The wise old soul that resides in my little babe’s not-yet-four-years-old body is beautifully made. The little person that made me a mother by his very entrance into the breathing world on a sunny September afternoon has a heart and a soul that are rich with depth and feeling.

Sometimes I forget that.

I see his whining and immaturity, his tiresome dependency on me, the clunky slow-dance of learning that we do together, and I am tired. I think of his simple child-like play and the way I can make him smile again with just a tickle or his favourite muffins or a hug. I over-complicate my own thoughts, and I forget that he has complexities of his own. I forget that he’s a person with Big Feelings like mine.

Then sometimes, like today, I see it.

It turns out that our hearts are not that different after all.

My heart beats for acceptance. For unconditional love. For feeling wanted and understood. Oh, how I long to feel deeply understood. By my hubby, my peers, my children. The things I do, the ways I fail – the fact that I’m trying hard to do right.

As does his.

Today he watched a Frankling the Turtle episode on my laptop in which Franklin acts out. The reason he is acting out is because he feels sad and left out of his group of friends. The teacher doesn’t stop to understand and just gets exasperated with Franklin again and again, until the end when all is finally resolved.

My sweet-souled little boy slid off the couch and wandered away from the laptop a few times during this 12-minute story. After a minute he would go back and continue watching.

I paused the show and questioned him a bit. Flags were waving all over my intuition, and I pulled him onto my lap and asked if he felt sad because the teacher was upset with Franklin. “Yeah” he said, sucking his thumb and rubbing his ear as he sometimes still does in anxious situations.

“Do you feel sad when Mommy and Daddy get upset and mad at you?”

“Yeah” he says with emphatic feeling.

Distracted and wanting to finish watching, he un-pauses the laptop and sit back in his spot. I kiss his head with a tight and fervent hug from behind, a whispered I-love-you, and continue on with my crocheting, my mind all-a-whirring.

It is a terrible feeling to know that someone is upset with you for something you’ve done. To feel that you’ve disappointed someone, and that you have all kinds of emotions inside that you can’t quite figure out how to explain. As an adult I can generally avoid those instances much easier than my sweet children are able to do, considering that I’m supposed to be the one “in charge” around here.

Because they are doing the tough work of growing up and maturing, and I am doing the tough work of growing into the kind of parent for them that God is to me, sometimes our worlds collide in a crashing and grinding kind of way. It is so difficult to refrain from insinuating that he has disappointed me or made me upset. I want to own my feelings, and him to own his. 

He should not feel that he is inadequate and has disappointed me by his natural immaturities or sins. 

I want him to feel loved, encouraged, and accepted no matter what. Unconditional love. Unconditional grace. As my Heavenly Father washes over me. 

And it starts with remembering that our hearts are really not all that different after all.

His feelings mirror my own and as we dance our way toward understanding, we remember that God’s grace is sufficient for a nearly-thirty-year-old homemaking mama just as it is for a nearly-four-year-old little boy-soul with big brown eyes.

Growing. Learning. Understanding. Giving each other grace.

His heart and mine.

36 weeks pregnant with number 3! I was already in my PJ's (hubby's old t-shirt and an old pair of "Canada" shorts) and was not in the mood for smiling or changing my clothes... so this is what you get!

It’s inevitable.

When you’re at the waddling stage of pregnancy (so, the entire last trimester for me pretty much) you get asked two questions at least a billion times a day.

1) How much longer?

2) How are you feeling?

Number one is usually met with shock and horror when I say anything other than “any day now!” A week ago, when I answered “5 or 6 more weeks” I was informed, “ooooh, yikes, that will be rough”. To which I usually just nod and mmm-hmm vaguely while trying not to roll my eyes.

I usually answer number two with “Large. Very, very large…”. When they say something brilliant and astute like “you must be getting tired”, I nod with raised eyebrows so as to appear impressed at their superior deductive reasoning skills.

If elaboration is required I can add “Hot (all.the.time.). Oh, and exhausted. My back hurts and my feet are sore, and I can do about a quarter of the needed housework in a day before feeling like I might lay down and have a nap right there on the laundry room floor.”

Sigh.

I don’t want to be *that* pregnant woman that always complains though. There are actually a lot of things I’m enjoying at this time in life… like my two kiddos that are both so ridiculously grown-up. I almost forgot what having a newborn is like (lots of work, little sleep I do remember though!). I’m loving being able to sleep all night long without being interrupted by a newborn that is so very dependent on me.

I’m excited to meet this baby and enter that stage of getting to know him or her, but I’m not rushing it. I am, for once, happy to live in the present.

I may be exhausted, but my kids are adorable. I may be large and sore, but the weather has been positively summer-ish and  gorgeous and I’ve already gotten a sunburn. I may be slow and I may be a sight for sore eyes, but my kids entertain themselves with a pile of dirt outside for hours at a time. I may have to pee a bajillion times a day (and night), but I’m participating in an incredible life-giving process and watching tiny arms and legs kick out my belly from the inside.

On Friday we had a student from the college here in Tiny Town move in with us for the summer. In exchange for free room and board, she is essentially going to be my right hand – playing with the kids, taking care of them when I want to get stuff done, and babysitting on occasion while Chris and I sneak out for a little pre-baby “get-em-while-you-can” date.

Brilliant.

Today I went grocery shopping by myself. Did housework and made meals while my children were outside, supervised. I think this is going to be my saving grace this summer. I also hope to get a bit more blogging done. I’ve been finding it difficult to keep up with housework lately since I’m moving so slow and having a lot of aches and pains, but hopefully this will allow me to get more done and still have energy left over to blog somewhat regularly.

My brain is fried. This post is overdue and scattered, but perhaps that is just appropriate for my life right now

I’ll be back soon with something more interesting.

one of the very first photos taken on my new iPod touch

I went to an overnight retreat last weekend with a bunch of other moms from the weekly mom’s group that I attend. 24 hours away from the daily grind. Indulgent snacks, board games, laughter, and good ol’ chatting with no interruptions from the little people in our lives. It was lovely, as you can imagine. My hubby held down the fort with the kiddos, and when I got home Sunday evening, they weren’t there. (I later found out that they’d gone mother’s day shopping in the city).

I debated whether I should worry and fret (no note! and I had his cell with me! sheesh!), or just grab my laptop and a cup of tea and relax. I logged on to Facebook and checked out the latest in our local community’s swap and buy group.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head.

