Finding Joy in Your Home

We've started a new habit in our weekly schedule this year called Project Fridays and it's change the way we get to household projects AND fun projects we want to do. This episode is for all homeschoolers especially, but really for anyone who wants to get to "extra" projects but just never finds the time to do so. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I've got a few goals this year in running a productive household. I've got some household projects going on like decluttering and organizing kids clothes, putting the garden to bed for the fall in a good way, and organizing the garage. We've also got a whole list of fun things we want to tackle: learning how to knit, making sourdough, the kids want to do homemade play-dough again and the list goes on. As we sink back into normal life routines after having a baby and revamping our homeschool routines for the year, I accidentally started something new that we call Project Fridays. And we've loved it! Our goal with Project Fridays: Learn and explore a fun new skill or craft AND get a home project done! Here's how we do it: First thing we start our home project and get it done quick. Everyone is motivated and excited to get it done. And then we move into our hands on project! So far we've done: Water color class, Making necklaces and bracelets, making chocolates and lollipops. What we've got on our schedule for this year: Making clay beads Christmas cookies Homemade play dough Learning how to sew Learning how to crochet Candies from scratch Charcoal sketching Carving soapstone Making soap Making clay stop motion characters + background making Turning this into movies Learn how to make basic video games Learning to code Cake decorating Woodworking How to make it affordable: Thrift stores - check in often for craft supplies (create a list so you know what to look for!) Hobby Lobby (and Michael's + Joannes) clearance sections Dollar Tree Links & Resources: Join our free community and join the discussion here: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our sponsor: For a limited time only you can get Honeylove's best deal they offer! Get 20% Off your entire order with the code HOME at honeylove.com

In this series of the new season, we are chatting about having productive households. One key component of a productive household, is stewarding our health (and our mental health) in a way that we can be productive in the season God has called us to. Today we are focusing on this topic from a very practical view point. Let's jump in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our free community and join the discussion here: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking65 and use code homemaking65 for 65% off plus free shipping! For when you lack energy: 1) Take an honest evaluation: why are you lacking energy? Are you struggling to find meaning in your day? Are you feeling bored? Listen to last episode Are you feeling depressed? Do you need to evaluate your health and hormones? As women, we often put ourselves last. this can be a GOOD thing sometimes. It can also be a bad thing when we do it to the detriment of your health. It brings glory to God when we care for our physical bodies in a way that allows us to care for our families. Some ways to help energy: 1. Minerals! Mt. Capra minerals are what I use right now. Also: real sea salt are an excellent source of minerals. 2. Getting real sleep 3. Figuring out your hormones & thyroid health (check out Dr. Axe as an important starting point) 4. Focusing on healthy carbs and fats 5. Vitamin D - get out in the sun 15-20 minutes a day 6. Vitamin B complex (I love Dr. Axe's)

