Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Health Insurance…Or Not?

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I sort of have a love/hate relationship with health insurance.

I love it when it actually does something to help us (which is rare…but we have had a few times when it has actually paid for something).

I don’t love it during all the times that it doesn’t do anything (except take our money for premiums…and then not cover anything) Grr.

Now that we’ve started using more natural health options, our health insurance really doesn’t seem to be worth having. Insurance companies tend to freak out when you use the word “natural.” Yikes!

We’ve started looking into Christian Healthcare Ministries. With this program, the money we pay each month actually goes directly to another family with medical bills. If we were ever in need, this organization would help us directly, thanks to the sharing of other Christian families. We love that concept, and it just seems to make so much sense.

Christians helping Christians. Love it.

So, I’m wondering…what experiences do all of you have with health insurance…or alternative ideas like Christian Healthcare Ministries?

What are your thoughts on how we as Christians should best be using our money in this area?

Share with me your ideas and opinions!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How we save thousands on health insurance every year

~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been a few years since I originally wrote this post. Since then, we jumped aboard with Christian Healthcare Ministries and haven’t looked back.

It has been fantastic!

We’ve saved thousands of dollars every year using this. They’ve met our needs fully. They have been wonderful to work with through medical issues we’ve had. My favorite: They didn’t worry about pre-existing conditions.

I highly recommend you look into this for your family!

Our family of six pays only $135/month for Bronze Coverage. That is perfect for our family since we choose alternative medicine if at all possible. Instead of paying high monthly premiums that cover nothing for our family, we pay a very low monthly premium and put money in savings to cover a deductible if we need it and to cover our chiropractor or natural doctor bills as needed.

With the cost of health insurance rising, the coverage getting worse, and the frustration mounting – look into Christian Healthcare Ministries. We are so thankful God has provided this!

Christian Healthcare Ministries

P.S. Many have looked into Christian Healthcare Ministries since I posted this. It seems that if you give them our insurance number, our family will get a referral bonus which would cover the cost one month of fees for us. What a wonderful perk! If you feel this is a good option for you, our referral number is 145625. Thanks! :)

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Eat More Fruits and Veggies: Fruit and Yogurt Delight

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I couldn’t decide if this went better in the “Eat More Fruits and Veggies” category, or the “Here are some great breakfast ideas for you” category. Because really, it fits into both. What a deal!!

This is super simple to make and so, so yummy. Actually, it’s just delightful – which is why I just had to give it this cheesy name:  “Fruit and Yogurt Delight.” I know, it sounds like something you’d get at the Mayberry Drug Store and share with Opie or something. Bet he’d think that’d be swell.

But, take a look at this, and you tell me – does that not look delightful?!

Fruit_and_Yogurt_Parfait

Yum

So, Fruit and Yogurt Delight, the recipe:

2 cups plain yogurt (yes, plain – see below for soapbox.)
4-8 drops of stevia, or 1-2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup each of fresh or frozen strawberries and blueberries

Mix yogurt, stevia or maple syrup and vanilla. Layer yogurt and fruit in a dish, thus making it delightful to eat, and delightful to look at.

Here’s my delightful little taste tester:

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Here’s my promised yogurt soapbox:

I get so frustrated because SO MANY things in the store are advertised as being SO good for us but really it’s not (oh, don’t get me started). But one of my biggest frustrations is yogurt. It’s supposedly like the greatest health food according to almost everyone who says that it is. It’s full of high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors and artificial flavors. OR if it’s the “no sugar added” kind, it has fake junk in it to make it sweet.

I could go on and on. (But I won’t – today.)

So, if you get the plain yogurt (or make your own) and add some yummy (and REAL) things to it, it’s just well, delightful!

Go give this a try!

Be sure to keep coming back for more yummy and healthy recipes. (And I promise to come up with names that are a little less June Cleaver next time…)

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Thirteen Things I Don’t Have in My House

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Last week, I posted 13 things that I have at least 13 of at my house…

This week I thought I’d post about 13 things I don’t have at my house… (because I am just so clever) (yeah, or just a little bit desperate for material…)

So here you go. 

Thirteen things that I DON’T have at my house.

1. Baby Dolls

We don’t have a one. If a little girl comes over to our house to play, she must settle for a light saber. Ooh, or an action figure. Surely she could hold and rock a little plastic ninja turtle to sleep… Nah, usually she just settles for the light saber and joins in with our crazy fun.

