Finding Joy in Your Home

Welcome to our annual life and ministry update! Jason is joining me on this episode. Today we are debriefing about all our travels and business projects from 2022 and settling in Oklahoma. Then looking ahead to all that we are planning for 2023 - and beyond.. Join us for a fun and exciting chat! 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: Sign up for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference here Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: For a limited time get 15% Off at dockatot.com with the code HOME. Our Sponsor: Treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off at honeylove.com with the code HOME.

Woohoo! I am so excited to be finally sharing our 2023 Christian Reading Challenge with you. In today's podcast episode, we are looking back over our 2022 reading challenge, discussing our favorite books we read, and sharing our new goals for 2023! 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. Jason & Jami's 2022 Reading Goal: We both set big goals for this year, and neither of us are hitting it! But that's okay because I feel like we both had great reading years. And that's really all that matters. Jason read: 80 books for the year (out of 104 goal) Jami read: 65 books for the year (out of 104 goal) Our goals are 104 books again for 2023. But this year we both have some additional reading that we are setting as goals. Listen to the episode to hear. Jason and Jami's Top Books Read in 2022: Bread of Life: Savoring the All-Satisfying Goodness of Jesus through the Art of Bread Making - https://amzn.to/3ZBtpn7 I Will Build My Church - https://amzn.to/3WfEmYO The Time-Saving Mom: How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy Your Life, and Accomplish What Matters Most - https://amzn.to/3XAZgTo Ruler of Kings: Toward a Christian Vision of Government - https://amzn.to/3H98kth Home Sweet Maison: The French Art of Making a Home - https://amzn.to/3w5JDHH Little House on the Prairie - https://amzn.to/3kldcCi Anne of Green Gables - https://amzn.to/3QPzrfZ The Christ of the Covenants - https://amzn.to/3w8VWTM Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones - https://amzn.to/3XB2RR1 The Space Trilogy - https://amzn.to/3XzErYo The Faithful and the Fallen - https://amzn.to/3XA40bA The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again - https://amzn.to/3XjLvIP Books in 2023 we want to read: Lord of the Rings - https://amzn.to/3XjLPY3 The Silmarillion - https://amzn.to/3izzIXW The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth - https://amzn.to/3kkawoL The Fall Of Gondolin - https://amzn.to/3kknTFq Beren And Lúthien - https://amzn.to/3INMkFt The Reformation: A History - https://amzn.to/3ZCStu4 Choose your own 2023 reading goal: We are doing our reading challenge for you guys a bit differently this year. If you want to use last year's format, you can head over and print it out here. This year we are giving you lots of categories and book suggestions and encouraging you to pick your own goal. My personal favorite goal to do if you are just starting out is 24 books for the year. This is roughly 2 books per month. And if you look at the typical non-fiction Christian book, it will have about 12 chapters. Read about 1 chapter per day and you can easily read 2 books per month! But it does take focus to hit that. Book Recommendations Per Category: Church History Books Church History in Plain Language - Bruce Shelley - https://amzn.to/3bM2mhN 2000 Years of Christ's Power - Nick Needham - https://amzn.to/3bRva8C Introduction to the History of Christianity - Tim Dowley - https://amzn.to/3yJQbMr The Unquenchable Flame - Michael Reeves - https://amzn.to/3fDizqC The Reformation - Stephen Nichols - https://amzn.to/3i3AsBZ Meet the Puritans - Joel Beeke & Randall Pederson - https://amzn.to/34ao4I6 For Us and For Our Salvation - Stephen Nichols - https://amzn.to/34eZ2HS Evangelicalism Divided - Iain Murray - https://amzn.to/3uhND4z A Scottish Christian Heritage - Iain Murray - https://amzn.to/3wsPIvW Epic: An Around-The-World Journey Through Christian History – Tim Challies - https://amzn.to/2SpO5AB Church History 101 - Sinclair Ferguson - https://amzn.to/3vnO92g In the Year of Our Lord - Sinclair Ferguson - https://amzn.to/2SpOfYJ Womanhood Books Enough about Me: Find Lasting Joy in the Age of Self – Jen Oshman - https://amzn.to/3fhdmWv

