.Hospitality is {not} a Dirty Word Part Two.

The door bell would ring, and I would grimace as I mentally went through my calendar and schedule for the day. I would peek out the window and grumble.

Why is so and so here? I did not invite her over. Doesn’t she realize I have things to do?

This was my mindset for so long. I would begrudgingly open the door with a {fake} smile on my face praying that whomever had come to interrupt my day would leave soon.

To read the rest join me over at Raising Homemakers today!
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.Secrets from my Kitchen.

Here are some of my kitchen secrets for you to use and pass on to your little homemakers. Some of these I learned from my mom or other women, and some I learned on my own. I hope you find these useful and practical!

Do you want your biscuits to bake up with flaky, buttery layers? The key is to make sure your butter is kept really chunky when gently stirring your batter. No pea-sized pieces here – chunks!

Are you all out of eggs but have a recipe calling for one?


I am giving away my kitchen secrets at Raising Homemakers today! Come join me and share your own!


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.Keeping the Little in Little Girl.

There is a rising epidemic in our culture.

Have you noticed it?

The length of childhood, for little girls especially, is rapidly decreasing. It is a sad phenomenon. When I was a child, I can remember playing with my dolls until I was 14 or 15 years old. There was no shame in it, no push for me to grow up. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case today. Everywhere I look I see little girls dressing older, talking older, and acting older.

I'm writing about this over at Raising Homemakers today! Please come join me! I'd love to hear what you think.

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.Hospitality is {not} a Dirty Word.

As a newly wed, desperately trying to acclimate myself to the mysterious – in my mind - roles of homemaker and wife, I would shudder at the mere mention of hospitality. For my introverted and mostly private personality the thought of opening my home to others was not appealing. It has taken me several years feeling my way through these roles to learn what hospitality is not.

Hospitality is not showing off a perfectly kept home. . . .

To find out what else hospitality is not, and to learn what it is join me today (for my first time ever!!) over at Raising homemakers.
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.This & That.

I know several have asked me the results of our yard sale. At first I was disappointed and discouraged that we did not meet our goal. But then I realized that, though this is true, Jesus is still the same and God still loves adoption!

We are tired, and we are sunburned. We now know that Memorial Day is not the best day to hold a yard sale but....

Here is what God did do:

Brought in approximately $725 total!!
Rallied our best friends around us, to help us, encourage us, and just be with us.
Gave us more opportunities to build relationships with our neighbors.
Allowed us to share how God laid Ethiopia and adoption on our hearts with strangers.

And knowing God and how He works, I am sure that He did things that I am unaware of!

Praise GOD!!

So, yes, we are short the money we need for the next step, but yes my God is still in control, and He still has a perfect plan. Right now we are trusting Him for that and will continue to do what we can on our end. We know He owns a cattle on a thousand hills, so this $1300 that we still need is nothing to Him! What an amazing thing to know!! I'm resting in His timing at this point.

Here are a few (unedited - too tired) photos of our sale.





No, that is not our garage - it is our neighbor's. He does chicken bbq's out of it! We are working with him to do a fund raising bbq sometime this summer!












Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement, your emails. They all mean so very much to us. I hope to take a few moments this morning to catch up on emails.


On a completely different note Raising Homemakers launched today!! I am feeling really excited and blessed to be a contributor for this site. I encourage any woman who is training a daughter to be a homemaker, or is trying to be a godly homemaker herself to check this new site out. Some great give-aways are going on today! Click the button to be directed there.

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