A Quiet Simple Life

1 Thessalonians 4:11 (New King James Version)
11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,


This verse has really been on my heart lately. I started thinking about what I really want. I want to live a quiet simple life. I want to enjoy my home, my children, my husband. If I'm leading a quiet life and working with my hands I really don't have time to mind anyone elses' business. Heck, I gotta enough of my own business to mind. :)

I will aspire to live a quiet life, to mind my own business and to work with my hands.

In other news, I found my camera. Look for some pictures tonight. I'm dressed to my shoes right now. I have worked on two "corners of my home this week" and pretty'd up a hot spot. Pictures tonight. :)

Always time to do the will of God

"One reason we are so harried and hurried is that we make yesterday and tomorrow our business, when all that legitimately concerns us is today. If we really have too much to do, there are some items on the agenda which God did not put there. Let us submit the list to Him and ask Him to indicate which items we must delete. There is always time to do the will of God. If we are too busy to do that, we are too busy."
— Elisabeth Elliot (Secure in the Everlasting Arms)

What a great quote after a busy week and weekend. I'm looking forward to getting back on track this week!
Have a wonderful day filled with God's will.

"When we hold our thoughts up against God's standards of what is true and what is real, we can recognize and, with His help, learn to release many of our negative emotions, damaging thoughts, and destructive attitudes."
— Elizabeth George

I think every keeper of the home, should memorize Philippians 4:8. I think we should post this verse all over our house. What a great standard for the things we allow in our homes. For the thoughts we allow to enter our minds. Choose what is right, honorable and lovely!

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Phil 4:8

Obscuring your sense of God

"Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself."
— Susanna Wesley

I adore, Mrs. Wesley. When I find anything written about her I devour it. I will be printing this quote and putting it somewhere I can see it everyday.
How many little things do we let get in the way of our "relish for spiritual things" every day?
God says we are to have no other Gods before Him. Anything we put before God is a sin. I need to remember that as I go about my busy day.
Have a great day!

Just Piddling

No shoe pics today, I could not find my camera. It's always something! :)
Today was a good day. The girls finished their 2nd LA book for CLE LA and I packed up one bag for Goodwill (or Big Wheel as my five year old calls it).

One of the great things about being a homemaker is piddling around. You know just kind of working from one thing to the next. Right now my big project is my bedroom. It becomes a catch all for everything that does not have a place. I have been working on it for a few weeks now. It's amazing how much stuff we have acquired. I try to fill up at least one bag for Good Will every day. How sad is that? All the money we wasted over the years with just junk. BLAH!

Because I am a busy homeschooling mom with a baby I do a lot of piddling. Yes, it's taking me a long time to finish our room. I know it's ok though, because I am working toward the better. I see improvement every day. Would I like to see one big improvement? Sure, but at this season in my life it's not possible.

For now I will take my time and do the best I can. A little bit everyday!

When I am done with the bedroom I am moving to the kitchen. That should last a few years! LOL

I hope you had a wonderful day!!

Family Dinners

“Family dinners should be planned with as much thought and care as company dinners.”
~ Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, 1946

On that note I am off to make my grocery list for the week! Sorry about not being around last night, but it was a busy day and I pretty much crashed when the kids did. I did get a lot accomplished yesterday, so I am happy to say that.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Cheerful

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
Martha Washington
US wife of George Washington 1759 (1732 - 1802)

Happy Monday my friends! It's a new week and a new opportunity to be cheerful wives, mothers, and homemakers!
Slap a smile on that face!

Crazy Friday

Um, no picture of shoes today. Sorry. I did get dressed but we were running late and heading out the door. We had some errands today and when we got home the girls' bathing suits were here. YAY! So we ate a late lunch, donned our bathing suits and headed to the beach.
We will be doing two short lessons tomorrow morning since we ended up having two days off for fun! I just want them to do their review lessons and then take the end of book test for their math and language arts light units. Should not take more than an hour.
I plan on spending a good two hours around the house tomorrow cleaning. I also want to work in an hour of yard work if I can. Later on tomorrow afternoon we are having dinner at my mom's house for my brother's birthday and then hubby and I are going to see a movie that I won tickets for.
I might try to post tomorrow.
If not, I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Family Day

Here I am dressed to my shoes again! Of course the location is not my home. Roy and I woke up both feeling, well, uggy. We decided that we needed a day out. Of course a spontaneous trip for our brood is usually a lot of work. Today was no exception, but a few hours later we were out the door. We decided to do a nature trail at a local park.

The first sign we saw was a warning about gators in the area. The kids were, shall we say, less than thrilled. LOL

Jonathan(5) announced to everyone that he was going to stay by daddy so he did not get eaten. Adrian (8) jumped at every sound. Kelsie (11) walked right behind me with her arms crossed over her shoulders. I thought she was going to jump out of her skin. She told me she was just making herself smaller.

