Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Gratituesday: Changed

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It was the longest I’d ever been apart from one of my children. 

Asa just got home after being away church camp for two entire weeks. Two weeks is a long time. I felt like my right arm was missing. I was so, so happy for him to be at camp, but I missed him so much at times I could hardly breathe.

Can you tell that he is my firstborn? The one who has to “break me in” to new things? This must be part of the loosening the grip thing, huh?

After he’d been gone for 13 days and the time was coming for us to pick him up soon, I emailed my friend to say, “Will it embarrass him too much if I hug him for a solid five minutes and smell his hair and cry when we pick him up at camp tomorrow?” (I was kidding, I think.) 

And then I shared my fear. My fear that his being away and working toward independence during these past two weeks would have changed everything. That he would come home and nothing would ever be the same again.

I don’t know why I was afraid. But I was. Change is never easy. I don’t like change.

Asa did come home changed. His eyes are different. His smile is different. It was as if we had dropped off a boy and two weeks later, we picked up a young man.

With tears in his eyes, he told us how being at camp had changed him. How spending one on one time with God each morning had helped him to grow spiritually. How he’d taken part in leading songs around the camp fire. How he’d led the entire group of campers in a devotional one morning. 

For the record, he did let me hug him in front of his friends at camp when we arrived. Twice. He didn’t seem to mind. (I did, however, refrain from sobbing into his hair, in case you were wondering.)

My boy is growing up. And I like it. 

Maybe change isn’t always so bad.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

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Gratituesday: The Date

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Everyone else had plans.

Malachi got to go to a birthday party. Asa and Justus got to go to yet a different birthday party. Matt was working.

That left just Elias and Mama. When does that ever happen? Mama with just one boy for an entire evening?

And so, I told Elias that he should use this opportunity to take me on a date. You should have seen his cute little eight year old eyes! And eye brows. And grin. You would have thought I had offered to buy him a toy store.

He didn’t say a word. He just wore that cute little joyful face and he just nodded. I could see the wheels turning inside his head, “Where should I take Mama? What should we do?” (And yes, he really does call me Mama. The older boys, and even Malachi have started calling me just “Mom” now…but Elias still says Mama. Yum, I love it.)

He decided to take me out to the China Buffet. We ate. We went back for seconds. We picked out desserts. We talked about silly stuff and serious stuff. We talked about what he might like to be when he grows up. We got tickled because we had the EXACT same fortune inside our fortune cookies. 

Daddy had slipped him a little cash to pay for our date, so Elias covered the bill. It was SO precious!!

I am going to work hard to make this happen with each boy as often as I can. Alone time with the kids is hard to come by. We’ll have to be intentional. But now that Elias has had his turn, the other boys are asking constantly about when it will be their turn to take me out. Since they’re so motivated, I think it will be easier to make it happen.

And hopefully, Matt will occasionally still be able to wrestle down the competition and take a turn himself. :)

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

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Gratituesday: It’s (almost) FINISHED!!! And I’m Giving One Away!

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I am SO excited to tell you that the project I’ve been working on for hours and hours lately is ALMOST (but not quite) finished!!! The only pieces left are the final tedious editing and perfecting of details. In the meantime, I’ve decided that I’m dedicating this Gratituesday to tell you about it because seriously, you have NO idea how excited and thankful I am to be almost finished with this project and to almost be able to offer it to you!

Many of you suggested that perhaps I was working on a book…not an ebook…but a book, book. Oh, how honored I was to hear you say that you’d be so excited if indeed I was working on a book! Thank you so much.  That’s not what I’ve been working on, but someday…someday. It is a goal of mine…one I’ve shared with only a few people. But others in my life have encouraged it…and now you are encouraging it…so yes…someday. When God tells me that the time is right and when He opens all the right doors. Thank you so much for your encouragement. You truly humble me.

What I HAVE been working on though is a little tool for you to use with your kids. And by little tool, I really mean a 240+ page tool. Not at all little, actually. I began this project back in 2008. I had the idea to share with you in ebook form something that had worked very well for us when we had a bunch of little preschool aged fellas running around. It was something that we came up with to help us teach our kids the preschool basics…but more importantly…it was something we did as a family to serve other families and individuals around the community.

