Building Homes and Finding Hope

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, 

and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

 Jeremiah 29:7

Let's paint a picture.....

Jeremiah had been prophesying the Word of God and warning the people God gave him that captivity and exile were inevitable as the result of their way-ward behavior.  And, what do ya know, he was right. 

The false prophets tried to shrug this off and tell the people they wouldn't be gone that long.  No Worries.

Re-enter Jeremiah and his "Letter to the Exiles" where he expressly says, 'get comfortable, it's gonna be a while.... a looooong while.'  Like, long enough to get married and have kids and build a life... that kind of while.  He even tells them to Build homes!!  Well, God tells them, He uses Jeremiah to deliver the message.  Building a home is a serious, long-term commitment.

Truly though, being in the bleakest situation of their lives as a nation, this letter, found in Jeremiah 29:1-23 is a beautiful letter of encouragement.  Like the good Father God is, he must punish His disobedient children, but He does not forsake them.... he still plants a sprig of hope and waters it with encouragement to get them through the dark days ahead. (Do read the whole letter, link in text, you will see what I mean)

As I meditated on this Word recently I felt God reminding me of the correlation to my own life.  Especially the last 4 years.  Granted, my displacement is not a 'punishment' for sin, rather, I am where I am because God called us to travel and then planted us here, in south-central Montana, not knowing a soul in the world in this place.

Since we have been here we have known some of our deepest heart-aches and faced some of our toughest challenges as Christians.  We have never been more tempted to loose hope or more discouraged in the plight of the church body.  We even contemplated our escape for a time!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 

plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

- Jeremiah 29:11 

Yet, at every turn, we have seen and continue to see God.

We see him through songs and Scripture and 'random' calls and emails from friends far away who felt the need to encourage us.

We see him through His provision of home and vehicles and jobs which sustain us pressed down and poured out.

We see him when our children, who should be causalities of this war we face, are instead growing and thriving in their faith and understanding of His Word and what it is to be in relationship with Him.

We see him.
We trust him.
We know him.

And while we don't always know or understand what He is doing, we can be encouraged to not give up, not loose strength or hope or purpose because His purpose is being fulfilled each day we get up and step out.

We build our houses.
We grow our families.
We pray for this place.

This is God's place and we are sojourners.  He put us here and now and, even if we can't find stable ground in our surroundings, we can find a solid rock in Him and pray as He purposes us to.... as God through Jeremiah purposed the captives to pray for the pagan nation of Babylon.

As I studied up for this week's word, I was thumbing through the Chronological Bible for timeline references.  I love what the authors had to say on this section of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah wrote to the captives in Babylon...instructing them to move ahead with their lives and to pray for the pagan nation that enslaved them.  Life cannot grind to a halt during troubled times.  In an unpleasant or distressing situation, we must adjust and keep moving.  You may find it difficult to pray for those in authority if they are evil, but that is when your prayers are most needed.... When you enter times of trouble or sudden change, pray diligently and move ahead, doing whatever you can rather than giving up because of fear and uncertainty. [p1029, Chronological Life Application Study Bible]

Oh, sweet friend, maybe life is trucking along, perfectly great for you today.... I will praise God with you for that!  But perhaps it is not.  Maybe you live in a place you wish were different, whether that is the house or town or state.... maybe you are having a tough time in a relationship whether it be family or friend or church.... Wherever you are today, I pray you would be strengthened by the passages in Jeremiah today which remind us that, #1, these things are temporary and, even if we have to make our homes in this place of trouble for right now, it will pass and #2, God has not abandoned us.  He is present and prepared to hear our prayers and comfort our hearts.  He wants to work through us to those around us and it may very well be through our hurt or physical and/or emotional displacement that He might reach the population at large.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  

I will be found by you, declares the Lord...

- Jeremiah 29:13-14a

Blessings,

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There is some exclusive content you won't find anywhere else on my site along with a monthly encouraging word on faith.

Newsletter Details and Give-a-way Announcement

The new Newsletter has officially made it's debut.  It was a ton of fun to create and is my new favorite part of the Faith and Home collection!  I hope you were able to sign up for the debut issue but if you missed it, don't despair... each month I will kick out another!

Last month I discussed WHY I am doing a newsletter and hinted at some of the content to pique curiosity.  Now that the cat is out of the bag, so-to-speak, I thought it was time to give you more details!

Faith and Home Times is more than just a fancy new heading... though I do love the look and the great images I am able to find at pexels.com!  No, it is a chance for me to bullet-point the core of the Faith and Home website.

