Today’s the big day, friends! Since announcing several weeks ago that we would begin a Scripture Writing plan together in 2018, several of you have expressed not only your interest in participating, but also your excitement over when I would finally release the plan for January. Well, the wait is now over! Here is our […]
024: Grace, Holiness, and Mission with Jess Connolly
Jess Connolly joins me on the podcast today to talk about our position in Christ as redeemed women, and what parts grace, holiness, and mission have to play in our lives. This is a chat you will not want to miss! Jess is a church planter’s wife, mom of 4, small business owner, author, speaker, […]
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A Different Perspective on Birth Plans
Once upon a time, there was a know-it-all mama who arrogantly took great pride in the choices she had made surrounding her first pregnancy and childbirth experiences. Now, she wouldn’t have admitted to such a fault. No, not at all. For, you see, she didn’t think she even harbored such ugly thoughts within her […]
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How to Pursue Creativity as a Busy Mom - Guest Post by Lisa Hensley
We have a special guest on the blog today! Lisa Hensley from Delighting in my Days and the Uniquely Woman podcast joins us to share several practical tips and some much-needed inspiration for how even the busiest of moms can pursue creativity in their everyday life. Lisa is gifted at encouraging mamas with the truths […]
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023: Waking Up to the Possibilities with Kat Lee
Kat Lee from the Inspired to Action Podcast and HelloMornings joins me on the podcast today to discuss topics pertaining to her newly-released book, Hello Mornings: How to Build a Grace-Filled, Life-Giving Morning Routine. More than even just inspiring you to make the most of your mornings, Kat really encourages us with the perspective that we have each been […]
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New Year’s Resolutions and the Gospel
We are fast approaching the season in which people begin to focus on making New Year’s Resolutions. Many of us are currently thinking through our plans and goals for 2018, drafting up resolutions for how we are going to live better, more productive, more fruitful lives in the new year, and all the while […]
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022: Putting Feet to Our Faith with Tricia Goyer
Tricia Goyer, wife, mom of 10, and author of seventy books joins me on the podcast today to talk about the concepts found in her newest book, Walk it Out: The Radical Result of Living God’s Word One Step at a Time. I know you are going to be encouraged and inspired by today’s chat! […]
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Advent, Mommy Guilt, and the Gospel
Advent wreaths with Advent candles. Advent calendars. Jesse trees with their daily ornaments. Special Advent readings and devotionals. The to-do list this season grows ever longer each year, and the mommy guilt grows ever deeper right along with it. Houston, we have a problem. It has become fashionable in recent years to do “all the […]
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Making the Most of Your First Holiday Season Together
This year has absolutely flown by, and we are somehow already embarking on the holiday season! For some of you, this may even be you and your husband’s very first holiday season as a married couple! As exciting, new, and joyful as that is, the holidays can also lead to stress and conflict if […]
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Book Review: “Fruitful” by Phylicia Masonheimer
*I received a complementary copy of Fruitful in exchange for my honest review. You may already be familiar with Phylicia Masonheimer, having heard her on the podcast today talking about her first book, Christian Cosmo. Well, this fall she came out with a second book, this one entitled Fruitful: A Year-Long Guide to an […]
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How to Plan for a Lovely Holiday Season
We are quickly approaching what is for some women the most dreaded time of the year – the holiday season! We have largely allowed our culture’s priorities and expectations to color our viewpoint of this special time, turning it from the peaceful, fun, memorable experience it was meant to be into a […]
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Why Rules and Regulations Aren’t the Answer (And What Actually Is!)
I’m honored to be guest-posting on my friend, Megan’s, blog today about another topic covered in #LiesMomsBelieve! As Christian moms living in an increasingly dark and perverse culture, we so desperately want to preserve our children’s innocence as long as we possibly can. We want to shelter them from all that is out […]
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Prioritizing Your Marriage in the Midst of Motherhood
I’m so blessed to have my sweet blogging friend, Sue Chacko, on my launch team for Lies Moms Believe. She opened her blog up to me this week to share my heart on one of the topics from the book. I hope it inspires you in your pursuit of prioritizing your marriage in the midst […]
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Mothering by Faith
I am honored to be a part of what has been an absolutely fantastic motherhood encouragement series put together by my friend, Tatiana. Today is our final day for the series which has run all month, and I hope as I finish us out today that you are encouraged and inspired for your journey as […]
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Honoring God in the Mommy Wars
The mommy wars, though largely unheard of in the generations which went before us, are something which every mama today has likely experienced. Even if you are still pregnant with your very first child as you read this, I imagine you have already noticed the kind of drama which can ensue when you share […]
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Husband of the Blogger LinkUp Part 7: A Wife’s Place
Welcome back to another installment in our monthly Husband of the Blogger LinkUp, where you get to know the man behind the scenes of this blog! 🙂 If you have missed any of our prior interviews that I have done with my husband, Owen, you can find all of them here. You can also join […]
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When “Motherhood is a Woman’s Highest Calling” Backfires
Tuesday marked the beginning of Launch Month for my new ebook, Lies Moms Believe (And How the Gospel Refutes Them), which releases Friday, November 10th (and is actually available for preorder now)! I can’t believe we are already to this point! I am pleased to share with you today the first in a series of guest […]