We focused on one alphabet letter each week and did all kinds of fun activities centered around that particular letter. But our main focus each week was thinking about people or families we knew whose name began with the letter we were studying. Toward the end of the week, we had a special surprise for several people. For instance, during Mm week, we delivered Mini Muffins to the Millers, to our friend Mark and to Mrs. Moses. We included a nice card explaining that they were a part of our Alphabet Blessings project and thanked them for letting us serve them. Usually we were all able to sit down and enjoy a nice visit together for a few minutes.

It was a HUGE joy to do this as a family and we have so many wonderful memories of our years doing this with our little guys. It was, of course, also a wonderful way to help them learn their letters and letter sounds!

And so, in 2008, I began putting some of these ideas into an ebook for you. Within the past two years, the little ebook grew into something much more. So much more in fact, I got completely overwhelmed with it and felt like it was too huge to ever finish. I would work on it for a while, then put it aside feeling like I would NEVER be able to get it done. It had evolved from a small ebook idea into a complete comprehensive curriculum package full of ideas, worksheets, Bible work, picture tutorials…..oh so much.

My husband is the reason this project is almost finished.  He saw it for what it was…saw how many hours I had put into it…saw how close it was to being completed. He encouraged me to finish, he said he would help. And now here it is, with over 35 recipes, more than 65 crafts, experiments and other projects, Bible lessons and memory verses! It’s full of pictures and instructions. It’s full of games and challenges.  And most importantly, it’s loaded with ideas to inspire you and your young ones to serve others together.

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By God’s grace and with the help and encouragement of my family…this downloadable curriculum kit is almost complete.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  That is why I am sharing this on Gratituesday.

While I’ve never mixed Gratituesday with a Giveaway before…I’m so excited that today I’m breaking my rules!! :)  If you are interested in winning a Learn Your Letters, Learn To Serve Curriculum Kit, leave a comment letting me know of your interest! In addition, you are welcome to leave additional comments if you tweet, facebook or blog about this kit and the giveaway. 

Thank you all so much for your encouragement as I have plugged away at this project. The giveaway will end and the Curriculum Kit will be offered for sale in just a few days…just as soon as the final tweaking is completed. Can I just way…WOOHOOOOOOO!!!! Thank you Lord!

Just so you know, this curriculum kit is not just for homeschoolers. Not even close! My intent was to make it usable for any and every family with young children…or for teachers, grandparents…anyone! There are SO many more details to share…but I’ll wait and share them once it is all complete and in my shop! I’ll even be offering a small sampling of the kit for free, just so you can have a taste of what it’s like.

In addition to leaving comments for chances to win this giveaway, please do let me know what you’re grateful for either by commenting or by blogging and linking up with us here!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!! :)  YOU CAN PURCHASE THE CURRICULUM KIT HERE!

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Gratituesday: Oh, The Irony

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Whelp, just when I’ve blogged about cell phones and how I don’t need one…I am now devoting an entire Gratituesday post to the fact that I am very much, ever so thankful for my tracfone.

I have spent the past few hours of my life trying to connect my internet. It went out suddenly in the early evening, and I tried every trick I know to connect it again. When I picked up the phone to call my Internet provider, I realized that my phone was out too.

Many thoughts raced through my head at that point. First, that it wouldn’t be such a big deal to not put up a new post tonight…except that it’s Gratituesday and I didn’t want to leave you all hanging. Second, that I needed to somehow get ahold of someone with internet service so that I could borrow their computer and get a Gratituesday post up.

But oh yeah, I also didn’t have a vehicle. Matt’s truck is in the shop and he had the van at work.

So, no Internet, no phone, no vehicle.

I felt a few moments of panic. But only a few. Good grief, in the grand scheme of life, these things are merely silly inconveniences.

Still…it’s not a fun feeling that you have no way to get ahold of anyone. And of course dumb things went through my head like, what if someone cut my connection and they knew Matt was working late and, and… Yeah, dumb. Why does my imagination get the best of me sometimes? 

Then, I remembered that I had a tracfone. With it, I was able to call our phone/Internet company and talk to hundreds and hundreds of recordings. I used up a bunch of my pre-paid minutes pressing three to hear more options. But, within a few hours, repairs should be made (according to the recording I listened to after I pushed two, or was it four?). I never did talk to a live person, but those robot ladies talking to me in monotone sure were nice.

