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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

  • Book
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  • Meet Vanessa
    • Featured

July 1, 2016

Big Announcement About Our Book!

You guys!! Things are getting really REAL up in here!! We are so thrilled to finally be able to announce the title of our book and give you a little sneak peek!!

Friends, you are cordially invited to savor each day, week and season of life…

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If you’re anything like us, your life is a little imperfect. Rumpled, wrinkled, messy even. But somewhere between unfolded laundry and faucets needing cleaning, between occasional headaches and joy-threatening heartaches, there are moments of creativity and beauty that are perfect for celebrating.

We believe our very creative God was deliberate in the ways that He gifted creativity to us. Whether you know it or not, you are creative and your creativity reflects God and His work in your life.

Join us as we take a journey through the seasons of the year…

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…with faith-filled stories, encouraging devotions…

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…beautiful photographs…

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…DIY projects, and recipes…

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Everything you need to slow down, embrace the beauty and the struggle, and celebrate the moments that fill your heart and home.

‘Life in Season’ is our hearts in book form, written with YOU in mind. This is our gift to you.

And even though it won’t arrive in stores until October, it’s available for pre-order NOW!

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There have been so many ‘pinch us we must be dreaming’ moments throughout this entire process. And each one seems to tops the last. It’s hard to imagine how it will feel to actually hold the book in our hands. To actually see the culmination of a year’s worth of work and fears and tears and pouring out of ourselves.

It’s truly a humbling thing to think that God opened the doors for this to be possible. And through it all we have just felt so incredibly grateful to you, our At the Picket Fence community, for being so incredibly supportive and encouraging.

We cannot wait to hear what you think about ‘Life in Season’ and we have some very fun things planned for you to get to walk through it with us so be sure to stay tuned!!

And we promise to keep you posted as it gets closer to the release date. Meanwhile, don’t forget that you can go ahead and preorder a copy now.

We’re so glad you could meet us at the Fence today and celebrate this news with us!

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17 Comments Filed Under: Book, Devotionals, Good Ideas Tagged With: book, Life in Season

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anita says

    July 1, 2016 at 4:35 AM

    Congratulations!! I’m so excited for you both and could not be happier you have this amazing opportunity:-)

    Reply
  2. Michele says

    July 1, 2016 at 5:24 AM

    Oh what joyous happy wonderous news! This will be such a great book!

    Not to be condescending – but I am truly SO very proud of you both!

    Well done, congrats and best wishes! Smiles and hugs!

    (ps: I havesome of my own happy news announced on my last post!) ♥♥♥

    Reply
    • Michele says

      July 1, 2016 at 5:26 AM

      PS

      Just pre-ordered!!! Your release date is my birthday – so a gift to myself from myself, whoo hoo! ♫ ♪

      Reply
    • At The Picket Fence says

      July 1, 2016 at 7:33 AM

      Michele that doesn’t sound condescending at all!! You actually brought tears to my eyes and we can’t thank you enough for preordering!! How fun that the release date is your birthday. Love it! 🙂 On my way over to read about your exciting news!

      Reply
  3. laura janning says

    July 1, 2016 at 6:46 AM

    Vanessa, this is such exciting news and will be pre-ordering. congrats to you and Heather.

    Reply
  4. Laura says

    July 1, 2016 at 7:19 AM

    It looks so beautiful and I can not wait to get my hands on it and read every single page. I am so excited for you ladies – it really looks amazing!

    Reply
  5. Vicki says

    July 1, 2016 at 7:49 AM

    Such a beautiful cover – I cannot wait !

    Reply
  6. Shirley@Housepitality Designs says

    July 1, 2016 at 5:55 PM

    Congrats you two!!!…I cannot wait to get my copy!!!

    Reply
  7. KariAnne Wood says

    July 1, 2016 at 9:13 PM

    So happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I love the artwork and I can’t wait to read it. 🙂

    You are both amazing!

    Happy day friends!
    karianne

    Reply
  8. Julie says

    July 2, 2016 at 6:21 AM

    I am so happy for you! I have been thinking you should write a book! I didn’t know you were. I will be ordering this for sure. Congratulations!

    Reply
  9. Gwen says

    July 2, 2016 at 5:58 PM

    Very exciting!!! I have a B&N discount card I can use on your book

    Reply
  10. Debbie says

    July 3, 2016 at 9:54 AM

    What fun – congratulations!! That’s an amazing accomplishment and the book looks wonderful!!

