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Our new abode

Change, transition, emotions, and lots of blessings. That would described this past month at our home. We moved into our own sweet little home on December 30th and have been gradually making the transition of unpacking, cleaning, and making it our home. It has been a sweet time. We have had a generous crowd of friends and family assisting us in the transition, making it such a peaceful event. We now have a yard, patio, and even a hot tub (it came with the house of course, but who would refuse?) all on a quiet little cul-da-sac.We really believe God granted us this larger home so we could be purposeful and strategic in extending hospitality, and what a joy it has been to have our home overflowing with guests over the last few weeks.

So I have been spending my time during this blogging break simply getting my life in order, planning and setting goals for the new year, and getting the supplies necessary to maintain our new abode. Yes, I seriously needed a mop system! Never had hard wood floors to clean. The community in our neighborhood has also been a blessing. We met 5-6 of our neighbors the first day we moved in as they came over and welcomed us, and one family even brought us a meal. I was overwhelmed! Living in the city is such a contrast to a condo development. We anticipate great things as we begin to be able to reach out to our neighbors, co-workers, and others in this new season.

Announcing our new little one to our families over Christmas

We also discovered that a new little life has been forming in my womb over the last 10 weeks. We are thrilled to announce that Edmonds baby #3 is coming in August 2011! I am feeling very well, just experiencing normal tiredness, and wild emotions. It is a sweet time of life to be able to enjoy the blessings of new life.

Here at Passionate Homemaking, we will be having a focused theme for each month of this year – one that will help inspire and encourage you in your homemaking, womanhood, walk with the Lord, and relationships with others.  Our January focus is on simplifying, organization, and goal setting for the new year. February will bring lots of ideas for helping strengthen your marriage, and so much more. I am excited to see all that God will do in and through our team of writers.

We covet your prayers as we seek to be faithful stewards of our time, balancing our priorities, and seeking first the Kingdom!

To God be the glory!

Forty years ago the Lord called Cliff Dudley into the Christian publishing field; upon his death some 20 years ago, He called Cliff’s son Tim into this same field. Tim Dudley has served as president for New Leaf Publishing Group (NLPG) for the past 20 years. Through the power of the printed page, NLPG’s mission is to win the lost to Christ and to bring balance to the body of Christ. Ink on paper to change eternity forever… that is our cause, this is their desire. NLPG offers a wealth of resources on Christian living, theology, homeschooling, creation science, classics, and so much more.

New Leaf Publishing Group offers one unique four-book series titled, Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers. This series discusses topics such as The Gospel, The Mission, The Scripture and The Trinity. The most foundational teachings of the Christian faith are presented in this series at a level preschool and elementary children can understand. In simple and precise language, God-centered theology is promoted, giving children a firm foundation in God’s timeless truth.

We simply love using this series of books with our little ones. They are solid doctrinally, simple, creative, and enjoyable to the eye, and in a cute small format. It is never too early to start teaching your children the value and beauty of the gospel. This set would make a great gift to any family with little ones!

New Leaf Publishing has offered one complete set of the Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers to one of our readers plus one copy of each title to four different winners!

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment below and share why you would like to receive this set and how you would use them in your home.

2. For a second optional entry, become a fan of New Leaf Publishing on facebook and let us know in a second comment.

Giveaway Closed.

And the winner is…

Grand prize winner (a complete set of the books): Kristen S. -  kpolywog@….

Runner ups…receiving 1 book from the set:

Jenny (cwjdbeak@…)
Amy S. (gottabelooney@…)
Penny (wilmoregirls@…)
Jessica (steveandjessica@…)

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and let you all know that I am blessed by you! Thank you for taking the time to read, comment, and share your heart here at Passionate Homemaking. Another year is almost complete and we look forward to 2011 where we will be moving forward in continuing to help build, encourage, and inspire you to be passionate in your homemaking!

We pray that you have a blessed holiday season! We will be taking a blogging break till the first of the year as we seek to keep a simple Christmas and focus on the beauty of our Savior’s birth. We will be moving December 31st, so we have some packing to do after Christmas and set up our new home in Portland. We thank you for all your support and encouragement! We will see you back here in the new year!

P.S. There will be two fun giveaways posted on December 29th & January 1st during the break – stay tuned!

