Green Fabric Covered Storage Boxes

Upcycling, recycling, re-purposing, green, call it what you will,
it is a wonderful way to

• stretch the home economy
• create storage
• and beautify your home

Country Living Magazine has some easy instructions.
No sewing necessary
Just save those boxes

Fabric Covered Boxes

© Monika Hardy

Children are a blessing!

Children are a blessing!

If you are going to speak for God...make sure you know what HE says on a subject!
I take great exception to someone who purports to speak for Him on a National radio program, and yet calls having more than one child... gluttony!
Of course my opinion or her's matters not!
It is what God's word that will stand forever!
So before you ridicule

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Psalm 128:3
“Shall be as a fruitful vine.” To complete domestic bliss children are sent. They come as the lawful fruit of marriage, even as clusters appear upon the vine. For the grapes the vine was planted; for children was the wife provided. It is generally well with any creature when it fulfills its purpose, and it is so far well with married people when the great design of their union is brought about. They must not look upon fruitfulness as a burden, but as a blessing. Good wives are also fruitful in kindness, thrift, helpfulness, and affection: if they bear no children, they are by no means barren if they yield us the wine of consolation and the clusters of comfort. Truly blessed is the man whose wife is fruitful in those good works which are suitable to her near and dear position.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:5

Psalm 127:5
Children are God's gifts, a heritage, and a reward; and are to be accounted blessings, and not burdens: he who sends mouths, will send meat, if we trust in him. They are a great support and defense to a family. Children who are young, may be directed aright to the mark, God's glory, and the service of their generation; but when they are gone into the world, they are arrows out of the hand, it is too late to direct them then. But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart, a grief to godly parents. Yet, if trained according to God's word, they generally prove the best defense in declining years, remembering their obligations to their parents, and taking care of them in old age. All earthly comforts are uncertain, but the Lord will assuredly comfort and bless those who serve him; and those who seek the conversion of sinners, will find that their spiritual children are their joy and crown in the day of Jesus Christ.
Well said Matthew Henry!

The Bread of life

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Our lives are not sustained just by the fuel of food. Our souls need to be fed from the words of God It is the the bread of life that leads and guides and nourishes our souls. When digested this food helps us to respond to God in His ways and not our own in the choices we have before us.

• Whatever is true, whatever is just, pure...think on these things
• Be ye holy, as I am holy
• Though your sins be as scarlet, they can be as white as wool
• By the finished work of the cross we have hope for the future
• Thou shalt not covet
• Vengeance is mine saith the Lord
• Little children love in word and deed

• The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Later in Titus 2 Paul tells Timothy to speak and exhort these things and rebuke those who deny them)

I do not write these things to argue or fight, but to share the truth...so now if I write and speak the truth am I your enemy? Well, am I?
My hope is that is not the case, but that the word of God would inspire to live in His ways, and that you would be blessed.

Jesus said... I am that bread of life....taste and see that He is good!

In the kitchen: Easy Artisan Bread
I've used this recipe and love the ease and taste of it. I now use whole wheat pastry flour and honey instead of white sugar. (You will need to add a bit more whole wheat flour to the recipes and it will be a bit more dense, but much more nutritious)

From the heart: Prayer is a wonderful way to travel all the way to the throne of God on behalf of anyone on this Globe in an instant!

A season for everything

Three D- The Daily Domestic Dispatch

Time is a precious commodity. We are all given the same amount of time in a day, and we are responsible for how we spend it. To keep life organized so there is room for what God may redirect, begin to look at your year now. Use a paper calendar, or a Microsoft Outlook Calendar, or any other paper or software of your choosing. Choosing your priorities now will help make it easier to accept or decline future invitations.

Begin to mark off all the important dates throughout the year for you and your family. I keep a schedule down to the hour even while at home so I can track my time spent, and know what is available for the future. After the yearly look is done, I refine with monthly to weekly to hourly.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1

If things aren’t going according to your schedule…not to worry, for God makes all things beautiful in HIS time!

Time to scrub the kitchen cabinet doors and do a few loads of laundry today as my inside schedule was deeply interrupted by snow that had to be shoveled outside.

Take time to smell the roses…if they are blooming in your area. Look on the bright side…I’m sure there are some roses in the local market if you can get there.

Make time to call that special someone today.

© Monika Hardy

Well? Am I?

Three D- Daily Domestic Dispatch

Speaking the truth in Love…

Religious expression is still a freedom we enjoy in this country of ours. If we choose to say nothing when those rights are whittled away we will pay for it when our own liberty is taken away.

Dispatch for the day…

Stand up for the truth!

Know what truth is, and share it with others.

Immerse yourself and your family in the word of God so that truth will be shared from generation to generation.

Remember the old adage; Keep the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other to

filter the news through the eye of truth contained in God’s Word.

Helpful hints:

• Use Vinegar and old wadded up newspaper to clean windows, they sparkle when cleaned.
• Recycle the newspaper if you have no use for it.
• Save the newspaper over the winter months to cover the garden in the spring to keep the weeds down.

Continue to speak the truth in love, no matter how you are treated, for we are to seek the approval of God, not of man.

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16

Well, am I?

© Monika Hardy

3D- The Daily Domestic Dispatch

The sun streams in the window this cold January morning, after a dark and snowy trend. The sunlight illuminates the dust on the wooden floors that we put in the home a few years ago. Off to sweep them soon, then clean with a solution of organic cleaner...

• One cup warm water
• One cup white vinegar
• One squirt of dish washing detergent

Shake in the spray bottle, spray in small sections on the floor and scrub with a long floor push type cleaner

Let dry, and buff with a clean dry push type cleaner

As vinegar to the teeth,

and as smoke to the eyes,

so is the sluggard to them that send him.

Proverbs 10:26

Organizing comes to mind when the New Year comes to mind. The year ahead is always filled with plans, and when my surroundings and schedule are organized I can enjoy the duties at hand. Little things can sometimes irritate us when our plans are interrupted, but if we look at these moments as ways for God to direct our steps it is easier to be more flexible. For you just never know when you might meet an angel in disguise. Be on the look out for those in need who cross your path.

In the Kitchen: Begin sharing all unneeded supplies with others. Organize for kitchen sake to make cooking for the family easier, healthier and fun. Toss out all the sugar from the holidays.