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What I Learned This Summer 2019

August 30, 2019 by mamakay 3 Comments

It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end all ready but I am here for it! I am linking up with Emily P Freeman to share my list of what I learned this summer.

The biggest lesson I got this summer was a bit cliche but I learned that I need to take better care of my body. I got my first physical in several years and found out my vitamin D levels were “the worst the doctor had ever seen” and that my cholesterol was too high. I am working to establish sustainable habits to take better care of myself. Focusing on taking my vitamins (including megadoses of Vitamin D), drinking more water, eating salads everyday and getting to the gym three times a week has helped a lot.
Annie F. Downs’ podcast series called the EnneaSummer2019 helped me as I have continued to learn about the enneagram this summer. I highly recommend it if you want to dive deeper into the enneagram. Suzanne Stabile’s book called The Path Between Us really helped me apply the enneagram to help me build better relationships with those I love.
I am totally obsessed with the Caesar Salad Kit from Costco. Throw in some chicken and its a complete meal!
Another thing I learned this summer is that Naan bread (also from Costco) makes an awesome base for individual pizzas.
We got to have a family camping trip with my dad, stepmom, sisters and their families this summer and it was the best! I really want to make this a regular thing!
Air fryers are terrific for making your food crisp and not heating up the kitchen in the summer. This is the one we got. I love that it doubles as a toaster oven. I don’t love the timer so we use a separate timer.

How about you? What did you learn this summer? I would love to hear!

Back to School Checklist

July 23, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

We are in the dog days of summer and although it might seem too soon to talk about it the kids will be back to school soon! My kids start back in less than a month. I have found that if I spend a little time now making a checklist of our back to school needs I can work through it a little at a time instead of going mad that last week before school starts to get everything done in time.

Here is what is on my list:

1. Clothes Inventory

I like to spend some time going through each child’s clothing to see what they already have and what they are going to need to go back to school. I like to do this 1 or 2 kids at a time on their laundry day. I have them work with me to pull out anything that they have outgrown or that has holes in it. Then we make a list of what they still need. Once we have the list we shop our bins of hand me downs and if we don’t have everything then we add it to the shopping list.

2. Buy the Needed Clothes

As much as possible we shop thrift stores followed by Target, Old Navy and Ross. Clothes shopping is my least favorite activity. But it has to be done. I only take 1-2 kids at a time to make it less overwhelming.

3. Lunch Boxes

It only takes a few minutes to gather up the lunch boxes and containers from prior years but it helps so much when the kids are ready to go back to school to make sure they have what they need! The last couple of years we have gotten lunch boxes from Costco that have lasted really well. They come with ice packs and containers.

4. Backpacks

What says back to school better than a new backpack? I am always hopeful that at least some of the backpacks are still usable the next year but it seems like most of them have a broken zipper or seam by the end of the year. We did get a High Sierra backpack from Costco last year for one of our daughters and it stood up well and she can still use it this year! We are definitely going to buy more of them for this year.

5. Shoes

Do your kids always grow over the summer too? Now is a great time to find sales on shoes and make sure everyone has shoes that fit well to go back to school!

6. School Supplies

Now here is my love language! Give me $100 to spend on notebooks, pens, pencils and all the school supplies and I am a happy girl! I like to stock up on things I know they will use throughout the year because it costs so much more later in the year but sometimes I stock up too much on a particular thing. So before I go shopping it’s helpful for me to double check the supplies we already have on hand. I know many schools don’t give you lists until right before school starts but it helps if you get the basic needs and only have to shop for the couple of extra things at the last minute. Everything gets picked over if you wait until the last minute and it is so much more stressful!

7. Restore Good Bedtime Routines

Over the summer we are a little more lax on bedtimes and our normal routines. I find it helpful if a couple weeks before school starts we slowly move back to earlier bedtimes and wake up times so it doesn’t come as quite a shock when school starts. One of my favorite tools for helping with this is our Echo Dots. We set daily reminders to help us start our bedtime routines, brush our teeth long enough, turn out the lights and alarms to wake everyone up in the morning.

8. Plan a Fun Activity

We love to plan a fun activity to signal the end of summer. It could be a trip to the ice cream shop, a camping trip, or a water park. Having markers to signal the change of a season really helps with transitions and is a great way to make memories that will last a lifetime.

If you would like to print out a handy checklist just sign up below:

Summer Prep Challenge

May 16, 2019 by mamakay Leave a Comment

You know how at the beginning of each summer you think wouldn’t it be nice if we did fill-in-the-blank? And then you get to the end of the summer and think where did the time go? I want to help you actually do the things you want to do this year! Each day for 5 days you will receive a summer prep challenge email with a prompt to help you prepare for the summer you have always wanted.

We will make sure you know what it is you want to do with your time this summer and make a plan for actually getting it done with step-by-step directions as well as ideas to make this the best summer ever.

Taking a few days to plan here before summer starts will allow you and your family to embrace the summer season and be prepared for it.

Sign up for the Summer Prep Challenge below!

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 1 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.

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