In this episode of our new series, The Productive Household, we are tackling the issues of boredom. I'm going to challenge your mindset when it comes to feelings of boredom, fulfillment, and a good days work within our homes. Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our free community and join the discussion here: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code HOME50 Our sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking135 and use code homemaking135 to get $135 off across five boxes—and your first box ships free! Book recommendation: Eve in Exile Documentary based on the book Eve in Exile Throughout college as I was writing papers on Ancient Near Eastern History and learning how to read the Bible in the original Hebrew (yeah – I was a double major – History and Biblical Studies and loved every minute of it), it was easy to feel like I was spending my time on extremely worthwhile things. After college, I worked full time and had dreams of getting my masters degree (I still do for that matter) and it was easy to feel like I was contributing to my family by bringing in an income when we really needed it. Now? My days are spent changing poopy diapers, teaching math (often in with lots of tears), the endless cycle of meal prep, breaking up fights, teaching kindness, cleaning dishes, putting up a new load of laundry, folding that laundry, putting it away and starting all these processes over and over again. When my first 5 kids were little, I hit a wall at some point. I started feeling defeated and a bit overwhelmed by all the physical needs in my home and it was easy to NOT look forward to the next day of repeating it all over again. Somewhere along the line, I forgot the importance of what I do. And I gotta say, some days are just boring. So whether you find yourself battling tough and mundane days or boredom, I feel yeah. It's easy to feel that way in our homes. Especially in a culture that doesn't value what we do at home. We tend to boil our home tasks down to just: cleaning and meaningless cooking. But what if we changed the way we looked at our homes? And the work we do within In? I think a lot of us struggle with these feelings from time to time. But we don't want to voice them because then maybe it will look like we are not "good" mothers or "good" homemakers or we are not grateful for all that God gives. I want to challenge your mindset. Often, women will express that they want to go back to work because they don't feel challenged at home. They want to do something worthwhile with their talents and their time and they feel like that isn't happening at home. They want to do something with all their creativity and feel like the work they are doing is valuable. As I shared at the beginning of this new series, I think a big part of this is that we've moved all modes of productivity out of the home. Homes have becomes places that we primarily consume. And for all of humans history, until the past 70 years or so, homes have been the places in which we create and produce. Maybe the problem isn't our homes, maybe it's that things are too easy. So we feel bored. We are not challenge. Listen, women. We are creative. We are smart. We are fiercely smart. We are able to multitask and juggle hard things. But our modern homes don't engage large parts of our brains. We balk at the dishes and cleaning toilets because we don't feel challenged or fulfilled. One important caveat: Not everything in life is exciting or exhilarating. Often, God is asking us to find joy and be stratified in HIM through the boring and the mundane. But I also think we can look at our homes in a different light. The amazing book, Eve in Exile,

In the last episode we chatted about having a good work ethic and really working unto the Lord. God calls us to hard, fulfilling work. But that's all balanced out with true, Biblical rest. Our discussion today is going to start to dig into what this means and what it looks like! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. To the world, a successful life might look like a rich person who never has to work another day in their life. Someone who is waited on hand and foot and has endless leisure time at their disposal. But we know from God's Word, that even the wealthiest among us have a responsibility to use that wealth and honor and serve the Lord and work had at that! We are all called to good, hard, fulfilling work. In fact, as our world chases endless leisure and pointless entertainment, we know that ultimately that leads to a very hallow and shallow life. We find true fulfillment in the Lord and that pretty much always looks like a hard, fulfilling day of work for the Lord! But the key to this entire discussion is that our hard work is buffeted by true, Biblical rest. Resting well in the Lord! And while the world doesn't have a good view of work, they also mess up their approach to rest. In fact, most of us don't know what true rest is or how to balance out hard work. So instead of working hard for the Lord, resting well in the Lord, and finding fulfillment in the rhythms...we do busy frantic work all the time, with intermittent moments of trying to rest but actually just feeling exhausted and busy all the time. You want me to view my work as a blessing and do it joyfully? Well the key piece you might be missing is the REST. TRUSTING the Lord with your time & energy So here we come to the very important lesson of trusting God with our time and energy. When I talk to other moms, a very common struggle for many of us is learning how to rest and rest well. We struggle to take time off and refuel. So first: How are you resting? If you are a busy mom, you may have lost touch with what those things are in your life. So I encourage you to play and experiment and really pay attention to what you find truly restful and what ends up being a waste of time. I will almost always regret scrolling social media aimlessly for an hour. I have almost never regretted reading for an hour (unless I was ignoring the pile of dishes in the sink and then I might regret it in the morning ;)) Another key piece of learning how to balance hard work with good rest, is giving yourself permission to rest. We struggle so much letting ourselves actually take time off and rest. And for me at least, it has boiled down a lot to not trusting the Lord. I sometimes struggle with a massive to do list that I feel like I have to keep going, I have to run myself into the ground, I have to do it all. But what I'm missing in that moment is trusting the Lord. I've come a LONG way (and still have to constantly remind myself) to trust the Lord with the work put in front of me that day. So if a houseful of sick kids derails my productive schedule for a week, I remind myself that this is the work that God has put in front of me today and I can trust Him with my time. When finances or work stress overwhelms me and threatens to take over every second of my life, I trust the Lord that I can take time off and rest because he expects us to rest and so I can trust him in that. Example: The sabbath and farmers.

