Imparting Grace

Grace at Home No. 59

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:31:00 +0000

Welcome to this week's Grace at Home party, where we celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace.

Last week's party included many wonderful links. Many thanks to everyone who participated! Here are a few of my favorites.

Erica of Let Why Lead wrote a wonderful post called All You Ever Needed to Know About Soothing a Baby. New and expectant moms, read this and take it to heart!

Regarding the opposite side of parenting, Dawn from Beyond Grace shared her heart about sending her baby girl off on her own. You'll want to read When the Time is Right.

Inspiration abounded for DIY projects and decor, such as these wonderful posts:

--Ballard-inspired seagrass vases from Jennifer of Decorated Chaos

--Living Room Reveal from Coley at Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

--Preteen Room Reveal from Gretchen at New Every Morning

--DIY Hand-Painted Wallpaper from Patti at Old Things New

If the May weather is inspiring you to get outside, you'll enjoy this tour from Brooke at Creative Country Mom's Garden.

On the practical side, check out these tips:

--10 Tips for Creating a Gallery Wall from Scooper of A la Mode

--Easy DIY Drawer Organizers from Cottage Sweet Cottage

Those are just a few of my favorites from the last party. Thank you to everyone who joined! I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured this week (or in a previous week), feel free to grab the "I was featured" button from my sidebar. I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. 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. Please take a moment to include a link back to this party in your post--that will be a great help to me! And please visit a couple of the other party participants--link parties are great ways to find new friends!

A prayer for courage

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:47:00 +0000

As we watch news coverage of the devastation wrought by tornadoes in Oklahoma, our hearts break. Our eyes fill with tears as we grieve with parents over the loss of their children, with wives over the loss of their husbands, with husbands over the loss of their wives, with friends over the loss of their loved ones.

Oh, God. We are undone.

We want to know: can we help? Is there anything we can do? The answer is yes. Click here for a list of tangible ways to help. If you know another way, share it.

And we can pray. We can all pray that God will provide as only He can do. We can join our hands and hearts together, and we can remind one another of the truth.

Lord, give us the courage to do what You want us to do.

How to make your cut flowers last longer

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:49:00 +0000

After a long winter and a chilly spring, it's finally warming up. That means it's time for wonderful flowers to cut. Right now gardens in North Carolina are full of peonies, and hydrangeas--my favorite!--are just about ready to cut. So I thought I'd pass along this simple tip for making fresh-cut flowers last longer.

It couldn't be simpler: Place your flowers in water as soon as possible after cutting. Cut or strip away greenery that would lie below the water line. Then when you fill your vase with water, add a few drops of household bleach (such as Clorox) to the water. That's it!

The small amount of bleach does no harm to the flowers, and it keeps the water clear. Flowers last much longer in clear water.

See the flowers in the photo above? That picture was taken 12 days after I picked the hydrangeas. As you can see, there's a bit of yellowing on some of the leaves, but the flowers are still going strong!

Do you grow flowers? What's your favorite flower to cut and bring inside?

Grace at Home No. 58

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:20:00 +0000

Welcome to this week's Grace at Home party!

Last week my precious friend Dallas Willard died, and I just couldn't get myself together in time to host the Grace at Home party. I'm glad to be back, though, because more than anyone else, Dallas has taught me that God rules in grace, and He invites us to live in the knowledge of that fact. So here we celebrate the ways we make our homes places of grace.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from the last party.

Maria Elena from Our Home Away from Home revealed her amazing new craft room. Wouldn't it be grand to have a space like this?

Luisa from Living and Learning with Luisa showed us how she spruced up her back porch.

Melissa from Daisy Mae Belle created a darling child's chalkboard table and chairs.

Gretchen from New Every Morning shared a way to make asparagus so delicious that even picky eaters will be coming back for seconds.

Gloria from The Resourceful Gals shared an excellent tutorial for refashioning a pullover sweater into a cardigan sweater.

And if you're need of a good laugh and a heart-warming post all rolled into one, check out "Less Miserable" from Donna at HoliMess.

Those are just a few of my favorites from the last party. Thank you to everyone who joined! I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured this week (or in a previous week), feel free to grab the "I was featured" button from my sidebar. I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

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

The ways we are perfect

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:06:00 +0000

Am I a proud mama? You'd better believe it.

On Sunday, my oldest son graduated from Duke University.

In front of the majestic Duke Chapel

Will is an awesome guy. He's smart. He's hard-working. He's fun. He's funny. He's good to his brothers. He's loyal to his friends. And now he's a graduate of one of the finest universities in the country.

My three sons

As I was thinking about my son's qualities and accomplishments this weekend, I realized something important. He's perfect in exactly the same number of ways that I am perfect.

None. Absolutely none.