I want to take a moment and thank all of you who have so graciously offered your thoughts and encouragement in response to my recent survey. It has been a huge privilege to read through all your ideas! I am eagerly anticipating all that the Lord has in store for this blog in the new year.

November has brought some peace and simplicity to our lives after a month of traveling in October. We have been able to get back into our routine in keeping our home peaceful. One thing I started doing this month, was simply getting all our laundry and housecleaning done in one day – Monday of each week. What I love about this routine is although it is a busy day, I don’t have to think about cleaning or laundry for the rest of the week. I can instead focus on my little ones, making yummy meals, and such. Getting those not so desirable tasks done first thing helps launch me into a good week. It may not work for everyone, but if you set your mind to it, it really was more workable than I thought. I can clean my house in two hours – bathrooms, dust, vacuum, and wipe down kitchen and floors. Set that timer and get to work!

Another goal this month was to cultivate some more special times with the kiddos. I get too easily distracted with homemaking or technology. One way that we have done that is to start attending our local library store time once a week. This gives us occasion to get out, enjoy the benefits of reading aloud, and also participate in a cute craft project. Since I am not a crafty momma, this has helped meet that need that my daughter loves. All for free! The kids love it…especially when we do it with another friend. I try to limit my outings to twice a week, so as to cut down on gas and save my energy. One morning out for library story time, and one morning out for errands.

We also started reading the Jesus Storybook Bible (I love this book!) while the kids are eating breakfast at the table. We keep our devotional book at the table so it is ready to go each morning. And in the last month, we have nearly finished the whole book. And then we’ll start again! We use this time to read, work on our memory verses, and pray together. It has been so fun, and they are contained in their seats, so I can keep their focus well. It has been so sweet to plant seeds of the gospel in their precious hearts. And my daughter will not let me forget…every morning she states, “can we read the story?” If I can accomplish nothing else in my day, this quality time is of greatest Kingdom building importance.

Another recent release that looks awesome for family devotions is  Long Story Short: 10 Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God. I cannot wait to get my hands on this one.

We’re Moving!

We actually placed an offer on a cute house, and will be moving here before the year’s end, Lord willing. It happened really fast. We looked at it on Sunday, placed an offer down on Monday, and she signed on our offer on Wednesday. The Lord totally opened the doors. And the beauty of it is that we will be so close to our church community, Aaron’s work, and in a house that is perfect for hospitality. I am eager to be able to have a little more room to love on people through our home. And the kids will have a yard to run around in! After being in a condo for the past 4.5 years, this is a huge blessing! So I am thrown into the world of packing amidst the holidays. We are super excited…this has been our dream for a year now. We didn’t sell our condo, as the market has been dead, but the Lord has opened the doors for us to find a good renter to cover our expenses.

Any tips on how to simplify the moving process that you’d like to pass on to me? I’ve never really moved in my life. I was born and raised in one house and then moved my simple bedroom belongings when I got married. So this is the first real deal!

Holidays

We had a sweet Thanksgiving holiday with both sides of our family, enjoyed the local Macy’s parade, found a lovely $10 Christmas tree, and are simply enjoying a wonderful holiday season. I love Christmas! I love being able to step back and refocus at the end of the year around the goodness and beauty of our Savior’s coming. I love doing our Advent celebration with our Jesse Tree (check out the new free updated Jesse Tree devotional), and cultivating new family traditions. I love buying and making gifts (vanilla extract, chapstick, peanut brittle, canned goods, photo books, etc) for our family and extended family. I love being able to bless my husband with surprises. Now if I can just reign that in so I don’t overspend.

1000 Gifts

As promised, I am monthly listing out many of my blessings as recorded in my gratitude journal. This exercise has been so helpful for me, and I recommend it to anyone, especially if you battle with depression and anxiety, like myself. I am up to 180 gifts listed in the last 30 days. I’m on my way to listing 1000 gifts that God has given me. Every time I am tempted towards depression, I stop, and continue on my list. It is so helpful in restoring my joy.

