Hello friend!
Welcome to the first of hopefully many newsletters, where you will get to take a glimpse inside my life and brain.
Honestly, the social media world has become exhausting for me. Keeping up with algorithms and the pressure of producing beautiful content has kept me from posting as freely as I used to. We might as well lay out some expectations we can all have moving forward. I am hoping that in a newsletter like this, I will be able to do a few things:
Reflect on the past month. This one is mostly selfish. I process well through typing and have always felt healthy when I can get my thoughts down on a computer and just kind of leave them there. Hopefully you all will get something out of it to!
Encourage you in your walk with Christ. I don’t want to waste my time sharing unless God is glorified. So my prayer would be that each month as you read this newsletter, you would be sharpened to love and enjoy God.
Share a bit of the things I am learning and have learned so that you can then learn too! There are few things that give me greater joy than getting to help equip others with the tools and resources that I have. I hope each month to deepen your knowledge of a variety of topics.
Make you smile. If anyone knows our family personally, we truly love to laugh and enjoy every day moments. I plan to be completely real in this newsletter and hope that you will finish each month with greater joy in your hearts
Highlights for This Month
Joey and I spent 5 days in Cancun for in the beginning of January. It was the first time we have been away from our kids for that long and I am telling you, it was MUCH needed. I felt like I was on the edge of burnout in many areas of my life and I spent the 5 days in the sun reading and journaling. I didn’t realize how much my soul had missed extended, uninterrupted time with God. My heart was physically hurting because I missed my kids so much but I was so thankful for some good time away to rest and reflect.
Joey built this incredible snowman with the kids on their snow day. It lasted multiple days after the rest of the snow melted away
I’m in baby heaven over here with lots of my friends having babies this month! There are few things that bring me more joy than watching young women become mothers :)
Monthly Reads
One of my goals for 2023 is to read at least one book a month. That is a big deal because I am really good at reading half of a book and then moving on to the next one. And I have also been in a season of just trying to faithfully read my Bible and not being able to read much else so I am looking forward to this challenge!
Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, wife of Charles H. Spurgeon
I love missionary biographies. I loved everything about this biography. Charles H. Spurgeon is a popular missionary that wrote many books, spoke many amazing sermons, and really changed church history with his ministry. I loved getting a close up insight of his marriage and family. The foreword put it well “One of the strangest silences of church history is the lack of attention to the wives of ministers and pastors, even the most famous of Christian leaders.” Susie loved doing life alongside her husband. She spent the first part of their marriage traveling with him until she was debilitated by illness (most likely Endometriosis). She ended up spending the latter portion of their marriage in her home, experiencing pain and building a Book Campaign to get rich, theological books to low income pastors. Because of her hard work, her husband’s books were in the homes of people who would have never been able to ordinarily afford it. I loved reading about their love story and the way that they committed everything to the Word and to prayer. It convicted me and gave me pause to the way I can so easily walk through my days without thoughts of the Lord. Also, the more I homeschool, the more I love all things history! I didn’t enjoy the subject much as a child but as I study history with my children, it is opening up a whole new world of understanding for me! Must read if you love missionary biographies, Charles Spurgeon, or anything with some rich history in it!
The Horse and His Boy
We finished this read aloud with the kids last month. To be honest, it was one of my favorites of the Chronicles of Narnia Series! We were all engaged the entire time and my young kids were asking questions at the end of each chapter. The imagery in it is so vivid and the mysteries of Narnia really come to life towards the end of the book. I wish someone would turn it into a movie because we loved it that much! I would love for the kids to be able to see images that display what they heard in the pages of this book.
Homeschool
One of our favorite days of the week is our community day with Classical Conversations. This has been the most simple solution to so many needs for our homeschooling family.
Classical Conversations memory work helps me to not have to teach multiple curriculums to multiple grade levels. We can all work on History, Science, Latin, and Art together and there are different ways that I can challenge the older kids but simplify things for the younger kids. This is SO helpful when you are teaching multiple kids of different levels. We love getting to do CC Review all week together and it is really fun to see them learn together!
