"A welcoming home is a place of refuge, a place where people worn down by the noise and hostility of the outside world can find a safe resting place. 

A welcoming home has a sense of order about it.  Not stiff, stultifying order that goes to pieces over a speck of dust or that sacrifices relationships in the interest of cleanliness, but a comforting, confident sense that that people, not possessions, are in charge of the household, that emotions are expressed but never used as weapons, that life is proceeding with a purpose and according to an overall plan." 

–The Spirit of Loveliness, Emilie Barnes

I am often asked for book recommendations.  The truth is I don't own a plethora of home and family books,  and not many new titles.  I tend to read and reread many of the same older titles (which are often less glitzy, less edgey) and continue to find quiet inspiration. I am trying to jot down passages that speak to me.

Be encouraged. It can take many years to really assimilate these messages and to live the vision, depending on your personal background coming into marriage and motherhood. Many more than I had expected!