Our garden is doing pretty good this summer and we’ve been enjoying tomatoes for several weeks now. Tomatoes are my favorite vegetable to grow!

I’m always amazed at the growth this time of year. Our cantaloupe, watermelon and sweet potatoes have all grown out of their beds and appear to be taking over the garden. It definitely is no longer neat and tidy but it is productive!

This is what our garden looked like on July 8, right before I harvested the corn.

Here’s the same view from April 24. It’s amazing how things grow so fast!

I purposely planted fewer cucumbers this year but they are very prolific and we’ve been picking cucumbers for weeks. I’ve made several batches of refrigerator pickles as well as canned Bread and Butter Pickles and Dill Chips.

Our squash and zucchini have done very well this year too. We’ve eaten quite a bit and have blanched and frozen some to add to stir fry this winter.

We had a decent sweet corn harvest. This was our second year to grow corn but the first year in a raised bed. We only had 12 corn stalks but they produced  pretty well.

I have several Marigolds planted throughout the garden and I think they’re just lovely. I’ve enjoyed picking small bouquets of marigolds and whatever other flowers are blooming.

We’re also still getting CSA boxes each week (the bottom right picture is one of our CSA boxes).

This past week, I canned Dill Chips and Tomatoes. I ended up with 7 quarts of tomatoes which will be used as the base for chili and vegetable soup this fall and winter. I’m hoping to can quite a few more quarts of tomatoes and hopefully salsa in the coming weeks.

Now that our tomatoes are in, our garden pictures are much more colorful! I’m enjoying our Cherokee Purples the most – they are an amazing tomato! I eat them plain or with bread and mayo for a simple but delicious tomato sandwich. Our yellow pear and cherry tomatoes are doing quite well, I’ve been adding them into my scrambled eggs each morning and that is so yummy. We’ve also picked two of our sugar baby watermelon (top left picture). They’re tiny but taste pretty good!

I’m starting to plan our fall garden and am looking forward to many, many more weeks of gardening and backyard produce!

When we were planning for our marriage, we talked about the importance of family meal times. We have made it a priority to sit down at the table for our meals since our newlywed days (with the exception of pizza night or snack dinner with a movie!)

Now that our children are 6, 4 and 2, we’re actually able to have conversation at the dinner table which is so fun.

We are in the habit of gathering around the table during meal times but we tend to rush through meals. I’ll dish up everybody a plate and call everyone to the table. We sit down, eat, talk a bit and then clear the table. We don’t savor our meal or linger around the table.

Ted and Amy Cunningham’s new book, Come to the Family Table is about ‘slowing down to enjoy food, each other and Jesus.’

This book has both convicted me in the importance of slowing our meal times and has encouraged me in practical ways to do just that.

One chapter is titled ‘A Place for Memories’ and it reminded me that meals are not just about feeding people. Meals are to enjoy and to create ties with the loved ones. I want our family to create memories around our table that each of our children can take with them when they leave our home.

It seems like so much of my day is spend preparing meals and with our tendency to rush through meals, it sometimes leaves me frustrated that I will spend an hour or two preparing a meal only to have it eaten within 10 minutes and then move on to cleaning up the mess. I think that slowing down to savor our food and our time spent together around the table will help me value the time I spend preparing meals even more.

The second part of Come to the Family Table is about sharing meals with others and the importance of hospitality, especially for Christians. This is one area that we’re intentionally working on as a family. It’s still a bit of a step out of our comfort zone to invite others to share meals with our family. We’re finding as we do it more, it becomes easier and we always enjoy time spent gathered around our table with others.

Not only is this book full of inspiring information, it’s also fun. Each chapter includes a recipe that is meaningful to the authors as well as a game you can play around the table and a small devotional. We’ve tried out a couple of the game ideas during our family meals over the past couple of weeks and they have been fun for us all!

This book has practical applications for people in every season of life. Singles, young married couples, couples with children, grandparents all can glean inspiration, wisdom and ideas to strengthen ties with those who gather around their table from Come to the Family Table.

*Disclaimer – I received a copy of this book from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for an honest review. This post also contains affiliate links which help support the maintenance of this website.

Hello, dear blog friends. It’s been a while since I last wrote. Here’s a quick update on what’s been going on in the past few months:

We started our second year of homeschooling back in August with Paxton in 1st Grade, Weston in Pre-K and Cecilia as a tag along! This second year of homeschooling has gone so much better than our first. I’ve learned so much about my little student and have learned a lot about myself. Our first half of first grade has been great and I’m really enjoying teaching and learning alongside my children.

Paxton played tackle football this fall which kept us busy for 2 months. He had practice 2-3 times a week with games on Saturdays and a few games on weeknights. It was a lot of going but Paxton had a blast and Weston and Cecilia loved playing with Paxton’s teammates siblings during practices and games. (I may be an introvert and need to be home a lot but my children are quite outgoing and enjoy going places.)

Then the holiday season arrived. We traveled to visit my family for Thanksgiving and we also visited John David’s family in mid-December. We enjoyed the month of December and all the festivities. Our Weston turned 5 on the 22nd, we had a lovely Christmas as a family and John David took the last two weeks of the year off which was wonderful.

During his time off, he started tackling our kitchen renovation more and we’re finally getting close to being finished! And, I am so excited and looking forward to sharing when it’s finished!

He went back to work yesterday and we’re settling back into our school routine.

Of course, the beginning of a new year is a time for thinking about goals and living intentionally and I’ve set a few goals/objectives for 2017.

• One of those goals is to write here more regularly. I really enjoy blogging/writing but I do not do a great job of making time to blog.
• Limiting my time on social media is also a goal for this year. I find myself mindlessly browsing Facebook or Instagram when I could be reading, writing, cooking, cleaning or so many other things. I no longer have my phone plugged up beside my bed so it’s not touched first thing in the morning or right before I go to bed. This is really helping!
• A short term goal we’re working on is a pantry challenge. Our pantry, kitchen freezer and extra freezer were packed full so for the first two weeks of January we’re eating from the pantry/freezer.  The ‘rule’ is that we can buy eggs, milk and produce. All we’ve spent so far this month is $12.09 at Aldi for eggs, 6 avocados (can’t beat $.49 for an avocado!!) and a pineapple for the kids (we have a lot of oranges/apples still) so this will give them a yummy treat! I easily made out a 2 week meal plan and the goal is to make it these 2 weeks but I’m really hoping we can make it all month.
• We’re also focused on our mortgage payoff goal. The goal is to pay it off by May 2020 and we’re currently a little bit ahead. We’ve been talking about ways to reach this goal faster and are working on implementing some of them. It’s fun having financial goals to work towards!

I’ve got a small list of blog post ideas for the coming weeks so you should be hearing from me more often in 2017!

We’ve been using cloth diapers for nearly 7 years. All of our kids are out of diapers now (our daughter has been out of day time diapers for almost a year) but we’re still using one cloth diaper each night for our daughter.

After being used continuously for 6 years, most of our diapers were in pretty rough condition. Once our youngest potty trained, I went through our stash and pared down to the diapers that were in the best condition to be used as her nighttime diapers and to save for a possible future baby.

