I love writing at Keeper of the Home. It has been a delight for me to be able to share daily these past (almost) 3 years, on topics like natural living, nutrition and real food, faith, gentle mothering, homemaking and more.

It has been a surprising joy to establish this ministry of encouraging and building up women in their roles as homemakers, with a solid Biblical perspective and a mind towards good and faithful stewardship of our bodies, our resources, our time and God's beautiful Creation.

As the years have gone on, my own family and home have changed and grown. The Lord has added to our little brood (and we hope will continue to add to it!), we have begun more active homeschooling as our children grow older, we have become full-time entrepreneurs with a family business (including a new website, Saving Naturally), and our home is ever bustling with homestay students, church gatherings and more.

Needless to say, life is busy! And although I adore the writing work that I do at Keeper of the Home, I simply can't do it alone!

Join the team at Keeper of the Home

This spring I was blessed to be able to add 6 AMAZING women who serve as regular contributing writers (although we are sadly losing Angela-- we'll miss you!). I am so grateful to have them, and the special and unique perspectives that they bring to you each Wednesday!

Now I am looking for more women who would like to join the team! I have 6 positions available for regular writers who will write somewhere between once a month and once every 6 weeks.

Criteria for Contributing Writers:

1. An active Christian faith and a strong Biblical worldview.

(Note: I do sometimes take guest posts from those who are not Christians and I have no problem doing this. I receive many wonderful posts from some incredible and very knowledgeable ladies this way! However, since the Biblical worldview is important to the way that I share about the topics covered on this blog, for my regular writers it is important to me that they be coming from a similar perspective as I am).

2. A love for homemaking, natural living, real and traditional foods, and good stewardship practices!

This is the heart of my message, and so it is crucial that my writers also have a passion for these topics. I do not expect all of my writers to be experts on these topics or to be especially advanced in how they implement natural living and good nutrition in their lives, only that they be actively pursuing these things. I currently have writers that range from taking lots of baby steps to being very experienced and knowledgeable, and I LOVE the different perspectives that they all bring!

3. Excellent writing and self-editing skills.

On my blog, I endeavor to post only high-quality articles, well-written and engaging, with attention paid to grammar, spelling, ease of reading, etc. To keep up this quality, I need writers committed to pursuing excellence in what and how they write, and who take care to edit their work carefully.

This keeps Keeper of the Home top-notch and makes being a contributing writer here of more value to you, as well!

I am now accepting applications to fill these contributing writer positions.

To apply (and relax... it's a very simple process!), please complete this survey below.

Complete the Keeper of the Home Writer's Application here!

I will be accepting surveys until August 15th and will begin contacting potential writers within the next two weeks or so.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to apply! I will not be able to contact each of you individually (but only those writers who I am seriously considering), but I am so grateful that you would consider writing for Keeper of the Home!

Image by JuanRax

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. At Simple Organic: Using Houseplants to Reduce Toxins and Grow Fresh Air
2. Making Healthy Smoothies With Your Fresh Summer Greens (at Simple Organic)

For me, one of the most important aspects of blogging is being real. Being transparent. Admitting that I'm not a superwoman, and that just like the rest of you, I deal with the regular ups and downs of life as a mom, wife and homemaker.

Sometimes life flows along merrily. Other seasons are so much more difficult, where each day (and sometimes each hour and moment) can feel as though we are trudging through knee-deep rivers of sludge in a clunky pair of old rubber boots.

For me, this current season of life has had many rubber boot days, in the midst of much joy and blessing. By God's grace, I have the strength to keep trudging along, trusting Him to supply for all of my needs and to see me through this season, hopefully refined and purified and just a little bit closer to the image of Christ than I was before.

In order to be truly transparent with you, I needed to make a shocking "real foodie" admission. We haven't been eating all of the usual real food, prepared in the usual ways, that you would normally find us eating. Life has been hectic and at times, overwhelming, and I've been doing my best to keep my head above water. That doesn't always leave time for making sprouted flour bread and homemade mayo. Sometimes it barely includes enough time and composure to get some organic boxed cereal and raw milk on the table and call it breakfast (or dinner, for that matter).

