Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting
Just wanted to remind you of our free, downloadable encouragement cards. Print them and include them in school or work lunch boxes. Don’t pack many lunches? Use them at home – under a pillow, under a dinner plate, inside the book your child is currently reading…
Looking for healthy lunch box ideas? Follow along with our new Make-Ahead Lunch Box series!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
70,000. That’s how many thoughts we think every day, which breaks down to 1.2 thoughts per second.
Yoo-hoo, dear wonderful person who did the research so as to provide us with this thought provoking information: What I’d like to know is, how many of these thoughts of mine are rational, logical, emotional, or have something to do with cream cheese? Does this statistic count the thoughts I think in my subconscious while I’m sleeping? Or in fact do I cram my 70K thoughts into my awake hours, which ultimately means that all the thoughts I think are running into each other, tackling, punching, vying for attention, thus resulting in a big jumbled pile-up inside my head?
I’d like to believe my thinker works in overdrive because I am an efficient multi-tasker. Yes. This is a gift I have, which in effect allows me to plan dinner, read to my kids, make a mental list of phone calls I need to make, and question whose feet are the culprit of my nostril discomfort – all at the same time. Unfortunately, it is also the thinker that allows me to create scenarios, envision disasters, replay conversations, invent situations, and ultimately freak out inside about what did, could, should, didn’t, would have, and might just happen. It is this thinker that makes me believe that I’m completely on my own and able to solve all the world’s problems, prevent all physical and spiritual calamities for my children, and figure out how to appropriately respond to all conversations and encounters.
This kind of thinking makes me crazy.
So what to do? We can’t stop thinking. (because then we’d be dead. okay then.) Are those of us who tend to “over-think” situations, worry, fret, and constantly analyze just destined to have a lot of frustration for the rest of our lives?
Jesus says, no way. Just like any sin and struggle, God gives us a simple way out of the crazy.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5
Want to print this? Click here to download.
We control our thoughts. They do not control us. If we allow thoughts that are anxious, frustrated, confusing, angry, controlling, or ungodly in any other way – we need to take them captive and intentionally refocus them to make them obey Christ.
This takes courage, intention, and a heart open to surrender. Christ wants to overtake our thoughts, to fill our minds with his goodness, and to rule our actions. He can’t do that when we ignore Him. He can’t talk to us if we aren’t listening. He can’t fill us with His peace and joy when we refuse to let go of swirling, corrupted thoughts.
Take your thoughts captive. Make them obey Christ. Stop thinking about and trying to figure out all the stuff. Just stop. Stop thinking and pray. Before every decision. Every situation. Every step forward.
Be amazed at how God offers a solution to every problem you face and how He replaces your anxiety with peace.
Stop thinking and pray. It works! But did we really expect anything less?
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!In the big scheme of life, Matt’s foot injury this week is not such a big deal. It hurts quite a bit, it is causing some inconvenience, and is preventing him from getting his work done. But we’ve got a friend undergoing major life-threatening surgery for cancer today, another who is getting ready to bury his dad, and many other friends who are struggling with hardships much more difficult than we are facing.
And yet. This week has been exhausting. I found myself quite weary by this afternoon, after several days of trying to juggle all my work and some of Matt’s too. He’s starting to get around a little bit (on crutches), but it’s slow going. I finally gave way to some tears this morning. I’m fine, really. I’m just tired. :)
At just the right time early this afternoon, there was a knock at the door. There stood my friend Rose, dressed in a cheery yellow shirt, a pecan pie in her hands. I thought I would melt into a puddle. Here’s what she said to me,
“I heard Matt got hurt. I’m so sorry! I wanted to do something, then questioned how I could possibly cook something for you, the one who cooks great food all the time. Then I told myself, ‘well that’s just stupid.’ So I baked you a pie.” Then she gave me an “I love you with the love of the Lord” sister-in-Christ hug. Oh, it was just what I needed at that moment.
