Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle “Syrup”

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Nothing beats real maple syrup, but in a pinch, and to save a little money, here’s how you can stir together Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle “Syrup.”

Why would we want to avoid Real Maple Syrup? Oh, we don’t want to avoid it. That stuff is delicious and natural! I keep it on hand and we use it…most of the time for our pancakes and waffles.

But, I’ll admit that I get a little bit stingy when feeding pancakes or waffles to a large crowd. Real Maple Syrup can be pretty pricey! And most people are used to drowning their cakes in syrup! When they do that at my house with the real maple syrup I set out, then they leave $3 worth on their plates and wash it down the sink, I cry just a little bit.

Not really.

Yes really.

So…if I’m feeding a large crowd and I don’t want $20 worth of the good syrup to be washed down the drain, I make a Brown Sugar Syrup that has always received rave reviews.

OH! And if you’re wondering why I don’t just buy some Aunt Jamima for occasions such as this the answer is: Well. I just can’t bring myself to put it into my cart. Because of the high fructose corn syrup. She just isn’t welcome on my table. Shucks, Aunt Jamima.

Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle “Syrup”Yum

Easy Homemade Pancake and Waffle "Syrup"
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups brown sugar (give or take)
  • ⅓ cup water (give or take)
Instructions
  1. Heat and stir on the stovetop until sugar has dissolved.
  2. Serve over pancakes and waffles.

Yes, it really is that easy. And those measurements? Don’t worry too much about them. Mostly you can just put brown sugar and water into a pan and heat it and serve it and it will be delicious (because it’s sugar).

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Three Keys to an Organized Home

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I always feel like decluttering, cleaning, and, organizing my entire house this time of year. Perhaps it is the promise of spring, but I really start craving a tidier, more efficient home. Today I am sharing how you can get your home organized in just a few minutes per day!
Three Keys to an Organized Home

Three Keys to an Organized Home

1. Declutter first

It’s hard to organize when you have a lot of clutter.
The more toys, clothes, and dishes you have the greater amount of containers and organizational components you will need to obtain.
Make the entire job easier by starting by decluttering! Get rid of trash, bag up items for Goodwill, or set things aside for a garage sale in the spring (here are Laura’s best garage sale tips!)

2. Tackle one room at a time

Organizing the entire house is way too overwhelming!
I suggest you start with one room, even better if you choose the room that will be the easiest for you! I usually choose our bathroom to start with, because it is a small room, has a limited amount of items already, and is fairly painless to organize! Once you have completely finished one area, then choose the next room to conquer!

3. Use what you have before purchasing anything new

Before you go out and buy a bunch of new totes, and bins go ahead and shop your own home. You might be surprised by all the items you have collecting dust that can be used to organize!

Three Projects to Try

Looking for a few new organizational project? Here are a few fun ideas!

1. Organize Your Recipes in a Binder

I don’t know about you, but I am always printing off recipes from blogs. I had an entire pile of loose recipes on top of the fridge, that I often had to sift through to find what I was looking for. It was frustrating to say the least!
It occurred to me one day that I needed a binder to corral all these recipes, enter Laura’s DIY Recipe Binder! I found an old binder, printed off the pages, and set it all up within one afternoon! Next, I want to grab some clear page protectors to make it even more fancy. Grab your free printables here!

2. Organize Your Homeschool Days

Homeschooling this year? If so, check out all Laura’s tips and tricks on how she organizes her homeschool days . I LOVE the folder system she uses for her kids!

3. Clean out your kids’ closets!

It’s a smart idea to go through your kids’ closets at least twice a year, and switch out the clothes seasonally! When your kids are little, you might want to do this even more often. I go through my kids’ clothes every couple of months, because it only seems to take that long for them to grow into the next size! Here’s how Laura cleans out her boys’ closets!

Your turn to share! What’s your favorite organizational tip?

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Simple Spaghetti Squash for Delightful Sapiens

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This is a regular (albeit amazing) spaghetti squash recipe. It’s intended for all people, mankind, and sapiens. However, WordPress informs me that titles with uncommon words perform better. Sapiens fits the bill. Ha!

Simple Paleo Spaghetti

I’ve been eating a paleo diet for over three months! Simple meals are slowly making their way back into my life. I spent the first month floundering and relearning how to use my kitchen. The second month I discovered all the “junk” food I could make with honey and maple syrup and and ate an insane amount of homemade chocolate. But I’m rocking this new diet now. My crowd-pleasing, feed-the-people meal is either a ginormous salad with Almond-Orange Dressing or spaghetti squash. (Or both.)

The spaghetti squash topic has already been covered by Laura. 

spaghetti squash

Yum

If you search on this sight you will find multiple spaghetti squash posts. Like how to cook it in an instant pot. (Highlights: Gut it. 5 minutes. Or leave whole and 20 minutes.) But, I had more information to share. I’ll see your spaghetti squash and I’ll raise you sausage. At first I was afraid this idea was too simple to even bother sharing, but after our great dinner last night with friends, they encouraged me to please share. Mostly because she wanted the “recipe.” 

Make it now. Eat it later. It’s a no-fuss dinner. 

Here’s how it went down. One morning I remembered I had a meeting scheduled at my house the next day. This meeting would last until suppertime. Therefore, I wanted to make something I could pop in the oven at four o’clock and then feed the delightful sapiens at five o’clock. No prep. No mess. 

While I was overseeing third-grade math and language arts I baked two spaghetti squash in the oven (In short, slice in half, gut, bake “bowl-down” at 350* for 40-50 minutes. Or use the instant pot. Or bake whole and gut later). I chopped romaine leaves and other vegetables for a nice salad and put it all-together in a bowl in the fridge to be served with the amazing Almond Orange Paleo Dressing. Next, I cooked two pounds of pork sausage. 