One of my priorities through it all has been to find ways to keep the compromises to a minimum, and our nutrition (if not particularly great) at least sufficient. I'll let the video tell you the rest...

One other thing I didn't mention (because the video was already getting long) is that your focus should be on which ingredients you use, but not as much on their presentation or on how you use them.

What I mean is that if all you can do is make simple, comfort, convenience-style foods, at least start with really wholesome, nutrient-dense ingredients. High quality eggs, sea salt, beef and poultry, coconut oil or pastured butter, wild fish, whole grains, etc.

Even if you end up eating too many carbs, not enough fresh vegetables, or the same proteins over and over (all things that we have done lately!), at least they're still the right ingredients and even that makes a whole world of difference! For more on this topic, see my series Nutritional Foundations.

Does anyone else find themselves in a similar season of life? What are you doing to try to stay healthy and maintain a steady stream of nutrients in the midst of it all?

Image by kennymatic

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. Real Food Makeover: The Anderson Family
2. Real Food Makeover: The Woody Family, Part 2
3. Real Food Makeover- The Anderson Family, Pt 2
4. When Good Nutrition Doesn’t Seem to Help

In a little over two months, our family will be moving to a new abode.

This move is exciting for a number of reasons. The new house has more bedrooms and will allow us to have a girls bedroom and a boys bedroom (yes, we only have one boy so far, but we hope to have more one day!), in addition to an office and guest room. It will also allow my husband to set up his own studio for his music school- very exciting! It's newer than our current house, has a fenced backyard where the kids can play while I cook (hallelujah!), the kitchen is a dream, and the whole place just begs to be used for hospitality.

Those are all really great reasons to be excited about moving there, and yet I have one other reason that (at the moment) has me more excited than any other...

I want to use this transition as an opportunity to pare down what we own, seriously declutter, and more than anything, learn to live with much, much less.

You may wonder why this would matter to me since the new home will be even larger than our current one. It's not a storage issue, but it's actually a desire to simplify and learn to be satisfied with having less.

Reasons I'd Like to Live with Less:

1. When you have less, there is less to clean. Less to organize. Less to maintain. Less to figure out how to store and containerize. Less to do.

2. I want to adopt one of Simple Mom's favorite phrases, "Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful". We're trying to learn to only keep and purchase things that we love or are truly useful.

3. We honestly just have too much stuff. I think most North Americans do in general.

4. I want us to value the things that we do have. Especially my kids- when they are overloaded with books, toys, and clothes galore, it's easy for them not to value or take good care of what they have. The same is often true for me.

5. Being a busy mom, wife, homemaker, cook, writer, gardener, etc. I want to spend less time keeping up my home and more time on relationships that matter and doing things that I deem more important. Stuff requires time and effort that I'd rather spend elsewhere.

Image by globevisions

6. A home that is more basic and uncluttered feels more peaceful (at least, to Ryan and I). When our home is tidy and clutter free, we feel less stressed and enjoy being there more. We trust this is true for our kids and for our guests as well.

7. Not only do we value what we have when we have less of it, but I think that we become more truly grateful for it and aware of the abundance that we have been blessed with. Gratefulness translates into generosity, a trait which I want to cultivate in my children and in myself.

The Challenge

My husband and I have decided that rather than waiting until the last month to pack everything (we don't move until July 1st), we are going to pack as much as we can in the early weeks.

The point? To see how little we can live with and whether we even miss the things that we've already packed away.

Additionally, as we pack things up, we are attempting to be as brutal as we can in eliminating things that we truly don't use, need or like. Our goal is to sell enough in a garage sale to cover all or most of our moving expenses.

