It’s always interesting when your life takes a turn you weren’t expecting. At the beginning of this year I wouldn’t have believed anyone if they told us we would be where God has brought us to today.

My husband and I are in the final stages of purchasing a set of vacation cabins which will (Lord willing) become a thriving family business. The commercial fishing industry has been headed downhill for awhile and can no longer be depended on for a year round income. So, when God brought this opportunity across our path, we knew that if all of the obstacles were overcome, that it was indeed a God thing!

It is now (almost 🙂 ) November, nearly 3 months into the process and life as I know it will soon be changing. That being said, my little corner here will be changing too, but not just because of our upcoming move.

When I first launched Beautiful Ashes, it was because God laid of my heart the need to share my story of life, faith and family by being real. Every post here has been written from my heart, but many have been planned out…sometimes months in advance. There have been posts that I’ve wanted to write, but haven’t because I already had a post for that day and for many days in the future.

I don’t want this corner to be run by my OCD over the top planner nature, I don’t want to lose sight of what God laid on my heart for Beautiful Ashes. So, I’m letting go of a set schedule for my writing. I don’t know what I’ll write about next week or next month. God never fails to lay something on my heart each day, so I know He will provide the words at the perfect moment for me to share here.

What can you count on each week going forward is the Salt & Light Link Up on Mondays and my Good Morning Girls’ post on Thursdays. My corner won’t become a ghost town, I’m not stopping my blog, I will just be writing from my heart going forward. The way it should be…the way I like it. There’s something amazing and almost magical about writing a post and hitting publish as soon as you’re done.

I hope you’ll stick around and that you are blessed by the words God speaks to me and lays on my as I share them with you.

Some of my favorite from the heart, immediately published posts here are…

My Heart…Depression, Suicide, Christianity and Grace

Preparing Her for Purity

Her Purity…Her Husband…Her Future

A Messy, Beautiful Love is a Gift

A Love that is Beautifully Messy

Today is Family Fun Friday and I’m excited to share my 6 featured posts with you!

• Kaylene from Faithful Feat shares an difficult, but truth filled post in regards to wives standing by their husbands through thick and thin. Marriage will have difficulties because both the husband and the wife are human, sometimes we need to be A Fierce Wife Unafraid to Stand By Her Man. Please note that as she states at the beginning, this post IS NOT referring to a woman living in an abusive relationship. 
• Marriage is a bit of a balancing act! Kelly from Raising Samuels Homeschool shares a wonderful post encouraging wives to balance marriage well coupled with God’s word in her post, The Balancing Act After “I Do”.
• When Change is Difficult was shared by Jennifer from A Heart for the Home. Change is not something I like, but it something that I know God is trying to bring me to accept peacefully.
• More often than not people tell me how busy I am. This post from Elizabeth at Balm to My Soul, made me stop and think…am I just busy or am I productive? Which are you? Stop by and read her post, Keeping Up with the Busies: 6 Tips to Manage Busyness.
• Position Over Performance, does it really matter if your husband keeps to his position, but not his performance? Do you have to keep to your God given position and performance if he doesn’t? Kaylene from Faithful Feat shared this beautifully honest post.
• From Gaye’s corner Calm. Healthy. Sexy., she shared a great post challenging couples to be intentional in their marriage this week. Stop by and read her post, This Week, Do One Thing to be Intentional About Your Marriage.

You’ll never run out of great ideas for family fun at Family Fun Friday!

Every week we feature the best link-ups on the web with free printables, games, activities, money-saving and organizing ideas, recipes and more. If you are looking for the best tips, links, resources, freebies and more – you’ve come to the right place! Welcome to the Family Fun Friday community.

Family Fun Friday is all about connecting as a family. We feature great ideas for family fun, and things to help moms get things done so they have more time to spend doing what they love to do – be with family! If you like Family Fun Friday, help this blog party grow by giving it a +1 on Google+. Thanks so much!

Family Fun Friday

I love my co-hosts Danita, Selena, Misty, and Herchel! Your links get five times the exposure as they will show up on five blogs at the same time. Woo-Hoo! Each co-host is featuring her top picks from the party so you get an increased chance in being featured as well. Each featured post will be pinned by the hostesses so be sure to link up your best!

Meet our Family Fun Friday hostesses:

Monica created Family Fun Friday and blogs at HappyandBlessedHome.com where she shares free preschool tools and printables, encouraging words for moms, and ideas for having fun together as a family. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’/ Instagram. Monica will feature Family Fun Posts.
Danita enjoys blogging about cooking and shares yummy recipes on her blog OTasteandSee. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Danita will feature Delicious Recipes.
Selena is a homeschooling graduate and a homeschooling mom to four super special kids. She blogs at Look! We’re Learning! about unit studies, foreign language, and homeschooling with ADHD. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Twitter.
Misty is passionate about women’s ministry and encouraging the hearts of wives and moms. You can check out her inspired posts on Beautiful Ashes. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Misty will feature posts to encourage women and family fun.
Herchel enjoys blogging about parenting, organizing, crafting, and having good old-fashioned kid fun her blog Scrggbug Corner. Follow: Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google +. Herchel will feature organizing and family fun.