When the squash was thoroughly cooked, I pulled it from its shells with a fork. This next part is where it gets exciting. THEN I mixed it with the sausage and a can of pasta sauce and spread it all into a 9X13 pan. Done. Mostly. 

A pre-made simple meal!

The next day, I simply popped the pan into the oven and re-heated it at 350° for an hour. At five o’clock the smell filled the dining room and I remembered I had completely forgotten to extend the invitation to dinner to our friends. “Oh, hey. You guys wanna stay and eat with us? Dinner’s already in the oven. We’re having squash and salad and stuff.” Haha. Who could turn down an invitation like that? They stayed. A good time was had by all indeed. Especially by my four-year-old, who cleaned his plate and spent the majority of the meal explaining, in detail to fresh ears, everything he knew about dinosaurs. 

looking at books

Simple meal prep is the best kept secret for the ease of serving other sapiens.

I want to be able to host and feed the people at a moment’s notice. When I first switched to paleo, I wasn’t able to do this. How could I bless others when I was following detailed recipes that included ingredients I wasn’t used to and only had enough on hand for four servings? After weeks of learning new skills, I’ve been able to put Laura’s good advice to work with my new diet requirements. I have pre-formed Salisbury steak (fancy burgers) in the freezer. I have riced cauliflower and shrimp on hand for quick and fun stir-fry. My fridge is usually full-to-bursting with fresh vegetables for snacks and salads because that’s fast food around here. Homemade chocolates, almond flour muffins, and green smoothies are a new staple. Whatever your diet needs, there are ways to make it simpler. I’m sure of it! 

Premade Spaghetti Squash Dinner
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 8 servings
Ingredients
  • Two Spaghetti Squash
  • Two Pounds Pork Sausage (or regular ground beef or pork)
  • 24 ounces of pasta sauce of your choosing
  • If using a plain pasta sauce, add salt, pepper, garlic, and Italian seasonings to taste.
Instructions
  1. Slice the squash down the middle to make two bowls and discard the seeds with a spoon.
  2. Oil the cut rings and place bowl-down on a pan with edges. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.
  3. To check for doneness, a knife should easily slide into the squash.
  4. Brown the sausage in a skillet, pour off the extra grease if desired.
  5. Mix the squash, sausage, and sauce together. Add any extra seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, garlic, etc.)
  6. Serve immediately, or spread in a 9x13 and refrigerate up to three days.
  7. To reheat, put the cold pan in the the oven and then set to 350 for an hour.

Have you ever given spaghetti squash a chance? 

I double-dog dare you to make it for dinner this week. Only mix in some great sausage and pasta sauce and voilá: Simple dinner for the masses. Just to be clear: viola is a musical instrument (played by skilled sapiens). Because I already knew that, I did not *ahem* need to search the web for the proper spelling of the French term “to suggest an appearance as if by magic.” Ya learn something new every day!

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett, friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie, a Christian historical romance releasing Spring 2021, is fueled by sunshine, paleo pudding, or hot chocolate—whichever is more readily available. Though she often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher, her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to entertain and encourage women. Her time is spent with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. You can connect with her at www.TashaHackett.com or Instagram @hackettacademy

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How I’m Using the Christian Living Bundle With My Family

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

This week, I’ve been sharing ways we try to keep God as center in our home. How we are making good changes for our kids, especially our teenager. How we love church, but know that our kids need more. Here’s how we make God a part of every day.

I’ve also shared about the Christian Living Bundle that is being offered this week. Today is the final day it is being offered, and I don’t want you to miss it. So I’m going to highlight some of the ways we’re using the resources with our family.

The Christian Living Bundle 2021

But do I really love it?

Ultimate Bundles are always good. Still, I only promote a couple of them a year, and only when I feel that they contain a worthwhile amount of content I can stand behind. The price of the bundles is always amazing considering the amount of resources we get. And because of the low price, even though the bundles contain dozens of materials, I can at least truthfully say something like:

Even if you just use 10 of these products, you’ll be getting your money’s worth!

But with this Christian Living Bundle that I’m sharing with you this week, I can actually say:

You’ll use almost all of the 50 resources in this bundle! Why? BECAUSE THESE MATERIALS ARE CENTERED AROUND OUR CHRISTIAN LIVES!!!!

And yes, that’s a lot of exclamation marks and maybe it sounds salesy and cheesy. That’s not my intent and you know I’m always honest with you.

I’m proclaiming all of this because I love that this bundle is all about Christian Living. This is what actually matters. Food and good health and productive homemaking matter. But what truly matters most is Jesus. And this bundle is all centered around Him!

It’s very hard to pass up such a great collection when the books and courses all point us Upward! These encourage us and teach us to pray more, to be in the Word more, to teach our kids about Jesus, to combat enemy lies, to love our spouses better…

Get it if you can. I plan to use almost all of these in our home. And I even created $21 worth of bonuses as a thank you to everyone who purchases through our links —>

The Christian Living Bundle Facts

  • Price: $29.99 + $10.00 cheat sheets
  • Value: 50 resources worth $1,182.78
  • Contents: 17 eCourses & 14 printable packs, 11 workbooks & 8 eBooks
  • Bonuses: $58
  • Laura’s Bonuses: $21

The Christian Living Bundle 2021

Want the math facts on this? The price divides up to each of these resources costing just $0.60 each! I think that’s fun, especially since many of my favorites in the bundle individually cost around $15 or more!

