you can only give to your children what you already possess inside. Good books are essential not a frivolity.

5. Expose your children to the best things – the best art, best people, best books, and the best thoughts.

Sally shared that it was in some of their darkest moments that their pursuit for beauty saved their family. And all this beauty doesn’t happen by accident. We must cultivate time for beauty and time to celebrate life with our families. We must remain connected to the source of all beauty.

(from the archives)

Looking back on this post, I’m so thankful for the sweet reminders that Sally gives my generation – to smell the flowers…literally!

The biggest pitfall that keeps my family from pursuing beauty is electronics. We must put our iPads and iPods down to read good books or watch a sunset. This is not easy for me because there’s this artificial joy I find in simply looking at beautiful images on my computer screen. Have you read Ann Voskamp’s A Holy Experience? Her blog has magnificent photos that take me into the presence of God everytime I’m on her site. You see Ann has stopped – looked at the fresh fallen snow – worshiped the giver of the snow – captured it on her camera and shared it with her readers to be blessed also. In the same way, we must stop – see the view out our window, call the children and invite them to worship the creator of our view also.

I know that in the midst of the mess of school papers and dirty dishes there is beauty in small hands folded for prayer time. There is beauty in the sound of my beginner piano player plunking at the piano. There is beauty in the recitation of memorized Bible verses as they fall off the lips of my son. There is beauty out the window as the sun sparkles on the snow making it appear as though diamonds have fallen on our lawn overnight.

Beauty is all around me but I must walk away from my computer to see it and so this week I made a change…

My computer desk has sat conveniently in the kitchen for 2 years. I hop on and off of it all day long…it’s nice because I’m in the heart of the house so I am never away from the action while I’m on my computer…but I need a break – not from Women Living Well…but from the temptation to websurf and hang out on social media too often…so I did this…

I moved my computer away from the kitchen – off the beaten path into the school room – in hopes that I will spend a little more time capturing the beauty of this season of life that is right before my eyes. Because…

”Whatever keeps us from his beauty keeps us from his presence.”

Walk with the King,

Filed Under: Homemaking, Parenting

My Christmas Planner – A Tutorial

November 21, 2011 By Courtney 13 Comments

After reading the ebook “Untangling Christmas” by Karen Ehman and LeAnn Rice, I decided to make my own Christmas Planner! I LOVE having everything I need all in one place on the shelf!

My planner holds my to-do list, baking list, gift list, decorating list and thank you list along with my Christmas card addresses, recipes, traditions and receipts from purchases – all in ONE place! Not only do I feel organized for this holiday season but it will be nice next season to pop open my planner and reuse everything I have created this year!

Here’s how it works (and some things I added that weren’t mentioned above)!

(If you can’t view this video click here or click on the title of this post to refresh the page.)

Please share – how do you stay organized for the holidays?

Walk with the King!

Courtney

Filed Under: Holidays, Homemaking

Creating Family Nights – Making Your Home a Haven~Week 4

October 23, 2011 By Courtney 20 Comments

J.R. Miller says “The richest heritage that parents can give is a happy childhood, with tender memories of father and mother. This will brighten the coming days when the children have gone out from the sheltering home, and will be a safeguard in times of temptation and a conscious help amid the stern realities of life.”

This week’s Challenge is:

Keep your candle going, the music playing, and add some tender moments with your family. Have a pillow party in the family room and get out every blanket and pillow in the house and be cozy with the kids or your hubby! Even if you live alone you can do this. Enjoy a cozy evening of hot cider and caramel corn. Moms, pull out a board game, a classic movie, hot cocoa and pop some popcorn. Give a 5 minute back rub to every single person in your house…and for a double challenge- try to give one every day to each family member!

During your tender moment with the family, ask them how they feel about this challenge. Are they enjoying it? Is it helpful? Is there anything they would change. Give your family listening ears.