He's not perfect at all, but he's wonderful. He amazes me. I think the world of him. Of course, I never expected him to be perfect. I'd love him and be proud of him no matter what.

But, oh, how I wanted to be the perfect mother.

Some days I was a good mother. Some days I was a fair-to-middling mother. To be honest, some days I was a pretty bad mother. On no days was I ever a perfect mother. I've beaten myself up about that. I've cried and lamented and wished I could go back and change things. Because, although I never expected my son to be a perfect child, I did expect myself to be a perfect mother--or darn close, anyway. And, of course, I failed.

Yet this fine man is my son--the child I carried in my womb for nine months, the baby I birthed, the boy I nurtured. He's not perfect, but he doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful.

And if that goes for kids, maybe--just maybe--it goes for moms, too.

What do you think?

The way Jesus taught us to pray

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:22:00 +0000

Amen and amen.

Life in the Kingdom of God

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 09 May 2013 00:04:00 +0000

Today is not a normal day. Dallas A. Willard, the most brilliant yet most humble man I've ever known, died today.

A photo of Dallas I snapped last June

You've probably heard of Dallas. If you've spent any time around me, you've heard about him. You've heard his words quoted. Perhaps you know him as the author of The Divine Conspiracy, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Hearing God, or Renovation of the Heart. Heck, if you've been around me for long, I've probably given you a copy of one of his books.

One thing's for sure: if you know anything about Dallas, you know that he didn't just live his life for God. He lived his life with God.

And he's still living it.

Dallas has no more need of his human body. It was the battery-pack that powered his spirit. He liked to say that we are all "unceasing spiritual beings in God's great universe." And though his body has ceased to function, Dallas surely lives.

Lots of people have said, "He's with Jesus now." And that's true; he's with the Lord face-to-face now. But Dallas has been with Jesus for a long time now. He understood that Jesus made available to all of us the opportunity to live in the Kingdom of God--right here, right now, right on this earth. Dallas understood like few others that "those who live in reliance upon the word and person of Jesus, and know by experience the reality of his kingdom, are always better off 'dead,' from the personal point of view. Paul's language is, 'to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21). And again: 'To depart and be with Christ is very much better' than to remain here (v. 23). We remain willing, of course, to stay at our position here to serve others at God's appointment. But we live in the knowledge that, as Paul elsewhere said, 'Jesus the Anointed has abolished death and has, through the gospel, made life and immortality obvious' (2 Timothy 1:10)" (The Divine Conspiracy, p. 394).

As I was thinking today about Dallas's life and work, I was embarrassed for a moment that I blog about such little things as homemaking and cooking and decorating. I found myself wishing that I devoted all my space at Imparting Grace to weightier matters.

But then I heard Dallas's gentle voice, reminding me that Jesus offers me the opportunity to live in the Kingdom of God. I alone have the opportunity to bring my own little kingdom (or queendom, if you like)--the range of my effective will--under the authority of God's Kingdom. And that changes things.

So I devote myself to writing and speaking and deeply spiritual matters--but I also make a home for my family. I cook. I decorate. I do a million things that often seem to be inconsequential, but they all go together to make my life--a life lived in the Kingdom of God, consecrated to God, and for the glory of God.

I won't lend you my copy of Renovation of the Heart--but you should read it.

I seek to live my life as Jesus would live it if He were I. Not the life of someone else, but my life. A life deeply enriched by knowing Dallas Willard--and the God he serves. The One who reminds me,

"Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17).

Simple solution for decorating problem

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:44:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that big changes are underway in my living room. Actually, I've been holding out on you. I've got news about my living room, and it's pretty stinking exciting. Ready? I'm in the middle of implementing a custom design from Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design.

Somebody pinch me! I've never worked with an honest-to-goodness professional designer before, let alone someone of Darlene's caliber! Woo hoo!

Right in the middle of procuring items for the room, though, I hit a snag. Darlene had found floor lamps that were just perfect for the back wall of my room. And she had found urns that were just perfect to stand on the chest beside the perfect floor lamps. She told me that the urns and the lamps were going to provide "essential height variety." It was all going to be just perfect.

Except it wasn't.

It turns out that the lamps weren't quite as tall as they were expected to be. Instead of getting "essential height variety," we got elements of almost exactly the same height.

I'm embarrassed to admit how panicky I felt when I looked at the wall. I really liked those lamps, and they were such a good price! I didn't want to search for different lamps. Other lamps were going to be much more expensive, I just knew it! And I loved the urns. I knew I wanted to use the urns. The urns were exactly what I wanted! Besides, returning them would be such a pain! My mind raced as I tried to figure out what to do. In short, I was in a tizzy.

I emailed Darlene, who agreed that the lamps should be taller. Darlene wasn't at all panicky, though. She was very reassuring and suggested a couple of possible solutions. Which is to say that she reminded me that this was NO BIG DEAL. So I calmed down.

