Preparing for a Future Valentine

Once upon a time there was a young couple with two small children trying to live off of one income. Daddy worked 50 hours a week, and Mommy picked up any tiny little job she could to help pay for that week's gas or grocery money. They were only able to make minimum payments on the debts Daddy had from when he was given bad advice as a young adult, but rejoiced every year when the tax return came and they could use it to pay off their smallest debt. Mommy regularly perused Pinterest, more interested in finding ideas for pinching pennies or making things at home that one could not afford than she was in pinning cute clothes, tattoos, or gourmet meal ideas. And thus she came across things all the time like "How my husband and I got out of debt on one income," or "How to put $50,000 in savings this year," or her personal ironic favorite "How to save $100 a week on groceries." She found these very humorous, because the couple who got out of debt liv

Well it is now 3pm, and I am finally sitting down to eat my lunch. I mean, it is a plate of loaded french fries and an Earl Grey Latte(can anyone say yum!), but it's taken me a lot longer to sit down and eat than I would have liked. For all of my readers who are Mommas, I'm sure you know exactly what that is like.... Or more likely you are shaking your head because those days of finally eating lunch at 3pm for you never include loaded french fries.... It's more likely a PBnJ and the last crumbs of your personal bag of chips that the toddler found and demolished behind the couch before you even knew he was missing. Come on, you're all free to be real here. But in all honesty, I have quite pleasant reasons for being this late in eating lunch. Sure, there were dishes to do and Mini Me wouldn't lay down nice for a nap, and in all honesty my fries are reheated from the supper I didn't end up eating till 9pm last night. But I got a late start on that because I ha

Homemaking.... I remember being 19 years old, still living at home, and being the sole person in our home at the time to do the cooking and the cleaning in the kitchen. And I COULD NOT WAIT till I would have my own kitchen where I could decide that the dishes worked better here than there, and that I could leave the dishes to dry in a rack or on a drying mat instead of having to have them washed, dried, and put away before they were counted as done. Of course, I understood that I was working in my mother's kitchen, so I needed to do things mostly her way and the way that made sense to her. But boy, did I dream of the day that I could do everything in the kitchen(as well as the rest of the house) in a way that worked best for and made the most sense to me. But what I didn't realize was how limited I might be in my future kitchen(s). I didn't realize how little space I might have, the amount of money I would want to put into my kitchen but wouldn't be able to affo

If you have been with me for every short story type post in this series(read the first one  here ), you may have discovered something about me by the characters I've included in my stories. I love children. I have always had a strong love for children. Thus, there have been multiple child characters in my imaginings in heaven. I started getting paid to take care of other people's children when I was 11 or 12 years old, and I am still doing it today! Although I can tell you it is a completely different ball game when it is your own child!! Yikes... Anyways, I think part of what I wonder as I'm putting my mind on the things not of this world, and of that yet to come, is will we still be able to do some of the things that God has gifted us with in heaven? I mean, that will probably just be a free thing that we can do as we please, but I can't wait to get to heaven and meet the children there. I don't know...maybe none of our new bodies will be in the form of a c

So glad you are joining me for yet another post in my series about Heaven(you can read the first post in the series  here )!! So I wanted to ask you if you have ever thought about the type of conversations we might have in heaven? Sure, we've thought about who we would want to meet and certainly talk to, but will we still have deep conversations in heaven where we will get to learn more about Jesus, faith, etc...for eternity? Well my short story today imagines what some of those conversations might look like over a candlelight dinner(because I love candle light). I hope you enjoy! The apostle Paul walked quickly through the golden streets of heaven. He walked past a meadow of flowers, the singing choir of the angels, heaven’s library, and a sparkling lake. These were all some of his favorite places to habit in heaven, but for right now they were not his immediate destination. He continued to walk until he arrived at the home of a good friend. Her name was Lydia of Thyati

Hello! I am so excited for this post today, as I have invited my sister, Elana, to share a guest post for us!!! Elana is kid number 7 in my very large family, and has a blog of her own titled  Made Beautiful . If you enjoy this guest post, please go and check out her blog. :) Her blog is filled with beautiful thoughts and applications from Scripture, and in it she is refreshingly honest and open. I hope you enjoy her thoughts on Heaven as much as I did. So without further introduction, here is her post!! What are you excited for? Some days heaven is the only answer to that question for me. This world is not where I belong, it's not my home, and I have a hard time feeling content being here. I don't think that's a bad thing though. There's an ache so deep inside me it hurts, a longing and desperate need to be with Jesus, to be free, to be safe, to stop wrestling with my selfishness and sin and to just be held. Life's hard for me because this world isn&#

Welcome Back! I absolutely love the short story I am going to share with you in this post! It is probably my favorite I've ever written! I don't believe the Bible tells us a lot about angels, so the following is pure imaginings. Enjoy! During the last few weeks in heaven, Caleb had fallen in love with Peter's job at the gate. Many an evening he would kiss his wife and tickle his son, before going someplace to meet with Peter and pester him about his job of greeting newcomers to heaven at the pearly gates. Finally, Peter had suggested that Caleb join him at his job at the gate. Caleb was thrilled! They had now been chatting comfortably for over an hour. Their discussion, however, was interrupted by the approach of a small girl. She appeared to be around the age of five, although age didn't really matter in heaven. Caleb stood and waited until the girl had come much closer. "Welcome to heaven, young lady." "Thank you." The young girl