2.  Soccer shoes…size 1 

We have about 23 pairs of soccer cleats in all different sizes…because of hand-me-downs…all stored in a closet for the boys as they grow and need a different size. But we don’t have a size one soccer cleat. And that’s the size Elias needs this year. (sigh)

3.  Leftovers 

I think those are a part of our past. The boys (and their daddy) just keep eating until it’s gone, and then they say, “What else can I eat?” 

4. Complete sets of crayons

It’s not like this matters too much, but where’s the blue-violet when you need one?

5. Wii Game System 

But I do hear often of how nice it would be if we did have one. (The poor deprived sweeties will just have to settle for playing on their PS2, game boys, Leap Pad, Computer….)

6. Pencils that have a nice eraser on them 

What is it about erasers on pencils that get all hard and funky…and instead of erasing…they just leave a dark gray nasty smudge across the page?

7. Pens or paper by my telephone 

Or anywhere else when I need them, for that matter. Who keeps moving them…I’d like to know?

8.  Hair Thingamajiggers   

With the exception of a couple of ponytail holders for my hair…my house is free of bows, barrettes, head bands, and clips. For our boys…we have a comb…and they use it…on occasion.

9.  Snacks 

Okay, well…I do…but it all depends on when you read this post…because I do, and then they’re gone…and then I make more…and they’re gone. Right now I do…oh wait…nope…they’re gone.

10. Completed Scrapbooks   

The future wives of my sons will probably not appreciate the fact that for a wedding gift, I will lovingly hand over to them a book with one newborn picture in it and a little lock of hair…along with a big box of photos…all in random order. It’s a good day at my house when I actually remember to take a picture in the first place. (I know…all you scrapbookers out there are yelling at me! Sorrrrry. It’s just not my gift.) 

11. Clean windows 

Although, it is a goal of mine to get busy handing squirt bottles and rags to my boys so that they can be busy cleaning them now that it’s finally spring.

12. Soft playdough 

It seems that when the boys get out the playdough to make me some “lunch”…they never seem to remember to put it back into the container and close it too. Crusty playdough is just not nearly as much fun.

13.

(Yeah…13 is left blank on purpose. Get it? 13 things I don’t have at my house….I don’t have a number 13. Get it?)

(Oh, brother…)

Thursday Thirteen Hub here

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Pause Your Nose!

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With four kids…all of them old enough to talk…and all of them with VERY important things to say…things that MUST be said RIGHT now…

Sometimes I can feel overwhelmed with everyone talking at once and never really feeling like I can hear any of them.

It sorta sounds something like:

“MOM! We-I-Can-But-are-need-you-I-going-to-get-need-to-go-me-to-have-potty-a-pillow-fight-drink-talk-to-you!”

Okay, um…what?!

And of course, trying to have a conversation with my husband…one that I can actually finish…kinda looks something like thi……

(I may never really know how his work day really went…)

So while we’re working with the kids (constantly) to not interrupt…and to recognize that when others are speaking, they need to wait their turn…

And helping them to understand that their need to tell me about what happened to LarryBoy on the most recently watched Veggie Tale show is maybe not as urgent as they might think that it is…

I one day came up with a little tool that worked for me.

As two of my boys walked into the room and both started talking at once…I just reached out my pointer finger at one of them, pushed gently on his nose and said, “Pause.” (as if I was pushing his pause button…)

And he did…pause.

The first boy finished what he was saying.

And then I turned back to the other one and pushed his nose again, and said, “Unpause.” He grinned…and finished what he had started to say earlier.

From then on, I have been pushing their little pause button noses left and right. (so to speak…) 

It’s a lot easier than saying, “Please wait until your brother is finished talking, and then you can have your turn to speak…” 

Oh, and the kids love it!

Now, I am so used to pausing noses…that one day while talking to my friend in the church foyer…one of my kids came up and really needed to say something important…so I reached up without thinking and pushed my friend’s nose and said, “Pause.” 

She started laughing…and said, “Um, did you just pause my nose?”

And I realized that indeed…I had just pushed on my friend’s nose and told her to pause. 

(Thankfully she loved the idea and started using it with her own kids. I’m pretty sure she has since then paused my nose on occasion…)

While I am now more careful about who’s noses I’m pausing in church foyers…this plan works VERY well for my kids…and I highly recommend it!