What happened to the rest of the diapers?

Swim Diapers

Diaper shells that were leaking due to damaged PUL became swim diapers. I kept two for Cecilia and the rest were passed on to friends.

The bumGenius shells make excellent swim diapers. In my experience, they do a great job keeping in solids (we had a pool for 3 years when our boys were small so I have firsthand experience!)

Cleaning Rags

Cotton prefolds make wonderful cleaning rags. We had several Gerber prefolds that are now my favorite cleaning rag they are great at absorbing spills. They also absorb water really easy which makes them great as a damp cloth for cleaning.

I don’t have any of the thicker prefolds as cleaning rags at this point because I passed on some of these when Cecilia potty trained because they still had quite a bit of life left in them for diapering.

Absorbing and Cleaning Cloths

After being used for nearly 5 years straight, our microfiber inserts still absorbed but smelled horrible after a few wears. It got to where I was stripping nearly every 2 weeks because of microfiber smells. At that point, I replaced all of my microfiber inserts with infant prefolds which took care of the smell issue.

What should you do with all of your microfiber inserts?

They make wonderful cleaning cloths!

My favorite cleaning cloth is the bumGenius newborn insert. When we have a spill, we just place one of these inserts over the spill and it absorbs the liquids up so fast. And, since they’re not being used for diapering, there is no microfiber stink to deal with.

Find a New Home for Useful Diapers

I only suggest upcycling diapers that are no longer useful for diapering babies. If the PUL is still in good condition, the prefolds are not in tatters and your microfiber still has life in it, find a new home for those diapers! Either try to sell them and make back a bit of your investment or just pass them on to another parent who can continue using them.

If you cloth diapered, what did you do with your stash once you were finished diapering your babies? 

We’ll be welcoming our fourth baby this May! We’re excited and can hardly believe we just have a little over 3 months to go!

Cecilia is thrilled to become a big sister! She’s such a good little mama to her baby dolls.

This is a picture of our littlest from January 6 when we had our anatomy scan. We did not find out the gender and are looking forward to our surprise when baby arrives!

This is my 24 week belly on January 29.

I’m learning with each baby we have how little babies really need. I purchased a few new cloth diapers for this baby (we have a decent size stash of diapers from Cecilia) and we need to purchase a new car seat (planning to buy Cecilia a new one and let the baby use her current convertible seat.) I have a minimal gender neutral newborn wardrobe that was Cecilia’s and have managed to thrift a few muslin swaddles over the past few months. At this point, we pretty much need some newborn disposable diapers and a Rock N Play for the baby to sleep in for the first few weeks/months and we’ll be all ready to welcome baby number 4.

For the past 5 years now, I have recorded a day in my life on a January day and shared about our everyday life. This year, I recorded our day in January once again but am just now sitting down to post about it over 2 months later!

Here’s a glimpse into my life as a stay at home, homeschooling mama of 3 (and one on the way!) on Wednesday, January 25, 2017:

8:30 – I’m awake and moving slow. At 23 weeks pregnant, I still need lots and lots of sleep!! I get out of bed, start a load of laundry and begin making breakfast.

9:30 – We’re all eating breakfast. Then we tidy up the table and begin our school work for the day.

10:30 – We’re in the midst of our school day. Paxton is working on his math worksheet while I read to him. While he is working, I take a quick break to move laundry from the washing machine to the dryer and begin another load.

11:30 – We’re reading Sybil Ludington’s Midnight Ride (a lesser known young female figure from the American Revolution). We spent the beginning of this semester reading anything we could get our hands on about the Revolutionary War period! This hour continues with more school work and of course breaking up the occasional fight between the younger two who don’t have any structured school work.

12:30 – Lunch time. Everybody is happily eating lunch. We have a little bit more school work to finish up, I check Paxton’s math and start tidying the kitchen.

1:30 – It’s story time! Oh, how I love reading to my little ones. We read a lot of books as part of our school work but there’s nothing quite like cozying up on the couch with story books that the kiddos pick out for me to read and snuggling – especially on a winter day!

2:30 – The boys are in their room resting (which means playing quietly with their toys or looking at books) while Cecilia and I are in bed. For several weeks, thanks to pregnancy tiredness, I’ve been taking an afternoon nap and she usually joins me. I’ll read a chapter or two in my books and then we snuggle up and nap.

3:30 – I’m awake from my afternoon nap and feeling rested to face the afternoon and evening while Cecilia is still snoozing.

4:30 – Starting dinner prep. Wednesdays are Awana night which means I have to have dinner ready earlier than our normal dinner time in order for the kiddos to have time to eat without being rushed before we leave around 6:10.

5:30 – Finishing up folding a load of laundry (I’m always doing laundry it seems) and getting ready to serve dinner to my crew.

And, from dinner time, the day got crazy and I stopped taking pictures! The kids have AWANA at 6:30 at a church in our community. It’s just 5 minutes from our home which is nice. Once I/we drop them off, we typically come home, clean up our dinner mess and relax for a little bit without kids. If John David is working late for whatever reason, I’ll just sit and read a book in silence!

I leave to pick them up around 7:45 and we’re all home by 8:15. The kiddos typically eat a snack after Awana and then we start our nighttime routine – get pajamas on, brush teeth, pick out books, cuddle up on the couch and read and then head to bed.

My days are not very exciting but how I love being able to stay home with my children, educate them at home and live such a wonderful life!

A Day in My Life from previous years:

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

It’s been very quiet around here due to major life changes. At the end of March, we found a home on a little over 5 acres (after looking for nearly 3 years) and decided it was time to try to sell. We put our home on the market on a Wednesday and had 2 offers by Sunday evening, April 2 (which just so happened to be the 6 year anniversary of moving into this home!) The timing was right and everything has worked out wonderfully. We closed on both houses on May 2 and now are settling into our new home. We’ve been in our new home 5 days and have gotten quite a bit done and are feeling ready for baby (I’m 38 weeks today!)

I wanted to share the way our home looked when we started packing a few weeks ago for my memories and so you can see how everything was laid out and organized.

The view of the front door in the living room.

The living room. One of my favorite parts of this room was the gallery wall. It was one of the first things I laid out when we moved in. Of course, it’s changed over the years and the pictures have been changed out since we added 2 babies in that time!

A close up of our bookshelf tucked into the corner. We love our books!

The view from the living room into the kitchen. About 18 months ago, we started our kitchen renovation, putting down new floors, knocking out some cabinets, putting in a new stove and refrigerator. We worked on it slowly (paying cash as we went) and it was officially finished 3 days before we moved! (We had ordered a section of countertop on December 31 and the order was delayed, then messed up, then reordered and delayed so we never really had the opportunity to enjoy the fully completed kitchen.)

A view of the whole kitchen post renovation (with the new ‘bar’ countertop installed). So many meals and memories were made in this room.

And, here’s a bit of a close up of the new countertop section! I hope the new owners love this kitchen.

The dining room and kitchen are one open room. This was the most used room in our entire home. We ate here, we did school work here (school books and supplies were stored in the white cabinet), it was our main entry (thus the coat rack along the wall) and it was my office area. We spent hours here each day!