How do we build our homes as Christian women? How do we juggle the housework and taking care of our families WHILE actively building our homes and future generations? How can we be legacy minded with routines and schedules? 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: Sign up for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference here Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking60 and use code homemaking60 to 60% off plus free shipping Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50 First, we need to see what Scripture says about the household. Our faith is very practical. "But as for you, teach what accords with sound[a] doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us." - Titus 2: 1-8 Our faith is meant to be passed down Duet: 6:4-9: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. What this means: the way we live and run our households matters greatly. From the dusting, to the diaper changes. From the cooking to the cuddling up and reading a book, both the actual work and the tone in our home matters. We have a tendency in the Western Church to over emphasize the Spiritual. We focus so much on the fact that this world is not our home, that we severely neglect our physical homes in the here and now. We are so focused on the Lord coming back at any moment, that we forget the very real possibility of our great-great-great grand children growing up to know the Lord. And we know that God blesses generations of Christians. We need to think a lot more about how we are getting the faith down to our grand children, than what vacation we are taking next or the next netflix show we want to binge. So when we think about legacy, and everyday routines, and big picture, and nitty gritty, we need to focus on a few things: 1. Our own behavior and attitude is of utmost importance. It's better to live on the corner of your roof top than with a contentious wife. It's better to serve walmart pizza on paper plates and have a joyful attitude than to make a 4 course meal but to be a terrible grouch throughout it. 2. The training we do in our homes, is for eternity. In our society, it seems like since we can outsource most of the essential tasks of the home: cooking food, doing laundry, educating our kids, cleaning the house…can all be outsourced to someone else now. so we lose the perspective that how we run and manage our homes matters greatly. There are two entire generations - millenials and Gen Z who have come or are c...

It's that time of year: goal setting, planning, and starting fresh in the New Year! Last week we discussed my first step in goal planning: brainstorming! Today Jason is joining me to discuss 2022. We chat about what we thought this year would look like (and how it really ended up) and our takeaways (both the good and the bad) that we can use to shape our 2023 goals. 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: Sign up for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference here Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking18 and use code homemaking18 for 18 free meals plus free shipping! Our Sponsor: Get a 2 week free trial of the most amazing meal planning & prepping website here: PrepDish.com/Homemaking

The New Year is just around the corner and we are kicking off a new mini series all about planning. We are going to start off today in the brainstorming phase. Jason will join me next to discuss how we take our individual brainstorming into business and family meetings for our goals. And then we will share how to take those big goals and break them down into actionable, daily tasks! 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: Sign up for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference here Grab my brand new cookbook in print or digital here!! Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking599 and use code homemaking599 to get $5.99 per meal on your 1st box—and your 1st box ships free!

Today I'm sharing our more treasured Balmet family Christmas traditions AND the new traditions we are starting this year. Our traditions are a work in progress and I'm also sharing a good perspective to have during the hard or overwhelming years. 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: Sign up for our 2023 Finding Joy in Your Home Online Conference here Grab my brand new cookbook in print or digital here!! Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50. Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking18 and use code homemaking18 for 18 free meals plus free shipping! Christmas Movie List: Muppet Christmas Carol The Santa Clause #1-3 New show: The Clauses Klaus Charlie Brown Christmas Christmas with the Kranks Elf It's a Wonderful Life The Grinch Home Alone #1-3 Arthur Christmas Noelle Christmas Devotionals: The Dawn of Redeeming Grace - Sinclair Ferguson Love Came Down at Christmas - Sinclair Ferguson Behold Your King - Grant and Ericha Van Brimmer Apologia Studios Christmas Devotional - YouTube

It's the absolute best time of year to be thinking about how to use our time intentionally. We can finish December strong and head into the new year strong. But it all starts with some intentionality and some planning. Join Kayse and I in this interview today as we discuss how we can use time blocking and intentional habits to get more done that we want to do. 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: Join our free community: FindingJoyCommunity.com My brand new cookbook is here. Preorder your copy here! Our sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking70 and use code homemaking70 for 70% off plus free shipping! Our sponsor: Get 2 weeks of free meal plans from PrepDish.com/Homemaking

Cooking with kids can be hard. It can also be so rewarding. And something I try to do more and more with my own kids. This episode is tips from a mom of 7 who is in the trenches, trying to bring her kids into the kitchen more, and the tips she has learned along the way. 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: Join our free community: FindingJoyCommunity.com My brand new cookbook is here. Preorder your copy here! Our sponsor: Get your baby sleep essentials for 15% off with coupon code: HOME at DockaTot.com

Today we are tying our mini series, In the Kitchen, to all the upcoming holidays! How can we build a strong family culture in our homes, around food? That's what we are diving into and Jami is going to share 7 practical ways they implement this in our home. The point isn't to do everything so that it looks like Pinterest, but rather, to just intentionally build those traditions and culture with food as an anchor (however that food looks for your family)! 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: FindingJoyCommunity.com My cookbook is launching TODAY!! It will launch sometime before midnight hopefully lol! So sign up to be notified here when I get it on sale! Our sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking599 and use code homemaking599 to get $5.99 per meal on your 1 st box—and your 1 st box ships free! Our sponsor: Get a 2 week free trial to the best healthy meal plan company around: PrepDish.com/homemaking