Friends, I don’t care if she would have brought me a frozen pizza or a bag of nuggets from McDonalds. I don’t care if she would have thrown me a bag of Cheetos out the window of her car. I don’t care if she would have shoved a package of Oreos into my hands. I don’t care if she showed up with nothing in her arms but a hug for me. Her thoughtfulness and care were perfectly timed. She followed the Spirit’s leading, and she loved me. That’s all that matters.
I kid you not when I say that the entire pie was gone in less than 30 minutes. Malachi declared it to be the “best pie he’d ever eaten.” Mmhmm, it was super good.
If you hear God calling you to serve, don’t question it. Don’t hesitate, feel intimidated, or worry that what you have to offer won’t be good enough. If God calls you, there’s a reason. Listen and obey. Your best is always just right.
So stop worrying. When you choose to love people, you can’t go wrong.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!If you desire to be a great homemaker, you must:
No pressure.
Drop kick it with me, friends! I despise these expectations we think others are putting on us that we most likely are really putting on ourselves.
The real definition of a great homemaker:
Want to see what I made my family for our Sunday Dinner today?
It’s a take-and-bake pizza from the store. Couldn’t I have made a homemade pizza? Well sure if I….wait – you know what? NO. I couldn’t. That’s why I bought the pizza. Our weekend has been so full of awesome fun, unexpected appliance break-downs (the washing machine and the dishwasher in the same day, really?), oodles of guests, and because it’s springtime – soccer games. If we were going to make it to church and soccer games today with food in our bellies and a mama who had at least gotten a few hours sleep, lunch was either going to be a package of raw, frozen hamburger – or a store bought pizza. We went with the pizza. (You’re welcome, kids.)
So let’s consider: Since I bought a pizza from the store to feed my family for lunch, am I a homemaking failure? Since my new/used washing machine just got installed yesterday and I have yet to use it or clean up the mess the delivery guys left all the way down the stairs while they took out the old washer, am I a homemaking failure? Since my dishwasher was broken and I pulled out the paper plates for our company on Saturday morning, am I a homemaking failure?
Sigh. I’m pretty sure I am. Woe is me. I failed to be perfect. I may as well throw in the (dirty) towel.
Or not.
Homemaking is homemaking – no matter what it looks like. My heart is for God and for my family. I always work hard and do my best. Today, my best looked like a store bought pizza. Today, I blessed my family by feeding them, worshiping with them, and cheering them on at soccer. Joyfully, I have a case of toilet paper on hand so that I can check that off my list of mama emergencies.
Homemakers…unite! Bring your imperfections, your crusty nosed kids, your broken appliances, and your unmade beds. Be empowered to keep on doing what God is calling you to do. Keep working hard, loving your families, and rocking this homemaking thing.
And if my closet door is ever open when you come to my house, please look away very quickly and act like you didn’t see a thing.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Rarely do our trials feel light or momentary. We know in our hearts that God is in control, but living peacefully in that truth is hard when we are focused on what is seen on this earth. After all, much of what we experience on this earth is challenging.
While praying for some friends of ours, God led me to this passage in 2 Corinthians this week. I was so encouraged by these words from Paul. Truth: We are being renewed daily. We fix our eyes on Jesus, knowing that our eternal glory outweighs everything we struggle through on this earth.
Praise God for His truth and promises! Knowing my tendency to rely on myself and on the things that are seen, I printed this verse out so that I could post it on my fridge and be reminded of these truths.
I created a printable of this passage to share with you.
Hold on to truth!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!Last night I dreamed about the biggest vacuum cleaner ever. You’ve gotta love the dreams of a homemaker. Yes, sometimes I dream of blenders, too. And also occasionally of butter.
In my dream this time, the huge vacuum came down from the sky and began to hover (no, not Hoover) over my yard. I watched in awe and wondered what exactly it was planning to do. After all, it did have a miracle to work in my home after a lively Christmas holiday in which we had taken several days off from cleaning.
