Emilie Barnes

For more than twenty years, Emilie Barnes has been sharing her insights on time management, household finance, home decorating, and other skills that help homemakers and working women create a warm, inviting home environment while still meeting the demands of modern life. While it may seem that Emilie is a born organizer, she developed her talent out of necessity.

Emilie married her husband, Bob, when she was a senior in high school and he was starting his first teaching job. She gave birth to their first child three years later, and after six months, she began to care for her brother’s three children as well. Another year passed and her second child was born. With five children below the age of five under one roof, Emilie had to find a way to make every minute of her day productive. Those challenging years laid the foundation for what would later become More Hours in My Day, a successful ministry of time-management seminars co-founded with her husband.

Today, Emilie Barnes is an internationally known speaker and home-management expert. Her bubbly personality, can-do attitude, and boundless enthusiasm have made her a popular and frequent guest on radio and television programs worldwide. She is also the best-selling author of more than 60 books, including If Teacups Could Talk, Fill My Cup, Lord, 15 Minutes Alone with God, Welcome Home, and others. Her many accomplishments are certainly a testimony to the effectiveness of her time-management strategies!

Emilie’s book, My Cup Overflows, marks a departure from the home and time-management focus of many of her previous works. A companion volume to the devotional Fill My Cup, Lord, it is a moving account of Emilie’s battle against leukemia, the pain she suffered upon the separation of her daughter and son-in-law, and the grace of God that has sustained her in the midst of trial. Her faith shines on every page as she writes to encourage those who are experiencing hard times. "For even though my cup has overflowed with trouble in recent years," she says in the prologue, " I can honestly say that, through it all, my cup has continually overflowed with the goodness and mercy of God."

Emilie has three soon to be released books. The Twelve Teas of Celebration is illustrated by Susan Rios and has 12 theme tea parties already to plan out. A Journey Through Cancer discusses Emilie's personal experience with illness and healing. Minute Meditations on Prayer, co-authored with her husband, Bob, uses the Lord's Prayer as a guiding theme and follows a format similar to Minute Meditations for Couples and Minute Meditations for Healing and Hope.

Emilie and Bob make their home in Riverside, California. Their lovely house, featured in the March 1997 issue of "Better Homes and Gardens", is cozy, inviting, and usually full of grandchildren. "Family really is our first priority," Emilie tells the magazine. A fitting statement from a woman who’s spent a lifetime making her house a home—and inspired thousands of women to create homes of their own, overflowing with love and filled with fond memories.