Grace at Home No. 401

Hello friends! Here we are at the end of October—can you believe it? For so long this year seemed that it would never end, and now it's nearly Halloween!

Not only is it nearly Halloween, it's nearly Election Day. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I got to vote early. I don't think I've ever been so ready for campaign season to be over; how about you? 

I am glad you're here for 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 looking forward to Thanksgiving? Ours will be different this year, because no one will be traveling to be with us. So I was glad to see this Thanksgiving tablescape from Lori at Dining Delight. Lori lives in Canada, where they've already celebrated Thanksgiving, and she has inspired me to make our table beautiful for the four of us who will be together!

Also looking ahead to Thanksgiving, I just loved this craft from Carol at Blue Sky at Home. She used wood blocks and stencils to make her own cube puzzle. Wouldn't this make a fun coffee table decoration? 

Our Halloween will be very low-key--we don't usually get many trick-or-treaters, and I'm thinking we might not have any this year. But just for fun, I was glad to get this recipe for baked pumpkin donut holes from Kimberly at LouLou Girls. Wouldn't they make a good Halloween treat?

If you want to go full-on old fashioned, you might enjoy this recipe for toffee from Jen at Cincy Shopper. It sure looks like it would be worth the effort!

On a very practical note, I was so glad to see this tutorial for padded headphone covers from Condo Blues. I spend a lot of time on Zoom calls these days, and the pads on my headphones are growing thin. What a good idea to sew new padded covers for the ear pieces instead of purchasing new headphones!

So many of us are going through really difficult times right now. Dr. Michelle Bengtson helps us reframe our thoughts and offers hope. 

If you'd like some help in talking with God during these turbulent days, I'm so glad to offer you a free resource. It's called Daily Prayers for Uncertain Times, and you can download it here.  

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

Now for today's party.  Here at the Grace at Home party, 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 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, and during these difficult times, it can really make someone's day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A very special Grace at Home No. 400

I can hardly believe I just typed "No. 400" in the title of this post! I've been hosting the Grace at Home party for years now, and I continue to be blown away by all the things you do to make your homes places of grace. Bless you all!

Today is a special day for two reasons. Not only is it the 400th edition of Grace at Home, it's also the first anniversary of the publication of my book, Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison. 

Can I make a confession? Writing and publishing a book feels like a very lonely and confusing journey sometimes. I tend to feel that people must be sick of my talking about the book, but then experts tell me that I don't talk about it enough! In case you haven't seen it, here's what it looks like:

Mythical Me tells the story of how I compared myself so relentlessly to other people that I created a "Mythical Composite Woman" who was what I believed I was supposed to be. In fact, I believed lots of things that turned out to e myths. Learning the truth about myself, about God, and about other people helped me break out of the comparison trap. 

You can click here to read the first chapter of Mythical Me--it would mean so much to me if you took a look! And if you have read it, I'd love to know what you thought about it. This Grace at Home community means so much to me.

And now, here are some highlights from last week's party I thought you might enjoy.

I love seeing the way people have decorated their homes for the seasons, don't you? I really enjoyed this fall home tour from Jayne at Chalking Up Success.

And this one from Coco at The Crowned Goat:

Want to make a big impact in your home with one simple accessory? Marty from A Stroll Thru Life demonstrates the use of her favorite fall accessory; you'll be amazed at the difference one little change can make!

Do you have a large piece of art you need to frame? Niky from The House on Silverado shows how to make a DIY floating frame. She breaks it down step-by-step into a very doable project!

For a different but very timely DIY project, Helen at Hello Sewing offers a tutorial for making a hand sanitizer holder. This is brilliant--I'm always digging in my purse for my hand sanitizer these days!

Need a simple treat for Fall? Check out these darling donut hole acorns from Cook Clean then Repeat!

Looking for inspiration to follow Christ more nearly? Check out this post from Michele Morin at Living Our Days.

Last but not least, I want to be sure you know about the amazing Tethered summit going on right now. Tethered is a free online event where you can join psychologists, therapists, theologians, authors, ministers, researchers, thought leaders, survivors, patient advocates, care givers, and practitioners to explore areas of grief, Christian spirituality, and what it means to be tethered to hope that remains. Together we will examine the universal nature of grief, how it impacts our lives in body, soul, spirit, relationships, and community, and the invitation to be formed by Christ in the midst of difficulty. Click here to register and watch at your own pace; registration is free.

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

Now for today's party.  Here at the Grace at Home party, 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 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, and during these difficult times, it can really make someone's day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Grace at Home No. 399

Hello, friends! I'm so glad you're here! And like Anne of Green Gables, I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. Just look at this photo my husband snapped:

This is a completely unedited (Scout's honor!) photo, taken from our front porch--but doesn't it look as though I'm standing in front of a backdrop? 