Hubs had posted his iPhone for sale the night before, and was in the midst of negotiations with the interested parties. 

What the WHAT?!

You have to understand – this is the man that was taking computers apart and putting them back together again for fun at the age of twelve. The same man who had several years of a career as a professional sound guy, pushing buttons and playing with technology to his heart’s content. The very same man that now flies airplanes for a living and is totally geeked out by the cool technology in the cockpit.

Yeah.

***

Rewind to about a week ago when we were chatting about what I might like for the upcoming mother’s day celebration. I told him that I just wanted to sleep in, have a special breakfast, then a general day of relaxing family time, maybe not have to cook at all – that kind of thing. He told me that he really wanted to get me a special gift.

Me: “what is it?”

Him: “I can’t tell you!”

Me: “Is it expensive?”

Him: tries to lie but sucks badly “Noooo…”

Me: (rolling my eyes but feeling loved knowing that his love language is “gifts” in a major way…) ”Oh dear. What is it? You know we have no extra money at all right now”

Him: “I can’t tell you!”

Me: “Just tell me how much it costs and I’ll tell you if we can do it”

Him: “umm, like $200″

Me: (freaking out) “Honey! That’s sweet… but you know we can’t possibly afford that!”

Him: “Yeah. But I have a plan”.

Me: “Uh oh.”

(PS. I totally guessed correctly what it was and because he’s a really terrible liar he admitted the truth. It was cute.)

***

Back to present-day and the iPhone sale… I couldn’t believe he was actually doing it. He was selling his iPhone for two reasons: first – to save us money in our monthly budget, and second – to be able to buy me an iPod touch – something I’d mentioned that I wanted for my birthday in a couple of months so that I had a little pocket camera, etc. but without the monthly fees of an iPhone.

So, with 2.5 years left on the contract (that was taken over by the buyer) we will save ourselves $1,200, plus $100 for the sale of the phone. He will be getting himself a cheap cell phone, mainly for emergencies or when he’s not around a phone – maybe a pay-as-you go kind or whatever happens to be cheapest.

I am seriously touched by his thoughtfulness, and still a bit floored at how he chose to express it this time.

***

This is, of course, one of the other very first photos taken with my iPod. Note the dandelion flower bouquet in her cute little hands.

We are really starting to question the things we think we need. The ways we live our lives and the choices we make in our spending. Was the iPhone nice? Sure it was. I enjoyed web surfing on long car rides and never getting lost thanks to the built-in GPS and google map search. I loved being able to talk to him pretty much whenever. But was it really needed? Was it worth the monthly charges and strain on our budget? Not really.

Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the belief that we “need” certain things to be happy. This doesn’t just apply to the stereotypical “rich folks”. It also applies to me thinking that my life is somehow less complete when my house is not perfectly decorated, pinterest-style. Or when I doubt and question whether I could be happy in a 2-bedroom apartment as a family of five. Or when I pout a little over giving up the iPhone because then whatever will I do with the hour-long car ride to the city? Talk to my husband? Read a book? Crochet? Scandalous, I know.

I know, I know, lots of people in our society live without a smartphone and they survive just fine. This really is a sob story of a privileged first-worlder. But to me the iPhone has been symbolic. What else are holding on to in our lives that may not be the wisest thing for us? One day when hubby has moved beyond entry-level aviation and we can afford it again, maybe we’ll be an iPhone family again. Who knows?

One thing is for sure though – we want to live with our possessions held loosely and our loved ones held tight. We want to be a family that values relationships and wise living. A family that models counter-cultural choices to our kids.

For us, it was by saying farewell to the pretty little iPhone.

What might it be for you?

Labouring at home in the tub (with candles lit, listening to Jack Johnson on the iPod) as long as possible before heading to the hospital for the birth of my daughter in 2010. Not my most flattering photo (clearly), but this was my favourite part of that labour, and a memory that I love.

You may recall a post I wrote back in January when I was half-way through this pregnancy, talking about the decision I faced of where to birth this babe. Since I live in a small town and travel to the city for midwifery care, I also have to birth in the city (I dream of having a home birth one day!). I had three main options (I only knew about the first two when I wrote that post).

1) In the hospital (potentially with a birthing pool!)

2) At a B&B near the hospital that is labour & birth-friendly (but dependent on vacancy when I go into labour)

3) In the basement of a friend of my midwives (who is one of their nurse back-ups in case one of them can’t make it)

Now at 35 weeks pregnant I needed to get this all figured out, and we have decided on option 3. We went to see the place after my midwife appointment last week, and it is pretty much perfect. There is a large rec room with toys*, 2 bedrooms (one for birthing and one for my midwives to rest in if necessary) and a bathroom with a nice large sized shower. In the room for birthing there’s a double bed, a cradle with sheepskin, a night table/lamp, and lots of floor space where the birthing tub will be, as well as a mini-fridge. We can use her kitchen on the main floor if needed. Oh! And she’ll make us breakfast in the morning – how sweet is that?!

(*My Dad is flying in 2 days before my due date, so hopefully he will be here to take care of Isaac and Aliza while we go to the city for the birth, but if for some reason we had to bring the kids with us, it would be ok. Not ideal, but ok.)

There is a charge for using this place (though if I don’t make it there for some reason, I won’t have to pay anything), but I can stay for around 24 hours before either going home or to the B&B for a night or two. If I’m still in the city on day 3, then my midwives will come to me for a check-up, but if I go home then I’ll need to return to the city on day 3.

For that part I’m leaning toward going home and then coming back on day 3, for two reasons: 1) the cost of the B&B, and 2) the fact that I know that I’ll miss Isaac and Aliza desperately, and just want to be together as a family.

That’s how I felt when I was in the hospital after Aliza’s birth – I just wanted to get home as soon as I could! I know some women see being in the hospital as a little bit of a break before returning to the daily grind, but I don’t find it relaxing in the slightest, with the noisiness, the constant vitals checks from nurses, the terrible food (a very passionate rant for another day), and the uncomfortable beds.

This whole out-of-hospital birth (which I will probably just call a home birth from now on) thing with my midwife can happen only when I’m full-term (premature births would be too high-risk for out-of-hospital)… which is 37 weeks… which is 13 days away (!!!). Crazy!

