My Mini Faith Crisis - Does God Hear My Prayers?

 Years ago, I had a faith crisis. I questioned if God was really hearing my prayers.  God spoke to me through his word and here's what he said:





Psalm 139:17,18
"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you."


As I emptied my suitcases from vacation, I found 100's of grains of sand stuck in the corners of the suitcase and inside of shoes. Memories of reading Psalm 139 on the beach wrapped around me like a warm blanket - comforting me. 


I am on God's mind.


You are on God's mind.


Bask in this truth today!


Walk with the King!

This post is linked to Raising Homemakers, Titus 2sdays, and We Are That Family.


Today is Women Living Well Wednesday! It's a Link-Up Day!!!

Join the fun, do a little blog hopping and don't forget if you join below -please add the Women Living Well Wednesdays button to your post so your readers can find us here! (posts can include the topics of marriage, parenting, homemaking, finances, recipes, organization and more!)

<a href="http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/search/label/Women%20Living%20Well%20Wednesdays"><img border="0" src="http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq297/courtneylivingwell/LivingWell.png" /></a>

Sheltering Children and My Experience In Public Schools ~ Part 5 of 5

I am about to hop on a plane and head to Dallas, Texas to attend Sally Clarkson's parenting conference. I will be rooming with Angela from GoodMorningGirls.org and I'll be sure to share my notes with you soon!!!

Thank you everyone for your gracious spirits this week! Your comments have been such a joy to read!


I taped all 5 parts of this series in one day last week. But as I posted these videos my heart began to change and I felt the need to speak briefly to moms of children in public schools...so this video is for ALL mamas - homeschool mamas, private school mamas and public school mamas. I hope that something in here encourages all of us to remain vigilant, intentional and connected to our children no matter what school choice we make!!!





Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 says "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

Walk with the King!

I am linked to Raising Homemakersand We Are That Family

The Challenges of Homeschooling ~ Part 4 of 5

I want to be honest - homeschooling has some hard moments, hard days and hard weeks! This video touches on dealing with bad behavior, cabin fever, socialization, surviving the stores and feeling like you can't get it all done.


At the end, I share what will be in part 5 of the video - but yesterday I changed my mind about part 5 and re-shot the video...I decided to talk a little about public schools since I am a product of public schools. So, check back tomorrow for the topic of "Sheltering Your Children and My Experience In Public Schools".



If you have any great tips on how to handle some of the challenges I mentioned or other ones I didn't mention - please share them in the comment section!


Walk with the King!

I am linked up at Raising Homemakers, and Works for Me Wednesday.

Our Daily Homeschool Routine and Curriculum ~ Part 3 of 5

This is my children on the day all their boxes of homeschool stuff arrived this past July!!! It was a VERY exciting day!!!


This video gives you a peak inside a typical homeschool day in our home. Every home will look different based on the ages of your children. Some of you will have little ones that need managed during homeschool time, others will have teens who are self sufficient. This is what our home looks like right now in this season of life. (and please, if you are a homeschooler - share in the comments about what your day looks like! I'd LOVE to hear about it!!! And if you have a blog post about it - pretty please link it up below!!!!)


I will share with you our curriculum choice in the video below. Some of you will be disappointed with our family choice - you will be surprised to find that we do not use Christian curriculum. This is one reason I hesitated to do this series...this post is sure to upset a few of my faithful followers who I love and care about. In July, I shared about our curriculum here and the comments were ugly.

There are tons of awesome choices for curriculum out there - we each must do our homework and choose the one that works best for our family. One reason we chose this one is because my oldest sister - who I adore - used this curriculum for 7 years with her 3 boys and she loved it. She currently works as a virtual High School Math teacher for our on-line school. Be assured, there is no shortage of spiritual teaching in our home. I will talk more about this on Friday. But for now - here's part 3!

I mentioned above my chore pack system. If you'd like to see the video covering that - click here.


Today is Women Living Well Wednesday! It's a Link-Up Day!!!