I'm grateful you're here for the Grace at Home party, where we celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace. While I'm here at our little place in the mountains enjoying the fall foliage, y'all have been busy! Just check out these porches beautifully decorated for fall.

Kristin from White Arrows Home creates beautiful spaces.

Coco from The Crowned Goat shows us how she decorates her Florida home for fall.

Andrea from Living on Cloud Nine shows us how she chose to go with a non-traditional color palette this year.

If you're looking for a fun fall decoration you can make yourself, Denise at My Home of All Seasons gives step-by-step instructions for creating this basket.

Of course, beautiful Octobers mean that winter is not too far away. If you need to prepare your home for cold weather, Lisa from Condo Blues shows you how to weatherstrip your windows and doors.

I love getting new soup recipes in the fall, so I was glad to see this one for potato and corn chowder from Lois at Walking on Sunshine Recipes.

If you're in need of some soul nourishment, you'll want to read "Have You Tasted?" from Pam at A New Lens.

And if you're experiencing grief during this season, I have a special announcement for you. Adriel Booker, author of Grace Like Scarlett, has put together an online conference for dealing with grief.  These are Adriel's words: 

"Grief invites us to a liminal space—a place to hold on to the comfort and presence of God while suspended between who you are and who you're becoming. Liminal spaces feel disorienting because they are. They demand our attention, not just as a means to an end but as a place of transformation."

I'm grateful to be one of the presenters for this amazing conference. Click here register for free for Tethered.

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

Now for today's party.  Here at the Grace at Home party, 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 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, and during these difficult times, it can really make someone's day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Grace at Home No. 398

Hello, and welcome to this week's Grace at Home party, where we celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace!

Fall is in full swing, isn't it? How wonderful to breathe the crisp, cool air and to see the trees beginning to turn brilliant shades of orange, red, and yellow. And it's so much fun for me to see what y'all have been up to in your homes.

Here are some highlights from last week's party.

Need some inspiration for decorating your porch for Autumn? Pam from Everyday Living has you covered! (You know, these days it occurs to me that decorating the outside of our home is an act of love for our neighbors. The number of people who walk in our neighborhood has gone through the roof since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; how nice for them to see a beautifully decorated porch!)

Do you like to change your master bedroom according to the seasons? If so, you'll enjoy reading about the master bedroom fall update from Libbie at A Life Unfolding.

If you're like me, you love to cook with pumpkin in the fall. Just look at these pumpkin recipes!

Pumpkin Scones with Honey Butter from Jennifer at Satsuma Designs

Savory Pumpkin Hummus from Carol at Comfort Spring Station

Pumpkin Cheesecake from Jen at Cincy Shopper

The very best pumpkin bread--from me!

Boy, now I'm hungry!

One last feature. If you find yourself struggling with your feelings these days (and I think that's true for so many of us), you'll be encouraged by this post from Michele Morin at Living Our Days. 

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

Now for today's party.  Here at the Grace at Home party, 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 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, and during these difficult times, it can really make someone's day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Grace at Home No. 397

It's October, friends! 2020 has been the most difficult year many of us have ever faced, but we've made it through three quarters of the year. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I'm so grateful to be here with you today. I spent last week driving hundreds of miles to visit my family. (Everyone I visited has been extremely careful about taking all precautions against COVID-19, as have I, and I was painstakingly cautious on the drive to visit them.) Here's just one snapshot from my visit:

I now realize just how hungry I was for face-to-face fellowship with loved ones. 

Now for some highlights from our last Grace at Home party.

Autumn is finally, officially here, so my eye was caught by some beautiful Fall decorating.

Have you admired antique ladders used for display? (My sister uses one in a bathroom as a towel rack; it's charming!) Jennifer from The Everyday Farmhouse gives you step-by-step instructions for making one from scrap lumber.

By the way, while you're at Jennifer's, you should take advantage of her beautiful, free Fall printables. This is just one of several she offers.

Need some inspiration for decorating your home for Fall? You'll enjoy this home tour from Paula at Virginia Sweet Pea.

I love using real pumpkins in my Autumn decorating, but it's frustrating if the pumpkins spoil before the season is over. I was so glad to get some tips for making your pumpkins last from Niky at The House on Silverado.

If Autumn has provided you with an abundance of apples, you'll be glad to have this recipe for applesauce made in an Instant Pot from Joy at Artful Homemaking.

Finally, if you're needing some encouragement for your soul, I urge you to read this post from Nylse at Life Notes.  Listen: this is a guest post written by an 18-year-old girl named Xariah. It'll encourage you and give you hope for the future to read Xariah's words!

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

Now for today's party.  Here at the Grace at Home party, 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 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, and during these difficult times, it can really make someone's day!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter