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Wow. Where do I begin? It had been an entire year and then some since I sat down and wrote words on this page. And then I didn’t feel ready yet, so it was saved in the drafts. I started it again last fall, and was all ready to publish, but then felt a check in my spirit once again. Now three years have passed. Three years of resting. Three years of stepping back. Three years of letting go of so many idols and strongholds in my heart, and seeing God move it and transform in ways no words can express. Of letting go and giving God freedom to prune. My eyes were opened to how I had tied so much of my identity into my blog and the approval received here and in my various ministries in our church body. Tis so sweet to see what God can do when you follow His lead in simply letting it all go completely without holding onto what might happen in the future. But it is now time for an update at the very least!

2013-2016 have included a new job for Aaron at a local web development firm. Then the courage gained to launch out again in starting his own business in the same field. He has now been running his own business for about one year. It included an awesome vacation with my entire side of the family to Mexico, and multiple trips to the Oregon coast and camping in between. Our little ones have turned 9, 7 & 4, and we have nearly completed another year of homeschooling with my Karis girl in 3rd grade, and my son Titus in 1st grade, and Eden joining in for the ride, and adopting a more flexible Charlotte Mason educational philosophy in our home. We love circle time, studying famous artists and composers, poetry tea times, and lots and lots of read alouds. We are coming up quickly upon our 10th anniversary (in May 2016), and we both turned 30 in the past year! It included finding true community in our church, with a godly mentorship and accountability relationship with another woman, meeting weekly and hashing through my strongholds of identity, anxiety, and performance mentality.

It included a difficult miscarriage in the Spring of 2014…where the physical issues carried on and on. My heart was stripped bare like it had never been done before. But God’s mercy is new every morning, and two more little feet were added to our numbers on March 2, 2015, with the arrival of Helen Shalom (“peaceful light bearer”). She is now one year old!

These past years I have been experiencing more of God’s peace and trusting in Christ’s finished work on my behalf instead of putting my hope in my performance and striving for His approval through my perfectionistic tendencies.

A few of the lessons learned in brief (stated here for my own remembrance):

1. Never stop investing in your marriage. We are learning to think outside the box, finding creative things to do together on date nights on the town or at home.  But most of all, I’ve learned to stop trying to change my husband. That’s God’s job and not mine. With the embracing of that simple truth, I have found my love increase for this man and just enjoying him for who he is. It’s been beautiful and freeing!

2. Stop being a worrier and become a warrior for God instead. My soul has been meditating on Exodus 14:14 for many moons, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at REST.”

3. Make community a priority. Getting in weekly accountability with other sisters in Christ has been incredibly fruitful. If you want to see growth and freedom, this is one of God’s means of grace.

4. Cease striving and know that He is God. He requires nothing, absolutely nothing, that I bring, but simple faith and believing that He made the perfect performance so that t I wouldn’t have to. Don’t forget the gospel and who you really are in Christ.

5. God makes no mistakes. Even in my past failures, suffering, and business disasters, God has made no mistakes. My life and story to date is not plan B. Even my shortcomings are a gift, pointing me to the strength that God uniquely supplies for me. He has only good in store for you (Jer 29:11). The pain that is right before you is part of the beautiful tapestry He is weaving of our lives.

God is good.

I’ve been praying a lot about his blog for quite some time now. I have felt a longing in my heart to begin again off and on. But I kept waiting. I honestly don’t know what it will look like from here. So many interests and passions have changed or been tweaked in my life. I no longer soak my grains or am stickler for real food 100% of the time. I still love cooking healthy whole food meals from scratch…but its no longer my top priority. Relationships are far more important. Last year I applied myself to loosing my baby weight and adopted a Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle and really enjoyed that journey and found it effective. I have loosened up in the last few months after reaching my pre-prego weight, but still love experimenting with sugar free desserts! I just hope to post little snip-its here and there of our journey faithfully embracing this simple, ordinary life. I’m going to let if flow naturally as the Lord leads and hold passionately to my boundaries. Maybe a sprinkling of topics on homeschooling (since that takes up most of my life right now , book reviews (since I’m still a huge reader!), sharing recommended resources (my pet peeve is being a researcher!), and simple healthy recipes and home routines. But there won’t be any set schedule. Not sure if there is anyone still listening, but I’ll be waiting on the Lord and see how He leads.

I have been richly blessed by all the feedback and encouragement I have received since I wrote my announcement early in January about how God has been leading me to take a sabbatical from blogging for an undetermined amount of time. It was a great delight to re-share some of the TOP 10 posts that have been published here over the last five and half years, and to see many more comments come in from ladies blessed again by these words. I hope you were blessed and encouraged and I pray that God will continue to use these simple messy words shared here to bring glory to His name! Be assured that the blog isn’t going anywhere, so you will have full access to all the archives and recipes for your personal use. Please utilize them to your hearts content! I don’t know what the future holds for now, but I’m excited to see what is the next step in this journey that God is taking me on. I will be disabling the comments sometime this weekend. You will still be able to view old comments, we just will not be accepting new comments for the time being, as they require moderation. Thank you for understanding.