I know that birth plans don’t always play out as they are written, and that emergencies and unexpected scenarios can happen. Nonetheless, this is what we are aiming for, hoping for, and wanting. I am actually very excited about this birth. I am nervous in the same way as someone about to jump out of a plane – knowing that it’s terrifying but at the same time potentially the most incredible thing you’ll ever experience in your life.

I believe in the empowering and awe-inspiring birthing power of a woman’s body.

Of my body.

And I am honoured to be able to experience it! 

The photo that I share with you today is somewhat of an intimate one. It is my daughter, Aliza Emmanuelle, born in 2010, just seconds after she entered the world. I feel such a sense of awe and a rush of emotions whenever I look at it, as I remember the incredible other-worldy experience that was her birth.

True to my wishes, my wonderful doctor passed her to me immediately for skin-to-skin bonding and breastfeeding, which we enjoyed for the first hour or two after birth before they did the exam and weighing, etc. I had many specific desires for her birth because I wanted to have my first natural birth (my son’s birth in 2008 was fairly mainstream, involving induction and an epidural, etc). I was able to have the natural birth I desired with my daughter, but it took much planning and thought and determination.

Recently Jenny from The Southern Institute blog contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to do a review and giveaway of her e-book here at Red & Honey. I was happy to oblige, since it is all about that very subject: how to have a natural hospital birth.

From the time I had my first child to now being nearly 35 weeks pregnant with our third, my views have drastically shifted concerning childbirth. I am now a firm believer in the superiority of out-of-hospital births, and of drug and intervention-free labour and deliveries. I believe that a pregnant woman is not a medical emergency, and that her body was designed to give birth. I believe that it can be an incredible experience.

However, I have many friends who (for whatever reason) are just more comfortable with birthing in a hospital, but yearn still for a natural birth. They want to find a happy middle-of-the-road approach, and are not quite sure how to achieve it. In an environment that is more prone to the use of drugs and unnecessary interventions, it is essential to be educated beforehand about the process. This book helps you do just that. Jenny birthed three children naturally in a hospital, and had great experiences.

In her book she quotes the following:

You know how they say to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer? Well sometimes I think that applies perfectly to motherhood. Sometimes you feel like your children are The Enemy (I know they’re not really and yet in the moment there are some Big Feelings involved). They frustrate you and make you want to lock yourself in the bathroom crying with a large tub of ice cream and brownies and not emerge until they’re gone.

Sometimes I get so angry and worked up about things that I just want to (and sometimes do) yell. Loudly. I feel frustrated and helpless, and I feel like I should let them know how annoyed I am so that they don’t repeat the behaviour next time (no, I don’t actually advocate this technique, I’m just psycho-analyzing my own parenting failures). I think locking myself away with brownies would be a much better option for all involved, but for some reason it doesn’t ever actually happen.

Anyway, I digress. I wrote a while ago about praying for your enemies, and I realized that sometimes once we’ve hit that discipline stage it’s not just about prayer… forgiveness needs to be involved.

Part of gentle parenting is to respect your children as human beings with needs and wants, like adults. My children have the right to be spoken to respectfully, and the right to be restored to relationship. I often act foolishly and find myself in a position of needing to apologize and get over myself in order to have harmony in a relationship. For whatever reason I don’t particularly love the taste of humble pie, and I find this really hard.

The other day my kids were driving me nuts and I stomped away in a huff after raising my voice. I was rocking the bad mood like a grumpy emo rockstar when I realized that there’s this little (minor, really) commandment in Scripture about forgiving your enemies. Then it occurred to me (oh, you’ll thank me for this bit of brilliance) that it also applies the under 3-feet-tall crowd. Also? Those birthed from my very own loins. Yeah.

I swallowed my pride and came out of my funkiness, and rejoined my cute little family.

The 3-year-old’s eyes were big as he looked at me, wondering if Crazy Mom was gone yet.

I took a deep breath and smiled at him. I still felt grumpy and annoyed with him, but I knew I had a choice: I could choose to let go of the frustration (that he doesn’t even totally understand anyway – he’s a preschooler!), or I could hold on to it and ruin the rest of our day with grumpiness.

It felt unnatural at first, but after a second the smile reached my eyes and I said “Hi Sweetie, are you having fun with your trains?” (For the record, I often will apologize for my bad attitude and rude words as well).

He answered in the affirmative and smiled back. All forgiven (from both of us). A disastrous and unnecessarily bad day avoided, and more importantly a relationship restored.

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. It’s better that way, I’ve learned.

So much better.

Notice anything?

If you’re reading via a reader or by email you’ll have to click through to the site… Red & Honey finally got a makeover! Freckled Nest Design and I have been working together since last summer to create a new and beautiful space here, and I am blown away by the end result. I love it. It’s simple yet beautiful and unique, designed just for me, and I am honoured!

I will be updating a few things over the next while (some new tabs up top, new category labels on the side, and a bit of refocusing my purpose). I will continue blogging as per usual though, and I hope that you will continue to join me.

You will notice that I have a new tagline, “the art of valiant homemaking”, which is where my heart really beats strongly and passionately. I love talking about the practical side of homemaking and mothering, but always with the aim of encouraging other mamas to not only fulfill that role of homemaker, but to do it well and with passion and a counter-cultural joy. It can be so easy to see these years as ones to trudge through and survive, but to truly thrive? Well, that requires valiance and is truly an art-form. Hence, our purpose.

On the practical side of things, I will now be beginning to look into opening up some space for sponsored ads. My rates will be very low to start, and I will be posting more info on that soon. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

I’ve got a great giveaway and a few posts up my sleeve for the next few days, but first I’d like to hear from you…

What are your favourite kinds of posts around here?

A) Recipes / Nutrition

B) Parenting

C) Practical Homemaking Tips

D) Pregnancy/Birth/Breastfeeding

E) Spirituality

F) Natural Living/Crunchy Stuff

***

Welcome to the new Red & Honey, and as always, THANK-YOU for being here.

Love always,

Beth

Air-popped popcorn is a healthy snack in moderation. It’s a grain (which we minimize in our house), but when drenched in butter and real sea salt it can be made a little healthier, and it can help satisfy those munchy cravings that so many of us get. At our house we love regular air-popped corn with lots of salt and butter, but this recipe kicks it up a notch with the sweet and salty combo, and really seems indulgent. The ingredients are pretty awesome though – coconut oil is one of the healthiest fats out there, and maple syrup is an excellent choice of sweetener. Real sea salt is totally good for you as well, as long as your diet is not over-saturated with processed junk containing refined sodium.

