Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How To Make it To Church On Time

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I sure hope you didn’t read the title of this post and assume I would be giving you my secret formula for getting my family out the door to church each week without being late. I wish. Although I will say:  Sometimes we actually are on time!! 

And then there are the other times.  Do my boys not have a hurry mode? Do they not acurately comprehend my words when I tell them to put their shoes on? Which part of “stop talking so that you can stuff food down your face” do they not understand?

From what I hear, this seems to be an issue in many households. Today is our chance to share the tips and tricks that work for each of us to help get our families up and out the door to church on time – or shucks, maybe even early. 

Oh – and since we are, after all, going to meet with our church family so that we can worship our Creator together, I’d love to hear how you encourage your family to be on time, while maintaining joy and smiles! Nothing like good ol’ family chaos to put us in the correct frame of mind to praise God. {cough}

Here’s what works for our family…when it works:

  • Do as much on Saturday to prepare as possible. Showers and baths taken, clothes laid out, Bibles and shoes by the door.
  • Make breakfast easy. Either we have oatmeal, or I bake something the night before so all we have to do is grab and eat.
  • No Sunday morning down time allowed. If you’re not completely ready to leave – with shoes on your feet, contribution money in your pocket, and teeth brushed, you sure as heck better not be shooting baskets in the hallway with a Nerf basketball. (Don’t they know I’m trying to keep that joy and godliness in my Sunday morning routine?!)
  • Mom gets up earlier than normal, allowing for twice as much time as it normally takes to get ready. (And sometimes it’s still not enough.)

I am really excited for you to share on this topic!! What do you do to help your family make it to church on time? All ideas are welcome. If it works for you, it may work for someone else. Even if it just works sometimes. Or on the days when the kids don’t play basketball in the hallway before getting out of their pajamas….

Regarding this question, and many others, I have really enjoyed reading the eBook:  4 Moms of 35+ Kids Answer Your Parenting Quesions. In this eBook, these wise moms address topics like:  How do you get your family to church on time? How do you teach children to be still and quiet in church? How do you keep your patience in the midst of chaos? How do you teach your children to do chores? How do you deal with sibling squabbles? And so much more.

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What a valuable resource for all who are raising children. I encourage you to look into 4 Moms of 35+ Kids Answer Your Parenting Quesions. 

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Gratituesday: Who is a Homemaker?

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Who is a homemaker?

Hi. I’m Laura. I have a husband and four kids. I am a stay-at-home mom. I work a full time job from my home. I homeschool my children. We eat whole foods. I don’t like cleaning. I have a big garden. I am a homemaker.

Allow me to introduce you to my friend Gail. She is a college professor who spends many hours in a classroom and in an office each day. She has blessed thousands of college students through the years. She and her husband are empty nesters, enjoying their children and grandchildren when they have a chance to see them every few months. Gail doesn’t like cooking – never has, never will. Last I heard, she pays someone else to clean her house for her. Her home is always open, and I always feel comfortable and welcome when I am at Gail’s house. Gail is a homemaker.

Please meet my friend, Michele. She is single, with no children. I often see her serving those around her, particularly those with many small children. She involves herself in many ministries at church, at camp, and in the community. She frequently invites people into her home. She knows how to feed an army, and does so regularly. Michele is a homemaker.

I have to tell you about my dear friend Madge. She is in her late 80’s (or early 90’s?), a widow after enjoying a lifetime of marriage to her sweetheart. Madge is lonely. She can no longer drive on her own. Her adult children and grandchildren, as well as some Christian friends, help her get around and make sure she is always at church and involved in other activities. Each time I see her, she has a smile and words of wisdom to share with me. “Let go and let God.” That will always be my favorite quote from her. Madge always cuts out my newspaper articles from the weekly column I write and sends them to my Nana. Madge is a homemaker.

Have you met my friend Brenda? She just received her masters degree. Her three kids are teenagers (one is in college) which has her frequently on the go with their public school events and extracurricular activities. She hates to clean, and claims that her housekeeping skills leave much to be desired. I beg to differ. I’ve seen her piles of “clutter.” They resemble my own, helping me know that I’m in good company. She has people in and out of her home daily – particularly her kids’ friends and neighbors. Brenda is a homemaker.