Join the fun, do a little blog hopping and don't forget if you join below -please add the Women Living Well Wednesdays button to your post so your readers can find us here! (posts can include the topics of marriage, parenting and homemaking)

<a href="http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/search/label/Women%20Living%20Well%20Wednesdays"><img border="0" src="http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq297/courtneylivingwell/LivingWell.png" /></a>

Walk with the King!

I am linked up at Titus2days (Time Warp Wife), Raising Homemakers, and Works for Me Wednesday.

The Benefits of Homeschooling ~ Part 2 of 5

Yesterday, I shared why we homeschool. If you missed part 1, please stop and take 5 minutes to go back and watch it here. These videos taken out of context could be misunderstood so please take the time to listen to part 1 before jumping to any conclusions.


Today I want to share with you the benefits of homeschooling! Of course there are many more than I listed here...one being if you have a gifted child or a child who is struggling in a certain subject, you can choose your pace. This is not an extensive list but rather a list of the benefits to us personally!




Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 says "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."


Join me tomorrow for part 3. I will share what our daily routine looks like and our curriculum.

Walk with the King!

I am linked to Raising Homemakersand We Are That Family

Why We Homeschool ~ Part 1 of 5

This week I will be posting a 5 part series on the topic of homeschooling.

Monday: Why We Homeschool

Tuesday: The Benefits of Homeschooling

Wednesday: Our routine and Curriculum

Thursday: The Challenges of Homeschooling

Friday: Sheltering Our Children

I am praying praying praying this is NOT a controversial week. Please understand that I do not expect your convictions to match mine and vice versa - please do not expect my convictions to match yours. They are going to vary. We each must pray and seek God's will for our family in each season of life.

So let's get started!




Deuteronomy 6: 5-7 says "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."


Join me tomorrow for part 2 titled "The Benefits of Homeschooling."


Walk with the King!

I am linked to Raising Homemakers, We Are That Family, and

Considering Your Trials a Joy

Last night my Good Morning Girls enjoyed a Girls Night Out. (We are missing 3 ladies in our picture)
There are 11 women in my group emailing each other each morning after we have our quiet times - I LOVE it!

We are now at over 1,000 Good Morning Girls Groups and at over 150 Groups from around the world! It has been SO exciting to see women from nearly every state in the USA including Hawaii and Alaska plus from around the world in Croatia, Australia, Korea, Austria, Germany, Scotland, France, and Canada.


Some of the ladies have joined me for a walk through the Book of James. And today we have completed week 1 in our study. Every Friday I will be writing or making a video to go with our study and it will be posted on my sister site at GoodMorningGirls.org


Going forward I will not duplicate my Friday post here but since it's only week 1, I thought I'd share the video with you all here too. (Sorry it's a bit too dark)





If you are not reading in God's word on a daily basis, I invite you to join me in my walk through the book of James!


Walk with the King!


This is linked to Amy at Finer Things Friday.

Good Morning Girls Fall Session Comes To An End

This past fall we had over 700 ladies from over 40 different states in Good Morning Girls Groups! So exciting!

The fall session has come to an end today, so this video was posted over at GoodMorningGirls.org but I thought I would share it with you all also. (sorry about the goofy expression on my face lol!!! But it was exciting to have my partner,Angela, in town from Texas on my couch! You can read more about her here.)

If you want to start out the new year with accountability for your quiet times, consider creating a Good Morning Girls Group. A Good Morning Girls group is a tech accountability group. We use email, facebook, twitter and texting to every morning say "Good morning, this is what I read in my quiet time!".

You can grab a group of real life friends or find some new friends over on our message board at GoodMorningGirls.org and join us January 1st through January 15th during roll call. The session is 3 months long and will run from January 15th to May 15th.

Your group can choose to read a passage of scripture or use a Bible study of your own or you can join our Book Club through the book of James. I can't wait to do this thing together!

Walk with the King!

How I Tie My Scarf - Vlog

If you want to spice up your Christmas outfit, hit Walmart for a $5 scarf, put on a plain shirt and tie your scarf like this! Voila! You look festive with a whole new outfit and it was only $5!

Walk with the King!

