Simple Home and Happiness

If Easter has never made sense to you, if you have ever wondered why a God of love, is celebrated by a brutal death, if you have wondered why Jesus had to die and why God couldn't just shake the sky and shout out with thunder and angels and save us all, then you are not alone.  I have asked the same questions a thousand times. I have sat through sermons on it and listened to it discussed in depth at bible studies. I have read books upon books trying to understand why Jesus had to die and why God couldn't have just told us how much he loved us and told us we are saved.  If He is a God of mercy, God of love, God of power, then why did it have to be Jesus' death on the cross? It never made any sense.  Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn't God just shake the sky and shout out his love. Why couldn't it be fireworks and thunder and mind blowing shows of power and might? It all comes down to love. Understanding Gods love has helped me to comprehend w...

My baby boy turns two in July. He is my last baby. I am tasting freedom, the likes of which I haven't had in years! I am savoring all the lasts and acknowledging milestones for what they are… but lets be honest, most days I am fist pumping, high kicking and dancing in celebration. This is not a blog post about how sweet these days are or how I need to appreciate it while they are little. That is important, but that is for another day. Today I am celebrating how much I can get done in a day now that my baby can feed himself and go out with his Daddy to do chores. We are in the process of finishing out our basement and creating a family room. The kids are spending a lot more time down there, so we no longer have the need for a large toy room. On the flip side, I am spending more time writing and keeping up with our ever growing farm paper work and I need a space that I can spread out in and keep kids out of. Yesterday I swapped my large toy room and my small office ro...

I have always been the kind of woman who whispers dreams, but never one to name them and chase them down.  In high school I wanted to be an actress. In college I wanted to write an epic novel. I never pursued either of those things because I thought they were too impractical, too artistic, for someone like me.  The thing about dreams is they rarely go away completely.  I still want to write a book. I still love being on a stage. My dreams don't look the same as they did back then, but traces of them are woven into my life. I have been paid to write and I have been paid to speak my words, and yet still I hesitate to call myself a writer or a speaker.  I live with the fear of failure. Not just a little fear, but rather a huge, crippling fear of failing.  If I have not laid out a plan A and B and C and two more contingency plans that have backup plans with a safety net, then it is a solid bet, I will not try something new.  Trut...

I do not have an organized, clean home, although I crave one. I haven't found a magic bullet to 'keeping house', although I think it is somewhere in having no children, no husband, a live in maid, and perhaps being British royalty. For those of us that fall outside that sweet spot, I think we will forever be playing a vicious game of cat and mouse with house chores. We all have different strengths and pitfalls in home making. I am not here to judge or even offer advice, but I will share what is inspiring me. Laundry is my nemesis. I am trying to come up with a better system that doesn't leave me wanting to burn the whole house down rather than have to deal with the laundry. I mashed up a bunch of your advice that I asked for on Facebook and it is helping.  The main thing though, was a perspective change. I'm going to be totally honest, the main reason I wan't getting laundry done was because I just didn't think it was worthy of my time. I have a ...

You are not broken. You are scarred. Scars tell your story. A battle. A fight. You are not a failure. You stand back up. You are fierce. You are beautiful. You are sacred. You are a fighter. You are strong. You are needed. You matter.  Humanity matters.  That voice inside of you, Let it out.  Shout it out.  Stand tall.  Wear your scars. Own your mistakes.  Dance to the rhythm of your pain, your courage, your relentless spirit.  Find your purpose.  Find your peace.  Find you.  You are not alone.  You illuminate.  You radiate.  You are unique.  You are undefined.  Every breath you take is a story of resolve.  A story of redemption.  A story of grace.  A story of perseverance. It is your story.  Own it. 

Let this be the year we lift each other up, support each others dreams, and inspire one another. Here are a few books I am reading (or hope to read soon) and podcasts I'm listening to. Happy Friday friends! "She made broken look beautiful and strong look invincible. She walked with the universe on her shoulders and made it look like a pair of wings." -Ariana Dancu Books on…  *Home A Simplified Life A Book That Takes Its Time Chasing Slow Present Over Perfect Love Lives Here The Lifegiving Home *Motherhood Why Motherhood Matters Mom Set Free She's Still There *Life Unseen A Fierce Love If You Only Knew *Food The Lifegiving Table The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime Forest Feast Gatherings Podcasts The Happy Hour The Encourager Mom Struggling Well For The Love Glorious in the Mundane The Shauna Niequist Podcast Source

Nothing about this holiday season went as planned. We started the stomach flu in our family of six a couple days before Christmas and it finally took down the last person a week later. It was exhausting but also forced a major slow down, in a good way. Traditions got pushed aside to make room for illness, plans were cancelled, all expectations of holiday celebrations went out the window. There was a time when this would have destroyed me. Several years ago, my plans for New Years Eve were cancelled due to a snow storm. I pouted and cried, I believe I may have even wailed "Why Me?" and I know for certain that I made the evening miserable for my husband. All because my expectations had been set too high and I couldn't see what was still possible. I don't know if it's age, experience, maturity, or a glorious combination, but this holiday had all the makings of an epic temper tantrum, yet it never happened. I wasn't Mother Teresa, let's be real, b...