In my calm state, I walked through the kitchen section at Target and spied these bowls:

Wooden bowls by Thomas O'Brien. Perfectly round, perfectly straight across, inexpensive.

The light bulb came on as I realized that they were almost exactly the same circumference of the bases of my lamps. Could it be?

Yes, it could. I brought the bowls home, placed them under the lamps, snapped a photo and sent it to Darlene for a second opinion. With her encouragement, I simply smeared wood glue onto the bottoms of the bowls

and attached them, bottom side up, to the bottoms of my lamps. The bowls just sort of disappear under my lamps but make them an inch and a half taller.

And that was that. End of drama. Problem solved.

Essential height variety? Check.

Want to see more of my new living room? My hope is to reveal the whole new room as soon as everything is in place, which I hope will be in the next couple of weeks.

Now I find myself wondering if there might be simple solutions for more problems if I could just calm myself enough to see them. What do you think?

Joining these fun parties:

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z
Swing Into Spring at DIY by Design

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Fresh salsa

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Cinco de Mayo is this weekend, and that calls for some yummy Mexican food!

My favorite Mexican recipe is simple and quick to prepare but oh, so delicious. It's good with chips, on fajitas, on quesadillas, on enchiladas, or straight from the spoon. Try it!

Here's how to make your own delicious fresh salsa.

Ingredients:
2 lb. tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion (I like Vidalia or other sweet onion)
a few slices jalapeno pepper
juice of one lime
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 bunch fresh cilantro
salt to taste
Directions:
Using a food processor, chop garlic, onion, and jalapeno very fine, then scrape into a medium-sized bowl. Chop tomatoes as chunky as you like them. (I process the tomatoes a couple at a time, just using the "pulse" button, so that they're pretty chunky.) Add the chopped tomatoes to the bowl. Stir in lime juice and tomato sauce. Chop cilantro and stir into tomato mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

*Click here for a printable copy of this recipe.

Honestly, this is the best salsa recipe I've ever tried. It tastes so fresh. It's good the moment you make it, and it keeps beautifully in the refrigerator or freezer as well. And you can use it to make guacamole!

One of my best friends grew up in Southern California with avocado trees in her yard. She told me that she and her siblings used to feel sorry for themselves because they had to eat avocado sandwiches

for lunch. Poor little things. I got her to teach me how to make guacamole. Here's her simple method:

Guacamole

Halve and pit avocados. Place halves in a pie tin and use a potato masher to mash them. Sprinkle with a bit of salt if desired. Stir in fresh salsa.

Do you have a favorite Mexican recipe? Please share!

Grace at Home No. 57

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Welcome to this week's Grace at Home party!

God is so good. He rules in grace, and He invites us to live in the knowledge of that fact. So here we celebrate the ways we make our homes places of grace. Here are a few of my favorite posts from last week's party.

Christy from Our Southern Home gave us a tour of her beautiful screened porch. What a beautiful space! You'll love this.

Krystle from Color Transformed Family showed us the silver wall in her dining room. This was a DIY project; she created it with metallic glaze. Isn't it lovely?

Roxy from Living from Glory to Glory shared the story of how she ordered two custom-made chairs--and although they were beautiful, they ended up just not working for her and her husband. She had the courage to contact the furniture company (La-Z-Boy) and was allowed to return the chairs and choose something that was just right for her family's needs. What a great example!

Sheila from Plum Doodles does a makeover of a broken column and illustrates a wonderful lesson about God. Love this!

Rebekah of Schenewark Farm shared a recipe for Four Ingredient Apple Pie. Four ingredients! Can you believe that? And just look how yummy it looks!

Erica from Let Why Lead shares some nitty-gritty and very helpful advice for young moms. Erica recently gave birth to her third child, and she's learned some important lessons about what to expect in those first weeks of tending to a several children. A wise and tender post!

If you don't already know Cyndi from Walking in Grace and Beauty, you're going want to get to know her! Cyndi is a beautiful, wonderful woman who shares her love for the Lord as well as practical advice on taking care of yourself and looking lovely. Her blog is chock-full of helpful information, especially for women over 40! Here she shares the low-down on some of the cosmetic products she uses herself.

Those are just a few of my favorites from last week's party! I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured this week (or in a previous week), feel free to grab the "I was featured" button from my sidebar. I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

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

Laundry room re-do

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:53:00 +0000

One of my favorite smells in all the world is clean laundry. Doesn't it stand to reason, then, that I would like to do laundry? And that my laundry room would be a lovely space?

Not so much.

As ashamed as I am to admit it, here's how my laundry room looked just a few weeks ago. Ugh.