#27 – To start the week off well with a clean house and laundry tucked away
#28 – A date night out with my love
#31 – A good night’s sleep
#32 – Playing a card game with my Karis and laughing together
#37 – Warm soup on a cold night
#42 – Bringing a meal to a friend
#43 – Sourdough bubbling up
#52 – Cold wash cloths on a feverish body
#59 – Dancing with my little ones as we worship Jesus
#68 – A freezer full of food for the winter
#70 – A head massage
#77- The fun of bringing trikes indoors
#78 – Titus inventing a drum from a blender
#86 – Little hands sneaking raisins from the cupboard
#88 – A cozy bearskin rug
#98 – Being feminine
#99 – 15 people in a cozy condo with every bowl and plate in use
#104 – Free access to the throne of grace amidst every minimal activity – in my closet, car, or at my sink.
#106 – Cheesecake ice cream – “my one weakness!” – (A line from Lark Rise to Candleford - a sweet clean family movie series we started watching recently)

The more I start to record these little gifts, the more He is opening my eyes to see!

By the way, the Lord also lead me to write out my personal testimony this month. I have added it to the About tab above. I pray this would encourage you all as you learn of my own personal struggles and finding victory in Christ.

November Reading

Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life by Elyse Kirkpatrick has been a beautiful challenging reading on understanding who I am in Christ. I have found it very encouraging in learning how to apply the gospel to every day life. It is so easy to go through our daily life without even considering the gospel’s implication and how it can grant us victory over sin and transformation. Learn your true identity and how to live it out.

1000 Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp has been a truly life-changing read. This woman is an amazing writer! She pierces to the heart in dealing with ingratitude, and how to transform your life into a joy and grace filled daily experience. Her challenge to record 1000 gifts of the little things that God has done for you, has been helping to grant me victory in attack of anxiety, depression, and discontentment. It is truly a call to the full and blessed life through cultivating thanksgiving.

May you all have a blessed holiday season!

Thank you to our new sponsor for December: Graham Gardens - a wealth of natural body products, soaps, lotions, and cremes for your family.

Our family photos pictured here were taken by my lovely sister, Christa Taylor Photography. If you are local, I can highly recommend her!

So as you can see it has been a full month of traveling at our home. Aaron attended two conferences, and I attended two conferences…all within 30 days! We decided to get all our traveling out at one time! But it was so rich! True Woman & Relevant were life changing experiences, ones I will cherish and continue to learn and grow from and will surely be inspiration for my writing. It is certainly fall here in the Northwest and the weather is mighty nippy. We are bringing out the warm soups and stews! Karis and Titus are doing very well – learning the importance of playing peacefully together has certainly been our challenge. Karis took the scissors to Titus hair this month and we had to say farewell to his adorable curls. I am praying they come back! But every moment with them is such a gift – of that I am certain!

We are settling down this month getting ready for a simple holiday season.

October Reading

Heaven at Home: Establishing and Enjoying a Peaceful Home by Ginger Plowman – a refreshing read about the importance of establishing a peaceful home for God’s glory. Your homemaking is your worship when completed with a joyful heart. True beauty radiates from a woman who gracefully walks the path designed uniquely for her. Ginger delves into addressing dealing with conflict gracefully, disciplining your children, and so much more in this inspiring and practical book.

“Home is a haven where energy is restored, spirits are renewed, and love resides.” – Ginger Plowman

Up next…Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick!

Real Food News Around the Web

Whole Foods for the Holidays: A Real Food Progressive Dinner - If you haven’t checked this out, please do! Real Food bloggers are sharing all their favorite recipes for the holidays – from breads, to main dishes, to desserts. Lots of fun!

Real Food on A Real Budget & Healthy Homemaking E-book Sale by Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home – Stephanie is running a huge sale on her ebooks while she celebrates her blogaversary! Get her books for 50% off! Real Food on A Budget is a useful tool to help practically assist you in saving money while buying good wholesome food for your family. And when you buy Real Food on A Budget, you get a free copy of Healthy Homemaking – a basic guide to establishing a healthy non-toxic home. And 50% of the profits is going towards caring for orphans in the Philippines as well as helping Stephanie’s family move towards international adoption.

Welcome new sponsors!

Bulk Herb Store is a wonderful Christian family business that offers whole nutritious herbs, books, and tutorials for your natural healing and wholeness.

Puritan Picks is a sweet reformed version of Netflix. Find a great collection of Christian movies, sermons, and documentaries to inspire your family through a monthly subscription!

