Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

  • Home
    • About
    • FAQs
  • Recipes
    • Bread and Breakfast
    • Condiments
    • Dairy
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes and Snacks
    • Desserts
    • Gluten Free
    • Instant Pot
    • Crock Pot
    • Heavenly Homemaker’s Weekly Menus
  • Homemaking
    • Real Food Sources
  • Store
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Simple Meals
  • Club Members!

Gratituesday: House Full of Fun

December 19, 2011 by Laura 13 Comments

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

Today, Matt picked up his brother and family from the airport! We’ve been looking forward to this day for months. The kids have been having a blast, playing non-stop since they got here. As you can imagine, our four year old nephew has found all kinds of fun boy toys to play with. And our two year old niece? Well, she’s holding her own as well.

We plan to relish every moment of this visit. I am so grateful God made this trip possible for them. It’s a perfect Christmas gift for all of us!

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Gratituesday: Folding Laundry

December 5, 2011 by Laura 24 Comments

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

Funny thing about being sick – it offers you a new perspective on what it means to feel good.

How often have I looked at the laundry piles (dirty or clean) and felt overwhelmed, just wishing I could ignore them and instead go lay down, cozy up, and read a good book – or maybe even take a little nap? How many times have I stared at the menu plan, thinking that the meals sounded good, but just longing for the food to somehow magically prepare itself so I wouldn’t have to do it? How often have I just wished for a little break from the noise and needs of the kids? Don’t the boys see their daddy standing right there, available to answer their questions? Why is it that the first word out of their mouths is usually, “MOM!” when someone has a bloody finger or when there is another brotherly quarrel?

I just wish, sometimes. I just wish I could have a break from all the responsibilities, duties, thinking, planning, solving, and doing.

Be careful what you wish for.

Not that taking breaks is a bad thing. Taking time to be refreshed and renewed is a wise thing indeed.

But give me just a few days in bed, sick and unable to care for my family – and I am quickly able to realize the significance of my role, and more importantly, my desire to fulfill it. I loved how Matt stepped right up to do everything that needed to be done, both his jobs and mine. He gave our kids the instructions of “don’t bother Mom”, and sweet boys that they are, they obeyed. I didn’t have to answer their questions, help solve their arguments, read to them, or bandage their wounds. I was not in charge of the meals, I did not wash any dishes. Matt and all the boys worked together to clean the kitchen. The laundry was done by our eleven year old. Our oldest answered the phone and helped his younger brother with math questions.

All while I laid there and did nothing. I read a book, I watched some movies, and I slept. I was served breakfast in bed, and even had a bath drawn for me. Ah, it was a life of luxury, let me tell you. Except for the part with the fever and splitting headache.

It didn’t take me long to recognize how much I truly love taking care of my family. (Sounds cheesy? Yeah, well. Lying abed in a mountain of dirty kleenexes makes me reflective and sentimental. I can’t help it.)

Feeling healthy enough to fold laundry, wash some dishes, and cook a meal is truly a great blessing – not something that should be taken for granted.

Kind of makes you look at that muddy floor with a new appreciation, doesn’t it? ;)

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Gratituesday: The Tradition

November 28, 2011 by Laura 22 Comments

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

Four trips to Walmart. One day.

Why? To carry on the fun tradition our family started three years ago.

All last week, our boys were working on their lists. First, they each wrote a “wish list” of possible gifts for others to purchase for them. Then they exchanged lists and spent time figuring out what they’d like to get for each brother. On Friday afternoon (after the morning crowd cleared!), I took one boy at a time to do their Christmas shopping for each other. I’d drop the one off at home, then pick up another and head back to the store. (Yes, the same greeter was there all four times. We’re like BFFs now.)

I love this time with each of my boys. I love having one-on-one time with each of them. I love the opportunity to talk with them about budgets, spending, and giving. With the exception of Malachi (who doesn’t yet have any source of income or receive an allowance yet), the boys spent their own hard earned money on these presents. I love seeing their generosity and thoughtfulness. (Even if, deep down, they’re excited to be able to play with whatever gifts they purchase for their brothers!)

This has quickly become one of my favorite family traditions. What are yours?

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Gratituesday: Focusing on the Positive

November 14, 2011 by Laura 32 Comments

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

Today was a great day! Matt and the boys spent the afternoon raking leaves for an elderly lady. I got a wonderful, encouraging phone call from a friend. I was able to get a lot of work done on the Gift in a Jar eBook. We’re making plans for a visit with far-away cousins at Christmas time.

Why is it then, even though there are many, many positives in my life, I find that it can still be easier to focus on the negative? Another marriage is in crisis. Our friend is going through radiation. My house can’t stay clean for longer than two minutes. The potatoes boiled over again, making the kitchen smoke and stink. I’m tripping over the jackets that didn’t get put away.

Instead of focusing on the delights on my life, this is instead where my thoughts dwell.

So I repent, and work to recall the joys that fill my life.