    Reply
  11. Yvonne @ StoneGable says

    July 3, 2016 at 8:30 PM

    I am so thrilled for you!!!! Gorgeous book. Congratulations!!!! Life In Seasons will be a favorite on my bookshelf. Hugs and love!

    Reply
  12. Terry says

    July 4, 2016 at 7:48 PM

    Oh what a lovely looking book, I can’t wait to get a copy. I love that you give credit to the Giver of all good things!
    Be Blessed!

    Reply
  13. Vaness says

    July 5, 2016 at 10:52 AM

    Vanessa & Heather
    I am so excited for you both. Congratulations!

    Reply
  14. Julia says

    July 5, 2016 at 11:57 AM

    Congratulations! I’m looking forward to reading your book. You two inspire and encourage me many times with your timely blog posts.

    Reply
  15. Jacqueline Miller says

    September 1, 2016 at 6:17 AM

    Oh my, I’m so excited! Love the title. I can’t wait to read the full version, I bet it’s going to be on my top favorites! Thanks for sharing this sneak peek! I’m even more curious now =D

    Reply

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Happy Friday!! I’m working on a blog post to sha Happy Friday!! I’m working on a blog post to share all of the details of our family room shelving makeover but I’m super impatient and just had to give you all a sneak peek!! We are SO happy with how they turned out and it finally looks like I’ve always envisioned. Our quick fix years ago (scroll to see the before photo) never felt quite right but now? Soooo much better!! 🙌🏻 Big shoutout to our amazingly talented friend Matt @redemptive_woodworx for bringing our vision to life and doing such impeccable work.

I hope you all have a great start to the 4th of July weekend and make sure to check my stories later for Friday Funnies!
The month of June is coming to a close and it has The month of June is coming to a close and it has been JAM packed! The highlight by far though was my son's graduation from high school. When I started blogging, he was only 6 years old and some of you have been apart of my community here for that entire time. Now, he's 19 and there is a reason parents are told not to blink because the years truly do go faster than I ever could have imagined. He has become such an incredible young man we are so excited to see how God is going to unfold the next chapter of his life. We celebrated with parties galore (SO many open houses to attend!) and made memories we'll forever cherish. My mama heart was filled to bursting with the joy of it all! Now we're taking some time to just enjoy these warm, summer days making even more memories because, when you’re at this stage of parenting, you know all too well how much you need to grasp every opportunity to spend time together.

I hope your summer is off to a great start too dear friends! 🪴
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts o “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Happy first day of summer dear friends!! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted something new here but life has been crazy. I’ll have some new photos of house projects and life events to share with you soon but, got now, I’m just going to enjoy this gorgeous first day of summer after our ridiculously long, wet spring. ☀️
“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. Th “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.” (Maud Hart Lovelace) 

Welcome June!
“No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”
General Douglas MacArthur

Grateful today and every day for those who were vigilant to the point of death in the preservation of our freedom. May we honor their sacrifice by being vigilant too. #memorialday
“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10
This is one of my most favorite projects from my b This is one of my most favorite projects from my book Life in Season! 

Because, if heaven has a fragrance, I’m fairly certain it smells like lilacs.

I think that somewhere along the way the verse in the Bible that said, ‘heaven will smell like lilacs’ just got lost in translation. But it HAD to have been in there at some point, right?

When I bury my head in the blossoms (which I absolutely MUST do every single time I walk past them), I immediately feel a stirring in my soul.

It seems like I wait forever for my lilac tree to bloom. Every year I anxiously watch as the buds begin to form on the branches and then when the blossoms finally burst forth I begin that agonizing process of deciding the absolute perfect moment to snip them and bring them inside.

And then, after all of that waiting and watching it’s just over…done. Because, unlike heaven, lilacs don’t last for an eternity. So, making my own lilac room spray seemed like the perfect way to enjoy their fragrance long after the blossoms have faded.

Here’s how to make it! Ingredients: Water, Vodka, Lilac fragrance oil. Directions: Fill spray bottle with 50/50 ratio of water to vodka. Add 12 drops of lilac oil. Give it a shake, spray and if the scent isn’t strong enough, simply add a few more drops of lilac oil.

Once you’ve made this lilac scented room spray you will be very tempted to spray it in every room in your house. And someone may want to use it in the bathroom to cover up other less…ummmm….pleasing aromas.

But, do not, I repeat do NOT, let them.

You’ve captured the fragrance of heaven in a bottle and you wouldn’t want to go and tarnish it now would you? 😉
We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most we’ve had in a LONG time) and now we are back to pouring rain. This has officially confirmed what I’ve know to be true for awhile now.

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What are your favorite plants that you look forward to seeing in the summer?
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