Several years ago I re-did this space and added a number of decorative elements. Actually, there were too many decorative elements. The room was cluttered even when it was clean. My friend Becky from Organizing Made Fun wrote a post emphasizing the need to de-clutter and explaining how she does it. That gave me the kick in the pants I needed to clean out this mess. With Becky as my online guide, I de-cluttered this space.

My laundry room is the smallest room in our home, and it had become the most maligned space. Pretty much all I ever did was to complain about how small and inadequate it was. Then one day I was flipping through some magazines from the World War II era (a favorite pastime of mine), and I realized that rather than complaining I should be grateful for this light, bright, well-equipped space.

That exercise in thankfulness led me to want a more vintage look for the room, just to help remind me of my blessings. So here's my laundry room today.

Now, when I first realized that I wanted a new look for this room, there were a couple of things standing in my way. I had no money set aside to spend on it. And I had very little time to work on it. Still, I wanted a new look!

I began with gathering inspiration online. But to be honest, most of the "inspiration" photos I gathered ended up depressing me rather than inspiring me. Custom cabinetry, expensive countertops, chandeliers--those were all beyond my reach. Then I ran back across this post from Kim at Sand and Sisal. Kim's laundry room is rightfully famous--it's gorgeous and it's been featured in a magazine--but it was her philosophy about laundry rooms that helped me the most. Quoting Kim here, "The room had to be a happy color. I didn’t want a sophisticated neutral color, I mean who the heck feels sophisticated while doing laundry?"

Thank you, Kim! You inspired me to go for what I really wanted and needed. Here are some photos of my unsophisticated but very happy laundry room.

The sorting and folding station I created several years ago. It's just two baskets (one for darks and one for whites) and a shelf that I mounted directly to the wall. Not fancy, but it works. I found the clock on clearance on Target; it's perfect for this room. The rug I've had for years; I was so pleased that it works with the new decor.

Last week I shared the wall I art I made from pieces of a vintage tablecloth. The rest of the tablecloth I used to create a café curtain for the window. I simply cut the tablecloth in half, sewed a simple rod pocket into one side, and threaded a café rod through the pocket. Instant window treatment! Now I can keep the blinds open for natural light but still have privacy. Love that! And with this cheerful fabric as my principal feature, I didn't need to re-paint. The wall color is Benjamin Moore's "Blue Hydrangea."

You can read here how I created the clothespin sunburst mirror for just a few dollars. It's a great accent piece for a laundry room!

My "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster is a reproduction of the original created by the British Ministry of Information in World War II. I purchased a reproduction "Keep Calm" poster for just £3.60 directly from Barter Books, the bookshop that re-discovered the poster. It's perfect for my laundry room--the wartime era poster goes well with my vintage fabrics, the red is just the right color, and the sentiment is spot on! When I feel overwhelmed by the amount of dirty laundry, I just try to keep calm and carry on.

To frame the poster inexpensively, I bought an off-the-shelf poster frame at a craft store with a 50% off coupon. That made the frame less than $15. Then I simply had custom mat cut at a local frame shop, which cost about $12. I framed it all myself, and I have a just the look I wanted for very little money.

I like having a lamp in the laundry room. Sometimes we keep our doggies locked in this room when we have company. I turn off the overhead light and turn on the lamp; the low light helps them to stay calm. This lamp was a Goodwill find; all I did was to hot-glue some rick-rack onto the shade for a fun retro look. Along with the lamp, a plant, an antique iron and a housekeeper's box I've had for years complete a pleasing countertop vignette. Now maybe I'll keep this counter clear rather than stacking it with junk.

A few little touches and tricks I use in this small laundry room:

I found this little galvanized bucket in the One Spot (the $2.50 part) at Target; it's a great place to keep socks whose twins have gone missing. I used to have a big basket for this purpose, but I found that I was just filling up the big basket and never actually getting around to matching the socks. No more! If matches don't show up pretty quickly, I'm going to consign odd socks to the rag bag.

This tiny galvanized tub holds clothespins and loose change on top of the dryer. This was also a One Spot (the $1.00 part) find. I like the way it looks like an old washtub. I like to keep clothespins close at hand. All other laundry supplies are tucked away in the cupboards above the machines.

There are hanging rods on either side of my washer and dryer, but sometimes I need another place to hang an item. I placed a wreath hanger from the dollar store over a closet door in the room; it's just right for hanging odd things such as a belt or empty hangers. It's strong enough to hold heavy things, too. Two of these hung a few inches apart would make a great hanger for an ironing board. And you could paint them a fun color or simply paint them the same color as the door; maybe I'll get around to that some day.

There's a bit of space between my dryer and the cupboard beside it; I've found it's an excellent place to store flat items such as posterboard. This is also where I keep the whiteboard I use for photo shoots.

Total spent on this makeover: about $60.00 for the poster, clock, frames, curtain rod, and buckets. For all other items I shopped the house.

