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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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homemade toaster pastry

May 20, 2013

Homemade Toaster Pastries and Precipices

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Friends, I’m telling you that there isn’t a ca

Friends, I’m telling you that there isn’t a candle on the planet that smells as amazing as freshly baked pumpkin bread. The candles can’t hold a candle to it. See what I did there? 😉.

What baked goodies do you keep in the rotation during these seasons where we’re hunkering down more in our homes?

I share this story every year around this time bec

I share this story every year around this time because...well...because it’s true every year.

Fall is my favorite season. I love the crisp air, the incredible colors, wearing my favorite boots and sweaters, visiting the pumpkin patch and knowing that Christmas is right around the corner.

But, every year around this time another feeling settles over me. It’s tinged with sadness.

It makes me feel…melan-fall-y.

All around me I see this dramatic and colorful evidence of change.

Of time moving forward…and moving quickly! With each leaf that falls I think “slow down, slow down.” In the past, I used to feel so conflicted about this melan-fall-y feeling that arose in me every year. How could I love this season so intensely and yet feel such a sense of sadness inside at the same time? And then I began to look at it in a different way.

Perhaps this feeling wasn’t something to be pushed down. Maybe I was just supposed to sit in it…let it come up all around me like when my sister and I would bury ourselves in the big pile of leaves our dad had just raked until only our eyes were visible.

Maybe this season isn’t just about sweaters and boots and mulled cider candles and pumpkin spice lattes. Maybe feeling melan-fall-y is actually a gift.

A chance to pause and revel in this season before moving quickly onto the next one.

Maybe walking through the woods, leaves crunching underneath, feeling that ache inside is supposed to remind me of how finite I am so that I can remember just how infinite my creator is.

Maybe He even built that ache right into me so that I would seek Him out. The truth is that while the leaves may fall off of them, the branches that seem so stark and bare hold new growth inside. New life. Fresh starts. So, I choose to embrace my melan-fall-y feelings. I allow room for them in my heart.

Not too much room.

But just enough to keep me keenly aware of just how fleeting this world is…and just how truly grateful I am for every moment I have in it.

Excerpt from my book ‘Life in Season’ 🍂

On my walk today I spotted leaves in the gutter ne

On my walk today I spotted leaves in the gutter next to the sidewalk so I intentionally went over and walked through them, loving the sound of them crunching under my feet. I may or may not have even kicked them in the air a bit and I didn’t even care when the neighbors saw me. ☺️ It made me feel like I was 5 instead of 45. Oh how I love this time of the year! The sunlight streaming through my windows with the trees outside in brilliant autumn shades, the crisp air on my walls and the leaves dancing across the ground just fills my soul with joy. 🍂

A few years ago, in a blog post about fall decor,

A few years ago, in a blog post about fall decor, I casually mentioned that every October I set out a pair of paper bag pumpkins (say that five times fast!) crafted by my children when they were each in kindergarten, respectively.

In one of the comments left for me, a reader told me that she would love to actually see those paper bag pumpkins.

I’ve wanted to share them with you ever since then. But, I always talked myself out of it. I mean, why would anyone but me care about them? And then I began to think about why I take those paper bag pumpkins out every year and what they mean to me.

In this season of motherhood, I’m experiencing that bittersweet sense of not only truly knowing that time is going by quickly but also this deep awareness of how little of it there is left. No longer do I see it stretching before me like some kind of yellow brick road meandering along until it meets the horizon.

So, I do things like putting out paper bag pumpkins every year.

Because sometimes the tangible items serve as the beginning of the intangible thread which connects us to the past, the present and the future.

We need to see a little bit more of this in blog posts and on social media, don’t you think? The things that reflect our real lives. Not the lives that we shove into a closet or hide in the laundry room in order to take the prettiest picture. But the ones that allow for the sweet, homemade crafts to peacefully coexists with the elegant home decor.

Because, in the end, it’s not the perfect lamp we found or the latest paint color we added to our walls which we will cherish the most. It’s those little reminders of the life we’ve lived. They remind us of the joys and the sorrows and all of the gloriously mundane days in between.

So hang up those popsicle stick ornaments on the Christmas tree, drink your coffee from the hand-painted mug you got for Mother’s Day that year, put your fanciest earrings in the little clay bowl crafted by tiny fingers and wrapped up in newspaper with all of the reverence of a sculptor and his masterpiece.

And I’ll be here putting out my paper bag pumpkins. 🍂

It’s rainy and gloomy here today and I’m up to

It’s rainy and gloomy here today and I’m up to my eyeballs in unpacking and doing laundry after our whirlwind trip to Georgia to celebrate my niece’s wedding. It was the most beautiful and poignant event as we watched this young couple commit their lives to each other and to the Lord in front of all who love them. My kids had never been to a wedding before so they were extra excited to get to be apart of this special day. Our family managed to clean up pretty well! 😉

Happy Thursday dear friends!! My home is all dress

I can’t help but think that one of the best thin

Hey friends! Did you survive Monday? It rained all

Hey friends! Did you survive Monday? It rained all day here which made it perfect for staying indoors and editing photos for my fall home tour. It almost made it hard to not want to just snuggle up on the couch and watch movies. ☺️ Here’s a little sneak peek and I can’t wait to show you the rest soon!

I’m so honored to have my latest article for @jo

I’m so honored to have my latest article for @joyfullifemagazine on their blog this month! I’m sharing my thoughts on seasonal decorating plus some super easy tips! Here’s a sneak peek..

“Somewhere in the foggy haze of trying to decide between the corn husk wreath or the bundle of wheat for my front door, I felt a pricking of my spirit. In the stillness of my bedroom, the only sound being the soft breathing of my husband lying next to me, I knew that the Lord was speaking to me.

Why was I allowing my mind to be consumed by these thoughts? When did I go from being someone who enjoyed decorating as an extension of the creativity given to me by my Creator to someone who wasted so much time, money, and energy to get the perfect look for Instagram?

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we are challenged to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Suddenly, I became very aware of the fact that the pressure I was putting on myself to create the perfect seasonal décor was causing my thoughts to run around like wild animals, and it was past time for me to take them captive.

So, I did.

With my head on my pillow and tears threatening to spill from my eyes, I confessed to my Savior and fell asleep immediately. Friends, I’ve never looked back.” 🍂Read the rest by following the link in my highlights!🍂

Happy Saturday! I never thought I would be so happ

Happy Saturday! I never thought I would be so happy to wake up to the sound of rain but we need it SO badly here in Oregon that it filled my heart with joy! It also gives me the perfect excuse to cozy up inside and work on my fall decorating. I’m almost done with this year’s mantel(s) but I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of my designs from year’s past.

Which one is your favorite?

I plan to keep things very simple this year and just enjoy the beauty of the season without feeling the need to add too much ‘fluff’.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend dear friends! 🍂

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