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Time to move on and focus on the Cheeseburger Macaroni…

January 27, 2011 by Laura

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Hello Friends. 

In an effort to keep my Heavenly Homemakers site a friendly and loving place, I am now turning off the comments on the Importance of Modesty post. There has been just a little bit too much chatting going on in the comments section that hasn’t been edifying and just as I wouldn’t invite that kind of talk in my living room, I don’t welcome it on my blog. I prayed over and worked very hard to word my post in such a way that would encourage us as women to honor and respect our husbands by dressing modestly. I didn’t tell you what to wear, I simply wanted to encourage us all that modesty is an important part of being a good help meet to our husbands.

I’m going to go with the assumption that you all mean to say what you’re saying in love, but some of the comments and arguments shared as you “talk amongst yourselves” are starting to make my head (and my heart) hurt.

We all have different opinions about what modesty is and as long as you feel like you are dressing in a way that honors God and your husband, you’re doing a great job. Follow where you feel God is leading you on this issue and do so with a loving heart.

I’m turning off the comments on this post too, just because. Feel free to (kindly and lovingly) email me if you have more you feel you need to address with this subject. I’m hoping we can all cheerfully move along to the Cheeseburger Macaroni post because unless you’re lactose intolerant, there’s not too much controversy there. :)

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Cheeseburger Macaroni (A Hamburger Helper Make-Over!)

January 26, 2011 by Laura 80 Comments

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I’ve been meaning to share this recipe with you forever!!! It’s really become one of my favorites because it tastes so good and is SO easy to make. When I threw out the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge, a few of you mentioned Hamburger Helper make-overs. Isn’t there one that’s like a “Lasagna Skillet” or something like that?? You might want to try Lasagna Casserole as a very tasty alternative. And now…this Cheeseburger Macaroni!

Here’s the background information (that you may or may not care about) for my Cheeseburger Macaroni recipe:

Back in my good ol’ Coupon Queen days, I used to buy oodles of boxes of Hamburger Helper anytime they went on sale for 99¢ and I had a coupon to get them for less than that. Sometimes I’d have cabinets full of them that I’d found for just a few pennies each. I’d enjoy them for a quick and easy meal (and I’d drink a Pepsi or two with it, you can be sure).

My favorite variety of Hamburger Helper was Cheeseburger Macaroni. I LOVED it. I’d save it for special nights. Yes, special nights with Hamburger Helper, Cheeseburger Macaroni style. Wow.

Gone are the days of having a stockpile of Hamburger Helper (and my beloved Pepsi)…and I’ve gotta say that now that I’m used to eating more whole foods, the idea of either one makes me feel a little bit woozie in the tummy. But I still crave that hamburger-cheesy-noodly taste, you know?

So one day, I had some leftover taco meat and just for fun, I stirred it into the Creamy Mac and Cheese I was making for lunch. Wowza!!! My Cheeseburger Macaroni days were back…only better! Here’s how I make it:

Cheeseburger MacaroniYum

1 Pound (give or take) Ground Beef or Turkey
1 Tablespoon Taco Seasoning
1 Recipe of Creamy Mac and Cheese (pasta, milk, cheese)
Sea Salt to taste

The directions are super complicated…are you ready? Make the Creamy Mac and Cheese. Meanwhile, brown the meat. Once the meat is fully cooked, sprinkle in the taco seasoning. Stir the seasoned meat into the Creamy Mac and Cheese. Done.

If you feel like it, you can mix in about 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sour cream, or 3/4 cup of tomato sauce…this recipe is very flexible. It’s super kid friendly, and very easy to throw together on a busy night.

Now, it’s been several years before I’ve made a “convenient” box of Hamburger Helper, but I’m going to venture to say that this healthier variety of Cheeseburger Macaroni doesn’t take any longer to fix than making a box of Hamburger Helper. How ’bout that?

Were you (are you?) a Hamburger Helper lover? If you currently are…is there anything more I can say that will help you stay away from the pretty little box?

P.S. I have a Tater Tot recipe almost ready to share with you!! :)

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The Importance of Modesty

January 25, 2011 by Laura

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helpmeet

What does being modest have to do with being a good help meet to your husband? I personally think it has a lot to do with it. What’s mine is my husband’s, and not anyone else’s …and I’m not talking about bills and laundry duty…if you know what I mean.