What I’m using for myself so far:

  • Candid Conversations – a wonderfully intriguing read filled with testimonies from over a dozen Christian women about their real struggles and ways God has helped them to overcome.
  • Every Thought Captive: Body-Mind-Spirit Exercises for Emotional Regulation – I love this!!! Many of the exercises described in this book are some that my Christian therapist uses. It’s great to have these as a resource to use on my own as needed. Get rid of the lies! Replace them with God’s truth! Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ!
  • Fruit of the Spirit Yoga Series – I actually haven’t started this yet. But I signed up and can start just as soon as I have a minute to myself (toddler naptime hopefully!).
  • Gospel Love: How to Apply 7 Key Teachings of Jesus to Live Your Best Marriage eCourse – These are great videos and materials that Matt and I can use to grow our own marriage and to mentor the young couples who come to us for encouragement and counseling.

See these, and everything else included, here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I’m using so far with Brayden (age 7), Sister (age 5), Keith (age 2), and Brother (age 2):

  • Walking with God: Bible Lessons for Families – This is such a fun online series of lessons! They include great videos that are short and appealing to kids. Our kids are having so much fun learning the Bible stories through video. Then we talk about it, sing the songs, do some of the offered activities. So far, the kids have really been enjoying this!
  • Alphabet Maze + Bible Verse Superhero Activity Bundle – This includes mazes, coloring, games, and other educational activities infused with bible verses and faith-based activities to create hours of fun and learning for children. These are perfect for quiet time learning.
  • Children’s Easter Coloring Book – There are pages for adults to color too, so sometimes we sit down together and color and visit about Jesus’ love for us as he died, and His power as He defeated death and rose again!
  • Miracles and Parables: Read and Color Stories from the New Testament – I haven’t done it yet, but I’m planning to print these for the kids so we can make books to work through this summer to focus on learning miracles and parables of Jesus with these read and color printable storybooks.

See these, and everything else included, here.

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What I’m using with Malachi (our 16 year old)

We’ve either started these or plan to during the next weeks and months:

  • Intentional Living Through Prayer – prayer prompts for every day of the year. These offer such great cues and inspiration to walk teens (and all of us!) through praying intentionally.
  • 30 Day Retreat With God – I love everything about this one! It helps us dig into learning more about who God is so we can love and serve better. It’s practical and simple to work through. A super helpful resource to give us topics to discuss and pray over.
  • A Grateful Heart Bible Study – It’s too easy to be negative and to complain. I look forward to going through this study with Malachi as we focus on God’s work in our lives.
  • James: Self Study Workbook – I wanted to read through James with Malachi anyway, and this book makes it so much better!

See these, and everything else included, here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Christian Living Bundle 2021

In short, while I don’t always do this with every bundle, this time I downloaded everything! If I’m not using it now, I’ll use it later. What a gift to have access to all of these!

And don’t forget the bonuses I’m giving you!

I’m excited about these because they answer questions I get frequently. And they are items we use in our home too! When you buy the Christian Living Bundle through our links, we’ll thank you by sending you a file with these printable items:

Bible Reading Guide ($8.00)

I have been working on this resource because it very simply answers frequent questions I get about personal Bible study and about spending Bible time with family.

  • How to Start Reading Your Bible Regularly
  • Three-Step Guide to Make the Bible Meaningful
  • How to Read the Bible with Little Ones
  • Scripture to Read and Discuss with Your Teens

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

101 Scripture Focus Cards ($10.00)

I uploaded these to Walgreens and had them print this file onto 4×6 photo cards. We pull them out at mealtime and practice memorizing them as a family. These prompt great discussion too. I especially love this because everyone in our family, from age 2 to age 47, benefit from memorizing scripture!

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Table Talk Cards ($3)

And speaking of great discussion, these cards have been great at mealtime too. All of us at our house, from age 5 to adult can answer the questions on these cards and share them around the table!

 

Get your Christian Living Bundle here, then email me your receipt so I can send you the bonuses. Start digging in with your family. Let God be a part of every moment in every day!

This offer ends at midnight, Thursday, March 25. Get it while you can. Let’s turn our focus to Jesus!

 

Countdown Timer

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More Than Sunday Morning: How Our Family Focuses on God All Week Long

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Today I want to share ways our family focuses on God every day.

I might be crying.

I need you to know that I’m writing this from a place of hardship and humility. Anything good that has come from our parenting has been because God is constantly pursuing us and our kids. He makes up for all of our shortcomings and this humbles me to lay down flat on the floor because we.can.not.do.this.alone.

We don’t read our Bibles and pray and go to church because “it’s the right thing to do.”

We spend so much time in the Word and in prayer personally and with our kids because we desperately need it. We do it because life is hard. We can’t do life without Jesus.

Most of the time I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. I can try to parent through my own strength, but all I have to offer my kids is my weak but willing, loving heart with a side of scrambled eggs. When I parent with Jesus, everything is different. I’m different. I’m better.

And I still fail, which makes me mad. I want love to be enough. I want to be enough. And of course, it is and I am – when I parent through God’s love.

My human love is weak. My flesh fails. Sin wages war against us and I have to be in constant prayer to stand firm and help my kids stand firm.

So I’m sharing what we try to do in our home because I know that we aren’t alone in our struggle. Raising kids is a challenge and we have to do it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Raising kids and teens is incredibly difficult. Satan wants to win them and he works hard and I hate him. So now you know.

As I shared yesterday:

Our Kids Need So Much More Than Church.