Here’s the view from the living room looking down the hall. These floors were put down as part of our renovation. To the left is Cecilia’s room and straight ahead is the door to the boys room. The door at the end of the hall is to the master, the bathroom is on the right and the other doors were storage closets and the pantry.

Our full bathroom.

Another view of the bathroom.

This is Cecilia’s room, her sweet little toddler bed and play kitchen. I painted this room when we first moved into this house for Paxton’s nursery. It has been Paxton’s nursery, a guest room, Weston’s nursery, a play room, Cecilia’s nursery and most recently was set up as a shared room for Cecilia and our new baby.

Here’s the baby’s area of the room. Even though the baby never lived here, we were ready for baby and didn’t think our 1,300 square feet was too small for our 4 children! (The bunting and the C would have been replaced at some point but it was still Cecilia’s room so I just kept it up!)

A view of the closet in this room. It stored Cecilia’s toys, her nice clothes, extra bedding and blankets, her memory box and some diapers for baby.

The master bedroom.

Another angle of our master bedroom.

Here’s a peek into our closet. By most standards, it is a small closet but was perfect for us. We added some shelving for shoe storage and since we both have minimal wardrobes, we had more than enough space.

Our boys room. This was a very large room/playroom that served our kiddos quite well over the years.

Another view of the boys room. That dresser was purchased for Paxton’s first nursery before he was born and I made those curtains a few years ago.

John David custom built this closet shelving and it has been great for toy, game and clothing storage. A little bit of smart design can transform a small closet into a very useful space!

This little gallery wall was one of my favorites of the boys room. All of the artwork was painted by me or the boys which makes everything special!

That’s the tour of our sweet little brick ranch. We lived in 4 different homes in less than 5 years but lived here for 6 years. We made so many memories while living in this home. Paxton turned one here, we found out we were expecting our second baby a month after we moved in, Cecilia was born in our bedroom, all 3 of our kiddos learned to walk here, we started homeschooling here and we found out we were having our 4th baby here.

Now, we’re looking forward to making new memories in our new home and adding a new baby to our family. The house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. At just under 1,800 square feet, it gives us room to grow but it’s not too large of a home (we really wanted to stay under 2,000 square feet.) It feels absolutely massive to us right now! We have a little over 5 acres of land so we can have livestock here! We’re all pretty excited about living on our small farm. We already have honeybees and are looking forward to adding chickens very soon.

Our fourth baby’s birth and the days leading up to it will always be remembered. After years of looking for a few acres of land, we finally found a property and made an offer with less than 2 months until my May 21st due date. We put our home on the market, had an offer within a week and started to prepare for closing on both properties.

On May 2 (only 19 days away from my due date), we closed on both houses and moved into our new home. The days leading up to the closing date were full of hope that I just wouldn’t go into labor early (my previous 2 babies had arrived 9 and 11 days early!) May 2 came and went thankfully with no baby.

In the next few days, I was able to get our bedroom, kitchen, the living room and the kids rooms organized and felt somewhat settled.

On May 7, I was 38 weeks pregnant and anticipating that baby could come at any time! Cecilia was born at 38 weeks, 3 days and Weston was born at 38 weeks, 5 days so I figured I was probably getting close.

We didn’t find out the gender this time (we did with both boys but not Cecilia). We were all kind of hoping for a baby girl so Cecilia would have a sister but would have been thrilled with a baby boy too! I really had no feelings regarding gender since this pregnancy was so similar to all of the others (minus the horrible hip and pubic pain I had with Cecilia’s pregnancy).

A week after moving, on May 9, my midwife, Michelle, had my home visit scheduled (it was scheduled so late since we were in a new house). She had to cancel due to another birth. I had been waiting for the home visit to feel fully ready to go into labor.

On Wednesday, May 10, I had a check up with Michelle. I was 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant (Cecilia was born at 38w3d). At the checkup, Michelle told me that she had driven by my house and knew exactly where it was so a home visit wasn’t necessary. That made me feel better, knowing that she knew where to go when the time came.

I started having contractions on the way to my check up Wednesday morning and had them off and on throughout the day but they were not regular or unmanageable.

I had contractions about every hour that night and thought things were going to start picking up and that we’d have a baby but I woke up on Thursday, May 11 still pregnant! When John David woke up, I told him I was up about every hour during the night with contractions so he went into work late that morning and I was able to sleep until 10:30. When I finally got out of bed, there was some blood tinged mucus which was somewhat encouraging knowing that those contractions were probably doing something.

I was very tired all day and still having contractions about every hour or so. These contractions were different than any of my previous labor contractions. They would start out low in the abdomen and work their way up instead of starting high and working down. I took a long nap and rested in bed that afternoon and let John David know that I wasn’t feeling well. We got the kids in bed around 9:30 and I sat on the couch and rested for a bit. Nights had been hard (trouble getting comfortable and sleeping) and I wasn’t quite ready to get in bed and try to sleep while having contractions.

Around 10:30, we went to bed and the contractions started up as soon and I laid down. I got up, went to the bathroom and came back to lie down but never was able to sleep. I did this every 10-15 minutes for about 2 hours before I was completely uncomfortable lying down and needed to start trying other positions. At 1:00, I downloaded a contraction timer app and started timing contractions, hoping to start to see a pattern. There was a pattern – they were about 10 minutes apart at this point.

I sat on my birth ball and worked my hips for awhile since I labored the entire time with Cecilia on the ball (and it was wonderful). The ball was not providing any relief so I stood up for awhile and went back to the ball. I probably labored about 2 hours while John David continued to sleep. I pulled out the large flannel back tablecloth (which my midwife recommends for keeping floors clean) and put it on the floor because I kept hoping contractions were going to get closer together and things would start happening.

I started dealing with back labor around 3 and woke John David up at this point because I was feeling very discouraged since my contractions were still 10 minutes apart and painful. (Contractions with both Weston and Cecilia were not painful at all to me, so this was new.) I labored on my hands and knees, on the ball, leaning against the ball, standing and swaying my hips and nothing was providing back labor relief. At this point, I was pretty sure that the baby was in a bad position because of the back labor and the fact that I wasn’t making any progress with contraction spacing after 2 hours of timing.

I was so confused as to whether I was even in labor. With my previous births, contractions have fairly quickly gone from 10 minutes to 8, to 6 and so on. We went to the hospital with Weston and called Michelle with Cecilia when they were about 5 minutes apart.  John David and I talked about calling Michelle but I didn’t want to wake her up for nothing.

After laboring through intense back contractions, I was very discouraged (I even told John David that I just wanted to go to the hospital and get an epidural!) I asked him to run some warm bath water in hopes that the tub would provide some relief.

By the time I got into the tub, the contractions were averaging 7 minutes apart so John David texted Michelle at 4:42 to let her know we thought something might be happening and that contractions were averaging 7 minutes apart and that I was getting into the tub. She texted back that the tub should help to speed things up (and I was hoping that would happen!) The warm water felt so good and the first few contractions in the tub were more comfortable but then the back labor started up again and the contractions were averaging 8-10 minutes apart which means they actually had slowed since getting into the tub.  At this point, I thought I might be dealing with prodromal labor because I had been laboring over 6 hours with very little progress – I thought I should have had a baby in my arms by this point if I was really in labor! (All 3 of my previous labors had been fairly fast, Paxton was born 5 hours from the time my water was broken, Weston’s was born less than 3 hours from waking up with contractions about 8 minutes apart and Cecilia’s was about 5 hours from the time my contractions started coming less than 8 minutes apart.)

John David sat with me through several contractions and since nothing was changing, he went back to bed and I stayed in the tub. (And, no, this didn’t bother me, I don’t like to be touched at all during labor so him going back to bed was no big deal, especially since we thought it was prodromal labor or just the very early stages.)

I got out of the tub around 6:00, the sun had risen and I was very discouraged. The water was cold and my back labor was not letting up so I knew I needed to try some other positions to try to get baby in an optimal position. I had the big flannel back tablecloth in the bedroom floor so I got down on hands and knees and rocked back and forth for a few contractions, then I leaned up against the ball for a few minutes and tried sitting on it. I was still timing contractions and they were ranging from 7-9 minutes apart. I started to feel like I needed to poo (which in hind sight should have been a sign but I had been a little gassy in the tub and with contractions ranging from 7-9 minutes apart, I was pretty sure it wasn’t pressure from the baby.)

Around 6:45, I sat on the toilet and I was still timing contractions which were about 7 minutes apart. John David was still sleeping at this point. I tried to go and felt myself really opening up and started to think that I might be getting close to delivery (which didn’t make sense because of the contraction pattern).

I started to notice a lot of mucus (or bloody show) which made me realize that the baby was probably getting close. I started to feel pressure and started vocalizing through contractions which woke John David up. He told me I needed to get off the toilet because it’s not good to sit there too long. Then I had another contraction and I think he realized what was happening. I think at this point, he texted Michelle (my phone says it was 6:56).

He ran and moved the tablecloth and under pads into the bathroom and I asked him if he saw anything and he said he didn’t. I couldn’t feel the baby’s head with my hands, nor did I feel like the baby had descended so I didn’t think I was about to have a baby.

He told me I had to get off of the toilet but I couldn’t move. He helped me get off and my water breaks as I’m getting up (into the toilet!) I drop down on all fours and start pushing (and yelling!) With the next contraction, I pushed baby’s head out. John David starts yelling “push, push, push” so I gently pushed but realized that I need to wait for another contraction before pushing to decrease my chances of tearing. With the next contraction, I pushed again and out she came, into her daddy’s arms and he tells me, “we have a baby girl” before I even get her in my arms. She was born at 6:59 am on Friday, May 12.

John David helps me sit down, puts our daughter on my chest and starts drying her off. I am completely in shock and crying (well, really bawling) at this point. Tears of joy for a daughter, that everything went well and that it was over which was such a relief after dealing with horrible back labor.

John David changed out the towels, covered us both up, put a hat on the baby’s head to keep her warm and propped a few pillows behind me (Michelle had given him instructions for what to do at our last appointment since I have a history of quick deliveries). I just laid in the floor with baby, waiting for Michelle to arrive and started nursing.

Michelle arrived around 25 minutes after the birth, delivered the placenta and had John David cut the cord. The baby had pooped into my hand while we were lying on the floor so John David took her and cleaned her off and wiped my hand off!

Michelle helped me into the herb bath and then put the baby in the bath to get her good and clean too.

By this time, Mary (Michelle’s assistant) had arrived and they helped me get dressed and into the bed while John David held the baby. All 3 kiddos were awake at this point (they had slept through everything) and anxiously awaiting to come into our room and meet the baby.

At some point while waiting, Paxton slipped a note under the door that said ‘let us n’!

Once I was settled in bed, they handed me our baby girl and let the kids come in and meet their new sister, Laura Kathryn. It was such a sweet moment, watching their excitement. All three were completely mesmerized by our tiny baby girl.

Once all of the kids held her, Michelle started the newborn exam. Laura weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces (just like Weston who was also born at 38 weeks, 5 days).

Michelle asked some questions about the delivery for her records and John David told her that the baby came out with her hands crossed and tucked up on her chest. Michelle said that is why my contractions stayed spaced so far the entire time and why I had back labor. So, it was somewhat encouraging to know that there was a reason the labor was so slow (as far as labors go for me.) It was 8 hours and 29 minutes from the time I tried to go to bed and started having contractions 10 minutes apart until the time she was born. And, up until probably 8 minutes before she was born, my contractions were still about 7 minutes apart. I went from 7 minutes apart (early labor) to delivery so this birth was technically considered a precipitous birth which I consider funny because it really was my longest and definitely my most discouraging labor.

And, thanks to pushing with the contractions and not being panicked, I had no tears and didn’t even feel like I had a baby which was amazing! My recovery was so, so easy.

Even though Michelle missed the delivery, this birth was so much like Cecilia’s – everything post delivery was exactly the same and I definitely appreciated the care that Michelle and Mary provided.

John David played a huge role in Laura’s birth! I probably would have delivered our baby in the toilet if it wasn’t for him. He knew exactly what to do and followed the instructions Michelle had given him. He kept such a clear head during the delivery, except for that 30 seconds when he was yelling ‘push, push, push’ because all he saw was a baby’s head and he had never delivered a baby before. Our kids said we should call him a ‘mid-husband’!

Once Michelle and Mary left around 9:30, we just took it easy all day. I stayed in bed with baby and John David took care of the kids and fed me. And, of course, I had little visitors in my room all day, wanting to look at their baby sister.

We’re so thankful for another complication free birth and a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

My other births:

First Baby – Paxton’s Birth Story 

Second Baby – Weston’s Birth Story

Third Baby – Cecilia’s Birth Story

Scripture Memory is such an important part of a Christian’s life. As Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Hiding the word in our hearts is such a treasure.

Teaching children, even very young children, can be fairly simple. Children love songs and stories and repetition and tend to soak up things like a sponge!

Here are a few of our favorite scripture memorization resources that we’ve used with our children.

Seeds Family Worship

Seeds Family Worship songs are amazing! The songs are scripture based and are really good. There are children singing the songs but they’re not childish and annoying like some Christian themed children’s songs can be. I actually love listening to these along with my children.

We purchased a pack of the first 7 CDs several years ago and still love them (they offer a pack of 10 now, it may seem a bit pricey but they’re really worth every penny!) They’re in my van and we frequently listen to them while driving. They have released more products over the years that I’m not familiar with but I’m sure anything you choose from them will be amazing.

AWANA

We started taking our children to AWANA at a local Baptist church since our church does not offer AWANA. We had not participated in AWANA as children but had heard great things about the program.

Paxton was 4 at the time and started in the Cubbies program (preschool/preK age children) and Weston started out in Puggles (for toddlers). Both boys loved it from the beginning. We’ve started our 4th year of AWANA at the same church. Cecilia is now in Cubbies and Paxton and Weston are in Sparks together which is the class for Kindergarten through Second Grade.

Our boys have learned a lot of scripture and Bible truths from AWANA, have made new friends and had a lot of fun. We’re so thankful for a church who welcomes our children and for amazing leaders who genuinely care for and love to teach our children.