It pains me to see women showing too much of anything anywhere at any time. I believe sometimes women (and girls) dress inappropriately without really knowing that they are…and I think that sometimes they know full well what they are doing and they feel like it is the MAN’S problem. Sure, a man has the responsibility to be godly and not gawk, but FOR REAL…if you put a rich piece of fudgy chocolate in front of my face and tell me that it’s not mine so I have no business looking at it…I’m going to do my best to have a conversation with you while you’re eating the chocolate, but you’re going to make life a little bit difficult for me. 

I’m growing more and more aware of this issue as my sons get older. How dare women and teens make my job as a parent and my son’s growing up challenges more difficult than they already are? I’m working hard to show my sons what true femininity and godly womanhood are. Please don’t cause my sons to struggle. We’re trying to prepare them to be true to each of their wives some day.

I wish I was just addressing a worldly problem here. It makes sense to me when women “of the world” dress immodestly. They don’t know the Truth and it makes me hurt for them. But in all my years of being a part of the Christian community, I’ve recognized that our admonition to “dress modestly” is not very clearly defined. It has become very clear to me that there are many different ideas about what it means to be modest. And I see that even in the Christian community, modesty isn’t very well understood.

I run the risk of stepping on some toes with this post, which of course is not my intent. My purpose for writing this post is to encourage all of us to think carefully about what we wear, about how it looks to others and about how it effects our marriage. As Christian women, we should have a heart that desires to build up others and draw them closer to Christ.  If what you’re wearing doesn’t do that…throw it away. It’s that important. 

Don’t worry, you’ll find another favorite sweater. I promise there are cute, trendy clothes out there to be found that ARE modest. To think that “this is just what everyone is wearing these days so I can’t really find anything else” is a big lie from Satan. Don’t believe it.

To me, being modest means that you respect what belongs to your husband, or if you’re not married yet, you respect what belongs to your future husband. If you’re married, there are some very appropriate (and FUN!) times to dress in skimpy, lacy, alluring clothes…so by all means…go for it…when you and your husband are alone. God has a purpose for a man being attracted to a woman’s body, and hello married women…this is it! Enjoy it!

But do you really want someone else to see what is your husband’s…even just a little bit? I big fat don’t. It sickens me to think of another man seeing or thinking about me as anything but as a Christian sister. Why would I dress in a way that causes a man to do exactly what I don’t want him to do?

Be cute, look attractive, smile sweetly…and dress modestly. Men everywhere (and mothers of boys!) will appreciate this so much. And so will your husband. The end.
———————————————————————–

EDITED TO SAY:

Hello Friends. In an effort to keep my Heavenly Homemakers site a friendly and loving place, I am now turning off the comments on this post. There has been just a little bit too much chatting going on in the comments section that hasn’t been edifying and just as I wouldn’t invite that kind of talk in my living room, I don’t welcome it on my blog. I prayed over and worked very hard to word my post in such a way that would encourage us as women to honor and respect our husbands by dressing modestly. I didn’t tell you what to wear, I simply wanted to encourage us all that modesty is an important part of being a good help meet to our husbands.

I’m going to go with the assumption that you all mean to say what you’re saying in love, but some of the comments and arguments shared as you “talk amongst yourselves” are starting to make my head (and my heart) hurt.

We all have different opinions about what modesty is and as long as you feel like you are dressing in a way that honors God and your husband, you’re doing a great job. Follow where you feel God is leading you on this issue and do so with a loving heart.

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

Gratituesday: Prayer for Healing

January 24, 2011 by Laura 23 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

When my friends are hurt, I hurt. 

Last week, one of my friends became very ill. I’ve watched my church family rally around her family, helping with the kids, taking meals…and I’ve been so thankful to be a part of a body of believers that cares for one another.

I’ve been fighting a head cold myself, so it wasn’t wise for me to head over to her house to offer any help. But I’m doing much better now so finally tonight I got to go for a short visit. 

I didn’t do much. I delivered milk to her door and made a Wal-mart list of things they needed since I was on my way to the store. That was it.

