Dayspring "Grace" Tiles

"Hey, Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"

I know that's what you're thinking this week.

I realize this is NO decorating blog. Not by any stretch of the imagination. When you click over here, I'm fairly certain that you're not expecting anything in the way of beautiful pictures of my professionally decorated home. That's just not me.

Don't get me wrong. I love my home. I love making it comfortable. I love entertaining and having people stay with us. And I love looking at other people's beautiful homes.

I just don't think I'm very "gifted" in the decorating sense. Not like Sarah. Oh my! That girl has a gift! (It doesn't hurt that she lives in a gorgeous place, too.)

Anyway, this week has been a little different. Yesterday's question sure generated a lot of opinion from you all. (Thanks for nothing.) I've decided, thanks to my wise middle daughter, to keep the red for one more year and see how I feel. BUT . . . good news! . . . I think I'm going to change the window treatments and the furniture. That should help, don't you think?

But that's not the point of this post.

Sometimes we just need a little boost rather than a complete room makeover. Sometimes we just need to change out a picture or fill in an empty space to make us feel like we've contributed a little something to our home.

And that's just what I did this week, thanks to Dayspring. When they asked me to review their new "Grace" wall tiles I immediately jumped on the opportunity. Because, you know, "Grace" is my word this year.



I had an empty space in my dining room where the tiles fit perfectly. And doesn't it just seem fitting to add a little "Grace" to your dining experience? Maybe the irony is lost on you, but I thought it was cute.

Here's a closer view.

Want one of these beauties? Right now, Dayspring is offering $10 off the Grace Wall Tiles at the Dayspring (in)Courage store. They have some other great deals going on right now, too, so go check them out.

You can find more Dayspring product reviews at the (in)Courage (in)spired deals page.

Thanks to (in)Courage and Dayspring who provided these beautiful wall tiles for me to review!

Validate Me, Please

We're in a war here, people.

See this red room? This is my living room.


Way back when, 12 years ago to be precise, we were in love with these red walls. We loved this red so much that we actually painted these walls the exact same color we had in our previous house.

These red walls have brought us tremendous pleasure over the years. They are such happy walls.

I have loved these red walls. And the sweet window treatments I had made for this room. (No, I said "had made" not "made"--there's a difference.)


But times have changed. And now I think it's time for red and me to part ways.

When I look through decorating magazines and blogs I notice that nobody . . . nobody! . . . is showing red walls anymore. Everything is muted. More subtle. Neutral, if you will.

My dining room is a nice, neutral shade of taupe. (That's the room to the right of the bathroom.)


Here's a view between the two rooms (with my grandma's grandfather clock smack dab in between the two). Red living room to the right; neutral dining room to the left.


Now, here's the deal. I'm ready for a change, which, for me, is a very big deal because I am seriously one of those I-hate-change kind of people. But I want this room to be different. Toned down, perhaps? Brought more up to date at the very least.

BUT, like I said, certain other members of this family are having a hard time letting go of the red. They are putting their foot down and saying, "Don't change it. Ever!"

Would that be because in about another 15 years red might be back in vogue and it's easier to just not do anything with it? Hmmmmm?

Anyway, I do have at least one other member of my family in my corner. And she's the artsy one--the one with taste (only because she agrees with me)--so her vote actually counts for two, I think. And the fifth member of the family hasn't really expressed an opinion. Can't decide, which is normal.

So it's a little bit like Libya around here. Red! No, neutral! No, red! No, neutral!

The fighting, it never ends!

So will you help us come to a peaceful conclusion? Please tell certain members of my family that the red needs to go. And that it needs to be replaced with a more subtle, neutral color.

Here are the paint samples I've had hanging on the wall for a couple of weeks. You get the idea of where I'm going here, don't you?


Here's a closer view. The color on top is the color of my kitchen and family room which are right next to the living room. I'm thinking of using the darker color on the bottom: Danville Tan. I think the browns to the right are a little too dark.

So, in an effort to make peace, I turn to you, my readers, because I know you are all really hip and up-to-date and, while I've had my nose in a book or at the computer, you actually know what's going on in the decorating world. Believe me, I think you will be much more effective than the U.N. anyway.

Alright. Validate me. What do you think I should do with my living room color?

Meet Richella

One of the highlights of Blissdom, for me, was meeting this precious woman, Richella, who writes "Imparting Grace."



To say that Richella and I had a couple of things in common would be an understatement. Suffice it to say that we hit it off right away.

But that's not the purpose of this post.

If you are a praying person, would you please lift up Richella and her husband, Jack, tonight and tomorrow? Jack is having a second (yes, second!) open heart surgery on Tuesday morning. The surgery is to last several hours. I know that Richella is very concerned (who wouldn't be?) but she is trusting the Lord for her husband's health.

I want more than anything to be there, to hold her hand, to pray with her, but I can't. And so I will do the only thing I can do--I will pray from here. And I will ask you to pray too.

