Author: joyfuldomesticity

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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…

Christmas!! Okay, well, that’s at least what Gabriel said when we woke up to a few inches of snow the other day. I think he was a wee bit disappointed when he realized that snow does not automatically equal Christmas. 😉 But he was still rather excited that it meant pulling out snowclothes and going out to enjoy the sparkly white world! It lasted all weekend, and now it has doubled & is still snowing. What fun! It makes me even happier that my Christmas gift crafting is just about tied up, and my holiday baking plans are now being schemed & family Advent evenings are being planned.

We love this world God created, and where He has planted us. 🙂

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Mandatory Jammy Day!

This morning when we awoke to a thickly white, crunchy world (frost, not snow! not yet anyway…) and a chilly house, I decided it would be Mandatory Jammy Day. Incidentally, we have never had a day spent in our pajamas here before. Gabriel didn’t quite know how to handle it! It took a wee bit of convincing, hehe. But every time he asked if he could put clothes on ~ or rather, when he asked if he could “at least put on pants and a shirt; not clothes, just pants and a shirt!” ~ I would offer something else fun and distracting to do. Let’s build a blanket fort! Let’s read books in there with a flashlight! Let’s eat boxed mac and cheese for lunch! Let’s bake a cake and you can use the mixer by yourself! Let’s watch a video and eat the M&Ms out of trail mix!

What a day. 🙂 I did actually get some other things done, but for the most part, it was a day spent just having fun with the boys and loving on them in a creative way we had not done before. Here’s some [humbling] picture proof of our Jammy Day for your pure and utter enjoyment.

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Remembering my Sweeties

Today is October 15th, the national day of awareness and remembrance for Pregnancy and Infant Loss. It is a unique way for those of us who have endured these griefs to publicly remember and honor these precious children that God has given to us. Today as I remember my Covenant, Glory, Promise, Peace, Mercy, Victory, and Hosanna, I am rejoicing over the gift that it is to be their mama.

I am so thankful for the blessing of having held these precious children in my womb. I am so thankful for the glorious hope of dancing and singing in paradise with them at the feet of our Father for all of eternity. I am so thankful that God has graciously allowed it to be 23 months since my last miscarriage. I am so thankful for the challenge of living out the dichotomy of grief & joy. I am so thankful for the story God has given my family to walk, both with its pains and with its pleasures, with its sorrows and with its rejoicings.

Today the Lord gives me the opportunity to share with you anew how glorious it is to serve Him!! Along these lines, let me one more time share Rainbows & Redemption for the blessing and encouragement of bereaved mothers who are once again holding life in their womb. You or someone you know may have the tricky blessing of walking this dichotomy, and this is a free e-book devotional geared toward that exact journey.

So today while Gabriel, Asher, and Tiny Ten are my tangible comforts and blessings and joys, they help remind me of their brothers and sisters who are already numbered with the saints triumphant. Glory be to God!

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Autumn Baking

Anyone who knows me knows (or should know!) that I love baking. It could be considered a passion, or perhaps sometimes even border on a crutch. When I’m happy, when I’m stressed, when I’m nesting, when I’m ministering… I bake. Thankfully, I am also finding that my children love baking too, so it is something we get to do together. In addition, it seems that just about everyone I meet is easily blessed by baked things! Breads, scones, cookies, pastries, desserts… you name it, I have not yet found that an offering of baked things turned down or unappreciated.

I love to bake, and I love to bless people. Combining these things is even more fun! God is kind to make that combination possible, and to make it so full of joy.

Lately, with temperatures dropping, I have been taking advantage of using the oven to warm up the center of our home. Our freezer is full. I’ve been taking goods to people in need (and to people not in particular need). I also got to bake desserts for a recent baptism feast and host a company dessert & wine party. I’ve shared slices of spiced cake or crumbly scones alongside piping hot cups of tea to ladies who stop by for a visit. Asher has even discovered the glories of things made with leaven and expresses his delight in the flapping of arms and loud vocal exclamations. Gabriel has learned that everything from mixing ingredients to smelling goodness oozing from the oven to admiring the visual appeal to devouring the finished product with our tongues & teeth & tastebuds can be positively exhilarating.

