Today a day in my life is featured in Fashionably Modest Patterns‘ “A Page From My Journal” series.

Check it out!

The orange buckets: blueberries, green peppers, swiss chard

The green tubs: strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes

The pots: cilantro, spinach (gone to seed!), basil

So far, so good. And so much fun!

(The wedding quilt my Mom made us is folded over the chair – it’s too hot during a Kansas summer for more than a sheet!)

A closer view:

I think it adds a special touch to our room to have our beautiful wedding sampler and our vows hung on the wall. They serve as a good reminder of the precious gift and joyful work of being married!

While reading through Set-Apart Femininity, I was struck by Leslie Ludy’s discovery of the power of the Proverbs 31 woman:

” ‘Who can find a virtuous woman?’ The word ‘virtuous’ here is actually a masculine noun that means ’strength, valor, and power.’ In other words, the Proverbs 31 woman is a mighty, valiant woman full of strength and conquering power…She has superhuman strength. She has unmatched valor. She valiantly stomps out whatever stands in the way of God’s purposes. Nothing hinders her. Her life is a living display of triumph, victory, and the glory of God.”

By looking closely at the Proverbs 31 woman, we can see that she lives a life that is completely poured out to serving her God through her everyday life. She cares for her family and for her neighbors. A woman who seeks this kind of godliness has the capability to change the world!

I often read or hear people talk about how a woman who does so much and serves so much must be stressed out and tired. This woman could not be a realistic woman because she would be miserable and tired. With no time to care for herself she must be harried, haggard, and unattractive to her husband. But Ludy points out the opposite:

” ’she makes coverings for herself; her clothing is fine purple…Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.’ (Proverbs 31: 22, 25 NASB). That doesn’t sound to me like a stressed-out, overtired, overworked, exhausted woman.”

But the secret of living the life of this woman, to serving, and caring, and living like she does is to recognize where the strength to live this way comes from. This is not something that I can do on my own; I must constantly be plugged into the source of my strength: Jesus Christ.

“We are called to live superhuman lives – to live an existence that other women would never attempt. And we are not called to do this on our own strength – because it is impossible…Instead of just rolling our eyes at the high call of the set apart life, it’s time we recognize and embrace the supernatural power that Christ provides to equip us to live triumphant, victorious, valiant lives – lives that literally shock this world around us.”

This is the life to which I have been called. It is something I am definitely not perfect at, but I can rest in the knowledge that I do not attempt this alone. My God is constantly changing me and molding me into the Proverbs 31 woman.

This is the life of ultimate simplicity – living out God’s perfect plan for my life!

It is a high calling! What a high and noble calling it is!

Spray them with vinegar.

That’s right. I don’t care how much soap scum and dirt is built up on your shower doors, just a few simple wipes later, your door will sparkle.

All that you need to do is thoroughly spray your shower doors with vinegar and allow to sit until you get in the shower. A good time frame seems to be 15-45 minutes. Then, when you get in the shower simply use a wet cloth (I used microfiber) and wipe the doors down.

It may take a few times doing this simple process to get really dirty doors clean; but this truly works wonders! It makes me smile just to think about how clean those doors come with something for frugal and natural!

We believe that I have been called to be a teacher right now. This is not my first choice; if I could have my way, we would have little ones of our own and I would be home with them all day everyday. But I have been asked to put my dream on hold and serve God in this special place for now. There is no doubt in my mind or in the mind of my husband that or now God has called me to serve him by teaching special education for now. When my heart begins to grow restless and desire a babe now, I hear a gentle voice remind me “In good time, my child, you will have children of your own. Trust me and I will richly bless you.”

This does not mean that we are not thinking and planning for the day when little Hoosiers will be joining us. We are doing some things now to begin preparing for the babes we will one day be able to cuddle and entrusted to raise.

We are being wise with our money. While following God’s current call on my life, we are blessed with two incomes. Rather than use that extra money to live extravagantly, we are choosing to be wise in our management and save towards paying off our home. The blessing of an extra income can help us reach a goal of not being a slave to debt.

We are developing as people. Cole and I seek to be growing everyday in our walk with the Lord. As we continue to become more like him, we will be more prepared to parent like him.

We are praying for our little ones. We don’t know what they will look like, whether they will be boys or girls, how many there will be, or what their personalities will be like. However, we are praying already for them: that God will use us to guide their hearts towards him, that they will seek to know Christ intimately, and that they will come to know him personally.

I am also earning SwagBucks and My Points to purchase Amazon gift cards. All money made through these methods are being saved to purchase items that we will use when those sweet babies are finally in our arms. We also have a few boxes in which we are storing other items we find to put away for our little ones. For example, whenever we find used K-State baby clothes for a good price, we pick them up. They are far too expensive new and we are sure that with multiple children they will be worn.

We are working to create our own set of traditions. I loved all of the traditions that I grew up with – they were a comforting part of our daily lives throughout good and bad times. We want to develop and establish traditions for our family. For example, we know that we want to celebrate advent with a wreath and do the Jesse tree. I am working on putting together all of the supplies to celebrate these traditions as a family.

We are working towards more natural living and eating. We are gathering good recipes, learning how to be more healthy, and eliminating as many toxins as we possibly can.