Just for fun, here's one last look. We went from this:

To this:

What do you think? What's the state of things in your laundry room?

I'm joining these wonderful parties:

Home On Purpose at Life in Grace

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now
Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

Just when you need a laugh

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:25:00 +0000

Some people own gift shops. Some run booths at antique malls. Some sell their items online.

And some, apparently, simply use restroom stalls at gas stations to display their wares. Stalls in the men's room, no less.

An actual photo snapped by my husband

Gotta admire the entrepreneurial spirit, right?

My favorite part is the availability of a layaway plan for large items. What's yours?

Grace at Home No. 56

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:05:00 +0000

Welcome to this week's Grace at Home party!

One of my friends encourages me to look for "evidences of grace" in my life. That's easy to do, if you stop to think about it--every good thing comes to us as a gift from God. This party is a place to celebrate the ways we imitate God in making our homes places of grace for all the people in our lives.

Here are a few of my favorites from last week's party.

Carol from An Oasis in the Desert wanted a bench to fit in her home's narrow entryway--so she and her husband made one! Doesn't this extend a cheerful spring welcome?

Shenita from Embellishments by SLR brought a bit of springtime to her decor simply by adding flowers. So easy but so effective: thanks for the reminder, Shenita!

Laura from The Turquoise Home has been re-doing her living room. She shares the final reveal of this beautiful room here.

The clever Denise from Denise in Bloom shared her top 20 favorite springtime uses for vinegar. Honestly, what would we do without vinegar??

Angela from Hickory Trail shares a recipe for a homemade lemon facial scrub. I can just imagine how good this smells!

Patti from Old Things New compiled a collection of beautiful images of places for prayer and meditation. You'll want to read this soothing and encouraging post. It's good for the soul!

Those are just a few of my favorites! I'm so grateful for each person who links up each week. If you've been featured this week (or in a previous week), feel free to grab the "I was featured" button from my sidebar. I'd be so proud if you displayed it!

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

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

DIY Custom Wall Art

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:32:00 +0000

This spring I've been busy making little changes all over the house. I just finished a fun little project for my laundry room, and I'm eager to share it with you!

My poor laundry room had reached the point of chaos, so I've been working on a budget-friendly redo. The room is small, and this back corner of my laundry room is just big enough to hold laundry baskets and a small shelf for folding clothes. But I want it to be a cheerful space.

Inspired by images from the mid-20th century, I decided to go for kind of a retro feel in this little room. I found the red clock on clearance at Target; it was just what I wanted. To go with the clock, I used a vintage tablecloth that had gotten a bit too ragged to use as a tablecloth to create some decor.

For this wall art, I simply spray-painted and distressed a couple of pre-packaged frames from the shelf at Costco, where the twin pack cost around $15. They were originally black, but that look felt a bit too heavy for this room. Distressed white is just right.

Then I cut and starched a couple of pieces from the tablecloth, taped them to back of the mats, and popped them into the frames.

If you look closely, you can see a small stain that couldn't be removed from this panel. But I don't think anyone is going to be looking that closely at the art in my laundry room!

Aren't they cheerful and pretty? And the best part is that they cost me nothing other than the cost of two inexpensive frames, a bit of spray paint, and a little time.

Now to finish the rest of the laundry room so I can show it to you. Ahem. Since this will include finding the mates to about 50 odd socks, this may take awhile.

For now, I'm so happy with custom art pieces! What do you think?

**I'm joining Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading.**

A shared story

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:00:00 +0000

One of the loveliest traditions of our church is weekly communion, particularly because our practice is to have members serve communion to one another. We all line up and proceed to the front of our worship space, where our fellow members offer the elements, murmuring "Christ's body broken for you" and "Christ's blood shed for you." It's a beautiful time.

This week I was talking with our Associate Pastor about last Sunday's service. He told me that he'd asked a lady to serve communion who at first demurred, "Oh, I don't think I could." Puzzled, he asked why. Her answer: "Because I have a prosthetic hand."

Turns out that her prosthesis was not an impediment at all. This beautiful lady held the cup steady as worshippers took communion.

But she was surprised that the pastor didn't know about her prosthetic hand before Sunday. He told me that she'd said, "I just assume. . . "

And before he told me, I could finish her sentence. I knew what she said.

She said, "I just assume it's the first thing people notice about me."

Of course.

I know that feeling all too well. That's exactly the way I feel about my birthmark.

Oh, how I wish this were not so. I'd certainly never noticed the lovely woman at church had a prosthetic hand. The pastor had never noticed. Almost nobody had noticed. Yet she assumed we'd all seen it. She was certain it's the first thing we saw. But it's not.

