by Kimberly | Oct 29, 2018 | Books, Home
(This post is sponsored by Harvest House who sent me the book The DIY Home Planner to review. All thoughts are my own. Thank you!)
When my mister and I get married he already had all of our bedroom furniture. We were both older when we got married, and thank goodness that I really liked our master bed!
So, we just don’t have the money to go replace perfectly good beautiful furniture just because I might not have picked it at the store, or I would like to lighten it up some.
But, he has always been generous to me in our marriage to make our home really what I would love it to be. So, we’ve done that over the years. We still have the same furniture, but my husband may not have picked the Hearth and Home garland that is now over our bed.
When we moved into this house 15 months ago, our master bedroom didn’t have a door for the master bathroom. And it only had the 70s bar doors (the swinging type) into the toilet room. So, before we even moved in we took those down and repainted that area. But, we’ve done without a main door. And all along I wanted these barn doors.
I had the privilege of getting to know Cathy Nugent during our time in ATL. She is a beautiful wedding planner. And since I was already married, I couldn’t use her skills in that market. But, she and her husband, Rob, started A Hosting Home, and I love what they do.
When we had a little bit of money come in, we knew it was time to go for it. So, Cathy and I talked back and forth, sent measurements, shot her Pinterest ideas. And she and Rob took those and made us the perfect barn door.
We had some friends come and install it for us which was such a blessing. A friend loaned us their truck, we snuck in a day date in ATL. All in all, my husband said last night that he loved it, well worth the money, and could easily have cost us double what we paid for the door, delivery, and installation.
So, if you think you want a statement piece in your master (or anywhere else in your home), don’t hesitate. Just think it through and go for it.
The DIY Home Planner has been a fun design book to look through and use the pages to think about what we would like to do here in our home. As a watercolor artist, I love the illustrations! If you are a pen and paper girl like I am, this book will be a great workbook tool for you for any room in your home.
by Kimberly | Oct 19, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
Update on this blog series:
Thanks for reading. I’m learning new ways to practice hospitality – I hope you are too. I just had a good friend design a cover for the e-book that I hope will come out early 2018 (or regular book if anyone wants to publish it.). I will start pulling all these quotes from each day and writing in November!
Today’s post is about something that effects and affects every area of hospitality. Our humility. Left to ourselves we are not humble people. We are prideful and only care about ourselves. Our rights. Our ways. Our happiness. The selfie-generation didn’t just start a few years ago. It has always been.
With our God: come to Him with our weariness. He will give rest. Come to him with honor and adoration – He will show Himself to us. Come to Him with our desires – He will fill our hands.
With our spouses: Put their needs above our own. Seek to outdo one another in showing honor. My husband excels at this – all.the.time. He has told me in recent weeks that I’ve grown in humility in the time that he’s known me. That is in direct correlation to God putting him in my life almost 7 years ago now and the work of the Spirit in my heart.
With our children: We mess up as mamas. When I mess up (often), I will usually go to my kids, get right in their faces (affection), and talk to them really softly and gently. I think I do this because I want to mend the brokenness, and act in opposite fashion than I just did: loud, harsh, pushing them away.
With our community: When you open your home to people who don’t live within our houses, we speak volumes to their need – and our need. Our need for community. That alone speaks of humility because it says that we are not enough in and of ourselves. God made us for community. He made us for relationship. I stink at this sometimes, especially when going out. I was a poor representation of the gospel this past week at a new friends. It had been a bad day, it was my son’s birthday, and I don’t think I barely looked anyone in the eyes and I just barely answered their questions. I didn’t want to be there and others could tell. I can’t go back – but I can move forward out of my brokenness and let Him do a new thing.
Quote taken from Lord Have Mercy (Ellen Miller). Photo by Evergold Photography of a cupcake I made.
by Kimberly | Oct 1, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
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Every October comes around and there is group of women who set out to write a blog a day for the entire month. Every year I try to do it, and every year I fail.
This year, I’m trying something new. I’m working on a book (Lavish Hospitality) and want to use this space, this month, to work out the 31 short chapters of the book.
