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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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December 16, 2015

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Winter Decorating January 23, 2020
Can This Be My Word of the Year? January 14, 2020
The Imprint December 20, 2019
Christmas Home Tour December 13, 2019
My French Country Christmas Mantel December 4, 2019

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I think that for some time now, I’ve assumed tha

I think that for some time now, I’ve assumed that there is a hierarchy within the world of insecurity. Obviously having your insecurities manifest themselves in the form of trying too hard to please is MUCH nicer than having them manifest in not offering a smile to someone. But, who am I kidding? It’s all damaging. It’s all destructive. It’s all ugly. And when your insecurity meets my insecurity, we have two choices. We can either let them duke it out knowing there will be no winners. Or we can overwhelm them with grace and understanding knowing that then there is no way we can lose.

Because it might start about being about their issue and not mine. But how I process those feelings becomes about ME not about THEM.

Are you tracking with me here? I can’t control other people. I can’t change them. But I can change me. I can decide how I will evaluate and internalize those emotions. I can decide whether I will retaliate by being the one to not smile or say ‘hi’ the next time since they didn’t say ‘hi’ to me. I can decide if I will be willing to extend grace and forgiveness. I can decide if I will allow my insecurities to function as a cloud over every encounter in my life.

So, lately I’ve been playing the ‘what if’ game.

What if it didn’t have to be this way?

What if ALL of us realized that while we can’t change THEM we can change US?

What if we made peace with our insecurities?

What if when our insecurities met their insecurities there was sympathy and understanding instead of hurt and confusion?

What if we (gulp) actually acknowledged and even apologized for how our insecurities have wounded others? How they’ve tripped up relationships and made situations more complicated than they needed to be.

Just think what might happen!

I can imagine…

Healing

Reconciliation

Sympathy

Empathy

Peace

Joy

Does this have to exist only in my imagination?

I don’t know…you tell me!

I remember learning in school how many days were i

I remember learning in school how many days were in each month... “Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31 except for February.” But I think they lied. I’m pretty sure January actually has at least 74 days.

Raise your hand if it feels like this to you too! 🙋🏻‍♀️😂🤪

For the first time in a long time (or maybe ever!)

For the first time in a long time (or maybe ever!) I'm apart of a prayer group. It's organized in a way that is really unique and specific to the calling God has placed on the lives of all the members. And I shared something with them this week that I wanted to share with you as well.

I'm currently reading through the book of Psalms. I honestly don't think I've ever read the entire book straight through from start to finish and it has been SO good for me in my current season of life. I've been following a reading plan and the other day I was supposed to read Psalm 23 and I honestly came 'this' close to just skimming it or even skipping over it entirely. It's the 'Good Shepherd' passage so I feel like I've read it or heard it read out loud so many times that there couldn't possibly have been anything new for me to glean from the words. But my 'good student' mentality won out and I dutifully began reading. And after the first two lines I stopped. Because what I read was worded differently in my new Bible (CSB version) than I had ever read before. It said, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I have what I need." I'd memorized it as "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." And obviously it has the same meaning. But there was just something about this new way of phrasing it that caught my attention.

I have what I need.

Friends, YOU have what you need. When we have Him, we have what we need. And my prayer for you is that in every situation and every encounter you will remember that you have what you need in light of eternity even if you struggle to see how your needs will be met here on earth. Our cups are filled to overflowing with plenty because His love and grace are so infinite that they can never be emptied. We don't control whether they are filled up or emptied out. They are always overflowing because He is our portion, our plenty. What an amazing thing it is to know that we have a never-ending fountain of love available to us when we trust in Him. And what a comfort it is to know that we already have what we need.