Lilla Rose offers adorable hair clips for ladies to make doing your hair a breeze while maintaining lovely elegance.

Thanks for your support!

L to R: Lindsay, Leah, Kat, Stepanie & Donielle

The Relevant blogging conference was a rich time building new friendships, learning the importance of time management, balancing priorities, writing well, and striving to become intentional bloggers for the Kingdom of God. I was privileged to meet so many lovely ladies – including my lovely contributor and now a dear friend, Kat (pictured with me below). We roomed together for two of the nights and had a blast! She is a woman with a mission – God’s mission to encourage wives and mothers to live intentionally. I love her! I loved finally meeting Stephanie & Donielle as well (pictured above), my fellow real food bloggers.

Crystal Paine shared on the importance of time management and I have gleaned so much from her tips and suggestions. She stressed the importance of keeping a simple and clean inbox – unsubscribing from anything that is cluttering it! A huge help for me! She recommended an ebook: Tell Your Time: How to Manage Your Schedule and Live your Life Fulfilled by Amy Lynn Andrews that I have been delving into and can highly recommend. It helps you learn how to make a time budget and list out your priorities, scheduling and such. Amy (who was also at the conference) also blogs extensively about how to set up a blog, maintaining it and such, which is a great resource for those who are wanting to venture into this world of blogging.

I also was privileged to meet Sally Clarkson – a dear godly woman and author of my favorite book on motherhood, Mission of Motherhood. What a sweet challenge she had for us to become message maker’s after God’s heart in our blogging. She encouraged us to see the importance of being faithful in our homes because we are God’s word to our children. She stated, “it is the living of life not the writing of life that changes lives.”

Finally, Ann Voskamp (pictured with me above) gave a final challenge that was incredible about Blogging in the Upside Down Kingdom. Thankfully, you can read and listen to it here. This woman is an incredible writer and encouraged us to tell our story through our writing. Like a mother duck that plucks feathers from her chest to build her nest, we are to pluck feathers from our chest to meet the needs of our family first and for others in our writing (or whatever ministry God has called you too). She called us to humility. To see our writing as an art, a service, a worship to our King! To make our writing a gift. It’s not about the numbers, the statistics, but about the only ONE number that counts – Jesus! Her book, One Thousand Gifts comes out in January, and I highly recommend it! She gave out downloads to attendees and I have been blown away by her call to a radical life of thanksgiving. It’s changing my life and I plan to share more in the upcoming weeks as God changes me…

So my cup is full this month and I have much to process and pray through as I move forward in this ministry that God has assigned me. I want to glorify God in all that I do – including my writing here at Passionate Homemaking. I am seeking direction. Stay tuned for a special giveaway and survey as we move forward in planning out the new year!

This has been a full month of exciting changes in the extended Edmonds family! We celebrated the union of Aaron’s oldest brother, Nathan & Kathy, on September 5th, and then last weekend celebrated the engagement of one of Aaron’s younger brothers, Stephen & Anna. Yes, there are seven boys in his family. We also welcomed a new little niece, Nora Elise Edmonds (that makes four granddaughters to balance out the men a bit!).

Nathan & Kathy Edmonds

I also had the privilege of speaking at the Selah conference, which was an awesome experience (listen to my session here!). Sandwiched between these events, we took a lovely vacation to the Oregon Coast (our favorite spot in Lincoln City) and spent five days as a family just resting, reading, walking the beach, and a bit of shopping.

I am thankful for the ways the Lord has been working and shaping my life this past month. While enduring insomnia and the side-effects of depression, I have experienced the richness of getting away and taking time to plan, set goals, and strategies to complete them. It’s so valuable to schedule in time for such retreats mid-year when I need a refresh boost.

Simply re-committing to rising early, and get dressed before our little ones are up, makes a huge difference on my attitude and the productivity of our home. It’s so easy to get lazy when you are lacking sleep. When I don’t get up early, I don’t have time to spend with the Lord, the most important relationship in my life. When I don’t have a few moments to myself, it is even easier to succumb to moodiness. If you haven’t read Maximize Your Mornings, please do (it’s free)! It is such a great resource for fully utilizing your time most effectively for God’s glory.