And then there is my friend Lindsey, who, unlike Brenda and myself,  loves to clean. Loves it.  Her house is always spotless, and her smile is beautiful. She is so much fun to be with, and she is intentional about keeping her marriage and family strong and growing in the Lord. Her two little girls go to public school, and she is very involved in their classrooms. Even though her daughters are young, I see Lindsey instilling in them a desire for purity, love for others, and love for the Lord. Lindsey is a homemaker. 

I wish you could meet my friend, Margaret. She gives the best hugs. She and her husband are retired, and loving every minute of it. She used to work full time outside of the home. Now she can often be found at her grandkid’s sports activities or serving at church. Margaret is a homemaker.

So who is a homemaker? A homemaker is all of us. A homemaker is you. A homemaker is each person who works to make a home heavenly. A person who serves, gives, loves, and cares.

Whether you work outside the home sixty hours a week or stay home full time – you are a homemaker. Whether you homeschool, public school, hate cooking, love cleaning, have too many piles of mail in your kitchen, can’t remember when you last washed your windows, decorate your home with elaborate handmade crafts, or wouldn’t know a piece of raffia if it hit you in the face – you are a homemaker.

Thank you God for the beautiful gift of homemaking – in all its forms. We are blessed!

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Menu Plan for the Week (Where’s the Fruit?!)

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As I looked over my kitchen in an effort to plan this week’s menu, I realized how low we are on fresh and frozen produce. Indeed, we are Fruitless in Seattle…er, Nebraska.

Actually, I think it just seems this way because we are so spoiled. I love having a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to choose from when I plan my meals. To get us through the beginning of the week, we do have just a few apples, oranges, and bananas. There is home-canned applesauce in the pantry. I have some frozen peas, green beans, strawberries, and blueberries. There is a little lettuce in the fridge. Otherwise, I’m looking forward to a shopping trip soon! I’ll plan to snap a picture of what I get and share it with you. (To clarify, I’ll share the picture, not the produce. Sorry. My boys eat big.)

Soooo – if you look at the menu plan and think, “Wow, she just keeps putting a generic “fruit” or “vegetable” as a side dish,” that is because by those days I anticipate being completely out of whatever we currently have on hand, and I’m not sure what I’ll be blessed to find at the store. Who knows? It could be that on Thursday, we’ll have kumquats! (Because as we all know, kumquats are plentiful in Nebraska this time of year.)  ;)

Sunday, April 28
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Chicken sandwiches, carrots, fruit
High School Huddle – Italian pasta bake, green beans, cream cheese corn, frosted brownies (these brownies, this frosting)

Monday, April 29
Quick mix pancakes, applesauce
Taco corn fritters, fruit kefir smoothies
Cheeseburger mac, tossed salad, peas

Tuesday, April 30
Peanut butter chocolate chip muffins, apples
Cheddar ranch burgers, sweet potato fries, fruit smoothies
Calico beans, tossed salad

Wednesday, May 1
Scrambled egg sandwiches, fruit
Sloppy joes, ranch potato wedges, green beans
Italian roast wraps, tossed salad

Thursday, May 2
Zucchini bread, bananas
Hot spinach and artichoke dip, fruit
Homemade pizza, tossed salad

Friday, May 3
Fried eggs, toast, fruit
Turkey ranch pinwheels, steamed veggies
Tuna casserole, veggies

Saturday, May 4
Sweet pepper fritata, fruit
Leftovers
Swiss steak, rice, veggies

How’s your supply of fruits and veggies? Ever had a kumquat? (Can’t say that I actually ever have.)  

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Save the Date! Upcoming Denver and Colorado Springs Meet and Greet Events

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I am very excited that details of our upcoming Colorado Meet and Greets are coming together! Those of you who live in or close to Denver and Colorado Springs – I hope you can make it. I would love to meet you!

Here are the plans as we know them up to this point. Please mark these dates on your calendar. I’ll be sure to give some reminders as the time gets closer!

Saturday, May 18 ~ Denver, CO ~ 10:00 am ~ Purple Door Coffee
Sunday, May 19 ~ Colorado Springs, CO ~ 3:00 pm ~ Panera Bread, located at 3120 New Center Point

Any Colorado Springs ladies want to help me figure out a good location for a meeting place? I have a couple of ideas, but if you know of a great (easy to access) coffee shop, church fellowship area, or the like – please email me!

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Four Boys, Three Meals Each, One Happy Tired Mom

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This has been one fun week! If you recall, our four boys were in charge of planning and cooking meals one day each this week. Here is their menu plan if you’d like a reminder.