If we expect our kids to grow up loving God and embracing Jesus and living life through the guidance of the Holy Spirit – but all we give them is an hour of church on a Sunday morning – we might be disappointed with the outcome.

First, our kids need parents who love Jesus and spend time constantly growing a relationship with the Father. So we grown-ups need to be intentionally focused on digging into the Word and letting God teach us His plans for us.

Then, as we grow, our kids grow. We talk about God in our homes constantly. We bring Truth into every situation. We read the Bible together, sing praises together, pray together, discuss Truth together.

Make no mistake: Church is good.

We very much value our church life. We love all that our kids are learning about God and His people when we join our church family on Sunday morning.

  • We worship together in song and in prayer as a body of believers.
  • We grow our relationships with other Christians through fellowship.
  • Our kids get to take part in Bible lessons in their classes.

Our kids learn a lot at church and have formed deep, life-long friendships with Christian peers. They have been mentored and loved by caring adults. Church life is huge!

But it isn’t all that our kids need. It’s not all that any of us need.

We all need 24-7 Jesus. All week Bible. Constant Holy Spirit guidance. A mind and heart that is always in prayer.

How Our Family Focuses on God All Week Long

Our practices at home have evolved through the years and through different seasons. Through each season, our Bible study, prayer life, and Jesus-teaching have been ever-evolving to meet the needs of everyone in our home.

I shared yesterday that one of our biggest challenges now is trying to teach so many little ones without watering it down so much that our 16-year old misses out on deeper study and deeper God-truths that he’s ready for. So we try to be intentional about giving him what he needs while teaching little ones too.

Here’s a gentle rundown of the practices we do daily in our home if possible:

  1. We talk about God and His work in our lives all throughout the day. We make a real effort to make Him a part of everything and every conversation. We praise Him out loud for the nature we see around us, for the food we have on the table, and we bring Him into the discussion as we discipline or correct our kids. (i.e. “Jesus wants us to love each other and be kind. Are you being kind and loving to your sister right now?”)
  2. We use mealtime to learn scripture with a tradition that has come to be known as “Repeat Afters.” Each of us takes turns saying a phrase of scripture and everyone else repeats the scripture phrase. It looks something like this:

    Dad: As far as it depends on you…
    Everyone Else: As far as it depends on you
    Dad: …live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18
    Everyone else: …live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

    After everyone has taken a turn being the leader, we have worked our way through five or more verses, depending on who is home at the time.

  3. We have family “Singing and Prayer Time” as part of our little one’s bedtime routine. After the kids are jammied and brushed and pottied or diapered, we gather around the living room. We sing about six songs because we are a family who loves singing! Then everyone, from toddlers to parents, takes a turn saying a prayer.
  4. Next, it’s Bible time. The little ones gather around Dad as he reads from our Jesus Storybook Bible before we head upstairs to tuck everyone in.
  5. As we tuck in the little ones, we do what the kids have started to call “Jesus Loves!” We make a big deal of nighttime kisses saying to each one, “Jesus…loves…BRAYDEN!!!” “Jesus…loves…KEITH!!” and so on. The kids love this and usually giggle when it’s their turn!!!! And what a great reminder to each of them that Jesus loves them.
  6. Finally, we read the entire chapter of Psalm 91 over them as a prayer of protection just before our final goodnight.

Beyond this, during the little one’s naptime many days, Malachi and I dig into the Word together so we can have more in-depth discussion about scripture and applying it to his/our lives. Matt tries to take him (and our college boys) to lunch from time to time so they can visit more individually about godly manhood.

Any college students who happen to be at our house during Singing and Prayer Time get to join us. The singing is amazing, the prayer time is rich. We love this so much!

Extras

Throughout the day or evening, we try to make the most of our video time or reading time. There’s a fun video series on Amazon Prime that we pull up every week. The kids have fun watching the animated version of a Bible story, then we all talk about it to make sure they understand the Truth they just watched.

Since I got the Christian Living Bundle, our 7, 5, and 2-year-olds are enjoying the videos and lessons in the Walking with God eCourse. I’ve also printed off some of the activities from other books in the bundle that are geared toward little ones. They give us a great opportunity to talk about God’s Word and His plans for us.

Malachi and I are enjoying the 30 Day Retreat with God eBook. We’ve been working through it as part of his school day during the toddler’s naptime.

I’ll share more tomorrow about our favorites from the bundle. They’ve been such great resources to add to our daily routines.

My Mornings

Maybe I should have started the post with this, seeing as do everything I can to start my day in the Word. This has become harder again now that we have a baby who doesn’t sleep through the night. But I crave this time in the morning with Jesus and need it so I find that it’s worth it to make myself crawl out of bed, sneak downstairs before the littles get up, fix a cup of coffee, and sit in my chair with Jesus for even a few minutes before starting the day.

God is faithful. He knows what we need. He knows our circumstances. He provides.

Before we started over with new little ones, I had hours of time every week to spend in the Word. Now, my time is more limited, but He sustains and brings scripture to mind even when I am not able to open the Book. I love Him. He is so good.

Read more here about how I spend time in the Word and in prayer every day as much as possible.

We are weak. He is strong!

The enemy attacks any way he can, and we find that we have to constantly stand firm in Truth, remembering that Jesus already won the battle. We fight against weaknesses and find that we have to especially be intentional with our teens. They fight raging battles and need us to fight alongside them.

But at the end of the day, we know that spending time in the Word and in prayer with our children as much as possible is incredibly beneficial to all of us.

