How we Spend our Time...and a link-up

Time.

We only get so much of it and once it's gone we can't get it back.

We're accountable for how we spend it and we must budget carefully.

Sometimes good things capture us, pulling us from what's better.

The wise woman sees this and makes necessary adjustments,

so that one day, when she stands before the Watchman, she can hold her head up.

She can point to her family, her home and those He's placed within her reach

and say, "I've used my time as you've instructed.  My heart is yours as were the hours you gave me to use."

And the Watchman will tenderly reach out those endlessly loving arms,

and say the words that are like water to a dying man...

"Well done, good and faithful servant."

I'm learning I'm not so great at time management now that I have more time on my hands.

I'm chastened by the number of times I plop myself in front of my computer.

I have placed limits on the time spent in that chair, but my heart sits firmly before that screen,

even when my body doesn't.

Circumstances this weekend brought me face to face with my reality,

and I saw myself running, gathering all sorts of great ideas and inspiration.

Only to get back "home" and find that I had no time to really do anything with it.

The time has come to render an accounting now!  Changes are necessary.

I still plan to blog, until He directs me on another path.

Writing is a balm to my spirit, a release to my otherwise captive thoughts.

But I must control the time I spend running around the web.

I can't keep drinking from everyone's well, only to find that the very one my family draws from has gone dry.

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Here are a few terrific bloggers that linked up last week...

Jill {Jill's Home Remedies}showed us how to make ice cream from snow.  If the weather where you live has been anything like here in VA, snow may be hard to come by just now.  However, health education and nutritional inspiration are not.  She offers plenty of both, and more besides!

Gail at The Imperfect Housewife has remade her blog after a technical malfunction, and things are looking great!  Her heart is the best part about a visit to her little home on the web. You can even add her to your Thursday link-up schedule!

Cindy at Apron Strings and Apple Trees is an endless wealth of information and inspiration.  She nails a whole host of topics from modesty to using old seeds...and pretty much anything in between! 

 Michelle, from Liturgical Time: Walking the Seasons, is always making me grow and stretch!  Her posts are filled with soul-deep and heart-hungry wisdom.  I love every single visit I make to her place!  I think you will, too!

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And now I'd love for you to take a moment to link-up!

This is week number nine of A Handful of Heart and I'd like to warmly invite you to grab your heart and link it up!  Any and everything pertaining to the Christian pilgrimage is welcome here and you can add as many as you'd like.  Grab my button or simply link back here so others can join in!  If you don't have a blog, make yourself at home and read as the Lord leads!  The linky is open all week, so no matter when you stop by, feel free to add your links!

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The power of decision

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Isaiah 64:8

You know the mornings where you get up, but really wish you didn't have to?
Or maybe the ones where you never truly got to bed at all, because you had a sick child?
You know what I'm talking about.  And you know the challenge involved in simply getting going.

What about when you shuffle into the kitchen to scrape something together for breakfast,
and your foot makes contact with yesterday's jelly?  Good times, right?
It takes every ounce of self-control not to mutter something about careless kids and how you aren't their servant.

And there are those times when you can't make the budget stretch any further and you know something has to go.
Maybe it's the data package for your phone or the gourmet coffee you splurge on a little too often.
Sometimes little indulgences are just what we need.  Other times they're just what we don't.

Maybe there was a time you were betrayed.  By a spouse or friend.  Or even your child.
Gathering the pieces to build a bridge to forgiveness is tough.  It takes swallowing a little pride.
Or maybe a lot.  Either way,  it requires an offering up of self.  And I don't know about you, but my self is stubborn!

Life is about decisions.  Hard choices.  The kind that only get easier when we first make the choice to hand it over to the One who has the power to prevail.  But that first step takes courage.  And determination.  The rest is cake.  Because God is in the business of shouldering the tough stuff.  He's all about the victory and He wants you to share in the celebration.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

In a month or so, I plan to release my first ebook.  As you might have guessed by now, it's all about choices.  Big, small or in-between...they all play a huge role in how we're living out our days, practically.  And consequently, how we're preparing eternally!

Stay tuned for a sneak peek at the first chapter...and maybe I'll even finally decide on a title!

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Linked up with: Your Thriving Family, 
The Straightened Path 

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Taming the Media Monster...

Electronic media has become a huge part of everyday life.  For better or worse, most of us have been sucked in.  Online billing and banking, email correspondence, social networking, blogging...there are many reasons why we, as adults, utilize the web.  But how about our children?  What are the parameters and where are the limits?

In our family, we do allow the use of certain electronic gadgets.  But those privileges come with boundaries.   And they are earned!  Here are a few of the guidelines we follow to prevent being consumed by this media-crazed era we live in:

                                            Please join me at Sidetracked Sarah to read the rest....

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No Knead Bread Recipe

{Contributor post by Tanya...who not only sews, but bakes, too!}

No Knead Bread

this is for a double recipe

6 cups bread flour - usually I use 1c. w.w. flour and the rest white, I have also used more w.w. flour than white, but we prefer more white for this bread. 
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups room temperature water

Everything all mix together and now it is ready to rise.

Mix together until blended. Cover and let rise for 12-18 hours. Turn onto floured surface and pat lightly. Then fold in thirds and then fold in half. Gently pick up and place in oiled bowl. Let rise 1 hour and 15 minutes. After the second rise, turn on oven to 450F and place your covered baking pan in oven to preheat. Remove pan after 15 minutes and sprinkle cornmeal on the bottom of the pan. Pour dough into pan and replace lid. Put into the oven and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Cool on rack. Enjoy!!

This is how it should look after 12-18 hours.

Here the bread is rising the second time and the roaster in the background is what I bake the bread in.

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Linked up at:  Little Natural Cottage

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Tanya - "Married almost 15 years to my dear husband Leif and homeschooling mommy to 7 beautiful treasures. (ages of our children range from 13 years down to 3 months)  I delight in my calling as a wife and mama and my life is filled with homemaking, raising children and being a farm girl.  The Lord is good and teaching me daily as I strive to live according to His will and be a blessing to those around me.  He is so faithful!"  You can have a peek inside Tanya's heart and world at A Beautiful Calling.

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