I took pictures throughout the week, although you’ll likely notice that there are more pictures of food than boys. Trust me – this is not because they boys weren’t doing the cooking. It’s simply because the older my boys get, the less excited they are about having their lives documented on my blog for all the world to see. I respect that. So instead of seeing them stir their muffins, you just get to see the muffins. (With the exception of one Elias picture and several of Malachi – who is still usually okay with having his picture taken.)

We’ll begin with Monday’s meals – the day Asa, our 15 year old, did all the cooking. He actually didn’t make breakfast that day (logistical issues), and is instead making breakfast on Saturday before soccer games. 

For lunch, he worked and worked, cutting chicken and potatoes into nuggets and fries. He then used our fryer (the one Matt and the boys gave me for Christmas!) and cycled through batch after batch of fries and chicken nuggets. I was impressed with how he never stopped working until the last batch was finished. In fact, at one point, I stepped in to help and he said, “Wait. I thought I supposed to be cooking this meal?” Sweet! I promptly put down the knife and went over to eat fresh french fries. 

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For dinner that night, Asa and I worked together to make a double batch of fresh whole wheat tortillas for tacos. That was quite a job, and he did awesome once again! He also took the time to make Peanut Butter Brownie Cups. We devoured that meal. SO good!

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Tuesday was Elias’ day – our 11 year old. He got right out of bed and made a big mountain of French Toast. 

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Just like his brother, he didn’t stop to eat until all of the bread and eggs had been made into French Toast. That’s saying a lot for a kid who is typically ready to eat his pillow as soon as he wakes up. This boy wakes up hungry and is a HUGE breakfast eater!

After breakfast, we cleaned up, then I taught Elias how to make pie crust. More on that later. :)  For lunch, Elias used the Corndog Maker he got for Christmas to make 40 corndogs. (They actually were 20 hotdogs cut in half.)  There was a grand total of three corndogs left after our meal. We sliced up pears and got out baby carrots to go with the corndogs. Oh, and we decided that our corndogs would be stickless. No need to go to the trouble to put a stick in the dog when we’re just going to devour it anyway, right?!

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Right after lunch, Elias got busy making two Cream Cheese Lime Pies. Into the fridge they went. Then, he browned hamburger meat and put his dinner into the crock pot.

When it was dinnertime, all Elias had to do was get out bowls and chips to go with his Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip. I think we had apples with this, but for the life of me, I can’t remember. And yes, we did just put our chips on the table beside our bowls. Who needs extra dishes? 

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After dinner, Matt had a few buddies over to play cards. Elias served us all some of his pie. It was crazy good!!

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That night, Justus, age 13, who was up next for cooking meals, got into the kitchen and made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins to serve for breakfast Wednesday. That got our morning off to a great start!

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Justus made us a huge lunch that day!! Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas – wow. I can’t believe how hard that kid worked.

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It was his first time to make mashed potatoes and gravy and he did awesome! See, the gravy thickened up just perfectly…

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Justus also went all out and tried a new recipe for Carrot Cake. He got fancy and decorated. To say the least, after lunch, he was exhausted. :)

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Would you believe I forgot to take pictures of his dinner? :(  He made pasta with Alfredo Sauce and steamed broccoli and carrots. It was delicious, but we rushed off to church after we ate and taking a picture completely slipped my mind.

Wednesday night when we got home from church, I asked Matt if he wouldn’t mind helping Malachi (age 8) get his Breakfast Cookies made for Thursday. They went right into the kitchen and got started, Malachi’s excitement level growing the whole time they worked. I hollered in some insufficient information about which pan to use and how many cookies to put on one pan, so the cookies sort of ran together and off the pan into the oven just a bit, but hey, that’s how we learn, right? (I’m not talking about Malachi. I’m talking about old married couples. After 18 years, we’re still learning more effective ways to communicate.)  

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I’m debating on whether or not I should tell you about the small oven fire that resulted in this slight miscommunication. Oops, I just did. Well, let’s just say it was smaller than some I’ve started in the past, and we put it out quickly. The next day, I was easily able to scrape up charred cookie drippings from the bottom of the oven. My hair still smells strangely smokey. But the breakfast cookies sure tasted good. :)

After we ate breakfast, Malachi and I got to work on the Lasagna. Yes indeed, we used store-bought noodles. By day four of helping boys cook, I was getting tired. ;)

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We ate the lasagna for lunch, since there were soccer games in the evening. It was delicious!