But I got to hug my friend’s neck…and more importantly…I got to do what I’d been longing to do since I heard she’d become sick:  I got to pray with her.

Prayer is so powerful. When I feel helpless to do something to “make everything better” when truly, there’s not much I can do to help her body heal…I am so thankful that I can fall to my knees, take my friend’s hands, and pray.

It was beautiful, and I’m not sure but that she may have felt just a little bit better when I left. 

I know I sure did.

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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Menu Plan for the Week and How to Find Recipes on HeavenlyHomemakers.com

January 23, 2011 by Laura 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’ve been having fun the last few days working on some new recipes for the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge!! Some of you added Homemade Barbeque Sauce to the challenge list…so I thought I’d post the link here and say, guess what? I already have a Homemade Barbeque Sauce recipe on the site! It’s incredibly easy to make. Now, if I could just figure out a good ketchup recipe to use in the Homemade Barbeque Sauce (I’ve been just using an organic, no high fructose corn syrup variety) to make the BBQ Sauce even better!

bbqsauce2sm.JPG

I’ve categorized all the recipes on my site to make them as organized and as easy as possible for you to find. If you’re new here, I wanted to be sure and point out my RECIPES link across the top of my site. If you put your cursor over that button, you’ll see a big list of recipe categories drop down (Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Gluten Free, Dairy, Condiments, etc.). Then you can click around for hours and find yummy food to make for your family! :)

Here’s our menu for this week:

Sunday, January 23
Oatmeal, apples
BBQ Brisket, cream scalloped potatoes, green beans
Going to a baby shower with ladies and girls – taking Baby Carrots with Homemade Ranch Dip and Baby Pickles, Peanut Butter Honey Fudge, Baby Quiches, Tiny Meatballs; Dads and boys all coming to our house to hang out and eat Beefy Vegetable Soup and Crispy Cheese Crackers! Maybe I’ll leave them a little bit of Peanut Butter Honey Fudge. Maybe.   :)

Monday, January 24
Pancake and sausage muffins, applesauce
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad, corn
Chicken tostadas

Tuesday, January 25
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Spicy avocado dip, chips, fruit salad
Cheddar ranch burgers
 on homemade whole wheat buns, potato wedges, carrot sticks

Wednesday, January 26
Giant breakfast cookies, bananas
Chicken tortilla soup, strawberry-peach slushies
Lamb chops, spaghetti squash, steamed broccoli and carrots

Thursday, January 27
Whole wheat and honey zucchini muffins, scrambled eggs, pears
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Venison steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Friday, January 28
Fruit, yogurt, toast
Meat and cheese burritos, oranges
Chicken stew, soft pretzels

Saturday, January 29
Apricot breakfast bars, applesauce
Leftovers
Chili, fruit

Take advantage of Say Mmm’s free menu planning service!

You’ll find a fun Menu Planning link-up every Monday at Organizing Junkie. If you post your menu plan, you may enjoy linking up your menu there, as well as taking a peek through what others have on their menus each week!

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

Compromising Our Whole Foods Diet

January 21, 2011 by Laura 98 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Tonight we’re hosting Elias’ 9th birthday party. 

You know how our house is always full of boys? Tonight there are even more of them. Right now they are all running around shooting each other with laser guns and Nerf guns and somehow I think there is a hallway basketball game going on at the same time. Now that takes talent.

We always let the birthday boy choose his party food. He usually takes into consideration what he thinks his buddies will like. And, surprise – surprise, he usually doesn’t choose “Tossed Salad” or “Spinach Smoothies”.

I was recently asked by one of you (but for the life of me I can’t find the comment to quote it exactly):  “Laura, can you tell us what foods you will occasionally buy at the store for convenience…and which foods you will NEVER buy?”

This probably doesn’t answer that question as specifically as the commenter was wishing for, but well…here’s what I bought for Elias’ birthday party dinner tonight…

If that’s not a compromise I don’t know what is.