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What I Would Go Back and Tell My Newlywed Self
Having been married only three and a half years, my husband and I are by no means an old married couple. We have, however, already grown our family by two children in those first three years, so I feel as if we have already lived a lot of life in our short marriage! Even though […]
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017: Sorority Girls Can Change the World with Katie Bulmer
Katie Bulmer joins me on the podcast today to share her heart for college girls and the incredible impact they can have on the world for Christ. Katie is super vulnerable and real with us, sharing her testimony of being a sorority girl given to partying, drinking, and dating around during college and how […]
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016: Living Life on Mission with Shontell Brewer
Shontell Brewer joins me on the podcast today to discuss how we can go about living our lives on mission, with purpose and intentionality. She is a wife, mama to five, writer, and lover of hospitality whose passion is to encourage women to live in a Biblical manner. I know you will be inspired and encouraged […]
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015: Young Women and Christian Ministry with Hannah Bowers
Hannah Bowers is a 21 year old wife, new mama, blogger, and the president and founder of the fast-growing Young Wives Club, a ministry dedicated to encouraging young wives in their marriages and walks with the Lord. She joins me today to share some fantastic wisdom, advice, and encouragement for any young woman looking to […]
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5 Ways Moms Can Fulfill the Great Commission
As many of you may have already picked up on, I have a passion for showing moms that, they too, can go about fulfilling the Great Commission even in the busy season of mothering. So, you can imagine my delight at coming across a likeminded blogger in one of the blogging groups I’m a part […]
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How to be in the Word as a Busy Wife and Mama
I had the pleasure of guest-posting for my sweet friend, Jenn, back in March, when I shared about the importance of wives and moms being in the Word. I’m back on her blog again, now sharing how busy wives and moms can actually go about prioritizing time to be in the Word. I hope you […]
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Mama, You are too Busy NOT to Have Friends!
I so appreciate my sweet friend, Amber, inviting me to write for her again! I first wrote for her blog on the topic of finding joy in hospitality, and today I’m sharing a different perspective of friendship for moms - the perspective that we are so busy with the cares of this life that we […]
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Husband of the Blogger Link Up Part 4: Legacy
It’s time for another installment in the fun Husband of the Blogger LinkUp Series we’ve been doing! If you missed the first 3 parts, you can find those here, here, and here. So far we have covered everything from what our husbands wish we knew on a variety of topics, to their opinion on […]
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012: The Work at Home Mom Life with Erika Oeding Hull
Erika Oeding Hull of Chaotic Blessing joins me today to talk about the work at home mom life. She is a wife, mom of 5, and home business owner dedicated to helping women wisely plan their days according to their God-given priorities. What we Chat about in this Episode ~The importance of planning […]
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Perspective for the Overwhelmed Homemaker
I’m over on Raising Homemakers again this week, sharing a message I am really passionate about. This is one that I hope will provide some much-needed hope, encouragement, and proper perspective for any woman struggling with feelings of overwhelm or stress in her homemaking. We talk a lot these days, particularly in […]
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Your Husband is not Meant to Complete You
I’m over at Young Wives Club again this month, sharing another article that I hope will prove helpful to you. From the time we’re little girls, many of us dream of one-day meeting and marrying our very own Prince Charming. With visions of marital bliss, no disagreements or hardship to be found, and […]
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011: Don’t Waste Your Wait with Naomi Quick
Naomi Quick is a wife, homeschooling mama to 6 kiddos 8 and under, two of which have been adopted through the foster care system, writer, and speaker dedicated to encouraging and advocating for orphans, adoptive parents, and those involved in the foster care system. She recently wrote a fantastic book entitled “Don’t Waste Your Wait: […]
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The 5 Biggest Barriers to Christian Mama Friendship
Mamas, we need each other. How desperately so! We crave the kind of encouragement, wisdom, understanding, and inspiration which can only come from other moms. And, yet, we regularly act as if we do not believe this to be true. We go through our lives as moms busily rushing from one task to the […]
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Being Your Husband’s Helpmeet: What it Actually Means
Satan is always in the habit of taking what God has actually said about a topic and twisting it, leading us to believe in a dangerous caricature of the truth. Never is this more common, perhaps, than in the area of men’s and women’s roles, not the least of which being the calling of a […]
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010: Cultivating Joy and Simplicity in Your Life with Kristi Clover
Kristi Clover joins me today to provide us with some wonderful and practical tips for how we can be cultivating more joy and simplicity in our everyday lives, even when the going gets tough. As you will discover as soon as you get to know her through this podcast episode, Kristi is the absolute perfect person […]
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When Your Husband Doesn’t Bring You Flowers
It’s a joy to share with you today the article I wrote this month for the Young Wives’ Club. I hope it helps and inspires you. I love, love, love being married! Apart from Christ, marriage is the biggest blessing of my life. At some point in our marriage journeys, however, we begin to […]
