Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

And suddenly we're two-thirds of the way through the year. At this point I'm completely over for the heat and humidity of summer and ready for sweater weather and a steaming cup of chai. My September planner spread reflects that in all its cozy, chilly glory. My love of autumn is clearly seen in my expansive collection of washi tape, so I chose four of my favorites for this spread. Honestly, I didn't have a pair of scissors handy (gasp), so I tore strips to use as dividers between weeks. These pages are where I keep track of my blog post ideas, so I choose small images to scatter so there will be plenty of room to write. The larger sticker images and phrases are anchors for the page, down in the bottom rows and along the far edge. I didn't realize some of my stickers were metallic until I took these pictures and saw the reflection - bonus! Speaking of metallic, that's the vibe for all this week. I don't usually do monochromatic, but this set was too beautiful no...

This corner of our small garage has the biggest, most beautiful spider web. It is pure white, and it glistens in the sunshine that pours through that window. I honestly don't know how long it took that spider to make it, and I honestly don't want to meet him to ask. I'm cool with not knowing this one thing. Looking closely at how pretty it is, it can take a moment to remember that the web is actually a deadly tool. It may look like a fun carnival slide or a net to keep trapeze artists safe, but it's sticky and constricting and built with death in mind. Isn't nature amazing? But net was the first word I thought of when I saw the web, and net always makes me think of the verses about the wicked seeking to catch the righteous in a net. The psalms are full of these warning verses. The heathen are sunk down in the pit  that  they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. Psalm 9:15 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch t...

The current project in our church family is making t-shirt jumprope for this year's Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  You'll need a variety of colors of t-shirts. Chances are you have some in the closet already, or you know some moms and kids who have some to spare. This should be an incredibly inexpensive project with such rich rewards. And there are so few tools required. A friend is letting me use her cutting mats and rotary cutter, so all I had to provide is a pair of heavy-duty scissors. The strips you'll cut are 1.5 inches wide, so it's super easy to stack mats and move them across the mat to keep from wearing them too much. For each shirt, fold them in half and cut straight across right under the armpit seam. Then lay it flat and cut 1.5-inch strips. It will have seams on either end and be a complete loop. When you pick them up and stretch them, they'll wrap up on themselves and turn into rope. This is what three shirts cut up will look like. You'll h...

So technically the title of this post should be, How to meal prep 16+ meals and snacks and veggies and pasta in less than two hours. Maybe more, depending on your portion sizes. But who's being picky about words at this point? One of my favorite parts of meal prep is packaging everything up. Crazy, right? But there's something about knowing we'll be able to heat each one up quick and not have to worry about cooking all week that makes me incredibly happy.  So what follows is exactly what I did this past Saturday afternoon, all in less than two hours. It can be adapted for whatever meat and sides you'd like, as well as how many portions and for what sizes. Do one, do the next one, switch out the one that's done, and keep going while you alternate skillets. Let me know how you made this plan your own! Grocery List: 4 chicken breasts 2 lb ground beef 1 lb steak tips 1 pork tenderloin, preseasoned 2 6-oz strip steaks 12 eggs Frozen veggie/pasta mix Frozen broccoli 1. Ch...

Did you know that we spend about 94% of our lives indoors? I think both that a lot when most of my job is done sitting at a desk, and then I wonder why I'm tired and listless! But here's the secret - liquid Vitamin D changes everything! It's super hot with lots of sunshine right now where we live, so it made sense to document it in my planner for the coming week. First off, I'm a huge fan of ripped washi tape. Cutting it is fine if you want clean lines, but there's something cool about those torn ends. So I alternated the sunglasses and watermelon washi across the pages, which looked even better because they aren't the same width. They'll be the bottom border of each day's box, plus the foundation for each small grouping of sticker images.  And not every embellishment on your pages has to be a blatantly themed image. Notice that there are some random arrows and starbursts, just because. They break up that very summer-themed set with something else fun an...

So we did a thing this past weekend. Danny sent me a picture of a Dachshund puppy at the local shelter, and after a tiny bit of conversation, we adopted him into our pack. I never thought we''d have three boys, but here we are! Cooper Maverick is a Dachshund mixed with something adorable like a terrier. He turned three months old on Tuesday, and he's a Parvo survivor like our black lab Sadie was. Cooper is a major cuddler. When you pick him up, he absolutely melts into your arms. We were a little concerned about bringing him into a house with a senior dog at the end of life, but we didn't need to be. Cooper tried to play with Parker the first day, but he soon understood that Parker moves at a very much slower pace of life. He's happy to just cuddle or lay nearby and absorb Parker's calming presence, and we're incredibly blessed to see him understand the difference. Diesel is an entirely different story. We really wanted him to have a companion for when Parke...

From the first day we moved into our home in 2011, we've been welcoming entire herds of deer to the property. This year we've seen everything from enormous bucks with beautiful racks to does with twin fawns. It's quite the sight, especially when we open the door for the dogs first thing in the morning and there they are! This weekend one of the does brought her twins to the driveway for a berry buffet. One of our trees drops them every summer, but the deer love them and are happy to clean up the mess they make. Even our dogs barking from the window didn't deter these three from their special treat. A little bit later, they had apparently called all their friends because there were seven of them all over the driveway helping themselves. When Christians think about deer, we usually think of the hymn As The Deer Pants For the Water and the first verse from Psalm 42: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. We also have two ponds on ...

I'm a big fan of any recipe that I only have to buy one ingredient for, the rest are already in my pantry. It was a fun surprise to start a grocery list and stop after one entry. And this is the first time I've made praline in a saucepan. It's the binder for the cookie, and it is absolutely lovely. Now I'm trying to think of some other random ingredients to combine in it! Who knows what amazing cookie combinations this kind of thinking might produce. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 1 Tbsp vanilla pinch of salt 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped 1/2 cup dried cranberries 2 cups quick oats 1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. 2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, butter, and heavy whipping cream. Stir frequently until all ingredients are smooth and a slow boil begins. 3. Keep boiling 3-5 minutes, until the mixture thickens slightly and the color darkens. 4. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in van...

I don't know how your brain works, but mine loves order and symmetry. I'm that girl who wants to raise the blinds to the same level in each window of a room, iykyk. So this week's layout in my planner has those same, beautiful, even vibes that make my heart and mind happy.  First, the colors of this embellishment set are absolutely gorgeous. They scream end-of-the-summer-turning-into-fall, which we're so ready for right now. Each day has a half-circle like a bunting or swag in the upper corner, just with different patterns and color combinations, with a tiny banner accent. And because they're all from the same set, there's absolutely no brain power involved to make them coordinate. And each day also has an encouraging phrase in the opposite corner from the swag. Putting together my schedule for this week, it's pretty clear that I'm going to need every word of encouragement I can get! I'm praying with you today that this week will be filled with oppor...

When you live in the woods, it's pretty typical to find downed trees and limbs. It comes with the territory. This one was a bit mysterious, though, because although we'd just had some crazy storms, it seemed like it had been caught in the tree for a while. Two limbs had actually snapped - the larger one fell and got caught in the lower branches, while the smaller one was still hanging on by a thread of bark. The higher, smaller one wasn't reachable from the ground, but the larger one was just caught perpendicular to the trunk, tangled in the lowest branches. It was super thick and had tons of leaves, but they were already turning brown, so they'd been there for a while. Have you ever noticed how weird things look when they're out of the norm or out of context? That's how my brain felt seeing a huge, dry, brown tree limb in the middle of all the green leaves around it. But this is why Danny works out every day. A few good pulls and the broken limb was out of the ...