I have to say that it was more than a little bit painful pulling them off of the freezer shelf and paying actual money for them. Incidentally, I also had TWO GALLONS worth of vodka in my cart on this shopping trip as we’re getting ready to start yet another big round of Homemade Vanilla Extract. Yep, it looked like one BIG party in my shopping cart tonight. ;)

The pizza rolls were Elias’ choice and while the ingredient list is longer than my hand (I am not even kidding), I have to say that it was a nice relief to just throw them in the oven and put out some paper plates and call it dinner. Besides, I was in the middle of baking his birthday cake and getting Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls ready for tomorrow’s breakfast for all the boys. The ease of dinner (if we can actually call it dinner) was really nice.

Here’s why I feel okay (not great, but okay) about buying and feeding my family these pizza rolls tonight:  We eat a really healthy diet about 357 days of the year. On those other few days or moments of the year when we are traveling, eating with others, hosting parties, going to parties or attending any event that has a meal comprised of chips and candy…we go with the flow. We don’t act all “weirded out” about the fact that we’re being served food that doesn’t meet our normal healthy eating criteria. If I’m offered Nacho Cheese Doritos at a get-together, you better believe I’m going to have a few and I’m going to enjoy myself.

We try not to go over-board and pig out because yikes…our tummies aren’t used to eating that kind of stuff. But we really cannot be enslaved by healthy eating.  Being paralyzed by these fears can be unhealthy in and of itself.  Compromising used to be a huge fear of mine, especially when I was first learning about what was healthy and what was SCARY and unhealthy. But I’ve “come down off the ledge” and realized that a few crazy junk foods here and there are not going to kill us. Especially when we follow it up as soon as possible with good, wholesome, nutrition-filled foods.

Which we will, by the way…tomorrow.  Those spinach smoothies will be making their appearance.

And for the record, while there are many things I just close my eyes and compromise on occasionally…I will never, ever knowingly or willingly purchase or eat margarine. Can’t do it. Won’t do it. Can’t even think about it.

Blech. Helgpaht. Mliiegylk. Pgvughhha.

Eeek, I get very gaggy when it comes to the thought of the yellowed tub of chemically created fatty-fattness spread that we’re told is better than rich cream whipped into golden goodness…otherwise known as REAL butter.

But a pizza roll or a Dorito…yeah…I’ll eat one here and there. That doesn’t even make sense does it?

So what types of “food” will you compromise on sometimes?  And which “foods” make you screw up your face and say Helgpaht-blephln?

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Whole Wheat Lemon Pound Cake

January 21, 2011 by Laura 46 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

healthy_celebrations_med

It’s been birthday week at our house, as our third son turned nine on Tuesday. We now have 13, 10, 9 and 6 year olds at our house (and two 37 year olds but never mind that). 

Birthday week means mom makes a special treat…usually a cake chosen by the birthday boy. I’ve tried to come up with healthier varieties of cakes and treats so that we’re not just consuming empty calories…even if it is a birthday. You can click through this entire section of Healthy Celebrations if you’re interested in finding other healthier varieties of treats I’ve shared in the past. I mean, Lemon Pound Cake is delicious, but sometimes you just need Chocolate. Or is that just me? Regardless, hopefully you’ll find something fun that will please your sweet tooth in our Healthy Celebrations section…and I plan to continue to add to this category as I continue to experiment. If you recall, White Cake and Angel Food Cake are both on the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge list!

For some reason, two of the last three birthdays celebrated at our house have included a Lemon Pound Cake. It has been fun to experiement with…although the first time I got a little bit carried away with the lemon juice. We were all pretty puckered up by the end of that cake. Whew! A little lemon goes a long way!

lemon_pound_cake

Lemon Pound CakeYum

1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 1/4 cups sugar (I use sucanat and I’m pretty sure honey would work well in this recipe)
1/4 cup 100% lemon juice (from a bottle or from freshly squeezed lemons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

With beaters, whip butter, sour cream, sucanat, lemon juice and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time beating well with each one, or until you get tired of adding eggs one at a time…then just crack them all in and beat well. (Sometimes I get so lazy about individual egg cracking…)  Beat in flour and baking powder until the batter is well mixed.