Welcome back to the second episode in season 2! We are kicking off a mini series here on the podcast called The Productive Household. This series is going hand in hand with our new 12 month home economics program we are doing in My Homemaking Mentor (my online training academy for Christian women). Last week we kicked off this discussion in the first episode about what is a productive household? And today we are back talking about an important topic: How can we strive for excellence in our homes and work hard for His Glory...while at the same time, resting in Him and finding that balance that we all need between hard work and good rest? Let's dive into today's episode to find out! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I think I might ruffle a few feathers in today's discussion. Because in our world, we are often told we are doing too much, that it's totally fine if we are a "hot mess mama" and we tend to ridicule or look down on those who seem to have it all together. In fact, I think we tend to look at women who do seem to have things more together and assume they have a big hairy unscrubbed toilet secret that makes her not actually that good. But what we want to chat about today, is the fact that God does call us to work hard. Work diligently. Be creative with that work. And throw ourselves into the task at hand. But like we talked about in the last episode, this is done not out of hustle and has to be done with our priorities in the right place. Basing our work ethic off of God's Word and not the world We don't have to look very long in Scripture to find verse after verse about working hard for the Lord. We were not created to just sit cross legged on the floor praying all day every day. We were created to pray and to worship the Lord and a terrific way to do that is through, hard God honoring work. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23-24 "Warning Against Idleness 6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.[d]" - 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-12 We also see the flip side in Scripture, that laziness is a sin and that we should not be slothful. Deep down, I think we all know that working hard is honoring to God of course. But I think the disconnect happens when we don't connect that to scrubbing toilets, meal planning, singing Scripture songs with toddlers, and acting like a chauffer between errands and music lessons. We forget that there is good hard work in front of us everyday, even if it doesn't look like being a CEO of a large company or a missionary in Africa. God has given us a lot of work. Right here, right now, right in front of us. And it might be very hard work, but it might also be very mundane boring work that we have a hard time seeing the significance in. Either way, we can throw our selves into the task at hand work unto the Lord! Recognizing YOUR personality and how to deal wi...

Welcome back to season #2 of the podcast. We are back with a practical and exciting new series on the podcast all about The Productive Household. Listen in to hear how we can recapture joy and meaning within our homes. Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Find out and join our new 12 month course at myhomemakingmentor.com Check out the shownotes and join me email list at FindingJoyinYourHome.com For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50 Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking16 and use code homemaking16 for 16 free meals across 7 boxes AND 3 free gifts! Announcements: Tickets are going on sale for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference in early November We have something fun coming up in October for those interested in non-toxic home products and how to make your own! My cookbook is slated to come out in the Christmas shop as well as Sterling Spectacles #5 and #6! My Homemaking Mentor is kicking off a 12 month program called The Productive Household starting Sep 15th What is a Productive Household? Jason and I have been listening to a podcast we loved called Bright Hearth. In it, the shows hosts Brian and Lexi go through each room of their house and share how we can bring glory to God within those different rooms and realms of raising a family. They use this phrase a lot: A Productive Household. I love this term because I think it encompasses so much of what we talk about and share here at Finding Joy. So what is a Productive Household? When we look to God's Word, we see that we are created for work. Good, hard work is deeply satisfying and we see that man was tasked with work before the fall, not as a result of the fall. Throughout Scripture we see men and women working hard and diligently. We see all throughout the call to cast aside laziness and to work hard unto the Lord. Colossians 3:23-24"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:58 - "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." Proverbs 12:11 - "Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense." We are encouraged to be lazy in our culture We live in a hustle culture. We are far too busy and far too distracted. I agree with that. We pack our lives too full and take on too much and hustle to make it all work. So many well intentioned voices out there push back against this hustle culture by shouting that we must rest and have balance. I totally get that those voices (at least the ones in my inbox) are coming from a good place. They don't want to see another mom get burnt out or overwhelmed. I get the sentiment. However, I also think that an over reaction to the hustle, busy culture has sent us in the opposite direction. That we see work as bad. That when things get tough or overwhelming, that we must be doing something wrong. That a full schedule and a full life is automatically wrong. What I want to argue for today is this: That God created us for hard work. That we are designed to work hard throughout the week and that God has built in very strategic good moments for rest. And that what we really need to react against are the wrong priorities. If you think of every civilization throughout history, except for the ultra rich and nobility, people worked far harder than most of us do everyday. Hard, back breaking work. Working from sun up to sun set, working hard for the Lord. The kids and I have been studying the pioneers this past semester in school and we are reading the little house on the prairi...