  • When we hear our 5 and 7-year-olds praying at night, it is evident that they are hearing and digesting the Truths they are learning.
  • When we have hard discussions with our 16-year old, we hear that his heart is seeking good. His relationship with God is growing and we get to grow with him.
  • When our college kids come home from their dorm/apartment to throw in a load of laundry and they grab a cup of coffee and sit down for a chat, it is evident that God is so much more to them than a Sunday morning “thing we do.” Their relationship with their Father, their recognition of their need for Jesus as their Savior, and their reliance on the Holy Spirit as guide are beautiful to witness.
  • When our oldest makes his way west from his home in Lincoln to spend a few hours with us, and we hear all that he’s doing and all the ways God is working in his life – we marvel at our Savior and at the growth He gives.

THIS IS GOD AT WORK!!!

We realize how important it is and has been to be intentional about growing their relationship with God at home, from age 0 to age forever. No matter what we do and what it looks like, we must be intentional to do something. Our kids need church, but they need much more than church.

The Christian Living Bundle 2021

Resources to Help

The Bible, alone, is enough. We can open it and have all the help we need as we guide our families through life in Him.

But there are also great resources for us to use! Why reinvent the wheel when we can use so many great books, videos, classes, and printables available to us that have been created by people who have learned much and can teach us from what they have learned? I’m loving the resources from the Christian Living Bundle being offered this week, and want you to have it too. Truly, these books and courses are so practical and helpful. Get this and let it help you in your walk and as you guide your family!

QUICK FACTS about the Christian Living Bundle

  • Dates: Monday March 22nd at 8am EST to Thursday March 25th 11:59pm EST 
  • Price: $29.99 + $10.00 cheat sheets
  • Value: 50 resources worth $1,182.78
  • Contents: 17 eCourses & 13 printable packs, 11 workbooks & 9 eBooks
  • Bonuses: $58

After you purchase, send me your receipt and I’ll send you a file with these free bonuses!

I’d love to hear about ways you and your family fill your home with God’s Truth! How do you spend time in the Word in the quiet? How do you teach your kids? What are some of your routines and traditions?

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When You Need to Make Good Changes for Your Kids. (It’s Never Too Late!)

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He was our baby. He just turned 16 18. And somehow – well not somehow – but because of God’s power and plan, he’s now the oldest of six seven.

What and who am I talking about? I’m talking about this guy. Our baby. Or at least the one who used to be our baby.

Remember him?

He’s basically amazing. For 13.5 years he was the youngest of four boys.

Then in the spring of 2018 he suddenly – overnight – became an older brother to this guy:

What else? Well, while the days and the details are quite long and drawn out, it also feels like the rest all happened very suddenly too. In January 2019, a baby boy moved in. Then another baby boy a few months later. Then a baby girl in 2020. And then another girl, turning last year’s Christmas card into this beautiful collage:

Meanwhile, three of the oldest brothers all left home for college and beyond. So in the span of 2.5 years, Malachi went from youngest of four to oldest of six at home.

Just thinking about it makes me shed tears – of joy, of awe, of weariness, of amazement. I could also use a nap.

This kid, this young man, our Malachi? God has been doing amazing work in him to grow him into this role. He’s rocking it as big bro to all the littles who lovingly call him “Bubba.”

I could go on and on about God’s work in and for Malachi. But today I need to share this:

Matt and I want to make some changes for Malachi.

God helped Matt and me realize recently that with all that has happened in our lives during the past two-and-a-half years, and with all we are currently trying to juggle, we’ve neglected a thing or two.

We haven’t shoved Malachi aside by any means. But with nine kids in so many different stages of life, and with five of the kids demanding so much attention, it feels difficult to keep up with meeting so many needs.

Satan wants me to experience deep regret over all the ways I feel that I am lacking instead of recognizing God’s truth in the matter. God hasn’t neglected anything. God doesn’t have a hard time keeping up. And because we are in Him and He is in us, we have everything we need to parent all these kids.

With anything that might be lacking in our human parenting abilities, God has been working all along and always provides a way to restore.

It’s Never Too Late to Make Good Changes for Our Kids

So here we are. Back in the day when we “only had 4 kids” we did a pretty great job of spending time together in the Word. We read the Bible every morning at breakfast and through the years, we really covered a lot of ground. We practiced memorizing scripture together during dinner. We prayed together at night. As the boys got older, our spiritual time with them became deeper.

And now?

We continue to memorize scripture at dinnertime. We have nightly singing and prayer time and it is precious and amazing – and also sometimes loud and high maintenance because of the littlest babes – but always worth it. Then just before tucking in the little ones, they gather around Matt for Bible storytime. (I’ll share more specifics about our routines in another post tomorrow.)

But with all of this, we’ve begun to feel that Malachi has been, in some ways, lost in the shuffle. He doesn’t feel lost, and in fact, he recognizes the sacrifices we’ve all had to make with all the beautiful changes God has brought to our lives. It’s just that everything we’re doing spiritually for our family is pretty watered-down in an effort to teach so many little ones about Jesus.

Malachi needs more than “Bible storytime” from a children’s book and we haven’t been providing it for him. Who cares that our reasons or excuses are somewhat valid and understandable? God’s convicted us to make some changes, and we are grateful. And yes, our teen could be reading his Bible on his own, but we’ve found that he needs some guidance in order to do that effectively.

So now what?

Well, we started praying. Matt has been trying to set aside space in his day to spend intentional one-on-one time with Malachi at night after the littles go to bed. I had to ask God to show me what in the world I could possibly give up in my days so that I had more energy and time to spend with Malachi and for all that truly matters. My days are often beyond full, leaving no wiggle room for even sweeping the kitchen floor, much less having a Bible-filled conversation with my teenager.

Or so Satan wants me to believe.