Each month I will have a short, exclusive, featured article on:

• Faith - a short reflection of something God has planted in my heart for the month
• Home - a tip relevant to that coming month and the Art of Housewifery
• Homeschool - a special article on matters of homeschooling

Also included each month as FREE printables:

• A 4-box lay-out of the month's Sunday Scripture Pictures from my Facebook page which can be printed in full-color, cut out and hung around your home or handed out to others for encouragement (exclusive to newsletter subscribers)

• A monthly menu with recipes and quick tips for most of the meals (another subscriber exclusive) 

• Early option to print the month's Creativity challenge (in-depth details coming this Saturday for those who didn't subscribe and catch this announcement last month)

Which brings me to other newsletter features... early peeks at upcoming content on the website.

I hope to expand the newsletter content and offerings as I get use to the new platform- and pray and wait on where all God will take us with it.

I love the different context a newsletter provides... it feels like I get to be closer with YOU!  And, because I love the book, What Every Christian Ought to Know by Adrian Rogers so much I have decided to extend my sign-up give-a-way!! Here is how it will work:

Each month between now and the end of December, I will give away TWO copies of What Every Christian Ought to Know by Adrian Rogers to two blessed winners* who have signed up for my newsletter at any time during 2017!  

That's right....

If you sign up, your name stays in the 'jar' (yes, I have a literal drawing jar cause I like old-school stuff like that!) every single month giving you 2 chances every single month to win!! Once (or if... but I like the sound of once) you win, then your name will go on my board of winners... (I have a literal one of those too! yup, old school!)

So, if you have already signed up for the Faith and Home Times, you are in the running.  If you haven't, sign up soon to increase your chances of winning!

Also, if you want to sign up for the newsletter but you DON'T want to be entered to win the book, that is ok.  If/when your name is drawn, I contact you by email before announcing publicly.  At that time you can let me know you are not interested in the book give-a-way and I will pick someone else.  Sound good?

If you have any other questions about the newsletter or the give-a-way, please don't hesitate to let me know.  You can comment below or shoot an email to: amanda@faithandhome.com  I also take requests under consideration for content!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Blessings,

Click on this link to see some of the great blogs I am linking with today...

*Give-a-way rules: Must be a U.S. resident, if you are not a U.S. resident, and would like to enter to win, please contact me to discuss alternatives. The drawing will occur on the first of each month from now until January 1, 2018 with the winners being randomly chosen. The winners will be contacted within 24 hours and will be announced on Facebook and this blog.  If the winners do not wish to have name announced, this must be stated when contacted for mailing address.  A copy of the book (up to $10 value) will be mailed directly to the winner from Amazon, shipping times may vary. I will contact winners for address information using the e-mail submitted to my newsletter database.  If you do not want to receive your package directly from Amazon, the winner needs to let me know when I contact them for their address and we can discuss alternative source methods.  No purchase necessary.  Void where prohibited by law. 

Easy Go-to Pasta Salads and Kitchen Command Centers

So you just found out there is going to be a potluck cook out and you don't know what to bring.... or maybe you did know but you procrastinated or got too busy with kids and gardening and LIFE but you want to WOW the other guests' stomachs with something tasty, filling and homemade.  I have just the solution!

I invented these salads years ago as I juggled 4 kids and company and found those "Suddenly Salad" boxed options just not up to par for quantity or quality.  I discovered I could spend less on ingredients that would get FAR more for my money and appetite.

These salads can be a meal in themselves and will feed even the most demanding crowds (even if that "crowd" is only 2 feet high and lives under your roof!)

Italian Pasta Salad
1 box cork screw or rainbow pasta, cooked and cooled
3-4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 package pepperoni (open package and quarter cut the slices)
1 can black olives, drained and sliced
1-2 cups Parmesan cheese (fresh or grated)
1 bottle Italian dressing

Mix first 5 ingredients together (Parmesan to taste) then add Italian dressing until pasta salad mixture is well coated.  Serve or cover and chill until ready to eat.
*Optional add-ins: sliced green pepper, sliced red onions, fresh spinach

Ranch Pasta Salad
1 box wagon wheel pasta, cooked and cooled
1 small bag frozen peas
1-2 cups thinly sliced and diced carrots
1 package bacon bits or 1-2 cups diced ham
1 bottle ranch dressing

Mix first 4 ingredients together, add ranch dressing until pasta salad mixture is well coated.   Let sit 30-60 minutes so peas can thaw just a bit.  If it is really warm in your kitchen, cover and set in refrigerator during this time.
*optional add-ins: sliced red onions, small chunks of cheddar cheese

Bon Appetit!