Thanks, friends. I'll let you know when I have word about the surgery.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Update: Richella sent an email this afternoon saying that her husband made it through surgery very well. He will be in the surgical intensive care unit overnight and then on to a regular floor. Thank you for praying!

Gratitude Journal

I'll be honest. Sometimes it's really hard to see through the fog. Sometimes disappointments, frustrations, and even just the busyness-of-life crowd in and make it hard to even remember to be thankful.

And yet, Ann reminds me. It's like she's always there, sitting on my shoulder, reminding me to look up and to give thanks. For that I am grateful.

I have a couple of weeks worth, so here goes.

132. Traveling mercies. So many!

133. Sweet times with family in a place we love.

134. Rain. Lots and lots of rain. Can I really be thankful?

135. Time for introspection.

136. Water, waves, the beach.

137. Disappointments. Can I really be thankful?

138. My Bible study small group co-leader, Lisa. She's such an encouragement!

139. Kate popping home for dinner.

140. Time with the jr. high girls this week.

141. An unexpectedly great college visit.

142. One precious hour with one of my best friends in the world who I never get to see. Too short, and yet so wonderful.

143. Friendships that pick up right where they left off.

144. Traveling mercies. Again.

145. A gorgeous weekend. Finally!

146. Encouragement via email.

147. Getting our back porch ready for summer. Ahhhh.

148. 80 degrees. Really?! THAT is a major blessing to me.

149. Family fun at a hockey game.

150. Blackhawks in the playoffs. :)

151. A child so disciplined it puts me to shame.

I'm linking to Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience, today. That is a blessing too.

Good Reads

It's still the weekend, so I feel justified in slipping in a few good reads for you all.

"Confessions of a Working Mom" was a guest post last week at my friend, Sandy's blog. I could relate to a lot of what is in this article--not because I'm a doctor or anything--but because I felt a lot of what Meredith describes when I was teaching. Excellent post for working moms.

Michael Hyatt: "Be the Friend You Wish You Had." Need I say more?

Life . . . {Your Way}: "Taking Your Family from Okay to Awesome." Loved these really practical ideas.

I know I link to Jon Acuff almost every week, but what can I say? He speaks to me. This week we've suffered a couple of disappointments around here. "Hiding the Things that Hurt" is one I should read over and over again.

Why I've started reading a blog called "The Handmade Home" is way beyond me. It almost makes me laugh. Except that the photos on this blog are beautiful. And this little Easter craft is just precious. If you're crafty you might want to try it.

Any good links you want to share? Even from your own blog? Link up in the comments!

Fabulous Friday Food - Spaghetti Carbonara

Happy Friday! And what a happy Friday it is.

And in honor of Happy Friday, let's make some happy food this weekend, shall we? And what could be more happy than bacon?

Oh, the joy!

My sister, Jenn, gave me this recipe a lot of years ago, and it has been one of our family favorites ever since. This is easy, quick, and delicious. I guarantee your family will love it.

So let's get cooking! Spaghetti Carbonara.

First, take some happy . . . I mean, bacon. Slice it up, and put it in a skillet.

Cook it until it's as crispy as you like it. Personally, I'm kind of a crispy gal. This should come as a surprise to no one.

Set that aside to drain, but reserve some of the bacon drippings. Three tablespoons, to be exact.

Take some garlic, and gently cook it in the bacon drippings (I hate to call it fat. Doesn't "drippings" sound so much better?)

Next, take some spaghetti that you've already cooked. (It wouldn't work with the dry stuff. Duh!) And toss it around with the garlic mixture.

Next, add some room temperature (very important!) half & half, egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.

Gently stir that around over low heat until the mixture warms and thickens just a bit. Be careful not to leave it on the heat too long or it will get kind of clumpy. Trust me.

Add back the cooked bacon.

And some chopped fresh parsley.

Toss that around a bit, then top with some more fresh Parmesan. Serve immediately.

Oh, bacon heaven! Try this one--it's so easy! And let me know what you think.

Here's the printable version: Spaghetti Carbonara.

So tell me, what are your plans for the weekend?

Linking up to A Southern Fairy Tale!

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to #44, Haydensmommy05!! You're the winner of the Anthropologie gift card! I'll be in touch.

And a huge THANK YOU to all who visited, commented, and followed during the Ultimate Blog Party this week. It has been great to meet some new friends, see some new faces, and visit some new blogs. I think the party was a huge success!

Just one of the many reasons I love him

Because of those mornings. 6:00 a.m.

The sounds coming from the little pink tiled bathroom. The one with the black band around the top. Totally 50s.

Source: gallery.apartmenttherapy.com via Shelly on Pinterest

The same little pink bathroom that Kate once locked herself into when she was four, thinking she could manage the old-fashioned lock all by herself. And when she couldn’t figure it out I had to run next door to our neighbor, Richard, who thankfully was home and had an extension ladder.