Make this kettle corn after the kids are in bed and enjoy!

{The Ingredients}

1/2 cup popcorn kernels
coconut oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pot)
1/8 cup maple syrup
real sea salt

{The Method}

Step 1: Heat oil in pan on medium, add a couple of kernels.
Step 2: When they start to pop, add the rest of the kernels.
Step 3: Keep the pot moving (actual vigorous shaking back on forth over the burner) so they don’t burn.
Step 4: As soon as those kernels start to pop, add the maple syrup and shake it all in.
Step 5: When the kernels are all popped, dump the popcorn out into a bowl, add salt, and stir it up.
Step 6: Make sure to sneak a few handfuls before serving, ‘cuz this stuff doesn’t last long!

I recently wrote about how we’ve decided against sending our oldest to preschool even though there’s a highly-recommended one just across the street from us. That was the introductory post to a series that I am doing on how exactly my preschooler is learning at home.

In all of my research on education over the last several years, I have been most attracted to the unschooling/eclectic/interest-led approach to learning. While unschooling really starts from birth, this series is more to answer the critics who ask how my child will learn “the essentials” (whatever they may think those are) if I don’t send him to school (or replicate the traditional school model at home).

I want to show that a child who is left to discover and explore the world by following their passion and interest will be well educated and knowledgeable by adulthood. It is our hope and belief that he will be fully equipped for a successful life and career in whatever field he may choose, and he will never lose that passion for learning that is so precious in these young beginner years of which I am in the midst.

In this series I plan to go through a variety of traditional school subjects post by post and show how learning opportunities in those areas are happening organically and naturally through play and living our day-to-day life. Your child is learning every day, no matter what you’re doing or not doing.

To kickstart the series I want to talk about science. My preschooler doesn’t even know the word “science”, but he sure does love it!

General Categories of Science

The main science categories are usually as follows:

• Chemistry
• Life Science & Biology
• Earth & Space Science
• Physical Science & Physics
• Technology

Examples of Natural Learning Opportunities

Today we acquired (second-hand) a tunnel/volcano combo that attaches to Isaac’s train tracks. It basically looks like a mountain with a tunnel in the bottom and red lava coming out the top. Isaac was naturally curious about what the red stuff was, since he has not yet learned anything about volcanoes. I explained that it was called lava, which is like fire, which led to a google search for volcanoes, which led to watching a video of  volcano erupting, and a viewing some photos. He observed that the lava was giving light like the sun, which of course led to a discussion about how the sun is actually made out of fire. Boy, were his eyes wide and curious after all of this!

{Earth Science for a 3-year-old? Check.}

Other examples include…

• Using baking soda and vinegar to help Mommy clean and noticing the fizzy reaction between the two (Chemistry)
• Like most kids, he loves animals, and has been learning about them since infancy (Life Science)
• Playing in the dirt outside is probably his all-time favourite activity (Earth Science)
• Seeing blood come from a cut on his finger leads to a discussion about what’s inside our bodies and how they work (Biology)
• Learning the correct terms for his own body parts while dressing and bathing (Human Anatomy)
• Simply being outside to observe and interact with the dirt, sky, plants, and animals (Earth Science)
• Setting up a track off the couch for his cars to roll down and observing the effects of gravity (Physics)
• Using lego to construct a house (Technology and Engineering)
• Helping in the kitchen and asking questions about how food is cooked on the stove (Energy & Chemistry)
• Helping with laundry, and noticing that the clothes out of the dryer are warm, asking why (Technology and Energy)
• Playing with fridge magnets and noticing that they also stick to the stove, asking why (Physical Science)
• When we go on an elevator and he asks how it works I can explain about levers and pulleys (Physics)
• When we go outside and see a dark cloud and it starts to rain (Earth & Environmental Science)

This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but that’s really exactly the point. The simple day-to-day living as well as the special outings and trips to places like the zoo or the science centre are all ways that my preschooler will be exposed to the basic foundations of science.

Watching my child soak in these moments and learn is a fascinating and exciting privilege. His brain often seems to be going a mile a minute, and it is truly a wonder to see him be so excited about learning.

How does your preschooler learn science? Can you think of any more natural real-world opportunities?

32 weeks

So sorry about not announcing the Flourishing Spring give-away winner sooner! As chosen by random.org, the winner is Stephanie, commenter #12! Steph, Michele from Frugal Granola will be in touch shortly.

Here are a few links for you all to enjoy while I figure out what to write about next

***

The Myth of the Uninvolved Unschooler @ Simple Homeschool :: “But what exactly do unschoolers do all day? That varies as much as individual families vary–in other words, a lot! But as I’ve come to know more unschoolers, it seems to me that we often have in common the following six focuses…”

While I Nurse You to Sleep @ The Mule :: “While I nurse you to sleep… I...rest.  For the first time today, I am still. I am not lifting, carrying, holding, bending, reaching, stretching, scrubbing, wiping, hauling, or lugging. Here in this dark room I lie beside you and allow my body and mind to come to stillness after the chaos of our day.”

I Wonder What Would Happen If… @ Parenting. Illustrated with Crappy Pictures :: a little bit of women/mom humour…

10 Easy Natural Household Switches @ Keeper of the Home :: “These are common and frequently-used household items that you can simply switch for a purchased or homemade alternative, depending on where you are in your journey or how brave you’re feeling.”

Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Muffins @ Comfy Belly :: I came across this recipe on Pinterest and immediately wanted to try it because I had all the ingredients and didn’t need to substitute anything – a rarity for me with Pinterest recipes! These muffins are absolutely amazing and I love that they are so healthy (except the chocolate chips, which you can really minimize).

Source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/average-home-sizes-around-the-151738

I recently came across this graph depicting the average home size from countries around the world, and it intrigued me. (Although Canada is not represented on the chart, I would imagine that we are more or less on par with the Americans). Many of the comments on that article critique the way the numbers are depicted, but the fact remains – Americans are infamous for their extra-large sized homes as compared to the rest of the world, and to the homes in previous generations.