I am linked to Raising Homemakers , Kelly's Korner and Works For Me Wednesday at WeAreThatFamily.com

Vlog: Positive Parenting Tips

My last vlog (video blog) was on How To Give Your Child An Effective Time Out. Today's vlog builds on the previous one by showing how to focus on our children's virtues rather than their vices.

I am calling this Positive Parenting because this is an entirely different approach to take towards your child's poor behavior. It is much easier to verbally reprimand or scold your child than to take the time to do virtue training BUT we reap what we sow.

This positive parenting takes time, patience, love, creativity, knowing God's word, gentleness, and intentional instruction. Both methods work hand in hand as you Biblically correct your child and train your child to live peacefully in your home. It is important that we sow seeds of righteousness and in time we will see fruit from our labor.

(once again - my daughter walks into the room while I'm making the video...she was reminding me of something I had not forgotten. Thanks Alexis lol! Oh well - it's real life here and I don't like second takes!!)

Walk with the King!

I am linking up here :

Vlog: How To Give Your Child An Effective Time-Out

Tedd Tripp in Shepherding a Child's Heart (a book I highly recommend) says "You must not be embarrassed to be authorities for your children. You exercise authority as God's agent. You may not direct your children for your own agenda or convenience. You must direct your children on God's behalf for their good."

Remember that just as you are in authority over your children - you are under authority to God. You are both in the same boat - under the authority of God. When your child disobeys God by disobeying you - and we fail to be loving, kind, self-controlled and gentle while we are training our children - then we are also disobeying God.

Our goal should not be to change their outward behavior but to change their heart. And those changes can only come through loving discipline and Godly instruction.

I have chosen to share how I do time-outs in my home. But I want to add, we do spank. I use the identical "conversational" loving manner - and exchange the time out for a couple of swats. The Bible speaks clearly in Proverbs about spanking but I have chosen to keep this matter private due to the controversial nature of spanking in our culture. If you are looking for verses pertaining to this form of discipline you can find them here: Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 19:18; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 23:13,14; Proverbs 29:15.

Here's how I do time outs:

Proverbs 1:7 says "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

If we as moms fail to teach our children the fear of the Lord and the greatness of God daily through role modeling it in our life, reading Bible stories, memorizing verses with them and prayer - then we can expect the heart of our children to be hard. We must remember to teach them God's word in fun moments along the way of life - so when we pull out verses during training time they don't feel thumped over the head by God's word but rather lovingly instructed.

Remember that when you train your child, you train generations to come - so persevere! Galatians 6:9 "Do not grow weary in doing good for in due season you will reap a harvest IF you do not give up."

Walk with the King!

I am linking up here :

Vlog: Easy Front Twist Hair Tutorial

Let's talk hair! As a kid, my sisters and I would spend hours playing with our hair - curling it all over with different sizes of curling irons, using hot bendy thingys or crimping irons. Then we discovered hot rollers and well - I've been using those since the 80's!!!

So every now and then I try something new. I shared my Messy Bun Video with you all and I know a couple of you have mentioned you wear a messy bun from time to time!!! So I thought maybe this could be useful - or not lol!! I always wear my hair the same way for every Women Living Well video but - trust me - I do not curl my hair every single day! I do love to wear a messy bun and lately I've been doing this 30 second front hair twist! (my son was my videographer so I apologize for the shakiness and my daughters interruption lol!)

Just an extra tip: Sometimes I do the twist across the front and then from there pull it into a pony tail or messy bun!


The quicker we can get our hair fixed and in order the more time we can spend at Jesus' feet or serving our families and friends!!! Hope this helps!


Walk with the King!

This is linked to Kelly's Korner.

Making Your Home a Haven - Fall Challenge - Come Link Up!

Is your calendar full like mine? Do you feel a little tense, rushed and even panicked at times when you are running late? Do you feel like the rest of the family is feeling the same way? I believe we women can create a physical environment, as well as a spiritual environment, that can bring peace, harmony and a sense of calmness to our homes if we are willing to be intentional.

So let me introduce you to the "Making Your Home a Haven" Fall Challenge. Each week I will give you one practical tip and one spiritual tip that you can do to create a haven in your home.

