Summer Beauty

Flowers are blooming and it gives me great joy to see them everywhere! How I praise God at His beautiful creation! What a gift He has given us in the beauty of nature!

I still just *love* the log planter Chris made me for Mother's Day years ago! :)

One evening, Madelyn and I decided to extend the rock walls and then mulch inside! I love how it turned out!

I am not fond of the front room of our house...as I have posted about previously...so I try to pretty the front up as much as I can!

The opposite side of the front of the garage doesn't get as great of sunlight as the left side so the flowers are taking a while to take off there.  There are perennials planted there though....so one year, they will fill in nicely too! :)

I spend time each day down at the big garden too. We have green beans and corn planted here (the first corn seeds we planted didn't take off....so we had to plant different seeds ~ they are going to be ready quite late this year! That's okay though! We'll take sweet corn whenever it comes!)...

A lot of hoeing and weeding needs done to keep up with it all...

I love seeing some the the farm vehicles parked out in the field! :)

I want to get a 2 mile fast walk in real quick....so I gotta run (or walk....haha!).
Have a great evening! Thank you for visiting!

Warmly,
Katy

A Pleasant Home

"A pleasant home should be full of joy and full of beauty -- the beauty of holiness....Our homes should be pleasant, happy, lovely reflections of the joy we have received in Christ."

~Nancy Wilson, Praise Her in the Gates

I am always striving to make our a home a pleasant and lovely place to be. Not only in how it *looks* but also in the atmosphere. I believe we should keep our homes tidy and well-managed. As wives and mothers I believe this is very important. However, even *more* important is keeping an atmosphere of love, comfort, trust, joy, and grace! 

"The pleasant home is gracious. This means it is full of grace. If Christ is not present in our lives, He is not present in our homes...a pleasant home is where our families can laugh together, relax together, work together, eat together in harmony and love."

~Nancy Wilson, Praise Her in the Gates

I highly recommend the book Praise Her in the Gates by Nancy Wilson! I have read it numerous times and will probably read it again (It is full of highlighting and underlining!)! It is full of great, biblical advice on being a Godly woman, wife and mother! 

I am also reading Her Hand in Marriage by Douglas Wilson (Nancy's husband). I am doing a book study with some sisters in Christ on this book. It is about biblical courtship. :) I own and have read many books by Doug and Nancy Wilson. They are really great reads! 

The days have kept me busy. If I don't "have" to do something ~ I find something to do. There are always weeds to pull, grass to mow, gardens to hoe, and a house to clean! :o) Striving to have a pleasant home, for me, includes doing things to make it prettier...even if that just means tidying an area of our lawn that needs it...or adding mulch to areas to dress them up a bit. 

Here's a little bit of what I have been doing lately ~ 

I weeded around all the stepping stones...pulled them all up and then spread bags and bags of mulch...

I'm not finished with this project. I started it last evening and am going to go out and work on it today. You can see I still have extra stepping stones all on my rock wall...

I haven't decided if I want to leave the walkway like this or double the stones up (side by side) to make it easier to walk on...

Chris has still been working on the back porch! The roof is what is being worked on right now. Although that chair isn't there permanently, Chris and I have used it at different times just to take a bit of time and *sit* on our back porch!!! It is just so wonderful!

I have been keeping up with my raised beds (as you saw in my last post) and am excited to see the plants grow daily! (Those boards on the left were the support beams for the posts for the porch. Chris and our Brother-in-Love removed them....and now they are in a pile there. I'm not sure where they are going!)....

Clothes drying out on the line (I don't know *why* it gives me such joy to have clothes hanging out!?)...

A look at the backyard...

The evening sun...

I have been keeping things going inside as well. Here I was washing the dishes...

OK...I gotta run! The morning is getting away from me. I need to have a bit of breakfast and then get to accomplishing my TO DO list! :) I hope you are enjoying your summer days....all to the glory of God! Thank you for stopping by!

Warmly,
Katy :)

Raised Bed Gardening 2017

My raised beds are both doing pretty well this year! I am so excited to have things growing and thriving! I have been keeping them weeded and cared for as much as I can. I take time every day to weed, water and tend to them.

Madelyn planted the zucchini and I have peas, radishes, beets, green beans, pumpkins and MORE planted! :)

Some of my seeds didn't sprout, unfortunately. So, some of my plants are sporadic in areas.

 This was planted with rows of green beans...as you can see not all of the seeds came up but I replanted some more seeds and they are coming up now too! (We also have three LONG rows of green beans growing at our big garden! Our corn didn't grow *at all*....frustrating!)...

Gardening is hard work...lots of sweat and energy go into my gardens *but* it is SO worth it! Fresh food...and just seeing the plants grow is so rewarding!

While I was weeding and gardening last evening...Jaxson was drawing in the driveway!

Chris has been working on the roof phase of the back porch! It is super exciting! :) We both can't wait to get to sit on our back porch together and watch the children play out in the yard! It's truly the sweet, simple things that give us joy!

 The days have been busy lately but definitely joy-filled. It looks like it is to be a beautiful day here today ~ again. Chris and Xavier are working at our Brother-in-Love's auction (he and his father are auctioneers...Chris has been working with them for years and years...and now X is old enough to help too!). I have much to accomplish today as well! I best get moving! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for visiting me! I would love to hear about any gardening you are doing!

Warmly,
Katy :)

Home Improvement Projects

Hello friends! I'm sorry I haven't posted in such a long time (not that you are waiting on the edge of your seats or anything! Ha!). The truth is that I have been so busy! Between graduation parties for some of our homeschooling friends, home improvement projects I have been working on, gardening/weeding, mowing our entire lawn (which is time consuming since I choose to push-mow it all) and just life in general ~ it doesn't leave much time for organizing a blog post in my mind! I have much to still get to this evening...so I must be quick in sharing this post! 

I wanted to just show some photos of some of the projects I have been working on. First are pictures of my bathroom that I painted. My shower curtain still needs ironed...and the parts that are blue are still in need of being painted...I just haven't picked the color I want to use there yet...

You can still see the blue that needs painted in the pic below as well. You can also see some of my Norwex cloths hanging...

I still need to decorate this wall. I'm just not sure what I want to put here yet (don't mind my shower curtain....it *will* get ironed! haha!)...

Mowing has been a bit difficult as I am working around this big ol' thing and the supports for the porch...

Chris has made such great progress on the back porch. He is getting ready to work on the roof next...

I used leftover paint from the bathroom (a color called *woven jute*) to give the upstairs hall a fresh coat (or two) of paint...

This is an older house and the walls aren't pretty....notice the tape the builders had put on the walls? It's okay though....I think adding some color to the walls makes it look nice and I like to hang decor to make it pretty. In the photo above...the picture on the left (the lady's face) was done by my husband when he was in high school. Below is a painting I did while a senior in high school...

So there you have it....some of the things that have been keeping me busy, busy. I have also had the normal day-to-day managing of my home taking up my time (which I am definitely *not* complaining about!). Once I actually finish my bathroom ~ painting over the blue and decorating ~ I will make and updated post!

But now..I gotta run!!! Lots more to accomplish before I get to lay this weary body down in bed! I hope you all are well and enjoying the beginning of summer! Thank you for visiting today!

Warmly,
Katy