My life is full of blessing. By focusing my heart on the positive, I am better able to minister to others, meet the needs of my family, and even cheerfully clean the crusty mess on my stovetop.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians  4:8

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

 

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

Gratituesday: The Decision

November 7, 2011 by Laura 26 Comments

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

Matt and I are self-employed, running a variety of businesses as a means to provide for our family’s needs. We own storage units which we rent out; Matt does lawn care/snow removal for several individuals and downtown businesses; and together, we work the business end of Heavenly Homemakers. Matt also helps coach our local ladies’ soccer team, does small construction jobs for people occasionally and does a wide variety of other odd jobs depending on time and need. When people ask, “What’s Matt doing these days now that he’s not working at Southside Grille?”, I find it a little bit difficult to give them a short answer. He’s definitely not just doing one thing, nor does he really have a specific “job title”. We both stay very busy with work, but it is definitely quite different than having a job.

Because Matt has a business mind and is very “visionary”, we are often looking into other business and investment opportunities. I love how my husband thinks “outside of the box”. I feel very secure with Matt as our provider, because he is an incredibly hard worker and has an unlimited number of ideas for ways to create income for our family.

For the past six months or so, we’ve been working toward a possible investment opportunity. We’ve put hours of time, prayer, discussion, number crunching and research into making a decision about purchasing a local, downtown commercial property. Matt saw great potential in making this investment and had a vision for improving the building in many ways so that it would provide additional income. Not only have we considered this purchase, we actually made two offers over the course of the past few weeks. The offers were countered and a few days ago, we came to a cross-road in this decision:  make a higher offer and more compromises on our end…or choose to walk away.

A higher offer still would have been a pretty good deal for us overall. The income potential from this property was promising, as long as Matt could spend the time needed to improve the building and the business to create these extra income opportunities.

And that’s when it hit us – We are already maxed out. Our boys, our marriage, the ministries we’re involved in, obligations, our current businesses, our own home improvements and to-do lists – they all need Matt. We should not take on something this large at this time.

I’m sharing this with you because I thought you might appreciate knowing what we’ve been working through for the past several months. Now that we have made our final decision on this matter, we feel content with our decision. There is peace that comes from listening to God and honoring Him by our choices.

And today, we feel at peace.

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Gratituesday: My {surprise} Gift in a Jar

October 31, 2011 by Laura 17 Comments

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

Do my friends know me or what? I mean, true friends are the ones who give gifts in jars, right? ;)

I’m not sure how she did it. I’m guessing somewhere between greeting me and hugging me after church on Sunday, it would appear that my (sneaky) friend Lisa put this into my purse:

Turns out, it’s a jar full of wonderful dried mint, that Lisa grew herself! So that’s why my purse felt a little heavier when I was leaving the church building on Sunday!! (You’d think I would have figured it out sooner.)

What a fun surprise. It kinda makes me want to figure out ways to sneak gifts into people’s purses at church too. Gifts in jars, of course. What a fun way to make some-one’s purse heavy surprise someone with a little extra love! This idea is totally making it into the Gifts in a Jar eBook (after Lisa gives me all the details on how she made this, of course).

I’m thankful for friends and fun surprises. What are you thankful for?

Share how God is working in your life on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Gratituesday: The Fall I’ve Always Wanted

October 24, 2011 by Laura 24 Comments

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

No, I didn’t fall. Well, actually I did stumble down a few stairs a couple of days ago, and managed to look perfectly ridiculous in front of my teenager, without hurting myself (thankfully). Eh, it was good for a laugh.

The fall I’m referring to in this post is the season. Just about every Autumn I can remember in Nebraska has seemed to only last for a grand total of 20 minutes. We typically go from very hot to very cold with a very short time of “perfect fall weather” in between.

This year has been absolutely gorgeous!!! We’ve had day after day after day of beautiful weather that is in the 60’s or 70’s. I’ve been so thankful for this, and was reminded again today of the blessing of such pretty weather. Even after the sun started to go down tonight, it was still warm enough for us to play outside comfortably. In fact, we all headed out for a little trampoline time (which I am likely to pay for tomorrow – but shucks, it sure was fun).

Here is Elias in mid-flip, which I have to say, was not easy to capture forever on camera. I think I finally got this picture after about seven tries. It’s a good thing he enjoys doing flips.

Brace yourself for the next one. We found that if Malachi would lie down in the middle of the trampoline while I jumped in circles around him “bouncing him” for a few minutes, a little static electricity action began to take place. We laughed so hard at this, I almost fell off the trampoline. But I didn’t. That’s not the kind of fall I’ve always wanted. ;)

I’m grateful for this wonderful fall, and all the joy and fun that has come with it.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Did You Know That Today is Gratituesday? – Share the Love

October 17, 2011 by Laura 35 Comments

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

We’ve been celebrating Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers since January of 2008. That’s about three months after I began blogging – back when about four people read this regularly (and I was one them). I love how Gratituesday has grown since then. I love that now, many of you take special notice on Tuesdays and search your heart for something to be thankful for. Some days it’s easy, some days it isn’t – but when we truly look at all God has done for us, there is always something to be grateful for.

