Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

The Day We Adopted Four Girls

by 42 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Today. Today we adopted four girls.

Obviously, I’m crying. Friends, this has been a long time coming. Typically these cases should be opened and closed within a year and a half but for some of our sweethearts, it has taken almost three years.

So yes, I’m crying now, but oh these are tears of joy. Relief. Gratitude. Overwhelm at God’s goodness.

The past 2.5 years have been rather grueling so the tears I shed then were often as I was screaming out to God for help, wisdom, patience, understanding, and rescue. He is faithful and while I haven’t enjoyed every part of this journey, I gratefully accept all that God has taught me about Himself during it.

We can trust Him. We can. We can cry out to Him and we can listen to what He tells us. We can believe Him. We can sit in the quiet with Him and not say anything because we can’t find any more words. We can grieve alongside Him and know that He will care for all that is lost. Because while there is much to be gained when we adopt, it also means that much has been lost. This is deeply felt.

But today, I rejoice. I set aside all that has hurt and all that is hard and I go all in with my feelings of JOY. Today, four little girls became Coppingers.

Would you like to meet our daughters?

This is Zakiya. We call her Kiya (key-ah). She is seven and she is a bio sibling of one of several others in our home. She is smart, helpful, and loves to chit-chat while she works with me in the kitchen. She loves animals, twirly dresses, and playing school. She is a delight to us and her beauty is overwhelming.

This is AnnaSophia. We call her Anna. She is three and is a bio sibling of several in our home. She is a little mommy, full of sweetness and independence. Hearing her sing Jesus Loves Me in her precious little voice reminds me why we’re doing what we’re doing. She brings a smile to everyone who sees her.

This is Acacia Joy. (pronounced uh-kay-shuh) She is two and a bio sibling of several in our home. She has been with us from the time she was a newborn. Matt and I chose her name because Acacia wood was used in the building of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle – which was filled with the glory of the Lord. (As a fun bonus, Matt grew up on Acacia Avenue in Fresno, so this makes her name extra special.) She is everything JOY, from her incredible belly laugh to her naturally sweet spirit and slightly ornery personality.

This is Josie Lynn. She is one and a bio sibling of several in our home. She has been with us from the time she was a newborn. Matt and I named her after both of our middle names: Joseph and Lynn. We love the story of Joseph in Genesis – how God took him from his traumatic beginning and made him something great for His purposes. This is our prayer for our Josie. She is quiet, observant, sweet, calm, and gives us her best giggles when we kiss her cheeks and neck.

We were all-boy-parents for our first 23 years. We never once regretted not having daughters, but we did wonder what they would have looked like. As it turns out, they look like this. They are beautiful, precious, and so very loved.

Thank you for celebrating with us today.

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

How I Keep Up With the Kitchen

by 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Wondering how I keep up with the kitchen?

I don’t. Obviously. Keep up with the kitchen. Not even close.

Now that we have 10+ kids, including so many littles, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep up with cooking and baking needs. And then there are the dishes. This is what my kitchen looks like after just one meal:

We overload our dishwasher (eeeek) and run it twice every day.

But here’s my attempt at answering:

How I Keep Up With the Kitchen

I’m not sure any of my answers will be super helpful since I’m in a unique season of life, but this is a question I am asked frequently so I wanted to share! So here’s what works for me right now.

1. Ask for help.

When our older boys were all home, we had a rotation for who would load the dishwasher, unload it, wipe down the table, sweep the floor, and wash pots and pans. We all worked together, all day long as needed, and the kitchen chores weren’t so bad.

They’ve all launched and left now – except for Malachi who is a senior in high school and too busy most days to do much except unload the dishwasher one time. This leaves me at home with six or seven littles (depending on the day) and they are ages 8, 7, 3, 3, 2, 2, and 1. They make more messes than I can keep up with, for sure!

I have been spending time teaching our 8 and 7-year-olds how to load and unload the dishwasher and they are very proud to be counted among the “big kid helpers.” Plus they are great (ok, maybe not great) at sweeping. :) Matt helps a little, but his help mostly looks like keeping kids out from underfoot so I can get something done.

So most of the kitchen and household chores fall to me. This is why I must…

2. Hire help.

I realize this isn’t something everyone can do or needs to do. But I need it and use a portion of our foster care subsidies to cover it. With so many littles and so many (mild) special needs, I truly am not able to keep up with housework anymore.

I hire three teenage girls to come to help me with childcare and housework on Wednesday afternoons and it is life-saving! I also hire two gals to come on weekday mornings for a couple of hours. I use this time to meal-prep, go to appointments, clean my kitchen, or whatever is most pressing that day. They help with childcare but are also great at grabbing a broom or loading the dishwasher as needed when they have a free hand. I am beyond thankful for this help!

3. Take advantage of any spare five minutes you might find.

All babies and toddlers are in their chairs eating or drinking? I put ten items in the dishwasher. Children are somehow magically all playing nicely in the living room? I grab the broom. Whenever I find a minute, I use it.

4. Use paper plates, paper towels, or skip plates altogether.

I don’t like spending money on disposable products, but during this season in life, I’ve found that I need to occasionally. No guilt.

Or, I figure I’m going to need to sweep toddler messes eight times a day anyway. So I might as well skip giving them a plate and hand them a muffin directly instead. There are lots of crumbs no matter how I present their food. :)

5. Embrace the mess.

This season truly won’t last forever. There are more important needs and priorities than keeping a perfect kitchen. If I have to wash a crusty pot or a pan right before I use it again, so be it. If my kitchen always looks a bit (or a lot) messy, oh well. Maybe I’m just used to it by now, or maybe I’ve learned that a sparkly kitchen doesn’t make me a “good homemaker.”

The state of my home right now shocks me sometimes, compared to the higher standards I once had for myself. But I’m beyond thankful to be raising this amazing group of kids!

Someday, in just a few years, every one of these kiddos will be capable of cleaning every inch of our house. I’ll live in the moment while also looking forward to those days! :)

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

Family Update – More Kids, Extra Pink?!

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I couldn’t type one word of this post without tears. It’s what I do now apparently: snuggle and chase a bunch of little ones all day and cry a lot.

The tears are mostly the result of joy and awe spilling out all over my face. But there are also a few bucketfuls that are from heartache, frustration, fear, and longing. Never before these last 2.5 years of starting our foster care and adoption journey have I realized my absolute need for God’s strength and provision. I am so thankful for what I am learning. I am beyond thankful that God is perfectly in charge.

Wait. I’m not in charge? No, and it stinks. Except that it doesn’t, because so many times I pray for something that I think is best, and then God shows me that guess what? His ways are still best. Better than mine. Always.

So here’s a family life update, which is constantly changing, full, and often smells like a dirty diaper.

Family Update!

Well, let’s see, where to start? Our summer was full of long walks with the babies-turned-toddlers riding in the double stroller, and Brayden, our 6 year old walking beside me. We walked for miles, using the time to practice Brayden’s struggling speech skills. We did a lot of “unschooling” during this time noticing bits of nature, talking through math problems, finding things that started with different letters – so much learning. I will look back on this summer as one that was incredibly busy and wonderfully wonderful.

Elias graduated from high school and we were finally able to celebrate with a simple party in June. We had a cake pop and iced coffee bar (I highly recommend the iced coffee! Cake pops? They were a hit, but I’m not sure I want to take the time to make them again, ha!)

Justus was blessed to spend the summer in Texas as a youth ministry intern. As a result of his great experience, he came back in August ready to add another major to his original college plan. So now he is both a vocal performance major AND a ministry major. What a beautiful combination for whatever career God has for his future.

Just before school started we were amazed to get all seven boys together for our traditional back-to-school lunch. We didn’t go school shopping together like we usually do, and we didn’t go to the restaurant like we usually do. Instead, we grabbed take-out and ate together at the park.