Thank you for sharing this space with me and for coming back again and again, and for sharing your life, your heart, your tears, and your encouragement. This has been an amazing experience and I have treasured every moment spent here! Till we meet again – whether here or in eternity! May God richly bless and sustain you and may you strive each and every day to live your life with intentionality for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom in whatever season of life He has you in! Know that I am here striving to be faithful right along side you though we may be worlds apart!

Pressing on to know the Lord,

Lindsay

As I prayed over the new year and the future of this blog, The Lord has been prompting my heart that it is time for a season of rest. 2012 was a very challenging year for our family, from business failure, to insomnia, to over committing ourselves in service. I have been writing and editing here at Passionate Homemaking for over 5 years now and it has been the most amazing journey. I started out as a simple family update blog and it quickly soared into an amazing highly trafficked website as I shared about my passions in natural and frugal living. To this day, there are over 20,000 subscribers. I never planned for it. I never anticipated the income that came with it. It was never my goal. I didn’t plan to have a big blog…but God had other plans for my simple and messy words. I was just an empty vessel desiring to be used by my Lord.

I would have never imagined how God was going to use this site. Day by day, I have received the most encouraging emails and comments from ladies all over the world that have been impacted in some way through this online ministry. It has been a little outlet for me to be able to use my gifts to bless others from my home, which has been my heart and passion for so long. I have seen people come to know Jesus, or simply be inspired in realizing that there are others out there who struggle just as you do. Through the resources we have earned in sponsors and giveaways, we have been able to fully support two different orphan homes first in Cambodia and then in India, in addition to many other giving opportunities. All glory be to God!

I honestly admit that I have struggled for quite a few months now, struggling with lack of inspiration and ideas for posts. It has been challenging to maintain the blog while juggling all my various responsibilities within my home, church, and community. I have struggled repeatedly with my identity and comparing myself with others in the blogosphere. God has used it to prune and refine me and make me more like Himself. I’m tired of this sin in my heart. I’m tired of finding my approval in this stuff rather than wholeheartedly in my Lord. I’m just ready to let that all go once and for all.

I have been sensing that it is time for a lengthy sabbatical. God has been prompting me in this for awhile, but I’ve been fighting hard. It’s been one of the hardest decisions I have made. It’s not something I wanted to give up. I have loved this little world from my computer screen. But I feel like I have loved it too much as well. I want to fully live in the here and now. I want to turn my full attention closer to home, towards nurturing the relationships closer to home, rather than stretching myself too thin in various committments. I do not want to fight what God is leading me to do…even if it means letting go.

I may be back again…but I’m waiting on Gods timing. He may have a new adventure in store. In the meantime, I wanted to share throughout the month of January, the top ten posts that have been written on Passionate Homemaking over the last 5 years. These are posts that I feel God has used in sweet and powerful ways and I wanted to share them with you all once again as a parting present for a time. All the resources here will still be fully available for your use and service. Although comments will be removed as I will not be able to moderate them.

Also, I wanted to share a few blogs that I feel would be very worthwhile to mention for you to enjoy that have served in inspiring me over the years that may effectively take my place. Many of these blog authors have become dear friends over the years:

Girl Talk Home

Inspired to Action

Heavenly Homemakers

Grace Full Mama

Keeper of the Home

You all will remain in my hearts and prayers…thank you for taking this journey with me! Thank you for all your love and support! Thank you for choosing to follow me here in my own little messy world. I love you dearly even if I have only meet a tiny fraction of you. May you be strengthened in The Lord and be empowered to embrace joy and thankfulness where you are, whatever season of life it may be. May you be faithful to bring Him much glory! Treasure the precious moments he has given you. Smell the flowers and rejoice in His loving care of you!

I want to conclude with a quote that has been my life quote:

“Only one life, twill soon be past…Only what’s done for Christ will last.” – C.T. Studd

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from our home to yours! We are enjoying a peaceful holiday season, embracing some madness while we organize and deliver Angel Tree gifts to children in our community, but otherwise, we are treasuring sweet moments doing our advent celebrations together, reading A Christmas Carol with the kids, snuggling in and watching Christmas movies, caroling with the elderly, and anticipating the birth of Jesus and a time of rest with family and friends! Now to go make some traditional Cranberry Candy Canes and venture out to enjoy Christmas lights!

May your homes be filled with the joy of our Savior’s birth and be renewed to jump into a new year with the strength and courage that He supplies! Thanks for sharing life with us here at PH!

Merry Christmas!