In an NPR article entitled “Behind the Ever-Expanding American Dream House”, we read that “the average American house size has more than doubled since the 1950s; it now stands at 2,349 square feet. Whether it’s a McMansion in a wealthy neighborhood, or a bigger, cheaper house in the exurbs, the move toward ever large homes has been accelerating for years. Consider: Back in the 1950s and ’60s, people thought it was normal for a family to have one bathroom, or for two or three growing boys to share a bedroom. Well-off people summered in tiny beach cottages on Cape Cod or off the coast of California. Now, many of those cottages have been replaced with bigger houses. Six-room apartments in cities like New York or Chicago have been combined, because upper-middle-class people now think a six-room apartment is too small. Is it wealth? Is it greed? Or are there more subtle things going on?”

***

Our own family has been on quite the living space journey, and it hasn’t been steadily increasing, as our culture would have us believe is ideal. We started out our married life in a basement bachelor apartment. One room that contained our “bedroom” (which we divided off by hanging a white sheet), a “living room”, and the kitchen/dining area, plus a bathroom. In my mind that place is filled with memories of our first year of marriage (the hard and the euphoric and all the bits in between). I loved setting up my first home and was just happy to have my own space, no matter the size. We then moved on to several other living spaces over the years (our ninth anniversary is next month), mostly in the small apartment size range. One place was an apartment above a double garage, which rivalled our bachelor suite in size. When we had our first baby we lived in a sort of rundown 2-bedroom townhouse that was like a mansion in our eyes. We had two floors AND a basement!

Then two years ago we moved to the other side of the country to Tiny Town, and settled in to a cute little 3-bedroom house with no basement. It was quite cozy but perfect, with more than enough space if we were honest. Then 5 months later found us unexpectedly moving again, this time to the only thing available on short notice, which was a 4000-square foot home with four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It had two tiny separate apartments rented out which took our living space down to a “paltry” 3000-square feet or so (!!!). We were given a really great deal because the landlady was also a believer and wanted tenants she could trust. I realize that lots of people in our culture actually live in a house that size and think nothing of it, but to us it was totally crazy.

Facing an unaffordable rent increase five months ago found us moving (our third home in two years here in Tiny Town!) into the house in which we currently live. It’s WAY smaller, but still more than adequate for our needs. When we moved lots of people thought we were crazy to give up that big house, and lots of people just didn’t understand why we’d want to, but in actual fact I LOVE this smaller house so much more.

While I enjoyed many aspects of the ginormous house (no end of storage space, more than enough kitchen cupboard and counter space, lots of space for the kids to run and play in the biggest living room I’ve ever seen, a huge walk-in closet and private bath in the master bedroom…), in the end it was just… too much.

Too much to clean, too much to organize. Too much space in between souls – when you can sit 30 feet away from each other and still be in the same room. Too much work to trek from one end to the other to put away laundry. Too much to clean. Too separated from my babies by the heavy door to the upstairs that didn’t let me hear their cries that first evening in the house (we got baby monitors!). Oh, and did I mention that it was way too much to clean? It took nearly half an hour just to vacuum the living room and dining room area, including plugging in the vacuum in several different places because the cord wasn’t long enough to reach.

And yes, I felt a little embarrassed every we’d have someone new over and we’d watch their jaw drop when they saw the size of the main living area. I felt the need to justify, to explain that we didn’t pay all that much in rent, and it was a pretty good deal, etc. etc. “Don’t think I’m shallow or snobby!” I wanted to beg. It turns out that my embarrassment revealed a tendency in my own heart to wrongly judge others living in lavishly large homes. I was afraid that others would judge me in that same fashion, and I realized how immature and wrong that had been.

***

Fast forward to present day and this subject has been on my mind constantly as we think about our future, which will hopefully include owning our own home at some point. We live here in Tiny Town but long to move closer to family, and as we think about how to accomplish this it inevitably comes down to our choice of accommodations.

How small can you go?

A two-bedroom apartment is much more affordable than a 3 or 4. As in – hundreds of dollars difference, generally. Is it worth it? Our immediate goals include A) paying off flying debt, B) saving for a down payment, and C) gaining experience and advancing in Chris’s career (and for those that know our story – yes, serving overseas is still a goal as well).

Could we actually live in a 2-bedroom apartment for a period of time with 3 kids and be happy?

Gosh, I sure as heck hope that our happiness is not dependent on how many square feet we happen to occupy. What a crock that we’ve been fed by our culture. Our kids all “need” their own rooms? I hardly think so. We “need” a spacious home so that our kids can spread out their over-abundance of toys and junk they never actually play with? No thanks.

What happened to the notions of real sacrifice and working diligently for your goals?

Could 3 kids share a bedroom? With bunk beds and a single bed? I don’t see why not. Sure there may be some bedtime headaches as they got used to it. The end of the world? I hardly think so.

Can I cook healthy and fabulous meals in a smaller kitchen without the bajillion single-use kitchen gadgets that our culture would have us believe are necessary to my happiness as a housewife? I daresay I can (and do currently!).

Can we reject the notion that family togetherness is not of utmost importance? Yup. Done and done.

We love being together. We love each other. We love life.

I fail to see the problem.

***

What do you think? What kind of space do you live in? What kind of space do you aspire to have?

Would you ever consider living in a (relatively speaking) way small place in order to accomplish certain goals?

***

{Linked up with SortaCrunchy for Your Green Resource!}

Michele at Frugal Granola has recently released her latest e-book, called “Flourishing Spring: Nourishing Activities for Rainy Days”, and today I am excited that I get to give away a copy to one lucky reader!

I’ve been reading Frugal Granola for a while now, and some of you may also know that I’ve been a monthly contributor since January, which has been a great privilege for me. This book is a fantastic resource full of a great variety of activities and ideas. I love that it has both simple things with an extra dose of inspiration, as well as ideas that are new-to-me altogether.

From the book’s description:

Over 25 ideas for creating intentional moments with children, with multiple variations, allergy-friendly recipes, and simple resources. This 33-page ebook is a compilation of boredom busters, homemade gift ideas, and nourishing meal suggestions for filling a rainy day!

I love playing around in the kitchen. I tweak and modify, and sometimes even invent recipes from scratch. This soup is one of those. Soup is one of the easiest things to make without messing up – it’s so versatile and forgiving! I call this one “breakfast soup” because it has eggs and sausage as the main ingredients. Of course I make it with homemade bone broth, which makes it even more nourishing and healthy. It’s a great way to start or end the day! I throughly enjoyed the flavour, as did the kiddos (hubby wasn’t home). The 3.5-year-old ate two bowlfuls and the 1.5 year-old ate all of hers plus a bit more! Anything that doesn’t get rejected by the under 3-feet-tall crowd is a definite bonus. (This would also be super good for anyone who’s sick, especially if you added extra garlic for it’s immune-boositng properties.)