I was so tickled when I read my friend Jill’s Gratituesday post last week. It seems that she’s been taking the Gratituesday idea to the bank, to McDonalds – to wherever she happens to be going each Tuesday. She’ll say, “Hey, did you know today is Gratituesday?” She may receive a questioning look initially, but after she’s finished explaining that Gratituesday is a day we pause and reflect on what we’re grateful for, she’s likely to have changed that person’s outlook on the day.

I felt challenged by this idea and wanted to share it with you. I’d love to see Gratituesday go beyond this blog (and yours when you link up!). Think of the grateful attitude that could spread through Facebook. And how about taking Gratituesday offline like my friend Jill has been doing? What if you took it to your workplace? Or to businesses as you run errands? How about sharing it with your family around the dinner table? Or talk about what you’re grateful for on the car ride to gymnastics.

Being grateful is a huge part of stepping outside of ourselves and recognizing that God is truly at work among His people. Take time now to reflect, then share with us – either on your blog or by comment on this post. Then, take it one step further. Share with others beyond this blog. Ask your friends on Facebook to share what they are grateful for this Gratituesday. Talk it up amongst your “real life” friends. Focus on being grateful and encourage others to do the same. A little gratitude goes a long way.

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

Gratituesday: High School “Huddle”

September 26, 2011 by Laura 34 Comments

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

I realize we’re only two weeks into hosting our High School Youth Group meeting on Sunday nights, traditionally known as “Huddle” around here. But still, I can tell this is going to be a pretty great part of each week.

How have I come to this conclusion? Well, maybe it’s how appreciative the teens are for the food I cook, and how sweetly they tell me how much they love it (while they’re coming back for thirds). Or maybe it’s because they’re all so respectful of our home and yard and trampoline. It could be because when we asked them each to rinse their dishes after the meal and put them into the dishwasher, they’ve all complied cheerfully – making clean-up a cinch for me after they leave.

But I think the main reason I’m excited to be a part of Huddle this year is because of the sweet Spirit that fills our living room after the meal, when we’ve all come together to sing songs of praise and to share a devotional thought and discussion. We’ve let them choose the songs each week, and when they began to sing Holy, Holy, Holy in four part harmony last night, I was unable to hold back the tears. Beautiful.

I’m so grateful that our oldest son is a part of this group. I’m even more grateful that this group meets in our home so that we can be a part of these kids’ lives. Bring on the teens, bring on the food, and bring on the singing. It’s going to be a great year.

**Logistical Huddle “stuff” you might be wondering about: Each kid brings $3 to pitch in for the food – very helpful. There are three other adult couples who join us to offer a nice balance and great mentorship for the teens. There are about 35 people at Huddle each Sunday night. We meet from about 6-8 pm. Anything else might you be curious about?**

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Gratituesday: This and That

September 19, 2011 by Laura 25 Comments

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

This Gratituesday, I decided to share several “little” things I’m thankful for, although really, can we call any of our blessings little? Except, of course, the first blessing I shared about weighs only a little over seven pounds…

1. Some of our close friends had a very sweet and adorable baby boy last week. Since we don’t see any more baby boys (or girls!!) in our future (unless God has something very different in mind for our future than we think He has) – I have to say that I have been living vicariously through my friend Jenny for the past few months. Now that the little guy has arrived, I have enjoyed loving on him as much as I can. Mmmmm….baby boys.

2. This week, Matt and the boys are doing a construction project for some friends of ours. Today all four of our sons headed out the door with Daddy, equipped with work gloves and a sack lunch. Seeing them all pile into the truck to go “tear off shingles and siding” made me sigh deeply with joy – not because I had the house to myself this morning, even though that was a nice way to get some work done. My heart was full, seeing my men head off together to work hard and learn. I can never take this gift of a godly daddy and four healthy sons for granted.

3. It just so happens that the couple Matt and the boys are working with/for this week used to live in the same town as and were great friends with my grandparents many years ago in Kansas. It was so wonderful to make this connection! Mrs. Spencer knows my Nana!! And she even remembered meeting my mom. I love this. I need this.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here.
If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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

Join Our Community!

 Facebook Twitter E-mail Instagram Pinterest

Popular Posts

~ Will All of the Real Moms Please Stand Up?
~ Easy! Stir-and-Pour Whole Wheat Bread
~ How to Make Gatorade
~ 31 Real Food Breakfast Ideas
~ Dear Teenage Girls...
~ When Mom Takes a Step Back
~ The Inexpensive Health Insurance We Love!
~ Let's Talk Real Food Grocery Budgets

Check out our latest posts!

  • Big Family Food and Fun: May 31-June 6, 2026
  • Big Family Food and Fun: May 24-30, 2026
  • Free 7-Day Summer Menu Plan
  • Big Family Food and Fun: May 17-23, 2026
  • Easy Side Dishes for Summer
Home  ~  Simple Meals  ~  Club Membership  ~  Shop  ~  Privacy Policy  ~  Disclosure  ~ Contact

Copyright © 2026 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in