Welcome back to our first full week of the Titus 2 Minute returning to the air! I am so glad you are back listening in and I know many of you missed this favorite podcast! On Monday, I shared an episode all about what it means to be a Titus 2 Women. And today I’ve... Read More

Making healthy and nutritious meals for my family is so important to me! In fact, it's one of the biggest areas I focus on within my home. I am thankful for the resources to be able to cook and provide food that will nourish my family to have the energy and stamina to serve the Lord in everyday life! But I also know how overwhelming and hard it can be to begin cooking healthy (or to jump back into it). 

In today's episode, I've got Wardee from Traditional Cooking School sharing her SIMPLE tips for getting started with real food in a healthy kitchen. Listen in here: 

Listen to the Podcast:

You can listen to the full episode and then find the links and resources below. 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

7  Simple Things to Switch: 

Better quality meats

Eggs 

Milk

Better fats

Sweeteners

Salt

Produce: 

My newest (and favorite) place to find healthy foods lately has been Azure Standard. They are a truck delivery company that delivers to specific areas once a month. It's not in all parts of the country (but you can organize new drop off points if there isn't one already organized). You can find out more about Azure here. I do an order every month and my monthly order is usually around $200. I expect that to go up and up over the next few months as I start planning my monthly orders better and shifting more and more of my grocery shopping to Azure. 

More Help in this area: 

8 Tips To Help You Rein In Your Real Food Budget - Wardee

Bread Making & Healthy Living with Stacy Myers - Jami & Stacy

Using freshly ground grains in everyday life (how to make it work!) - Jami

How to Use a Grain Mill Q&A - Jami

Our Grocery Budget Challenge for the Summer - Jami

After a few month break, the Titus 2 Minute podcast is BACK and I am so excited! We are shaking up the format in September a little bit but we are back to regularly posting new episodes each week. Check back here or find TTM on iTunes (psst: it’s SUPER helpful for us if you leave... Read More

When you are feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, and living in a general state of survival mode...there is no one I turn to more than Crystal Paine. She has time and again helped me prioritize and plan out new routines and habits in my home. I love how practical helpful she is and in today's episode she is going to share how you can dig your way out of survival mode and so much more! 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

Links & Resources: 

Crystal's Book: Say Goodbye to Survival Mode

Crystal's Blog Money Saving Mom

Last time I had Crystal on the podcast: Doing a $70 Grocery Budget Challenge with Crystal Paine

Are you content in the Lord? Or are there daily things that you struggle with and wrestle with? Do you know what those idols are in your life that are distracting you from God and that you are placing above him? One of my very favorite ladies, Marci Ferrell, is with us today chatting about all of that and more! 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

Idols of the Heart

Marci's Blog Thankful Homemaker

2018 Homemaking Ministries Online Conference

Meal Planning Help for Eating Healthy:  

I am really excited to share with you the sponsor of today’s podcast episode: PrepDish! If you ever feel like you wish you had a little help in your meal planning, then I highly encourage you to check out PrepDish. They offer gluten-free meal plans and paleo meal plans. 

But you don’t have to eat a gluten-free or paleo diet in order to take advantage of all that PrepDish has to offer! In fact, almost half of their customers don’t eat those diets. The meals are healthy and non-processed and work well for anyone who is trying to eat a healthy diet. And PrepDish is offering a super special TWO week free trail when you sign up through this link (how awesome!!)

When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After only 1-3 hours of prepping on the weekend, you’ll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. I absolutely love how easy they make it. 

Free TWO week trial of PrepDish 

Are you feeling buried by your finances? Are you looking for some help and encouragement for digging your way out of debt? No matter your financial situation now, it's important to be wise and intentional with our finances and in this episode, Jessi is going to share some wisdom on that. 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. 

Links & Resources:

Check out more from Jessi here (and get all her free resources! She has a free wordbook you can download)

Our grocery budget challenge 

Crystal Paine's Grocery Budget Challenge

Motherhood can be heart wrenching and joyful - difficult and so rewarding - all at the same time. We spend our days as mothers serving and loving these little people in our house - but if our focus ins't in the right place - it can make it all the more painful and difficult. 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. 

Servant Motherhood

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." - Nehemiah 8:10

If there is one thing I've learned over and over again in my motherhood, it's that I have to daily lean on Jesus's strength. It's only in Him and through Him that I am able to take care of my family and mother well. 

Now, I still slip and fall a lot. I stumble and I fail, but all that does is lead me back to my dependence on the Lord in all things. Especially in my motherhood. 

Here's what it all boils down to: Motherhood is servant leadership. As a mother, my job and my role is to serve and in that I am imitating our Lord. 

"and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Mark 10:44-45

As Mothers, this is our life. And it's really easy to get worn out and run ragged if we don't have the proper focus within our motherhood. 