Hidden in My Heart Scripture Memory Bible

The Hidden in My Heart Scripture Memory Bible is similar to other Bibles but with some resources that help with scripture memory. There are 100 verses which are featured throughout the scriptures and referred to as the Core 100.

Each ‘Core 100’ page has the core verse written out in the NLT, NIV and KJV versions as well as an ‘Explore & Apply’ section. There also is a ‘Digging Deeper’ section at the back of the text that has extra resources and questions to go along with each of the 100 core verses.

The back of the Bible features a Core 100 Verse Checklist to help keep track of verses memorized. There is also a Challenge Verse Checklist so you can keep track of memorizing the verses once the core verses are hidden in your heart.

One of my favorite features of this Bible is that there are 100 Scripture memory songs that you will have access to with a unique download copy in each Bible! Songs are just a fun way to memorize scripture and I like having more songs in addition to our Seeds songs.

We haven’t dived into this Bible and worked through the Core 100 yet but it is going to be an amazing scripture memory resource in the future. And, in the meantime, we’ll be learning the scriptures through song!

*Disclaimer – I received a copy of Hidden in My Heart Scripture Memory Bible in exchange for a review from the Tyndale Blog Network. I am not affiliated, associated with or sponsored by Seeds Family Worship or AWANA, those are just resources we use and want to share! This post does contain affiliate links which help support this site.

When it comes to setting goals, it’s easy to simply dream about things you would like to do or achieve.

If you don’t make the goals realistic or manageable, they just stay dreams.

I’ve always set SMART goals to turn dreams into reality.

SMART goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time Bound

In May of this year, we set a big goal to pay off our mortgage in 5 years (by May 2020).

This goal fit with the SMART goals formula:

Specific – We want to pay off our mortgage in 5 years.

Measurable – Pay off the balance of the mortgage.

Attainable – We knew discipline, frugality and a bit of creativity, this was a realistic goal for our family.

Relevant – We feel like this is a very relevant goal since our mortgage is our only debt and we want to be completely debt free.

Time Bound – We want to do this by May 2020.

We started out very excited and felt like we were working towards an achievable goal. However, since it was such a big goal (knocking out thousands and thousands of dollars in debt), it felt like we weren’t making any progress.

So, we broke the goal down further. In July (2 months into the process),  I divided the amount we owed on our home by 58 months (the time remaining until May 2020). This gave us a monthly goal to work towards.

Having the monthly goal makes our big goal very doable. Each month, we have a specific amount we’re working towards paying off. Reaching this amount each month is still a bit of a stretch but we hit the monthly goal in July, August, September and October!

Working towards the monthly goal keeps the momentum going. Each month that we reach (and sometimes exceed) our goal, we are excited which encourages us to keep going. While it’s fun to see the big number go down, it still seems to move slowly so it’s more fun focusing on the monthly goal than on the total principal that we still owe.  

Do you have financial goals you want to achieve?

Maybe you want to pay off debt, save an emergency fund or start a college fund for your kids. Or maybe you need to finally sit down, create your budget and set financial goals.

One of our desires for our children is for them to become financially wise. We hope by being honest about our finances and teaching them about how we manage our money that they will have a desire to stay out of debt and use their money wisely.

At 4 and 5, our boys know that we follow a budget and that our budget helps direct our spending.

We started talking about money and giving them small amounts of money at very young ages. We also try to point out how we save money by buying things used over buying them new.

Both boys were given some money for Christmas this year. We put some of it in savings but they both ended up with about $12 in their wallets. Money in their wallets is their spending money that they can spend, pretty much however they choose.

Our 5 year old, Paxton, is a spender and our 4 year old, Weston, is a saver. When Paxton has money, he starts thinking of ways he can use it. Weston prefers socking his money away in his piggy bank and lately has been telling us that he’s saving his money so he can buy a tractor when he grows up. (The saver in me LOVES this!)

On New Years Eve, while we were out eating Chinese food, our 5 year old discovered the wall of vending machines full of candy, toys and stickers. He saw that one of these machines contained NFL stickers (he loves football) and he had to have one. We explained that we thought spending $.50 for one sticker when you didn’t even know which team you were going to get seemed like a waste of money to us. Then we told him that it was his money and he could buy a sticker if he wanted to.

He chose to buy the sticker and was satisfied with the team he got.

Then, he tried to talk his brother into buying a sticker too! Weston stood firm in his resolve not to spend anything.

With money still left in his wallet, Paxton was itching to spend more so he started asking to go shopping. He finally asked, ‘can we go thrifting for jerseys?’ (I love that he appreciates thrifting!)

One afternoon this week, we went to Salvation Army and started looking for jerseys in the kids section. We found a red Georgia Nike jersey in size 6 that fit him and he liked it pretty well. We browsed around the store and came back to the kids section to double check and then Paxton spotted a black Georgia Nike jersey in size 7. He got really excited about this black jersey and we were starting to hang the red one back up when Weston asked if he could buy the red one.

We stood in line and they both purchased their jerseys, pulling their $3.20 out of their wallets, excitedly handing the money over and then proudly walking out with their jerseys that they purchased with their own money.

I was tickled that we had such good thrifting luck and they both found something they wanted.

Once we got home, I showed them that similar jerseys were selling for $40+ each online and that they could not have purchased those jerseys brand new with the amount of spending money they have.

We hope that talking with them through their spending and making wise purchases as children helps them become financially independent adults.

Paxton was beyond thrilled that his jersey has a Capital One Bowl game patch sewn on it!

And, it should be noted that John David and I are Tennessee fans. Paxton likes Tennessee and Georgia college football, he says ‘I was born in Tennessee and live in Georgia so I can like both.’ And, we’re not sure where Weston’s allegiance lies just yet. (Now, we’ve got to thrift a couple UT jerseys to even things up!)

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting about our progress as I’m reading through ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ and sharing some of the things I’m learning along the way.

Here’s our story about our path towards a life of simplicity and minimalism so you have an understanding of where we are at the beginning of our KonMari journey.

We’ve been simplifying for what seems like our entire marriage. Our first home was a tiny 572 square foot apartment and the possessions we each owned coupled with wedding presents more than filled up that space. (And there were still items left in our parents homes.)

After 2 moves, only 7 months apart in 2008, I realized how much I really wanted to simplify. Packing up all of your possessions and putting them into a moving truck makes you realize just how much stuff you own.

I started really decluttering in 2009, trying to weed out as many items as I could that weren’t useful. In August 2009, I found out I was pregnant! I was determined to keep things simple for our baby. In fact, we only purchased one item, an outfit the day we found out we were expecting a boy. Everything else, from our crib to our changing table, to bedding, books and toys was either handed down or given to us as gifts for baby. We were so blessed by generous people but also a bit overwhelmed with how much stuff our 8.5 pound baby brought into our home by the time he arrived in April 2010.

In September 2010, my husband accepted a new position in Georgia and we were once again loading up a moving truck. Again, I was astounded and even a bit embarrassed with the amount of stuff we owned. We moved our little family into a 3 bedroom condo with a single car garage and we filled it up. The closet in the extra bedroom was full of stuff and so was the garage. In the 6 months that we lived there, we never were able to park our vehicle in the garage.

