Finding Joy in Your Home

This is a long-requested episode! Today I'm sharing all my pregnancy favorites but I'm sure I missed some, so make sure you share all your favorites as well over on Instagram. Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info 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. Links & Resources: Favorite Pregnancy Books: Taking Charge of Your Fertility The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth The First 40 Days: The essential art of nourishing the new mother Awakening Fertility: The Essential Art of Preparing for Pregnancy Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way Husband-Coached Childbirth Betsy Bosom's Baby Book: A Girlfriends Guide to Using Essential Oils From Bellies to Babies Gentle Babies: Essential Oils and Natural Remedies for Pregnancy, Childbirth, Infants, and Young Morning Sickness Remedies: Sea Bands - Motion sickness bands High amounts of vitamin b - my two favorite Vitamin B complexes are Dr. Axe's Vitamin B complex & the one I use now is Super B by Young Living (it's AMAZING!!) Heartburn remedies: The only thing that has ever worked for me for heartburn is: Alkalime supplement by Young Living Pregnancy tea: Mama's Red Raspberry brew - My favorite pregnancy blend!! Mama's Milk tea - Great for lactation and milk production! Earthley also makes a great pregnancy tea Pregnancy workout dvd: Lindsey Brin's pregnancy workout DVD set Vitamins and supplements: Take a good prenatal - I use Master Formula + Super B as my prenatal vitamin (both from Young Living). You can read about this combo here. Dr. Axe also has a great prenatal I recommend I also take a good probiotic. I switch between Young Living's Life9 and some of Dr. Axe's probiotics. It's a good idea to switch up your probiotic from time to time to get different strains. Dr. Axe has a bunch of good ones but I recommend his Women's once a day as well as his SBO probiotic. You will also want a good omega/fish oil supplement for pregnancy. No surprise here but I recommend one of Dr. Axe's Omega's but all four are currently sold out. The one I take now is Young Living's OmegaGize. A good omega supplement is crucial during pregnancy, but a GOOD one from a good source is going to be expensive. Just keep that in mind. I usually take mine 3-4 times a week instead of every day just to lesson that expense a bit. I also take Magnesium and iron - see my favorites below Other supplements I LOVE: TriLight Health has an entire line of pregnancy herbal blends that are affordable and rock! Their ingredients are outstanding. I recommend getting their Pregnancy essentials kit for everything you need. Earthley is my next favorite store to recommend. It's owned by a mom who has a passion for providing home remedies at an affordable price. Here are a few of my favorites from Earthley: Pregnancy tea -a Premade blend for pregnancy Fertili Boost herbal extract - Want help getting pregnant? This tincture might help. Post Partum balance - I am SO getting this tincture for this time around - helps balance things out after pregnancy Mama's tummy relief - I wish I had seen this during my first-trimester sickness Nourish her naturally - Another possible option for a prenatal Magnesium Lotion - Another great one for pregnancy! I use this every night. Dr. Axe has a good supplement if you want a pill instead of a lotion. Iron supplement - I LOVE Earthley's iron supplement. Make sure to look for an herbal iron supplement though if using a different brand. Additional resources: When pregnancy and motherhood doesn't go the way you planned - Hf # 60 Find me over on Instagram - watch my highlights for all of these items and to share your own!! Check out Wix.com/Podcast to get 10% off your new website!

One of my big goals for 2020 is getting into a better fitness routine. I know that if I can work on my physical health, it can help me have more energy for my family and ministry. Listen in to this awesome interview today between myself and Beth Learn! Listen to the Podcast: You can find important links & info 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. Links & Resources: Visit Beth over at Fit2B Studios Follow her on Instagram Visit our Sponsor: Vistaprint.com use coupon code HOME for free shipping on all business cards Visit our Sponsor: MEL Science - get 25% off your first box & free shipping when you text HOME to 64-000