The vacuum looked exactly like this, except that it didn’t actually resemble this one at all
because it was a dream and they don’t make vacuums like that in real life.
The enormous contraption continued to hang out in the air above me, as if waiting for me to do what I was supposed to do so that it could perform its duty. But I was preoccupied with several other matters that were making me uneasy. Worry about my kids had been creeping in as I was trying to figure out how to handle each situation. What to do, what to do? And now I had the problem of a giant vacuum buzzing over my yard.
I finally decided that I would need to stop worrying about all the other matters so that I could instead deal with the monstrous vacuum. Since I couldn’t deal with them both at once, this meant that I had to let go of all the worried thoughts floating around in my head. So I did. And umm (this was a dream, remember), when I let go of the yuck that I was anxious about, it all scattered all over my yard. Don’t try to picture it.
Burden released, I then turned to the vacuum that I was now ready to deal with. But the vacuum ignored me because it already knew what it was supposed to do, and could now get down to business. It lowered it’s powerful hose, and with its amazing suction force, it quickly sucked up every last bit of my yuck and worry. Then it went away. Eureka!
I saw my problems disappear along with the vacuum as I woke from the dream. And I also remembered that we had watched Despicable Me 2 last night (while eating nachos) and the big vacuum thing that sucked up all the Minions is probably partly where the lovely visual in this dream came from.
So what does any of this have to do with 31 Days of Praise? Well, it’s time to learn to let go of what worries us, and to instead embrace Truth, resting in the peace we receive through Jesus. We can not hold on to both at the same time.
It’s obviously also time for me to vacuum my house.
I had two books on my Christmas list this year. Yay for me – I received them both! I spent a relaxing afternoon yesterday reading the introduction to both books, and decided I absolutely needed to recommend them to you. I love them already. These books are full of TRUTH!
The Bible is our ultimate source for Truth, right? So keep on diving into the Word. Take time to chew on the words, savoring the words of Jesus and the lessons to be learned.
I believe 31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew, by Ruth Myers, and Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, by Sarah Young, are wonderful additions to our growth and encouragement as we seek God and learn to listen to Him, praise Him, worship Him, and live a life of peace in Him. Care to join me in reading these books this year?
I read Day One of 31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew this morning, along with all the scriptures that went along with the truths she shared. It was powerful. And I want to say more, but really, I just want you to read it. This stuff is rich.
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, by Sarah Young, includes a short devotional thought for us to read each day of the year. I’m waiting until January 1 to start reading through this book. But a few months ago when I was having a difficult few weeks, a friend of mine who owns this book, shared some of the thoughts she had been reading from this. I was incredibly encouraged to read these truths and to be pointed to scripture that applied to my struggles. I love it.
You may also be encouraged while reading through a series I wrote this fall called Raw. It’s a story of my journey during the past year of truly accepting the peace Jesus longs to give us!
I also plan to begin a series in January to encourage simplicity in eating a Real Food diet. Watch for more info coming soon. But starting the new year at the feet of Jesus is most important of all. Join me in this journey to Truth!
Have you heard of these books? Read them? Interested in reading them with me?
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
When I wake up in the morning, I like walking into a clean living room. I love to see a bathroom empty of dirty laundry. And I feel so peaceful cooking breakfast in a tidy kitchen.
When I wake up the boys, it feels great to see them sleeping in a room that is uncluttered. As I walk back downstairs, I love to see our school room organized, our stash of Legos all picked up, and a hallway that is clear of all toys, clothes, and balls.
Yes, this is what I strive for as a homemaker. It is when my house is cleaned and uncluttered that I feel peace.
So what happens when I wake up to a kitchen that looks like this?
And a hallway that looks like this?
And a Lego room that looks like this:
Should I then feel like I’ve failed? Should I sigh deeply, let my shoulders drop, frown, and wonder {again} why everyone else has it together better than I?