These are all small things, but things that we consider to be very important. Even now, we are working to provide our children with the best possible home and upbringing that we can give them!

1. look up meal plan from monthly plan and assign meals to nights of the week based on our schedule; pull meat, veggies, etc. from the freezer to the fridge for those meals

2. for each day, write down any important “to do” items

3. talk with Cole about any changes from the normal schedule that should be expected during the week (ie. after school meetings, family visiting, etc.) and make plans together

4. plan and prepare for the week on my blog (based on an overall monthly ideal plan)

5. choose clothes for each workday – it’s just easier for me to wake up and already know what I will be wearing without thinking or trying different clothes on

6. pray over the week and pray for strength to meet the challenges it will bring and eyes to see the blessings

I find that this time, usually between 30-60 minutes, sets me up for a wonderful week!

What about you? Do you plan your weeks? How do you prepare for the upcoming week?

That’s when I am thankful for the seed catalogs that arrived in early January! I’ve been having fun thinking about planting flower in pots, building a my garden, and caring for my plants. I can’t wait to care for the yard, water the flowers, and prune the bushes.

It’s cold so for now, I will sit, look at my seed catalogs, and dream of warmth!

2. Don’t shop hungry or thirsty; especially true when you are grocery shopping. When I go out on my big shopping trips (which usually take 3-6 hours) I take a baggie with crackers and/or fruit and a bottle of water. When I am full and well hydrated I make far fewer impulse purchases and we all know that those impulse purchases add up!

3. Use a price sheet. Often times Costco will have the best deal on a product but not always. I keep a price comparison document to compare the prices of a variety of foods that we purchase at Costco, Aldi, and other stores that we have in the area. This way I can calculate and compare prices (and food quality to determine if a higher price is actually a better nutritional value).

4. Shop Zenni Optical. We love this site! I have a pair of prescription glasses and a pair of prescription sunglasses. My husband has a pair of casual/funky glasses, a pair of formal glasses with clip on sunglasses, and a pair of prescription sunglasses. And we own all of these for less than the price of two pairs of glasses at a normal vision center. It’s a bit of a bummer that you cannot try these glasses on before you purchase them. However, since we know what kind of glasses we like on ourselves we definitely think that this is worth it! Plus, we have anti-reflection coating for a very minimal additional charge which is a plus when neither one of us wears contacts anymore!

5. Utilize the library. Not everybody is fortunate to have a library as amazing as ours but still I recommend making as much use of your library as you can. Our library is a part of a county-wide library system and we can borrow media from any of the libraries and pick them up at our local, small town branch. Even if your libraries selection is minimal, think about trying inter-library loan. I have read several books from other parts of the country through this system. With as much as I like to read and the variety of topics I like to read about, the library is an amazing resource!

6. Cook from scratch. Hands down, this is one of the greatest ways that we have saved money. Food that is ready made or part of a kit is not as healthy, as tasty, or as frugal as handmade food. Check out my Recipe Tab for some more ideas for cooking for yourself. And watch for many more to come in 2010

7. Make use of freezer space and buy food at rock bottom prices. We have saved so much money by purchasing a stand up freezer for our garage. We stock all sorts of foods – bulk cheese, veggies, milk, meat, etc. They all get stored in the freezer. By having freezer space, we are able to stock up on chicken, beef, and pork while they were on rock bottom sales this spring and summer. We probably have enough meat to last us almost an entire year! Our freezer has allowed us to incorporate more meat into our diets as we can purchase more meat for a small price in our grocery budget.

8. Plan a menu and stick to it. Having meals planned and the ingredients for them on hand eliminates two financial pitfalls: a) “We don’t have x-ingredient.” This leads to a store run which uses gas and we probably come home with more than just x-ingredient. — OR — b) “I don’t know what to make tonight. Let’s just go out to eat.”

9. Pack your lunch. We put leftovers, fruits and veggies, crackers, etc into our lunchboxes and enjoy yummy lunches everyday. This practice saves us from wasting our leftovers. It helps us to eat much healthier. And saves a whole lot of money. Even if you only spent $5 on lunch everyday, that would be $25 per week and $100 per month!

10. Entertain yourself at home. We are fortunate to be friends with others who also follow this idea. Take turns getting a movie from Red Box for a dollar and enjoy it together. Watch a movie that someone already owns or that you rent from the library. Have a game night; pool your board games and choose from among greater options. Get together and bring your current craft/clothing repair/busywork project and enjoy talking and fellowship while working. Read a good book. If you are musical, select some music and enjoy time playing together. Be creative – there are tons of ideas out there!

This post is a part of Frugal Friday.

When we moved into our house, we hung black curtains on the sliding doors to our back deck. We chose black because it matched the room but mainly because they would absorb the heat during the summer. We noticed a huge improvement from no curtains to black curtains.

However, we also noticed that as you walked towards the door you could feel the air getting warmer. With a little bit of thought we determined that hanging white curtains would reflect the warm light of the sun back outside and not into our home to wage war with the air conditioner. We purchased a set of white curtains with one less tab than the black ones so that the white curtains are completely hidden behind the black. The alternating tab colors are kind of cute.

It was amazing how quickly the new curtains began working. On the day that I hung them I was working at the table by the door. Within half of an hour it was noticeably cooler.

Perfect!

This post is a part of Works for Me Wednesday.