mamakay

Stitch Fix #13: Special Clothes for May Events

April 24, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

May is a big month for us! It is my birthday, Mother’s Day, my 2nd daughter’s high school graduation and we are going on a big trip to Costa Rica! So I asked my stylist at Stitch Fix to send me clothes for everything coming up.

#1

The first piece in my stitch fix box is an embroidered sleeveless grey shirt with embroidery. I thought this paired really well with my navy cardigan and distressed jeans from previous fixes. I love the details and it is really comfortable too.

Embroidered Grey Shirt from Stitch Fix — embroidered shirt with cardigan and distressed jeans from Stitch Fix

#2

The next item is this blue floral dress. The fabric is really soft and light. I might wear it to graduation, Mother’s Day and to church on any given Sunday.

#3 & 4

These two pieces in my Stitch Fix box form a great Mom outfit, comfortable and stylish. I love this grey striped shirt and olive capri pants. I think they will work good for our Costa Rica trip and throughout the summer months.

Grey Striped Shirt Olive Capri Pants from Stich Fix — Grey Striped Shirt with Olive Capri Pants from Stitch Fix

#5

The final piece in my box is this black maxi dress. Not everyone thought this was flattering on me but my 18 year old daughter really wants to keep it for her. What do you think? A black dress is always good to have but I’m not sure this is the right one for me.

I would love to hear what you think in the comments! Have you tried stitch fix yet? They gave me a code to share with you. If you click on this link you can get $25 dollar off your first order.

*Stitch Fix is an online store that sets you up with a stylist to find clothes for you. You answer questions and they work to match things with your size and style. Each time (you decide how often you get the boxes) you get a box with 5 items in it. You try them on and then have 3 days to decide if you want to keep them. If you don’t like any of them you pay $20 for the stylist fee. You send back the items you don’t want (in a pre-labeled bag they send in the box for free) and pay for the items you keep. If you buy all 5 items you get a reduced price. If you decide you want to try it for yourself please click on my link and I will get a referral credit.

Messianic Passover Seder Dinner

April 13, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Many, many years ago some friends of ours introduced us to celebrating a passover seder dinner. We have celebrated it every year since. Although the Jewish observance of Passover doesn’t always line up with Easter, we always celebrate it during Holy Week. As Christians we celebrate the Lord’s Supper frequently as a reminder of Jesus’s sacrifice and his last night. A Passover Seder dinner is the full version of what Jesus would have partaken of on that last night of his life.

I found Celebrating Biblical Feasts by Martha Zimmerman to be a great resource. We use her Messianic Haggadah every year. It is a very good version for doing as a family and isn’t quite as long as a traditional haggadah. You can download a copy of it here

Seder dinner is an interactive reading with foods representing different parts of the story. Everyone has a copy of a haggadah that they read from. Some parts the leader reads, some parts are responses read by the rest of the family. Even the smallest child gets a part. I recommend reading through it ahead of time so you will be prepared. The whole reading and dinner takes about an hour and a half. Make sure to have your dinner all prepped and ready to go. The meal is served about 45 minutes into the ceremony.

What you need for the Ceremony:

Place settings for the number of people you have invited plus one more for Elijah
A copy of the Haggadah for each person
A jacket to put on the back of the chair for each person
A pillow on for the seat of the leader
At least two white cloth napkins for covering the afikomen (we use Matzo crackers)
Two candles on the table (lighting them will be included in the ceremony)
A pitcher, bowl and towel are also needed for the hand washing ceremonies.
A small bowl of salt water for each person
Plenty of Wine or Grape Juice

We have found that by practicing Passover we can pause as a family to appreciate the salvation we have received through Jesus. It shows God’s plan all through history to provide a sacrifice once and for all through his Son. So many times in our culture holidays turn into another reason to stuff ourselves with sweets and be greedy. This holiday slows everything down and helps us to focus on what really matters. I hope that it can be a blessing for your family as well.

We who are Christians can rejoice as we keep the Passover in remembrance of our own slavery to sin. We know that with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm the Lord our God rescued us. So that is why, even though we might all be wise, learned, full of experience and understanding, knowing God’s Word well, it is still our responsibility to tell the story of the going out from Egypt and to praise the Lord.
Celebrating Biblical Feasts

10 Things to Tell You About Journaling

March 27, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I have really enjoyed listening to Laura Tremain’s new podcast: 10 Things to Tell You. This week her episode was on journaling. I knew I had to come on here and tell you my ten things about journaling!