If you enjoy the features on Family Fun Friday please leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you! If you see things that you like here – please PIN them on Pinterest!

If you PIN these lists it will help this blogging party grow. To PIN a specific blogger’s post please click through and pin directly from their site.

If you’re a mom keep reading because we have some wonderful fun ideas to inspire you with your little ones and family. My blogging friends are linking up craft ideas, fun in the kitchen, preschool & homeschool ideas, and ways to spend time as a family.

My blog is growing but I need your help, please like my facebook page or PIN a button and help spread the word about HappyandBlessedHome.com. Thanks so much.

Highlights and FUN FREEBIES!

In case you missed it last week I started rolling out a new e-mail subscription service on HappyandBlessedHome.com – Mad Mimi! Now subscribers have instant all the time access to all the fun FREE printables at HappyandBlessedHome.com. Click here to learn all about our new subscriber benefits. Woo-hoo!

And for the month of September – you can still take advantage of my limited time offer for FREE Preschool Circle Time Morning Board Printables. It’s a subscriber freebie and a wonderful tool for educational enrichment. And, if you have a little one who loves Sesame Street, make sure to visit my post with FREE Sesame Street Birthday Party Decorations, you’ll want to download your copy {no subscription required for the Sesame Street printables}.

If you enjoy free printables, crafts and games for little ones, ideas for family fun and encouraging posts for moms, sign up and have Happy and Blessed Home delivered to your inbox. Simply enter your e-mail address here:

Special Thanks

Thanks to all my blogging friends for linking up last week at Family Fun Friday. I have a special YouTube Video for you at Thank You All My Blogging Friends! So many great ideas, crafts and things to do! If you link up, you permit me to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media. Now on to some fabulous posts for moms.

Free Homeschooling Printables

Homeschool kids love printables! It changes things up from the normal school schedule and adds a bit of fun learning! Stop by and check out Selena’s free homeschooling printable features at her blog Look We’re Learning! When you have a minute, show her a little bloggy love on Facebook.

The Holidays are Coming

It’s true the holidays are coming! Check out these great features by Herchel at Gym. Craft. Laundry. Follow the link to Herchel’s blog and if ya’ll have a minute stop by Herchel’s Facebook Page and show her a little bloggy love. 🙂

Food, Glorious Food!

Danita has a great set of recipes featured on her blog O Taste and See here. Discover great recipes and follow Danita by liking her Facebook page here.

Thanks again for all your wonderful ideas! I hope these Family Friendly and Fun ideas inspire you.

The Facebook party link-up has been moved to another page, located at: Like Me on Facebook Link-Up Here. It’s a great way to meet other bloggers, network and help each other grow your Facebook Page’s likes.

For Family Fun Friday we’re going to start networking using Google+ – we hope you will join us! Button Code:

If you enjoy free printables, crafts and games for little ones, ideas for family fun and encouraging posts for moms, sign up and have Happy and Blessed Home delivered to your inbox. Simply enter your e-mail address here:

I pray you are blessed by this effort to share ideas on having Family Fun.

In His Grip,

Blog / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter /Google + / Bloglovin’

If you like my blog please like my Facebook page at: HappyAndBlessedHome – thanks so much!

I link up to a bunch of parties every week. Click on Link Parties and you can add your party or find one to visit every day of the week.

P.S. Bloggers – If you’ve been featured and would like to add a button to show off how awesome you are, just grab the code in the text box below. You’ll want to retype the quotes too if you’re having trouble getting it to show on your page. 😉

LINK your Family Friendly & Fun Ideas:

RSS Subscribers click this link to get to my blog so you can see all the great ideas. Here is the link list, please add yours below. Thanks for linking up! Linkers will be added to the e-mail reminder I send for this party. Thank you. If you are having trouble linking, please leave your link in the comments section and I will manually add it. Thanks!

I’ve also joined up with a few other bloggers to host a Pin for a Pin on Pinterest Party. If you have a back to school post that you would like to have repinned five times, hop on over and share your link! Pin for a Pin on Pinterest Month Long Link Party.

We’d like to help everyone grow their presence on Google+. Leave your link so we can all get connected!

Love me on Google+ Page LINK PARTY starts here (rolling list – you do not need to add to it every week):