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Gratituesday: Always Enough…

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I am constantly reminded that God will always give us enough.

Enough to eat…enough to wear…enough to pay the bills…enough.

Last week…because of rain and…um…more rain…Matt was unable to work for a day and a half. (He works construction…and…it’s not a good idea to install someone’s windows when it’s raining… Yeah, homeowners don’t really care for the open hole in the wall while rain is pelting down…silly, I know.)

So, while we REALLY enjoyed having daddy home during that time…we were cringing just a bit by the lack of income. (Because getting stuff done at home just doesn’t pay as much per hour…)

But, Matt has been doing quite a bit of soccer refereeing (is that a word?) this spring…and we knew he had a few games over the weekend, so we thought…”well, that will help some.”

Well…guess what?

When he showed up to referee on Saturday…they ended up needing him for an extra game…plus he did a couple on Sunday afternoon.

Guess how much he got paid for all of his games over the weekend?

Yep, exactly what he would have gotten for his day and a half of missed work during the week. 

Exactly.

God always gives us enough. Always.

:)

—————————————————————————————

So…what did God do for YOU this week?! Leave us a comment….or… Blog about it and come back and link up! Share with us how God is working in your life…even if it’s “just” a simple thing! Simple things are worth praising God about! Let’s encourage one another this Gratituesday!

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Eat More Fruits and Veggies: Chicken Veggie Quesadillas

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Continuing on the quest to eat more fruits and veggies…I came up with this recipe.

And OH MY! You MUST try these! 

When you eat them…just know that they are a little messy and drippy…

But you’ll get to enjoy licking your fingers and slurping up all the good stuff off of your plate and savoring the flavor.

(Or, if you want to…use a napkin…but really..that is not nearly as fun.)

There’s a bit of everything in these:  sweet, spicy, crunchy, creamy, meaty and cheesy. 

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Chicken Veggie QuesadillasYum

1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 T. chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped sweet green chili pepper
2 T. olive oil
3/4 cup corn
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into bites
1 medium tomato, cut into bite sized pieces
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 t. chili powder (more or less according to your taste)
10 whole wheat tortillas

Saute peppers and onions in olive oil for 3-4 minutes. In a medium mixing bowl stir together corn, chicken, grated cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and chili powder. Fold in sauted veggies. 

In a skillet, lay down one tortilla. Spread filling onto tortilla and top with a second tortilla. Cook over medium low heat for about one minute on each side, or until filling is warm and tortillas are slightly crispy. Continue until all tortillas are filled.

Cut into wedges with pizza cutter.
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Now, go make these chicken veggie quesadillas, grab a napkin (or not), and dig in!

Grocery List

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Special Breakfast: Whole Wheat Waffles with Blueberry Syrup

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Pretty sure this picture right here is going to make us all want to make waffles very, very soon. Does a treat get any more delectable?

Whole Wheat Waffles

Waffles are one of our favorite breakfast foods – especially when we top them with strawberries, blueberries, and/or whipped cream. This is a great meal to feed company who is at your house for breakfast. They are so easy to make, but taste like a great treat!

My kids now call these “Super Mama Waffles.” If I was going to have a food named after me, I can’t think of one better than waffles. I’m pretty sure it’s the fruit and whipped cream that make these waffles super.

Keep these waffles in mind for dinner as well. And…we’ve even made big batches to feed college kids after church on Sundays for a fun lunch!

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Whole Wheat Waffles

Special Breakfast: Whole Wheat Waffles with Blueberry Syrup
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 5 servings
Ingredients
  • 1¾ cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup coconut oil
  • 1½ cup milk
Instructions
  1. Whisk all ingredients together.
  2. Cook batter in a waffle iron until golden brown,

I usually double this recipe and freeze the leftovers to be popped into the toaster another day!

Blueberry SyrupYum

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup rapadura or sucanat (dehydrated cane sugar juice)

Stir ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat for about 10 minutes until blueberries become a little mushy and syrupy. Serve over pancakes or waffles.

Whipped Cream

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
drop of vanilla
2 drops of stevia

Whip cream in a bowl until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and stevia and whip just a bit more.

Serve Blueberry syrup and whipped cream over waffles. Delicious!