Journaling is one of my favorite things! I have found that I process things best through the process of writing. When I was 10 years old I started keeping a journal of some sort when my mom gave me my first journal.
I use various methods and notebooks for my journaling. Everything from a pretty spiral bound notebook, hardback & softback moleskins, Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks, a specific gratitude journal, a one line a day notebook and various notebooks my husband brings home from work.
Facebook makes a great journal of sorts. I post to share with others but also as a memory book for our family with posts and things I want to remember. The Memories portion of Facebook works wonderfully. I have 9 years of recorded memories that I can see every day. Someday maybe I will have one of those books made that includes your posts so that I will have it in physical form. But for now this is such an easy way for me to document our lives.
The journal I most consistently write in is my prayer journal. I find that I can concentrate better when I write my prayers down and it also makes it easier for me to look back and see where God has been faithful throughout my life.
A new practice I have added in the last few months is to write morning pages. Although its rarely first thing in the morning I try to spend some time at least a couple times a week just free form writing. The idea is to write for a certain amount of time or pages about whatever comes to mind without filtering. Just getting thoughts on paper.
I used my bullet journal to write any lists, things I want to track, ideas that I want to come back to. The bullet journal makes it so much easier for things you want to be able to find again because it uses an index to track everything. I love my Leuchtturm 1917 notebook for this.
Many years ago I was inspired by Ann Voskamp to keep a Gratitude Journal in her book A Thousand Gifts. I’m not as consistent with this as I used to be but I love to pull out my notebook and list as many things as I can think of that I am grateful for.
I love the idea of keeping a One Line A Day journal. Last year I bought one and have been very random in using it but like Facebook it is a great way to be able to look back through time and remember what was happening in your life.
I have tried using Evernote and OneNote to have an online journal that was searchable but for me I really like writing it by hand instead.
Journaling helps me to feel like myself. So often I don’t even know what I think or feel about something until I start writing it down. When its been too long since I have written I feel myself slipping away but just a few minutes with a pen in hand makes all the difference.

Some of my favorite tools for journaling:

Spring is Coming: What is your Next Right Thing?

March 19, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Here in the Northern United States spring is always tricky to catch. The calendar might say that it comes on March 20th but every year is different. This year there is thick, icy snow still on the ground from our record breaking cold February and early March but you can feel the sunshine warming the earth and tugging on your soul to search for signs of spring. Calves are multiplying. The days are getting longer. The snow is receding ever so slowly (but a rapid warm up would destroy us with flooding).

Suddenly 40 degrees feels like a heat wave. It is amazing how much difference just 10 degrees makes! This is the time of year that the wind is welcome as it takes the melted snow away into the air instead of flooding my garage. In just a couple weeks the daffodils will make their appearance and we will know spring has truly arrived (even if a stray snowstorm comes our way, the snow won’t last). The winter spell has been broken.

It is true in our lives too. We often long for sudden changes. For the hard season to just be over so we could move on to the more pleasant days. But is that what we truly need? It seems to me that a slower change bends us and moves us without breaking us. As we approach this new season I like to sit down and do some evaluations. What is the state of my heart? Are there things I need to address? What does our schedule look like? Am I accomplishing the things I need to on a daily basis? What are things that my efforts would be best used on right now? What is my next right thing?

One of my favorite people, Emily P Freeman, is about to release a book to help you discern what your next right thing is. Not only that but she has some amazing bonuses for people who pre-order her book. She is offering immediate access to her online course Discern & Decide for free!! She is also offering her audio version of the book when it releases. Here is a link if you need help in discerning your next right thing.

May this spring awaken you from your winter slumber and pull you into the sun where you will receive new life to go forth in the coming days.

We are Placemakers

March 1, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

What is placemaking? It is deliberately sending your roots deep into a place, like a tree. It means allowing yourself to be nourished by a place even as you shape it for the better.

This is a book about my longing for peace and my instinct that peace and place are indistinguishable. But it is also a book about God’s longing, a longing that weaves in and out and through the whole story the Bible tells. God longs for the place he has chosen as a dwelling for his Name.
Placemaker by Christie Purifoy

I was blessed by being included in the launch team for Christie Purifoy’s new book, Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace.

I feel so much connection to Christie. Both of us were an English Lit majors. We have moved a few times looking for a place to put down roots and have found ourselves in an old farmhouse that requires so much work to keep (although not as beautiful as hers). We have found ourselves in a wilderness season where so much of what we thought was our path turned out not to be so. All along the way trees have anchored me and connected me to the place we were.

Our First House and Australian Bottle Tree

The first tree we chose at our first house was an Australian Bottle Tree. It is a fast growing evergreen tree that flourishes in Arizona. We lived in that home for 5 years and started our family there. It had a tiny yard but big vaulted ceilings. The house was a new build and it was so fun getting to pick out the carpet and counter top. It was a beautiful home and we began our journey of being placemakers. But it was a long commute to my husband’s job and so we decided it was time to move on.