The grandkids - Alita, Eva, Karis & Titus - Nora was still in the womb

Another thing the Lord has been encouraging me with is the value of always seeking to learn new things. I want to be faithful in my roles, and yet sometimes it is easy to get discouraged or tired and weary of the same routines. Why not learn something new? A new skill, a new art, a new book. What a huge difference it can make in your attitude! I started dabbing into developing my own sourdough starter, which has been a ton of fun (thanks to Wardeh’s sourdough e-course). I also took a leap and make my first batch of lacto-fermented products (in my case, salsa was a great place to start!). Seeking to learn new things can keep fresh joy and excitement in your homemaking!

So it has been a blessed and rich month, to say the least.

Yes, this is US! They had a photo booth with costumes at the wedding and we all had a blast!

My Bookshelf

Having a nice trip to the beach enabled me to complete some extra reading this month.

Girls Gone Wise in A World Gone Wild by Mary Kassian is a rich and challenging read for women of all ages in our generation. Mary does an amazing job addressing 20 points of contrast between the Proverbs 7 (Woman of Folly – Wild Thing) with the Wise Woman (Wise Thing). She hits the mark and the heart of the matter while addressing the importance of guarding our hearts, counsel, attitude, habits, and lifestyle choices. It is eye-opening and convicting in guiding women in all aspects of life – but especially in understanding our role and the proper manner of interaction with men. Highly recommend!

Depression: A Stubborn Darkness by Ed Welch – I really did not want to read this book, but the Lord kept bringing it to my attention, and I’m still wading through it, but it is a rich read if you deal with any susceptibility to moodiness or depression. How to understand the reality of it and how to deal with it from a beautiful Christ centered approach.

Up next…Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman!

I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for your continual support and encouragement! We passed our third blog anniversary this month and I totally forgot! It has been an awesome blessing to share with you all through the journey of learning to delight in homemaking. Thank you and many blessings upon you all!

Me & Vonni Renee

Last week was an intense week of preparation for a local outreach over the weekend (Compassion Vancouver) that we were helping coordinate, so I am finally getting around to posting our monthly update. July was a month of seeing the hand of the Lord open up some neat doors for us.

After releasing my desires to the Lord and surrendering my will (as described in my June update) , God started working so beautifully. He opened the door to receive the three doula clients that I needed to achieve my certification, nicely spread out throughout the remainder of the year. I helped welcome the arrival of Vonni Renee on July 25th, through a beautiful natural hospital delivery. God orchestrated all the details for the perfect timing. I was able to serve and support this sweet couple welcome their first baby and they were thrilled as much as I was.

Secondly, Aaron and I have begun leading worship together at our church on a regular basis, which has always been a dream in my heart. The Lord has given my husband a real gift in this area, and I always wanted to partner with him through my piano skills in serving the body in this way. With the wonderful support of our church body, and the recent purchase of a keyboard by the church, we are now able to work together in this way. It has been such an encouragement to see the support and love of the body. It is a wonderful outlet for us both to continue to develop our musical skills and serve the body at the same time. I cannot wait to welcome our little ones to the team in the future!

Our house continues to be on the market for sale, but we are completely at peace with that. We are considering the options of renting it out, but continue to wait for further direction for the right renters if that is the way God would have us pursue.

In the meantime, we are continuing to reach out in our community, preparing to start preschool with our daughter Karis, and also preparing to speak at the Selah conference. The Lord is good!

What did I read this month?

Gardening Eden: How Creation Care will Change Your Faith, Your Life, and Our World by Michael Abbate – my favorite read thus far on our responsibility as Christians to care for God’s creation. It was very challenging and biblically sound. I appreciated his well rounded approach of not living out of fear, but choosing to enjoy God creation and strive to care for it in a balanced God honoring manner.

Graffiti: Learning to See the Art in Ourselves by Erin Davis was an encouraging read on the importance on understanding your position and image in Christ, especially for those who struggle with image, appearance, or talents. Erin provides a motivating challenge to see your beauty in Christ and how to live that out practically in our day and age.

Aromatherapy for Mother and Baby: Natural Healing with Essential Oils for Pregnancy and Early Motherhood by Allison England – As I have began to explore the world of serving pregnant and mothers in labor in natural ways, I picked up this book at my local library and found it truly fascinating. There is a whole world of natural essential oils that are wonderful for preparing for labor, for the actual delivery process, and for postpartum healing. A great resource!