My husband has actually already jumped into this, within a week of finding out that the house would be ours. He's probably packed more than 20 boxes, and I am already enjoying this challenge. Sure, the walls are a bit more bare, most of the books aren't accessible and I have wondered where a few things have disappeared to.

So far, the only thing I have truly missed is my small jewelry box that got packed by accident, which I plan to retrieve. The rest I can live without for now (and maybe forever?).

I'm eager to continue on with what he's started. The kitchen and the toy/school room are calling my name.

I'll update you from time to time as we prepare for the move, letting you know the challenge is going and how life is when we're living with less.

Is this a challenge that you need to take up yourself? What would happen if you began to simplify and learned to live with less?

Image by robyn michelle-lee photography

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. Going with the flow of learning
2. Living Simply Saturdays: Keeping the toy mess in check

Last week I shared why our family is doing the GAPS diet and what it is all about.

We actually began this Monday morning. We haven't seen any amazing results come out of the first 4 days, but we are definitely noticing some die-off symptoms from the toxins being released (so far, only mild, but it's a good sign). Some upset tummies, slightly more eczema, a grouchy little boy, a really grouchy mama, some flushed cheeks.

I think this diet is really doing something, though. I couldn't really tell, until I cheated slightly yesterday. I was tired and emotional, and I caved and had 1/3 cup coffee with a tad of cream and unpasteurized honey. I paid for it. Oh, did I pay for it. My stomach reacted with the worst cramps I have had since I used to have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I will NOT cheat again. At all.

What did I learn from my experience? That you cannot interrupt a gut that is being healed. It is a slow and careful and fragile process. My gut has obviously been beginning to heal more than I thought, and this teeny amount of coffee threw it for an absolute loop. Learn from my mistake and obey the diet, whether you're hungry, frustrated, emotional, or tired.

Making the Food

The food preparation has not been as challenging so far as I anticipated. I spent some time last week making beef bone broth in preparation, and then more time on Saturday and Sunday cooking a chicken, making chicken broth and making a soup for Monday morning. It was well worth it to spend some extra time preparing to begin. Making food in large batches and utilizing my crockpot and leftovers has helped so much.

We did find that we had to quickly adjust and make a few small changes to the diet. I had been hoping that we could stick to the first stage of the Intro diets (blended meat and veggie soups, with a bone broth base) for a week or so, but we just couldn't do it. We lasted 1 1/2 days before we were all starving and frustrated and felt like we needed something else to eat!

We added in a couple of foods, based on the GAPS diet/SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which is very similar). We chose to add in eggs (lightly cooked for the children and I, but hard-boiled for my hubby as he doesn't care for eggs very much at all). We also added organic, peeled and cooked apples, and small amounts of lacto-fermented liquids and some sauerkraut. Lastly, we've started eating some more stew or just meat and veggie type meals, but still ensuring that everything is very well cooked and that we all consume bone broth along with each and every meal. We will do this for the rest of the week, and then start to slowly add in other introductory foods.

A few of you have asked for recipes, but I don't really have any to share yet. I have been making soups and now some stews, but they are just out of my head. I'm going to share about soup making (without a recipe) early next week.

There were also two excellent questions from last week that I wanted to make sure I addressed:

lizzykristine asked: I am curious whether you are still nursing?

The answer is yes. In fact, Johanna is still exclusively breastfeed (meaning she does not eat any solids) at nearly 7 months. How does this affect me doing the GAPS diet?

For one thing, it means I need to eat and eat and eat. It's hard to stay full enough and eat enough calories on this diet while nursing a little chunky monkey of a baby. It also means that I need to control my toxin die-off and keep it slow.

That is why after feeling sick on Tuesday, I realized that I needed to add a few foods back in to help slow down the detoxification and keep me more full and able to produce enough milk. I have also kept my probiotic use very minimal so far, which is another way to keep the detox level low. For more on cleansing while breastfeeding, see this post.