Add protein to this meal by serving with scrambled eggs, ham, sausage, and/or bacon.

Confession: We now have two waffle irons. Our friends offered us theirs when they moved away, and we decided that would help make the process of feeding the masses so much faster. Indeed, we can now make twice the waffles at one time that we once could when we only had one waffle maker. See how good I am at math?

What are your favorite ways to serve waffles? You’ll want to be sure to check out our delicious recipes for Raspberry Syrup and Peach Syrup also. It is so easy to use whatever extra fruit you have on hand to make deliciously healthy syrups that end up being a fantastic treat!

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Four Clean Boys…

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Just because they are so sweet and looked so yummy after they all had their showers tonight…I had to get a picture of the boys in their jammies.

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And…just because they are so silly…they insisted on doing a crazy face picture too.

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Hope the first picture made you smile…and the second one made you laugh…

Mmm…I LOVE these boys!

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Eat More Fruits and Veggies: Baked Potato with Broccoli Cheese Sauce

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All week long I’ve been playing around and experimenting with fun new ways to eat more veggies!

For lunch today, I made Baked Potatoes with Broccoli Cheese Sauce…and we all liked them!!

And that means that I need to share the recipe with you…because you will surely like them too!!

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Baked Potatoes with Broccoli Cheese SauceYum

6 baked potatoes
2 T. butter
1 T. minced onion
2 T. arrowroot powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk
sea salt, to taste
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

When your potatoes are almost finished baking, begin making your broccoli cheese sauce.

In a medium sauce pan, stir butter and minced onion around on medium heat until the butter is melted. Stir in arrowroot powder. Turn heat up, and pour in milk…stirring constantly. Shake in some salt, depending on your taste. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens. Turn heat down to low. Add broccoli and cook and stir for about 3-4 minutes. Stir in grated cheese. When the cheese is melted, your sauce is ready! Cut potatoes open on a plate and pour broccoli cheese sauce all over it. Yum!

Give these a try! They were perfect for lunch…and simple to make too!

Hey, what isn’t good with a cheese sauce drizzled all over it?!

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Opportunities Right Under My Nose…

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For the past several weeks, I’ve been praying and pondering about what it means to surrender yourself and give your entire self to Jesus in service. 

We want to live frugally…be generous…think more of other’s needs…

This week, I was so busy pondering how I could serve better…that I almost missed the fact that God was saying…”Uh, Laura…I’ve got some opportunities right here for you. You wanna stop thinking so hard about it…and just get up and start doing something?” 

Funny how God works sometimes, isn’t it?

I was literally sitting at my computer working on a blog post about surrendering myself…and the phone rang. The caller was a gal who is… well…high maintenence. She calls often, has many negative things to say…doesn’t want to hear anything positive that I have to say…and she’s hard to get off the phone with.

So I’m listening to her go on and on…while looking longingly at my computer (you know, so I can blog about surrendering myself)…and my husband walks in. I give him the look…the one that tells him who I’m on the phone with. (With my look, I was trying to communicate something like, “Start the house on fire…so that I’ll have an excuse to get off the phone!”)

My sweet husband smiled sympathetically, shrugged, and whispered to me, “Compassion.”

Boom. Just what I needed to hear.

Thank you, Matt.

Maybe…since this gal I’m listening to has so few people in her life who care about her…I could just relax and think about what this phone call is doing for her…and just surrender myself and be an encouragement…

The next day, I hesitantly signed up to deliver Meals on Wheels…thinking about how difficult it might be to lug all the boys around in the van…but knowing that there were slots to be filled…

(Why is it that I was only thinking about how it might inconvenience me…)

Well, it ended up being such a great experience. The boys took turns going up the the doors with the meals…and the folks were so happy to see my handsome little servants…

We enjoyed it so much that we signed up to do it again yesterday…and we plan to do it again next week.

(Now, I will pause here and say that there are certain seasons in our lives that make doing certain things more of a stress than anything else…and family comes first. And…while I was happy to listen this time to the gal who called and talked for way too long…it’s still okay for me to screen my calls so that I’m not on the phone with her too often…because again…family comes first.)

But here’s what I’m learning:

Sometimes you just need to stop wondering about what God might want you to be doing…and just get with it and do something! 

[tags]frugal friday, being generous, encouragement, giving[/tags]

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