Discount grocery stores— this is currently my top budget-slicing method. At Costco, one basket costs us about $300-400. At my discount grocery stores last week, I got 3 basketfuls of groceries for just over $150. It takes creativity, and a little more time (we went to 2 stores, 45 minutes away, rather than just 1 store…

Have you been in this place? In between sizes In between hormone swings In between “normals” in your daily routine In between feelings of competence & incompetence In between very little sleep and normal amounts of sleep In between a variety of very STRONG feelings My precious little man is 8 weeks old today, and I’m there. The […]

When it comes to having another baby, people will talk about the potential for additional financial costs, marital strain, or having to go through labor again. But very few people talk about this. This was something I noticed about having another baby, 5 weeks after having our 8th baby–     Here are our current set of “bookends” (oldest– Ethan–… […]

One of my favorite passages in C.S. Lewis’ fiction is from his book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. For background, Eustace is a wretched, spoiled boy who constantly complains and makes life miserable for himself and everyone else. He’s unexpectedly come to Narnia with his cousins Edmund and Lucy. The ship they’re on visits several islands, and […]

Some time last year, I did a week-long purposeful fast from everything online (except for e-mail), and as I went through the week, I wrote down the things I was noticing. Recently I found that list and thought I’d share it with you. Here’s what I noticed: Almost instantaneously: I’m alone with my thoughts again. I’m able […]

It seems universally true that humans are prone to wait too long to do things we should be proactive about. For me right now, I’m realizing I need to work harder to help my nearly-3-year-old be self-controlled when things don’t go his way. I’m apt to let him go too far down the self-pitying, emotional, tears-down-cheeks train track…. […]

My husband, Doug, and I are privileged to be able to do marital and pre-marital counseling through our church. Here are some of our thoughts for the about-to-be-married virgin couple about having healthy, realistic attitudes about honeymoon sex: 1. GO SLOW. For her: Your body takes time to relax and open up. Let yourself warm up […]

WHAT WORKED IN 2015: WE ADJUSTED TO BEING A FAMILY OF *NINE*— Yes, this year, we had our 7th baby, sweet Luke Ebenezer. I successfully fought off postpartum stress, and worked to be OK with the extra weight that (for me) comes with successful breastfeeding. (He’s 10 months old now– what happened??!) It’s not a […]

This poem, Do the Next Thing, is a long-time favorite of mine. During holidays and stressful moments, I refer to it even more often. My hope for you is that this simple printable image– hung on your refrigerator, taped above your busy kitchen counter, or framed on a shelf– can make your coming Christmas season “doings” a […]

This morning, we’re starting our 2015-16 school year. In our homeschool this year, we have 8th, 6th, 4th, and 2nd graders (and a kindergartner). Phew! Just writing that makes me tired. But let’s talk about grade levels. When people ask my kids what grades they’re in, my homeschooled kids (mostly) know what to tell them……

“He struck me as a normal person, that was the horrible thing about it. He was cool, objective, matter of fact. ‘This is my war duty. I did my war duty.’ It was like I had to go out and cut down so many trees. So I went out and took my saw and cut…

So, if you haven’t heard yet, I’ve started a new vlog. We got kunekune piglets, and then had baby chicks, and we’ve got toddlers-preteens-roosters-chores-birthdays-almostadultkids… and more. And I want to get better at video editing, so I decided to dive right into this whole vlogging thing. Here are the first FIVE episodes:

It can be easy, as a stay at home mom, to forget the significance of what you are doing. In our modern busy-busy-busy, degreed, careered, materialistic, overcommitted society, it is easy to devalue the perfect normalcy of the simple everyday routine, and how that will sear warmth and joy and security into our children’s souls. For example,…

How can we avoid letting feelings rule our lives? 3 minutes of encouragement on that, after having a feelings-heavy day, yesterday:   https://youtu.be/It4vOJ-t5XA As always, let me know what YOU have to say, in the comments. 🙂 In Part 1, we asked the question- “Are You A ‘Mommy Martyr?’” That article gives a fleshing out […]