When the Days are Long

A mother's life isn't easy. And from that day that you welcome that first little bundle of joy into your home, it's not long before the days can feel mundane, endless, and weary. 

I don't know how many moms I've talked to or seen posting on Facebook and they feel overwhelmed and defeated. They are tired, they are exhausted, they work from sun up to sun down without a lot of thanks (or anything thanks) and they start to feel like something is wrong. 

"Why I am so exhausted all the time?" "Is it supposed to be this hard?" "I fall into bed exhausted at night only to rise again the next day and do it all over again." 

They look at social media, they look to popular culture, and they assume their days should be easier, maybe a little happier, and certainly less exhausting. We start to feel that there must be something wrong with us if this whole motherhood thing is so hard. 

Serving within motherhood

Jesus came to earth with a very unpopular message to the jews. The jews were looking for a Messiah. They were waiting for their victor who would deliver them from the Romans. They were eagerly awaiting the Messiah who they thought would storm in as a military and political leader. 

Instead Jesus says, "even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Matthew 20:28

We know that Jesus taught us to be servant leaders. To put others interests before our own. To serve with all humility and joy. Jesus led by that example. 

However, this flies in the face of what the world values.  The world values power, prestige, climbing the corporate ladder to be in the highest position of power possible. We look down on those jobs that are servers. We look down on those blue collar jobs, especially those that take care of the physical needs of people: cleaning, dirty laundry, even child care workers. 

We don't value those jobs and that has a direct translation to our motherhood. What is it that we spend our day and our life doing? Those menial, blue collar jobs that we do day in and day out. My day consists of many roles: As a janitor, as a maid, as a cook, as a laundromat, a school teacher, and so much more. 

Each new season it's important for me to evaluate what my priorities are, how my routines are working, and what I need to change. As I head into the fall, I can sense that there are several big areas that I want to revamp. Join me as I take some great advice from my friend Brittany and share what I'm working on for this year:

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

Think through those big priorities for your day 

Our new homeschool routine.

For September it will be our conference

Making sure I am sticking to our grocery budget and meal planning efficiently

Carving out time for Jason and I to talk, and most importantly right now, have some fun together!

Better routines overall: meal planning and grocery budget and especially my spiritual disciplines 

Does your schedule reflect your priorities? 

This is something that both Jason and I have been trying to work on this Summer. I honestly feel like I've been in some sort of survival mode for about 3.5 years now. 3.5 years ago I was pregnant with our second set of twins and our first set were 2. Then we had them, then when life was calming down and they were 9 months old, we found out we were pregnant with Magnolia. She was born in January 2017 and once life started settling down as she got older, I had some challenging health issues with my hormones and chronic fatigue. As I am now coming out of about a year of figuring out my health issues, I'm starting to feel like I can jump back into things again! 

So I'm excited as I face the Fall. I need to remember to add things in slowly, very slowly. Because my personality is the type to want to jump in with a whole new schedule with every second blocked out and allotted, but I know that isn't realistic or practical. 

So while there are many things I want to revamp, I need to start slow. So the first thing we want to change immediately is bringing back a better morning routine. So to achieve this, we need a better evening routine. For us, they go hand in hand! So Jason and I are both working on these two changes to help everything else! 

What am I wasting time on now? 

Honestly, my biggest waste of time right now is just not being intentional. Letting the nighttime hours slip by, then it's too late, then I can't get up early, etc. I am letting my schedule happen to me instead of scheduling it. Now of course, especially with little kids, I can't schedule everything and a lot of what I do can change at the drop of the hat. 

Is there a disconnect between what you want your priorities to be and what they actually are? 

During the actual conference, the next thing that Brittany does is show you on screen how to actually build those priorities into a manageable schedule which is really cool! But we don't have time to share that part on the podcast today. So let's move to the next topic which is her second deep dive session on how to deal with distractions when planning your priorities and routines. 

Dealing with Distractions 

Leave plenty of margin! I use to over schedule down to the minute or 15 minute blocks and it use to work reasonably well for me. But now with kids, that simply does't work anymore! Good advice to leave margin and plenty of white space. 

Leaving room for joy and spontaneity

This might be my favorite suggestion yet! I am a scheduler and a go go go person. And while raising my kids,

We are officially (for the second time) entering into Kindergarten this year with a strong likelihood of moving on to first grade in the new year. We are excited for the resources and curriculum that we are using! Here's what we are planning for 2018-2019 school year for K and 1st:

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

My review of Sonlight: 

For last year, we used the full Sonlight curriculum which was perfect because I had no idea how to piece together a Charlotte Mason style literature based approach to homeschooling. I was overwhelmed and getting one big box of stuff in the mail was exactly what I needed. 

What we loved about Sonlight:

A literature based curriculum that you don't have to piece together yourself!! 

Everything out of the box and ready for you

The schedule is completely done! You just use it you are good! 

