Andrea and Leah and I have been thinking and praying over the last few weeks about Courageous Homekeeping, about our roles in it and what God wants us to do with it.  The truth is that we all feel like we have more to say, more to share and do not feel like God is finished with us or our little website yet.

However, all three of us are dealing with some MAJOR life changes right now; I am in the process of adopting and moving in the next few weeks.  Andrea is having twins!  And Leah is also dealing with some difficult family issues.  We feel as though we are in much need of a blogging break as we head into these big seasons of change.  We need to focus on our families and getting all the work done that needs to be done in the next few months.

In these next coming months, we will all be thinking and praying about what we feel God wants Courageous Homekeeping to become.  I think that it’s safe to say that all three of us have grown, matured and changed over this last year of blogging, and so it seems only right and good, that our website also grows, matures and changes as well.  We all want to be good stewards of what God has given us, beginning with our marriages, our families, our homes and our ministry of CHK.

Over the next few months, we would ask for prayer as we focus on where we are most needed, and think and pray through what direction we want our blog to go in.  Be watching for us to reappear in the late fall.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already “Liked” us on Facebook, now would be a great time to do that.  We will continue our presence mostly in that way in the next months by linking to other posts/websites that we think you would like.  I believe we will also be looking for some additional monthly posters to CHK when we start back up, so if you would be interested in being a regular poster for us, please email; kristi@courageoushomekeeping.com with your interest, including what specific topics you would like to write about and a link to some sample blog posts.  We will prayerfully consider each “application”.

Thank you to all our loyal readers!  We will see you again in Fall!

Today, and every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, we want to hear from you!  Come link up your blog posts on homemaking, being a wife and mother, recipes, faith, whatever.  Today it’s YOUR turn!

Got Calcium?

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photo by rober

School is almost here again!  I start to feel the anxiety somewhere about the middle of July.  This year I will have a 4th grader and a kindergartner – wow!  With the school year starting again there can be a lot of mixed feelings about going back. 

Your child can start to feel anxious and nervous, scared or excited and they may or may not express these feelings to you.  Here are some tips to get them off to school feeling a little better about starting a new year, or if you have a child who is ready to go back to school by the second week of June, some tips to help them put their best foot forward.  It also can give us as parents a little peace of mind too.

• Meet their new teacher, or if they have the same one, drop by to say hi.
• Encourage your child to share something about themselves when they meet their new teacher.  It helps make a connection.
• Find out the class list.  Most kids will feel a little more comfortable once they know who will be in their class.
• If you are at a new school, take a tour.  Point out all the “important” places: cafateria, library, office, bathroom.
• Make buying school supplies fun! Once you have the list in hand let your child pick out what color folder or scissars, notebook style, etc.
• Practice your back to school routine, see how long it takes everyone to get ready in the morning.
• Get enough sleep!!  Pediatricians cannot express the importance of this enough!
• Plan healthy breakfasts, something that older children can help make.
• Plan healthy lunches, have your older children put their lunch together the night before.
• Prep the night before: lay clothes out for younger children, get lunches made.
• Take sports and extra curricular activities into account when it comes to homework.  My son knows that if he has homework, then that is the first thing he does as soon as we get home.
• Talk to you child about all the fun activites they will get to do and the new friends they will make.
• Pray with them before you walk out the door in the morning, we don’t leave the driveway without praying for the day ahead.  Send them off with some encouraging bible verses:

“My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” Ex. 33:14

“Do not be anxious about anything…” Phil. 4:6

“God is our refuge and our strength…” Ps. 46:1

“Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up” Prov. 12:25

photo by BogusBrazilian

One of the things that I know I need to work on as a mom is the ability to play with my children. I know that it’s important, and I very much want my kids to look back on their childhood and remember their mom connecting with them.  And I know that playing is an important way to connect to them- especially when they are young.  My mother in law is a great example of this.  Every time we take the kids over there, she literally gets so excited to be able to play with them.  I mean, actually excited.  It’s natural for her to play games with them or to do activities for hours on end.  My kids LOVE to go over there and I can’t say that I blame them.

That being said, playing with my kids is hard for me.  It’s not that I don’t like it– it’s that I don’t like it.  I have a hard time sitting still long enough to play a board game and when I try to think of ways to interact with them, my mind just often draws a blank.  This doesn’t come naturally to me.  But sadly enough, summer is coming to an end for us.  School literally begins at the end of August for us.  I don’t have much time left to get in some summer play time.