He rescued her from the tower that day.

But her real Prince Charming—my Prince Charming—would begin each day in that little pink bathroom, Kate sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, watching him shave.

And while he shaved, they sang.

What can wash away my sin? (Him)
Nothing but the blood of Jesus! (Her)
What can make me whole again? (Him)
Nothing but the blood of Jesus! (Her)

And while he could have been singing “Wild Thing” or something Bob Dylan, he instead sang about the blood. Every morning. While he shaved.

While my eyes slowly opened and my brain cleared for the day, I awoke to the sounds of him teaching her the most important song a dad can teach a daughter.

And that’s why I love him.

This post is linked to Serenity Now.

Fuzzy

Well hello there!

Just me, your local invalid. Convalescing.

I tell you, I am not one to sit around and do nothing, and I am REALLY not one to get sick. Oh sure, there might be a surgery every now and then, but ever since my nasty little encounter with a scalpel three years ago, I've taken my health pretty seriously. My family will laugh when they read this, but I totally believe in the power of the probiotic (they've listened to me preach it too many times, I guess). I've been taking probiotics for about three years now and I rarely . . . RARELY, I tell you . . . get sick.

Except for this week.

Well, yesterday I was sick of being sick and I was sick of my dreary self, so I decided to just pretend this little virus/infection thingy wasn't going to get me down. So I did my usual day which included laundry, a couple of errands, meeting a friend, making dinner, and helping one child with a resume. What I didn't count on was not being able to sleep and then having my husband come home at midnight (!) from a church meeting.

Today, I'm back down. Oh, I tried. I made a valiant effort to go to Bible study this morning, but I had to leave early to go back to bed.

So while I'm lying here just waiting to feel better, I thought I'd just pop in to say hello. And to list off some things I've been meaning to tell you.

1. Take a look over there---> See the "Followers" tab? It should read 150 or greater by now. Thank you to so many of you who took the challenge and followed me over the past week. I will be handing out that Anthropologie gift card tomorrow, so get ready!

2. Check out these amazing shoes. We walked into a shoe store in Charleston last week (probably to escape the rain) and these were just sitting there, much to my delight and to the confusion of my family. I guess my squeeling, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" just didn't make sense to them.



You know why these caught my eye? BECAUSE I HAD THE EXACT SAME PAIR OF SHOES WHEN I WAS IN 8TH GRADE!!!! No kidding. These were my all-time favorite pair of shoes. Of all time! I loved those shoes so much and I wore them to DEATH. I wonder what ever happened to them. Mom?



I guess I should have held onto those shoes. They're catching a pretty penny these days: $120. Whooo!

3. Congratulations to the Texas A&M women's basketball team. National Champs. Pretty impressive. And I know my niece, Kira, was cheering them on last night. Gig em, Aggies!

4. One more South Carolina picture. Have you ever seen a tree that big?



This is the Angel Oak on John's Island, SC. We usually have to make a quick visit to the tree whenever we're in the area because it's just so . . . amazing. It's said to be one of the oldest living species of anything east of the Mississippi--about 1,500 years old. I don't know why, but it boggles my mind every time I see it.

What can I say? I love trees.

5. Have you ever seen that scene in "You've Got Mail" when Meg Ryan gets sick and Tom Hanks comes over for a surprise visit? He brings her daisies (her favorite) and she throws her trench coat around her as a make-shift bath robe. She's sitting on the bed with wads of kleenex all around her and she says, "My head is fuzzy. I can't think." And then she makes that cute, pouty little Meg Ryan face and Tom Hanks falls in love with her all over again.

Yeah, that's kind of how I'm feeling right now. Fuzzy. So take the daisies you brought and put them in some water, cover me up with a blanket, and tip toe out the door.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Probably More Than You Really Want to Know

Well, hello Insult!

Have you met my friend Injury?

As if having the coldest, wettest vacation in history wasn't enough, I started sneezing while we drove home on Saturday. And my head started feeling kind of stuffy. And my throat started getting sore.

As soon as we got home and unloaded the car I said, "I'm going to bed. I don't feel so well." I took two Nyquil capsules (something I NEVER do) and hit the sack.

And this is pretty much where I've spent the past 36 hours since coming home.



Except for the three hours I spent in Urgent Care to get a simple little strep test which turned out to be negative. Figures. Insult to injury, right?

But the doc gave me a prescription anyway, and with a wink and a nod he said, "If you're not feeling better in a week, go ahead and fill this." {*wink, wink*}

Hey, I have a life to live and a LOT going on this week, and I don't have time to be sick. (And besides, I'm a probiotic junkie--just ask my family--and I hardly EVER get sick, so this is especially bothersome to me.) You can bet I filled that prescription as soon as we left Urgent Care. Call it a precautionary measure. (And those of you with your medical degrees who might be reading this, please don't write to tell me how terrible it is to take precautionary antibiotics. I already know.)

