About

 

About Courtney

I am so excited you’ve stopped by my blog. My heart for this site is to share my struggles, triumphs, and lessons learned along the way.

I am a newbie to marriage and motherhood, but I want to be as honest and vulnerable as I can about both. They are teaching me and growing me DAILY.

I’ve been married to Chris for three years. He is an answer to all of the prayers I prayed during my single years. He is a man who seeks God, serves his family so selflessly, and is SO fun to boot! I am smitten.

I am a mother to three little ones, all under the age of three. And no, I don’t have twins! Their birthdays are all in April and within two weeks of each other.

Rhett just turned two and is my wild child. He is just like his engineer father…always trying to figure out how things work. Eli is one and seems invincible…he is my child who runs into walls for fun. He also has an incredible story. (Read more here) Miss Elliot is almost 9 months old and is one of the sweetest babies ever. She’s gonna have to be tough to hang with the boys!

I grew up in Mississippi and Tennessee, so to say I am Southern would be an understatement! I spent my childhood years on a 200 acre farm in Flora, MS where we raised horses. Country living runs through my veins.

Chris is from South Carolina, and we lived there for most of our marriage until recently moving to Columbus, GA in November of 2016. And while I know it probably doesn’t make sense to have a blog named after a state you no longer live in, I felt like it was still an important part of our lives. It all started in South Carolina for us, and that will never change.

Thank you for visiting The Carolina Farmhouse and let me know where you’re from or what brought you to my little corner of the internet!

 

Our culture commonly presents a tale of two motherhoods.

One – a frazzled mommy who only wears messy buns and survives off of dry shampoo and wine. She dreads her children and counts down the time until bedtime. She misses the days of peeing alone and showering on a regular basis.

The other – a mother so devoted to her children that she finds her identity in them. She doesn’t need friends or to use her own giftings because she lives through her children’s gifts and goals. She is so focused on her children succeeded and being successful that when they grow up and leave, she is left bewildered and unsure of what to do with herself.

I refuse to believe we have to fall into these categories. I believe we can change this narrative and live a motherhood that honors Jesus, makes our children feel loved and seen, and doesn’t become our identity.

I refuse to let all of the negativity make me resent my children and their reliance on me to take care of them.

I also refuse to let my worth rest upon their tiny shoulders like a heavy yoke.
I’m passionate about this and I’m super excited to be talking about this topic, as well as tons of practical tips to parent our children this week! I also have 3 amazing people lined up to join the conversation and share their wisdom.

This week’s lineup:
Monday: yours truly 😉
Tuesday: @phyliciamasonheimer
Wednesday: Maureen Phillips
Thurs/Fri: @dstephenhinkle
We will all be sharing on my stories and I am going to try and save them to my highlights so y’all can access them at any time. But there will be a Q&A time each day, so be sure to come with lots of questions and feedback!

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Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸 Nothing says America quite like a red, white, and blue cookie cake. #diabeetus 😂
So happy to be at my mom’s house and celebrating our great country with my sweet family. Hope everyone is having a great day too!

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Our culture commonly presents a tale of two motherhoods. One - a frazzled mommy who only wears messy buns and survives off of dry shampoo and wine. She dreads her children and counts down the time until bedtime. She misses the days of peeing alone and showering on a regular basis. The other - a mother so devoted to her children that she finds her identity in them. She doesn’t need friends or to use her own giftings because she lives through her children’s gifts and goals. She is so focused on her children succeeded and being successful that when they grow up and leave, she is left bewildered and unsure of what to do with herself. I refuse to believe we have to fall into these categories. I believe we can change this narrative and live a motherhood that honors Jesus, makes our children feel loved and seen, and doesn’t become our identity. I refuse to let all of the negativity make me resent my children and their reliance on me to take care of them. I also refuse to let my worth rest upon their tiny shoulders like a heavy yoke. I’m passionate about this and I’m super excited to be talking about this topic, as well as tons of practical tips to parent our children this week! I also have 3 amazing people lined up to join the conversation and share their wisdom. This week’s lineup: Monday: yours truly 😉 Tuesday: @phyliciamasonheimer Wednesday: Maureen Phillips Thurs/Fri: @dstephenhinkle We will all be sharing on my stories and I am going to try and save them to my highlights so y’all can access them at any time. But there will be a Q&A time each day, so be sure to come with lots of questions and feedback!Our culture commonly presents a tale of two motherhoods. One - a frazzled mommy who only wears messy buns and survives off of dry shampoo and wine. She dreads her children and counts down the time until bedtime. She misses the days of peeing alone and showering on a regular basis. The other - a mother so devoted to her children that she finds her identity in them. She doesn’t need friends or to use her own giftings because she lives through her children’s gifts and goals. She is so focused on her children succeeded and being successful that when they grow up and leave, she is left bewildered and unsure of what to do with herself. I refuse to believe we have to fall into these categories. I believe we can change this narrative and live a motherhood that honors Jesus, makes our children feel loved and seen, and doesn’t become our identity. I refuse to let all of the negativity make me resent my children and their reliance on me to take care of them. I also refuse to let my worth rest upon their tiny shoulders like a heavy yoke. I’m passionate about this and I’m super excited to be talking about this topic, as well as tons of practical tips to parent our children this week! I also have 3 amazing people lined up to join the conversation and share their wisdom. This week’s lineup: Monday: yours truly 😉 Tuesday: @phyliciamasonheimer Wednesday: Maureen Phillips Thurs/Fri: @dstephenhinkle We will all be sharing on my stories and I am going to try and save them to my highlights so y’all can access them at any time. But there will be a Q&A time each day, so be sure to come with lots of questions and feedback!


