by Tessa | Resources
I like to read. A lot.
I thought it was only fair to share some of my favorite posts that I have read this month:
How to Store Ebooks: by Amy from Raising Arrows
This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that I like to read. I love the practical way she puts everything into folders. I also have been attempting to use Calibre Library but I’m still working on figuring that all out. So folders are working well for me right now.
How to Use Your Skills for God: By Tricia Goyer
A great reminder about how the skills and interests we have are gifts from God and meant for us to use for His purpose.
Top Ten Pieces of Advice for New Homeschoolers – by Planner Perfect’s Jenny Penton
Simple tips for anyone who is starting their homeschooling journey or for those who are feeling stressed about where they are at and want to get refreshed. She also has Top 10 lists for questions she gets asked as an unschooler and her favorite homeschooling websites.
My Rather Imperfect Home – by Sheila from To Love, Honor, and Vacuum
She speaks to my heart. Let’s allow our homes to reflect who lives in them!
Italian Chicken Dinner Recipe (I don’t know who the original chef for this is)
I “Pinned” this quite a while ago and made it for the first time this month. It was inhaled even faster than spaghetti! It has officially been added to our dinner menu rotation, as per my husband’s request. I love that it’s all in one dish – minimal cleanup for this dinner!
If you want access to more articles that I’m reading, make sure you become a fan of my Facebook Page and follow me on Pinterest.
by Tessa | Faith
A passage that really stuck out to me in my Bible reading last week was the 8th chapter of Nehemiah. I get to listen to my Bible app on my smartphone read to me every morning, and listen to sermons every week, and I often forget how rare of an opportunity it is to have this religious freedom. The Israelites, in this passage, had not heard the Word of the Lord read or taught to them for many years and they are so thirsty for it that they are able to stand attentively and listen for hours as the Word is read out loud to them. Confession: I sometimes get squirmy in church for an hour. Another great reminder to me as to how precious God’s Word is and how it should be valued.
by Tessa | Homemaking
I wrote last week about how I am currently in a season of rest. I gladly gave up all the busyness of my previous life when we moved, and I made a purposeful decision not to reignite that path. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the multiple playdates and friend visits every week. I loved my women’s Bible study and the hours I spend volunteering with new moms. I truly enjoyed my sewing business and doing the marketing and sales for it. I even loved giving the gift of marketing and bookkeeping services for a couple of other local businesses. Not to forget living out my role as a wife and mother.
But it couldn’t last. I was beginning to emotionally, mentally, and physically suffer.
Moving away from nearly all of my family and all of my support system presented me with a unique opportunity to hit the “restart” button. We knew that the farm startup would require a large time investment. I was able to commit the hours needed to parent the children largely on my own while my husband worked long hours and am glad that the farm work I had to do allowed me to bring them with me. They spent a great deal of time in the barns those first 6 months. I wasn’t able to reach out to the community a lot because I knew that my days were not my own. With most mornings spent in the barn, then brunch, housework and naptime, and then late afternoons consisting of chores, supper and then bedtimes, I was left with very few hours to pursue anything off the farm.
In spite of the fact that our days were so busy, we have felt a peace settle over our family. I think this peace came about for several reasons:
1. We are following God’s direction for our lives and His grace sustained (and continues to sustain) us through the transition and all that has come with it. We have had to rely on Him in a whole new way and He has provided more strength than we could have imagined.
2. We were spending more time focusing on just being with our family in our spare time. Partially because we were (are still, actually) so tied to the farm, but also because the family was/is working together toward a common goal. Even the kids sensed the importance of the work and put on their snow gear every morning to help out in the barn.
3. We are at a good stage right now with the kids. After having a very rough couple of years with a difficult pregnancy, my post partum depression and back injury, topped off with a son that took a long time for us to understand, we finally started to get into a good family groove. Days aren’t perfect but, since we aren’t overrun with outside commitments, we are able to meet our children where they’re at.