Are you struggling to find Sunday's restful? Do you desire to make Sunday about Church and fellowship but end up just feeling burnt out and even more tired? Do you sometimes wonder what the purpose in our rest is? In this practical episode, Jami tackles the important question "What if I don't find Sunday's restful?" Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I got a question in our group this week about Sunday's and it being a day of rest. Her question resonated with me because it's something I've had to give a lot of thought to and I've heard repeated a lot. Her question goes along the lines of: "I wasn't raised in a Christian household and Sunday's were a slower catch up day for us. With church and other activities, it can feel more draining than it is relaxing. Where is the "recharge" on Sunday? Help!" In today's episode we cover a few Spiritual + Practical applications for this discussions. Finding a new church IS exhausting. Before we dive into any practical take aways, we need to first ask the extremely important question "What is the Sabbath? What IS Sunday for?" Bible verses referenced: Dt. 5:12-15, Isaiah 58:13–14. What are our goals for the sabbath day? "The distinction in Isaiah 58 is between doing what is pleasing to God and doing what is pleasing to ourselves in opposition to what is pleasing to God. Presumably, what is in view in the prophetic critique is God's judgment against the Israelites for violating the Mosaic law with respect to the Sabbath day, particularly regarding involvement in commerce. There were Israelites who wanted to be able to buy and sell seven days a week, not simply six days a week. Therefore, they violated the Sabbath commandment by seeking their own pleasure, which was to do business on the Sabbath rather than to do that which was pleasing to God." - Ligonier.org article: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/defining-debate Practical Help for Sunday: If we are viewing Sunday as a catch up day, then adding in Church + activities will be seen as a burden. Plan ahead Friday + Saturday so that Sunday isn't your catch up day. Life as a mom who serves, is just a little different - but that doesn't mean bad Links & Resources: Great follow up episode: Moms (and dads) get those little ones to Church – Hf #310 How the Gospel Shapes Our Everyday Responses – Hf #306 Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking16 and use code homemaking16 for up to 16 free meals AND 3 free gifts! --> Join our FREE COMMUNITY: Finding Joy Community <--

We got such a great question in our Finding Joy Community this week. The discussion that ensued was so rich that I figured it was a great one to share here on the podcast. We dive into some hot topics within healthy living: taking care of our families for God's Glory, making an idol out of healthy living, what's the point to it all, and so much more. Join us! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our FREE community: Finding Joy Community MEGA Mother's Day Sale through May 11th: My Homemaking Mentor Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50 Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking130 and use code homemaking130 to get $130 off, plus free shipping!

Welcome back to the next episode in our practical homemaking series. We haven't had an episode on marriage in a while, so today is a fun one (and maybe a much needed discussion)! We are chatting about how to keep (or reestablish) fun in your marriage. I'm also sharing a couple of fun announcements. Listen in: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: INCREDIBLE things coming for My Homemaking Mentor, our online training academy for Christian Women...you are going to want to be part of this! Join our FREE community to follow along with the podcast and more: Finding Joy Community. As a reminder, we will be taking a Summer hiatus as of June 1st until September. You can still find up to date content and more in the community all summer!

We are not expert movers yet, but we have had our fair share of moving, downsizing, deciding what to keep, and unpacking into new homes. Today I am going to share my 6 tips for moving! Listen in: Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. My tips we discuss today: Invest in tubs + buy a label maker Downsize EVERYTHING. ONLY invest in pieces for your new house that are 100% favorites. A place for everything - even if that means getting creative. Unpack immediately. Don't wait 6 months. Make the place YOUR HOME, even if it's temporary or a rental.