So, Insult and Injury are sitting right next to me on my bedside table. Along with a box of kleenex, a glass of water, and that prescription packet.



At least I have plenty of reading material!

Good Reads

Well, my friends, it's been another great week of blog reading. And since I'm in the car all day today . . . and since I've been freezing my little tushy off all week (and reading lots of blogs because of it) . . . and since you probably need something to read in between basketball games this weekend . . . here are a few of my favorite blog posts from this week.

Oh that Jon Acuff. Every week I get some new little insight, some new way of looking at things, some new check on my behavior. And this week was no different. On his "new" blog (which I am loving, by the way) Jon encourages us dreamers to pursue our dreams, but not at the expense of the people we love.

Amy, over at Amy's Finer Things, linked to my "How Your Daughter Dresses Matters" post last week, and, whoo boy, did she drive the traffic over here! And I didn't even know her before! But this week Amy wrote a post that I really loved and which explains why I rarely use coupons. Sorry, but I totally agree with her premise in "The Best Way to Save Money."

I love, love, LOVED this tutorial from Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy on "How to Make a Pillow from a Tea Towel." Almost makes me want to sit down at my poor, neglected sewing machine. Almost.

Have you heard about the huge controversy surrounding the new book, "Love Wins"? No? Are you living under a rock? I'm not going to get into it here--plenty of people have done that already--but Donald Miller gives his own little "review" of "Love Wins" on his blog this week. Hilarious.

Finally, don't forget to head over to 5 Minutes for Mom this week to get in on the Ultimate Blog Party. Lots of great giveaways going on this week! And don't forget that I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Anthropologie . . . if I make it to 150 followers. So follow me now and leave a comment over on that post . . . and tell your friends to follow me too. I'll love you forever!

Have a great weekend!

5 Minutes for Mom Ultimate Blog Party

It might be April Fool's Day, but this is no joke. It really IS a party with about 2,000 bloggers linking up at 5 Minutes for Mom. So glad you've joined me.

Come on in! Take a look around. And by all means, make yourself at home. Kick your shoes off if you want to--I always do. Here in this little corner of the cyber world it's all about being yourself, being real, and chilling together for a few minutes.

What do I write about? Faith, family, and food, mostly. With a bit of travel thrown in for good measure.

Faith. First and foremost I hope you'll see that I'm all about Jesus. I hope He shines through the pages of this blog, whether He's mentioned in name or not . . . He's here. A couple of my favorite faith posts are Generosity and In Which I Apologize to my Dad.

Family. The title of my blog is a play on our last name, but it also has come to symbolize what we're about. Yes, it's a crazy, wild life with three teenage girls, but it's an adventure full of fun. I write about parenting quite a bit because I'm passionate about doing this better. A couple of my favorite parenting posts are Dabbling? and a series I did last year called Intentional Parenting. Oh, and last week I wrote a post titled How Your Daughter Dresses Matters that got quite the reaction. Yea!

Food. I love food! I love to cook it and I love to eat it. I'm passionate about making great meals that are simple yet delicious, so every Friday I'll give you one of our family's favorite recipes in my Fabulous Friday Food post. A couple of the most popular Fabulous Friday Food posts have been my Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and Honey Whole Wheat Bread.

Travel. This is where I have FUN!! I love to explore new parts of the world and I've had lots of adventures over the years. I'm grateful for an understanding husband who puts up with my wanderlust. Over the past few years I've written about taking two of my daughters to England on separate occasions and about a family missions trip to Switzerland. But we stay in the States as well. Tuesday is usually my travel day to write about travel.

I have had so much fun meeting new blogging friends over the past three years, but there is always room for more. Please FOLLOW me and join in on my everyday adventures!

Now for the good stuff. Because I'm greedy and because I'm lonely over here and because I really want you to follow me, I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Anthropologie (one of my favorite places!) to one lucky commenter . . . BUT ONLY IF I REACH 150 FOLLOWERS! So here's where you come in. If you don't already follow me, DO IT (and leave a comment letting me know)! I think you'll be glad you did. If you DO already follow me (and I thank you for that!), Tweet my challenge, or put in on Facebook, or pass the word around however you do it. Then come back and leave me a comment letting me know you did that. (One comment per person, please.)

I'll announce the winner of a random drawing from the comments on Thursday, April 7.

Thanks for playing--and for following!

Nineteen

She was always eager.

An eager learner, we called her. One of those “Oooh! Oooh! Pick me!” kind of kids in the classroom.

Eager to be the first to experience, to see, to know . . . anything.



Eager to love—always free to share hugs and affection with those she loves.



Eager to run ahead.



Eager to work hard.



Eager to please us, her parents.



Eager to be a great sister.



Eager to be goofy.



Eager to be a friend.



Eager to be born.

Nineteen years ago today Kate eagerly arrived . . . three weeks early.

We love you, Kate!



