Friday, July 29, 2016

Open Tabs

I loved this article from Ruth at Gracelaced's archives - At the Root of Clutter

Mmmm, Rachel and I are eager to try these popsicles!  And these too!

I recently Googled where to pick lavender in South Carolina and stumbled upon this - gorgeous! I want to go!

I've been pinning salad recipes all summer! Can't wait to finally be home from all our trips and then I hope to try one new one a week!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Sunday Rest



I've always lived with Sunday as a day of rest not doing chores and running errands as other days and taking time to worship together at church. This summer, I decided to try and impose a no laptop day on Sundays - I used to work on my blog, catch up on email and work on photos on Sundays for quite a bit of the day and I always regretted that the days were over so quickly when I'd gotten so little rest.

So far, I'm loving it and the freedom to spend a whole day without a computer. I've cut flowers, rested, read, talked on the phone to family and crafted. The days are so much longer and more restful this way. In fact, I'm noticing that I'm so much better off the less time I spend on the computer period not just on Sundays - you'll likely see this idea resurface in a future post.

How do you make Sunday restful?

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Noticing Beauty vs. Productivity




With a busy summer of travel and only a few days at home in between, I've been trying to be very productive during our days at home. While this has been lovely, needed, beneficial and so glorious to get so much done - I am noticing that when I get in this productivity mode, beauty falls by the wayside many times.

I get going on a project or trying to complete something and because I am such a finisher - will carry it through until the end. When this happens, it is hard to slow or pause and I notice that I am missing opportunities for little moments of slow and the simple joy of enjoying everyday beauty of life.






Naturally, this causes me to stop and consider - is there a way to be more balanced in this? I'm not sure I know the answer to that yet, but it is something I'm mulling over right now. Typically, I do go through seasons of greater productivity and then greater creativity and perhaps back again. Maybe it is just a normal cycle of life for me.

I would love to hear your thoughts and observations on this as well if you have any insight to share! Of course, remembering to ask God for His help is where I've started. Asking God to continue to cultivate the heart of creativity and beauty He has given me and to learn to balance being productive with the slowing down to enjoy the beauty of life.

For now, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to go camping. Camping has a way of naturally slowing us down to enjoy God's amazing creation, reading, playing together as a family and resting. 











Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Camping Devotions







In preparing for camping, I wanted to find some relevant verses to our time outdoors to share with my kids. We were gone for four nights, so I had four topics I went with this time.

Streams:
- Psalm 1:3
- Psalm 42:1
- John 7:38
- Psalm 23

Trees:
- Psalm 96:12
- Isaiah 55:12
- Isaiah 61:3
- Proverbs 11:28











Rocks:
- Deuteronomy 32:4
- 1 Samuel 2:2
- 2 Samuel 22:32, 47
- Psalm 18:2
- Psalm 62:2, 6, 7
- Psalm 144:1

Stars/Heavens:
- Genesis 1:16
- Genesis 15:5, 22:17 and 26:4
- Psalm 8:3
- Psalm 148:3
- Isaiah 13:10
- Psalm 19:1
- Psalm 50:6
- Psalm 89:5
- Job 9:9 and 38:32
- Matthew 2:1-10