Photo by everydaypants

Ali said: So when do you have time to fellowship with the body of Christ, or have a Bible study in your home? Do you invite unbelieving ladies in your community to your house and teach them your cooking skills and weave in the Gospel... I just think this takes it way beyond NT and cooking well and healthfully... It just seems to elevate our bodies and food to such a higher level than may be necessary (and I know our bodies are the temple of Christ, but I don't think this is a good example of applying that).

This is a really excellent question! I have a few thoughts on it. First of all, cooking healthfully does take more time, but I have found that the longer I do it, the easier it gets. I spend a bit more time in the kitchen than many of my friends, but I also enjoy cooking and nutrition, I do it with my children, and it is also a part of the ministry that I feel called to, both on this blog and sharing our lifestyle with those we know in real life. I don't spend my days doing much (if any) frivolous stuff or even hobbies that I enjoy. I'm busy, focused and try to be as intentional as I can.

I try to use my time wisely, and that includes making time for more than just church on Sundays. Serving and loving others has a definite place in our lives (though I wish it was even more prominent). We regularly have people over to our home, many of them Christians for fellowship, and sometimes unbelievers as well. I haven't found doing special diets to be incompatible with either fellowship or ministry.

When others invite us over, they are very often willing and eager to work around our dietary needs. If I think it's too much for someone, we might have them over to our house instead. I will happily cook up foods that we wouldn't normally eat to bring to others who eat differently than we do, when bringing a meal to someone. Just last night we had a couple over for dinner- I served them soup that we could all eat, and I made a batch of cornbread specifically for them (which we didn't eat). No problem!

Lastly, serving my family is one of my highest priorities. How can I focus my attention on others outside of my home when I haven't first attended to the needs of those whom God has specifically given to me to care for? If my family is in poor health, it impacts how we serve others. It is difficult to pour ourselves into Kingdom work when we are dealing with significant health problems. We want to be as healthy and whole as we can be, so that we can be fully available to the opportunities that God allows us.

More to Come

I will continue to share on some things related to GAPS. Next week I will post about how I make homemade soups from scratch, without recipes, a very valuable skill for doing this diet!

I have also planned another GAPS update later in the month, as well as some tips for improving your digestive health even if you aren't up for doing a specific diet like this one.

Anything else you would like to see covered the next time I write about GAPS? Has anyone else begun or planned to begin the diet?

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. The GAPS Diet: What It Is and Why You Might Consider Doing It
2. The GAPS Diet: One Mom’s Experience
3. The GAPS Diet: Why Our Family is Doing It
4. Pregnancy Update: 16 Weeks

In two short days, I board a plane to go and do something I would have never imagined that I would do a year or two ago... I'm going to a blog conference!

I'm headed to Nasvhille, TN where I will be attending Blissdom '10 and I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am! Myself and 500 other female bloggers will be gathering to meet, share, talk, learn, network, discuss, strategize, glean, laugh, eat... I have a feeling there won't be a dull moment.

Sadly, it means that for 5 days I will be leaving three of my most favorite people in the world:

Daddy playing with Abbie and Caden on Christmas morning.

Honestly, what will I do without my best friend in the whole world and the two sweet little faces I love to look into each and every day?

Abbie is one cool dude, eating her oatmeal.

My sweet Caden, surprised and thrilled by "too many Clifford" books on Christmas morning.

Fortunately, I'll be bringing one darling little package with me on my journey:

My not-so-little girlie, Johanna, who is still definitely too little to be left without me (she's 5 months old now). I'm glad to have her as a traveling companion. Someone needs to keep me in line. :)

I leave for Seattle tomorrow afternoon and will be flying out bright and early at 6am Thursday morning. I'll arrive in Nashville by the mid-afternoon, in enough time to get settled at the hotel, get gussied up and attend my first cocktail party where I will start meeting some incredible, inspiring, fantastic women... I'm absolutely stoked to meet the likes of Crystal (Money Saving Mom), Amy (MomAdvice), Amy (Amy's Finer Things), Tsh (Simple Mom), Jessica (Life as Mom) and so many others I can't even begin to mention them. Wow. Can you say way too much fun?

