The Heart of Your Home

Hello friends, and welcome to this week’s newsletter. I hope you’ve had a wonderful week!

I pray that winter has been good to you so far. It is such a nice time of rest and rejuvenation.

Winter is often a time when we are in our homes more often. I know this is the case for me, at least.

I would like to encourage you today in your purpose. You are most definitely the heart of your home!

Our family looks to us for help and encouragement. We are able to give them healthy meals and a clean environment to live in. We also can offer them spiritual guidance and pray for them.

Our families count on us for so much. I’ve discovered that it is important to take our job seriously, and to think of ways to help our families more each day.

One of the things I have been working on in my life is patience. God has helped me with this so much throughout the years, but I still have work to do. Sometimes I realize that I need to have more patience with my little ones while I’m busy with cleaning or cooking. Their little hearts are more important than anything else I have going on, and I want to make sure that they feel loved and valued.

Sometimes I need to have more patience while I’m homeschooling my children, or when I’m talking to my husband. Usually I can tell when I need to work on this by my family’s reactions.

When I take the time to work on being a more patient, giving, and kind woman, then my family and home will benefit greatly from it. Our home will be a reflection of our hearts, and the care we give it.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

NKJV

I hope this Psalm encouraged you, friends. Let’s remember that the Lord is always with us.

Working Together to Take Care of Our Home

I love being the manager of our home. It is actually kind of fun to put schedules and such together!

For our family, we do a mix of switching out chores and keeping them the same. My chore list is pretty much the same each week, and my children switch their responsibilities from time to time.

This works really well for us! Of course, we always find ways to improve our systems and we change things around from time to time. Usually this happens around the change of seasons.

I try to teach my children that our home runs much more smoothly when we work together to take care of it. It is a blessing to do so! We even call cleaning day “Home Blessing Day” to drive the point home.

While we don’t always feel like cleaning, often it doesn’t take too long if we all chip in. My three-year-old even tries to help when he sees all of us working. I think deep inside, we want to feel needed and helpful. It is so encouraging to me as a mom to see him putting his toys away without me asking.

Families can accomplish so much if we decide to work together with a cheerful attitude. Once we are finished with our cleaning tasks we can relax and enjoy a clean and uncluttered environment.

Homestead Happenings

Hello friends, and welcome to our home!

It has been a nice week over here, and I hope it has been the same at your home, too.

Last year, my sons and I moved a large patch of daffodils near our home. I thought they would look a lot nicer along our fence line, but I wasn’t sure if they would do well after transplanting.

Well, they have started to sprout, and I couldn’t be more pleased! They look great, although they have emerged a little early. I hope the weather allows them to continue growing.

Since our weather has been so nice lately, I took some time to work on the weeds in our fire pit area and near our raised bed garden. I hope that if I can get them under control early, then I won’t have as much work to do in the spring. I definitely hope this is the case, anyhow!

My husband just ordered everything else we need to complete our wood stove installation. Boy, has this project been a lot of work! It has taken way more time than I was expecting. It’s okay, though. I’m just grateful that it is almost done.

I hope to order onions within a week or two. I usually order onion starts from Dixondale Farms, and haven’t been disappointed with any of my orders. I have determined that I like to plant onions in early March. The first year I planted them several weeks earlier, and I don’t think they did as well in my opinion. I probably will order only sweet onions this time around. They do not store as long as other onions, but I usually chop and freeze them anyway. I’m really excited to see how they grow this season.

Thank you so much for reading this short homestead update, friends. I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead of you!