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Husband of the Blogger LinkUp Pt. 3 - Men’s Ministry in the Church
We are so enjoying doing these Husband of the Blogger Link Ups each month, where Owen gets a chance to come on the blog and share his thoughts! If you have missed our first two installments, you can find those here and here. To follow along with my awesome blogging friends who are also a […]
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Leaving Room for Fatherhood
It’s a joy to be guest-posting for my friend, Lauren, again this month! Today, I’m sharing the following thoughts in honor of Father’s Day. As moms, I think we have all been there at one time or another. That moment when we look at our husbands and think them crazy for something they are […]
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The Church Hurts itself by Majoring on the Minors
Sarah Chardavoyne over at the beautiful site, InkBlots of Hope, has started an awesome new series which centers around how the church hurts itself, exposing different ways in which the church is guilty of doing things which are actually harmful to the Body of Christ. I had the honor of being able to write a guest […]
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008: Sexual Intimacy in Marriage with Keelie Reason
Keelie Reason of Love, Hope, Adventure and I am The Sex Talk Lady joins me for episode 8 of the podcast to talk about the importance of sexual intimacy in marriage and to help us sort through some of the various challenges we may face in this area. *I do apologize for the sound quality […]
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Dear Mama Transitioning to Two Kiddos
Dear Mama Transitioning to Two Kiddos, Now 6 months out from having had my second baby, I want to write to you today to encourage you, to warn you of some things no one warned me about, and to, hopefully, through it all, bring you joy as you anticipate the arrival of your […]
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New Podcast Schedule + New Season of Life Announcement
Hey, friends! So, I have an announcement to make in regards to the podcast and the schedule at which we will be releasing new episodes from now on, at least for the foreseeable future. Since the podcast first released on April 26th, it has been a weekly podcast, with new episodes releasing every single […]
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Husband of the Blogger LinkUp Pt. 2 - What Our Husbands Wish We Knew
If you joined us last month for the introductory first part in this fun new series, then you know that I and a handful of blogging friends have started a new monthly post where we bring our husbands into the mix, really involve them in our blogging in a more visible way, and offer you […]
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Cultivating Creativity Through the Various Seasons of Motherhood
I’m honored to be guest-posting at my friend Lauren’s blog again today! I hope you are inspired and encouraged, mamas. Cultivating Creativity Through the Various Seasons of Motherhood I was so excited to learn that Lauren had chosen “Seasons of Motherhood” to be her topic for May. At first, I was tempted to write something along […]
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Spring Cleaning for the Soul
I am so honored to be a new contributor on the awesome site Raising Homemakers, a site I have been enjoying since it first began several years ago. Here is my first article for them. 🙂 We are now nearing the end of spring for a lot of folks, which means many homemakers have been […]
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HandH 004: Bible Study for Busy Women with Katie Orr
Katie Orr is my guest for the 4th episode of the Home and Hearth podcast! It was such an honor to get to chat with her and to pick her brain on all things Bible study and quiet time. Katie’s passion and mission is “equipping busy women to experience God” and to really provide the […]
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HandH 002: Mothering and Homeschooling Wisdom from a Mama of 11 with Amy Morse
I am so, so excited to be sharing this interview with you today! On this episode of the Home and Hearth podcast, I chat with my pastor’s wife, Amy Morse, on topics pertaining to her life as a homeschooling mama of 11 children. I admire this lady so very much and gleaned such wisdom and encouragement […]
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Book Review - “Dating in Marriage” by Brittany Putman
If you have been a reader of Hargraves Home and Hearth for any length of time, you likely know that I believe strongly in the importance of keeping your husband first on your priority list (second only to God, of course!), even in the midst of the busy days of motherhood. One of the ways […]
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The True Key to Finding Balance in Life
I met Lauren in the Conservative Christian Momma Bloggers group on FB (have I mentioned lately how awesome that group is? 😉 ), and was instantly so struck by her love for the Lord and faith in His Word. It is an honor to be serving as a guest contributor on her blog this month, […]
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Wives, Here’s Why and How to be Flirty!
In case y’all missed it on Saturday, I guest-posted over on Keelie Reason’s awesome site, Love, Hope, Adventure, on the topic of how important it is for wives to be flirty with their husbands, as well as some ideas for how they can go about doing just that! I hope you enjoy! “What really […]
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Why We Feel Weak in our Marriages and Mothering
I just love it how the Lord brings people together! Jenn of What You Make It blog and I “met” on Instagram a couple months ago and instantly hit it off. It could have something to do with how much we have in common. We each have two kiddos, our second babies are each […]
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My Favorite Bible Study Tools!
I’m so honored to have been given the opportunity to guest-post for Tiffany over at Seeing Sunshine! She just had a baby, so it was a joy to be able to fill in for her. 🙂 If there is any one practice we desperately need to have in our lives, it is the […]
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5 Tips for Making Peace in the Mommy Wars
If you have followed Hargraves Home and Hearth for very long, you know that one of the topics I am passionate about is exposing the problem of the mommy wars and their effects upon the church. Well, today, rather than merely exposing the problem, I want to offer some specific solutions. Below you will find […]