I'll be there for the conference all day Friday and Saturday, and then spend Sunday attending church and hopefully doing a little sightseeing. I'll fly home, weary but happy, on Sunday afternoon and evening, then drive back from Seattle on Monday morning. Phew!

If you're going to Blissdom as well and want to connect, please send me an email (stephanie (at) keeperofthehome (dot) org) or tweet me as soon as you can so that we can try to find a time to connect- I'd love to meet with you! Or if you live in Nashville and have some ideas for my Sunday, please get in touch with me as well.

While I'm gone, I will do my best to get up a live-blog post or two (and I will definitely be tweeting the conference- @keeperhome). I've also got a couple of wonderful guest posts scheduled for you to keep things going while I'm traveling and then back home recuperating/doing laundry/loving on my family.

I can't wait to share with you about my experience and some of the things I learned at Blissdom! And with that, I'm off to Nashville!

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

No related posts.

Thank you all for your kind words and your prayers! I put out a tweet on Thursday saying that my husband had been released from the hospital Wednesday evening, but there simply hasn't been time for a blog post until now and I'm sure many of you have been waiting for an update.

Ryan is doing much better, though the health issue remains and no diagnosis was made or treatment given. We are pursuing his health further through alternative methods only, since conventional medicine does not seem to have anything to offer us in this regard. The doctors do not know what is wrong and claim that there is really nothing wrong, since they can't diagnosis it through their standard medical tests. We beg to differ, as there is most certainly something physically wrong that is not going away! However, we have much peace about it as we continue to trust God for His healing and grace in this situation, and we are just asking Him for direction and guidance as we pursue more natural avenues for understanding what is wrong and how to treat it. This is our usual inclination in times of illness anyways, but we felt this had gotten to a point of seriousness where we were willing to give conventional medicine a try. Well, at least we gave it a try, right? Back to looking at it from a wholistic point of view!

Our lives have continued to be a bit hectic since Ryan's return home from the hospital. Ryan's father's wife, whom I mentioned was in a battle with brain cancer, went home to be with the Lord on Wednesday afternoon. We spent Thursday morning searching for a flight, then the afternoon driving Ryan to the Sea-Tac airport so that he can go be with his father and attend the funeral in Florida. The children and myself are staying with my parents-in-law in Seattle until Monday afternoon, when we will pick Ryan up and head back home to Canada.

We are all doing well in general. Abbie and I had the flu for several days, and the timing was difficult with all else that was going on, but God was faithful to sustain us and allow me to get done all that needed to be done. Thankfully the littlest ones didn't catch the flu from us. I am enjoying a few days of being able to rest a bit more, under the care of my wonderful mother-in-law, as I regain my physical strength and energy from all that has happened in the past couple weeks. I look forward to being home and back to blogging early next week, but for now, my focus is on recuperation and providing stability for my kids.

Again, thank you for your kindness and prayers! What a blessed woman I am! :)

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. Pregnancy Update: 24 Weeks
2. Pregnancy Update: 36 Weeks
3. Pregnancy Update: 28 weeks
4. Pregnancy Update: 32 Weeks

As I wrote yesterday's post about our HOPE in the midst of trial, I was reminded of a series of posts that I wrote two years ago in response to our journey through my husband's cancer diagnosis and treatments. I thought they seemed relevant and timely considering where we're at this week, so I thought I would share them with you once again.

Reflection on a Difficult Year

Reflections on a Difficult Year, Part 2 (focusing on the body of Christ and how it functions)

Reflection on a Difficult Year- Practically Serving Those in Need

Any of your own reflections to add on walking through your own particular difficult seasons of life?

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. The Annual Organic Gardening Carnival 2009

It's been a long, hard day. Today was the second day that my husband has been in the hospital, and at this point, we do not know when he will be coming home. Life since Friday has been a fairly exhausting mix of his illness, much work to be done (my own, as well as helping him with some of his that absolutely could not be avoided), children that are sad/tired/confused and missing their Daddy, a baby that's not getting enough sleep, and a mama who is just tired and weary and feeling a bit done with it all.