For the first time in 3 years, Jason and I are both hitting our reading goal this year! Next week we are releasing our 2020 reading challenge and I'm preparing for that by reflecting on my favorite books from 2019. Listen in for some good books to add to your reading list for next 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. My Top 10 Books of 2019: Listen to the full podcast episode for my reasons behind these picks and more! Chasing Contentmentby Erik Raymond God's Healing for Life's Losses by Robert W. Kellemen Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman & I Can't Believe You Just Said That Finding God in my Loneliness by Lydia Brownback Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K. White The Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingald Wilder Introverted Mom by Jamie C. Martin Eat Dirt by Dr. Josh Axe You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham Mother Culture by Karen Andreola Links & Resources: My Word for 2020 Our Sponsor: Wix.com/Podcast for 10% off your website! Our Sponsor: MyLola.com use coupon code HOME30 for 30% off your feminine care subscription

I love this time of year! It's time to make new goals for next year and I have 5 areas I want to work on as we head into 2020. Another great episode to listen to in conjunction with this one is my Word for 2020. 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: My Word for 2020 My favorite meal planning website has a sale going on right now Visit our sponsor: Minno! Stories kids love, values parents trust. Visit gominno.com (that's M-I-N-N-O) Use coupon code HOMEMAKING to begin your 7-day free trial and start streaming anytime, anywhere on your phone, tablet, TV or computer

This is my 6th year picking a word for my year. It's always a tough decision to nail down my word, but this year was particularly hard because I had a hard time really pinpointing what I wanted to work on in 2020. I felt a little all over the place trying to decide so it took me longer than normal to settle on my word. But now I've picked and it's feeling like the perfect fit for 2020! So today I'm sharing my new word for the year as well as some tips for picking your own word for this year. Here are my past words: 2012: Intentional 2016: Joy 2017: Create 2018: Refresh 2019: Faithfulness 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. What has gone into choosing this word: On the podcast, I share the general flow of our life since 2012 and how you can see that overarching picture of our family through each word of the year. But looking ahead to 2020, we are facing what is likely going to be a very big transition year for us. Baby #6 is due in April and we are Lord Willing, going to be selling our house and starting to travel around the country. But at the same time, my own personal energy and capacity has been rising and I feel ready to jump back into more consistent routines and habits. So 2020 for us is going to be a big mix of buckling down and cultivating better habits as a family AND living in a constant state of change throughout the year. ? Bring it on! So when choosing my word for 2020, I faced a difficult challenge of blending this idea of stricter discipline while also going through the flow of newborn, selling our house, and lots of change...all while maintaining those BIG important priorities as #1 priorities (God, Jason, and the kids)! So while thinking about and praying about my word, I started a list of things that felt important to focus on. This list included: unity, community, relationships, grace, connectedness, harmony, vision, perception, connectivity, adventure, compassion, connection, consistency, and intuition. This then led me to a word that I've almost used a few times in the past.... Cultivate. My word for 2020 is cultivate and it's fitting so perfectly with my goals and desires for 2020 (even those that seem to be at odds with one another like slowing down to have a baby and enjoy the newborn time...while at the same time selling our house and traveling)! So as I head into 2020 and start to form my goals and habits for the new year (look for the next episode for a discussion on those), I've broken my word into 3 main categories: Cultivating Relationships I want to do a better job this year of investing in those close to me. Jason and I really pulled back this year to be able to focus on our family and it's been great! We feel like we've really been able to double down on those big important priorities and look inward to our family. That's what we've needed in 2019! And now I need to do a bit more outward focus for this next year. I want to do a better job of following up with friends and family. Asking them how I can pray for them (and actually doing it) and adding a few select things back into our schedule (without overwhelming ourselves)! Cultivating friendships is another big one for me this year! Cultivating Better Habits As 2019 as drawn to a close, our life has been busy and full (with so many good things) this fall. SO many of our normally good habits and routines have gone out the window. So as usual, I'm desperately craving some better routines as we head into 2020 and beyond. So one of my big focuses will be building in better habits and routines so that come baby time, I hopefully have things working more consistently (things like meal planning...