When we purchased our home in March 2011, we actually downsized (our first home and condo both were around 1,500 square feet). Our new home was 1,300 square feet. While it didn’t have an attached garage or basement, it did have a detached garage so there was ample space to store stuff.

In the almost 5 years that we’ve lived in this home, we’ve added 2 more children to our family. In that time, we really have simplified our home, changed our consumption habits and live quite minimally.

My husband has adopted a simple ‘uniform’ consisting mainly of jeans, black button ups and t-shirts. I don’t own many clothes or shoes, neither do our children. Our kitchen is small, therefore we keep our dishes and kitchen gadgets very simple. And, our children really don’t have an overabundance of toys. But, there’s still a lot of stuff in our home and some of it is never used, played with, worn or read. 

Trying to live without a lot of clutter can be quite challenging for 5 people in 1,300 square feet . We’re choosing to live in our ‘small’ home because it makes the most sense for our family financially but we don’t want to feel cramped in our home. Living with less stuff makes our home feel like there’s more than enough space for the 5 of us. 

After Christmas, (and the influx of stuff that comes with this holiday), our home was in need of major decluttering.

Instead of decluttering how I typically do, I decided that we’re going to try following the KonMari Method. I read ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ last year, nodding my head in agreement with most of her decluttering and tidying philosophy and even adopted the KonMari way of folding. However, I didn’t actually follow the method in terms of going through our belongings category by category and only keeping those items that ‘spark joy’ or those that are necessary.

We’re beginning our KonMari journey now and hope to simplify our home and only surround ourselves with the things we love or absolutely need.

I’ll be posting about things I’m learning and what’s leaving my home in the weeks ahead!

Have you read ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’? Have you followed the KonMari Method? 

*I do not agree with all of her writing and philosophy. However, there’s a lot of good content in the book and I just take what’s helpful and ignore the religious parts I disagree with.

With the The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up in hand, we started KonMari-ing our home last week.

We’re following along with the method so we worked on clothes and books during this week. Even though we already live simply, I was surprised with how much we were able to let go!

This was my clothes and accessories pile, including my spring/summer clothes. This is not a shocking amount, I don’t own a lot of clothing but I picked up each item and asked if it sparked joy or not.

In the end, I was able to let this stack of clothes go. It’s not a huge pile but I really was surprised I was able to find this many items I really didn’t care for.

One of the things I let go was a purple pajama set. I purchased it to wear after Cecilia was born as a comfortable sleepwear/loungewear option. It is very comfortable but I never have loved it. I’ve been wearing it but feeling frumpy each time I wore it.  It felt great to let it go!

Here’s a glimpse into my casual, everyday clothes drawer. I love the way my shirts looked folded using the KonMari method of folding.

During the middle of last week, I received a surprise package from my mother-in-law containing Marie Kondo’s Spark Joy. I was excited to receive this and have it accompany me through the rest of this journey. My favorite part of this book so far is the illustrated pictures showing how to fold various clothing items.

We spent last Friday working on my husband’s clothes. We were able to let this stack go.

I also went through all of our kids clothes. I went through all of the clothes in their drawers and closets as well as the clothes in their bins they have to grow in. I ended up with a decent pile of things that were outgrown, worn out, didn’t spark joy and we had too many of (I think Weston had about 20 t-shirts that should fit this spring in his bin…where does it come from!?) I’m handing down some of the items to friends with kids younger than mine and donating the rest.

This was the declutter pile hanging out in my room for a few days. I was glad to see it leave the house!

And, here’s what we loaded up to drop off at Salvation Army last week. Not all of this was a result of this week’s KonMari-ing of our clothes and books. Most of it was clutter that I had boxed up that I was holding on to because I viewed it as ‘valuable’, thinking I might try to sell it or at least put it in a yard sale sometime.

Just looking at those boxes that were taking up space in my home was mentally draining. I decided the space they would free up in our home and in my mind was worth just donating them. And, I was right. It felt great to drop off this load and our home seems so much more open with all of this stuff out of our home.

All in all, week one was a success! I doubt the following weeks will see this large of an amount of stuff leaving but who knows.

If you KonMari-ed your home, did you think going through clothing and books was the easiest part? 

I’m following the steps outlined in Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and I’m finding that my thinking about possessions is changing as I go.

While letting things go is pretty easy for me, I am conscious of the value of the items I no longer need or want.

Finding value in my clutter is my biggest challenge.

Over the past few years as we’ve deliberately simplified, we’ve sold everything from outgrown baby clothes and books to electronics and furniture. We’ve gotten clutter out of our home and brought in some extra cash in the process. My frugal side loves bringing in money from selling our unwanted items!

I try to sell items that have a value greater than $5 and have successfully sold quite a few things via Facebook pages and Craigslist in the past couple of years.

However, it seems like we always have a ‘for sale’ pile somewhere in our home. And, our current ‘for sale’ pile has some items that have been in it for at least 6 months.

I donate items quite regularly but sometimes it’s hard to donate things that could potentially be sold and sometimes I feel guilty for just giving ‘valuable’ items to thrift stores.

Marie Kondo writes, ‘To get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful or shameful.’ How freeing this statement is for me. 

One of my biggest takeaways from ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ has been breaking free of my guilt of giving away ‘valuable’ things.

And, as an avid thrifter, I am thankful that people donate nice, ‘valuable’ things (like my boys’ Georgia jerseys) so we can benefit from purchasing them and support a charity in the process.

Within in the past year, I’ve thrifted a smocked dress and a pair of Matilda Jane pants for Cecilia, a set of Duplos for my kids, a Marmot pullover for me and a Camelbak bottle, paying no more than $2 for any of those items.

My mindset has shifted from feeling guilty to being excited that someone is going to find our former possessions in a thrift store, find value in them and get a thrill from thrifting.

This change in thinking is getting things out of my house much faster and it’s so much easier than taking pictures, posting items for sell, storing them until they sell and arranging to meet up with a buyer once someone is interested.

Instead, I load items into bags and boxes, place them in my car and drop them off at The Salvation Army at my convenience.

During this season of life with 3 small children, it’s so much easier to donate. Yes, the extra money is nice when we do sell things but since we’re debt free (except our home) and living comfortably within our budget, it’s not necessary for us to sell everything that has some value.

Do you ever feel guilty about donating ‘valuable’ things? 

*In full honesty, I probably will still *try* to sell items that have a value of $10 plus but if they don’t sell within a week or two, I’ll just give to a friend or donate!

Related Posts:

Beginning Our KonMari Journey

First Week of KonMari

Living a frugal life is a fitting way to describe our family. We’ve been frugal since the early days of our marriage.

In many ways we’ve mastered the art of frugal living.  Over the years I’ve couponed, shopped clearance racks, consignment sales, yard sales and thrift stores. I’ve rarely purchased boxed or convenience foods, preferring to cook from scratch, have made many of our own beauty products, our laundry detergent and use very few disposable products, preferring reusables (cloth napkins, rags, diapers, etc.)

We married young, lived in a small campus apartment and had a very modest income. We’ve lived simply and frugally our entire marriage but the reasons why we live the way we do have changed.