I wish that I had a wonderful update for you all, letting you know that the doctors know what is wrong and things are looking promising, but it's just not true. Every test so far has come back absolutely normal, and as our kind doctor said this afternoon, all that he has right now is question marks. Same goes for Ryan and I. Diagnosis, though difficult, can sometimes be easier than the not knowing or having no answers as to what will bring healing.

Today was also difficult in other regards. Around noon, we listened in disbelief and sorrow as one of Ryan's hospital roommates went into a code blue. His heart stopped, and he was not resuscitated, as his suffering was so great at the end of a long battle with lung cancer. We heard his adult children and his wife weeping openly, and then recite Psalm 23 as a family... "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...". It broke my heart.

It seems that illness and death are all around us. Last night while watching a video with our children in the hospital lobby we saw friends from an old church, and discovered that he, too, was in a battle with cancer. My husband's father's wife who lives far away from us is currently in her own battle with terminal brain cancer and is literally hanging on by a thread the last several days.

Life is fragile. We are like the grass the grows and then withers and will one day be gone.

And yet, we have so much hope.

God, in His absolute goodness, has already met our greatest need by saving us from His much-deserved wrath and instead flooding our lives with incredible grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. We have never been promised lives of ease, free of pain or sadness or loss. We are broken people, living in a broken world. Yes, God can absolutely heal, and yes, I believe that He is more powerful than we can even imagine. I don't doubt His ability to do great and gracious things among us during our earthly lives, and yet that is not what I hold out hope for. I've said it before and I'll say it again... our hope is not in physical healing, in perfect health, in happiness here on earth.

Our hope is in what's to come. In the One who saves and whose face we will one day gaze upon, most likely with wonder that we ever doubted His goodness at all.

Are you certain today of the hope that you have and your standing before this God, who though He is merciful is also pure and incapable of allowing the wretchedness of our sinfulness into His presence? If you are, praise Him. Rejoice in what He has done for you and remember once again how fleeting our earthly lives are and how eternal He is.

If you're not sure, I beg with you to visit this site and learn more about the 2 ways that we can choose to live our lives.

Our family would appreciate your prayers throughout this week. For my husband's healing, and particularly for wisdom for the doctors, and for tests and specialists to come through quickly. For our children, to be surrounded by the comfort and peace that only the Holy Spirit can bring. For their mommy, to continue trusting in the Lord and in His goodness, in ALL circumstances and ALL outcomes, as well as simply for strength and energy to continue to take care of all that needs to be done. And especially that we would all look to Jesus through this trial, without fear or anxiety, and bring glory to His name in the midst of it.

I will try to keep you all updated, if not through my blog, then through twitter (@keeperhome).

Thank you, my friends, for the support and prayers I know you always give. I may not know you in real life, but your kindness still touches my heart and your prayers affect my life.

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. Winner of the Hope Ink Print
2. Q&A: Phone calls and visits in the midst of a schedule

Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas, as you celebrate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. To Christ be all the glory this Christmas season. What a great Savior we serve!

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. Coming up- Simply Celebrating Christmas!
2. Simply Celebrating Christmas!
3. It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
4. Living Simply Saturday: Keeping Christmas Simple and some Birthday Party Fun

Just a few thoughts as I prepare to take a little time for celebration, relaxation and meditation this next week:

1) The picture you see above is Johanna's birth announcement. It may make some of you feel oddly comforted to know that I picked them up last week. Yes, she's 4 months old. I figured it was high time we let people know we had a baby! Just kidding. I'm pretty sure they know. But still, it would be nice to actually get her photo and thank you cards out the door and into the mailbox. They're set to arrive with the Christmas cards. Rather ideal timing, I'd say. She's definitely a precious gift. :) You may also be interested to know that I got them 100% free from Kodak Gallery and picked them up at my local Best Buy.