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After lunch, Malachi made brownies because he was set on making Death by Chocolate for dessert. In the late afternoon, he and I made a double batch of Calzones so that we could have some in the freezer as well as plenty for dinner. 

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They turned out great! Here’s round one out of four:

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And the Death by Chocolate? Well, it was as tasty as Malachi is proud…

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Sheesh, did we eat a lot of sugar this week!!! Big desserts every day of the week? Too much. But shucks, it was fun just this once.

What was I doing while my boys were cooking up a storm this week? Standing in the kitchen helping them cook, cleaning up messes with them, and offering a lot of guidance. I found that everything took at least twice if not three times as long as it normally takes me. But wow, did the boys learn a lot! 

It was wonderful having so much one-on-one time with each boy. It was super to see their excitement and willingness to work so hard all day. And I daresay, they really learned how much effort it takes to put great meals on the table three times each day. My favorite quote of the week was this:  Upon hearing that it was time to come downstairs and work on making dinner, Justus said, “Already?  I feel like I just finished cooking and cleaning up after lunch!” Uh-huh.  This is what it is to cook three meals a day for a family. I let him know that this is why I give them “the look” when they come into the kitchen asking for a snack 45 minutes after a meal. He grinned sheepishly. ;)

Did you do any cooking with your kids this week?  Fun as this week was, I’m telling you right here and now – we are having leftovers tomorrow!! This mama is tired. :)

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How in the World Am I Supposed To Serve Right Now?!

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Remember that exciting ministry announcement I told you I was going to share this week?! A few technical difficulties came up, so I’m going to have to delay the announcement for just another week or two. (Not being able to tell you yet is killllling me!)  Just know that you and I are going to get to be a part of something awesome together, many will be blessed, everyone in your family can be involved with this ministry, and, and…that’s all I can say. I suppose you can go ahead and start praying about it though. God knows what it is. :)

In the meantime, I have felt it on my heart to share my thoughts about serving with your family when the very idea of reaching out sounds overwhelming and exhausting. Maybe you have little bitty children, making it difficult to get enough sleep, find even one clean towel, and run a brush through your hair each day. You may be thinking, “Serving? With my family? How and when should I do that?”

Maybe you have a sick friend or family member. Or you just buried a loved one. Perhaps you just moved and have more boxes in your house than furniture. It could be that you or your spouse is out of work, and you don’t know where the next dollar is coming from. Maybe you are struggling to hold your marriage together. Or your children are making choices that are tearing your family apart.

prayingI am here to tell you that there is a time to serve, and a time to be served. There is a time to reach out, and a time to let others reach out and hold you. There is a time to give, and a time to receive gifts. There is a time to go, and a time to stop. There is a time to work, and a time to rest.

If it is your time to be served, be held, receive gifts, stop, and rest – with no fear, regret, or hesitation, give yourself permission to be generously loved on. 

When my mom died eight and a half years ago, there were many days I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I was pregnant with Malachi, and our other boys were ages 7, 4, and 2. I was exhausted. I was devastated. I was broken.

It was my time to be served.  People came and vacuumed my house for me. They cleaned my toilets. Meals appeared in my freezer. Friends came and whisked my kids off so that they could have some fun and so that I could grieve and rest. Oh how much love I felt from so many people who care about me.

During much of that time, I couldn’t even think about doing something for someone outside of my immediate family. And that was okay. It was hard enough to get out a box of cereal and put it on the table for breakfast. 

But then there were days when I simply needed to serve. I find it a bit hard to explain, but sometimes, I actually needed to look beyond myself and think about anything at all (anything!) besides being sad. I couldn’t do anything big (if in fact we can put a “big” and “small” value on acts of service). But the little boys and I could pack up for an hour or two to go visit a widow lady who needed comfort as much as I did. We could get out the art supplies and make cards for people. We could pray together. 

If I didn’t feel like being with people (because often, I just didn’t have it in me), we could make cookies and have Matt drop them off in our church fellowship hall for the upcoming bake sale. Or we could gather up some clothes we no longer needed and let a friend deliver them to an excited recipient.

I am amazed that even at one of my lowest points, God still provided ways for me to serve. At the same time, I continued to let others in to serve me too. I do believe this should always be the case. Sometimes we are more able to serve, sometimes we have very little to give. Let God lead you on this. He knows just what you need.