In our home, I’m the coordinator! If there’s going to be a game night, pizza night, movie night, or a social happening – it’s because I planned it! I’m guessing I’m not alone in this. Growing up, my mother did a great job of creating fun family memories. They weren’t complex or over the top – but they happened! They happened year in and year out, and now the memory of those fun moments give me security, comfort, joy and a bond with my family that will never be broken.

My children enjoy long, drawn out evenings of Monopoly, watching old re-runs of The Brady Bunch, lots of chex mix, and lots of cuddles, back rubs and even wild play with wrestling and nerf gun wars (my husband loves to flip couches and make forts – I must admit the clean freak in me – cringes – but I know that someday these memories will be a balm to their soul in times of trials!)

A wise mother knows how to have fun and how to be tender. She knows the healing touch of her hands. Jesus used his hands to touch and heal many. There is power in the gentle expressions of love through warm embraces, cuddles and back rubs. God made backs with nerve endings that simply enjoy a rub!

You have it in your power to delight your husband and children by simply rubbing their back! No matter how old your children are, they are craving tender affection. Take the time to slow down and fulfill this need.

Mark 10:16 says “And (Jesus) took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”

Bless your family by learning to live together in peace and tender love. If you are participating in this challenge leave a comment below with how it’s going – if you are a blogger copy this button (the code is on the sidebar) into your blog post, write about how it’s going and link it up this Wednesday at the Women Living Well Link-up party!

I have enjoyed reading so many of your stories! I so appreciate you joining me on this journey!!! Persevere!

Walk with the King!

*To see the list of weekly challenges, go to this post here.

**Thanks to Stacey from Musings of a Music Making Mommy, there’s a button code for the “Making Your Home a Haven” button, on the sidebar! Thanks Stacey for sending me this code!

***If you don’t want to miss a post from this series, Subscribe via email to my daily posts here.

Filed Under: Homemaking, Making Your Home a Haven Challenge

The Complete Guide to Getting & Staying Organized Giveaway

October 17, 2011 By Courtney 639 Comments

When I first married, I spent a lot of time reading Emilie Barnes’ books on organization. At the time, I could not imagine how busy and stressful life would become by my 30′s! So I really didn’t master organization so well (as yesterday’s post mentioned). BUT what I have found since then is many wonderful resources to help me get serious about conquering my organizational issues! Resources such as my schedules for cleaning, meals and school (which I very loosely follow), my chore pack system (which I used faithfully for 2+ years but this year the children are doing their chores automatically, so we may be growing out of this system) , my exercise notebook (which is getting dusty – do we see a pattern here people? lol!), and most recently a Christmas organizer (that I hope to show you on a video someday soon) taken from the ebook Untangling Christmas.

Untangling Christmas is co-authored by Karen Ehman and Karen Ehman is my new go-to guru for organization!!! I just love her blog and her spirit! And I’m trying to learn as much as I can off of her! Today she has offered 2 copies of her book, The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized to 2 Women Living Well readers! Woohoo!! Karen is a Proverbs 31 Ministries writer, author of 4 books on organization (plus the ebook) and speaker. Here’s what The Complete Guide to Getting & Staying Organized is all about!

The key to good organization is not a one–size–fits–all method. It is a unique plan that considers personality type, lifestyle, income level, and family schedule.

Karen believes that with her simple step by step process you can recognize your own personal style of managing your household successfully and develop a unique plan that gives you the freedom to:

manage your time wisely by prioritizing and then working smarter, not harder

de–clutter and organize your home (an entire chapter is devoted to teaching you an easy method for to de-junking!)

plan menus, shop more efficiently, and become both comfortable and creative in the kitchen

get children involved in pursuing an ordered life and home

avoid the trap of overcommitment

use practical tools to assist in organization

Getting and staying organized means more time for the important things in family life—concentrating on cultivating a close, personal relationship with the Creator, drawing His word into every aspect of living, and ultimately tying your children’s heartstrings to God.