Happy birthday!

What To Do When Your Vacation Doesn't Quite Go as Planned

They say there are two situations we can't control: death and taxes.

This week I've been reminded that there is one more: the weather.

As I write, I'm bundled up in a sweatshirt--the same sweatshirt I slept in last night. My feet are freezing because I've gone through every pair of socks I brought (guess we'll have to resort to wearing dirty socks for the rest of the week!). And I'm listening to thunder roll in the distance.

Ah, yes, the Spring Break beach vacation.

Here is our little troupe on the beach yesterday. Note the jackets, hats, and long pants. At least is wasn't raining, which is more than I can say for the other days on our trip.



To say that this vacation has gone South (figuratively speaking) would be an understatement. The weather just hasn't cooperated. Winter has decided to give it one last go here in the Southeast.

Bless its little old frosty heart.

Now, the weather and me, we're on a love/hate basis for sure. When the weather cooperates, it feels like all's right with the world to me, but when the weather is gloomy, so am I. It's just the way I'm wired. I've worked out some strategies over the years to cope with our nasty Chicago winters, but I've also realized that this is a part of my DNA. I'm wired to need sunshine. And I know many people who are just like me.

But what do you do when things (like the weather) go terribly awry on your vacation? It does happen. People get into car accidents. Kids get sick. All while on vacation.

So this week I've been listening to a running commentary in my head saying things like this:

Get over it, it's only one week out of your life.

Deal with it, it's spring.

Shape up! Your kids are watching!

For the most part the little pep talks have been working, but I've needed to remember a few more things this week that I thought I'd share . . . just in case you ever find yourself bundled up on the beach, dodging raindrops and scrambling to find just one more jacket to wear.

Keep a proper perspective. If it helps, remind yourself that it really IS only one week of your life. It's not the end of the world. Things could be much worse--like being in 28 degree weather at home.

Remind yourself that the point of your vacation isn't (necessarily) to get a tan. The point is to be together as a family. And when you're stuck in a townhome in the rain, you are definitely together. Rejoice in your togetherness.

Try a new--indoor--activity. Sure, it may not be what you have planned, but check out the local bowling alley or movie theater. Find a local museum to learn more about the area. Go shopping. Just get out and DO something rather than sitting around moaning about the weather.

Remember that this will add to your family memory bank. Just like all those road trips we've taken over the years, this week of dodging raindrops and adding layers of clothing will be something to look back on and laugh.

Which brings me to my last point . . . LAUGH! There's nothing you can do about the weather so you might as well laugh about it. You might as well make happy family memories. You might as well have fun. So laugh and enjoy being together.

We're looking on the bright side--the weekend is supposed to be gorgeous. At least we'll have good weather for driving back home!

Spill it. Do you have a vacation disaster to share? Come on! Make me feel better!

This post is linked to Amanda's Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now and Amy's Finer Things Friday.

Whatever Happened to the Road Trip?

"Mom," our youngest came to me just before Spring Break. "Everyone at school keeps asking me if we're flying." Friends and teachers alike just couldn't believe that we would actually get in the car for the 15 hour trip to our Spring Break destination.

The same thing happened at Christmas when my husband's co-workers were incredulous that we would actually attempt to drive 900 miles to get to Dallas where our family lives. He said that more than once people asked him, "You're flying, right?"

Wrong.

This family drives most places, and I think we've become somewhat of a rarity. Don't get me wrong--we're not opposed to airplanes. They come in handy sometimes. In fact, I've been on a plane six times already this year for various reasons.

But when you have a family of five, airplane travel becomes very expensive. And we figure, if we can make the trip in a day (or sometimes a day-and-a-half), we might as well drive. It's better than staying home! So from the time our girls were very young, we just got used to packing up our car and hitting the road . . . Jack. *tee hee*

And you know what? We've had a great time doing it. All three of our girls seem to like a good old-fashioned road trip. And B and I love it too.

We've made some really happy memories along the way. Who could forget packing up our car in a driving rainstorm at the end of a vacation? Some great bonding there! Or the time (it may have even been the same trip) one daughter sat quietly in the back seat of the van eating the entire contents of her Easter basket, only to have us pull over just in the nick of time? Good times!

Seriously, though, we have more jokes, more memories, more family lore from road trips than from anything else we've done together as a family. Road trips bond you together like nothing else.

We've seen some amazing parts of the country. If we had flown on this trip, we never would have enjoyed the beauty of the Smoky Mountains in their twisty-turny loveliness. We also would never have enjoyed the beauty of Yellowstone if we had just flown over it. And who could forget the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota which we stopped to see on our way out West one year? You just don't get to see that . . . interesting sight . . . from an airplane!

Our country is huge and wide and diverse and beautiful. You just can't get a sense of its grandeur unless you travel its roads.