From this:

To this:

Mid August, we got Elias and Justus moved into their college dorms/apartments. Even Keith helped. :)

Suddenly, Malachi went from the youngest of four boys to the oldest of four boys at home. He rocked this role from the start. We settled into our school year homeschooling a sophomore and a first grader while chasing two busy toddlers.

Just when we thought we couldn’t get any busier, God surprised us and changed our lives completely by putting a newborn bundle of pink in our lives. She’s a bio family member of our other bonus kids, so God’s yes was an immediate yes for us too. We were all smitten from the moment we laid eyes on her.



Our college boys come home with they can, and oh look, sometimes they have a special girl with them!! :) :) :)

Our littles love to pile on our big boys whenever they show up.

Asa doesn’t make it home often now that he is living and working in Lincoln. But he and his special girl come when they can and we treasure every minute.

Phew. So here we were. Trying to juggle this very full life with four awesome big kids, a fabulous six-year-old, two one-year-old toddlers, and a newborn. Homeschool much? Well, isn’t that the question of the year.

Malachi is a sophomore so he’s able to do a lot of his work on his own and with a tutor that God led us to hire for him. Homeschooling Brayden became a much bigger challenge, though the truth is, the challenge had started even before we got a newborn.

The past several months had revealed more of the struggles our little guy faces with academics and behavior. The time his needs were taking me every day took away from other important needs, and I found that even when I poured a huge amount of energy into his learning and behavior needs, I still wasn’t able to give him what he required. I regrouped, tried different ideas and methods, prayed, prayed, prayed.

God answered. I ignored Him though because He told us to send Brayden to school. Send our boy to school? No, that couldn’t be the answer. We’ve always homeschooled. I could do this. I would do this.

God said it again in a different way. Then again. Then again. Finally, I listened and we obeyed. Funny how I’ve always supported every person’s educational decisions for their family no matter what they chose, but goodness I had a hard time letting go of this for myself. I’ve grieved and cried because wow this change is a big one. I’ve always been a homeschool mom, I cried!! Then Justus said, pointing to Baby Sis, “Well up until two weeks ago you’ve always been a boy mom.” Well isn’t that the truth? Change might be hard, but it doesn’t have to be bad. Change can be very, very good.

God is faithful and good. He paved this out and eased Brayden’s transition, and here we are. Brayden has been going to public school for two months now, getting the extra help and resources that he so badly needed. Truly, we are so grateful.

So back to being more than just a boy mom. What a huge change, and well, it’s alright I guess. ;)

We try to sleep when we can. My kitchen floor is almost always gross. Our toddlers are almost two. One of them is likely to go back to bio family soon. Keith (our adopted toddler) is Mommy and Daddy’s sidekick whenever possible. And look at this! Asa and his film crew came from Lincoln to feature Keith in a special video. I’ll let you know when it comes out!

Malachi holds Baby Sis (diapers are a no-go though!) so I can chase toddlers and make dinner. Just when we started to feel settled in again with our newest little one, God answered a prayer we’ve prayed for a very long time…

Another bio family member of our littles gets to move in with us too! So now there’s not just one girl, but two!

Friends? We have a GIRL ROOM in our house now!

Our newest one is sweet as can be and constantly amazes us with the level of girlness she has brought to our home. Princesses, dress-up clothes, hair styling, dollies, crafts, sparkles – once again, we are smitten. I walked into the boys’ room one day this week to witness this:

So this is our life now. Seven boys. Two girls. For today. And we’re truly learning that we must live just one day at a time.

God’s mercies are new every morning. We ask for your prayers and we thank you for your constant encouragement and support. Whatever you do, don’t underestimate what God may have for your life. If He surprises you by bringing you something unexpected, lean in, and be open to all He wants to teach you through it. The challenges that come with the changes will be met with God’s strength in the most beautiful way you can imagine.

