Happy Homemaker Monday

 

 I'm joining Sandra today for this link party over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. 

The Weather:::

It's overcast and showery, 70º with 4 mph winds.  90% humidity.  Not a good day for walking.  Forecast also declares "a marginal risk of severe weather today" which I assume means thunderstorms.  We have thunderstorms in the forecast, in fact, for the next few days.

As I look outside my window:::

Most everything is lush and green from recent cool rainy weather.  Lots of wildflowers and weeds are blooming, along with our peonies, which have now been dragged down from the heavy rain. 

 

 I'm tickled that the knockout rose bush I was gifted for Mother's Day seems to have taken to our inhospitable soil and is doing well so far.

Right now I am:::
 

Working on a blog post.

 
Thinking and pondering:::

On the quote I shared last week from  Holy Hygge.  It spoke deeply to my heart and, I think, is very much worth repeating.  I read it to the ladies in our prayer group on Wednesday evening: "Encouragement is not a luxury to the Christian life; it is a necessity. ...  It is the passing on of courage.  To encourage someone is to give them the courage to face an unknown future, the courage to trust an unseen God, the courage to stand firm in a turbulent culture.  Encouragement is no trivial thing.  It is a weapon we wield against the enemy on behalf of those we love.  Who is receiving courage from you today?"

I hope that each of us is involved in the ministry of encouraging others.  Hopefully many others.  

On my bedside table::: 

 A lamp, three books,  a pen and a jar of lavender-infused oil for helping with insect bites.

On my tv this week::: 

Nothing this week.

 Listening to::: 

Robins singing "cheerily, cheerily".  My great-aunt used to say, "The robins are cheering."

On the Breakfast plate:::

I do intermittent fasting so don't have breakfast.  Lunch will be a salad with cubes of ham, cheese, and some banana pepper rings in addition to leaf lettuce.

On the dinner plate::: 

 Leftovers: egg roll in a bowl; a couple of pork ribs; chicken diablo and some broccoli/cauliflower, a square of egg bake.  As I think about it, I think I'll probably need to make a side to go with this.  Maybe some cole slaw.

 

On the menu for this week::: 

I usually plan my menus from Thursday to Thursday, and grocery shop on Friday morning.  A few meals on my menu plan:

Loaded cheeseburger pie

Egg bake
Roast turkey

Egg Roll in a Bowl

 

On my reading pile:::

 

Holy Hygge by Jamie Erickson

Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor by Donna Otto

We Travel an Appointed Way by A.W. Tozer

The Teaming Church by Robert Crosby

 

On my to do list today:::
 

Work on blog posts

Change dining table √ and hutch decor
Work on felt food

Laundry √

Prep/send Etsy order √

Envelopes like these made from calendar pages are perfect for mailing vintage items like sewing patterns and kids' books!

Plans for this week:::

Plan menus and make grocery list
List some notions, patterns, cards, and kids' books on Etsy

Declutter a closet

Ironing
Take a box to the thrift store

Write blog posts, especially some for Christmas in July
Work on my Sunday School lesson

 

What I am creating:::

January cross-stitch sampler
Felt food for some toddler birthday gifts

 

And I must say here I am so tickled that one of my younger granddaughters, Arielle (age 8) has taken to embroidery and felt crafting and is enjoying it so much.   She wanted to learn to embroider so she could embellish a t-shirt with embroidery as seen in a craft book she has.  The closeup photo with the hoop shows her sample piece.  I did the French knots as she has not attempted those yet, but I wanted her to see the process and what they looked like.

The cupcake she's working on, and then the finished cupcake, are embellishments on her actual t-shirt.

 

 

Bible verse, Devotional, Quote:::

This quote from Loving God with All Your Mind, by Elizabeth George, the book I'm going through with my ladies' Sunday School class:  

 

 "For a moment, think of your Christian life as a bucket God wants to fill so that you can enjoy God and enjoy life.  He wants to fill your life with Himself so He can use it to glorify Him, to bless you, and to enrich the lives of others.

    "Now, how do you fill the bucket with the things of God?  Reading the Bible every day is one way.  You can also memorize and meditate on Scripture.  And you can pray and worship.  But you must also realize that every wrong thought you think -- thoughts that are not true and real -- it is like a hole in your spiritual bucket.  Every time you think inaccurately about God, about God's Word, and about people, you are draining your bucket. Each time you dwell on 'what if' and 'if only' and 'this isn't the way it was supposed to be' scenarios, you can be sure your energy is leaking out!" 
 

[Emphasis added.]  What a scary thought!  We can be doing all the right things to fill our spiritual bucket, and then render ourselves completely unusable by thinking inaccurate thoughts not pleasing to our Lord!

Let's never forget we are supposed to be bringing "every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ".
 

On my prayer list:::

 

Friends & family
Church family
Missionaries
Our country

 

And there's the Happy Homemaker Monday for this week!