In our early days of marriage, we wanted to avoid debt. We were committed to living within the income we had. We saved quite a bit for a house downpayment but we also enjoyed consuming. Now, we weren’t able to go buy the latest and greatest or pay full retail for the things we wanted so we consumed frugally. (One of our favorite activities was browsing the local Goodwill.) We weren’t exactly consumeristic but we did enjoy shopping and bought things just because we liked them and not because they were needed.

Now, we’re still frugal. As a family of five living on one income while trying to pay our home off early, frugality is a necessity. We enjoy stretching our dollars as far as they’ll go. However, the focus of our frugality is not so we can consume as much as we possibly can on as little as we can. The focus of our frugality is to live contentedly on the income we have, focusing on our needs and not so much on our wants.

Many of the frugal things we do now are not simply to save money, we do them for environmental reasons. Saving money is just a bonus!

I try to buy as many things as possible used to avoid buying new products that require new resources to produce. I cook from scratch to avoid the excess packaging that comes with convenience foods. We have cloth diapered our babies because each diaper was used over and over (many of them on all 3 of our babies) and they are not sitting in a landfill after one single use like a disposable diaper. I have reusable menstrual products (DivaCup and cloth pantyliners/pads) to avoid single use disposables (and as a bonus they’re so much more comfortable!)

We live on a planet with finite resources. Many Americans give little thought to the fact that each thing they consume and each single use disposable item that gets ‘thrown away’ is using resources and destroying our planet.

We’ve been having conversations with our kids about landfills, how there is no ‘away’ when you throw things away and how cheaply constructed toys and items break quickly and are a waste of resources as well as money.

We’ve been working on reducing our waste by buying less, trying to avoid items with excess packaging (I saw single bell peppers at the grocery store wrapped in plastic!?!), recycling and reusing things we can.

We’ve been only buying things we need (we keep a running needs list) and we’re not shopping as a leisure activity (even when thrifting, I go with a list).

We’re focusing more on needs than wants and as a result, we’re living more frugally than ever.

Related post: 10 Ways to Change Consumption Habits

*Disclosure – There are affiliate links in this post.

As our children grow, it has been such a joy watching their personalities develop. It’s amazing how children who have the same parents, live in the same home and spend almost every day together can be so different. Our boys are complete opposites, especially when it comes to money.

Paxton (6 years old) is a natural spender. If he earns or receives a money, he wants to spend it. Over the past year, he’s purchased several small Lego sets, random items at thrift stores and even vending machine stickers. Saving his money for a larger purchase is not something he’s naturally drawn to.

Our Weston (4 years old) is a natural saver. If he earns or receives money, he wants to save it. He’s such a simple boy, he has very few wants and rarely purchases anything. Most of the items he has purchased he has saved for or he has found an animal to go with his farm. Lately when he gets money, he tells us to just put it in savings (referring to his savings account) because he’s saving up to buy a farm and a tractor. He’s thinking about the future and not worried about material things in the present!

We want to raise our children to be wise when it comes to finances so they hopefully will be financially free their entire lives. And, we also know that just because a person has a natural tendency, such as the tendency to spend, it doesn’t mean that they cannot learn to change their ways.

Around Christmas, Paxton found a Star Wars Lego set that he really liked but it was way out of his spending money price range at $59.99. He talked about it for several weeks and pointed it out when we would look at toys.

We thought it would be a great item to set a savings goal for and encouraged him to save his spending money to purchase the Lego set.

We created a savings goal chart as a visual that we hung up in his room so he could glance at it and see how far he was progressing towards reaching his goal.

We set a goal of saving $70 to cover the Lego set and taxes. Each row on his chart represented $2 but we also allowed him to fill in half a row when he put $1 into his Lego Savings jar.

He had some Christmas money that he decided to go ahead and put towards the goal so he started out with $22 which was a great jump start towards such a lofty goal for a 6-year-old.

At the beginning, he started out slow, putting just a little bit of the money he’d earn or receive into his savings. He preferred putting more of his money into his wallet for spending. Every time he decided he wanted to spend money, we would remind him that he could use that amount of money, even if it was only $1, towards his Lego savings and get closer to his goal. Then, we’d let him make up his mind if he wanted to spend his money or not.

He chose to purchase several small things over the first few months and then he started to get more serious. He received some money from grandparents and great grandparents for Valentines Day and put all of that into his Lego savings. Then he earned some money when he, his daddy and brother helped our neighbor with some farm work and put all of that money (minus his giving) into his savings. After earning that money, he started asking about ways he could make money and we gave him some odd jobs to do to earn a little money.

As his savings grew, his spending decreased and he starting putting more and more of his money towards his savings. With his birthday money, he was able to reach his goal of $70 and he was so excited to finally be able to purchase his Lego set.

We completed the chart and then starting looking for the best deal we could find. We knew the Lego set was $59.99 at WalMart and ToysRUs but we wanted to shop around. We first checked out Craigslist, hoping to find a used set (we always try to buy things used instead of new), then we looked on eBay. With no luck there, we saw that Amazon had the best price online at $54 (it was around $57.50 after tax).

I told him that we could go to WalMart that day and purchase the Lego set for $59.99 plus tax or we could order it on Amazon. By ordering it on Amazon, he’d have to wait 2 days but would save around $6. He decided to order online, save the money and patiently wait. We were a little surprised and very proud that he chose to delay gratification!

We placed the order together and he handed over all that cash. Then we counted up what remained and he had $12.50 that he can apply towards his next savings goal (which we’re not quite sure of at this point).

Paxton was so excited while waiting for his package to arrive. The day that it arrived, the mail ran very early and we were in the middle of our lessons. That was motivation, he’s never done his math faster! He was so excited to open up his Legos and start building.

This was the biggest set that he has received or purchased and it took him a while to get it all together. I sat with him and helped him build for awhile (and he loves when I play Legos with him since his love language is quality time!)

We hope reaching this financial goal will be remembered in the years to come and that he has learned a little bit about the value of saving.

Related Posts:

Teaching Kids About Money

Teaching Preschoolers About Money

If you’re a reader of Intentionally Simple, I’m pretty confident that you’re a fan of simple, minimal, intentional living.

I also enjoy reading other simple, minimal, intentional living blogs that encourage and inspire me. One of my favorites is Becoming Minimalist, written by Joshua Becker. I’ve been a Becoming Minimalist reader for 6+ years now and I thoroughly enjoy Joshua’s writing and practical encouragement.

I have enjoyed reading his previously published books (Simplify and Clutterfree with Kids) and was excited to read his newest book, The More of Less. It is a small book but it is packed with inspiration and encouragement for minimal living. After reading many books in this genre, I wasn’t expecting anything life altering from this book but I was really surprised that I was inspired to let go of even more material possessions.

In this book, Becker shares his story as well as the stories of others who are living a minimal lifestyle. He points out through these stories that minimal living doesn’t look the same for everyone. There is no right way to do minimalism, you find what is right for you. There is great freedom in knowing your minimalism doesn’t have to look a certain way or be like anyone else’s.

For us, minimalism is contentedly living in a small home and intentionally living with less by only purchasing things we need and limiting clothing, toys, homeschool related items and such to the space with have within our home.