Pour cake batter into a well buttered cake pan (I use a fluted cake ring pan). Bake in a 325° oven for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing cake from pan and placing on a cake plate. Allow cake to cool completely before pouring Lemon Glaze over the top…

Lemon Glaze

1/2 cup 100% lemon juice  (if that’s too much lemon for ya, just cut the amount of juice down and substitute water)
1 cup powdered sugar (I recommend using unbleached organic powdered sugar or your own homemade powdered sugar from sucanat)

Use a fork (or a spoon or a whisk or whatever is clean at the moment) to mix the two ingredients. Drizzle the glaze over the cake. You can even use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the cake before you start to drizzle so that some of the glaze goes down into the cake!!

lemonpoundcake

So are you a lemon lover? Does lemon make you pucker? Have you ever been one of those parents who have given their baby a lemon wedge, just to see the face they make?

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Excuse Me Ma’am…Are Those Your Handcuffs?

January 19, 2011 by Laura 23 Comments

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That’s the question the Whole Foods employee asked me as we were leaving the store Friday night. “Ma’am…are those your handcuffs?”

It’s a routine grocery store question, isn’t it? “Would you like paper or plastic?” “Did you find everything you were looking for?” “Do all of those boys belong to you?” “Are those your handcuffs?”

Or maybe that’s  just me.  Eh, I have four boys…questions like this have been typical for the past thirteen years.

Our youngest, Malachi, is very into playing “policeman”. Or “cowboy”. Or “Cowboy-Policeman-Ninja-Superhero”. Yes, he’s quite well rounded…we’re very proud. 

His grandparents got him some handcuffs with a real key and everything at Christmas time. He couldn’t be more excited. The handcuffs round out his Policeman-Cowboy-Ninja-Superhero outfit very well. He loves them and has them attached to his belt loop (right beside his holster and pistol) at all times – except for when we insist that he take them off…like at bath time or for Bible class. 

Friday night, somehow the handcuffs made their way into the grocery store with us. I was busy trying to find the best deals on chicken and fish…leaving the police work to my six year old. Somewhere between the dairy section and aisle five, the handcuffs got hooked onto the handle of the grocery cart. Then, the Policeman-Cowboy-Ninja-Superhero became distracted with the huge selection of cereal. Said handcuffs were forgotten as puffs of sugared peanut butter in boxes decorated with brightly colored panda bears became much more interesting.

We were through the line and ready to head out the door when a nice grocery bagger near the exit noticed the handcuffs and hollered,  “Excuse me Ma’am…are those your handcuffs?”

More than a few customers looked up from picking out the prettiest apples to see what in the world the gal meant and who pray tell she was talking to.

What? That question isn’t a typical produce section question they’re used to hearing? 

The key to the handcuffs was (of course) nowhere to be found…but if you’re smarter than a six year old (or at least as smart as a Policeman-Cowboy-Ninja-Superhero), you know how to use the little “handcuff-release-gear-thingy” to open them up. Incidentally, it only took me two weeks to figure out that the cuffs had such a feature, after finding them hooked onto kitchen drawers and dining room chairs a few too many times for my liking. By the way, speaking as a common criminal at my house, I can attest to the fact that it is not easy to type with  handcuffs on. Nor is it easy to reach the “handcuff-release-gear-thingy” on the left hand with a cuffed right hand. 

Anyhoo…it didn’t take long for the other Whole Foods customers to figure out to whom the handcuffs on the cart belonged:  The woman with a big grin and four handsome boys following her out the door.

It’s a good thing the rubber snake didn’t fall out of my purse right at that moment. Now THAT might have created a scene.

In case you’re interested…we had a delightful time at Whole Foods, using a few free gift cards we had earned through Shop it to Me  referrals! Thank you so much to all of you who signed up. I hope you not only signed up, but also have been referring your family and friends so that you can earn free gift cards too!!

We were able to get chicken and tilapia and yogurt and butter and cheese (and some snack bars that got eaten on our way home!) for just over $20 out of pocket by using some in store coupons and our Shop it to Me gift cards. We were heading to Omaha anyway for Asa’s basketball game, so we were excited to make a Whole Foods run! I can not wait to eat that Tilapia!! (It was half price that day!)

