Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

After a long week of rain every day and a community event that required going in and outside multiple times, I'm ready for a couple of planner layout that are bright and beautiful! I've been saving up these autumn animals for just such an occasion, and they've found a perfect home here the upcoming month. The monthly spreads in my planner are where I keep track of my blog posts and ideas. I usually choose a few larger images as anchors across the two pages, then fill in with a "random stamp" effect with the smaller stickers. This gives me lots of room to write, plus some pretty adorable critters to look at all along the way. This time around, I only combined two sets for the spread - the four larger leaves in the corners are from one set and the animals, acorns, and small leaves are from another. Half the fun of putting a planner layout together is finding the bits and pieces you need to make them interesting, cohesive, and fun to use. This past weekend was our Pa...

At youth group last week, we showed our teens this beautiful serving tray from Israel, where the artist depicted the seven days of creation. Each day has its own section, and the colors just astound me.  Then we gave them each a piece of paper divided in seven, and read them each day of Creation from Genesis 1-2. Their creative challenge was to fill that one strip with their own artwork for the Scripture they were hearing. While they were drawing, we asked them three questions pertaining to that day. Some of them have clear-cut answers, some are open for interpretation, and some are rhetorical. Their answers were incredibly interesting, eye-opening at times, and purposely laugh-out-loud at other times. I invite you to join me for the same art project today. Grab a piece of paper, divide it into seven vertical sections, and keep reading to create your very own Creation of the World artwork and answer some thought-provoking questions. Read Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created t...

In case you missed it, like I almost did - it's officially Fall! To celebrate, I put together a fun, overflowing gift tray full of autumn-themed goodies. Many of them have already been eaten, used, hung up, and otherwise enjoyed, while others are waiting their turn... My gift tray included yogurt covered pretzels, a fall dish towel complete with a dachshund, coffee, chocolate, stickers, some tea napkins, a beautiful gift bag full of goodies, and even some pasta in the shape of leaves and pumpkins. It's a little bit of a lot of different things, all gathered to treat and surprise. Trying to decide what you could put in a fall-themed gift basket of your own? Here are some categories and ideas to get you started. What would you add to the list? Something to eat:  snacks, cookies, candy, popcorn, nuts Something to drink:  coffee, tea, cider, hot chocolate Something to display:  signs, candle holder, vase, figurine, fall décor Something to use:  kitchen gadget, mug, blank...

It's the first week of Fall! It's Pages for Pennies Book Sale week! It's a short week of actually, physically being in my office! All these beautiful occurrences converge in one seven-day stretch for the ages. And a week like that deserves a lovely, fall-themed planner layout that's not only pretty and fun, but also very useful and practical. What a great combination! On each page, I started with a border sticker and overlaid it with the largest block stickers I could find. That meant the Autumn Breezes phrase on the left page and the Reasons to Be Thankful journal block on the right. Then each day gets an image, a phrase, and an accent to alternate back and forth, down the page. Plus, how could you not love that bicycle lady? She makes me want to fill a basket full of pumpkins and apples and go for a ride. (Please have fun with your planner layouts!) My prayer for this week - beyond not losing my mind or forgetting something important in the busyness - is that the seri...

I had the privilege of attending this year's Renew Conference at the Iowa Regular Baptist Camp over the weekend, joining more than 500 more ladies from across the state around the area. It's been a couple of years since I was able to go, so this year was extra special.  A group of our church ladies has been going to Renew for years, and it's something we always look forward to. This time we were assigned to an amazing cabin with real beds, comfortable furniture, and air conditioning! Even the adorable bridge to get there was lovely. And what an encouraging Scripture above the front door to remember as you're leaving each morning: Commit to the Lord everything you do, and He will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3.  The first stop we make as soon as we get to camp is the popcorn bar. This has been a staple of the basement of the Cove as long as I can remember, so you grab your retreat shirt and a bag full of popcorn and candy. It's good to be an adult and get to fi...

Praise the Lord for creating this wonderful thing called vacation! As much as I adore my job, I needed this past week to do some things at home, go flying with Danny, and go to the Renew Conference with some our church ladies. While I'm not completely rested - I definitely didn't sleep the week away - I'm ready to hit the ground running at the office tomorrow. And this week's planner spread is definitely going to be the motivation I need. Looking at it now, it looks like I combined two sticker sets to make this layout - the flowers and the office supplies. Honestly, I had to go back and double check, but yes, they are from the same set. (Actually some of the same pages.) I adore that backpack because it looks like mine, as does that camera and laptop. It's like they made it just for me! So I paired all the nitty-gritty work stuff with beautiful flowers and hearts in every cluster so it doesn't seem quite so much like work... My prayer for this week is that after...

