Hearts at Home Conference

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the Hearts at Home National Conference in Normal, IL with one of my best friends, Katrina.  Yes, there is a Normal, IL.  (But we're convinced there are strange things happening there.  Long story short, the GPS was having issues and we found out ours wasn't the only one.)

Hearts-at-Home is a wonderful ministry.  They provide encouragement to women of all ages in all stages of motherhood. Hearts at Home’s mission is to encourage, educate, and equip every mom in every season of motherhood using Christian values to strengthen families.

Katrina and I left her house at 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning.  You read that right, 4 a.m.  We knew it would take us about 3 1/2 hours to get to the conference.  Then we needed to check-in, figure out where we were going and find a good seat before the opening speakers.

 We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise.

One of the opening speakers were Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar.  I'll admit, I was excited to see them, with the hopes of meeting them before we left.  They gave their testimony and told us about how God is working in their lives.  We also heard from Jill Savage; speaker, author and CEO of Hearts at home.  And the emcee of this year's conference was Brenda Paccamonti, she is the Executive Director of Resources for Hearts at Home and was hilarious!

Our first workshop was also with the Duggars.  They gave us some practical parenting and marriage tips.  Some things I took away from them are: get God's word into the hearts of your children, teach them how to love God and love others.  I also learned the effectiveness of speaking in a soft, sing-songy voice.  You check out more on the Duggars at their website duggarfamily.com

Our next workshop was with Marla "flylady" Cilley.  Hmmm....how to describe the flylady.  She loves organization and teaching others how to regain control of your house and home.  Some things I took away from her are:  to have a before bed routine to get a jump start on your next day.  She emphasized that keeping your stuff is a lack of faith in God to provide for you.  And to bless someone else with your things that you no longer need.   You can get a lot of tips from her on flylady.net

After the flylady we heard from Marianne Miller.  She is Crown Financial Ministries Counselor, a Certified Parenting Instructor, and a She Speaks graduate.  Yesterday she gave us some tips on Raising Grateful Kids.  We learned a lot of tips on teaching our kids contentment, that we are not our stuff and we need to help our kids find their identity in Christ.  We also learned how to teach our children financial discernment with too many tips to mention.  Read more info here mariannemiller.com

By this time our brains were tired and fried.  So we decided to take a break and skip the last workshop.  We took a walk to stretch our legs and check out the books that were for sale.  I did find a really nice Prayer Journal that I bought.  We took some time to chat with some other moms we ran into then went to find some seats for the final session.

 Katrina waiting for the final session.  By this time we were tired, hot, sweaty and our brain's were fried.

To end the day we had a really good session with Dr. Juli Slattery, from Focus on the Family  She taught us that in order to survive motherhood we need to have wisdom. And the best place to gain wisdom is from God.  Three ways to get it are to: Desire it- make it a priority. Regonize where it comes from- a good place to start is to read the 31 chapters of Proverbs. And to Sit daily at the doorsteps of wisdom- get on your knees, ask specifically for what you need and make sure you listen.  Take a peek at focusonthefamily.com

Of all the speakers we listened too.  I came away from Juli's speech the most moved.  I know that I can not be a great mother to the children God has blessed us with alone.  I need God's help, guidance and wisdom.  I know that He also puts amazing people in my life to give me advice, friendship and love.  

I am so happy that God put things in motion for me to be able to go to such an amazing event.  Katrina and I are already making plans to go to next year's conference.  I know we will be recruiting other mom's to go with us.

Katrina and I before getting back in the car for our long ride home.

Until next time~

Anita

Homemade Laundry Soap

As you know I have several items on my goals list this year.  I’ve recently decided that I would like to add one more thing; get back to a simpler more frugal lifestyle.  That can mean something different to everyone.  What that means to me is this: eat more whole homemade foods, make as many things at home as possible and just save the family money any way that I can.  With that being said here is what Coobs (Kennedy) and I made today.

Homemade Laundry Soap
 
I first saw the recipe on Diary of a Stay at Home Mom’s website and then again on Aubut Family website.  The two recipes are almost exactly the same except one used 3 bars of soap in the recipe and the other only uses 1.  So I decided to meet in the middle and use 2.

4 lb. 12 oz. box of Borax
4 lb. box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
3 lb. 7 oz. box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
2 bars of Fels-Naptha soap (or Zote)
3 lb. container of Oxy Clean, or two of the smaller ones, to make about 3lbs
1 container Purex Fabric Softener Crystals

Start out by turning your bars of soap into a powder.  One website used a cheese grater and another said to microwave it for 4 minutes it will foam up like a marshmallow.  Let it cool down completely and it will turn into a powdery substance when you break it apart.

I wasn’t too sure about either method so I went with the microwave one.  I put both bars in for 3 minutes.  I should have taken the wrappers off completely, oops.  What happened was one bar didn’t foam up all the way, which worked out in the end.  The puffed up parts didn’t crumble like I thought they would.  We couldn’t get the soap to break down to a powder. 

So I used a cheese grater on the rest which I liked better anyways.  I ran it on the finest side of my 4 side cheese grater and it turned into a nice powder.    I will definitely be using the cheese grater from now on.

Now for the huge container I would need to mix it up in.  We had an extra empty plastic kitty litter pail leftover so I scrubbed it out really well then dried it with a clean towel.

Kennedy helped me pour all the ingredients in and mix them up.   We poured in a little of each at a time until everything was in.  I did have to tip the container to the side a few times to get the stuff on the bottom mixed up well.

Store and use however you like.  Use 1 to 2 tablespoons per load.

Right now the house smells amazing from mixing everything together.

I love the library!

Ever since I was a little girl I've always loved the library.  I was fascinated with the fact that you could check out a book for free and bring it back when you are done.  No need to buy the book.