{The Ingredients}

10-12 cups homemade chicken bone broth
2-ish cups chopped up farmer’s sausage (nitrate-free and organic is best!)
scant 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon of sea salt*
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 teaspoon organic tamari (fermented wheat-free soy sauce)
2 cups frozen peas
12 large eggs

{The Method}

1. Pour the broth into a large stock pot. I used my 9-qt pot and it was about half filled.
2. Add chopped sausage, and bring to a boil then turn down to a bubbling simmer. Add ginger, cumin, garlic, tamari, salt, and peas.
3. Simmer for 15 minutes or so until sausage is cooked through.
4. While it’s simmering, crack your dozen eggs into a small bowl and whisk them with a fork.
5. Turn the heat down to low, then slowly pour the eggs in a steady stream into the soup while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until eggs are cooked (they cook pretty well instantly).
6. Turn off heat and serve!

* That may sound like a lot of salt, but bear in mind that real sea salt is not bad for you – it is full of important minerals that your body requires to function properly. If you eat a real/traditional food diet you don’t have to worry about massive amounts of processed sodium in the boxed junk, so salt your food to taste and enjoy it! Also – homemade broth is massively bland without the salt. It is definitely necessary to taste good! 

What’s your go-to kind of soup? I’m looking to expand my soup repertoire, so I’d love to hear your favourites!

***

Be sure to check out my other recipes on my recipe page – I’m slowly adding more and more, and every single one is a family-favourite at our house!

{Linked up with SortaCrunchy for Your Green Resource!, The Nourishing Gourmet for Pennywise Platter Thursday, Real Food Forager for Fat Tuesday, Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free for Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, and Easy Natural Food for Sunday Night Soup Night!}

A few of my newer readers who have checked out some of my older stuff have found those posts and have asked whatever happened to part three, so I’ve decided to rewrite the posts and publish them again.

***

Can any of us truly say that we are consistently doing the best that we can every single day? I have my doubts. I’ve learned recently that constantly trying to be enough (a good enough wife/mama/homemaker) is not only exhausting, it’s fruitless. There are just so many ways that I fail every single day.

Today we were barely through breakfast and I’d already clenched my fingers together and raised my voice because my toddler babe takes about a billion years to push through each and every tooth and OH.MY.GASH – the insanity. The ceaseless crying and whining murders me. It’s like a ghastly crime scene and the victim lying unceremoniously in a puddle of death is MY MIND.

There was some serious wailing and gnashing of teeth right there on the kitchen floor, and it wasn’t even 9am yet. Daddy was not due to come home for another 7-8 hours, by which point there surely would have been total and utter annihilation of all sanity.

Is this really my life? Trying not to yell at a teething toddler and a three-year-old acting like SUCH a child (sarcasm alert). What part of my childhood sunshiney plans for motherhood included this scenario? Who clued me in to the fact that my job would be a daily repetition of the most mundane and mind-numbing tasks one could imagine? Who warned me that the gritty day-to-day of motherhood would be a constant dying to self and trying to understand and shepherd the irrational minds of several precious creation-gifts from heaven who cannot even wipe their own butts?

This is the point at which I ask God if he’s sure I should remain in this whole mothering gig. Perhaps something went awry in the factory packaging, and I didn’t get a big enough portion of patience or sympathy or keep-it-togetherness.

These words from Kathleen Norris struck me deeply a year ago, and they remain as profound today:

“The fact that none of us can rise so far in status as to remove ourselves from the daily, bodily nature of life on this earth is not usually considered a cause for celebration, but rather the opposite. The daily routines that provide a modicum of discipline in our lives are perceived as a drag, a monotony that can occasion listlessness, apathy, and despair” (K. Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and “Women’s Work”).

What if I stopped perceiving my daily mundane as a monotonous drag?

The laundry that never ends, the dirty dishes stacked, the toys scattered and the cluttered closets. The whining toddler, the disobeying preschooler, the constant touching and climbing all over me and never-a-moment’s-peace and why-can’t-I-go-pee-without-an-audience? The errands and grocery shopping and cooking and cleaning and scrubbing and oh yes, breathing and sleeping and sitting once in a while? The dirty boots and mud tracked in the house and crayon on the walls and orphaned lego pieces that I find underfoot.

Can I find peace and contentment in these mundane realities? Or do I have to find it in spite of them? Layered in between the popcorn crumbs and the dismantled couch cushions and the tantrums and the discouragement, there is joy. It’s not a rosy-all-is-well feeling and it’s not a satisfaction that finally I did everything right all day long. Waiting for that kind of a feeling will leave me waiting forever and ever. Instead, I have this crazy idea that if I lean a little deeper into the quotidian realities and the gritty spectrum of humanity that I find there that I will at last find peace. To believe wholeheartedly that this exact mundane moment is full of beauty and heart-pulsing life.

In same work quoted above, Kathleen Norris writes this little bit of wisdom:

“But, like liturgy, the work of cleaning draws much of its meaning and value from repetition, from the fact that it is never completed, but only set aside until the next day. Both liturgy and what is euphemistically termed “domestic work” also have an intense relation with the present moment, a kind of faith in the present that fosters hope and makes life seem possible in the day-to-day.”

My desire, in my role at home (as home-maker – literally: making the home) is to be wholehearted (wholehearted: “undivided commitment or unreserved enthusiasm). I seek joy right smack dab in the middle of the daily grind, not in spite of it. Not during naptime. Not after the kids are finally in bed (though those times are certainly refreshing in their own way). I breathe deep in the reality that lives within our little prairie house and I see it. I really truly see it. And I whisper my thanks.

Every day I create as many messes with my stubborn ungrateful heart as I clean up from my precious and mischievous children. And yet, I am loved. I am growing. I am learning. If I were not a hot mess of humanity all broken and dry and weak, I would not know grace nor would I need a Saviour.

This is my mundane life full of beauty.

I feel like I’m entering the home stretch now, being in “the 30′s”. It’s like the countdown at new year’s when they start with 10! 9! 8! etc. Except that this time each second (aka week) may or may not feel like an eternity, and there will probably not be an immediate party after we get to the last number. There will probably be great efforts to stay thankful! and happy! (while overdue!) even though I want to serve up an eviction notice and reclaim my body from the little alien within.