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

The Surprising Reason I Spent Money on a Bosch Mixer

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’m not even sure if I’ve even told you that I bought a Bosch Mixer! So hey guess what?! I bought a Bosch Mixer. Here’s why…

Yum

First of all, I could spend a few words telling you why it took me so long to finally break down and spend the money on a Bosch Mixer. But it’s mostly because of this:

  • These beauties are pricey!
  • I’ve stirred my bread dough and cookie dough and brownie batter by arms for well over 40 years. Why did I need an expensive mixer seeing as I still have working arms and hands?

But all of you friends who have a Bosch or a Kitchen Aid have said to me, “With all the cooking and baking you do, how in the world do you actually survive without a mixer?” And I always went back to…

  • Expensive.
  • My arm works fine.

Yes, investing in a nice mixer has been in my mind for quite some time, and my desire for one went up a notch every time one of you told me how great they are.

So what finally pushed me over the edge to fork out the money for a Bosch Mixer?

It was a conversation with my friend Rhonda (and then it still took me several months to ruminate over it, but whatever).

Here’s what Rhonda said – and I will tell you that when Rhonda speaks, I listen. She knows things. She’s an awesome friend and has raised awesome kids and she says smart things.

Rhonda was sharing with me how she had recently become the recipient of a used but still wonderful Kitchen Aid Mixer. She was loving it and decided it was fantastic and then she said:

I wish I would have had this in my kitchen when my kids were still at home growing up.

She went on to talk about how much time it saved and about how nicely it mixed up batters and while I really liked hearing this part of her review, I just couldn’t let go of this thought:

Moms. We sacrifice. We skimp. We save. We make do. And God bless us for it!! I mean, after all, regarding the cooking and the baking and the batters and the doughs – I do have arms that work. My grandma used her arms. Why do I need to spend money on a mixer? I can make do.

But there I stood with Rhonda in the church foyer, with my adult and teen kids hanging out with their friends in the background and my new set of littles playing at my feet. And I realized yet again: I AM STARTING OVER!!! Just when I thought I was almost done raising kids, God started us fresh with new fellas, and friends? That means I’m going to be working at this “feeding a family” thing for a very long time.

Add to that all the friends we feed regularly, plus the daughters-in-law and grandbabes I’d like to think are a part of our future and I’m pretty sure I will be cranking food and food and more food out of my kitchen for many more years!

Shucks, here I’m tearing up again at the beauty of this life we didn’t know God had planned for us.

Well anyway. I chewed on Rhonda’s statement for several months, watched in awe as my teens and littles shared meals, and I decided to run it by Matt. This wouldn’t be just a small purchase, and would it be worth it?

We decided yes. I should get a mixer because I was embracing Rhonda’s advice about “oh how nice it would have been to have when my kids were at home growing up.”

Little Boys #round2

Before purchasing, I spend some time researching. One does not drop several hundred dollars on a kitchen tool without doing her homework. I landed on purchasing a Bosch Universal Plus. If I was going to spend big, I was going to get the best of the best. (Also, I purchased from Paula’s Bread because she’s a small business I trust and I wanted to support her with my big purchase!)

You guys. How did I ever get along with this? Well shucks, I used my arms I guess. :)

But Rhonda was right. This is a wonderful tool to have when you do a lot of cooking and baking,  for a family. My Bosch Mixer has already paid for itself in its efficiency and ease and time-saving gifts that it has given me as I work to take care of so many kids of different ages and while I feed many college kids and other guests too. I’m totally in love with it and am 100% grateful that we made this investment!

As for using my arms to stir and mix? Well, I’m going to focus on using my arms for more important endeavors. :)

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

Introducing, Brayden Coppinger!!

by 77 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for! It is my honor to introduce you all to our son, our Bonus Boy:

Brayden Coppinger

If you’re crying over that sweet face right now, you can be guaranteed that I am too.

Yesterday was a very, very big day!

We all wore flamingo apparel to the courthouse. Why, you ask? Why would we all wear flamingos for our special day in court?