She is not defined by her prosthesis. I'm not defined by my birthmark. And despite our self-consciousness, those attributes are not the first thing that people notice. It's not that people don't notice us; it's just that they're too busy looking into our eyes, listening to our laughs, hearing our voices to see the imperfections that seem so glaring to us.

The truth is, some people know us well and never notice.

Now, I say "the truth is," but I'm still learning that it's the truth. Last May I wrote a post about dealing with both the ugly and the pretty about myself. Imagine my surprise when a woman I'd known years ago contacted me about that post. I knew her well. She was my junior counselor at camp, which meant that we worked together and played together and slept in the same room together. We did everything side by side during that time at summer camp. There's no telling how many times we changed into our swimsuits right there in that room. Yet when she wrote to me, she told me that she just couldn't remember that I had a birthmark.

Honestly, I still have trouble believing that. But I know she's a truth-telling woman, so I'm trying to believe it.

Turns out that a lot of us have trouble believing the truth about ourselves. This week I saw the video called "Real Beauty Sketches" produced by Dove as part of its Real Beauty campaign. I wept as I watched it. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to watch it.

And please tell me: is this part of your story, too?

Grace at Home No. 55

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:40:00 +0000

Welcome to this week's Grace at Home party, where we stop to count our blessings and to share the ways we make our homes places of grace for those we love.

Here are a few of my favorites from last week's party:
Heather from Friendship, Life, and Style shared her home's new decor for summer: very coastal and chic!

Cindy from Cottage Instincts is blogging regularly again after some time away. She shows us great before and after shots of her daughter's kitchen.

Calista from A House and Yard turned an old dresser into a TV stand. What a great piece for less than $20!

Melissa from Daisy Mae Belle offers a peek into her lovely back yard--and shares a great tip for killing weeds!

Jessica from Designers Sweet Spot shares a look into her inspiration notebooks--and includes a tutorial on how to create your own cute notebooks from dollar store supplies.

Kathy from Miss Grace-Filled Life shares her favorite beauty-on-a-budget products and tips. Kathy is a lovely woman, so I'd say these are tips worth trying!

Betty at Southern Grace shares 12 reasons she's grateful to live in the country. An inspiring list!

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

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

Dining room changes

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:37:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I asked y'all for your opinions regarding my dining room, and I really appreciated your help! Nearly all of you voted for me to leave the top of the china cabinet OFF and to use the base as a buffet. Obviously, it's not as tall as a traditional sideboard, but I think it works.

So here's what I've done with that large wall. I love the way this big mirror shows up against the blue walls!

From the side, with the lamps turned off (where you can also get a great view of the return air vent!):

I know the mirror is very gold and the lamps are mostly silver, but I think I'm fine with the mixed metals look. The lamps are actually mercury glass, so there's a lot of gold flecking in them:

And you can see a bit of the chandelier in this photo, which is bronze. Lots of mixed metals! I think I like that, but I'm still not quite sure. Do you think it all works together harmoniously?

You might recognize the big mirror as the one that used to hang on the wall of crosses in my living room.

At the request of my husband, big changes are underway in the living room. I actually hired professional design help for the very first time, and I'm excited about giving that room a whole new look. I'll be sharing those changes soon!

So what do you think of the mirror in the dining room? Do you think it works?

I'm joining these fun parties:

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Weekend fun in the springtime

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Hi friends! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Take a look at what's blooming around here:

See the wisteria hanging just above the azaleas?

And just look at this perfect dogwood blossom:

There's a price to pay for living in such a lush locale as North Carolina, though. The pollen is absolutely choking. I wiped off the table on my screened porch (or tried to)--and here's my cloth:

Now it's coated even more thickly than before. Sneeze, cough, sneeze.

Just for fun, I'll share this photo my husband snapped last night with his iPhone:

We went to a gala to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House at the North Carolina Children's Hospital. Such a good cause! As you might guess, the theme was The Wizard of Oz. Aren't the characters cute? Yes, there was a yellow brick road that we followed to enter the ballroom. Such fun.

Lots of us were wearing black, though, and when went out onto the patio, the staff warned us not to lean up against anything. Black dresses and tuxedos don't look so great with pollen smeared all over them. So today I wore a chartreuse dress to church--I figured if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

What have you been up to this weekend? Has spring arrived in your neck of the woods?

Grace at Home No. 54

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:32:00 +0000

Welcome to the weekly Grace at Home party, where we pause to celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace. I am so grateful for the community that surrounds this party!

Here are a few of my favorites from last week's party.

Janet from Rosemary and Thyme revealed her new guest room. Don't you want to go stay in this beautiful room?

Sheila from Beyond the Portico shared a room makeover as well--a bathroom that is, as she puts it, "almost black." Lovely, isn't it?

Casey from Living a Cottage Life discovered a new way to use beadboard wallpaper--to cover previously ugly ceilings! What a great idea!

