Today, it has been exactly two weeks since I began my sugar detox. I guess I can’t really call it a detox anymore, though. It is now slowly becoming a way of life for me. No one is more surprised than I am that I have made it this long without more than 20 grams […]
Family
How to Survive a Sugar Detox, Day 5- Just the Beginning
I read somewhere that day five of a sugar detox is the magic day when it all starts to click. Today, I found out that’s true! Last Day of Summer Vacation My first meal of the day was a bowl of Grape Nuts with unsweetened almond milk, which both tasted good and satisfied me. Since […]
How to Survive a Sugar Detox, Day 4- How Much Sugar Can I Have?
I started this detox on a whim, with no specific strategy, other than the determination to be free of sugar’s addictive hold on my body. Four days in and several Google searches later, I am beginning to see that there are countless ways to approach a sugar detox. Today, I began researching just which route […]
Building a Blessings Budget
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7 Last week, we attended family camp at Fort Wilderness. Our speaker for the week was Pastor Brian Kluth, speaker and writer on generosity, God’s provision, and legacy […]
How to Hold onto Vacation After Coming Home
Our family just returned from a week-long vacation to the Northwoods of Wisconsin where we attended family camp at Fort Wilderness for our fourth year. It was wonderful! The weather was perfect, the speaker delivered timely messages, and I spent time with God in prayer and Bible reading everyday- for the first time in months. […]
Why Is It So Hard to Say No?
Last fall, I wrote a post entitled Why I Said No to Organized Sports. It seemed like such an easy choice then, taking my older boys out of their secondary sports to free up our schedule for their younger siblings to play soccer. After my son’s Crohn’s diagnosis in December, we made the more difficult […]
The Importance of “Us”: How to Find a Shared Hobby with Your Spouse (Part 1)
Over the years, I have conducted an informal poll of couples married ten years or more, asking the following question: Do you and your spouse have any hobbies or interests that you enjoy doing together? A handful of these couples have responded affirmatively, listing traveling, golfing, backpacking, and bird watching as some of their shared […]
26 Steps to Simplicity: Toys (Why Is It So Hard to Get Rid of Them?)
As a parent attempting to contain and corral the steady influx of toys and trinkets into our home, I always appreciate a good post on how to keep toy clutter at bay. Today, in addition to sharing my own efforts to simplify life with toys, I am including some fantastic, even radical, posts by other […]
How to Encourage (and Enjoy) Your Child’s Independence
(I am taking a break from our 26 Steps to Simplicity series to bring you this post. It still falls within the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, though: E is for Encourage.) I’m sitting here at the library, attempting to create an editorial calendar for my blog, while my four-year old daughter enjoys her […]
Wake Up Happy: Clean Your Kitchen (Plus, a Giveaway!)
If you want to wake up happy, you need to clean your kitchen before you go to bed. I know, life gets busy, and the day grows long. We run out of energy after dinner and think, I’ll take care of all this tomorrow, before turning off the light and leaving the kitchen in total […]