By Kate, on April 15th, 2013% I had a very refreshing break last week. This week I’m ready to JUMP back into school and ministry. God revealed some things to me that I need to adjust as I continue on in my marathon of homeschooling. As my responsibilities have changed and grown (adding blogging, ministry and Virtual Assistant work), I have come to realize that I need to set specific office hours.
I found myself feeling out of balance on time I was spending online, and it was taking a large emotional (and physical) toll on me. So, now I can designate certain hours during the day for online work. I will actually set a timer (I so easily lose track of time, with this aging mind). I can’t over schedule my life because I won’t follow it. I’m NOT a List Person – I’m more a Gumby: flexible and spontaneous. BUT all the more reason that I need to set some boundaries and time constraints. Because without them, I’ll fly too much by the seat of my skirt pants and miss out on the IMPORTANT things that need my regular attention.
I’m feeling very restful in the plan ahead. But at my next break, Kevin and I will evaluate together to see if it is really working.
Here’s the weekly menu. Breakfasts have fruit, lunches, raw veggies and suppers cooked veggies or salad. Download my FREE menu planner for your own meal planning!
Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal
By Kate, on April 12th, 2013%  (image courtesy of savit keawtavee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
I LOVE the idea that God gave a Sabbath rest to His people. He took a rest (not that He was tired, but that He was finished) and He gave that same pleasure to His children. He knew what we were made of, He knew what our human frailties were, He knew what our physical, emotional and mental limits were — all from the beginning of Creation. So He gave us the Sabbath as a love gift.
In our culture today, at least in the US, there is little room for rest.
- our work places require extended overtime regularly and we work week-ends to get it done
- the internet now opens up opportunities to be busier long into the night and all week-end long
- our Sundays are not filled with time in worship and rest in the Lord, but with meetings and activities – sometimes driving various children back and forth several times in the day
- our children have sporting events every day, especially Saturdays and Sundays
- the competitive nature of our lives and the speed with which things are going demand us to push the envelope of our time
So where does our rest come in?
It often doesn’t. Even homeschool Moms can get to the place of exhaustion since we are Moms 24/7 with homeschooling and ministry on top of that. And if we school year round, we need to fit breaks into our schedule – we need to make room for the rest. Well, we can’t rest from being a Mom, but we CAN take active breaks from the busyness of life around us.
 (image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
This past week was a time of rest for me, a Sabbath break. I had been feeling pushed and pulled from many sides with exhaustion looming large in front of me. I was just needing to take some time to: sleep, read, relax and sleep. Yes, I know I repeated sleep… it’s my favorite! 
I took the week off from school (it’s in our schedule anyway) and I stepped out of some responsibilities that were not urgent (some I had to drop because of other family things that came up). I took a break from most of my ministry. I still blogged, but that’s because my blogging was all done on Sunday night and scheduled ahead of time.
I spent more time quietly before the Lord, but mostly I needed the physical rest and refreshment so that I could really concentrate on the Word.
Today is my day for extended time with God.
Today is my day for a long time in the scriptures, for extended prayer time.
Today is my day for letting the Spirit wash over me and fill me with His deep Sabbath rest of renewal and revival.
Are YOU finding exhaustion creeping into your life and beginning to control you? Do YOU need to take a day as a time to rest? How can YOU take a break from some of your responsibilities so that you can be fully refreshed in the Lord?
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal
| Original content here is published under these license terms: | X | | | License Type: | Non-commercial, Attribution, no Derivative work | | | | License Summary: | You may copy this content, and re-publish it in unmodified form for non-commercial purposes, provided you include an overt attribution to the author(s). You are not permitted to create derivative works. | | | License URL: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ |
By Kate, on April 10th, 2013% 
My very dear friend, Terri Groh, has written a beautiful devotional book called Words of Encouragement for a Discouraged World. She has 52 weekly devotionals that encourage you to spend time in the Word and to look at your life from the eyes of faith, and with a heart to hear God’s voice.
I have been so blessed to know Terri (online) for many years. She is real, she is honest, she doesn’t sugar-coat her life. Her passion and love for others is at the core of her writing and evidenced in her life of ministry with her husband and children. I know this book is supposed to take you through the course of a year, but I wanted to read some of it to review, and couldn’t put it down. I through it in just a few sittings and I was EXCEEDINGLY blessed! Her writing is easy to follow but, with gentle prodding, we are encouraged to check our hearts and our focus to make sure we are centered on God.