There is a chapter called ‘The Fog of Consumerism’ where Becker writes about how, in America, consumerism ‘surrounds us like the air we breathe, and like air, it’s invisible.’ This is a very insightful chapter, too often books about living with less never touch on the fact that continual consumption will never allow you to break free from your clutter.

The More of Less adequately explains the philosophy of minimalism as well as practical, how-to advice such as questions to ask yourself about your possessions, experiments to help you realize whether you need things or not and how donating your unwanted items (versus selling) empowers your generosity.

Reading The More of Less, has already inspired me simplify my home even more. The day I finished the book, I filled up two boxes of extra stuff that was lingering in our home and have plans to tackle our garage. (Time to give away more things to friends and donate, donate, donate!)

This is a book I will read again, there’s just so much information, inspiration, encouragement and practical advice that it’s nearly impossible to soak it all up in just one reading. My plan is to read it with my husband very soon and hopefully he’ll be as inspired as I am to take yet another step in our journey of minimalism.

If you’re tired of feeling like your stuff is stressing you out, leaving you overwhelmed and taking over your home and life, I highly recommend The More of Less

*Disclosure – I was provided an Advance Reading Copy of The More of Less in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links that help support the maintenance of this site.

It’s been so long since I’ve sat down to write anything that it’s hard to know where to start. So, I’m just going to write and share a bit of an update of life with our family.

We’re slowly settling into life as a family of 6 – moving and having a baby in the same month has been hard for me – my personality doesn’t naturally like change. We’ve been in our home 10 months now and I still don’t feel quite settled but this house is starting to really feel like home which I’m thankful for. (I just need to paint, put up pantry shelving, organize several spaces and so on!)

Having a 4th baby has been both easy and challenging. She is a such a sweetheart and we’re all enamored with her – the new hasn’t worn off for any of us! She is a pretty content baby girl but has not been the best night time sleeper which leaves me tired but I know this won’t last forever. The biggest challenge has been adapting to the management of life with 4 children – the laundry feels absolutely endless,  I’m learning to buy and prepare much larger quantities of food and we need more structure in our daily life.

The past 10 months have definitely been a time of growth, change and excitement. We’re still pinching ourselves that we have realized our dream of living on a small homestead and that we have chickens, pigs and sheep, plenty of land to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers and ample space for our children to roam and explore.

The homestead, caring for a baby, homeschooling, adjusting to life as a family of 6 and keeping everyone fed fills up my days and I have neglected some of the things that I enjoy – like writing. But, as I study more about my personality and know myself better, writing/blogging is one of those things that is worth making time for – it recharges me which makes me a better wife and mama. 
Our children are growing so fast. I am in awe of how much they grow and change in such a short period of time. Laura is nearly 10 months old, has 2 little teeth, is standing and cruising and looking more like a toddler everyday. Cecilia will be 4 this month, is such a big helper to me, loves to cook and is full of personality and sass. Weston is 6 and is our resident farmer – he owns several chickens and the sheep on the homestead belong to him. Paxton will be 8 next month, is in 2nd grade and in the past couple of months has turned into an absolute bookworm – I’ve been reading to him since he was a baby and he’s always loved books but since his reading abilities have gotten beyond easy readers, he can’t put the books down. And, I love it! 

I’m doing my best to just soak up this baby girl! Babies are a lot of work but they’re so sweet and such a gift. And, after 4 babies, I know how amazingly fast they grow.

Cecilia is loving having a sister and I love that they have each other. They have a few matching shirts and a pair of matching pajamas and she loves matching her sister. This picture was taken recently – they both were wearing matching pajamas and Cecilia pretended to be a baby in the crib with Laura that morning. 

It’s nearly spring so we have some baby chicks! These babies will grow up to be laying hens. We also have 3 baby piglets that were born last week. If you’re interested in the homesteading aspect of our life, I’ve started a new blog, Arrow Hill Homestead. There’s not much there just yet but I plan to use it as a journal of life on the homestead. 

I celebrated my 31st birthday yesterday. As I’m getting older, birthdays aren’t as eagerly anticipated as they once were but they’re fun – especially with kids who love celebrating. My boys picked out this cake and brought it home after church yesterday – they were so excited about it and I love that they know me so well – it was strawberry shortcake (I love strawberries – my birthday is typically celebrated with a strawberry cake or strawberry pie!) They also picked me daffodils that were growing on the edge of our property. 

When you’re grown up, sometimes you buy yourself your own gifts! I bought these daffodils as a gift to myself because they’re beautiful and I love daffodils since they’re always blooming on my birthday.

Our dream to live on a small farm or homestead goes back to the very beginning of our marriage. We met through the FFA right after high school, married soon after and studied agriculture in college. We both grew up on family farms and had a desire to raise our children on a farm.

While preparing for graduation and entering the workforce, we still had that desire to have a little piece of land that was our own. Our first house was on an acre and we were able to garden there. After moving to Georgia, the second home we purchased was also on an acre. We had plans to garden and have chickens.

We soon learned that it was illegal to have any livestock in our county if you lived on less than 2 acres. After learning this in mid-2013, we were so ready to move. It was frustrating that you could live on an acre and not have a few hens in your backyard!

In 2014, we found a home on 7 acres that we really liked and even put our home on the market. We prayed and prayed and prayed some more but realized it was not the right time. That was hard. Then in early 2015, we found another home on several acres that we really liked and we submitted an offer after much prayer that was promptly refused. We stopped looking and in 2015 and 2016, we focused on making the most of what we had where we were – we gardened, planted fruit trees and did what we could. We still were dreaming of our own little piece of land but we were content where we were.

In early 2017, we felt a restlessness again and started browsing the real estate listings frequently. We looked at a couple houses that fit into what we were looking for but they weren’t right.

Then in late March, we found a newly listed home and property.  It wasn’t perfect, the house was a little weird to me and there was not even a complete driveway but it was in area we wanted to be in, less than 20 minutes from my husband’s office, was in our price range and at 1,800 square feet it gave our family room to grow but wasn’t too big. (We didn’t want a home over 2,000 square feet.)

We made an offer which was accepted and then worked hard to get our house ready to go on the market. We listed it and accepted an offer within 5 days! Everything just seemed to fall into place and we were confident that little piece of land was the place we had been waiting for all of these years.

We closed on May 2nd ( when I was 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant) and started working on making this house and land into our little homestead. Our baby girl was born in our home just 10 days later.

In the 10 months we’ve lived here, we’ve added chickens, pigs and sheep. We raised a batch of broilers (meat chickens) and have processed them. John David has an older tractor for pasture management, we’ve planted a small orchard and have two garden plots. And, we’re having a blast!

We decided to name our place Arrow Hill Homestead inspired by Psalms 127:3-4 “Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD, children, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth.”

I am so thankful everyday when I am able to feed animals and gather eggs – I can’t believe this is our reality, we are living our dream!

If you’re interested in following along our homesteading journey, we’ve started a family blog that will be covering everything from daily chores and baby chicks to butchering pigs and gardening.

Arrow Hill Homestead Website

Arrow Hill Homestead Facebook Page

Arrow HiIl Homestead Instagram