Kitchen Command Centers...
Consequently, when it comes to tracking menu items and events (and even those pesky household chores) I have a new command center set-up!

This would work with a dry erase or chalk board as well, but I like how this particular scenario works for us since our house is, shall we say, intimate... I don't have a ton of wall space! 

The top pages are our daily chore check-list:

We've been having a hard time staying regularly on-top of our daily to-dos with hubby's new schedule and our strange summer this year.  But we really started kicking into gear this past week (finally) and put the new command center check-list setup to the test Friday with some hard core cleaning.

While I have used this checklist for almost 2 years now, I usually had it with my housekeeping notebook; not so accessible to the family at large. As we dove into the dirty work Friday, it was great to see everyone checking the list on the fridge without me even reminding them to!  We blazed through our chores in record time with the team-work this centrally located reminder prompted!

This is my new weekly overview page for our command center.  The only items entered on this sheet are ones which affect the whole family or my kiddos specifically.  I set this up in Word using the "tables" feature (same with my weekly chore lsit) and then printed it off, embellishing with Washi tape (my new favorite crafting 'tool'!)

click on image to access PDF for printing to put to personal use

The "Daily Dos" section is for special things like Bible Study class or excursions or company coming, etc.  This is different from "Chores" which I usually scribble inside of with a general reference like, "floors" or "bathrooms" and often point to our main chore list for the details of the activity.  I use the bottom section, "This Week" to field things I am not certain what day will work best but helping everyone remember they still need to get done.

The 'kids' (aka, all my offspring from teen through adult still living in the house) are really enjoying having this information readily available in our 'command center'.  The amount of "what's for dinner" and "whose day is it to do laundry" I've been asked at the most inopportune times has decreased drastically!  The girls are enjoying their alternating dish days too and I see much less complaining and forgetting as a result!

Funny how life circles around!  Years ago we kept chore charts on the fridge for my kids when they were little.  For a while, they sort of outgrew that... and now we are back to square one... with a more mature theme.

What quick fix recipes do you have?  How about chore and task wrangling?  I would love to hear from you!  Speaking of which, Monday, August 14th, I am planning to post an article along the lines of "Last Bash of Summer".  I'm looking for ideas from YOU.  Does your family have a special party... a special dinner... do anything memorable to have a last-bit-of-summer blow-out?  If so, I would love to hear about it!  Either type a blog article or (if that is not your thing) throw together an email (pictures welcome) and send your link or content to amanda@faithandhome.com.  Don't forget your name and any other track-back info you want shared (don't worry, I will NOT share your email address).  I will share ALL applicable and family friendly input in my August 14th post!  I look forward to hearing your ideas!  All entries due by midnight August 10th.

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Would you like to receive a month-full of dinner ideas for FREE? 

In my NEW monthly newsletter you will receive this great FREE printable pdf feature in your in-box at the end of each month!  Some recipes and how-to's are even included!  Sign up on the side-bar and, when you do, this month's menu will be sent with your registration confirmation so you don't have to wait for the next newsletter to issue!

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I pray the good Lord will guide you in all your to-dos and ta-das this week!

Blessings,

Click on this link to see some of the great blogs I am linking with today...

DEADLINE TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT!!!

Be sure to go to the sidebar and sign up for my Monthly Newsletter (I promise, I won’t spam you!)  It looks like this:

 

Why am I doing this give-a-way?  #1- I'm super excited to share this book with YOU!  #2- I'm just as excited to share my new newsletter as well!  There will be some exclusive content you won’t find on the website!   Even though the first issue mailed last week, everyone who signs up by midnight on tonight will still receive this month's issue!

 So, to be entered for a chance to win a FREE copy of "What Every Christian Ought to Know" by Adrian Rogers simply sign-up for my monthly newsletter by tonight at midnight*.  That's it!  Easy-peasy. (If you already signed up prior to this announcement, don't worry, your name will automatically be entered!)   UPDATE*** There will be TWO blessed winners, not just one!!

*Give-a-way rules: Must be a U.S. residentcontact me to discuss alternatives. The drawing will occur on August 1, 2017 with a winner being randomly chosen. The winner will be contacted that day and will be announced on Facebook and this blog.  If the winner does not wish to have name announced, this must be stated when contacted for mailing address.  A copy of the book (up to $10 value) will be mailed directly to the winner from Amazon, shipping times may vary. I will contact the winner for address information using the e-mail submitted to my newsletter database.  If you do not want to receive your package directly from Amazon, the winner needs to let me know when I contact them for their address and we can discuss alternative source methods.  No purchase necessary.  Void where prohibited by law.