Oh well, the end is coming at some point, and each day is one day closer. I’m ever mindful of that fact now that the uncomfortableness is gearing up. The usual – pelvic pain, heartburn, fatigue, not sleeping well, and peeing every 5 seconds. I think I feel way worse (achey, etc) when I eat any sugar or wheat… so I’m being careful right now about those things.

By and large my biggest frustration is my rhinitis. I’ve been using a nasal spray because that’s the only thing that has allowed me to sleep. I’ve tried an herbal breathe-easy tea, tea tree oil treatment on my feet, saline sprays, having a humidifier in my room, steam from the shower, vicks rub, and a neti pot (doesn’t work for me). Nothing has worked well enough to allow me to actually sleep enough to function during the day, except the nasal spray. (It’s getting so bad that I can barely smell or taste things anymore, and it’s making me totally nuts.)

Uh, small problem: apparently the nasal spray, if used continuously, can actually make your symptoms worse and is potentially addictive. Ouch.

So, if anyone has any bright ideas about cleaning congestion while pregnant, I’m all ears. Also, natural heartburn remedies would be nice.

Gosh this was not really supposed to be such a negative post. I just get asked so often how I’m feeling, so I figure I may as well give you the low-down.

In other news – I’m pretty sure my milk dried up totally somewhere in the second trimester, and Aliza was just comfort nursing for the last while. However…

I don’t actually remember the exact day, but I believe it’s now been a full week since she nursed. I do believe that we can say that she has officially weaned (at nearly 21 months old). I have to be honest, I am relieved. I had no qualms about nursing longer in theory, but it was getting quite uncomfortable since I had no milk left. I was starting to resent it, so I decided to give it a go and see if she would mind terribly if we weaned. I had to tell her once or twice a day that “mama’s milk is all gone”. She cried some mournful tears several times that almost made me give in, but I was able to distract her successfully each time without too much fuss, so we stuck it out. I feel at peace about it and I think it was the right time.

I know this is a somewhat scattered update, but let’s just say that I did it on purpose to illustrate the scatter-brained-ness that is my reality right now.

My final thought in this post is this: watching Isaac and Aliza play together these days, laughing and giggling and enjoying each others’ company (usually) is making me way excited about this babe to come. Despite the crazy roller coaster of having 3 kids in less than 4 years, I am beyond thrilled to think and hope that they will be each others’ best friends growing up. What a gift!

***

In case you missed them, here are the other posts I’ve written reflecting on this pregnancy: The Big Announcement, 13 weeks, and 20 weeks (focusing on deciding between a hospital-birth or a B&B birth).

There is a lovely (so I’ve heard) little Christian preschool here in Tiny Town that is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from our front door. Handy, right? Except that we have chosen to not send our children to preschool at all.

It’s not that I think there’s anything terribly wrong with preschool (especially having heard such great things about this one). Nonetheless, we have chosen to do these preschool years at home.

I strongly believe that young children can learn everything they need to know simply from participating in life within a loving and caring  family. In fact, I believe that young children actually benefit more from staying at home to play than they do in a formalized learning environment. I would worry that sending my child to school (even part-time) might set up a dichotomy between “learning time” and “non-learning time”, which I believe would be a disservice to him.

Currently my firstborn is 3.5 years old. He could have started preschool last September, but instead he is at home. If you peeked into our lives on any given day, you would not find letter and number worksheets, nor educational toys or carefully researched lesson planning.

Instead you’d probably see him running around in his underwear (he’s in an anti-pants stage…) imagining and acting out fairly elaborate scenarios with his trains, cars, and dump trucks. He’s a kid that builds an awesome block tower, covers every square inch of his paper with paint, and throughly enjoys digging in dirt and sand. He showed a small interest in drawing and colouring six months ago and recently he drew his first person, quickly followed by an airplane, a train, and now letters of the alphabet. He will sit still for as long as someone is willing to read to him, and loves books of all kinds. He is demonstrates empathy and care for others in his interactions with others.

I’ve written before about our attraction towards Interest-Led Learning (Unschooling), and I think that now is the perfect time to lay that foundation for my children. If you think about it – just in our daily life he is exposed to any academic subject that you can think of, including the following:

• Reading
• Art
• Music
• Mathematics
• Imaginative Play
• Physical Activity
• Life Skills
• Nature Studies
• Social Studies
• Science
• Writing & Story-Telling
• History
• Ethics & Philosophy
• Religion & Christian History

I plan to do a series of posts outlining some of the ways that he is learning these subjects intrinsically in the rhythm and flow of life. Some are more obvious than others, but I plan to also share some of my ideas for how I will expose him to these things in a variety of ways.

Do you send your kids to preschool? What kind of educational philosophy resonates most with you?

There’s nothing quite like a lazy family weekend and a fancy breakfast by candlelight for no other reason than to enjoy each others’ company. We enjoyed cheesy egg loaf with homemade hash browns, fruit salad, and gluten-free almond flour muffins, and of course tea in fancy tea cups (china cups for the grown-ups and slightly-less-fancy-but-still-special-cups for the kiddos. They had vanilla rooibos and we enjoyed good ol’ black tea. I found it quite amusing that the one and only unhealthy thing on the entire table (the store-bought jam which contains sugar – a pregnancy craving that I already regret) was rejected by the 3.5-year-old. He made us scrape it off of his muffin before he’d eat it. That’s my boy!

In other random news: I’m 29 weeks pregnant! One more week until I’m 30, and I feel like that is a really big milestone. The second trimester FLEW by and I am getting excited to meet this little stranger that’s currently making my belly roll like the wave at a hockey game. I can see it out the corner of my eye, and it makes me laugh. I’m starting to feel rather large and waddle-ish with some minor pelvic muscle pain, but nothing too bad so far.

Also – Isaac is learning his letters. I mean, he’s learning them… somehow… I’m not teaching them – he’s picking them up like a little sponge from the world around and now he recognizes almost all of them and can write quite a few of them. Crazy. He’ll say random things (after we’ve told him to come to the table for supper) like “Table! T-t-table. Table starts with T!” (We look at each other – “I didn’t tell him that, did you tell him that? no, I didn’t…” – ohmygoshourkidisbrilliant! Haha).

We are considering putting Isaac and Aliza into the same bedroom. Are we crazy? Are they too young for it? Will they sleep even less than they do now? (That would be very, very bad).