My kids get to experience “ school days” with other kids once a week. They have a teacher (we call tutors), classmates, and all the fun things that come along with school such as Valentines Day parties, show and tell, and lunch/recess.
As a mom with many things on my plate, it is so nice to have someone else in charge of setting up the science and art projects ; ) Keeps the mess out of my house and we can expand on it at home later on if they are interested!
This type of schooling builds on itself. The things they learn in Kindergarten come around full circle as they get older. If you haven’t looked into the Classical model, I encourage you to look into it here.
Home Resources
One of my favorite things in my home that is keeping me sane right now is this laundry sorter that my husband built for me. The goal is to get laundry washed and folded throughout the week. I sort it into 6 different baskets throughout the week and then we put away all of the kid’s clothes on Monday mornings. My big two can put theirs away on their own and my little two can help with the basics! This is the only way I have been able to keep up on laundry with 6 people during this season of life.
Health & Wellness
One of my favorite tests to run on women is a Dutch Hormone Test. In the last year, I have seen so many hormone symptoms disappear. From young women coming with painful cycles, headaches, and acne. To 20-30 year old’s with fertility issues or cycle abnormalities. 40 year old’s with facial hair, breakouts, and heavy cycles. Peri/post menopausal women with hot flashes, low libido, and no energy. PCOS, Fibroids, Estrogen Dominance, hormone poverty.. the list goes on! SO many women coming in looking for answers. And I can honestly say that because of this testing, I am consistently able to find the root cause to hormone issues and see symptoms improve dramatically! One thing that I love about the functional medicine model is that there is no “one size fits all”. Every Dutch test that I review is different and every protocol recommendation is unique. If you have gone to your doctor’s office and gotten testing and they have told you that “everything is good” yet you still deal with consistent symptoms that tell you otherwise… RUN, don’t walk, to a provider who is willing to do a Dutch test and will be skilled enough to get to the root cause of your symptoms!
Ministry
Once a month, I gather a group of young married ladies together and we do a little devotional and learn something practical for our homes. We call this time “Titus 2 Time” from the verse that says: “Older women… are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”
We have had the privilege of learning many things from other women- including wood working, gardening, hospitality, and many others. This month, I got the privilege of having the girls over to my house to show them my medicine cabinet and how I go about treating my family’s sicknesses from home to save the time and money of running to the doctor’s office for every little sickness that comes our way. It was so sweet to get to share a bit of my brain and resources with these ladies so that they can be even more equipped to take care of their families!
Favorite Things
This Stanley Cup is a favorite of mine! My friend Kinzie was the first that I saw with this version. It is cheaper than the big ones and also spill proof. I love the handle PLUS my kids don’t spill my water bottle all of the time. I am a big fan of a cup with a straw and am always thankful for something nontoxic to keep me hydrated throughout the day! Also comes with a Lifetime Warranty!!
My favorite place to get affordable, healthy snacks for my family is Thrive Market. Did you know that they offer a free 1 year membership to teachers, students, veterans, nurses, first responders, or a family in financial need. Plus you can get 40% off your first order through my referral code!
I’m sure I’m not alone in that I can’t seem to get my kids to eat the best nutrition. We use Fullscript to get the best quality supplements at wholesale price! Some of my family’s favorites include: Thorne Kids Multi +, Rosita's Cod Liver Oil, and Bioray's NDF Calm.
This play sink has begun to occupy my busy toddler during homeschool mornings and dinner preparations. Although, she does dump water all over the floor, I can’t be more thankful for a toy that will keep momma’s hands free for those certain times of day!
My sister got my kids this Yoto Player for Christmas and Adi has mostly claimed it for her own. She has it set to wake her up in the morning by turning bright white and she has listened to all the cards multiple times so far! I am not sure that we can afford to buy many more cards but one thing that I have found helpful is that you can download any Podcast on one of the cards and then you have plenty of content through podcasts that you choose! Two of my kid’s favorites right now are The Good Way Podcast and Lamplighter Kids.
Hope you all enjoyed getting a little peak into my life and mind! If you enjoyed this newsletter, would you do me a favor and get the word out about it? You can send them this link!