Ok friends, so far today my mantra has been "It's

Ok friends, so far today my mantra has been "It's Tuesday, it's Tuesday, it's Tuesday." Raise your hand if you can relate to how thrown off you are when Monday is a holiday! 🙋🏻‍♀️ My kids also had Friday off so I'm feeling all out of whack and I have to repeat that mantra over and over to myself this week (changing the day obviously 🤪) so that I don't show up to things on the wrong day or miss appointments or forget to put the trash out on the curb. So, let's all agree to give ourselves and those around us some extra grace this week mmkay? I know I'll need it! 🙏🏻

Have you ever had one of those weeks that felt bot

Have you ever had one of those weeks that felt both long and short at the same time? 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m SO happy that Friday is here because there has been a lot jammed into one week and yet, at the same time, I can’t believe how quickly the days have gone by!

I’m so excited for the long weekend and that I’ll be getting some quality time with my people starting with a girls night tonight with my favorite 12 year old. Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

I used to think that there wasn't anything that I

I used to think that there wasn't anything that I would feel as passionately called to as writing. But then I started getting booked for speaking engagements and I realized that I am equally as passionate about the spoken word as I am about the written. I LOVE the personal interaction and getting to invest in people that way! The most requested topic I'm asked to speak on is how to have a more peaceful home and there is a question I ask every time that seems to stop everyone in their tracks and really force them to stop and think about the answer.

I ask them, "Would others say that your home is peaceful?" Do the people who live with you consider it a peaceful home? Do the people who walk through your door find themselves feeling more peaceful when they are there?

It's one of those questions that can really make a lot of things more clear for us and help us to realize whether or not we need to take some steps towards inviting more peace into our homes and our hearts. Because it's something we all crave, isn't it?
And I can't think of a better time than the start of a new year to find out just how peaceful your home really is and get some tools that you can use starting TODAY to make your home a place of peace (not perfection!!) for yourself, your family and your guests. I've created a super quick and easy quiz you can take to determine the current peace level in your home and a FREE mini ebook called '6 Ways to Have a More Peaceful Home' that is yours to download after you sign up to get your results.

My hope and prayer is that 2020 will be the year that you discover the joy that comes from have a home (and a heart!) that is filled with peace no matter what challenges come your way in the months ahead! **If you want to take the quiz just click on the ‘Peaceful Home Quiz’ story highlight. **

If there's a security camera outside of Trader Joe

If there's a security camera outside of Trader Joe's someone will get a kick out of watching the footage of a crazy lady running around the parking lot trying to grab reimbursement receipts that flew out of the back of her husband's car when she opened it to put in the groceries.

She wasn't expecting his travel expense file to be in the trunk and for there to be huge gust of wind to pick up those papers and fling them all around the parking lot but, hey, I'm sure she gave some people a good chuckle as they watched her LYING DOWN on the ground to get receipts out from under cars and chasing after some that were flying in the air! She may have even located some that weren’t even his to begin with but she figured she should grab them just in case.

And the whole reason she has her husband's car is because her car was in the shop for the THIRD attempt at getting her windshield fixed properly!
Sooooo...that's how my day has been going! How about you? 🤪😂 #forthelove

Everybody’s sharing their word of the year or th

Happy Saturday friends!! I’m soaking up all of t

Happy Saturday friends!! I’m soaking up all of the twinkly lights and cozy Christmas vibes in our home for as long as possible but will start transitioning my decor to a more winter-y look after New Year’s Day.

When do you start to take down your Christmas decor? Do you decorate for winter then or go to a non-seasonal look?

If I’m honest, I wish we could leave it all up until February because seeing Christmas trees in store windows and lights around houses and businesses all over town just makes these long, cold, dark days a bit brighter you know? Wishful thinking! ✨😉

Happy day after Christmas!! One of my favorite day

Happy day after Christmas!! One of my favorite days of the year!! 👏🏻👏🏻 Everything is still decorated, it’s still acceptable to listen to Christmas music, we all have fun new toys to play with and...the best part...leftovers!! No cooking or baking!! 🙌🏻 I think I hear the hallelujah chorus playing in the background! ☺️
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What are you up to today? Hopefully you get some time to rest and just savor the best parts of the season without the flurry of activity that always preceded it. Now I’m off to read, work on a puzzle and take a nap in that order!

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