Even the hard times bring you closer. I'm not gonna lie . . . not every moment of a road trip is spectacular family bonding time. We fight. We yell. We cry. We forget about it. And then there was the Great Vomiting Incident of 2005 that I've already mentioned--more than once did that happen! Sure, there are tense moments, but in the end, even those moments become part of the fabric of our family. A patchwork quilt that has sewn us together in some rich and wonderful ways.

Even now, we will often sit around the table and reminisce, laughing mostly, about various events that our family has experienced--and usually these events have something to do with a road trip. I have a feeling that even when our girls are older and have families of their own, we'll still be laughing about Ted, the bison, who very nearly got into our car out at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. It just wouldn't have been the same in a rented car.

And best of all, if we didn't take road trips, we'd never get great pictures like this!



So tell me, are you a road trip family or a flying family? Why or why not?

Good Reads

Well, it's sure been an eventful week full of really great blog posts. Here are some of my favorites from this week.

Donald Miller wrote a fantastic piece titled "How NOT to Read the Bible." This resonated with me so much because it's very similar to some of what I learned at the Women of the Word seminar a few weeks back. (I know, I know, I promised a post about that. It's coming one of these days. Just trying to keep you all on your toes.)

Speaking of Women of the Word . . . the Gospel Coalition blog gave a nice recap of that seminar, written by my friend, Kathleen Nielson. I'll give mine over here . . . soon.

This post over at Life . . . {your way} gave some really helpful and practical tips for simplifying your life. Tips like "just stay home" might seem a little obvious, but they really do bear repeating. For those of us who don't always get it the first time around.

And then there's this place that my mom found--The Vintage Rose. Her stuff is just so beautiful. Only problem? She's in Tasmania. Free whatnot to whoever can tell me where Tasmania is.

And then there was the WSJ article titled "Why Do We Let Girls Dress Like That?" which caused all kinds of internet ruckus and mayhem. My own post, "How Your Daughter Dresses Matters," brought more traffic to this little corner of the internet than this little corner has ever seen before. I guess a lot more people than just me feel pretty passionate about this topic.

Finally, have you seen the video about Denver, the guilty dog? Oh my goodness, if you haven't seen it yet, please watch it. I think I've seen it about 4,372 times so far and I never get tired of it.

How about you? What was one of your favorite posts this week? Feel free to link up in the comments.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Fabulous Friday Food - Shepherd's Pie

Happy Friday! If you're new around here, I should probably clue you in to something . . . I love to cook. And most Fridays (I won't say "every" Friday because that just doesn't happen for some reason) I will give you a recipe. Usually it's something I've made that week, but it's always something my family loves. And approves.

This week things have turned a little colder. Drat! We thought we were coming out of the dreaded, dreary, Chicago winter, but it seems that winter wants to take one last whack at us over the next few days.

You know what I say to winter?

Bring it!

Because I'm not going to deal with you any more. It's Spring Break for my kids, so we are outta here!

Still, for those of you suffering with colder-than-usual temperatures, here's a cold-weather comfort food type of recipe for you that I've been making for years. Julia requested it a couple of weeks ago, so I thought this would be a good time to share it with you.

And what do you know? The weather cooperated.

(Sorry about that.)

Now, one more thing. I just met a new bloggy friend this week whom I already love. She is sweet. She is sincere. She and I, I can tell, have a lot in common, not the least is that she lives in a market town (a market town!) about 12 miles outside of Oxford, England. Which is where I fell in love with that country.

So, Sarah, if you're reading this, forgive me. This is probably an Americanized version of the Shepherd's Pie you grew up with. Shepherd's Pie in England is so much better, but we do what we can over here. We're Cretans, we are. I hope we can still be friends.

Without further adeiu . . . Shepherd's Pie.

First, you'll need some mashed potatoes. For Heaven's sake, boil up some water and plunk down the potatoes. Make the mashed potatoes for REAL. None of that boxed stuff. Ugh.

You'll need about 4 cups of REAL mashed potatoes.

Next, the best start to some of my favorite recipes. Ground beef and onions. What could be better?

Well, O.K., maybe ground beef and onions and WINE because, well, wine makes everything better. But I have never tried it with ground beef and onions. I'm not about to start now, so skip the wine this time.

But just this once.

Brown it all up and drain off the yucky stuff. Gross. And give it a good dose of salt and pepper.

Then add 1 cup of beef broth.

And a couple cups of frozen peas and carrots. Don't be too picky about the measurements--this is comfort food, not precise, picky food.

Bring all that to a simmer. Put a lid on it and forget about it for about five minutes.

While that's simmering away (and your potatoes are cooking for your REAL mashed potatoes), make a slurry of flour and worchestershire sauce. A couple tablespoons of each will do just fine. Or more, if you're like me and like a little more sauce.

Pour that over the meat and vegetables and let that simmer for a few minutes. Taste it to make sure you have enough salt and pepper.

Place it in a pretty baking dish . . .

. . . and top it with REAL mashed potatoes.