And for tonight’s dinner menu? I will be trying my hand at an American comfort food: chicken and waffles. It may sound odd, but trust me ~ it is exquisite when done right! Fried chicken that will be moist but not over-oily and waffles made with yeast & buttermilk… topped either with maple syrup or a spicy gravy (or a combination!)… Oh boy. Y’all should join our table tonight. Better yet: try it out for yourselves and see how much blessing you can heap upon those around your table.

Aaaaahhhh, the glories and warmth and blessing and sweetness of baked things!

It reminds me that it’s just one more way I can be a tiny image-bearer, imitating some of the good things our Father does and will do! It reminds me of His glorious feast yet to come, and makes my mouth water for the glory of things yet to come!

Isaiah 25:6

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

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Filled With Joy

2 Corinthians 7:4
“I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful…”

With great joy, we wanted to share that we recently found out that God has been knitting together a perfectly healthy and whole baby girl in the depths of my womb. The Lord is good, and His mercies endure forever ~ please rejoice with us over His handiwork!

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Our Curriculum

As everyone makes posts about first days of school and includes lots of shared lesson plans, fun outings, great crafts and science projects, and I notice a special amount of encouragement flowing between homeschool moms toward one another spurring one another on toward love and good works in this area with our kids… I too am indulging in the season. I have loved browsing Veritas Press and drooling over books I’d love to prioritize in our budget. I am having fun sorting through the pile of Usborne books I’ve picked up at Goodwill over the summer. I’ve had to purge my anxieties more than a few times as I pursue further lessons with Gabriel in math, reading, art ~ wondering if I’m “doing enough.”

And then this morning, I asked myself the question, WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE??

I turned to Micah 6:8 for the answer:

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

That, my friends is the curriculum I need to focus on with my children.
This is my prayer: that in whatever we do, our homeschooling would emphasize justice, mercy, and walking with God.
Because everything else is just sparkly icing sugar.

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Life, Currently

Current Reads: My Life for Yours by Douglas Wilson, Face to Face by Steve Wilkins, The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy Sayers.

Current Projects: Starting in on Christmas gift crafting. Lots of fun, but so far I’ve only made a good dent in planning and acquiring supplies. Now I actually get to jump in on the actual sewing and crafting, which of course is the best part. We’re also going to try to finish up some outdoor projects in the next eight weeks or so: finishing the back fence as well as the front porch ~ we’ll see how it goes.

Current Milestones: Steven & I are keeping up with our weekly family night & date night goals! Gabriel can tie shoes! Asher cut his first tooth! Tiny Ten is a wiggly babe!

Current Challenges: Managing the stomach flu making its rounds through the house. Figuring out how to maximize the 24  hours each day God has granted us. Trying to get back into the routine of early-morning reading & prayer time with my husband. Coming up with fun, delicious, new recipes that will help me attain my goal of at least one meat-free dinner a week.

Current Weather: Positively perfect! Sunny and warmish, but with a breezy chill. Precisely what September ought to be. 🙂

Current Music: Right now, it’s Up by Jamie Soles, and earlier it was Painted Red by JJ Heller.

Current Thanks: For my husband who works hard at his office job, then comes home to play hard with our boys, and work hard again with me in the evening routines, who sacrifices of himself for each of us. For my boys, who bring more joy to my life than I could imagine, and teach me so much about God, His world, His creation, and His story. For my parents, who have eagerly come alongside us, most recently when I was down & out with the flu ~ for not only their availability to help with our sweet boys, but for their enormous desire to do so, and the way they want to be involved in their everyday lives. For our church, and the community of people there who are seeking to grow in fellowship and faithfulness, and the ways we have been blessed to share in these things.

Current Photo Ops:

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Summer Sweetness

And while I’m not ready to divulge details or pictures or anything much pertaining to Tiny Ten… please know that YES, our Tiny Ten is growing and strong! The mercy of God in this is incredibly kind and beyond humbling!

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Let the earth bring forth grass

Take a look at the transformation our home had yesterday. What a true blessing!!

Psalm 147:7-8

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Sing praises on the harp to our God,
Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who prepares rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

Genesis 1:11-12

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.