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Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸 Nothing says America quite like a red, white, and blue cookie cake. #diabeetus 😂 So happy to be at my mom’s house and celebrating our great country with my sweet family. Hope everyone is having a great day too!Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸 Nothing says America quite like a red, white, and blue cookie cake. #diabeetus 😂 So happy to be at my mom’s house and celebrating our great country with my sweet family. Hope everyone is having a great day too!


This week has been insane with work. A lot of late night meetings and stressful situations. I am so happy to have a day off tomorrow and rest and recharge and spend time with my husband and babies. 🙌🏼 We are getting our weekend started with a lil popcorn and UFC fighting. #myhappyplace 😂👊🏼 I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend friends! ☺️This week has been insane with work. A lot of late night meetings and stressful situations. I am so happy to have a day off tomorrow and rest and recharge and spend time with my husband and babies. 🙌🏼 We are getting our weekend started with a lil popcorn and UFC fighting. #myhappyplace 😂👊🏼 I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend friends! ☺️


Hospitality has always been something close to my heart. I grew up in a home that had a revolving door of guests coming through. My mom was such a good example of loving on the people who stayed in our home. It came naturally for me to welcome people into my own home once I was married to Chris. But when the kids came along and I had guests come stay to help with babies, I got a little rusty on my “skills.” I got so used to it just being my family coming to help me after having a newborn, that when the kids got older it took me a few times to get back in a grove. Why weren’t these people bringing meals or staying up with my newborn?? 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 So I thought I would share some tips that I’ve found to help make hospitality a little easier when you have little ones or are just a little rusty like I was. 😂 1️⃣ Preparation is key to success. I am a “fly by the seat of my pants” kinda gal. But it’s come back to bite me when I have guests and absolutely no food in our pantry. Meal plan before guests, especially overnight guests...you won’t regret it! 2️⃣ Do prep work while the kids nap/ get them to help if they’re older. My friend Joy came to stay with us for a few days, so before she got here and while my kids were napping, I made chili & prepped salad for dinner. That way when she got here, I was able to spend time with her and not be distracted by things I need to do. 3️⃣ Think about what you like and do that. I have stayed at some places where I have felt so pampered and loved and refreshed...and I’ve also stayed some places where I felt like I came at a bad time or was an inconvenience. So I think through what my hosts did to make me feel special and I do that for my guests. My heart for my home is that everyone who comes through our doors would leave feeling loved and encouraged. So I try to think through and implement little things that will make that a reality. I’m not perfect at it, but I am always trying to learn! If you have any tips or tricks you do, feel free to share them below so we all can steal your secrets. 😉👇🏼Hospitality has always been something close to my heart. I grew up in a home that had a revolving door of guests coming through. My mom was such a good example of loving on the people who stayed in our home. It came naturally for me to welcome people into my own home once I was married to Chris. But when the kids came along and I had guests come stay to help with babies, I got a little rusty on my “skills.” I got so used to it just being my family coming to help me after having a newborn, that when the kids got older it took me a few times to get back in a grove. Why weren’t these people bringing meals or staying up with my newborn?? 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 So I thought I would share some tips that I’ve found to help make hospitality a little easier when you have little ones or are just a little rusty like I was. 😂 1️⃣ Preparation is key to success. I am a “fly by the seat of my pants” kinda gal. But it’s come back to bite me when I have guests and absolutely no food in our pantry. Meal plan before guests, especially overnight guests...you won’t regret it! 2️⃣ Do prep work while the kids nap/ get them to help if they’re older. My friend Joy came to stay with us for a few days, so before she got here and while my kids were napping, I made chili & prepped salad for dinner. That way when she got here, I was able to spend time with her and not be distracted by things I need to do. 3️⃣ Think about what you like and do that. I have stayed at some places where I have felt so pampered and loved and refreshed...and I’ve also stayed some places where I felt like I came at a bad time or was an inconvenience. So I think through what my hosts did to make me feel special and I do that for my guests. My heart for my home is that everyone who comes through our doors would leave feeling loved and encouraged. So I try to think through and implement little things that will make that a reality. I’m not perfect at it, but I am always trying to learn! If you have any tips or tricks you do, feel free to share them below so we all can steal your secrets. 😉👇🏼