Over the past few weeks our puppies have made it through a bee sting, two ear infections, and a hot spot that was licked raw and bleeding. Two of them sent us to the vet's office, while the other was treated at home - all to successful healing! And some adorably goofy pictures. Health problems can be so scary, and it's easy to either overreact or not react enough when we don't know exactly what's going on. Two of these we'd never experienced before and the other was clearly outside our expertise. So how do you know if it's a minor issue that you can handle at home or something that needs immediate professional help? You can always call the vet's office to run down the situation and make sure, just to put your mind at rest. There are also certain symptoms, like if your pet has trouble breathing, severe bleeding or collapse, that should send you to the vet's office immediately. Also, if there has been serious trauma, they've eaten something that could ...

We've been doing a lot of firsts in the plane lately, but my favorite was my first night flight.  I had no idea what to expect, except that I knew the city would be lit up when we flew over. It absolutely took my breath away to see every area of town glowing. The high school, the bridges, major buildings, all the homes twinkled against the black backdrop of night. The city looks completely different from the air than it does on the ground to begin with. It's all recognizable - major streets, buildings, and the river - but there's no grime or litter or disgruntled people recognizable from the air. Walk through town and you can hear it, feel it. But not from high above. Everything is shining and illuminated in a way you don't see from street level. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so...

Last weekend at a local fly-in, the food truck was serving green apple dirty sodas and peace cobbler dirty sodas. Please forgive me, but I had never had a dirty soda before. But how can you resist when those are the two flavors? We couldn't. It was a heat index over 100 degrees on an antique airfield in the middle of a corn field, so we had multiple dirty sodas! And they were fantastic. I was already looking forward to the next time or place I could order one. If you're like me and have never had one before, a dirty soda is made by mixing soda fountain drinks with flavored syrups, fruit juices, and cream or creamer. It's a lovely little elevation of a classic soda, making it enhanced and personalized to your particular taste. So imagine my thrill when I discovered the simplicity of these ingredients and that I could easily make them myself at the gas station drink station. Yep, the convenience store for the win! Here's what I did and how you can recreate it. Enjoy! I us...

Just because I'm on vacation this week doesn't mean I don't get to have a cool planner layout! I still have lots to do, a few get-togethers that I'm not calling meetings, and enough time to work at Pages for Pennies donations without looking at the clock. That kind of week deserves an adorable planner spread that I'll want to keep open all day every day. My forest animals and some of the mushrooms came from one sticker set, while the larger mushrooms came from another set. While this is completely not mushroom season in Iowa, the colors and shapes work perfectly with my woodland creatures and the idea of a whole week on the property. They're clustered into little vignettes, each with an animal, a larger mushroom, and a couple of smaller embellishments to balance them out. Then I ran them diagonally across the page from top to bottom through the week. My prayer this week, whether you have vacation or a full work week, is that we'll all find time for the thing...

Have you ever had a certain habit or trait or topic mentioned so many times that you know the Holy Spirit is working on your heart? You hear a sermon message about it, it's on your new favorite podcast, your daily Scripture reading mentions it again, and it's even in your Instagram feed ... repeatedly. The Holy Spirit never claimed to be subtle. Apparently I don't need subtlety. For me lately, it's been the theme of commitment. Whether it's in marriage, in the workplace, in the church family, or in everyday life, commitment is the foundation of what we bring to the table. Nothing succeeds by accident, because everything just happened to fall into place. We are blessed exceeding abundantly above because we've committed ourselves to the work before us. But what's standing in our way? An enemy who wants to hinder us and keep us from doing what the Lord has called us to do. If we stay committed, he has more work ahead of him - if we're lackadaisical going th...

It's been a while since I've read this eclectic of a group of books all in a row, and it was such a fun month! I've been trying to read through my TBR pile so I'm ready to dig in to my new book sale books. (In case you didn't know, the Pages for Pennies sale I host is September 25-27. The books are pouring in!) These are the seven I finished in August, and I'm part-way through three more that we'll talk about in a month! Storm Kings: The Untold History of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin. From the 1800s to present day, have we really come that far in tornado research? This book traces the history of storm and tornado research through the years, all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, and showing how the questions remain despite the expert input into the topic. Being from Iowa, and writing this while in an actual tornado warning, this book and its information really connected. Grace Livingston Hill Collection 1. I spent part of my birthday mo...

I have found my new comfort food. And I don't care if they are supposed to be a "fall" menu item. I'mm going to fix these pears on a regular basis as long as my stores are carrying pears! They're that good. After nearly half an hour in the oven, sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled in maple and vanilla, the pears are so soft and juicy and so warm and gooey that they're literally addictive. I won't tell you how many I ate. I'll let you figure it out once you've tried them yourself. Then you'll understand. Ingredients:  3 pears, halved 2 Tbsp cinnamon 1/2 cup maple syrup 1 Tbsp vanilla Granola Walnuts Greek yogurt 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a glass baking dish with nonstick spray. 2. Halve the pears and use a melon baller to cut out the seeds. Arrange the pear halves cut side up in the dish.  3. Shake the cinnamon evenly over the pears. 4. In a small bowl, combine the maple syrup and vanilla. Drizzle over the pears, covering as...