This challenge will begin next Monday, October 4th and run through the month of October. Check out the video and topics below. If you would like to join me and you are a blogger - just copy and paste this pumpkin picture on your blog with this link attached: http://www.womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/ and then link up below! (Update - Mr. Linky is having tech problem right now and I don't know where all the link ups went?? Check back and hopefully it will be fixed very soon!!! So sorry :-( ) If you are not a blogger, leave a comment in the comment section to let me know that you would like to join the challenge.


Here's a few more details:

Here's the topic schedule for those who want to link up each week:

October 4 - Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home. I will be starting mine in the morning! But you can start yours at dinner time. Do what makes sense for your family. I will be placing mine in the kitchen - the main hub of my home. Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home.

October 10 - Play soft music everyday in your home. Choose worship, classical or another form of peaceful music that the family enjoys. Focus on using peaceful words and maintaining peaceful relationships. Remind your family to avoid seething anger, tattling, criticism or back talk. As the wife/mother, work on gentleness this week.

October 17 - List a few of the spots in your home that make you visually stressed because of all the clutter. Now go buy something for that spot - like a basket to put it all in! Work on cleaning up clutter - throw things away and encourage the children and your hubby to do the same in their bedrooms or offices or work areas this week. While you're at it - clean up some clutter in your spiritual life. What gets in the way of your peace spiritually?

October 24 - Keep the candle going, the music playing, and add some tender moments with your family. Have a pillow party in the family room and get out every blanket and pillow in the house and be cozy with the kids or your hubby! Even if you live alone you can do this. Enjoy a cozy evening of hot cider and caramel corn. Give a 5 minute back rub to every single person in your house...and for a double challenge- try to give one every day to each family member! During your tender moment with the family, ask them how they feel about this challenge. Are they enjoying it? Is it helpful? Is there anything they would change. Give your family listening ears. I think you will be blessed by the positive feedback you will receive!

October 31 - Focus on the kitchen, the heart of the home. Cook things with pleasant aromas. Pick a meal the family can cook together - include everyone in a task and take pictures so everyone can remember moments in the kitchen together - test tasting, being creative, laughing and loving. Remove discontentment with your home or family and give thanks to God for the home God has given you to in which to create a haven for your family.

Jesus said in John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled."


Walk with the King!

I am linking up here :

Vlog: Children's Object Lesson - Watch What You Say

Deuteronomy 6:7 says to teach our children God's commands along the way of life.


It is important that we train our children to watch what they say. We can save them from a lot of heartache by simply teaching them to think before speaking.

(You'll notice in the video that we had done a "dry run through" so the kids are a bit more "dramatic"and taking the words out of my mouth - so funny! I wish it were a little less scripted but you get the point!)

James 3:5,6 says "The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."

The next time your kids are brushing their teeth or your cooking with Hot Sauce - add a little spiritual lesson in there just for fun! I think it's these little teaching moments along the way of life that really stick.


Walk with the King!

I am linked up here today:

Word Filled Wednesday's and Wordful Wednesday.

Vlog: Teaching Our Children About Friendships

I originally made this video with plans to run it on a Friday - but it's Wednesday! So up it goes and I'm sorry for mentioning the wrong day on the video! (and the freeze frame of me below is even funnier than my mess up on the days lol!!!)

Deuteronomy 6 says that parents are to teach our children along the way of life, the truth of God's word. Sometimes we will be in formal settings reading God's word to our children. But other times there will be opportunities just in the normal course of the day, to speak God's truth. So here's how to turn cooking a spaghetti dinner into an illustration for our children on friendships.

Walk with the King!

I am linked up here today:

Word Filled Wednesday's and Wordful Wednesday.

Shopping For Feminine Clothes On A Budget

I have received emails from ladies expressing their desire to dress up for their husband's but their budget is too tight. So here is how I shop for feminine clothes on a budget.

Also, I know that some of the styles I will show you might hate lol! Cause it's my taste and not necessarily yours, but you get the idea! And I mentioned a "Clothes Swap" in the video - here's the link to how a clothes swap works.

Walk with the King!