We absolutely adore the books from Sonlight

Here's what didn't work for us: 

We did not care for the Bible curriculum. The Bible itself was fine. But it was extremely dry and the allotted time they had for K-2nd grade was far too long. Especially with all the other reading. 

It was hard for us to stick to the schedule. It became hard for us, even when we were trying to be flexible. 

We found that we never used the discussion guides and leaders guide. This is supposed to be a huge benefit of Sonlight. but for these grades, we found it entirely unnecessary to look up discussion questions. It was far more trouble than it was worth. We just naturally discuss the books with the kids. (this would be a lot more helpful I think as they get older)

So while we won't be doing the full sonlight curriculum, we WILL be using their books each year but then doing our own thing. Overall, we still highly recommend Sonlight! And I have a few friends who are looking for more structure in their homeschool day. For them especially, I think it's 100% worth it!  

Our Approach to Kindergarten: 

As I shared in our podcast last year at the beginning of the year, our educational style is very Charlotte Mason inspired, especially for these young ages. So that includes a TON of outdoor and unstructured play. Our actual homeschooling doesn't take very long. 

Typically it looks like 15-30 minutes of sit down at the table doing their math and hand writing. The rest of our subjects are done through books at the couch, outside, on the boys bed, etc. 

What we are using: 

100 Easy Lessons to Teach Your Child to Read (we LOVE this handbook! And you can use it again and again!)

New handwriting books we are trying for $4.99

Math U See Kindergarten

Then our science, history, and everything else will be mainly through reading. 

Masterbooks: Their living education math, writing, and more. They have a full preschool and kindergarten curriculum, creation science materials and more! 

Usborn Books: 

The Usborne Outdoor Book - Includes ton of outdoor activities to do! We will use for science 

It All Starts With a Seed...How Food Grows - Science

A Look Inside a Castle - History

Count to 100 - Math

How Big is a Million? - Math

Lift the Flap - Telling the Time - Math

My First Reading Library - Language Arts

Children's Picture Atlas - History 

Amazon Things We Ordered: 

Melissa and Doug Magnetic Calendar

Between last summer and this summer, we've taken 5 trips with our 5 young kids. Last year we took 3 big trips with our 5 kids FOUR and under and this summer with our five kids five and under. We've learned a lot and I've received a lot of questions about how we manage travel, vacation, and camping with 5 young kids! Listen in here: 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. 

1) Look for easy ways to save money

We spent way more on our trips last year.  But we still found great ways to save. And our two trips this year are far cheaper. 

FOOD is the biggest part of this. I bring crazy amounts of food on all of our trips and it helps so much! We were able to bring food into all three parks we went to last summer: Legoland, Universal Studios, and the San Diego Zoo. AND obviously this summer camping and our cabin at the lake!

We hardly had to buy food for the kids on the road and we only bought one meal for them inside the park. This helped us save a ton of money. So plan ahead and bring snacks and lunches for the kiddos (or the whole family)! 

2) Adjust your expectations - this is KEY! 

We are going camping next week for the first time ever as a family of 7. It's going to be fun and also a little difficult. But the key to this camping trip (and all others) is adjusting expectations! 

Our camping trip will be with our Church and there will be a lot of fun things going on. However, I already know we won't be able to do everything!

3) Remember they are tired as well

This goes hand in hand for me with point #2. I needed to remember that all these little guys were just as tired (if not more) than myself and Jason and that we needed to give grace. 

This struck me hard one night. We had just left Legoland after an emotional hour (see point #4) and we decided to head out early and go to Denny’s for dinner. Jason and I were both drained and the kids were mostly good, but a little wild. They were a bit louder and more rambunctious than I would normally allow at Denny’s. 

I could feel my impatience grow, but then I remember that they were just as tired as I was and I needed to remember that! Little kids can get heavily affected by being out of their normal routine, in new places, etc. So I had to not care about what the people the table over were thinking…and just give my kids some grace! 

4) Give EVERYONE grace

Along with giving the little kids grace, I had to remember to give JASON more grace. It’s very very easy when you are all stuck in the car together for 10+ hours together, or all sharing 1 room, to let the little things get to you. Or just lash out when tired or weary. 

A good lesson for me was just to remember that everyone is tired and to give everyone a little dose of GRACE! I think this one went a long way in happy moods and joyful hearts…even when we were getting tired. 

5) Make sure little ones know the game plan

This is a lesson we learned at Legoland. We should have had a game plan for the kids in case anyone got lost. Listen to the episode above for the full story. But long story short, we lost Malachi in the park for about 25 minutes. Thankfully he ran into a Legoland worker right away and it just took a while to connect with us. 

The next day, the first thing we did when we went to the park was give everyone a thorough explanation of what they should do if they get lost (i.e. go into one of the shops and talk to the person behind the counter). From then on,