Sigh, these darn city kids! :)

It was a nice day. A little warm but because we were close to the ocean there was a nice breeze.

I did not get everything on my to-do list accomplished, but I spent the day with my family. We made memories and grew closer together.

I did get my Bible study and prayer time in this morning and even read a chapter in my Elizabeth George book.

All in all I would call it a productive day.

What does your family like to do for spontaneous get out of the house days?

Is he glad to be home?

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
-- Martin Luther

What is one thing you can do to make your husband glad to come home today?

Have a wonderful day with your family!

One of those days.

I did get up and get dressed to the shoes this morning. Other than that it was just one of those days. You know when you just want to crawl back into bed. I pushed on and we got some homeschooling done, but that's pretty much it.
The girls kept the laundry going but I never made it the folding part that is my job. So now tomorrow morning I have three and a half baskets to fold.
I am happy to say that I accomplished the four things I set as my goal for right now:
Bible Reading- I'm reading through the Gospels a few times this year.
Two chapters of my Elizabeth George book.
Dressed to the shoes.
Homeschooling.
I have to admit, before when I woke up feeling like I did today I would have skipped most of those things. So, a big yay for me. I do see improvement.
What are some ways you push through when you are having one of those days?

Patience

Patience
Author - Unknown
Give me patience when little hands,
Tug at me with small demands,
Give me gentle words and smiling eyes
And keep my lips from sharp replies,
So in years to come when my house is still
Beautiful memories it's rooms may fill.

Have a blessed day with those little hands and small demands!

Passion For God's Word

Here we are, Day 2, dressed to the shoes! Today was not nearly as productive as yesterday. I was gone most of the day taking my mom on some errands. She just had knee replacement surgery and come home from rehab yesterday. She is doing FANTASTIC! I am so impressed with how well she handled the surgery.

I did have an answer to a prayer request today. It was one of those small I really don't need it type things, but God heard my prayer and decided that I did need it! I will share it with you one day this week.

Today I read through Chapter 2 of the Elizabeth George book I am reading that I talked about yesterday. I have not gotten through more than one chapter a day so it might take a little more than a week. :)

Today's chapter was on developing a passion for God's word. She listed ten disciplines for developing this passion. I thought I would share them with you.

1. Refuse to miss a day. (reading God's word)

2. Pray as you approach God's word.
Psalm 119:18-19 Open my eyes, that I may see wonderous things from your law. Do not hide your commandments from me.

3. Consume God's word in various ways
Teaching/preaching tapes and videos, Memorize scripture, place scripture verses throughout your home, hum or sing hymns and praise and worship music throughout your day
Saturate your heart soul and mind with scripture

4. Find a rhythm or pattern that fits your lifestyle

5. Be a woman of one book - The Book
Make Bible reading a priority before you read other books

6. Be accountable

7. Beat the family
Aim to be the first one up every morning

8. Teach Your Children
Be as diligent about getting the Word into them as you are about getting it into your own heart.

9. Purpose to get up
This is my own personal struggle, especially with still getting up once or twice a night with the baby. It's so easy to just roll over and fall back asleep instead of getting up.

10. Aim for more time
Always try to fit more of the Word into your day!

This really blessed me this morning. I have missed that passion for seeking after God the last few months. I am so excited to be heading down the right path again.
It is so important as a wife, mom, homemaker, and homeschooler to be saturating our lives with God's word. This not only benefits us but it benefits our whole family. If I am filled with God's word everyday I can then fill my home and family with God's word. It can't help but flow right out of you.
Mom's of young ones, I know how hard it is to get that time. One thing I have done from the beginning is train my littles to play quietly in their rooms until I get them up. Even my big kids still do this.
If you can't do this, another suggestion I heard once was to place an open Bible in the kitchen (or whatever room you frequent most during the day) then grab snippets as you wander through the day. Writing scriptures on index cards and placing them all over the house would help as well.
Ok, so there is my exciting morning. The rest of the day, not so much. I am blessed to be able to care for my family throughout the days.
What exciting thing happened in your spiritual walk today?

Housekeeping is fun!

But housekeeping is fun……It is one job where you enjoy the results right along as you work. You may work all day washing and ironing, but at night you have the delicious feeling of sunny clean sheets and airy pillows to lie on. If you clean, you sit down at nightfall with the house shining and faintly smelling of wax, all yours to enjoy right then and there. And if you cook—that creation you lift from the oven goes right to the table. ~Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Seasons

I hope you all have a lovely day!

What a day!