This is not going to be a book about food and blankets and setting up guest rooms. Yes, partly, there will be some recipes and stuff like this. But, hospitality is more than just setting a pretty table.
I want to “prepare a space for lavish grace”. Here the the sub-headings:
To my heart.
To my husband.
To my children.
To my neighbors.
In my home.
In my church.
Grace was poured out lavishly on us. We need to be ready to pour it out lavishly on others.
Hospitality has a southern ring to is. You may think of cozy reading corners, mums in the Fall, tea and coffee, flowers and guest rooms. It can be those things. But, just because you have coffee set out doesn’t mean you have a welcoming home for others.
So, in the next 30 days I’m going to be sharing 30 quotes and thoughts on them. These quotes will help me formulate thoughts on this topic, and I hope they will encourage you to practice lavish hospitality in your world.
by Kimberly | Apr 24, 2017 | Books
As a mom of preschoolers, even ones who like to get out and roam the city every day, we also like to use our home as a place of ministry. But, it can be hard to figure out schedules ways to do ministry.
Hospitality is one way we can be like God to the world and to our family. The Simplest Way to Change the World is a helpful little book that starts with the theology of God being hospitable to us and then gives helpful ways to be hospitable.
My favorite part of the book was their chapter on how hospitality is a part of God’s nature. How he gave extravagantly to those who were his enemies. How he would go to great lengths.
When we are trying to start practicing hospitality, let’s not turn to Southern Living or Instagram to know how to be hospitable, but look to the Word at how God is hospitable to us. Then we can pray that we can live out our relationship with God to our neighbors, families, and friends. That doesn’t mean we have to tell everyone the full Gospel outline every time they walk in the door. But, it does mean we can learn how to use our homes to glorify God, teach our children how to be hospitable, and welcome those unlike us into our home.
The authors share great recommendations on how to do this as well, but you can simply use these as ideas – and start your own ministry in your home to your people.
Thanks Moody for this book and all thoughts are my own.
by Kimberly | Oct 6, 2016 | Books, parenting
As my kids get older, I think I start to notice all of my expectations of parenting get washed away. When I was growing up, we lived in a neighborhood with mostly family, went to a small church where we really only interacted with 1-2 families, and I went to a Christian school and really don’t remember doing things as families with anyone. Of course we had friends, but it wasn’t essential in our upbringing to surround ourselves with community and family.
When I get to college that all changed for me. I surrounded myself with families and loved them and learned so much, but it wasn’t until 20 years later that I had a family of my own.
I now want to do a couple of things in family/parenting life:
- Make sure my mister and I are always on the same page especially in our calendar and parenting. This is so crucial to success.
- Surround ourselves with those who are ahead of us, but also with us in our stage of parenting – and who share similar grace and parenting styles. Community is so important.
- Pour grace into my husband and my children. I think the main way I do this right now is through asking forgiveness each time I do something wrong (which is often).
In Total Family Makeover, Melissa Spoelstra, tackles some important topics on how you can work toward a more discipleship centered home – because isn’t this our most important task as parents – to raise those who will Lord-willing seek after God because of HIs grace?
If you normally don’t read book introductions, read this one. She hit the nail on the head. Sundays are usually the day I feel the worst as a parent. My kids disobey walking into church, or don’t obey me in childcare, or always need discipline. While seemingly most around me have perfect children and I feel are always looking at my with disdain or disapproval. I know this isn’t the case, but I always feel like a failure. She tackles this and is so encouraging.
The areas of discipleship she highlights in this practical book: praying together, Bible time, mentoring, church community, serving, rest, giving, and evangelism. All of these are personally important, and definitely are important for your family.
My one suggestion = read this book. Maybe read it with your husband, or just give him your takeaways. Pray together and see which area you can tackle first. Its like if your house is a mess and you try to clean the whole things at once, you’ll get discouraged. I would start with one thing and then go on to the next. You’ll see God reward your obedience in these areas with success and grace. He wants our families to be more Christ-like! He is for you in this endeavor!
This post is sponsored by Litfuse who gave me the book. All opinions are my own. And you can win a great prize pack for a fun family night (think free pizza and books and games!) Enter here
