Note: Today’s post on how to love and edify your spouse was originally a part of my Watch Your Mouth Family Challenge.
If I am following someone on social media who starts to tear their spouse down, says they are angry, talks about when their spouse does something dumb or that they don’t like, I will unfollow them immediately. This happens way more often than it should!! I don’t have time for that negativity…and you shouldn’t either.
I know this is a topic everyone has feelings about… but since I’ve been asked multiple times about the subject of kids sharing a bedroom, I figured it’s a topic I should address! Y’all asked, “Have you ever had an issue with your children sharing a room?” The answer is super simple…
When we moved in this house, we only had Annie – and this is what we could afford, since we wanted to pay cash for our home. Since we live in a smaller home, there are only three (and they’re small) bedrooms. To be completely honest, the kids sharing a room hardly even seems like a sacrifice to us! It was never an issue or was never really something that we thought much about.
When we were doing the Watch Your Mouth Challenge, I got asked questions about for tips for keeping your cool. I want to be completely honest – I have a hot head, a short fuse, and a quick temper. The Lord is always working on me, y’all! I’m not in any way trying to act like I am an expert that knows what I’m doing here. But I am going to share what I know and have learned about myself. In my own personal life, there are two things that set me off… or should I say the LACK of two things sets me off! [Read more…]
Working from home is very common now, but it didn’t used to be! Y’all wanted me to talk about where I find the time to be a work-from-home homeschooling mom who still manages to take care of her home and cook from scratch. For those of you who don’t know, Barry and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I love to homeschool our kids, keep our home, and cook everything (or almost everything) from scratch. But in addition to that, I am also a Platinum leader with Young Living Essential Oils and Barry and I run Humorous Homemaking together. I get asked ALL the time how I do it all.
A while back, I asked you guys to submit questions you’d like me to answer about being a work-at-home mom, and you had LOTS of them. It has been fun to sort through them all and see how to encourage you through what I’ve learned over the past several years. I have been a work-at-home mom since Annie was 9 months old, when I started teaching local workshops in the evenings and on weekends. I taught about frugal living, living on a budget, and how to use coupons – which I don’t do anymore. This blog actually grew out of that. And it grew and grew and grew – which was a surprise to us! From there, we became distributors with Young Living where we are currently a Platinum team. So currently, we run two businesses from home, in addition to Barry’s day job and our four kids. #busypeople
Quick Note: This post is part of the Watch Your Mouth Family Kindness Challenge. It’s completely free to join this challenge, so check it out and see if you would like to participate! We’d love to have you – it’s not too late. I am sending out a weekly email, doing a Facebook Live every Monday and we’ve also got a Facebook Group for extra encouragement and discussion over the course of the challenge. Not to mention there is an amazing prize bundle for the family who wins. And huge thank you to Clay Clarkson and Our 24 Family Ways: A Family Devotional Guide for giving us brand new copy to give to the Grand Prize Winner. The giveaway includes both a book and a coloring book. Oh and they’ve also included another great book in our giveaway… Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe.) [Read more…]
Goal: Speak to your family with KINDNESS. Speak words of LIFE. Edify. Compliment. Praise.
I heard my kids speak to each other. And it wasn’t kind…it was UGLY.
I didn’t like it. But then I listened to how I was speaking to them – they were just repeating ME!! How did this happen?!
Barry and I decided it had to change. So, we wanted to work on it this summer. But we wanted to make sure everyone could benefit. Come learn with us this summer, over the next two months, as we lift up and edify each other!
And at the end, there’s something fun for someone!!! It will be worth the hard work! [Read more…]
I know this post isn’t my usual style, but after over 15 years of marriage, I feel like I’ve learned a few things that would be worth sharing. Don’t get me wrong – there are plenty of couples who are way ahead of us in their marriages, but Barry and I are no longer “newlyweds”. We have been around the block a few times…15 times actually! So 15 blocks and 4 kids later, we feel comfortable answering some of your marriage questions. Readers submitted these and we decided to dive right in and do a Marriage Q & A: [Read more…]
Dear Stacy…. What do your nights and evenings look like? How do you do to relax? Do you have family night every night? I get asked a lot of questions about what the average evening looks like in the Myers house. Today, I’m attempting to answer them as a share the details of our family’s evening routine.
As you may know, we are a family of six and my husband works a traditional 8-5 job. It takes him about 45 minutes for his commute each way. Since he does not see the kids before he leaves for work, our quality family time takes place during the evenings. Our family time with him lasts from about 5:45/6 to 7:30/8pm. We have about two hours every evening as a family. This includes dinner and cleanup. In other words – our time together is pretty limited.
Our family time looks pretty similar almost every day. We have dinner together as a family, with no screens (phone, TV, iPad, etc.) allowed. When I finish eating, I start cleaning up the things on the counter and in the sink and the children clean off the table. The children are in charge of cleaning off the table, putting the dirty napkins down the laundry chute, putting dirty dishes in the sink, and sweeping the floor, while Barry and I do the rest of the dishes and kitchen cleanup.
Right now we are working thru part of our school curriculum called Answers for Kids, which is from the Answers in Genesis folks. This probably takes is about 15-20 minutes. With little tiny kids, you cannot do long lessons together as a family or you’ll lose them. Let’s be honest – because of their age, you could even lose them if it’s a short lesson! It’s a little lesson and then scripture reading. Sometimes there’s a story or object lesson to go with it.
If it’s warm, we are outside from dinner time until almost time for them to go to bed. If it is chilly or rainy, we will usually go downstairs and do our evening routine. Sometimes the kids want to play a game like Hungry Hungry Hippos. Which I will admit is extremely satisfying to play. Straight up. I get really, really into that. I think that probably if Barry ever caught me on video playing I would be really embarrassed if he ever posted it online.
Sometimes we will play on the Wii, like bowling or basketball. Sometimes we’ll even watch a movie. When I was first a mom, I felt ashamed to admit that I let my kids watch TV. Even though, when I was growing up, watching TV as a family was what we did after dinner. Home Improvement, Alf, Andy Griffith or something like that. We still don’t actually have TV service, but we do have a TV where we can stream content online or watch DVDs.
Most people think that a family time in the evenings has to be holy or super spiritual. It doesn’t have to be something that takes lots of planning or is a set schedule. That’s not what it’s about. Your kids won’t remember all that. What your kids will remember is that every night after dinner they had family time. It’s a time when we can all just relax and enjoy one another.
I know lots of people are super busy with sports, boy/girl scouts, church, youth group, and other activities that take you outside of the home. And I get that. But even 1 to 2 nights a week with dedicated family time after dinner will make a huge difference.
I promise it isn’t complicated! If it’s not simple and easy, I won’t consistently do it…and I bet you won’t either. You’re making memories without spending money or lots of time planning. And keep in mind that it won’t be perfect. Babies still cry, toddlers still throw tantrum… It is still real life! But it is worth it to consistently make memories together as a family.
If you try it and becomes a thing for you, please reach out and tell me. I would love to hear what works for your family. I get lots of ideas from y’all, so please share any thoughts you have.
It’s a beautiful Sunday morning and my family of six is nestled together in our church pew, listening intently as the pastor brings a good word from the pulpit. No more than five seconds pass and I look over to see my 3 year old has drawn a mural on the cover the hymnal and my 5 year old has torn his bulletin into about 800 tiny pieces. While I’m distracted by this, my one year old in my lap manages to tap her snack bowl in just the right spot to baptize the women in the row in front of us with a shower of Cheerios. Yep…church is hard right now.