Truly, I am blessed! I had a great, if somewhat hectic day. I want to share part of my day with you.
First, I came up with an idea for me! How easy it was the first few months after Lily was born and I was learning to nurse to stay in my pajamas. Yeah, it's almost a year later and while she is still nursing like a champ it's time to admit that the P.J.s have ta go! No, I don't stay in them all the time, but sometimes... and you know what happens then! Everything is either running behind or does not get done!
So my idea was for a few days at least to take a picture of me dressed all the way to my shoes and ready to start my day. In the evening I will post the picture.
Feel free to ask me where the picture is if you don't see it.
It might be silly. I think it will work for me though. Of course I might just decide it's weird and stop. If I do that I will tell you. LOL

This was the start of dinner. It's called Crescent Zucchini Pie and I got it out of a magazine from Reiman Publications called Simple and Delicious. My FIL brought me a copy that he'd received in the mail and I am cooking through it this week. This dish was so good!

Here is the end result. Please excuse the wrinkled tablecloth. It was a last minute wardrobe change. One of my sweet girls picked a nice white table cloth. Notice the fruit at the top of the picture. I asked her to find one of the older table cloths. :) It was right before I put the food on the table, so it's a little wrinkled.

The fruit was a steal! While the meal baked I had to run to Publix to fill a prescription for my mom. I decided to get some fruit while I was there to round out our meal. I found cantaloupe on sale for 1.99 each and watermelon halves on sale for $.49 a pound. I was a little nervous that it would not be that great because it was marked so low. The flavor, though, was FANTASTIC! Seriously, best fruit all season! I'm going to try to sneak back tomorrow.

I also picked up some fresh pineapple for my non-melon loving husband.

Well, that is just a piece of my day. I'm so ready for tomorrow. I can't wait to see what I can accomplish with a new day.

I hope ya'll had a great day as well. Why don't you tell me about it?

Book of the Week- Week 1

Lily woke up early with me and asked if she could help with the blog. I said sure and handed her a book to read so she'd know what we were doing this week. :) Yeah, she can already read. I know, she's a genius!

Of course right now that genius is crawling off into worlds unknown and I need to go get her. Be right back.

This week I am going to be reading through Life Management for Busy Women by Elizabeth George.

I was looking forward to reading through my copy of Passionate Housewives Desperate For God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald. I thought it would be the perfect book to start off my new commitment to be passionate about who I am again. Alas, I scoured my bookshelves and it was not there. Every time I read that book I get a little kick start, so I will be looking for it over this week so it can be my next book.

Moving on, I adore Elizabeth George. I have read through this book more than once, but because I want to get back to "living out God's plan with passion and purpose" (the tagline for the book) I decided to read through it again. I'll plop it by my Bible and read some in the morning when I spend time with God or when the kids take their reading rest in the afternoon and I go back to God's Word for some encouragement. It might even wait until I go to bed and read a bit to fill my head with something lovely before I go to sleep.

No, I am not in a habit of reading my Bible that often, but I am going to start today to work to make it a habit.

That is one of my projects this week. To get back to reading my Bible every day. Also, I want to get in the habit of trying to read a good, nonfiction (with some exceptions) book encouraging me in my walk as a wife, mother, homeschooler, or homemaker throughout the week.

Would you like to join me?

I know a lot of people are going through the 31 Days to Clean challenge. I am hoping to get the book at the end of the month. I have loved reading through blog posts as you work through the challenge.

It's so encouraging to see others on the same journey I am on.

Let's lift one another up as we face the day to day challenges of being Keepers At Home.

Feminism vs Biblical Womanhood

This is a snippet from the Mother's Day sermon at the church we are currently visiting.
If you are interested in the whole sermon listen here.
So refreshing to here it from the pulpit!

Part one is complete

Titus 2:3-5 says Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

When I started my journey as a wife in 2000, a homemaker in 2003, and a mother in 2004 I knew who I wanted to be. I wanted to be the Titus 2 woman. Yes, I love Mrs. Proverbs 31, but I figured I would work my way to her. :)
I was so happy to have the above verses. To have my priorities laid out so nicely.
In the last few years I have lost sight of these priorities. Every day has been a struggle for me.
I am so happy to say that I am getting back in the groove.
I am hoping to use this blog now to chronicle my journey with Titus 2. God has made me to be a wife, mother, and homemaker. To be pure, self controlled, hard working. To be an example to the younger women. To be an example to my own daughters.
I wanted a fresh start so I moved all of my old posts to Keepers At Home The Beginning. If you look in the side bar there is a link.
I'm excited. On Monday I will roll out my first project in homemaking.
This weekend I will be putting up some links to help us on the journey and a sermon by the pastor of the new church we are attending.
I can't wait to see where this journey takes us.

Until next time,
Julie