This isn’t a deep daily bible study. It won’t take you hours of homework every week. Sometimes our lives have time for those. Sometimes we can barely get time to read more than a verse in a day. This is a wonderful book to bring encouragement to the real issues of your life, to take those few minutes to re-orient your heart back to the Giver of hope and joy.
I strongly encourage everyone to pick up a copy and be blessed all year!
 Terri A. Groh has a B.A. in Psychology from Nyack College and also attended the Alliance Theological Seminary, working on her Master’s of Divinity. She has been married to her husband, Dan, for 24 years, and is mother to three children, Nathan, Stephen and Emily. She ministers alongside her ordained husband in a church about 70 miles north of New York City. Terri also tutors children with reading difficulties, specializing in the Orton-Gillingham Multisensory method. She has a craft business and loves to read, sew, cook, and write in her spare time. You can read more at Terri’s website, www.terrigroh.com.
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal
| Original content here is published under these license terms: | X | | | License Type: | Non-commercial, Attribution, no Derivative work | | | | License Summary: | You may copy this content, and re-publish it in unmodified form for non-commercial purposes, provided you include an overt attribution to the author(s). You are not permitted to create derivative works. | | | License URL: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ |
By Kate, on March 18th, 2013% Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.Ps 115:1
Our pastor spoke on Ps 115 yesterday and verse 1 just kind of stuck in my heart all day. Lord, keep us from trying to grab glory for ourselves, but let us prostrate ourselves before You in humility – giving ALL glory to You!
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy
| Original content here is published under these license terms: | X | | | License Type: | Non-commercial, Attribution, no Derivative work | | | | License Summary: | You may copy this content, and re-publish it in unmodified form for non-commercial purposes, provided you include an overt attribution to the author(s). You are not permitted to create derivative works. | | | License URL: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ |
By Kate, on February 27th, 2013% 
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
I was thinking about this verse yesterday when we were being told of a snow storm coming through. We live in rural northwestern IL. We get lots of weather warnings of snow storms but they seldom actually hit us. With the last several storms, we were PROMISED lots of snow, only to find nothing on the ground worthy of shoveling. Once I actually went out with just a broom!!!
I am a New England gal, born and raised, and I LOVE winter! I love snow, I love walks in the snow, I love being blinded by the sun glistening brightly off the snow, I love the cold that clears your sinuses and bites you on the nose and cheeks. I love autumn’s glorious beckoning to winter with its crispy crackly whisper.
So, now you understand why every time they promise snow, my heart leaps. My adrenaline starts surging and I’m worse than a child hoping for a snow day!
But, here in northwestern IL, we are RIGHT in the place where no snow falls! Just 50 miles to the west of us, they get tons. To the north they are inundated and out east gets blanketed in snow. Us, we get — nothing. Until yesterday!
The flakes started falling at 11:30 but the temperature was high enough that I felt like the flurries were a tease. But then the weather took a turn in MY direction! The temps dropped just a bit and the snow flurries turned to snow furies. The swirls whited out the houses 2 blocks away where I can normally see and, lo and behold – IT WAS STICKING!
So last night was a wonderful night of cancelled classes for my husband and beauty outside along with some shoveling. More shoveling today, as the snow continued to fall all morning, made for a lot of fun and “desire fulfilled (being) a tree of life!”
Happy winter to all and to all a good night!
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy
By Kate, on February 14th, 2013% 
I need you to get your thinking caps on!
Some of you who know me, know that my spiritual gift is Word of Wisdom. It’s not that I’m this super wise person or anything. It’s just that if you share a struggle or problem with me for counsel, the Lord often gives me a Word of Wisdom. He’ll give me specific insight into YOUR heart and often cut right to the core need/issue. Very often He’ll give me a verse and a very specific application to your life. It is a WORD of His Wisdom for YOU.
My gift doesn’t lend itself well to public speaking – but for one-on-one, the Holy Spirit goes to town!
So, here is where I need you. I would LOVE for you to share topics you’d like for me to address. If someone has a question, that would be wonderful. The more specific or practical to life, the better! (general topics are more like public speaking — I don’t do so well there) I’d love to dedicate some of my posts to specifically speak to issues you might be dealing with or need help in order to help someone else.