I started praying for God to send help so that I would have more time and energy to give to Malachi (and other important people-focused needs). He has answered. I’ve hired some young girls to help with some of our daily chores. I bought a dishwasher that actually works. Small as these sound, these two things alone have truly freed up some time and energy in my day so that I can give more to Malachi. Praise God!

Some of this time is spent helping him with school work. That in-and-of-itself has been good because even time working through (those rotten) geometry problems together is character building and an opportunity for us to instill godly discipline.

But we’ve also been intentional about opening our Bibles together. Digging in. Talking through it. Discussing what God has to tell us through Scripture. It’s been pretty amazing to spend this time with Malachi, and I’m so grateful for God’s conviction and provision in this.

Right now we’re working our way through the book of Luke. We just finished reading and discussing the book of Galatians.

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Our Kids Need So Much More Than Church

What I mean is that if we expect our kids to grow up loving God and embracing Jesus and living life through the guidance of the Holy Spirit – but all we give them is an hour of church on a Sunday morning – we might be disappointed with the outcome.

First, our kids need parents who love Jesus and spend time constantly growing a relationship with the Father. So we grown-ups need to be intentionally focused on digging into the Word and letting God teach us His plans for us.

Then, as we grow, our kids grow. We talk about God in our homes constantly. We bring Truth into every situation. We read the Bible together, sing praises together, pray together, discuss Truth together.

Are your kids not-so-little anymore?

It’s never too late. Start where you are. Start now. Have family prayer time, even if it feels awkward at first. Read the Bible together (See our Bible Reading Guide below).

Not sure when you’ll find the time? Oh, there’s time. God will see to that. Ask God to show you how and He will. I promise.

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Need a Bible Reading Guide?

I have been working on this resource because it very simply answers frequent questions I get about personal Bible study and about spending Bible time with family.

  • How to Start Reading Your Bible Regularly
  • Three-Step Guide to Make the Bible Meaningful
  • How to Read the Bible with Little Ones
  • Scripture to Read and Discuss with Your Teens

I’m making this resource available to everyone, plus a couple more:

101 Scripture Focus Cards

I uploaded these to Walgreens and had them print this file onto 4×6 photo cards. We pull them out at mealtime and practice memorizing them as a family. These prompt great discussion too. I especially love this because everyone in our family, from age 2 to age 47, benefits from memorizing scripture!

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Table Talk Cards

And speaking of great discussion, these cards have been great at mealtime too. All of us at our house, from age 5 to adult can answer the questions on these cards and share them around the table!

 

Start digging in with your family. Let God be a part of every moment of every day!

Let this week be an inspiration to make good changes in your family.

Hopefully, you already have some wonderful spiritual routines and traditions in your home. I’d love to hear what you’re doing to fill your home and family with Jesus!

Grab our helpful resources here.

Or, join our Heavenly Homemakers Club where you can receive ALL of our downloadable products and much more for one very small monthly fee. I highly recommend this option as a way to save money on over $1,000 worth of amazing products!

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Tips and Tricks for Baking with Toddlers

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My toddlers love being in the kitchen with me. But mixing up bread or muffins while two sets of eager little hands grab at the bag of flour, and measuring spoons? It can be very stressful! That’s why I’ve developed a few tips and tricks for baking with toddlers.
Tips and Tricks for Baking with Toddlers
I want to raise kiddos that enjoy spending time in the kitchen, and love to bake and cook. And while I do plenty of baking on my own (sometimes I let the babies spend time with their Dad while I get some work done in the kitchen) I do find that including them in the household work makes them so very happy, and helps them develop new skills of their own.

Tips and Tricks for Baking with Toddlers

1. Give them their own little mixing bowl and measuring spoons.

Sometimes I will let them measure the ingredients for what I am making, but other times I find that they are just as happy if I set them up at the table with their own bowl and measuring cups. Then as I carefully measure out my ingredients, I can be dictating to them how much of each ingredient to measure in their own bowl. Having two separate areas really helps me not to make big mistakes in my baking, but lets them practice measuring and dumping out ingredients.

2. Set them up at the counter on a Kitchen Helper Stool

One of the biggest anxieties I have, when my toddlers are trying to help out, is that they are always clambering up and down off of the kitchen chairs, in order to see what I’m doing. To solve this issue, I’ve been keeping an eye out for a Kitchen’s Helper Stool! This neat stool was created especially for toddlers, and keeps them safe while they are helping at the counter. I have friends who say they use these stools daily, and they are such a life saver! Here’s one on Amazon, or there are many DIY plans out there as well!

3. Give them a job

For toddlers who are a bit older, you can set them up with a job of their own! Have them peel the bananas for the banana bread, grease the muffin pan, or put away the ingredients when you are done using them. Toddlers love to help, and they really can make your life a bit easier while they practice doing chores!

4. Choose a day a week to make a recipe they want to eat

Got a picky eater? Kids are more inclined to try new foods that they helped prepare! Every week, let your toddler choose a new recipe from a cookbook, and help put it together! Our new print cookbook, High Five Recipes, is a great resource for this, since it only includes recipes with five ingredients or less! Let your kiddo choose a recipe or two to try and then spend part of an afternoon making it!

5. If all else fails, let them play with this toy sink

Some days, letting them help in the kitchen doesn’t work out. There’s flour everywhere, it’s the end of a long day, and I just need a few minutes of (relative) quiet to finish up a recipe. When this happens, I pull out their Christmas present–this play sink with a working faucet!! It runs on only two batteries, and keeps them busy for a long time! I set it on a few towels on the floor, and then carefully wash all their dishes while I finish up my kitchen tasks. It’s definitely been worth the money!