And that concludes the grandparents’ update portion of this post! On to the linkage!

***

From Toddlers and Tiaras to Sext Up Kids: A Dangerous Path @ PhD in Parenting :: “What is the media teaching girls about their role in society? Several things perhaps, but one of the more disturbing elements is the messages being sent on body image and sexualization.”

Fun and Engaging Activities for Toddlers :: I came across this blog on Pinterest, and thought I’d share it here too. I’m still exploring it, but there are a ton of great ideas on it that seems simple, creative, and low-key. 

25 Clever Ideas to Make Life Easier :: Love this link! I especially love the apple idea and the gutter garden!

The Long-Term Effects of Spanking @ Time Magazine :: “The odds of a child being more aggressive at age 5 increased by 50% if he had been spanked more than twice in the month before the study began…”

Cardiologist: Low-Fat Diet “Scientifically and Morally Indefensible”@ The Healthy Home Economist :: “Dr. Dwight Lundell MD is a cardiologist who beat the drum of lowfat diet and cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent heart disease for over 25 years. He has performed over 5,000 open heart surgeries and trained with prominent “opinion maker” physicians who considered any deviation from the recommended therapy of severely limited fat intake and cholesterol lowering meds to reduce heart disease risk complete heresy that could possibly result in a malpractice lawsuit. Dr. Lundell now admits that this long held notion is wrong.”

***

Well, I included a couple of controversial links there… to balance out the two fluffier ones. Any thoughts? I’d love to hear them, as always!

While browsing my Pinterest stream I often come across the best homey-type ideas that are awesome but that are more or less unattainable. Like built-in bunk beds with stairs going up, or cool loft spaces with indoor slides. If I ever get to build my dream home, it’s gonna be pretty dang amazing, that’s for sure.

However, for now (and indefinitely) we are renters. We live in a nice little house that works great for our needs, and we are so blessed to have it. There are tons of positives to outweigh the cracks and holes in the paint, the peeling baseboard, the rough spots on the old outdated cupboards, etc. There’s a basement playroom and a guest room and an office, there are lots of windows, and the amount of space is just right for us. Being renters does come with limitations though. No renovations (unless we wanted to pay for them ourselves, which would be dumb because we don’t plan to live here for more than a year or so). No fancy upgrades. Sometimes it’s easy to get depressed dreaming about all of those awesome house ideas that you can’t have.

So, we get creative.

I’ve seen lots of adorable photos of cozy little book corners (a dedicated cozy space for kids to read in) floating around on Pinterest, and while I loved the idea, I figured it would be too expensive to do properly. Until last weekend, that is, when inspiration struck.

I had the itch to rearrange our living room furniture, which was the catalyst for this whole thing. In our living room is the front door of the house, which we don’t actually use. (We use the back door where our driveway is.) Next to the front door is this weird opening in the wall that appears to have been intended as some sort of closet or coat hook area (although there’s no door on it). I decided to make this little area into our book nook, and with help from the hubby it came together quite effortlessly, all without spending a dime! I especially love that it can all be easily packed up and taken with us the next time we move! Here’s what we did:

:: The Book Nook ::

• The little book shelves are actually spice racks from IKEA, which we had picked up a long time ago (I think they cost around $5 each).

• The light on the wall is one we purchased in our last house to go over the stove because there was no range hood. We hung it sideways to fit better.

• The picture on the wall is a basic black IKEA frame that we already owned, with the awesome quote and patterned paper being from my scrapbooking supplies.

• The cushions on the floor are a random assortment from around the house that weren’t being used, and I added a couple of blankets and the sheepskin.

• And, the sign was hubby’s idea. I wanted to make a sign of some sort, and he suggested that I paint the words on a piece of wood. He went hunting downstairs for a piece of plywood, and came back with this – it’s actually a shelf minus the brackets – from IKEA (the cheapest kind they have – I think it was like $3) that we had bought while in a previous house and weren’t using currently. I freehand drew and painted the letters onto it, and voila! (black smudge on top of the first “o” is courtesy of the three-year-old).

Here’s a few more shots up close…

(Yes, that’s his “i’m-only-smiling-so-that-mom-gets-the-camera-out-of-my-face” look)

***

What about you?

Do you have a special space in your house for your little ones to curl up with a book?

(And if you haven’t already – why not take a second to “like” Red & Honey on Facebook, where I post awesome links and chat with readers!)

***

{Linked up with Jenny @ The Southern Institute…}

It’s a incredible group, but we have this one major flaw. It’s a woman thing, I think, and it is this: we apologize.

When we go around the circle sharing our prayer requests (otherwise known as our life updates), we often apologize for chattering on too much and taking up too much time, or for breaking down emotionally and crying over an issue that is particularly heavy on our hearts. They’ve done it. I’ve done it.

“I didn’t want to cry, I’m sorry” (sniff sob, pass the kleenex)…

“I will stop now, sorry for talking your ears off!” (after unloading a heart full of burden).

Apologies left, right, and centre… all for being open and vulnerable and transparent. For opening up the nitty-gritty and trusting each other with our hearts. To do so is rarely neat and tidy, passionless, or brief, and yet somehow we’ve come to believe that it should be. Why do women do this? Why do we apologize for letting our beautiful messes show?

Do we believe that a good woman is able to always keep it together?

Do we believe that a good woman is never burdened so heavily that she spews out her cares in a torrent of words and soul bits onto trusting friends while going over the unofficial (nonexistent) allotted five minutes per person?

Do we believe that a good woman is properly schooled in the art of manners and propriety and would never break down with vulnerability to unload the gritty realities of her life? Especially is she were to be “overly” emotional about it all?

I don’t.

I just don’t.

I believe that a good woman is one who shares her heart and admits her struggles to those who love her. I believe a good woman is one who can be vulnerable and brave enough to bare her heart’s cry and messiness. I believe that a good woman is one who will let the overwhelming emotions pour out in an honest and healing cry instead of bottling them inside. I believe that a good woman is often genuine, honest, vulnerable, and rarely prim and proper.

There is so much grace and loving in this way of living.

I think it’s time we stopped apologizing for being women who share our hearts.

Let’s stop being sorry and start being brave!

Let’s be unapologetic and let’s live open to joy and grace and love and all of the beauty that comes along.

(Let’s ignore the clock and pass the kleenex…) 

***

{Galatians 6:2 – “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”}