Anyway, I also called Matt and let him know the scoop. As soon as the restaurant closed, he came and picked us up and here I am on his computer while he does paperwork in the other room. The boys are hanging out enjoying bonus time with Daddy and the fact that they get to stay up super late tonight. 

I am very thankful that when I needed it, my tracfone  was there for me. That’s exactly why I got it, for times of desperation…and so that I could (for a long, long time) listen to computerized voices telling me to chose a number option.

If you’d like to leave a Gratituesday link of your own, press two now.

Just kidding. But, I really do hope that you write about what you’re grateful for and link up with us!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Gratituesday: No Place Like Home

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I’ve been traveling, so my post today is short and sweet. :)

I love family reunions. I love the chance to reunite with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other loved ones. I love meeting and holding new babies. I love meeting new spouses of my cousins. 

I love laughing and crying together with family. I love sharing memories. I love making new memories.

We’ve had a wonderful time this weekend traveling and loving on extended family members.

Now I’m home…back to my favorite place on earth. I’m back home to my husband…back home to the garden and the laundry and the mail.

I’m back home…and there’s just no place like it. I am so thankful.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Gratituesday: Manly Road Trip

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It was the best birthday present we could have given our son.

Asa turned thirteen last week, and Matt and I wanted to do more than just give him a “thing” for his birthday. We’d been discussing this and giving it a lot of thought over the past few weeks.

Our wish was for Matt to take Asa on a road trip of some sort…something special for just the two of them. Something that would be fun, but something that would also give them a nice chance to talk man-to-man about, well…life. About godly living. About making wise choices.

Matt found tickets to a Kansas City Wizards soccer game, and we knew that was the perfect thing. The trip would take about four hours one way…plenty of time for some good visiting to take place.

003Excuse the quality of this picture…but here’s a jersey Asa used his birthday money to buy,
plus a soccer ball that he CAUGHT and got to keep at the game!

I wish you could have seen Asa when they got back home from their road trip. He was beaming.  And well…he looked taller. More grown up.

We’ll be making this a thirteenth birthday tradition, for sure. Asa’s time with Matt was priceless.

I am incredibly thankful to have a godly husband who desires to instill godly character in his sons. I’m thankful that Matt could take the time to make this trip with our son. And I’m thankful for my young man who looks to his dad for guidance. 

Ah, how I love the men in my life.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Gratituesday: The Teenager

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It finally happened at my house. We have a teenager.

Please feel free to say lots of nice things like, “Wow Laura…you don’t look old enough to have a teenager.”

How is it possible that I can now share snow boots, flip-flops and sweat-shirts with my son? Although probably not for long. The kid is growing faster than he can eat. Almost. 

Did I mention how cool he is? ;)

I will admit to feeling rather clueless as we have delved into this new phase of life. And for sure, we have had some moments where we’ve known without a doubt that our son is growing up and trying to figure himself out.

So many people that hear that Asa is turning 13 this week have been saying things like, “Good luck!” and “Oh wow, brace yourself!” As if having a teenager in your house means that our lives are about to change drastically. Really? Does it change that much? Surely he isn’t going to suddenly turn into a monster that is horrible to live with! Yeah, well what do I know? I’ve been the parent of a teenager for exactly eight hours.

We may be in for some trying years, but may I just take a moment to brag about my son? My teenage son? 

He is delightful. He’s fun to be around. He’s talented. He’s great with little kids. He’s a great big brother. He’s super helpful to Matt and me. He’s smart. He’s responsible. He’s thoughtful. He’s kind. He’s respectful.

He loves the Lord.

Being a teenager is a time of struggle. It’s a time of figuring out who you’re going to be and what you will allow God to do in your life. We’ll take this stuff day by day, praying with Asa as we go. 

Today, I’m thankful for my teenager. I am one blessed mama because of Asa. Here’s to the next few years of teenagerhood!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Gratituesday: Ministry of Music

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I love music.

I think it is wonderful that God gives us music and song to express ourselves. We have our kitchen radio tuned to our local Christian radio station and it’s on almost all day long. I LOVE it.