The other night as we were on our way to sleep, I told Josh that I was feeling like I needed to play more with the kids, but didn’t know what to do.  He offered me some suggestions and my mind started working.  I decided on an idea- Hopscotch!  Yesterday I bought some new sidewalk chalk (now is a great time to buy.. summer toys, etc are on sale/clearanced at a lot of stores.  I bought some boxes of 52 for only $3 at Walmart… I bought some extra to take with us to the orphanage in DRC!)  and today I am going to teach my kids how to play hopscotch.  Hopscotch is a game that I used to play all the time when I was little, and I can’t believe that I’ve never taught it to my kids before!

Wish me luck!  And if you have a hard time playing with your kids as well, you should put those dishes on hold for the day, and get out and play hopscotch with your kids too.  If you would like to join me, but don’t know the RULES, click on that link.  Go make some summer memories with your kids before it’s too late.

photo by Leonid Mamchenkov

As a parent I have a lot of soft spots–little triggers in my heart that are set off by things being just a certain way: when Gabriel tells me I’m beautiful; when Abigail lays her head on my shoulder with her cheek nestled against my collarbone; when Amelia steals a hug and a kiss as I walk out of a room. Sometimes I feel like such a softy it’s a wonder I can walk from the kitchen to the living room without dissolving into a puddle of sentiment on the floor. Kids, I think universally, have a way of tugging at a mother’s heartstrings.

photo by CabreraLetelier

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I have to be honest with you.  It’s been difficult for me to sit down and clearly write about all things that God has been doing in our home, in our hearts and in our family these last couple weeks.  He has moved mountains for us and most days I just want to sit and bask in my amazement.  There is so much to be thinking about, and so much to be thankful for.  I am literally in awe of what is happening.

Last week, I alluded to a couple big things that were changing in our life.  Over the last week, our path has become more cemented and I would like to share with you our new adoption journey.  I wrote the entire story HERE, but I’ll give you the Readers Digest version here.   We had our first home study home visit two weeks ago on Wednesday.  As our caseworker was in our home and talking to us about the program that we were in, the babies, the birth moms… I began to feel uncomfortable with our path of a domestic infant adoption.  I mentioned my discomfort to Josh that evening after our meeting was over, and without much thought he said, “Does this mean that you’re open to an international adoption?”  Josh wanted to do international from the beginning.  But for several reasons, we decided not to pursue that at this time.  Our plan was to get our feet wet with an “easy” domestic adoption first and then do an international one.  (I know, you can go ahead and laugh.)

Through a series of fortunate events, it was suggested to us to look into adopting from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  I had heard of it, but had to look it up on a map- I’m geographically challenged!  We started researching their program and looking for agencies… everything seemed to fit for our family.  We started watching documentaries and YouTube videos and our hearts were literally broken for this beautiful and sad country.

We decide to go forth.  We found an agency we were interested in and were given several personal recommendations for it (which, by the way, could not have happened in the beginning of our adoption journey- we couldn’t have been connected to these people earlier).  We sent in our application last week on Thursday or Friday and got an email yesterday morning with our acceptance!  Which, considering that we mailed it in, and it went all the way to Georgia, was fairly amazing that it got there and was accepted so quickly.  Today our contracts and first agency fees will be mailed out and then we will be finishing up our home study and preparing our dossier to send to DRC and then we wait to be matched to 2 or 3 children who are in desperate need of a home.  We. Are. Thrilled.  Thu-rilled.  We both believe with all our hearts that this was God’s plan for our family the entire time and everything about it, down to the very last details, were ordained by Him.  Even the part where we were on the “wrong” path.  If we hadn’t been on that “wrong” path, the timing of everything wouldn’t have worked out so perfectly, nor would we have been in the right place at the right time in order to change lanes as quickly as we did.  There was no wrong path.

As our hearts have been changing over the last weeks, and being broken for the things that breaks our Father’s heart, I’m starting to see things.  Notice things.  About America.  Things that are not good.  One of the most stark realizations came to me a few weeks ago.  I was watching a video online about the famine and the drought that is happening in Africa right now.  As I was waiting for the video to start, an AT&T ad played.  I don’t know what it was about- some new smart phone or something.  But I was struck by the beautiful images of people in our beautiful country, playing with their new phones while in beautiful clothes, in beautiful (empty) homes, or in multi-million dollar office buildings.  Even children were playing with their new phones.  Then of course, the video started.  Women, men, children, infants DYING because they do not have food or water.  The images were graphic and startling and devastating.  Babies who were nothing more than skin and bones were sleeping on pieces of cardboard.