Now that I'm a little older, a stay-at-home mom and CEO of finding ways to save money I'm still in love with the library.  My library of choice right now is the Verona Public Library.   I can request a book from another library and within days it is at the Verona Library for me to pick up and enjoy.

The Verona Library also has wonderful kid programs for little ones of all ages.  One coming up in a couple of weeks is a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast in honor of Dr. Suess.

My husband thinks it's very cute that I am such a big fan of the library.

Tender Loving Cooking = TLC

Our church, Hidden Valley Community Church (HVCC), has a really cool ministry called TLC, which means Tender Loving Cooking.  What is TLC you ask?  TLC is a wonderful ministry that provides families with meals in their time of need.  The list is endless to those we help; a family with a new baby and exhausted parents, someone who had a surgery and needs easy meals to prepare, a family who is going through a rough time and just needs a nice meal to get them through.

The reason I am so excited about this ministry is I have been blessed with being the new TLC Coordinator.  I am the one the family gets in touch with when they need some TLC.  Then I send out a call to action to our TLC team and they get to work preparing a delicious meal to put in the freezer for the family to enjoy.

If you know anyone who needs some TLC or you would like to join our team please let me know.  You don't need to attend HVCC to be a part of this amazing ministry.

Wrapped in the warmth of love

For as long as I can remember my mom has been crocheting blankets.  The first one she made for me is pink and white strips.  It is the size of a twin bed and was given to me at a very young age.

With each pregnancy my mom has us go out and pick out colors of yarn so she can make each baby their own blanket. The girls love that grandma made them their own special blanket.

 From left to right: Mackenzie's -born in 2005, Kennedy's -born in 2008, and Lexi's - born in 2009. 

 

Then a couple of weeks ago my mom surprised us with our own "couple" blanket.  Scott and I have been married for almost 5 years now.  (Anniversary coming up in May!)  This blanket is huge.  We have a queen size bed and this blanket is bigger than the bed.  I love the colors she picked. And every time I look at it am reminded of all the hard work that went into making it. Right now it fold it in half and drap in over the end of the bed.  It adds just the right touch to our room.

Thank you mom for all the wonderful blankets that are all around our house.

Have a great weekend!

Sunday day of rest

Sab·bath

n.

1. The seventh day of the week, Saturday, observed as the day of rest and worship by the Jews and some Christian sects.

2. The first day of the week, Sunday, observed as the day of rest and worship by most Christians.

(From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Sabbath)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Another one of my goals this year is to take a Sabbath day, a day of rest and reflection.  One would think that this would be easy to do.  The first Sunday I did this was sooooo hard.  It was very tempting to go throw a load of laundry in the washer, or do the dishes or have the girls pick up their toys.  But I didn't. I just sat and rested.  Actually forced myself to sit and think about all that God has provided for us.  I admitted in my prayer journal that I had no idea was I was to be doing or not doing.  I am now on my 5 week of taking a day of rest and reflection.  I love it.  I look forward to taking a day off of my usual duties to reconnect with God and my family.  Here is how today is going:

 I set my alarm for 6:15 am this morning.  I wanted to get up before the rest of the house did.  I am so glad I did.  There was a nice gentle snow falling outside that looked so pretty in the streetlight.  I made my coffee and sat down with the crochet blanket my Aunt Jeanette made and gave us for our wedding.   Then I opened up my Bible to where I left off, Exodus 30.  How very fitting that in the next chapter they talk about the Sabbath.

The girls staring waking up one-by-one.  I jumped in the shower, then got everyone ready for church.  Breakfast's eaten, girls dressed, hair combed.  Scott got ready to go and off we went.  After lunch Lexi laid down for a nap and so did I. 

 After Scott woke Lexi and I up from our naps, I decided to work on Lexi's crochet monkey some more.  It's almost finished.  As I added each new stitch I would pray for Lexi.  It is really therapeutic to crochet and pray at the same time.  Now I'm going to get ready to make the girls some dinner.  I hope everyone else I having a great Sunday.

Family jewels

 

Another Friday is here.  It's funny how fast the weeks go by.  This week's Friday Favorites are all about the family jewels. The jewelry by husband has given me over the years.  We are still fairly young in our marriage (5 years in May).  So there isn't to much, but what I do have means more to me than he knows.

This is the first ring Scott gave me.  When we were dating he decided I needed some pretty rings. So he went and bought this for me for my birthday.  I love this ring because it shows just how much Scott knew me.  The blue middle stone is my favorite color. And the surrounding diamonds are the perfect touch.

 

My wedding rings.  These rings brought us together, officially, as a family.  (I was a single mom at the time.) The engagement ring he gave me on Memorial Day of 2006.  After work that day Scott drove us to a nearby park.  He parked the truck, we got out and walked down a little path to a bench facing the lake.  I had been badgering him for days to propose. As we sat down I noticed how choppy the water was that day. I was shaking so bad when Scott proposed, mix of nerves and excitement. After a few stumblings and distractions on my part,  Scott finally asked me if I would be his wife.

My wedding band.....we picked this out together.  Scott wanted his to be gold and mine needed to go with the engagement ring.  I have very fond memories of the day we went to pick out our wedding bands.....such a fun day.  These two rings together are a symbol of our love and commitment to each other.  Life isn't easy, we both know that.  We have always said that we are a team and God is our coach.  We can get through anything as long as we let God guide us.

Scott gave me this necklace for our 3rd anniversary.  One of the reasons it's so special to me is the reasoning behind it. Our anniversary is in May and the October before, his mom past away from a long fight with breast cancer.  A portion of the proceeds went to breast cancer research. 

There you have it.  Our family jewels. 
Anita