Grace at Home No. 496

Hi friends! I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day. 

I have a confession to make. I've kind of come to wish that Valentine's Day were a holiday just for kids. I fondly remember making mailboxes and exchanging cards with my classmates when I was a child, and I have great memories of helping my boys do the same for their classmates. But it makes me a little sick to my stomach when I see stores full of flowers suddenly twice their usual price or restaurant prices much more expensive than normal. 

I don't want to sound like a Valentine's Day "grinch"—but I'm grateful that my husband shows me that he loves me every day, not just one day a year.

But for kids. . . what a fun mid-winter day! You can bet I sent a little Valentine's Day gift to this fellow.

What do you think about Valentine's Day? I'd love to know!

And now, I'm so glad to welcome you to the Grace at Home party, where we celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace. Here are some highlights from last week's party.

Are you in need of a bookshelf? Meagan from Decorative Inspirations shows you how to make one from an old dresser (like this one she found discarded by a dumpster!).

Or perhaps you need a work surface for your laundry area. Jennifer from Studio 27 shows you how she made her own.

Do you feel like you need a mid-winter day at a spa? Niky from The House on Silverado shows you how to give your bathroom a spa-like feel.

Still working on getting things organized for the new year (I'm raising my hand!). Tracy Lynn from Declutter in Minutes has some great tips for you.

Need a new soup recipe for a cold winter evening? Kimberly from LouLou Girls shares a really yummy-looking Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder. I'm going to try this!

Do you struggle with handling rejection? It's a fact of life, but it can sure be hard for me, so I was glad to read this guest post at Dr. Michelle Bengtson's place.

Thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!

Here are the Grace at Home party, you can link up any post you've written that demonstrates how you're filling your life with truth, goodness, and beauty. For instance, I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home or sphere of influence a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it. Here's what I ask of you. Please include the permalink to your post, not to your site's home page. Please let people know that you've linked up. No more than three posts per person, please. If you link a post here, you re giving me permission to share your post, including a photo. And please visit one or more of the other participants—that's what really makes it a party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Grace at Home No. 495

Greetings, friends! 

I hope your week's been a lovely one. Mine started with a bang:

We celebrated my husband's 59th birthday on Sunday. He was hospitalized more than once last fall and had to have a couple of emergency surgeries, so I don't take for granted the fact that we got to celebrate this birthday.

I want to cultivate that kind of thankfulness for every day. It's too easy for me to get into a rut of taking so many things for granted rather than thanking God for each blessing. Gratitude is one of the attributes in which I really want to grow this year. What about you? Do you have an area of particular growth you're aiming for?

Today I'm grateful to welcome you to the Grace at Home party, where we pause to celebrate the ways we make our homes places of grace. Here are some highlights from last week's party.

Are you working on getting your home more organized? You'll be inspired by this medicine cabinet makeover from Angela at Simply Beautiful.

Do you enjoy decorating your home for holidays? I do, but sometimes I want "just a touch" of decor for a particular time. Debra from Common Ground shared the wonderful idea of designating a holiday cupboard that you change for each occasion.

Or maybe you'd like to make one showstopper piece of Valentine's Day decor. Ann from Ann's Entitled Life shows you step by step how to make this darling heart wreath.

Want to make a special treat for Valentine's Day but don't have much time? Nancy from Nancy-C shows you how to make these yummy Valentine's Marshmallow Pops.

If you live in an area that's expecting many more weeks of winter, you'll be inspired by the way Debbie at Debbie-Dabble embraces each season and makes her home colorful and welcoming.

Or maybe you'd like to just do some dreaming about springtime. If so, you'll love this winter garden journal from Pam at Everyday Living.

For many of us, there's no way around it: February is a season of waiting. So I think you'll enjoy these thoughts about the art of waiting from Jennifer at Tea with Jennifer.

Thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!

Here are the Grace at Home party, you can link up any post you've written that demonstrates how you're filling your life with truth, goodness, and beauty. For instance, I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home or sphere of influence a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it. Here's what I ask of you. Please include the permalink to your post, not to your site's home page. Please let people know that you've linked up. No more than three posts per person, please. If you link a post here, you re giving me permission to share your post, including a photo. And please visit one or more of the other participants—that's what really makes it a party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Grace at Home No. 494

Hello friends! Happy February!

A friend sent me this message:

I laughed but halfway wanted to cry. My January certainly felt like more than four and a half weeks, but we made it!  Thank you for all your kind encouragement for my son. He's getting better each day, thank God.

I am grateful to welcome you to the Grace at Home party, where we celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace and beauty. Here are a few highlights from last week's party.

Are you trying to get organized this new year? I have some hopes (not yet firm enough to be "goals,") but haven't yet started work toward them. But when I get myself going, I'm going to use Kathryn from The Dedicated House as a source of inspiration. Check out her closet project!

And another area that I need to work on his my home office. I was glad to see these tips from Tracy Lynn at Declutter in Minutes.

Need some inspiration for a fun project that you can complete indoors this winter? Niky from The House on Silverado gives step-by-step instructions for creating this darling child's table and chairs from mismatched thrift store finds.

Looking for a fun little Valentine's Day project? Beth from Creatively Beth shows you how to make this cute little Kisses Booth from dollar store materials.

Feeling a mid-winter slump? Linda Stoll shares lots of pick-me-ups in her Midwinter Life Savers post.

I'm still a novice at using my air fryer, but I want to use it more and more, so I was tickled to see that Kristy from Air Fryer Fanatics demonstrates 10 ways to make pizza in the air fryer.

I believe strongly that rest is important—and I know that I don't always get enough of it. So I was convicted by this article from Pam at A New Lens. She asks some good questions!

Thank you to everyone who joined last week's party!

Here at the Grace at Home party, you can link up any post you've written that demonstrates how you're filling your space with truth, goodness, and beauty. I invite you to link posts about

• DIY projects
• decorating
• recipes
• hospitality
• homemaking tips
• parenting
• marriage
• faith
• self-care
• soul care

Whatever you do to make your home or sphere of influence a place of grace, I'd like to hear about it. Here's what I ask of you.  Please include the permalink to your post, not your blog's home page. Please let people know that you've linked up.  No more than three posts per person, please.  Note that if you link a post here, you are giving me permission to share your post, including a photo.  And visit at least one of the other party participants--that's what really makes it a party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter