A few Random things

Posted in Family Life by Nykiah

Hello out there!

I did not plan to take such a long hiatus from blogging but truthfully I am exhausted and the demands of my family are great!

Usually I am running around frantically trying to gather things for Holy week so that our children can have some meat and potatoes at devotion time. I wish I could say that I’ve planned ahead and my home is decorated with symbolism of Jesus’ death and resurrection and that we have been crunching through the story of that all week but it’s not.Not that is what it’s about anyway.

In fact I have “dropped the ball” at planning anything for our usual festivities let alone decorated something. Lately the energy it takes to walk up to my attic to go get stuff stops me dead in my tracks. It’s just that season we are in. We are tired, worn and just want some peace and quiet with our curtains shut. Ever been there?

At the start of each week we all gather on the floor in the boys’ room at bedtime and pray for God to give us strength to “survive” each week. I have muddled through tears listening to my guys send up prayers that their momma would give herself grace and have enough to give. Happy tears. Those have been our weeks.

Well with us in mid Holy week what we have started on is reading Exodus 11 and 12 and discussing the symbolism in these stories of the coming Messiah. It has been wonderful to be real and intentional and be excited about it. Unplanned but purposeful.

( you can check out our previous holy week traditions here, here and here

This week we plan to create our grace garden, rest and enjoy knowing and resting in the security of Jesus’ sacrifice. Sure we have some fun things coming up too.

Our eldest child re-dedicated his life to Jesus and is over zealous about living his life before Jesus! We are ecstatic about this and are doing as much as we can to equip him and encourage him! One goal that I have for this year is to start my boys on a daily devotion time and teach them how to read, meditate and study the bible on their own-without us. I want to see them eager to know God and not riding our coat tails for their relationship with God.We are using this , along with our own ideas to help train our children in character.

Again our weeks have been hard and exhausting. I hope you all are encouraged by this video as I have been lately. Press on!

29Jan2016

Quieting My Home

Posted in Dwell, Home by Nykiah

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Fasting. This week I read a devotion about fasting that sparked a greater inspiration in me. because I had a post scheduled to talk about quieting my home and ridding us of distraction. Well with this I had the idea that removing distraction from my home is simply cleaning up some cluttered areas around that were eye sores and causing us dysfunction. While that may be a link to quieting my home and a key part to ridding it of distraction, we do not have stacks and piles of dysfunction so much that it pulls us away from God. That’s the key part right? Quieting my home means much more than surface cleaning it up. Because after all if I clean up the outside of my body and never touch my heart there are still some nooks and crannies that need some refining. I want quieting my home to become a habit that hits my core not a fad and I am hoping to do some deep cleaning in some areas that we struggle in.

In finding areas to “deep clean” I not only want to make room for my people to live freely in Christ. I want to make room for Christ to dwell freely in us. I’d like the habits of my home to become habits o our hearts. I no longer want my people to see Christ scrambled into my day but I want them to see him intentionally scheduled-for an appointment with me. In turn I hope that they will develop this idea of putting Christ first.

Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. -Proverbs 16:3

I firmly believe that order is a necessary step in a mom’s life for us to bear the fruit of the spirit and see our children carry this too. My husband and I have been deeply convicted in how we manage our time. We feel that with teaching our children to be people of integrity we need to walk along side of them more than we do. We feel that it is unfair for us to expect obedience without teaching it first. So our first step is creating a family schedule so that we are predictable to our children and they know what is expected of them daily. With this we are also drawn to digging further into teaching the character qualities that we want to instill in them. We want to do this by posting the definition of said character quality each month and finding what it means to live it out together-the whole month. This is key for my husband and I in raising our family together and having a vision for our family together since how we were both raised were completely opposite of one another.

So my first step in creating a family schedule-because this can seem so daunting with everything we do in a day, week or month and us not having the “normal family life” due to our custody schedules is to write down everything we do in a day-in a week, and then separating the “wheat from the tares”, the important from the unnecessary. With this comes learning again how to say no and protect our family times. It’s very easy to pile up more than the day holds and end up frustrated and exhausted. I am hoping to learn to say no more than I do and grow in doing life well as a family. I am learning that I just can’t do everything and to try is unwise.

I am also in the process of creating a command center that works for us-which I will post about later. It has been so hard for me to create something simple, because there are just too many options out there. So creating our schedule will help me to identify what fits us and what we are in need of.

So if you are interested in doing so, I challenge you to write down everything you do daily and pray over what is necessary and unnecessary. I will share my next step soon.

22Jan2016

What I’m Reading

Posted in Gather by Nykiah

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As I look back on the previous year I can see that we have been reading lots of books. I’ve wanted to share many of those books here and I may even form a book list for this year since I have my eye on a couple of really good ones. Lately My husband and I have been on a quest for a good book to read to our children every night-a chapter book that we could trek through together aside from the bible. It is another chance to be together and read to them which is an idea that we love.

We are currently enjoying these books. Nightly after bed time routines and the night slows down, our little people pile into our bed to read Christian mother goose and Caleb’s story. So far Caleb’s grandfather has come back to the farm, Anna has gone to school in town and a huge snowstorm in happening. We cannot wait to read the next chapters!

Parenting from your strengths is a great book for parents who want to understand the personalities of their children and how to best help them. My husband and I are looking forward to adding the LOBG (lion, otter, beaver, golden retriever) model of personalities to review our children along with their character. We identify so much with the information in this book and it is extremely helpful for a mother who is total opposite of her boys. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn to love and understand the differences about their children and how that relates to themselves.

(I received this book in exchange for my review)

This book is full of really cool paper crafts! It has things for me and the children. I cannot wait to use this for our Valentine’s Day family fun night!

So what are you reading?

howtotrainasuperhero.com

15Jan2016

Happy New Year {2016}

Posted in blogging, Goals by Nykiah

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Well 2016 has approached us and I hardly feel ready. In fact I still feel the haze of 2015. What a year it has been. Difficult, challenging, graceful-restarting, reshifting and just plain ole sitting still. I am not quite sure the direction this blog is heading. I’ve pondered dissolving it for quite some time. Somehow whenever I do I just don’t feel like God is wanting me to do that.

I have been stuck for quite some time because I feel called to this blog but when I sit down to write there is so much to pour out that I have nothing to say or don’t know where to start. If you have followed me from the beginning you know that each year around this time I take a break from blogging to spend time with my family and regain focus- after the holidays that can be needed you know. I am still going to do that. However, I am wanting to commit to praying about this blog that God would reveal his vision for it. I have always had a specific vision for this blog but I’m feeling like God has other plans.

I also want to savor the time with my babies so I’ve come to grips with the fact that this is just the season I am in and I have to focus on the important task at hand. I love all my readers but training my babies and loving my family well come first so this year will be a slow year for blogging. I hope that you will stay with me and be inspired by my writing and the glimpses of my life shown here.

Stay tuned for my word for this year!

howtotrainasuperhero.com

21Dec2015

A Few of my Favorite Gifts

Posted in Christmas by Nykiah

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I know Christmas is coming this week so I am a bit late in sharing these. These are a few of my favorite gifts that we’ve given over the years. Lately our giving around here has been more “homespun” than store-bought. I have been in the groove of giving homemade primarily to save money but it is so easy to go out and buy something to give. It takes a good amount of thoughtfulness to give something homemade or to sew something for someone.

I love personal touch! It makes my heart warm when I open a gift from someone and it is simply homemade.

I look forward to this season because I am usually pulling my hair with excitement to give. Every Christmas and spring we give something special to our mail lady.

The year before I made this cup for her and added some k-cups, socks and a special note. One time when it snowed a lot and she was driving along. She stopped while we were shoveling to tell us how much she loved it and loves providing us with mail. It’s the little things!

Last Year we made salt dough ornaments to give to our family members. In addition, my boys made a cute little candy cane for our mail lady. I made white chocolate granola bark with homemade granola and tied into a cute little package along with the ornament the boys made.

Last year my heart was warm for my sisters and in-laws. Since we often have to work around the holidays and be unique with our schedule (due to being a blended family) I wanted to encourage the gift of family and time together. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in the daily grind of things that our family time falls by the wayside. So we made a box that had all sort of fun stuff in it for an ice cream family night. These are all the rage in my home and my boys were so excited to share things that they like.

I also love to knit in my spare time. One year I arm knit these infinity scarves for my neices.

A favorite things basket. I save my strawberry boxes in summer for gifting and gave this to a friend.

I’ve been wanting to compile this post for some time now. I hope that you can find something creative to give too! It doesn’t have to be a lot and most times the thought that you put into the gift outweighs the rest.

Merry Christmas!

17Dec2015

Shabby Rustic 1st Birthday

Posted in Gather by Nykiah

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Let me set this scene for you. I’ve dreamed of this day since I think the day I was born. Sweet eyes, puckering cries and a whole lot of purple. My girlie Q. I never thought I’d be blessed with the moment of cuddling with her. I guess the boy mom syndrome took over. But then the Lord allowed this miracle to flop into my arms One early morning in December. Unshaken by my sleeplessness and warranting comfort. I’ve been in love since that day and I’ve vowed to try to be a great model of following Jesus. I fail at this. Being her mama has allowed me to see life through her eyes, with lots of giggles and half eaten crackers.

I did not grow up in Christian home yet Jesus was so evident. I did not grow up with a model of healthy womanhood. But I hope to give her this. I often don’t know what I’m doing but by God’s grace and wisdom I pray she remembers the race that I ran. How I love Jesus more than anything and how we play tea party every afternoon after cuddling baby dolls. For me this is the beginning of a journey I’ve yet to even dream of. My baby girl. My best partner in a home full of burly men. She’s so fun and full of life and I hope one day she gets to share that in love with Jesus and his people. I’m so blessed by her daring personality and unwillingness to give up. She’ll never know how much she has caused me to repent and grow up.

I love all things old and worn.

I am a sinner, so is she. God has made us beautiful in his sight.

We had such a darling time celebrating Sweet Pea!

I did not do very much though it may look like it. Over the years there have been parties and things have been collected.

I just bought ingredients for food.

Hot turkey, roast beef and ham sandwiches in a roaster.

Butterfly lemon, strawberry and peach finger Jello.

Baked potato soup, chili, and chicken and noodles.

Blueberry Applesauce.

Veggies and dip.

Chips and pretzels.

Shabby chic cupcakes.

Hot chocolate favors.

I made a tutu from the fabric I already had.

Cut out a #1 from one of the fabrics and Steam-a-seamed it.

Can you imagine how much my heart was racing with excitement! I haven’t had a party in a long time! Much too long.

23Nov2015

Quieting my heart

Posted in Slow's Journey by Nykiah

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Being a mom is always keeping me busy. It’s around this time of year when I start to evaluate this busyness and the volume of “noise” in my heart.

When I think of quieting my heart I can instantly see it looking like a picture taken with too high of an aperture. There are so many specks to look at, very grainy and out of focus. This idea though moves me to sit quietly before God in desperation to refocus and after coming down off of the beginning of school high I am certain my family needs it too because let’s just face it, life isn’t getting any less busier.

I was inspired to quiet three areas of my life in order to maintain slow living for my family. This includes quieting my heart, my home and my schedule. So in the weeks to come I will be digging into that.

There are tons of scripture I could choose to settle on while quieting my heart. When I set out on this quest I first scoured the bible looking for scriptures that would help me draw the meaning of quiet out. Ones I could relate to and ones that drew something from me. The scriptures that I will post are ones that struck me in some way personally.

I know that quieting my heart is especially important while mothering. Because going and going and going can sometimes unintentionally carry me away from my roots.

Reading my bible, praying and spending time with the Lord, loving my people in strength and song. I try my hardest to fight for these times; one because I want my people to see that apart from God I can do nothing; two because apart from God I can do nothing. I’ve tried it and many times I fail miserably. It’s just.not. in me. I was created for him to love me. More than he created me to love him..

I don’t want to wait until life spins more than I can handle and a melt down occurs. Hold the drama. Instead I’d rather respond to the first tugging at my heart.

My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Psalm 27:8.

I encourage you friends to look up some scriptures that support the idea of quieting your heart. Get some cute little labels or if you are cheap like me make some from what you have lying around and put them up banner style or post them around your home to remind you of the quieting. Jot down some ideas of what quieting might look like in your home.

In what ways have you been inspired to quiet your heart?

12Oct2015

Apples to Apples {Slow} Day

Posted in Family Fun Days, Slow's Journey by Nykiah

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Slow days have been much more meaningful in our busyness lately. When I sit down to write my mind is so cluttered that to organize a post is painful at times. We’ve enjoyed several slow days lately. So much so that I didn’t even bother to take a picture. I hope you enjoy some of these photos of what we’ve been up to lately!

I wanted so much to enjoy a themed night lately. Just to be able to be with my boys more and enjoy them. So last-minute I pulled some things out and they were super excited. We enjoyed church Sunday morning together and then worked on building some monster trucks.

I made this apple cider and we loved it so!

Our dinner was no fuss tuna casserole with bacon and cheese salad.

Apples to Apples

After dinner we went out to bob for apples..

How have you been slow lately?

6Oct2015

Meal Plan Monday #32

Posted in Meal Plan Mondays by Nykiah

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Howdy!

Jumping back into this week seems so unreal. After being down with mastitis this week and a weekend of dreary weather I am ready for some sunshine! Thankfully the sun allowed its presence to be known today and now I can get on with why I am writing. 🙂

I am always trying to perfect the way I plan meals around here; being careful to allow flexibility and proper spacing so that I don’t end up with too much and throw good food out. Being off Monday and Thursday are perfect and make the difference in my attitude every week. I certainly love cooking but sometimes it seems like a chore rather than being enjoyable no matter how many times I try to convince myself of the benefits it has for my family. Making a weekly snack has been working a lot for us because then I am not scrambling at 3:30 trying to figure out what snack to throw out for the circus.

-Anyways.

Since the weather is growing colder and the leaves are starting to change I am darning my meal plan with themed nights again. My husband reminded me the other week how much he loved them so. 🙂 I typically rotate through a couple of themes each week and it also helps me to stay organized at best with things like soup, crock, takeout, casserole, nacho/burrito, breakfast and U pick night.

Over the weekend we watched a few episodes of Pioneer woman and my guys had stars next to meals they had to have me make this week.

Here’s what we’ve got coming up this week:

Breakfast

Overnight bread and egg bake

Basic oatmeal with fresh fruit

Vanilla donuts with chocolate peanut butter smoothies

cinnamon raisin french toast and sausage

Dinner

Crockpot chicken stuffing and beans with white pasta shells and basic brownies (My Kid Hero made the brownies on his own!)

Soup Night-Pioneer woman Chicken and noodles

Casserole night- Pioneer woman Beef and bean burritos with veggies and dip

U Pick-English muffin pizza and crinkled carrots

Easy-Foil sandwiches with homemade apple chips and peanut butter dirt pudding

Our snack for the week is finger jello and snack mix

Lunches this week are bagel sandwiches or whatever I throw together (survival!) 🙂

Baby led breakfast

Old fashioned oatmeal with peaches

Blueberry breakfast cookie

Egg with toast and ricotta

Baby led lunch

Alfredo with macaroni noodles

Peanut butter toast and peas

What are you cooking this week?

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21Sep2015

Meal Plan Monday #31

Posted in Meal Plan Mondays by Nykiah

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Hello sweet friends!