We are fully aware that things will be turned upside down in a few months as we prepare to introduce a newborn into the picture, and we’re okay with that. We are making preparations with our family rhythm and, more importantly, we are preparing our attitudes. The boys know that the new baby will need lots of attention and they have both eagerly volunteered to help out wherever they are able. We are practicing different housework tasks and, while the 2.5 year old is more limited in the duties he can do, the 5 year old is quite capable of doing nearly everything that I can do in the house.
Our season of rest may be nearing an end, but that doesn’t mean that we need to kick out the Peace that has settled either. I have a feeling that our next season could be entitled “Peace In a Time of Flux.”
by Tessa | Book Notes
Title: Hula Hoop Girl
Author: September McCarthy
Publication Date: 2012
Price: $4.99
Place Acquired: Homemaking Bundle
About the author: September lives nestled in the rural hills of the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York. She has been married to her husband for twenty-three years and they have ten children. She home schools, writes on her web-site, and serves the Lord through sharing her life-story, while striving to raise the next generation with virtue. If you were to stop in for a visit, you would find a child (or two): on her lap, books strewn across the couch, a collection of pet frogs in a canning jar on her table, and a row of rain boots by the door.
Describe: This book was written to the people who have so much going on in their lives that they have trouble keeping up with it all. So many people living in Western cultures have gotten used to feeling the need to accomplish and commit to more than is possible, or even healthy. September’s goal is to let her readers know that our identity isn’t tied to our to do lists. She gives some practical steps to help you identify your “hula hoops” and choose which ones are worth continuing to spin and which ones could be put on the shelf, either temporarily or permanently.
Analyze: She dives right in with her hula hoop analogy and keeps that theme running throughout the book. It felt like she overdid it a little bit on the analogy use but I can see how many moms could relate to that constant motion. I did relate very much to her desire to learn to find “balance, flexibility, and acceptance to keep a focus on what is truly important.” She mentions walking through seasons of exhaustion and defeat and how these seasons can affect our physical, emotional, and spiritual state. Since I have just come through one of those seasons and walked into a season of peace, I was intrigued enough to keep reading. I was curious to know how another mother (and one of 10 children at that!) found her way through that season, and I’m always looking for help on finding ways to stay centered on the One who gives me rest.
Evaluate: The book was written in a very easy to follow format. I really liked her step-by-step chapter sequence: Step 1: Find your Center/Purpose. Step 2: Figure out what’s is causing your stress. Step 3: Encouragement and reminders that it is worth it to move forward through this season and so on. (That’s my own paraphrase/interpretation of her first few chapter titles.) It is a very similar process that I have taught in business enrichment seminars in the past and it is great to see it applied to the whole of living life. The very first note that I wrote down while reading this book was to pray to God to reveal my unique gifts and how me how to use them. Another challenging thought was the sin of coveting. McCarthy put out the challenge that when we compare ourselves to those who seem to have it all, we are not focusing on who God created us to be. She also stated the humbling truth that this line of thinking sends God the message that you think He forgot something when he created you – the very something that you are coveting. Her final chapters are about prioritizing your relationship with God, your health, and discovering which hula hoops He wants you to spin.
Recommendation: Mothers, all people nowadays actually, are held to an unreasonable and unhealthy standard of busyness and we live in a perpetual state of fatigue. McCarthy writes to those who are feeling the burden of wanting to keep up with everything and everyone. I think that we could all use a reminder on the importance of rest and how to get more of it. If you’re looking for advice on how to choose which hula hoops are meant for you and which ones you can (and, dare I say, should) put on the shelf, this book is worth a read.
Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. This means that, if you purchase and item through a link above, I will make a commission. I was not compensated in any way for this review and purchased, read, and reviewed the book on my own accord. I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own.
by Tessa | Faith
I came to Christ at a very young age and truly can’t remember a time when I didn’t have the gift of salvation. I feel so blessed that I was allowed the opportunity to know God my entire life but that also means that I forget how big of a gift salvation really is.
I chose this verse this week to remind myself that salvation is a cause to celebrate. It is a prayer to ask God to reignite the joy and appreciation in my heart. Even in times when circumstances aren’t perfect, I can (and should) still find joy in the fact that Christ is my Saviour.
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