Many of my blog posts come out of my years of mentoring/discipling times. I would love to expand that and let the Spirit speak to needs YOU might have.
So put on your thinking caps and ask your questions. If you prefer anonymity, you are more than welcome to email me. I’d like to thank my daughter for this suggestion! (you know who you are )
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy
By Kate, on February 4th, 2013% 
I’m so delighted to have had the opportunity to review Christin Slade’s new book Blog at Home Mom: Balancing Blogging and Mothering. What an encouraging and helpful book for us moms who blog.
I don’t know about you…well, in fact, I probably do. We moms STRUGGLE with balance in our lives!
Whether it is:
- spending time with each child
- getting schooling done
- keeping the house in order
- staying in budget
- fixing healthy meals
- driving children to various activities
- often caring for aging parents
Add blogging to the mix and it can send us over the brink.
But Blog at Home Mom has some very practical and insightful help to keep us going. And it all stems from the Lord at the center of our priorities. Learning to schedule, organize, resort, plan and sometimes drop the various items on our plate.
I love that Christin says:
Many of us believe when we become mothers, we are supposed to sacrifice our own passions for the sake of our children. While in some cases, this may be true and necessary, I’ve learned that living in your passion while mothering is the best of both worlds. I’ve also learned God gives us passions for a reason.
We don’t stop being children of God when we begin having children of our own. He still has designed us with gifts and passions and talents. We just need to learn how and when to use and develop these for His purpose and glory.
If you are a blogger, if you are a mom, if you are a blogging mom — you’ve GOT to read Blog at Home Mom!!
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy
By Kate, on January 28th, 2013% 
This year the Lord has impressed on me the word Order as His key word for me for 2013. As I’ve been praying and searching for His best practice for me, I’ve been looking at the daily tasks ahead of me each week. These past few years (that changeable season of life), I’ve been feeling pretty ADD. You know, you walk into a room intending to do XYZ and you see A and L and P and pretty soon you find yourself not even remembering A or L or P, let alone XYZ!!
So, I made some helps to keep me on track. They are my daily buttons and I’ve posted them on my sidebar –> to remind me what in the world I’m supposed to keep on track of for that day.
      
Feel free to borrow them if any of them will help YOU with keeping on track with order if your life.
Anyway, I’m off to clean out the fridge so I can go get my grocery shopping done before it’s time for lunch. Lord I ask for your abundant blessing in this work of obedience this year! And let all the glory go to Your name for growth and maturity.
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R
By Kate, on January 10th, 2013% 
Order:
“A condition in which each thing is properly disposed with reference to other things and to its purpose; methodical or harmonious arrangement: You must try to give order to your life.” (dictionary.com)
I originally thought my word would be Joy. It has been part of my life focus for the past 19 years. But, truth be told, I hadn’t prayed about it. I just assumed. DUH!
When I actually talked to the Lord about it and listened to Him giving focus and direction this past 10 days, I realized He was working on something different for me. He opened my mind to the whole “It’s Time For Martha!” theme for my blogging as He directed me to the need for ORDERINGmy housework.
But it went beyond that. God’s order doesn’t just reach into our homemaking. His order reaches into every aspect of our lives. And He wants to touch every part of MINE. He has pointed His finger on a number of issues in my life that are OUT OF ORDER.
- my housework
- my eating (not eating a lot, just all the wrong things)
- my exercising
- my homeschooling (plans so easily get sidetracked and we are seldom getting beyond just the basics)
- my time in the Word (I’ve seldom been snatching more than a few minutes each day and haven’t spent time really studying or meditating on the Word for over a month)
So, see…ORDER is the word of the day/week/month/year for me!
God is a God of order and beauty and rightness. These are the character qualities of God I am working to build into my life this year with this focus on Order. I would LOVE your prayer for me and your encouragement and your help or insight!
May God be magnified in my journey this year!!
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R
By Kate, on December 1st, 2012% In case you missed some posts this month, I thought I’d just share my Top 5 posts for November. However, there was a tie, so I’m showing 6 instead. Check them out and I’d love for you to share any you really enjoyed.
Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Back to School Monday, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Living Well Wednesdays, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, First Day of My Life , Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R
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