I’ve been super lazy this summer with meal planning and I’m ready to get back to it. One thing that I’ve been trying to do more of is use what I have which can sometimes make meal planning difficult. I’m not really a fly by the seat of my pants girl so you can imagine what this doing to me. ha!

We have also recently added baby led weaning to our house. I will try to link things that I am trying with my princess pea’s meal time as well as time goes on.

In efforts to improve the way I plan and to update my current style and methods I re-purposed my old menu board which used to look like this.

(Old Photo from my earlier blogging days. I lined this with burlap )

And now looks like this. (I love Chalkboard)

One of the ways I save my family money is by finding things to make on my own. I stock up on staples like meat, seasonings, flours, sugars, milk and cheese. I can my own food, make my own bread, tortillas, condiments, yogurt, snacks, salad dressings (most of the time). I also freeze summer produce in bulk so that we can enjoy it throughout the winter months. This is exhausting and some may say why would someone ever do this much but in the end it’s worth the hassle, saves us a ton of money and I know what my family is eating. I feed my family with 300 dollars monthly/(150 dollar bi-weekly) including meat, Costco and produce.

When I meal plan, I think about what I have and try to think of meals from that. It helps me to shop for groceries after I do that because I am not buying groceries for a whole new plan or more stuff. I usually only have to restock my staples and buy a few snacks that will help stretch the snacks I make at home. We’ve been loving Annie’s Homegrown snacks and Horizon Organic snacks lately.

I’m not a huge organic fanatic because things can be organic in they way they are grown and not necessarily free of chemicals, preservatives, and things I can’t pronounce. I do however buy organic produce for my daughter sometimes, depending on what it is; things like carrots that are high in nitrates or apples and broccoli. Since summer though I have been doing a bit of meat-less meals and using up summer vegetables to get our fill on Vitamins. We have tried some really good recipes lately that have involved spaghetti squash, eggplant and zucchini! I hope you are encouraged to try some of these recipes!

Here is what was on our meal plan last week :

Breakfast

Peaches and cream french toast

Mini egg muffins and bacon

Coconut banana bread and apple peanut butter smoothies

(we had leftovers for lunches at home and the boys had homemade pizza lunchable on wheat tortilla’s)

Dinner

Meatloaf mashed potatoes and peas (homemade peach pie for dessert)

Honey Mustard Chicken (with a few modifications) Cheesy potatoes and green beans

Homemade cheese, green pepper and onion pizza on wheat crust

Spaghetti squash chicken enchilada (with double homemade sauce, dried cilantro and a little more chicken)

Our snack for the week was rice crispy squares, zucchini stix

This week:

Breakfast

Homemade egg Mcmuffin and fruit

Apple baked oatmeal

Egg casserole and fruit

Homemade donuts and yogurt

Dinner

Spaghetti squash shrimp scampi and homemade cheddar biscuits

Fried eggplant with Mexican rice

Chicken enchilada Soup and cornbread

Shrimp fried rice and sesame chicken

Ranch chicken nugget wraps with toppings

Our snack for the week is Jello roll ups and peanut butter chocolate chip muffins (I also offer cheese, yogurt, fruit and veggies)

(Our lunch this week is egg salad, pizza muffins and apple sandwiches along with fruit, cheese, pretzel or muffin for snack)

As I mentioned above, we have started baby led weaning and are in month 2 of doing so. With baby led weaning she feeds herself without our help and receives finger sized pieces. We are pro baby led! My sweet pea enjoys frozen or fresh blueberries for breakfast with a scrambled egg (no seasoning), Apple meal muffins, assorted fruits like bananas and grapes, homemade toast, banana pancakes, blueberry cookies Coconut banana bread and I am experimenting with dairy free yogurt.

For lunch she eats a mini veggie muffin ( I used broccoli, carrot, and corn) and diced cheese or some kind of veggie with fruit pieces or cheerios. For dinner she eats a clean version (meaning with little or no seasoning) of what we are eating.

I hope you find something here that you can use on your own meal plan!