Archive | December, 2007

Making Our Home a Haven – Day 1

By on December 3, 2007 in making a home


Following Crystal’s Day 1 of the Making our Homes a Haven challenge to make our homes a blessing to our families and guests, these are my steps to improve my home for day 1. The first step is to take time to spend with the Lord each day followed by making a purposeful plan for this. This definitely falls in line with the starting place of Shopping for Time by Carolyn Mahaney as I learned from previously.

First 5 steps for each day

This is a routine I wrote on my frig awhile back, and it has been so helpful in getting me off on the right foot each day. This challenge has renewed me afresh in walking it out each morning before starting my day.

1. Morning devotions
2. Make myself look presentable for the day (to please and bless my hubby! Gives me a little boost too for the day)
3. Prepare breakfast
 4. Quick house pick up (this is definitely not in-depth cleaning, just picking up from the day before to start afresh! Pick up the entry, clean up any dishes leftover, etc.)
5. Make dinner preparations (This means I just pull out of the freezer any ingredients I need for the meal, or soak some ingredients, etc. This helps keep me on track, so I am not stressing at the end of the day, when I am tired no less, and need to make dinner. I thought ahead to save me the stress!)

Secondly, she encourages everyone to start with organizing one thing a day. Today it is the entryway, the first place our guests enter in and see. With this in mind, I have realized the importance of keeping my stairway cleared of clutter, being that that is a focal point in my entryway. The bottom of the stairs always seems to accumulate clutter, such as mail, things hailed in from the car, jackets, shoes, etc. If I can be purposeful in just keeping this cleaned and organized my entry way looks 100% improved. That is my first goal for making my home a haven!

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Monday Musings: Giving Thanks

By on December 3, 2007 in faith & womanhood

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.Give thanks to the God of gods, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.Give thanks to the Lord of Lords for His lovingkindness is everlasting.
~Ps. 136:1-3

Give thanks…To Him who is the Lord and Sovereign over my life, for His lovingkindness nevers ceases.

Give thanks…To Him who is a strong tower of protection and refuge for the righteous, for His lovingkindness never faids.

Give thanks…Even when dark clouds encompass me, for His lovingkindness never ends.

Give thanks…Even when my body is weak and tired, under ailment or stress, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks…even when my child is cranky and needing attention, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks…even when my house is a mess and needing attention, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks…when moodiness and depression traps my soul, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks…to Him who has grants forgiveness again after my many stumblings, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks…to Him who never leaves me nor forsakes me, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Give thanks…To Him who gave Himself for an undeserving wretch, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

“Who redeemed us from our low estate, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. And has rescued us from our adversaries, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Who gives food to all flesh, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
Ps. 136:23-26

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Natural Living on a Budget – Introduction

By on December 1, 2007 in natural & green

Stay tuned for some helpful information (hopefully!) in a new series, titled Natural Living On A Budget. I will be posting on topics such as meal planning, housecleaning, decorating, eating healthy, etc. every Friday for awhile. I have been learning a ton in the process of preparing these posts. If you care to join me as I seek to become a better steward of our resources for the glory of God and supplying our bodies with the nutrients we need without excessive spending….Frugal Fridays here we come! Contributions are always welcome!

From the start let me state my position on frugality. Frugality is something that all woman, it seems, love! Almost to an extreme sometime. We must guard against raising the saving of every penny to a pedestal of idolatry in our lives. Personally, it became an idol in my life due to a lack of contentment in the resources I had to work with and an unthankful spirit for the hard work my husband was doing to provide for us. I realized other areas in my life and home were lacking proper attention because I was overly focused on saving my pennies. It caused stress, worry and anxiety which did not allow for peace and joy to enter in my home, for they were running out the window! We cannot serve God and money; therefore, saving money should always come after strengthening our relationship with the Lord, serving our husbands, and families. I began asking myself: Am I causing more stress in my family by my overly focused attention on frugality? Is my household lacking peace and attention because I am fretting about money or the lack of it? Am I too focused on saving money over serving the needs and desires of my husband?

On the other hand, we are called to be good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us. There must be a proper balance. Fretting will get us nowhere…but purposeful planning will take us far, and keeping Christ the center will promise us success! My goal with this blog has been to keep a proper balance between seeking to edify and encourage my sisters in godliness as well as being wise frugal homemakers. But please don’t allow this topic to become a point of stress and frustration for you. Seek to do your best, do what you can, but don’t become consumed to the point that you have no peace or contentment because you are always worried about where the next dollar is going. We serve a mighty God who will provide all of our needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus! If he provides every need of the sparrow, how much more will He provide for your every need!

If you would like to suggest an additional topic to be covered in this series, please comment below. Look forward to growing in frugality with you all!

NEW NOTE: I thought I would add one last thing…I have learned that I need to allow my husband to take the leadership in our finances. I must set aside my worrying and allow him to make the final call. When I was managing the books up till a month or so ago, I knew where the money was going and he did not. It didn’t work! I fretted and would get frustrated when he wanted to buy this or that. Don’t you know we don’t have the money for that! I thought. This was a burden I should not be carrying. Let the men do it! They don’t worry like we do! ;)

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