Do you have any additional tips for baking with toddlers helping out? Share below!

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Make Fun Candy-Free Easter Baskets Your Kids Will Love!

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Here’s how I’m putting together candy-free Easter baskets that I know our kids will love!

Why candy-free? Well besides the obvious answer that candy isn’t good for us, I’m actually filling our baskets with fun practical items that I want our kids to have. I have no doubt that they will love what’s in their baskets! And don’t worry. They’ll still get plenty of sugar on Easter Sunday, and yes, even candy.

It’s hard to get all five littles in one picture!

Holidays at our house are so much fun right now! We’ve currently got five little ones in our home, plus Malachi (16) and we’ll have a houseful of college students join us for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt after church. It’s tradition. Hopefully, all of our older boys can join us for the day (and their girlfriends too!).

With five little ones though? Boy am I having fun putting together Easter baskets! Instead of filling individual baskets for every single kid, I’m just putting together two: a girl basket and a boy basket. And now let’s all pause a moment to reflect on this:

LAURA IS PUTTING TOGETHER A GIRL BASKET!

Yes. And also, for the first time in my mom-life, I bought Easter dresses and Easter bonnets. Was it fun? Oh was it fun!!

I’ve always had fun dressing all of our boys, and I still do! But right now I also get to dress little girls and fix their hair. You can bet there’s a lot of pink, a lot of bows, a lot of sparkle, and a lot of ruffles involved. :) :) :)

So back to the candy-free Easter baskets.

There were several items our kids needed, so I found fun versions of the following items (like toothbrushes featuring their favorite characters) and put them into the baskets. We go through lots of bubbles (the toddlers ask for them daily!) so of course, our baskets include bottles of bubbles.

Sky’s the limit on little items we can include in Easter baskets that will be fun and useful for the kids. Here are some ideas:

  • These fun Index Card Books (Use the code heavenly15 to get 15% off your order!)
  • Sunglasses
  • Hair Accessories (Sparkle. Bows. I’m a gonner.)
  • Fingernail Polish (Did I tell you that Justus – age 21 – has learned how to put fingernail polish on his little sisters?! He practiced first on his girlfriend. Mom sheds a tear…)
  • Hot Wheels (We’ve pretty much acquired new toy cars for the past 23 Easters.)
  • Bubbles (We can never have too many bubbles.)
  • Balloons
  • Fun Straws (Did you know smoothies taste better to kids when sipped through a straw? True story.)
  • Sidewalk Chalk
  • Umbrella
  • Sandals
  • Lip Balm
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste
  • Nightlight
  • Flashlight
  • Wrist Watch (Our 5 and 7 year olds feel so grown up when they wear a watch. And I never have to wonder what time it is because they tell me every two minutes.)
  • Fun Socks
  • Card Games

Side Note: This year I purchased baskets that can be used year-round in the boys/girls’ rooms. I paid more for them than I would have paid for a simple Eastery-looking basket. But it was worth it because we’ll use these baskets to hold odds and ends in their rooms instead of having to store them away to only use on Easter each year.

Easter Baskets for Big Kids

I don’t always fill a basket for our adult/college age/teen kids. But when I do, it’s filled with things like:

  • Gum
  • Mints
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste
  • Body Wash
  • Soap
  • Headbands for sports
  • Coffee (We love supporting Purple Door Coffee!)
  • Popcorn
  • Beef jerky
  • Other favorite snacks
  • Gift cards to use on outings with friends
  • Pens
  • Kitchen gadgets (because most of my big kids have their own kitchens now)
  • Flashlights
  • Decks of cards

So far, I haven’t filled a teen/adult girl Easter basket. ;) If and when I get to, I’m thinking I would add things like:

  • All of the above
  • Earrings
  • Lip Gloss
  • Hairbrush
  • Hair accessories
  • Necklace
  • Cute notebook and pen set
  • Fingernail polish
  • Journal

You all can help me out with adding to this list. And all the others too. :)

And what about Jesus?

For many weeks leading up to this holiday, we’ve been excitedly talking with the kids about the reason we celebrate Easter. I love how teaching our kids reminds us adults of the Truth: Jesus defeated death!! We are in Him so we get to stand in this victory with Him! Satan was defeated that day, once and for all. Praise God, we can live forever with Jesus!

I praise God for Easter and other holidays and events that give us an opportunity to reflect on the goodness God has provided for us all. His plans are perfect. He thought of everything. We get to celebrate this and live this daily!

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How to Make Quiche for a Crowd

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Making quiche for a crowd is a great and easy meal option. I’ll show you all my tricks for making this as simple as possible!

Yum

On the particular day I chose to serve quiche to my family and a living room (I prefer to call it my loving room) full of college students, I took about half an hour to put together six quiches. Truly, that’s all the time it took!

Cut into eight pieces each, this makes 48 servings and in our case, fed about 13 people. (We had a couple of pies leftover.)

I loved how easy it was to make this meal, and all of our guests felt like I was serving them something extra special!

Now, if you don’t have your very own 2-year-old to help you crack all the eggs, I’m very sorry because this endeavor will be less of an adventure and much more predictable. Egg cracking is one of Keith’s greatest kitchen pleasures. Thankfully, only 1 out of 36 eggs landed on the floor on this particular day.


Along with a helpful two-year-old, I also utilized another fantastic resource: frozen pie crusts. From the store. Someday maybe I’ll make pie crust again. Though when making this many quiches at once {Laura pauses to look up if quiche is plural of quiche}, I may always enjoy the ready-made crusts that the store provides so that I can instead use my time to love people rather than floury countertops.

