Melissa’s Journal

  • Unexpected Illness + Life Updates

    Sometimes life doesn’t go as expected. You may have wondered where I disappeared to – or not, but whether you noticed my lack of posting and email over the last few weeks or not – It’s been a good five months since I was active online. This post originally appeared on AVirtuousWoman.org. I turned 47…

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    Finding a New Normal

    Hi friends! It’s been a while since I’ve posted on the blog. I rarely ever comment on current world events. I don’t want my words to be trite or cliche. I want the words I share with you to be meaningful. I don’t want to add to the noise. I also don’t want to pretend like…

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    Build Your Own Funeral Sandwich | Easy Recipe

    Today I’m sharing one of my family’s favorite recipes. They’re called Funeral Sandwiches. I don’t know why they are called Funeral Sandwiches, but maybe it’s because it’s a great and easy dish to take to a grieving family? Whatever the reason, this build your own Funeral Sandwich recipe is delicious and easy to make! Yesterday…

  • Tidbits From My Week + Laura Gets Back on a Horse

    Happy spring! I have to say, the sunshine this week has been such a welcome relief from the gray clouds, rain, and cold weather. Even with the crazy wind we’ve been having, just having the sunshine out has made me feel like spring is really here! We spent three weeks in Florida this past month…

  • Horses and a Week in Gatlinburg, Tennesse

    The last couple weeks have been kind of out of our ordinary schedule. First of all, we made the trip back to Blacksburg, Virgina {about a four hour drive from our house} to see the horse, Theo, that Laura was considering. This is the horse we went to see the Monday after Thanksgiving and she…

  • My Vintage Wallpaper Discovery

    As my husband and I pulled off the old 70’s wallpaper from the dining room walls, we made another discovery we didn’t expect! The original vintage wallpaper from 1950!! So… you may have already seen photos of the old vintage wallpaper we found when we pulled off the top layer of wallpaper. So we finally…

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    Laura’s Garden 2011

    My daughter, Laura – age 8, surprised me by planting her own garden and working the soil, right in the middle of our front yard in an old stump we had been filling in with dirt. I didn’t even know she had planted the garden until she came running in one day after campmeeting and…

  • Retreat

    I was privileged to be able to attend the Shepherdess Retreat this weekend at Indian Creek Camp. Our speaker was Dr. Janice Browne. Oh my…. it was so special. There were no grand decorations… Just the lovely place that Indian Creek Camp is. The weather was perfect – warm. This was a retreat for the…