Welcome!
I’m Laura, and I love sharing God’s goodness with you.
Once upon a time just a few short years ago, our family looked like this:
And then, as our sons were becoming adults and we were on our way to empty nesting, when we most certainly didn’t expect it, God turned our lives beautifully upside down through foster care and adoption.
Also, some of our sons got married. Without a doubt, this journey is “to be continued.”
HeavenlyHomemakers.com began in November 2007. This is what my bio boys looked like then:
Oh those babies.
See boy #3 over on the right, not wanting to take a picture that day? All of ’em did that at one time or another. We persevered and they all grew out of that stage. Hang in there, Mama. Be strong. Pray often. Win the battles. Seek Jesus. Take naps.
See that sweet baby covered with an itchy rash? That’s boy #4. He began suffering from chronic eczema covering his entire body at age 2-months. Before that time, we were a poptart family. His illness led us to seek help healing his chronic eczema without having to resort to life altering drugs. That’s when we started learning to
- eat real food
- clean our home without harmful chemicals
- find natural doctors that treat the cause, not the symptom
In summary, I decided to change everything I knew about everything I did – all at once. No big deal. I detailed the crazy journey here. Read it so you can learn from my insanity. Then keep following us here so you can continue to learn SIMPLE (yes, simple – take a big deep breath) ways of eating a real food diet that I have been learning since I got off the crazy train.
So this guy.
This guy is my heart. He always wears a tux and I always get my hair fixed professionally. (Sometimes I’m sarcastic.)
Matt and I keep finding ways to love each other better and to work on life as a team. We find our teamwork to be most effective when we’re on our knees together. There is no other way.
We’ve found ourselves with a passion to encourage and equip others for a healthy marriage and frequently enjoy “couch time” with soon-to-be-married couples or couples in crisis. God has been using this time to strengthen our own marriage in ways only He can. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s harder. Always God wins.
What do we do all day?
Matt is a brilliant self-employed entrepreneur and I am a full-time mom and writer. (My writing time has certainly taken a backseat to my new life as a mom of many littles – again!)
We homeschool. Sort of.
It wasn’t long after we started having babies before we realized that 18 years was going to fly by very quickly. We were enjoying our boys so much that we couldn’t stand the thought of missing hours of time with them each day. God convicted us to homeschool (even though at the time we barely knew what that was).
Schooling at home (for 18 years and counting!) has provided awesome flexibility to enjoy some better than fantastic opportunities through the years. We love everything about homeschooling (except for the parts we don’t). What I mean is – nothing is perfect and sometimes we have off days. Ain’t that just how life is? (I never say ain’t. I teach my boys proper grammar. But I still don’t know what a gerund is.) Read more about our Homeschool Hubbub here.
UPDATE: Currently, our younger kids attend public school to help meet their needs. :) Eventually we hope to homeschool again when God gives the green light.
Our foster care/adoption journey
It all started with this one, who moved in with us when he was four years old. Brayden became an official Coppinger in August 2019.
His cousin Keith became a Coppinger boy in February 2020.
Then Brayden’s baby brother moved in with us. Then his baby sister. Then another sister. Then Keith’s sisters. Then our oldest son got married. And our second son got married. Then we got another of Keith’s brothers. Then we adopted our girls.
See? I told you our story is “to be continued…”
When our oldest four boys were little, I thought they would be little forever. Then we hit our oldest son’s senior year and I’ve been weepy ever since. Why the tears? Because it is the most amazing thing to look at my growing-up sons and see the work of God in them. They are clever, creative, funny, kind, smart, hard-working, and God-seeking. They have strengths and weaknesses, just like the rest of us, which has taught me how to actually and for real trust God with my kids.
So I pray for them, and I cry. I watch them on the soccer field and basketball court, and I tear up. I hear them sing, I cheer on their latest projects, I watch their amazing videos and listen to their music creations, I experience all of their God-given talent at work and the joy just comes out of my eyes. It’s a mom thing.
As we continue to add to our family, the tears keep coming. Oh how we’re learning of God’s faithfulness and goodness!
May, 2023, our girls’ adoption day!
The best of the best
I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of easy, real food recipes all over this website for you. I’ve put together dozens of helpful resources in our shop. A few years ago I compiled the best of the best of all my real food recipes and time-saving tips in my Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy printed cookbook.
Our latest and greatest is this one, which I firmly state needs to be in everyone’s kitchen!
Click here to see what’s inside. This book will make your real food eating SO SIMPLE.
One of our best and most helpful online resources is Simple Meals. You most definitely want to become a member, because Simple Meals saves you time, money, energy and gives you back time with your family!
Join us!
There’s something quite special about the Heavenly Homemaker’s Community and I invite you to stick around. My goal is to walk this journey with you as we all seek the best for our families – in faith, in health, in the kitchen, and all the places that we might shine or fall short. If I’ve learned anything in over four decades of life it is that I desperately need the strength of Jesus and the encouragement of others. Coffee is also welcome.
We’d love to connect with you :)
Join our fun, free community here!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You will love this!
All homemakers of every walk of life will benefit from and LOVE being a part of our Heavenly Homemaker’s Club Membership site! You’ll get access to ALL of our eBooks, ALL of our eCurriculum, 52 weeks worth of Simple Meals Planning Packets, and so much more!! Join us here!!