Because we are a flamingo family. See, our oldest son Asa started a flamingo-wearing tradition a few years ago at the beginning of his freshman year of college. He started wearing some sort of flamingo apparel every Friday, dubbing it “Flamingo Friday.” It was so much fun that slowly we all started picking up flamingo socks and shirts also. Last year I even decorated my re-constructed bathroom with flamingos (because how else can a mom living in a household full of males have a PINK bathroom, am I right?!?!).

Anyway, flamingos. We love them. It’s a Coppinger thing.

So it only made sense that on this special day when we were adding a precious new one to our flock – we should all wear flamingos to celebrate.

So now it’s official! He is Brayden, our Bonus Boy. He made our youngest child become a middle child. He made all six of us reevaluate our priorities. He made us dig down and examine what it means to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus daily. He made us let go of the idea of soon having an empty nest, and helped us embrace the beauty of a home that starts over and embraces God’s better plan.

He made us the Coppinger7.

I stand in awe of this and of all the unknowns that God has yet to reveal.

While the adoption is now final, we realize that the journey is really just beginning. Yes, we are incredibly blessed to have this opportunity. But there’s no such thing as a “happily ever after.” We find that we need to constantly be in prayer over each day, asking for wisdom and guidance as we navigate roads we haven’t traveled before.

More than anything, we’ve learned that having an open heart to “whatever it is God wants to do in our lives” means that He’ll likely take us to a place we didn’t expect. But what better place is there than one that God leads you to Himself? Guaranteed, through it He will always provide for every need.

We praise God that our open hearts led us to this challenging and beautiful new life. Welcome to our world, Brayden Coppinger. You are dearly loved.

 

 

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

I Can’t Believe I’m Doing This Again!

by 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I can’t believe I am doing this again!

I had given away almost all of our books, keeping only those that we had loved the most. You know, to save for future grandkids.

I had cleared away most of our learning toys, keeping only those that were of the highest quality. Once again, to save for future grandkids.

I had told myself with each finished subject, “Well, that’s the last time I’ll ever teach that one!” And I did a little happy dance and breathed a sigh of relief. After all, while we’ve loved our homeschool life since 2002, it’s been good, hard work.

I wasn’t even a little bit sorry to put the Biology book away FOREVER. Goodbye, terms like cyclin-dependent kinase. I’ve read about you – out loud and with good intention- at least twelve times and I still don’t know what you are. Hmm, oh well. Bye! Goodbye! Bye-bye!!

These have been my thoughts ever since our youngest started his middle school grades three years ago. Finished with this! Almost done with that! Never have to teach those again!

And then God surprised us by providing a darling Bonus Boy for our family – one whose last name will soon become Coppinger. Our youngest son suddenly became a middle son. Four sons became five. (Currently, we are also fostering Boy #6.) I can assure you that if you didn’t see any of this coming, we most certainly didn’t either. Oh, but God knew. He’s been planning this all along.

 


I Can’t Believe We’re Doing this Again!

As we’ve settled him in and readjusted our family life, we talked about and prayed about sending this one, our Bonus Boy, to school. After all, I thought I was done. I had given away all the little kid school books. And well, I’m a little bit tired.

But God has made it clear after several months of prayer that while it would have been a fine option to let a public or private school educate our Bonus Boy, it will be better for his many needs if we teach him at home. And so, my friends, after being in high school and college teaching class mode for the past several years – I have found myself preparing to teach a kindergartener again!!

God has beautifully transformed my heart to make me want to do this. Praise Him, He has made me excited about it!

We will most certainly be working through our Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve and Learn Your Numbers, Learn to Serve books. We will use Sonlight Curriculum as a guide for the core subjects, just as we’ve done with our big boys for the past 17 years. And we’ll pick up all the other great teaching and learning options we come across that meet our family’s needs.

This week, I’m definitely taking advantage of the Build Your Bundle Homeschool Curriculum Sale. I already picked up the Kindergarten Bundle and the Character Bundle.  UPDATE!! I discovered a much better deal with this, scratched my original plan, and did this instead —->

Instead of getting the pre-packaged bundles, I am instead going through the list of all 180 books offered, picking all the ones that are right for us, AND!!!

