• Devotionals

    Crowned with Goodness

    May the Lord, indeed, crown your year with goodness ♥ and may the coming year be your most blessed year in the Lord.   Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. 2  O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. 3  Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. 4  Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy…

  • Potpourri

    Another Year Is Dawning

    Another Year Is Dawning Lyrics ~ Frances R. Havergal, 1836 -1879 Music ~ Samuel S. Wesley, 1810 – 1876 Another year is dawning! Dear Father, let it be, In working or in waiting, Another year with Thee; Another year of leaning Upon Thy loving breast; Another year of trusting, Of quiet, happy rest; Another year of mercies, Of faithfulness and grace; Another year of gladness In the shining of Thy face; Another year of progress, Another year of praise; Another year of proving Thy presence all the days; Another year of service, Of witness for Thy love; Another year of…

  • Potpourri

    chapter 2011

    God bless you& your thoughts and may He establish your dreams & plans as you close ♥ Chapter 2011 and open ♥ Chapter 2012. With love from the ♥ of the home.

  • Family - Motherhood - Potpourri

    It’s the week before Christmas and…

    It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house, mother is ____________ and the family feels ___________. I posted this @ Welcome Home on Facebook… but it’s so important that I thought I’d share it here.  I’ve been posting brief year-end countdown thoughts on Facebook @ Welcome Home.  In the new year I hope to post daily home notes and verses for encouragement. More housekeeping and sorting today. Don’t be afraid to box up stuff you really don’t use — as you’re cleaning and preparing for festive dinners and/or visits from family & friends. Whatever you box up today,…

  • Family - marriage - Potpourri

    The Vacant Chair

    I’ve entitled this blog entry The Vacant Chair — a title that’s not original with me, but the title of a poem I’ll add to this post in a moment.  The poem was written by a dear saint, the husband of a precious friend who passed into heaven earlier this year. It’s interesting that the poem should come in the  mail today… as I have been thinking of several different ones who have ‘vacant chairs’ at their tables again this year.  I think of the mothers and fathers who stand at the glass watching for the wayward son or daughter,…

  • Potpourri - Slices of Life

    Christmas Letters

    I love receiving Christmas letters each year — I read them — some, many times. I read them to the family and take the enclosed photos and hang them on our kitchen cabinet doors.  I love the letters for so many reasons — maybe for as many different reasons as the number of letters received each year. I often wonder how many drafts some writers attempted before the resulting letter was complete.  I say this because I attempted to write our Christmas letter no less than a dozen times this year.  Each draft wordier (no surprise there!) than the previous…

  • In the Kitchen

    Cookies… and more.

    Of all the cookbooks I have — and I have many — surely, among my favourites are by Susan Branch — the different “Heart of the Home” cookbooks I began receiving as gifts after Kathryn was born in 1986.  They were then, and are now, among my treasured books — not only bcz I have enjoyed the recipes so much, but also bcz the books are simply lovely to read… you’ll see. This afternoon, I received her email-newsletter — which I will save —  as I do each newsletter she sends.  They’re far too beautiful not to keep and far…

  • Family - Home Sweet Home - The Home

    It’s a Time to Rejoice

    Through the years we’ve celebrated “Christmastime” many different ways — some years a little, some years more.  A family tradition here and a family tradition there, but no set (read: unchangeable) tradition.   I think this comes from a mixed reaction to cultural influence/cultural traditions.  It also comes from an ongoing inner debate:  should believers celebrate Christmas?  We’d immediately say: Yes, we should celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but that’s not really the question when people ask: should Christians celebrate “Christmas.”  They’re asking: should Christians celebrate the twisted mix of  truth and tradition, pagan and sacred. …

  • Potpourri - Society

    The Latest Cool Stuff

    You know when you’re sitting in you Doctor’s office waiting room and you sort of mindlessly thumb through the  magazines on the coffee table and you see things you didn’t even know existed or you see a half torn page and wonder what it was you missed?  Do you  log into Facebook or browse Google  News and see offers or Web ‘gadgets’ you don’t even understand?  Trend watchers, social engineers, movers and shakers all look for them: the latest cool stuff — the next big thing. I remember when I first started blogging… I was keeping a journal of sorts…