I love praising God while I’m cooking. I love singing with the boys when they’re in the kitchen with me. I love listening to the words and letting the music minister to my soul at all times during the day. I love beautiful melodies. I love hearing God given talent. I love music!

My current favorite song is All of Creation, by Mercy Me. Every time this song comes on, I feel like dancing for Jesus in a field of lavender wild flowers. Shucks, I’d settle for a field of prairie grass. And I’d just let the tears stream down my face while I spend time with my Father in the middle of his creation. Doesn’t it just sound lovely?

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I’m so thankful God gave us the gift of music. Through song, we can experience God in a beautiful way. I just love it.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Gratituesday: Ah, Lovely Dirt

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Before Saturday, I STILL had not had a chance to get my hands dirty. I hadn’t had a chance to get into my garden at ALL. (You’re shocked at me, aren’t you?!)  I had longed to get out there, but just not had even one moment to think about the garden yet.

Thankfully, Matt had found a few bits and pieces of time during the past few weeks to get our garden areas tilled up and to plant a few things. Ooh, and he even brought us home a big truck load of horse manure. Crazy how excited I was to see him that day. Saturday, we were finally able to both work in the garden together and get several more things planted.

The day was sunny and beautiful. Just ask Matt…I was completely giddy. I was running my  hands through the soil…just for fun. It felt so good.

Yes, in case you didn’t already know that I am a garden geek…now you know for sure. I can’t help it. The garden gives me so much joy.

Wanna take a look at a few parts of it with me? (There’s more to be planted…these are just a few shots.)

lettuceWe have lettuce ready to eat…it is so beautiful!

cornYou can’t see it…but there’s corn in these rows!!

 

peppersAw, cute little pepper plants.

potato_containerOh yes…I did plant potatoes in my trash can again!!

I’m just so thankful for our garden. I love how we can see God in the entire process of watching food grow from a seed. I can’t wait to share more with you during the coming months!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Gratituesday Meets the Spring Cleaning Carnival

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This week, Gratituesday is teaming up with Katie’s Spring Cleaning Carnival to talk about “getting the pesticides out”. The carnivals came together on the same day…so we’re working with it. You may think that thankfulness and pesticides have absolutely nothing in common…ooh but you’re wrong! It just so happens that I’m very grateful that we DON’T have to use pesticides. See? The two do go together!

SPRING CLEANING BUTTONRead more of what I wrote about getting rid of pesticides over at Katie’s!

Learning about all the pesticides in many of our foods and the harmful ways they can wreak havoc on our bodies can be incredibly disheartening. 

I’m thankful that we don’t have to throw our hands up in dispair! Do you know what I’ve discovered while growing my own garden? It is really NOT hard to grow vegetables without pesticides. Just don’t use them – plain and simple. There WILL  be bugs. Squish them, flick them, step on them, scream at them…but you don’t have to use poison on them. Poison for the bugs means poison for the food. Watch carefully (especially under the leaves of your plants) and squish them before they get out of hand. Plant marigolds in and around your garden (because many bugs don’t like them!).

And what about the food in the store? How can you afford to buy organic foods all the time? Well, there’s no hard and fast answer to these questions. Our health food co-ops have made organic eating much easier for us, not to mention…affordable! Katie has a list here that may help you decide which fruits and vegetables should be a higher priorty when it comes to buying organic. Plus, read through this series I wrote on Feeding the Family to see how feeding our family of six a *mostly* organic diet on a limited budget works for us.

And what about household pests like ants and roaches? Sprinkling borax in the “buggy hotspots” of your home is very effective!

Trying to avoid DEET? Try cinnamon oil! Mosquitoes don’t like it!

I’m so thankful that there are healthy, safe alternatives to pesticides. I’m thankful that I’ve learned the harmful effects of pesticides to our bodies and to the earth. I’m so thankful that we have a choice about what we eat and what we do.

But I’m VERY thankful that no matter what the pesticide usage is in the world, and no matter what I choose for my family…God is still in control. We put our trust in Him!

Please join us for Gratituesday and/or the Spring Cleaning Carnival! Write on your blog about what you’re grateful for…and/or about how you’re working to get rid of pesticides! Come over and link up with us here!! 

AND…there’s a giveaway going on over at Katie’s place that includes Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving Ebook. Leave a comment over there AND over here for chances to win!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!