The Seasons Always Change...

This week my parents took our 3 oldest children out to make gingerbread houses.  I was home with just my 1 and 2 year olds.  When we sat down to dinner that night, my husband remarked at how quiet our house was.  It was too quiet.  It felt empty.

But then we remembered...this was our life just a few years ago.  We had two small children and were expecting our third and life felt like it couldn't be busier.  Our house seemed loud and chaotic, and we were always chasing after one of them.

But now, having just the two littlest ones home, it felt completely different.  Our house felt peaceful.

So what changed?  Our 1 and 2 year olds are just as full of energy as their brother and sister.  Is it because we are older?  Do we have more patience now?  Maybe it's a little of both.  I think it's all about perspective.

Sometimes in the moment, we are so overwhelmed by life we can't see beyond our circumstances.

But life goes on.  The seasons always change and these moments don't last forever.

I was thinking about all those cold winters in my life.  All those moments when we wondered how we would make it through.  We held onto our faith.  We held onto God's promise that He will never leave us.  And spring always came around again.

Sometimes it takes years for us to be able to look back and be thankful for those moments.  But as hard as they were, now I can say that I am a better person because of them.

I want to encourage you today, in whatever season you are in.  Through loss and grief, job changes and financial struggles...through pain and sickness, disappointments and rejection, through all the things in your day that overwhelm you...God will never leave you.  Never.

It's hard to see Him there in the moment.  It's hard to feel Him when our hearts are hurting, but we can't see the big picture.

It's like all those dry, dead looking bulbs hidden under the snow,the winter passes, the sun shines again, and their true beauty can bloom.

Book Review: The Money Saving Mom's Budget

I have been a reader of moneysavingmom.com for the past few years and have learned so much from Crystal Paine's financial advice and couponing tips.

That is why I am beyond excited to be given the opportunity to review her first book, The Money Saving Mom's Budget!

I have to admit, when the book first arrived and I flipped through the chapters, I wondered how much I would really learn.  I feel like I'm a pretty savvy shopper.  I carry around my well-stocked coupon binder, and I have learned the importance of saving and patience over spending and regretting.

But then I read the first chapter...and I was so inspired!

Yes, this book is packed full of practical money-saving tips, but what I learned most from this book was the importance of dreaming big, setting goals and making a plan to reach them.

So many times I put so much effort into clipping coupons and living frugally that it can feel overwhelming.  It does take sacrifice and when I focus on what I am giving up, I forget what I am doing all this for.

I was very encouraged by setting goals for myself (big and small) and finding ways to break them into smaller, more reachable pieces.

This book is obviously about saving money, but she teaches you how to not only budget your finances, but budget your time.

I have been on a journey to simplify my life for some time now, and her chapters on decluttering, finding your priorities and choosing contentment were very inspiring.

I do not know Crystal Paine personally, but she writes in a way that makes you feel like you do.  She is open and honest about her struggles and weaknesses and as she shares her story, you feel like you are sitting over coffee with an old friend.

The Money Saving Mom's Budget also features budget sheets and worksheets in the appendix to help you get your plan onto paper.  She makes it feel doable, not intimidating.

But my favorite part is that Crystal has generously decided to donate all the proceeds from her book to Compassion International, a charity that is very dear to my heart.

The Apron Experiment

A few months ago I had a visit with an old friend.  She brought me many sweet gifts, one of which was a poem about the history of aprons.

For our grandmothers and great-grandmothers (and their grandmothers and great-grandmothers...) aprons were an everyday necessity.

They were used to protect their dresses because they only had a few and were much easier to wash than a dress. 

An apron became an ever-handy pot holder and dishtowel.  It dried her busy hands and her children's tears.

Her apron gathered eggs from the chicken coop and carried in kindling for the fire.

But somewhere along the way many homemakers stopped wearing aprons.  Maybe we wanted to be young, modern women and associated aprons with being a matronly grandmother.

We stopped dressing up to start our day and met the demands of messy children and housework by bumming around in sweatpants if we got out of our pajamas at all.

I've always loved aprons and found them to be a necessity especially during my pregnancies.  My growing belly is much closer to the counter and stove top and I am forever getting something splattered on the front of my shirts.

This tired mama on Thanksgiving.  29 weeks in my vintage Christmas apron.

But this week I challenged myself to wear an apron everyday, not just while in the kitchen, but as I went through my day.

The first thing I noticed was that I felt more feminine, even when I was just wearing it over jeans and a t-shirt.  I felt like a cute 1950's housewife, not at all like a grandmother.

I felt more productive.  The apron tied around my waist was a constant reminder that there was work to be done.

It was useful.  I found myself searching for the dishtowel much less because my apron was the perfect place to dry my hands.  I used it to gather up toys that were on the floor and carry them to their homes.  My apron wiped the crumbs from my toddler's face before letting her down from her highchair.

I found that this simple piece of fabric, tied with a bow, changed the way I felt about my day.  I put on my apron like a uniform.  My day had a purpose.  It wasn't just about getting through it, I had a job to do and at the end of the day, when the kitchen was cleaned for the last time, I turned down the lights and untied that apron...and with it I was letting go of all the busyness of the day.

A Taste of Autumn

Last week we took our kids pumpkin picking.  As we boarded the hay ride nothing could shake the smile off their faces.  The smell of hay and harvest filled the air.  When we arrived at the pumpkin patch they were set free to roam the fields in search of the perfect pumpkin.  They all chose ones that were too much for them to carry, but they tried with all their might.

It's the simplest of traditions but one that they look forward to every year.

Their prized pumpkins have decorated our front porch with their warm, inviting colors ever since, until this week when they finally begged me to cut one open. 

I wrapped myself in my apron and set to work.

I sliced one in half and scooped out the pulp.  My boys dove right in separating the seeds from the slimy strings of pulp.  My girly girl was rather repulsed by the whole thing and waited for the end result.

We rinsed the seeds and spread them out on a baking sheet to dry.  Then I baked the rest of the pumpkin and the smell of autumn filled my house.

Once it was tender I scooped out the shells and pureed it for a week's worth of special treats.

The seeds were salted and roasted and snacked on while I fried up some cinnamon-sugar pumpkin donuts.

The next morning our pumpkin treated us to muffins.  Today we baked up some cinnamon chip pumpkin cookies. 

It is amazing how a humble squash can give so much and bring every bit of the season into our home.