Sweet Penny from Penny's Treasures shared a special gift from a friend--these gorgeous vintage tablecloths. Aren't they stunning? I have a project in the works using a vintage tablecloth; this post makes me wish I had a few more!

Every week we have at least one recipe shared at Grace at Home. This week there are two that I'm going to try. This one is from Shannon at A Cozy Place Called Home: Mushroom Artichoke Chicken. I think my husband would love this.

And this one from Kari at A Grace Full Life looks like a lot of fun: Four Ingredient Meatball Pockets.

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

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

Grace at Home No. 53

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:12:00 +0000

Welcome to the weekly Grace at Home party, where we pause to celebrate all the ways we make our homes places of grace. I am so grateful for the community that surrounds this little party. I've been blessed by so many people who shared their hearts here!

Here are a few of my favorites from last week's party.

Leslie from The Gwen Moss Blog shared the stirring story of a man who made a profound impact upon her son's life--and lessons we can learn from that man's example. So inspiring!

Lisa from The Pennington Point revealed her refreshed living room. Isn't this a lovely room? You just want to sit down and relax here!

Melissa from Daisy Mae Belle showed us some beautiful new decor for her front porch, mostly created from vintage pieces. That "See Rock City" birdhouse is my favorite!

Wonderful Marty from A Stroll Thru Life shared all kinds of furniture refinishing projects and shared some of her best secrets. You'll appreciate this post.

John from Chef Not Included submitted a delicious-looking recipe I'm going to try: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.

And Becky Kopitzke from Time Out for Moms shared a wonderful devotion about showing grace to our friends. I needed this!

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. I invite you to link posts about

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

Another decorating decision to make-- please help again!

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:26:00 +0000

Y'all are so helpful! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the new color for my kitchen. Now I have another question for you.

I am considering taking off the tall breakfront portion of my china cabinet and just using the base as a buffet. If you've seen my dining room before, you know that I have built-in china cabinets in this room:

In addition to these built-ins, I've had a china cabinet at the other end of the room:

That's a lot of tall stuff in one room, but no serving space. So here's what I'm thinking about:

Here's a photo with the lamps turned off so that you can see a little better.

With the built-in china cabinets, I certainly don't need the storage or display space of the tall hutch. As a matter of fact, keeping my china and crystal in the hutch made it very difficult to use, as a plate or glass threatened to topple over every time I opened the doors.

Do you like the idea of using the base cabinet as a buffet? My plan is to put a large mirror above the base cabinet. I love the two lamps--it took me weeks to find ones that I liked, but these are wonderful. (If I decide to put the china cabinet back in the room, I'll use these lamps elsewhere.)

So what do you think? Put the tall breakfront back or keep the buffet space? I'd love your thoughts!

**Note: The blue on my walls is a Sherwin Williams custom mix. Here's the label:

Decorating decision to make--please help!

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:07:00 +0000

Hello, friends! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Today I need your help. This week is a big painting week at my house, and I'm having trouble deciding on a color for my kitchen.

I have made a little progress. Green is my favorite color, so I've decided I want to stay in the green family. The kitchen is currently painted a very neutral color--a dark sage that's on the tan side called Ruskin Room Green by Sherwin Williams.

Here's my kitchen now. In these photos the green looks a good bit brighter than it does in real life, but this will give you an idea of what I'm working with. There's not too much wall space on this end:

Lots of wall space on this end:

I think I want to go a bit lighter and brighter in here, so I'm thinking about Sherwin Williams "Sassy Green."

An alternative would be the next lighter tint, Sherwin Williams Hearts of Palm:

Here's a paint chip of the Sassy Green right on top of my Ruskin Room Green walls. You can see here that the Sassy Green is much greener than the current Ruskin Room Green.

What do you think? Do you like the Sassy Green and/or Hearts of Palm? Help a sister out and let me know your opinion, please!

For Easter Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:07:00 +0000

For two years in a row now, we've been privileged to visit Florida during Lee's spring break. His break is more of a late-winter vacation, because it's always before the official start of spring. Florida has provided a warm place to relax, and we are grateful.

When we were there last year, we saw a skywriter perform. Here's what the pilot blazed across the sky:

This year, we saw a skywriter perform once again. Who knows, perhaps it was the same pilot! Here was this year's message:

We didn't get to see the finished words here, but you know what they are. The skywriter was spelling out "Jesus loves you."

I've been thinking a lot about these two messages lately. Just a few weeks go, I saw TV footage of a street demonstration of some kind. One of the participants was holding up a poster stating, "Jesus loves you but God is holy." I have no idea what the demonstration was about; it could have been any number of hot-button issues, I suppose.

That sign made me cry.

It contained two important facts, of course. Jesus does love you--no matter who the "you" is. And God is holy. But why would those statements be linked with the word "but"? As if they are in contradiction to each other? As if God and Jesus were in disagreement about something?