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

Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge

January 18, 2011 by Laura 210 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

One of the most frequently asked question that I hear from many of you through emails is, “Laura, do you think you could come up with a healthier version of _______?”

It would appear that you have become aware of how much I get a kick out of experimenting and coming up with new, healthy recipes in my “spare time”! Yes it’s true. I love playing with ingredients.

Your past requests and challenges have resulted in fun new recipes for Poptarts, Pancake Sausage Muffins, Chewy Granola Bars, Corndog Muffins, Hot Dog Buns, Dressing Mixes, Taco Seasoning,  Funnel Cakes, and many other cool recipe ideas that were inspired by YOU. I love taking family favorite ideas that may normally be unhealthy (like a poptart), and fiddling with the idea until I come up with a recipe that pleases the fam and is healthy(er) too! (It never hurts when the recipe is easy to make and saves money too, huh?)

granola_bars_3

Each time one of you sends in a recipe challenge or an idea, I add it to my list of foods to experiment with. You all come up with so many great ideas!! Yeah, that’s my way of saying…wow my list is really long.

I decided that it would be fun during 2011 to share part of my list with you and have you offer input for your top choices of recipes for me to try. Then all during this year, I’ll play with ingredients and get lots of honey and tomato paste and butter on my face (though not all at the same time) as I experiment to come up with some new favorite recipes to share.

Here is my list of items you’ve requested for me to come up with a “Healthier Version” of:

  1. Tater Tots
  2. Twinkies
  3. Ketchup
  4. Mayonnaise
  5. Corn Tortillas
  6. White Chocolate Baking Chips and Butterscotch Baking Chips (like these Homemade Chocolate Chips, only white chocolate or butterscotch)
  7. Fig Newtons
  8. Teriyaki Sauce
  9. Ritz Crackers
  10. Onion Soup Mix
  11. Bleu Cheese Dressing
  12. Cereal Bars
  13. Angel Food Cake
  14. White Cake (which we’ve already discussed that if using whole wheat flour and sucanat, this cake would really be tan…)
  15. Chocolate Milk

I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the requests that you’ve sent in, so please feel free to add those ideas if you’d like. And now…I’d appreciate it if you’d all leave a comment letting me know your top two or three recipe choices from the list above so that I know where I should start with this challenge!

And now, if you’ll pardon me…I’m going to go put on my apron and start grinding some flour. Let the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge begin!

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

Gratituesday: History Lessons

January 17, 2011 by Laura 39 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I am dealing with a head cold, which has resulted in laryngitis, which is why it is amazing that you can all hear me telling about what I’m grateful for this week. ;)

It’s very difficult to parent your children when you can’t really talk to them. Even just giving them a small command like “Come eat” is difficult…much less trying to offer them advice or break up a squabble. I’m thankful that my voice is starting to come back. I’ll be singing and reading and loudly breaking up arguments in no time, right?!

One big problem with not being about to talk is the fact that I generally read aloud to my kids a lot during each school day. Matt has happily stepped in and done all the reading today, but here is what I recognized:

I had full permission and some very real excuses to take the day off and go hide and read and be by myself all day while Dad took over school time. The very idea sounded lovely and appealing and I fully intended to do it. 

But then I realized that I didn’t want to miss out on what was being read. If Matt and the boys did all the reading without me, I would have missed all the chapters read today and the transcontinental railroad had almost made it all the way from New York to California. HOW could I possibly miss the part where the railroad finally came together?!

So Matt read to all of us today…even the Mama, who has finally, now that she is all grown up, decided that she loves history lessons. I know I’ve said it before at various times, but I was reminded again today about how much I enjoy homeschooling our kids and how much I want to be a part of their education. Learning has become such a joy, and while I love watching my kids learn, I just LOVE what I’m learning too!!! History never made sense to me as all the reading I had to do as a student seemed so dry. I only read it so that I could get a good grade on the test, never with the intent to actually learn (if that makes any sense at all).

I have gained a much bigger appreciation for the people of our past now that I am seeing how history played out in the big picture. Through books like Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World series and Joy Hakim’s History of US…I finally feel like I get it now.

I’m grateful to be able to share that History Lessons are really, really cool. Now, if I could just get my full voice back so I can get back to reading out loud. :)

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