Bake it at 450 degrees F. for 15-20 minutes.

When it's done, it will be browned and bubbly.

You'll be so tempted to dig right in, but don't do that yet or you'll burn your mouth. Just trust me on this one.

So there you have it, easy-peasy Shepherd's Pie. For when winter just won't go down without a fight.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Now tell me, what do you like to eat when you need some comfort? Or when winter rears its ugly head?

This post is being linked to Food on Fridays and Finer Things Friday.

Like what you see here? Want to read about this Wild Life every day? You can get a free email subscription by adding your email address over there on the right. Or just click "follow" to get "Life on the Wild Side" in your reader. Thanks!

How Your Daughter Dresses Matters

Added 10.13.16
Friends, this post has unexpectedly gotten a lot of attention lately. In fact, a little too much attention for my taste. Earlier this week several people (OK, maybe a few more than several) read this post and left comments that were a little hard to stomach. That's not what I'm about here, so I took the post down for a while.

After much deliberation, prayer, and consultation with people I love and respect, I decided to put the post back up and I have written a further clarification here. Please read this post too. It shares a bit more of my heart, five years later.

Yes, this is perhaps a little controversial and yes, you might have thoughts. But here's what I'm going to say about those thoughts--I will be very picky about the comments I choose to share here, if any. I will not share comments that are disparaging to me or anyone else in any way. I will not share comments that are inflammatory or unkind. 

We need a kinder world, a kinder place to be with one another. Let's be that here. Thanks!


Moms of daughters, listen up. There’s something you need to hear, and you may not like it. You may think it weird or prudish or snobby. Whatever. You need to hear this.

How your daughter dresses matters.

I’ve been passionate about this topic for a long time, since I have three daughters and we’ve had to cross this bridge a time or twenty over the years. At times it’s been a painful crossing, but in the end it’s been worth it to actually address the topic of appropriate dress and modesty.

Why does it matter?

Because how a girl dresses reflects an image of herself to the world, especially to boys.

Remember elementary school? It was easy to tell the tomboys from the girly-girls by the way they dressed. Tomboys wore t-shirts and sweats every day; girly-girls wore dresses and frilly tops.

Somewhere around junior high, though, another image gets added in there, and it’s not necessarily the image you might want of your junior high daughter. You know what I mean. Back in my day they were the “fast” girls. We might have called them worse.

Earlier this week, WSJ online asked a really important question: why would a mother encourage her daughter to dress like that? The article is graphic and disturbing in places and just plain sad, overall. But I think it’s important and worth a look, especially if you have daughters.

The author says she posed the question of why moms would let their daughters dress like that to a friend. Here’s the response she got:

"It isn't that different from when we were kids," she said. "The girls in the sexy clothes are the fast girls. They'll have Facebook pictures of themselves opening a bottle of Champagne, like Paris Hilton. And sometimes the moms and dads are out there contributing to it, shopping with them, throwing them parties at clubs. It's almost like they're saying, 'Look how hot my daughter is.'"

And then the author asks the most important question: “But why?”

Why indeed? Who really wants their daughter to act like Paris Hilton anyway? And who really wants their daughter to look “hot”?

Here’s what another mom said:

“We somehow survived our own teen and college years (except for those who didn't), and now, with the exception of some Mormons, evangelicals and Orthodox Jews, scads of us don't know how to teach our own sons and daughters not to give away their bodies so readily.”

Can you hear the regret in her voice? They don’t know how to teach their sons and daughters to not give away their bodies? I guess they feel it’s a double-standard if they’ve done these things, but is it a double-standard to tell your kids you made a huge mistake and you don’t want them to replicate your mistakes?

Or is it helping and teaching your kids? Loving them so much that you don’t want them to feel the shame and despair you did? Having the hard conversation because you want something better for your daughter?

I loved this quote from the end of the article:

"We wouldn't dream of dropping our daughters off at college and saying: 'Study hard and floss every night, honey—and for heaven's sake, get laid!' But that's essentially what we're saying by allowing them to dress the way they do while they're still living under our own roofs."

Think about that. If, as mothers (or fathers!), we’re encouraging our daughters to dress inappropriately, that’s basically what we’re saying. At the very least we’re saying, “Here’s my daughter. She’s on display. Take a good, long, hard look at her.”

Ugh. The thought of anyone looking at any of my daughters inappropriately just makes my skin crawl.

I work with junior high girls at church, and here’s what I tell them: "Dressing a certain way attracts a certain kind of guy. I doubt very seriously that the kind of guy you want to attract is the kind of guy you’re dressing for when you dress like that. Besides, you are above that. You are better than that. You deserve better than that. So dress for the guy you deserve."

It’s tough as moms out there today. To encourage your daughter to dress modestly takes courage for both you and your daughter. Because she will be different—at school, with her friends, even (sadly) at church. She might get ridiculed. She might even get ostracized.