2) I am working hard to get to the Blissdom blog conference down in Nashville, TN this February! Not only would it be a complete blast and a chance to meet so many incredible bloggers, but I think it would also be such a help for me as I learn more about balancing family life with blogging, how to improve my writing skills, how to work more efficiently and effectively, and so much more. But I could use your help... we're trying to purchase my plane ticket using swagbucks (by buying Southwest Airlines vouchers). I'm definitely on my way towards having enough, but the faster I can earn my swagbucks, the better. If you haven't already signed up for swagbucks, would you consider signing up through my link to help me earn them a little faster and make my way to Nashville? (Pretty please?) To learn a little more about what they are and how they work, see this post of mine.

3) You may be wondering whether the Year of Herbs series will still continue since my announcement to cut back on blogging somewhat. The answer is a resounding YES but I will have to take more time to piece the posts together or they might just be a little bit shorter than the novel I wrote on garlic. Look for one on either Comfrey or Yarrow or Ginger (still deciding) in the first half of January!

4) Is it possible that I've really spent less time on the computer blogging this past week and a bit, despite having a post up every weekday still? As a matter of fact, yes! I have been stricter with my time spent online, using an online timer that I am loving and is really holding me accountable, and just trying to write a bit shorter/easier posts and learn to work more efficiently. I'm delighted that it's going so well! If I feel that I can continue to keep my blogging time more minimal, you will continue to see posts from me, and that would just make me happy. Thank you all SO incredibly much for your kind and supportive words, your encouragement, your accountability and your own vulnerability and honesty. You're such a huge part of the reason that I love doing what I do. :)

5) Wondering what's in the works for January? I am in the process of planning a month of posts centered around getting organized in our homes! Topics I'm thinking to include: organization in the traditional/whole foods kitchen (non-toxic food storage, what to do with all those jars of soaking/fermenting foods, bulk food storage, etc.), getting recipes in order and making meal planning more simple and efficient (as well as how to fit in food prep, remembering to soak grains, etc.), putting together a homemaking binder (this will probably be covered over the course of a week), making a workable daily routine for my current season of life, planning and preparing for spring gardening, and anything else that comes to mind and fits in. If you have any ideas or requests, leave me a comment and let me know!

6) It's vacation time for me and my hubby. It has been a particularly long and tiring month and we need some R&R. Starting tomorrow we are both taking almost a week-long holiday from our businesses (I'm thinking of putting a padlock on the door of our shared office, though that may be a little extreme- and then again, maybe not). We will be spending some time with my extended family on Christmas Eve and Day, as well as having our very first Christmas morning by ourselves since our oldest daughter was first born (so excited to establish some of our own family traditions!), and then Christmas night we will be driving down to Seattle for a few days with my husband's parents and siblings. I had hoped to put out one more Celebrate with Joy post, about Christmas Eve and Day traditions, but it just won't be possible. I will, however, be posting after Christmas about the holiday of Epiphany (Jan.6) and some ideas for celebrating those "12 Days of Christmas".

How's your online time going? Are you preparing to take some time to rest and stay away from the computer this holiday season?

Our Sponsors:

• Spoonk Rider: The Portable Accupressure Mat
• Plan to Eat: Drag & drop meal planner with automated shopping list maker.
• Fertility Flower: Helps women predict ovulation, increasing chances of conception. Outstanding charting tools.
• Experience God as Your Provider: Does Your Financial Future Feel Like a Crumbling Sand Castle?
• Learn to Cook With Sourdough: "Pay What You Can" Classes in Sourdough and Traditional Cooking
• Holy Ambition: If you're thinking, God can't use me, think again! YOU can make a difference.

You might also enjoy:

1. Coming up- Simply Celebrating Christmas!
2. Simply Celebrating Christmas!
3. Guilt-free Christmas Snacking
4. Christmas Traditions- the Jesse Tree