Sure I could, and I have many times through the years. After all, older women have encouraged me to never go to bed with a dirty kitchen. Books and blogs I’ve read have provided so many organizational tools and scheduling ideas that if I were to only implement them already, I could easily get done what I need to each day. There should be no reason that my clean laundry sits in the hallway for three days before we get around to folding it and putting it away – after all, I am home all day and I have a lot of boys to help out. I have got to get better organized! I have got to figure out a better schedule! Somehow I must not be doing something right!
What is the matter with me? When am I ever going to get all of this figured out?
Nothing.
Never.
Nothing is the matter with me and I am never going to get all of this figured out. How about you? Now let’s all breathe a sigh of relief.
Let’s stop seeing our personal imperfections and feeling crushed by them. As huge as our laundry piles are, as long as our to-do lists become – God is so much bigger, and so is his grace. While He does call us to take care of our homes, He doesn’t ask us to be enslaved by them or to make them an idol.
If we are so hung up on creating a perfect home that we lose sight of the heart of our home, ain’t no amount of dishwasher detergent gonna give us peace. Enough about me (or you) as a homemaker. Jesus is the One who makes a home.
Sometimes I wake up to this:
It’s great. I love it. I strive to stay on top of the jobs that need to be done in my home. And I will continue to work hard because that is what I am called to do.
But never again will I feel like a failure when working hard for my family does not achieve perfection. Jesus is the heart of our home. The gunk on my floor doesn’t stand a chance.
What gets you down? What do you need to let go of so that you can accept the gift of God’s peace for your home?
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
It’s one of my favorite verses. I quote it to myself often. It gives me strength, and helps me know that what I am doing as a homemaker, mother, wife, servant, friend, and child of God is not without purpose. It reminds me of my calling for God’s kingdom. And it encourages me to continue to seek Christ for my strength and focus.
This week, our free printable is this beautiful wall hanging for you to print, frame, and hang in your home. There are two different options – blue and black, or gray and black.
Download Galatians 6:9 in Blue and Black here.
Download Galatians 6:9 in Gray and Black here.
Wanting to bless someone else too? For just a few dollars, you can print and frame this and give it to someone who needs encouragement.
I printed this, put a piece of coordinating blue cardstock on the back, then framed it (for two bucks). I LOVE having this in my living room!
Looking for more free printables that will benefit you and help you to bless others too? Here are our Free Encouragement Cards printable from last week. Check back each Monday as we offer a new free printable option each week!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!For those of you who don’t homeschool, I realize that parts of this post won’t apply to you. Perhaps there’s something else in your life you need to smack down. If so, feel free to insert a different word where I’ve typed “curriculum.” Bathroom scales, perhaps? Daily planner, maybe? You fill in the blank. :)
Dear Curriculum,
It’s that time again. I’ve gone over and over your catalog. I’ve purchased many of the books you recommend. I’ve read through loads of your teacher’s manuals.
You are, without a doubt, wonderful, and I am so thankful for you. What would I do without you to guide me along as I teach my four children? Truly, you have been a God send.
What I need you to know, as I plan our upcoming school year, working to provide the best education possible for my children, is that as wonderful as you are, you aren’t perfect. Don’t sweat it. There’s no way you could keep up with knowing what will work best for each family.
Just so you know, what you ask me to do on week three doesn’t at all match what is on our calendar. (Perhaps you’ve heard that soccer season and fall school schedules don’t always get along?) It’s okay though. I’ve decided to slide some of your assignments around so that we can fit them in later, if possible. It’s really cool how you have never sent the Curriculum Schedule Police to my door to spank my hand for shuffling around assignments. You are constantly gracious.
I’m not sure who you think we are, and it could be that all the other families actually have 8th graders who are ready to study for their doctorate. But I felt you should know that while I appreciate all of your suggested literature, if we want our kids to have time to get themselves up out of a chair for any part of their 15 hour awake time each day, we won’t get around to reading every single one of your books or do even half of your writing assignments.