All I could do is cry and think, “What the HELL is wrong with us?”  We live in a country where we have EVERYTHING.  People literally get physical symptoms of depression and feel overwhelmed because they have too much stuff in their homes- and yet we keep buying and buying and buying.  Things that we don’t need.  And yet there are people dying of starvation in another country.  And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that THAT BREAKS GOD’S HEART.

Here in America, we have sins of selfishness, of gluttony, of discontentment and ungratefulness… I see it in the culture, in the commercials, in the media.  I see it in my own family, in my own church, and within my own Facebook network.  What we don’t realize is that we are in slavery to our ‘things’.  Our stuff consumes us, our selfishness consumes us.  We have put our possessions and our money in first place in our lives, and that is GOD’S place.  We may not realize it, we may not even think it.  But when was the last time you made a personal sacrifice of your money in order to better someone else’s life?  We struggle with that, don’t we?  I know I do!

I could totally brag about how we are less selfish cause we’re adopting- but it’s just not true.  I am just as selfish as anyone… it’s just that I’m starting to notice it.  I never really even noticed it before.

As I mentioned before, Josh and I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on DRC.  There is a video that he found- a documentary on the recent history of the country, that I would implore you to watch.  It is a history of the bloodiest war that has ever happened on earth, and no one really talked about it.  It was worse than the holocost, but no one got involved.  It was a war, basically to gain control of the rich resources of gold, diamonds, and minerals that are found in DRC.  MUCH of which is imported here to America to fuel our American Dream.  If you’ve ever wondered what the cost of the American Dream is… here’s your answer.  [The video embedded up at the top, so click that for now, Josh can fix it later.. Hey, at least I got it to post!]

photo by Cia de Foto

I seem to be very tired these days. Probably has something to do with growing twins. My brain is a bit shot as well. So instead of struggling to formulate a post (just being honest) I thought I’d share an article that really made me think about my priorities. I’ve been a little overwhelmed at the prospect of four children, but this article helped me put things back into perspective. You can read it here.

Today, and every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, we want to hear from you!  Come link up your blog posts on homemaking, being a wife and mother, recipes, faith, whatever.  Today it’s YOUR turn!

Got Calcium?

Preventing Styes

The Art of Housewifery: Kitchen Gadgets Pt 1

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photo by whiteafrican

At this very moment, as I am beginning this blog post, I have absolutely NO idea what will be written by the end!  Isn’t that fun?  It’s like an adventure!

Please forgive us for being absent last week.  It was VBS (vacation bible school) week at our church, which is a church-wide event all week long.  I got up early, got all 5 kids out the door by 8 in the morning and headed out to church.  Spent each day from 9-12:30 running from place to place and hanging out with 5th graders and talking about Jesus.  Then I gathered up all 5 of my exhausted kids from their classes and headed home.

If that was all that was going on last week, that would have been cake.

Wednesday night we had our adoption home study visit.  Needless to say, I was super nervous.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after returning from church was full of cleaning.  And cleaning.  And re-cleaning.

Wednesday finally came around and as I was cleaning, the kids came in and said that our pet rabbit was not looking so good and acting weird.  (We had brought him outside for the home study)  He was looking/acting weird… I brought him into the shade since my only thought was that he was hot.  But he was still acting weird.

I went back in the house to continue cleaning and started to hear this strange sound.  I went outside to investigate and sadly, it was the rabbit… shaking and making this horrible screaming sound that I wasn’t aware rabbits could make.  We took the boys into the house where they wouldn’t have to watch and Josh stayed with him while he died.  The boys were so super sad.  It was hard.  After it was all over, Josh came back in and all the boys went outside to bury him.

At about 5pm our house was clean. Done.  And then we had to think about dinner!  We opted to go out to Burger King… can you blame us really?  The kids played and Josh and I talked for a while, we bought smoke detectors at Home Depot since we knew that was going to be something they asked for in the home study visit and then we went back home to wait.