But isn’t she worth it?

Believe me, it’s tough to even find cute clothes to wear that are appropriate. Probably 80% of what you see in stores today is NOT appropriate, so you have to be creative and diligent to find clothes that honor your girl and won’t bring her down. But you can do it and it’s worth the effort.

And here’s why. Read this quote from a college guy who read the WSJ article and decided to leave a comment:

"As a male college student, I can say point blank, that most girls start to [sic] early and do too much. I go to a southern california school, so it might be a more extreme case, but still, the behavior referred to in this article is bad no matter how you spin it. We guys laugh at it and pat ourselves on the back for how many of these young girls we use and degrade, and how they don't seem to mind, but there's not a single one of us who doesn't know something is blatantly wrong with the picture."

This just makes me want to cry for our daughters who dress to attract that kind of guy. Even the guys know it’s wrong!

Moms, I just want to encourage you today to see your daughter as the precious gift she is and to help her see herself that way too. It is my prayer that we can encourage our daughters to reflect the image that God has of her—one that loves her completely and loves her enough to give up His life for her.

She’s that important. She’s that special. Let’s help her to reflect that image to the world.

*****
Again, I would love it if you would read my follow-up post here.

Three “S’s” of Spiritual Growth

You probably don’t have this problem. I’m sure you don’t. Because most of the time I’m fairly certain that just about every Christian in the world is more spiritual than I am.

Seriously. I sit in church and compare myself to the mom down the row with the perfect husband and the perfect children who sit so perfectly and who are all dressed so perfectly. She’s so perfect I can’t even stand myself sitting near her.

I’m sure she has perfect quiet times and never raises her voice to her children (let alone her husband!) and all is right with the Lord. And her. Because she’s perfect.

But me? I sometimes wonder how God picked me to follow Him because I just don’t seem to get it right so often. And sometimes I really wonder whether I’m really growing, spiritually speaking, because I just feel so . . . unspiritual.

It’s a conundrum.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Wondering what to do when I feel like I’m not growing as much as I should. And I’ve realized that there are a couple of things that really help.

Study. The times I’ve really grown the most are the times I’ve really dug into God’s word. Studied it. Pondered it. Let it seep down into my bones.

I’ve been in a Bible study at my church for many years now, but for a lot of years (especially when my kids were younger) I was kind of sporadic about attending. I often felt like I wasn’t good enough to be there, or that I didn’t know enough about the Bible. Sometimes it was just easier to stay home. Or to go to work.

(Hey, I’m being brutally honest here. Don’t judge.)

But when I finally decided to get serious about studying the Bible and to learn more about who God says He is through His word, I’ve realized that I actually like Him. I’ve even grown to love Him more.

And the best way I’ve found to get to know God is to study what He has to say to me, personally, in the Bible. Now I actually help other women study the Bible, and I’ve found that I love studying it more than ever.

Serve. You’re probably wondering how serving others can make me grow spiritually, but it goes something like this: when I give love, I receive love. The more I receive, the more I want to give. And so on . . . and so on . . . and so on.

Kind of like the Breck commercial.

So when I’m loving on the junior high girls and I see them “get it” about God or I hear them ask amazing questions about their faith, it encourages me to keep going. Or when I do mundane tasks for the missionaries I serve, like buying a new vacuum for their house, I see how much it is needed and the respite it gives them, and I want to love them more.

We touch lives when we serve, and for me, doing this causes me to love God more.

Did you notice how each of these things, study and service, are not at all about me? Study focuses on God, and service focuses on others. There’s nothing about “me” in any of it.

And yet, when I do these things I am the beneficiary. My spiritual life grows.

Chances are, when I am missing one of these two elements of spiritual growth, I become the third “S”: Stagnant. Usually when my faith is out of whack, when I’m feeling a little funky about following Jesus, it’s because I’m not studying or serving . . . or both. My faith has become all about me—what I’m getting out of it—and that’s just plain selfish. (Hey! There’s another “S”!)

How about you? How do you get out of a spiritual rut? What have you found that helps you grow?

Gratitude Journal

Happy Monday! I hope you're enjoying your first full day of Spring . . . and feeling grateful for it. I know I am!

121. Sweet baby-friends who come to my house.

122. And her mama.

123. Meeting bloggy friend, Glenda!

124. All the things Glenda and I had in common.

125. Studying the book of John this year in Bible study and walking slowly to the cross in the weeks before Easter.

126. Talking through really important stuff with junior high girls each week.

127. Having the energy to spend time with those junior high girls each week!

128. Coffee with Amy and sharing excitement together over travel opportunities.

129. WELCOMING B HOME after he had been gone for a week.

130. Laughter in church--true joy.

131. The first day of Spring!!!

So tell me, what are you thankful for today? Just tell me one thing in the comments section--I'd love to hear from you!



Linking up with Ann today. Go to her blog, A Holy Experience, for more lists of gratitude.