Please share your thoughts and experiences on this subject. I’d love to hear ways people have blessed you in your time of need. Have you found ways to serve others during difficult seasons in life? 

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Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

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This is one of the easiest recipes in the world. Forgot to thaw the chicken? No problem. Have some random tidbits of lettuce or beans in your fridge you need to use up? Perfect. Planning to be out of the house all afternoon and need something ready to eat when you get home…but you only have five minutes before you need to rush out the door, you forgot to make a dinner plan, your daughter can’t find her left shoe, the delivery man knocks on the door, and your toddler is running toward the toilet with your cell phone?

Chicken Tacos to the rescue.

This idea came from my friend Emily. She’s an awesome mom of two little ones. I admire how she is always working to put healthy meals on the table, while trying to save time in the process. Hmmm, kind of sounds like the majority of us, huh? We need easy, fast, tasty…and we want it to nourish our families too. That’s why I thought you’d like hearing this recipe idea.

You simply put chicken breasts into your slow cooker, dump on a jar of salsa, and walk away. (I hate to discourage you or add to your work load, but you do have to plug in the machine and turn a knob. Try not to break a nail.)

My family loves these because they can build their tacos however they like. I love this recipe because it’s adaptable based on what I have in my fridge and pantry. If I don’t have whole wheat tortillas made, but I do have some organic corn chips on hand? That’s how we eat it. And last week, I decided to fry some corn tortillas in palm shortening and have Chicken Tostadas with this recipe instead. Incredibly delicious.

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Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
 
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Author:
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups salsa
Instructions
  1. Place chicken (frozen, thawed, upside down, whatever) into your slow cooker.
  2. Pour salsa over the chicken.
  3. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours.
  4. Shred chicken mixture.
  5. Serve with any of your favorite taco fixin's.

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What is your favorite way to top a taco?  Last week when we had these, I asked Asa (our oldest) to make his famous Spicy Avocado Dip. It was so good with this chicken!

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Gratituesday: Meaningful Discussions

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Sometimes, it seems like all there is time for when it comes to talking with our families is, “go put your shoes away” and “hurry up, it’s time to leave” type conversations. Sad, but true.

I find it funny (in a not so funny way) that I can be with my kids all day – teaching them, working with them, driving them to and from games and practices, and eating with them – and not always have very many meaningful conversations. Yes, logistics have to be worked out and plans have to be made. Recounting how the soccer game played out is fun. Joking around about what might happen if a ninja alien super hero giant rat was to join our household gets the creative juices flowing (and then some). Those types of conversations serve a purpose, there’s no doubt about it. (Although, ninja alien super hero giant rat? Really? Can we not sometimes stay just a little bit more within the realm of reality while we’re eating lunch?)

Lately, Matt and I have worked to be more intentional about making our boys think about and discuss more important, and sometimes difficult, topics. They are all old enough now (ages 8-15) to go beyond silly subjects and pointless jabber. And, because of their ages, no longer do we need to keep Bible study and character training as basic and simple as we did when they were little.

Last week, we studied in depth together 1 Corinthians 13. What is love? What does it really mean to love like Jesus loves? If love isn’t rude, isn’t self-seeking, isn’t easily angered, how then can we take on those godly traits? (As in, Laura isn’t rude, Laura isn’t self-seeking, Laura isn’t easily angered… Something to meditate on, for sure.)

This week, we are studying Ephesians 6, looking in depth at the armor of God and the spiritual battle we face each day. God has already won the battle! How can we put on our armor so that we can stand our ground when evil comes our way?

This has been a great opportunity for Matt and I to share our ideas on these topics with our kids. But even better? Hearing what our boys think. Letting them express what these scriptures mean to them. Watching the wheels turn in their minds while they consider God’s love and His power to help us fight our spiritual battles.

These conversations have been rich. Our goal is to keep them going. Here’s hoping our kids will learn and grow from what they are hearing and studying. I know I sure am.

And I will brace myself for the fact that we are sure to balance these discussions with vivid and detailed accounts of a one-eyed creature whose amazing super power has everything to do with none other than earsplitting, green, gaseous bodily functions, which means that he obviously takes over large cities by….

Well anyway. You get the picture.