Phoenix House
Our Citrus Grove
Palm Tree

Our next house was a beautiful home. In fact to this day I wish I could have just picked that house up and transported it with us to Montana. Our neighborhood was lined with Elm trees. We planted 3 citrus trees our first year as placemakers there: an orange, a tangelo and a lemon tree. The orange tree didn’t make it but the other two thrived and we got to enjoy fresh citrus for several years.

A funny story: Do you see that huge palm tree growing in the backyard? A palm frond blew into our yard one day and our oldest daughter decided to plant it! Lo and behold it took root and grew into that tree!

We lived in that house for 8 years. Although we loved the house itself we never felt at peace there. We tried to sell it for years to no avail. A dream grew in our hearts for a homestead. A place where we could work together as a family to raise good, healthy food. A place where our children could play outside. A place that wasn’t so hot or so full of people. And then God did a miracle in our lives. One day we received a phone call from our old realtor. He wondered, “Are you still interested in selling your house? I have someone who is interested in buying it.” And so just like that we were released from that house and decided to pursue our dream of moving to Montana.

Many of us long to put down roots in some particular place, but we guard ourselves against heartbreak by waiting for a perfect place.

In the wilderness, we are given the opportunity to lay down the burden of our desire to make or remake so that when some other place invites our participation and our creative efforts, we are ready to offer those things with humility
Placemaker by Christie Purifoy

That was the rental house for us! It was tiny! 1200 square feet housing 8 people. Our front room served as the dining room, school room, library, and sitting area. We knew this was a temporary place but we were there longer than we expected. Finding our place in Montana was much harder than we thought it would be. But we found freedom in our wilderness and continued to be placemakers. We got to experience seasons for the first time as a family and we loved it! We got to experience small town life with neighbors to talk to and kids to play with and a park close by. The older kids could ride their bikes to the library without fear. Such a difference from Arizona.

Sometimes, placemakers make new. Build fresh. Start from scratch. But most of the time, they repair. They restore. They protect. Sometimes, placemaking is nothing more than the refusal to unmake.

After much searching we found our home in the country. Instead of the brand new houses we had lived in before we have a crazy old house originally built in 1949 with several additions over the years. But it came with old trees including a giant Cottonwood, a pine tree, a mature apple tree and several plum trees. This was a place we could put our roots down (and several of our children have told us we can never move).

An orchard is not a forest, though. Most forests arise naturally over time, but an orchard is a collaboration — an intentional partnership between us and the creator-God in whose image we are made….We do not make the trees, but we make a place for them. Like the God to whom we belong, we are placemakers.
Placemaker by Christie Purifoy

One of best things we did to be placemakers our first year at this place was to plant an orchard. We planted four kinds of apples, 2 pear trees and a cherry tree. A tree for each child plus an extra one. We have been here for 9 years now and are starting to enjoy the fruits of our labors. Each year we can jars upon jars of applesauce, apple butter and apple slices almost every fall that we enjoy all year long. We are starting to get enough cherries for a couple of pies every summer. Maybe next year the pears will be bountiful. Every fruit we get to enjoy is such a gift. We never know what will come. But God is gracious.

Our life here hasn’t been all that we had hoped for. We have stumbled and fallen. But we have gotten back up. We have been refined (and continue to be). Life is messy. But God is at work and I pray that we are collaborating with him to cultivate this place for his glory, whatever that looks like.

I want to be a placemaker, how about you?

What I’ve Learned This Winter

February 28, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I am linking up with one of my favorite people, Emily P Freeman, to share what I’ve learned this winter.

I actually love a good mystery! For years I have avoided them but after hearing so many people talk about how good Louise Penny’s books are I decided to give them a try and now I am on my 4th book with 10 more to go!
I love my enamel cast iron skillet! It is amazing what a different the combination of my new gas stove and this skillet are! My meats are so much more flavorful and cook so much faster!
I have been learning so much about the enneagram and have decided that studying it plus discussing my findings with family members is a lot like therapy only less expensive!
Although I was sad at giving up our 12 passenger van last summer, my Kia has been so wonderful!! Even though we have had a ton of snow, I haven’t had a single problem getting stuck. I am going to stick with an all-wheel drive car from now on!
Being on a Launch Team is wonderful! I have never done this before but now I am on a launch team for two wonderful books coming out soon: Placemaker by Christie Purifoy and The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman. It is so fun to get to see behind the scenes at to help promote their wonderful books!

How about you? What have you learned this Winter?

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