One day my boy came downstairs and announced, “Mom! God talked to me!” I was terribly excited. “Really! What did He say?” “He just said ‘Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!’ over and over.” I could tell he was a bit confused, if not discouraged. I sent up a flaire-prayer for wisdom and received sudden inspiration. I stepped…
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A Dinosaur and “Pat”
Today he read his first solo word, “Pat”. With a single glance, he belted it out. A channel has opened and the water will never run the old route again. I wanted him to remember this moment as I fondly remember the day I read my first word, so I squealed and cheered until my…
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Ode to Winter Composting
I love compost. I love that, right in the middle of winter when the ground is covered in snow, I can be caring for my garden by throwing scraps of food in a bucket while I make dinner. And I love what Jesse decides to take pictures of when he plays with my phone, ’cause…
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Welcome to Trust
Five Minute Friday: Trust I came home from Relevant with many goals. New friendships to pursue, stories to tell, and a blog to redesign. But my main goal, inspired by every conversation and speaker, but especially Ann‘s session, was to become an upside-down, spirit-led blogger. It took several months of processing and prayer and sweat…
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The Workhorse of the Binder: Your Daily Docket
I feel I should explain, that while I am very excited to share this series with you and do feel bad for leaving you hanging so long between posts, my post last week was very convicting to ME, resulting in some re-shifting of my time. Fact is, a few things come before blogging in my…
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A Glimpse Into Our Homeschool…
In which we take a break from the cliff-hanger Home Management Binder Series to give a glimpse into our homeschool…Binder tips will resume when the desktop gets out of the hospital. (Good news – diagnosis has been made and parts are in the mail!) Our School Day I look forward to 10 am every day,…
Continue Reading“Me First!” and Other Secrets to a Well Ordered Binder
When setting up my home management binder, I started with defining and prioritizing my roles. These eventually became the titles of each section in my binder. A binder that’s organize by roles doubles as a constant reminder of our priorities. What are your roles? Your roles are what is required of you as an individual…
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My New Best Friend {A Home Management Binder}
From my latest posts you may have figured out that a home management binder is my new best friend. Today I’m gonna walk you through building your own. photo source I know what you’re saying. I said the same things when I first heard about home management notebooks. “I have to build something? I don’t…
Continue ReadingFive Minute Fridays: Vivid
Vivid When I think back to my most vivid memories of the homestead — those not triggered by the 2 dimensional aid of a photograph — I can almost feel the goosebumps. There were moments (ok, hours) of intense cold. That second winter when Joel and I crawled around under the log cabin in February…
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10 Tips to Fighting Kitchen Combat Fatigue {And a GAPS update}
I’m half way through my month-long journey to feeding my family on the GAPS diet! So far it’s been an exciting experiment, and not too stressful thanks to the time-saving and stream-lining strategies I use in my kitchen on a daily basis. A lot of what I wrote about in my book, Real {Fast} Food…
Continue ReadingWhen I see a Chicken…
I walk to the fridge, pull out a chicken. Do what I’ve at least 47 times since I learned how to roast a chicken. I rinse it (habit), throw out the giblets (gross) and dab it dry with paper towels. Next comes butter, smeared liberally over the breast, and plenty of salt and pepper –…
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My Personal Cinderalla, Please!
The year I had my third child was the year I began dreaming the same dream over and over: I wanted a hired hand. The children outnumbered the adults and the number of arms I had. The laundry was a living thing, threatening and growing. What to feed all these little animals was a constant…
Continue ReadingMy List of Ten for 2012
All week I’ve been planning to post about one of my favorite things…New Year’s Resolutions! But while I was reading some of my favorite blogs on the topic and something dawned on me like an orange globe in a pink winter sunrise… I can’t say it better myself, so I won’t even try. Whether they…
Continue ReadingIn Which We Confess Our Mess and Vow to Be Good
Notes from things I forgot to say…the beauty of my home management notebook is that I now can actually see where I will have time to tackle this Mt. Everest of organizational challenges. My notebook has been the final tool that has helped me be productive AND find rest in my schedule! And for me,…
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Spinning the Island Outside of Its Box
Last week I turned my island around. You know the one in my kitchen, with the giant butcher block on top? It had been that way since it arrived in my kitchen – in fact, I’d decided how the island would stand ever before we bought the house. Moving it seemed like a weird idea……
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A Dutch New Year’s
New Year’s always seems one of the more dutchy holidays to me, because while at Christmas Dutch traditions look a lot like everyone else’s (stockings, Sinter Klaus, special pastries and desserts), at New Year’s our family did stuff no one else did. Dutch stuff. First there is Ollie Bollen. Traditionally served New Year’s Eve or…
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