Share how God is working in your life 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! Please read through the Gratituesday Guidelines so that you understand what kinds of posts you can link up to share here. Posts that are linked but do not fit our Gratituesday theme will be deleted.

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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Menu Plan for the Week – The Four Boys Edition

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I had almost forgotten about this Blueberry Coffeecake recipe. It was perfect for breakfast this morning before we headed out to church. (I baked it last night so that it would be ready to serve!)

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This week, we decided to get our four boys into the kitchen for some more intense cooking experiences. They each get to take one full day, and have full responsibility for planning, cooking, and clean-up. That’s not to say that they won’t have help and guidance. But the majority of the work is up to them. It’s been lots of fun helping them plan their meals! They really had to give thought to their plans so that they would make the menu balanced throughout the day. I believe I should do this more often!

Later this week, I’ll share some pictures and tell you how it’s been going. 

Sunday, April 21
Blueberry coffee cake
Scrambled egg sandwiches, apples, baby carrots
Huddle at our friend’s house

Monday, April 22 – Asa’s day
Breakfast cake muffins, fruit
Chicken nuggets, homemade french fries, peas
Tacos

Tuesday, April 23 – Elias’ day
French toast, fruit
Homemade corndogs, pears, plums
Hamburger cream cheese dip, veggie yet to be determined, key lime pie

Wednesday, April 24 – Justus’ day
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, fruit
Pasta alfredo, steamed broccoli and carrots
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans

Thursday, April 25 – Malachi’s day
Breakfast cookies, fruit
Calzones, baby carrots
Lasagna, tossed salad, death by chocolate

Friday, April 26
Peanut butter honey toast, oranges
Meat and cheese burritos, tomatoes, fresh pineapple
Easy noodle stir fry with chicken, broccoli, carrots, asparagus, and zucchini

Saturday, April 27
Scrambled eggs, fruit-kefir smoothies
Leftovers
Grilled salmon, baked potatoes, green beans, tossed salad

Stay tuned to see how the boys do with executing their menu plans!! :)

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How Do You Serve Together as a Family?

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In a world that tells our kids that they only need to think about themselves  – we long to teach our children what it means to give, what it means to be servant-hearted, and what it means to be selfless. 

I believe these are lessons we are all, as adults, still striving to learn ourselves. In fact, you should be delighted to know that just the other day, I was as selfless and servant-hearted as can be. I then proceeded to throw a tantrum because no one recognized how kind and wonderful I had been. How dare my children not pat me on the back or give me a loving round of applause for my constant selfless acts of bending-over-backwards kindness toward them?!

Selfless?  Sounds more like I was being self-absorbed, self-motivated, and self…self…selfish! I obviously still have so much to learn.

So how do we teach our kids to be humble and servant-hearted? And how do we (the wise and wonderful grown-ups) learn to die to ourselves? 

serving_7I believe we do this by looking outward. By looking to the needs of others. By stopping the focus on ourselves and instead, focusing on truly loving those around us. 

(By the way, Jesus never threw a tantrum because he wasn’t being properly appreciated for his selfless acts. Not one time. I would do well to remember this.) 

serving_6

I find that each time I serve someone in my family or in my church or community out of true, selfless love, I am so enriched by the experience that I can’t help but be drawn closer to God. This is what I want my children to learn and understand:  That service to others is a glory to God. That this world is not our home, and we are not called to be content and comfortable, but to selflessly love and to serve. That loving on others brings pure joy that can only be achieved when we follow Jesus’ servant-hearted footsteps.

serving_5I believe the best way we can learn to serve selflessly and teach our children to serve selflessly is to work at it side by side. How ridiculous is it for me to put my kids in front of a DVD so that I can have the time to work on a ministry I’m involved in? How silly is it that I would busy my kids in another room on an act of kind service while I head to the computer to get some writing done?

serving_4Admittedly, this has to happen sometimes. But what if, the majority of the time, we all work together on ministries as a family? What if we talk together, pray together, plan together, and execute together various ministries that God has given us? In doing so, we learn together, grow together, make beautiful memories together, and slowly but surely, become selfless servants…together.

I have more to share on this topic – and I have a very exciting ministry project announcement that I’ll be writing about next week! In the meantime, let’s reflect together on how we each serve within our families. This looks different for each family, depending on your season in life, how old your kids are, and the circumstances going on around you. But I believe each family can bless others in so many different ways! So share!! What do you and your family do to bless and love on others?

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