Some of what you assign my kids to do each week, we will only do once per month. That really is plenty for them at this stage. Occasionally, I will substitute one of your recommended books with another one that meets my boys’ needs. And when I look at you each weekend while planning for an upcoming school week, if at any time I feel like throwing you across the room, I’ll refrain, but I reserve the right to stuff your schedules, guidelines, suggestions, and outlines into a bottom drawer far away and pull you out when and if I feel like looking at you again. No worries. Learning will still be going on at our house. It just may not involve keeping up with your recommendations during those particularly hectic days.
Here’s something neat: After eleven years of homeschooling, I don’t look at your outlines and teachers guides and feel less than, guilty, or overwhelmed anymore. My kids are learning loads of information and becoming very well rounded because of and in spite of me (and you). So thank you again for your help, because I truly could not do this without you. I’ll continue to use you as a guide, because you are so very good at that.
But you don’t own me. I own you. Perhaps you remember the exciting day you arrived in a box on my doorstep?
See you in a few weeks. It’s going to be another great school year with our family!
Unregretfully Yours,
Laura (an ordinary homeschool mom)
P.S. Have you ever wished Shakespeare had spoken a bit more understandably? Maybe I’ll write a letter to him next. In toddler speak. That’ll teach him.
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
I think I was about eleven years old at the time. I was baking chocolate chip cookies – all by myself. It was something I’d been doing since I was about nine, and my mom had confidently turned over all cookie baking jobs to me at that point.
As I reached in to pull the pan of cookies from the oven that day, somehow my right arm brushed the inside of the oven. Ouch! I’d had little burns before, but this one was a biggie. Or so it seemed at the time.
Mom helped me try to find some relief for the burn as she finished up the cookie baking chore. I remember being in a lot of pain – and feeling really frustrated with myself. How could I have been so dumb? It is not hard to take cookies out of the oven without burning yourself. Why hadn’t I just slowed down and done it right? I must not be a very good cook, I woefully lamented to myself.
Later that day, my grandma came over to drop something off. She took a look at the burn on my arm, winced sympathetically, and said, “Ah, the sign of a good cook…”
What? Good cook?! I had been thinking exactly the opposite. As I got teary eyed, Grandma continued, “Laura, every good cook I know burns herself every once in a while. It’s not fun, but it means that you’re working hard to help feed your family. Take care of your burn, then get back in the kitchen and keep on cooking.”
It’s a good thing my grandma gave me that advice. Otherwise, my husband and sons would be pretty hungry by now. Just kidding. I’m sure I would have found my way back into the kitchen eventually. But Grandma’s words dried my tears, and got me off the couch and back into the kitchen that very day.
Every good cook burns herself sometimes. Every homemaker occasionally flings a spoonful of flour into the jar of salt. (As in, I did this just last Wednesday.) Sometimes, when you open the refrigerator, the plastic bottle of ketchup will fall to the floor, break, and shoot ketchup all the way into the living room, up your pantleg, and into the leftover pie. (Again, last Wednesday.)
Every parent says the wrong thing to her child at one time or another. Every person puts his foot in his mouth occasionally. Everyone who has ever done laundry has found that a red shirt with a white sock will create a pretty shade of pink. Or in my case, I learned that my green kitchen rug would turn my light blue guest towels the color of puke. (If only Grandma could have come over that day.)
Afraid of failing? Nervous about trying something new? Scared that you don’t know enough about cooking, serving, parenting, homemaking, working, or you know…taking cookies out of an oven? Not to worry. Every good cook burns herself sometimes.
Trying and failing, spilling and splattering buttermilk onto the ceiling, overbaking the muffins, dropping and breaking an egg into the silverware drawer – all of these are signs of a good cook in the making. Who knew?!
Um well, that would be…Grandma.
I’d love for you to share about a homemaking task you feel afraid to tackle. What’s something new that you’re not sure of trying? Have something you’re afraid of tackling? Don’t worry. Every good cook burns herself sometimes. That’s how we learn! Share with us!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