Today, Good Friday, we commemorate the greatest act of sacrifice ever made--the crucifixion of Jesus. After living a life free from any kind of sin or guile, after teaching and loving people and reaching out to those most despised by society and healing the sick and restoring sight to the blind, Jesus allowed himself to be put to be tortured and put to death. Jesus died so we could live. Yes, Jesus loves us.

And that radical plan for the salvation of humankind--the son of God living on earth as a human, teaching people how to live, allowing Himself to be killed--that plan wasn't just the work of Jesus. That was the work of all three members of the Trinity. They all suffered for us. They all love us.

Yes, for sure, God is holy; so are Jesus and the Holy Spirit. But let's not take the idea of "holiness" and turn it into a word that means distant, far off, unapproachable. Because that's not the way God is at all. God is right here. God is good. God is full of love and compassion. The words are so familiar that they can seem trite, but they're not: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Once when I was participating in a retreat for Christians, I heard something that I'd never thought about before, something that imprinted itself on my very soul. A number of us all had our heads bowed in prayer, and then the leader asked us to say out loud what we knew to be true about God. From around the room came one comment after another: "God is good." "God is merciful." "God is gracious." "God is glorious." Those were all good and true statements, and we all murmured our assent to each one. Then one member of the group, a very wise man, softly added, "God is Christlike." I confess that my head snapped up and my eyes flew open--and I wept. Of course this is true. God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. They are all like one another.

My grandmother was a precious woman, one of those sweet ladies who sent birthday cards to every young person she knew. She worked for many years at an elementary school, and she was loved by hundreds of kids, so she sent a lot of cards. She usually tucked a $2 bill into those cards. And she always signed them the same way. On every card, she wrote,

Smile. God loves you. So do I.

As I remember the events of this day, that's the message I'd like to put on a poster.

A blessed Good Friday to you, my friends. What message would you like to share on this day?

Grace at Home No. 52

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:58:00 +0000

Would you just look at the title of this post? Grace at Home No. 52?! That's right. I've been counting. We've been meeting here for this little weekly party for a full year. How amazing that the first anniversary of this party would occur during Holy Week!

You know, I received some advice not long after I'd started this party. I was told that the blogging community really didn't need another weekly party, but if this topic was really important to me, I should go ahead with it--not to be "successful," but because it was important to me.

To be honest, that was good advice. This weekly party certainly has not made my blog "successful." It doesn't generate all the things that bloggers might want from a weekly party. It hasn't brought me increased page views or increased revenues.

But you know what it has done? It has introduced me to some new friends. It has introduced some of you to one another. It has encouraged some bloggers to keep going. It has provided a place for some really good work to be showcased, even if only on a small scale.

And it's helped me to stop and remember that grace is worth celebrating. Grace is God's work in our lives. We are the blessed recipients of God's amazing gifts, and we are privileged to reflect that in our own lives.

So here we are, right in the middle of our contemplations of God's greatest gift. A fitting time to stop and celebrate grace, don't you think?

Here are a few of my favorites from last week's party:

From Embellishments by SLR, wonderful ideas for a spring breakfast table

From The Ferrell Boys and Me, lots of ideas for Easter activities with children

From Rosemary Thyme, a recipe for a scrumptious-looking Orange Sour Cream Pound Cake:

From Debbie-Dabble, lots of sweet Easter decor

From Carmen at Chairs from the Curb, a thought-provoking post about being in the presence of God

And from Nicki at Happiness Diaries: an encouraging post about being cranky--and getting another chance

Now for this week's party! Grace at Home is a place for you to share anything related to making your home a place of grace. 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. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page, and please take a moment to include a link back to this party in your post. And please visit a couple of the other party participants--link parties are great ways to find new friends!

For your holiday meal: Simple holiday salad

noreply@blogger.com (Richella Parham) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:56:00 +0000

Can you believe that Easter is next Sunday? This important date really sneaked up on me this year!

If you're like me, planning for a holiday includes planning a special meal. I like super-easy side dish recipes that taste wonderful but don't require a lot of time to prepare. This salad definitely fits the bill!

My mom always called this dish "Five Cup Salad." Some of my guests over the years have called it ambrosia. A sweet little girl who shares many of our holiday meals calls it "Marshmallow Salad." Whatever it's called, it's the easiest side-dish recipe I know. I make it for every holiday meal, so I'm calling it "Holiday Salad."

Holiday Salad

1 cup pineapple tidbits (small can, drained)
1 cup mandarin orange slices (small can, drained)
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut (I use Baker's Angel Flake)
8 ounces sour cream
Stir ingredients together. Chill and serve.

It doesn't get much simpler than that--and the results are absolutely delicious!

Is there a dish you make for every holiday meal? Please share!