Our case worker was nice.  She talked to the kids for a while, looked around our house and talked with Josh and I for about an hour after the tour was done.  As she was talking to us about the program, I started to feel… uncomfortable.  Like we were not in the right adoption program.

After she left, I told Josh how I was feeling and he confirmed my feelings.  In the last few days, God has turned us upside down and we are going to be pursuing a new direction for our adoption.  I don’t want to reveal it quite yet, because no cement plans have been made.  But- I will tell you that we almost had to wait until August to get our home study visit, we were down to the wire, but finally got in our last piece of paperwork and got our visit scheduled before our caseworker went on vacation.  I believe that with ALL my heart, God timed that visit exactly right because now we have some time to figure out what we are going to do before our next meeting is scheduled.  We’re hoping that we can use the work we’ve already done for our home study and turn it to work for a dossier so that we won’t have to start over from scratch.  And that’s the only hint I will give you at this point.

On Saturday, God gave us a house.  I’m not kidding.  That is not set in stone yet either, so I am not going to get into the details of that yet.  But, I will tell you this; About a year ago, I had a dream.  It was one of those dreams that you just KNOW meant something more than just a dream.  I dreamt that our family was moving into a big house.  The thing I remember most about the dream, was the joy of it.  We were moving into this house and were all so excited because we knew that God gave us this house, because there was no way we could have gotten it on our own.  We also knew that God had a very specific reason and purpose that He wanted to give us this house.

I awoke from that dream knowing that one day, when we were ready, God would give us the perfect house for us.

My dream just might be becoming a reality.  We will hopefully be having that joyful moving day in October.  There is NO way we could have done this.  God did it.  Despite the roadblocks that have been put in our way already up to this point in regards to our adoption, this is a HUGE confirmation to me that we are following the plan that God has laid out for our family.

And honestly, I was in such desperate need of a Godly reassurance last week.  At the beginning of last week, I was at my end.  I was stressed, tired and battle weary from our fight.  I’m pretty sure that I was in some form of tears every single day last week from the emotional strain.  I was tired.

But then.. God gave us a house.  It was like Him saying directly to my heart, “Don’t give up.  This is my fight.  You’re on the right track.  I am on your side.  I have your best at heart.  I will take care of you.  Nothing is too big for me.”

And now… I’m ready to fight again.  I mean, if God is indeed on our side, who in the world is going to be able to stop us?

photo by sassyradish

Sometimes I think I should have Greek heritage in me because I love feta cheese.  LOVE IT! 

There are two recipes that have become absolute favorites in my house and I am going to share them with you.  You can thank me later.

The Ultimate Greek Salad (serves 6-8) Nigella Lawson

1 red onion

1 T dried oregano

black pepper

1 T red wine vinegar

3/4 c, plus 2 T extra virgin olive oil

5 good tomatoes

1 t sugar

pinch of kosher or sea salt

1 very large head of romain lettuce

1 english cucumber

1/2 c pitted kalamata olives

14 oz feta cheese

juice of half a lemon

Peel and finely slice the red onion, place in bowl, add the oregano and black pepper.  Pour in the vinegar and olive oil and toss well, cover with plastic wrap and leave to steep for a good 2 house, longer is fine.

When you are ready to eat, cut the tomatoes into quarters, then cut each quarter into quarters (always lengthwise) again, so that you have a collection of very fine segments (rather than chunks).  Sprinkle the sugar and a pinch of salt over them and set aside.

Tear the lettuce into big pieces abd put into a large salad bowl.  Slice the cucumber and add that, then the olives and the feta, cut or crumbled into rough chunks and toss well.  Add the tomatoes, the red onion – now lucidly pink – in it’s marinade dressing and the lemon juice.

Toss gently, but thoroughly, so that everything is well combined.

Watermelon, Feta and Blak Olive Salad (serves Nigella Lawson

1 small red onion

2 limes – juiced

3.5 lbs watermelon

8 oz feta cheese

bunch fresh mint – finley chopped

4 T extra virgin olive oil

4 oz sliced kalamata olives

black pepper

Thinly slice the red onion.  Place in a bowl and steep with the lime juice.

Cut the watermelon into bit size chunks. 

In a large bowl, combine the watermelon, olives, feta, mint, oil and onions in the lime juice.  Use your hands to give it a good but gentle toss. Add pepper to taste.