A lot of you messaged me about practical ways to have a positive motherhood experience and how to raise children that aren’t tornados that are out of control. And honestly it’s a good question. I am one who loves action steps. “That’s a great idea but HOW do you do that.” And I’ve never shared my parenting philosophy or how I discipline and disciple my children because I am still so new to it, so I figured I should just be faithful and one day when my kids are grown I can share what to do/not to do. But I realize now that that is kind of selfish. I’ll be up front and honest with y’all about me not having all of the answers and I certainly don’t have it all together. But I love it when other people share their knowledge with me - so that’s what I’m going to do with you guys. I’m excited to share that I will be doing a parenting series July 8-12. I will share my story and also have some special guests take over my stories and share. I tried to cover all of the basis - parents of young children, parents with preteens, and parents with teenagers/grown children. I feel like each one will have wisdom we need as parents. I’ll be following up with more info, so stay tuned. I hope its a really encouraging and practical series for all of us!A lot of you messaged me about practical ways to have a positive motherhood experience and how to raise children that aren’t tornados that are out of control. And honestly it’s a good question. I am one who loves action steps. “That’s a great idea but HOW do you do that.” And I’ve never shared my parenting philosophy or how I discipline and disciple my children because I am still so new to it, so I figured I should just be faithful and one day when my kids are grown I can share what to do/not to do. But I realize now that that is kind of selfish. I’ll be up front and honest with y’all about me not having all of the answers and I certainly don’t have it all together. But I love it when other people share their knowledge with me - so that’s what I’m going to do with you guys. I’m excited to share that I will be doing a parenting series July 8-12. I will share my story and also have some special guests take over my stories and share. I tried to cover all of the basis - parents of young children, parents with preteens, and parents with teenagers/grown children. I feel like each one will have wisdom we need as parents. I’ll be following up with more info, so stay tuned. I hope its a really encouraging and practical series for all of us!


I’m going to choose to be thankful for the sunshine and the 100 degree weather it brings, because it creates such pretty natural light. 😍 ☀️I’m going to choose to be thankful for the sunshine and the 100 degree weather it brings, because it creates such pretty natural light. 😍 ☀️


Stepping back into reality after vacation is always hard, but I usually make it even harder on myself by procrastinating that Monday is coming and then BAM it hits me like an elbow to the face and I find myself unusually grumpy. 😬 Anyone else? So to ease the shock of the Monday blues, I find that these few steps help me: 1️⃣ Start Monday with an empty sink. My sweet husband usually loads up the dishes the night before and man it really helps me mood to walk into a kitchen that has a sparkly clean sink. 2️⃣ Unpack right away. I suuuuuuck at this one, but if I don’t do it right away I will live out of a suitcase til the cows come home. (In other words, forever 🐮) 3️⃣ Tidy up all clutter. If you’re super tired on a Sunday night and don’t have time to put it away, at least gather it all in a basket to be put away the next day. Walking into my living room that is clutter free is the best way to start my Monday off on the right foot. Like I said, I’m still learning to implement these things and I don’t always do them perfectly, but I always regret it when I don’t. Procrastination is never worth it, so I hope you can give your Monday a little head start tonight by doing these few simple things too. Let’s do this. 👊🏼🔥Stepping back into reality after vacation is always hard, but I usually make it even harder on myself by procrastinating that Monday is coming and then BAM it hits me like an elbow to the face and I find myself unusually grumpy. 😬 Anyone else? So to ease the shock of the Monday blues, I find that these few steps help me: 1️⃣ Start Monday with an empty sink. My sweet husband usually loads up the dishes the night before and man it really helps me mood to walk into a kitchen that has a sparkly clean sink. 2️⃣ Unpack right away. I suuuuuuck at this one, but if I don’t do it right away I will live out of a suitcase til the cows come home. (In other words, forever 🐮) 3️⃣ Tidy up all clutter. If you’re super tired on a Sunday night and don’t have time to put it away, at least gather it all in a basket to be put away the next day. Walking into my living room that is clutter free is the best way to start my Monday off on the right foot. Like I said, I’m still learning to implement these things and I don’t always do them perfectly, but I always regret it when I don’t. Procrastination is never worth it, so I hope you can give your Monday a little head start tonight by doing these few simple things too. Let’s do this. 👊🏼🔥

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