The more we buy, the bigger discount we get!!

Here’s how it works:

  1. Click here and find this button:

2. Click on that, and you’ll see this:

3. Look through all the eBooks, memberships, and eCourses listed (there are 180)! Add all you want to the cart, knowing that at minimum, you’re going to get 75% off and at most, you could get 90% off!!!

4. Once your cart hits a $100 retail, you’ll suddenly see YOUR total jump down to $25! Keep adding, and that percentage off keeps growning. It is SWEET!!!! I just got a ton of books for so cheap!!

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

I love that I don’t have to find shelf space for these books! I’m simply storing them on my computer to download and print as needed. Perfect!

We’ll be reviving some of our old family homeschool traditions…
And beginning a few new ones, I’m sure.


Our God is a good God, full of surprises that He provides for in every way.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve been learning is to not make my own plans but to instead fully surrender to trusting God’s plans. We didn’t know we’d become foster parents. We didn’t know we would adopt. We didn’t know we’d start our homeschool journey all over again.

And we didn’t know that what would begin as a huge shock and surprise would turn out to be something that – difficult as some days have been – we couldn’t imagine life without.

It’s time for me to borrow or re-purchase many of the great resources we had used before and given away. Thinking about this makes me laugh every time! I just really, really had no idea that I would one day need all those books and manipulatives I so cheerfully passed on!!! Oh God, what a joy you are to give us gifts we would never expect!

We don’t know what tomorrow brings. God is beautifully and perfectly in charge. His plans for all of our tomorrow’s are set in motion, and we have the glorious privilege of walking in obedience with Him.

Please share: What has God surprised you with recently?

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

Homeschool Curriculum Question

If you homeschool, I would love to hear what you’ve used and loved through the years!?

Also, I encourage you to head over to the HUGE Build Your Bundle Homeschool Curriculum Sale going on this week only! There are hundreds of resources available at up to 92% off.

This sale is only offered once each year, and now’s the time! These are all digital and printable products, which is perfect to supplement your kids’ needs and school work options. And once you purchase, you can keep the files on your computer and print them for any and all of your kids for years to come!

Build Your Bundle - The Biggest Homeschool Curriculum Sale of the Year

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

Merry Christmas from the Coppinger 7!

by 20 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Wait – 7?? Yep. God took us from six to seven this year. We can’t believe it either.

Here we are, on Asa’s Senior Night for just before his final home soccer game for York College.

The adoption won’t be final until sometime in the new year, but we’re well on our way. You can expect precious pictures of our Bonus Boy on adoption day in a few months.

What have I learned this year? I’ve learned that I should never make plans. Be kind of organized and maybe have a casserole in the freezer. But don’t make plans. GOD MAKES PLANS. Then He prepares us, equips us, and provides for us as He carries out His perfect plans.

We weren’t even looking to provide foster care, much less adopt. Indeed, I had all kinds of other plans for our lives in the next few years…but fostering? Adopting? Not even a blip on my radar.

Trusting God, though? Listening? Obeying and walking in the path He paves? That’s where we’ve been focused. We’ve been asking God to show us what it really means to love our neighbor…

As our hearts had opened to people in our community who needed support through special struggles, we became friends with Bonus Boy’s birth mom. When we discovered one night last spring that the little guy needed a temporary place to live, we prayed. God told us yes, so Bonus Boy moved in within just a few hours of our finding out about the need. This huge life change happened exactly that fast – with less than a day’s notice. But God knew all along.

Fostering turned into the need for adoption. And now here we are. We’re learning about God’s faithfulness and love in ways we never knew. This is the best gift of all.

I pray that as you celebrate Christmas and look back on 2018, you are filled with JOY as you see all the ways God stretched, molded, challenged, grew, and loved you this year. As the year ends, we hope to be more like Jesus than we were at the beginning.

From our family to yours – Merry Christmas. I can’t wait to learn what’s in store for 2019.

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