The Edmonds Family – Aaron, Lindsay, Karis, Titus & Eden

I’m excited to bring you today a wonderful giveaway from my favorite cloth diapering store and sponsor, Sweet Bottoms Baby Boutique! This online store is awesome! They offer a huge selection of cloth diapering products, baby carriers, mommy care products, natural safe toys, and everything is offered with free shipping, plus you can accumulate rewards with each purchase providing savings on future orders. Each order comes very quickly to your door packaged with love and a sweet array of samples. (My last order was shipped two hours after I ordered it!)

I have used cloth diapers for all three of our little ones and have absolutely loved the experience not to mention how much the cost savings in comparison to disposable. There are so many wonderful styles and colors to choose from which makes it tons of fun.

My two favorite cloth diapers are the Bum Genius stay-dry one size pocket diapers and the more reasonably priced Kawaii one size pockets. These two diapers compile the entirety of our cloth diapering stash because they are high quality, rarely leak (and if they do it is usually a good sign that they need to stripped which solves the problem), dry quickly, and with their adjustable sizing can last me through the whole period of diapering for each child. I have used my stash of Bum Genius through three children and have only needed to replace elastic one time, which is really easy to do with the new styles. Bum Genius have a fabulous one year warranty on their diapers as well. Kawaii while not as high of quality, lacks warranty, and more difficult to replace elastic, they have really surprised me with their durability. If on a tighter budget, these dipes are the way to go, as they retail between $8-10 per diaper. Kawaii tend to be a bit more bulky than the Bum Genius, but otherwise they have held up remarkably well. For my extensive review, visit here.

I highly recommend snap diapers as they last so much longer than any style of Velcro. Velcro just accumulates tons of hair and string which can be a challenge to clean out, and also the Velcro losses its strength in ability to cling over time, which never happens with snaps. I used Velcro style with my first baby, and then quickly switched to snaps with my second baby, and have been thrilled with the ease and durability. Sweet Bottoms Baby offers a Fix & Fasten Guarantee on their diapers, providing free repair of snaps for the lifetime of the diaper! That’s quality customer service.

So today, we bring you a special gift package of one Kawaii and one Bum Genius pocket style one size diaper (your choice of color and style) for two lovely winners for your sampling pleasure! This is a retail value of $27.50 per gift set.

To Enter:

1. Visit Sweet Bottoms Baby Boutique and check out their selection. Pick out your favorite style and color of the Bum Genius and Kawaii diapers and come back and share with us! 

2. For a second optional entry, tell us your favorite money saving baby care tip in a second comment. 

Follow them on Facebook for specials, giveaways, and more! Check out their Fall Festival Sale now and save 10% by entering “fallfestival’ at checkout on most items!

Giveaway closed.

And the winners are….

Lauren & Melissa! (you will be contacted shortly if you won!)

Winner will be randomly selected and announced on the day following the close of the giveaway.
No purchase necessary to participate.
Giveaway limited to US participants only.
Email subscribers must click through to the original post and leave a comment in order to be entered. Replying to the email in your inbox does not qualify. Sorry!
This is a sponsored giveaway from a company that I love and support!

I am celebrating my birthday this week…and I thought it would be fun to let you know a few silly things about me. Since this is my 27th birthday, welcome to 27 Facts about Me.

I’m back! It has been a beautiful summer full of exciting adventures, new endeavors, and precious moments as a family. It also has been one of the hardest summers as I endured a bout of severe insomnia. I intentionally cut back on the blog over the last two months (did you notice the silence?) to have a period of rest and refocusing. I hardly blogged, used facebook, or any other social media. We spent a lot of time working on our summer reading list, completing activities from our summer bucket list, and getting my head screwed on to launch into a new official season of homeschooling my kindergarten girl. We launched Bourbon officially, my husband’s new online business, after over a year of endless hours and labor. We celebrated my baby Eden’s first birthday. We took a lovely week vacation to our favorite cozy spot in Lincoln City, OR.

We spent time praying together as husband and wife about the next season of our lives and what God would have us focus on. It’s so valuable to take an intentional re-evaluation of your life and priorities multiple times a year, and the end of summer serves as a perfect time. I was praying about writing a book, but just felt like this was not the season yet. Messages are ringing in my head, but other things are more important. My first priority is to the support and service of my hubby as he carries a lot of weight right now, and to the service of my children as it is a busy season of training and home schooling them. In my spare moments, you might find me reading, writing, and helping to organize women’s bible studies and discipleship groups in our church, and seeking to open our home in hospitality on at least a monthly basis. So I continue on…this simple little Mama caring for the well being of my family while striving to use my gifts to bless other women around me. I will continue blogging for the next season but will be limiting it to 1-2 times per week. You may just hear from me once a week, but I will strive to use those brief moments to offer hope and encouragement from my little mess to yours.

I am looking forward to working around some monthly blog themes again for the new year. This month, I hope to share a few inspirational posts about how to increase the passion in your homemaking. Seeing your home from God’s perspective. I am excited to see what the future will unfold.

Thanks for joining me on the journey! Bless you my sisters. What did you all do during the summer?