If you are like me and use flouride-free toothpaste without SLS and other yucky ingredients, you are likely paying a lot for toothpaste. Any of the brands we have found that meet the criteria we are looking for cost about $5.00 per tube, for a not-so-family-sized tube. (If you don’t understand why someone would want […]

I stopped taking prenatal vitamins a few pregnancies ago because I don’t really feel comfortable with singled-out vitamins (out of their naturally occurring form, i.e. “food”). I looked around for a natural supplement as well, reading lots of ingredient lists and testimonials, but I either didn’t like the company well enough to buy from […]

My seven year old son is particularly adept at dragging a day’s lesson of Explode-The-Code out for several hours. If I could find any verses referencing it (which, to his chagrin, there are none), I might be able to call it a spiritual gift. However, I am convinced that it is a gift to be […]

After going through the trouble of making yogurt to save a jar of whey, buying from a co-op 50 pound bags of organic oat groats, rolling it into oatmeal, soaking the grain overnight in the whey mixture, cooking it and adding organic butter and coconut oil… I can not bear to throw the stuff away. […]

Here’s a question following up from the comments of this post:
I’ve been enjoying the dialogue on your blog about training children with managing their rooms. Once again, I’m amazed at the things I’m just now learning (b/c I was never taught), but now thankfully, I’m finding those “Titus 2″ women out […]

Six months they will be on the road. Living in a bus and sleeping in a new place nearly every night would seem to be discomfiting to these kids, yet they were the happiest, most well-adjusted children I have ever met. Ugandan orphans who travel the world singing and raising the money that supports them, […]

I can’t help but notice, as Cheri did in the comments yesterday, that Father is developing a recurring theme in His people, and wanted to share a post by my friend Carla Lynne. Her family is further along this purging and refining journey that Father is helping our family along, and I count it a […]

So what do you keep? How much do you get rid of completely, and how much do you put away for later? I’ve been pondering this question frantically obsessively a lot lately, as we have been walking through this extensive decluttering effort in our home. Folks have also been asking for advice regarding their own […]

Standing at the far end, I survey the lay of the land, noticing the steep cliffs on either side, assessing the dangers, and developing my strategy for passing through this area unscathed. I quickly suck in my stomach, perch on my tippy-toes and begin the journey, slowly sliding sideways, as the gorge is too narrow […]

It must have happened when I was playing with Babydoll in the Red Clover field. I don’t know if Babydoll or the puppies were the instrument that caused it to come out, but either is equally likely. It is thought-provoking how they have survived this long, through this many grabbing babies, many moves, and lots […]

During the last 48 hours or so, as Mr. Visionary and I have had our opportunity to partake of the gastroinstestinal virus that has been passed through the family, I have had much time to stare at the ceiling (or the bathroom flooring) and consider. As I laid there mulling over how advantageous it is […]

Nesting seems to be covering many aspects of the daily workings of our home these days. I’ve been painting, cleaning, ditching stuff, and reworking systems to be more automated. Reinventing the wheel on a daily basis is not as efficient for me as reading a previously thought-out list of ideas. Read that: I don’t think […]

All my mental wranglings aside, I cannot seem to come up with an apt analogy for my current
obsession distraction. The official, generally accepted term for my condition fits on some levels, but is not an exact match. In this most recent flare up recurrence, I have also stumbled upon the hard evidence that not only […]

(Note To Self: Do not add items to blog sidebar unless you are open to the accountability of folks asking about it, i.e. you really have to do the things you write about.) 
Several ladies have asked recently about what I am using for cleaning products. It is good timing, too, as after much trial and error, […]

It is a fact. Life is not predictable.  The weather doesn’t always do what I would like, nor does the IRS. Diapers flood on the way out the door, and children don’t always grow at the rate I expect. Growth spurts happen typically when I least expect them. The first evidence of their arrival is an increase […]

The more folks you have in your family, the more variables there are. Three toddlers increase the odds of being late to church more than one toddler. Three boys sharing a room create a higher likelihood of finding crusty dried critters under the bed than one lone boy. Life is like this.

In some ways […]