Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Quick and Easy New Year’s Snacks and Treats

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Need some quick and easy New Year’s snacks and treats? We’ve got a great list of fun recipe ideas for you!

Yum

This time, we’re going to focus on finger foods. After all, on the final day of the year, who wants to use a fork? We’ve done that for 364 days already this year. At this point, we just.can’t.handle.picking.up.a.fork.

And also? Finger foods are more fun on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Right?

My personal preference is to make several fun snacks and treats, then pull them out onto a buffet so we can all munch and graze while we play games, hang out, and visit. Here are some of the ideas I’m working on for this year:

Quick and Easy New Year’s Snacks and Treats

And for some added fun, may I suggest that you brew some coffee and have bowls of these set out for people to add to their mugs?

For the record, I will be making an enjoying these finger foods, but I will not be staying up until midnight. You?

Happy New Year!

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The 3 Best Decisions I Made in 2017

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I don’t think I’ve ever come to a year’s end and felt quite so satisfied with specific choices God has led me to make.

Well, I did feel pretty good about my decision to say “yes” at the end of 1993 when the cute soccer guy asked, “Will you marry me?” Good choice, Laura. Good choice.

But here we are, 24 years and many thousands of life lessons later. As 2017 comes to a close, I have been exceedingly joyful about making three important decisions during the past twelve month that have – if I may sound so dramatic – changed my life.

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This picture was the result of my oldest son taking family pictures,
turning his camera suddenly toward me, and saying, “Hey mom!”

Choice #1

After considering it for years and being too intimidated to follow through with it, I finally decided to hire someone to help me clean my house. Sound frivolous? I thought so too. But my house is big and my schedule is full. While my sons are incredibly helpful with so many of the basic and necessary daily and weekly chores around the house, there were too many deeper cleaning jobs that we never, ever got around to.

This weighed on me heavily. So I finally made the phone call. I pay for just four hours each month and the change it’s made in my home and in my stress level has been incredible. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and worth every penny. Hooray for a cleaner house in 2017 (and for the dear friend who fills my home with love while she clears away my dust)!

Choice #2

After being completely overwhelmed with the fact that I could no longer keep up with all the work it takes to run this blog, I asked God to guide me in finding help. He provided not one, but two gals who are a perfect match to help me do what needs to be done regularly so that I can focus more on what I love: writing and creating recipes!

Not one day goes by that I fail to be thankful for the relief this has brought to my daily life.

As an added bonus, the three ladies who help me clean or keep up with blog work are all friends who were seeking a little extra income to help with their own family’s needs. I love it when God provides win-wins!

Choice #3

This choice has been the best of the best. After seeking Jesus in new and better ways during the past few years and while encountering what I can only label as being attack from the enemy, God provided a loving Christian therapist this year to walk me through a deep journey toward breaking chains and finding spiritual healing.

There are no words to describe the freedom I’ve discovered because of the godly help this woman has offered. God is teaching me how to love more freely, to live more fully and peacefully through the Holy Spirit, and to allow myself to be filled with all the goodness He has to offer.

Thankful

I guess I could sum up my year by saying, “I asked for help. God faithfully provided.”

I’ve known for quite some time that I can’t do it all. But this year was the first that I waved the white flag and asked for help in so many different ways. It’s been so glorious that if I didn’t know that God’s timing is perfect, I might question why I waited so long. :)

I look back on 2017 with a great big grin, a heart overflowing with joy, a head freed from the clutter of anxiety, and as an added perk, a bedroom floor that finally gets cleaned regularly.

I pray that your 2017 has been full of all the goodness our God so freely offers. I’d love to hear your thoughts as you reflect on all He’s done for you this year!

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Never (Forget to) Look Back

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The sound of a crunching leaf under my foot turns me into a pre-teen walking down the lane at church camp. Catching a whiff of Icy Hot gives me immediate shin splints and a nervous stomach as if I am once again a high school sophomore who must now get on the starting line of the track to run a half-mile race. Walking into a hospital makes my uterus contract (don’t make me explain this). So it shouldn’t have surprised me that seeing the pretty lighted snowflakes hung on our city’s downtown light poles this holiday season would bring up emotions from a few years ago at this time.

I remember loving the sight of the snowflakes that year, but feeling quite discouraged and therefore unable to be fully at peace in the moment. All was well overall in our lives, but there were a few uncertainties and decisions to be made. I remember being consumed by heavy thoughts that overshadowed my normally excited feelings about Christmas and threatened to steal away my joy of the season.

When I saw the lighted snowflakes this year, my mind was immediately taken back to that time. But just as quickly as those memories came back, God filled me with visions of all He’s done in our lives since that year. I saw all the ways God answered our prayers, showed us His power, and offered His constant provision. Boom. Take that, painful memories. We went through something hard. We not only survived, we came out stronger. God did His work in us.

The world tells us to leave the past behind. Never look back. Move forward. There’s a lot of good in this. After all, the Bible says in Philippians 3, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Indeed. Should we look back to dwell on a past full of regrets, pain, struggle? No, thank you. Let’s instead press on toward what God has already prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

But can I tell you something great about the beauty of taking time to look back in reflection of past struggles and difficult times? That’s when we can see all the ways God took care of us during that time and has met our needs since that time. Looking back helps us consider all the specifics of how His promises of provision and care have been fulfilled. Remembering His absolute faithfulness in the past helps us remember that we can trust His faithfulness in the future.

Never Forget to Look Back

So never forget to look back. Look back with joy as you reflect on what God has brought you through up until now. Those hard times? You made it through! God did His work! His promises are faithful and we can trust Him!

As we look ahead toward a new year, we can be excited. I guarantee that a few years from now when we look back at this very time, we will have a new story to tell of God’s goodness and care. Now that’s something to look forward to.

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