Here’s another trick I enjoyed: I put all the eggs into my Blendtec and let this appliance do the work (in 7 seconds, thank you very much) to whip all the eggs for me. This was extra helpful because once whipped, I could then easily pour the eggs from my blender into my prepared pie crusts. Oh! Because I’d already filled each crust with a variety of quiche ingredients. Then I added eggs and stirred it all around.

How did I fill my quiche? Quiches? (Turns out, either one works as a plural form of quiche. Ya learn something new every day, thank you Google.) I filled them with a variety of goodies to give our guests lots of options. Some were filled with veggies like broccoli, sweet peppers, and onions. Some had ham and cheese. Some just had cheese. All of them had salt, eggs, cheese, and cream.

But I loved that I could set the crusts all out like an assembly line and fill them quickly with whatever I intended to put in them. Then after the eggs were prepared, I poured it in and stirred it around, then boom. They were ready to bake!

How to Make Quiche for a Crowd

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How to Make Quiche for a Crowd
 
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Author:
Serves: 8 per pie
Ingredients
  • Per Quiche, which makes 8 pieces:
  • 1 unbaked pie crust
  • 6 eggs
  • ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
  • sea salt to taste
  • ¾ cup shredded cheese
  • 1½-2 cups other fillings like diced ham, cooked sausage, cooked bacon bits, broccoli, onion, sweet peppers, spinach leaves, etc)
Instructions
  1. Place fillings into each pie crust.
  2. Whip eggs, cream, and salt together in a bowl or blender.
  3. Pour egg mixture over the pie fillings and stir.
  4. Bake quiche in a 425 degree oven for 45-55 minutes or until a knife poked into the middle comes out clean.

Quiche is great served with a salad and fresh fruit. :)

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Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing

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Tasha’s here again with an awesome new recipe just in time for spring!

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing

by Tasha Hackett

What’s with the Paleo, Tasha? Okay! Sorry, just read this instead: Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Salad Dressing that will make you and your family cry tears of joy. Better? Hmm. But really, I can hardly describe the level of happiness this paleo salad dressing makes me. I never knew a salad dressing was capable of bringing forth such an emotion. Almond butter and orange juice? Who knew! Don’t be scared. This paleo salad dressing is delicious on, wait for it, SALAD, but also works great as a veggie dip. In fact, it is even edible straight from the table as pictured below. Not recommended. But acceptable.

toddler messes

Yum

My salad dressing is better than your salad dressing.

The original recipe that I adapted had a few more ingredients and it only made one tiny serving of dressing. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to go through all the trouble of making a salad dressing from scratch to eat with my paleo food . . . I’m making more than one tiny serving. Clearly, the chances are high that I will be eating salad again in the near future. I’ve made some version of this dressing at least 5 times in the last month. If you’re drinking your salad, skip the dressing and add some fruit. **Insert puking face if you just envisioned drinking a garlic and olive oil flavored smoothie.

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing

Make as directed for a typical dressing consistency. Though if you want it thicker, just add more almond butter. My salads are usually quite epic. I will rarely just eat lettuce, but this dressing has enough going on, that I have eaten it on plain old leaves before. My kitchen hack with this paleo dressing is to make it in my almond butter jar when there’s about half a cup left. Saves times scooping almond butter AND I don’t have to wash any jars just yet. Sometimes I’m pretty smart like that.

My new favorite salad includes the following:

  • Mixed greens (heavy on the spinach)
  • Chopped romaine hearts
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Chopped avocado
  • Slivered almonds
  • Dried cranberries or cherries
  • Chopped cold meat of some kind (ham, chicken, salmon, tuna, or even boiled/scrambled eggs, etc)
  • Chopped dill pickles (tricks me into feeling like I’m having a sandwich)

Yes. My toddler eats salad. What can I say? I think it’s the dressing.

Toss it all with Almond Orange Paleo Dressing and my kids fight for the last serving.

I’ve been serving my family made-from-scratch salad dressings for years and I absolutely love how freely we use them. No worries here about what we’re smothering our vegetables in. As a result, we don’t skimp on the dressings for health reasons. Everything in this dressing is Food. For. Fuel! Go make ya some and tell all your friends about how amazing it is and then invite them over for salad. I dare them to go home hungry.

Salad for dinner! Again! #paleohasmelike #sorrynotsorry #iheartsalad

Almond Orange Paleo Salad Dressing
 
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Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dressing
Serves: 2 Cups
Ingredients
  • ½ Cup Almond Butter
  • ½ Cup Red Wine Vinegar
  • 1 Cup Olive Oil (Can use part MCT oil or other oils)
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • ½ tsp Black Pepper
  • ½ tsp Granulated Garlic Powder (Or two fresh cloves, minced)
  • Juice of two Oranges
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients and stir or shake vigorously.
  2. Taste and adjust to preference.
  3. For a thicker dressing, add more almond butter.
  4. For a sweeter dressing, add a splash of apple juice.
  5. Store in the refrigerator.

 

Quick! What’s your go-to salad dressing? Store-bought or make your own?

Lastly, be sure to check out some of the other dressings on our site.

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett, friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie, a Christian historical romance releasing Spring 2021, is fueled by sunshine, paleo pudding, or hot chocolate—whichever is more readily available. Though she often pretends to be a ballerina while unloading the dishwasher, her favorite thing is writing with hope and humor to entertain and encourage women. Her time is spent with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. You can connect with her at www.TashaHackett.com or Instagram @hackettacademy or for Laura @heavenlyhomemaker.

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