Life as a Homemaker: Prayerful wife

It is not a secret that I believe in the power of prayer. With that said, I find myself praying for others long before I pray for my husband. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that.
I have a strong, Godly husband that leads our family faithfully. Maybe I think because he is the leader, he does not need my prayers. Maybe I think because he is more regularly in God's presence, he does not need my prayers. Whatever the reason, these are lies put straight into my head by Satan himself.
A prayerful wife is a powerful wife.
In the past couple of weeks I have been making it a habit to pray for Ryan each day. Each time I fall in love with both my heavenly father and Ryan a little more. There is something incredibly sacred that happens when you invite your husband into the intimate conversations you have with God.
I also think it is a great habit to put the needs of your family before those of others. This may seem selfish, but when your family's needs have been cared for you can more fully meet those of others. Praying for your husband and children before praying for the needs of friends, your community or our world is one small way to set this priority in your mind.
To remind me to pray for Ryan each day, I have been using the prayer calendars found at www.inspiredtoaction.com. This website also offers prayer calendars for your children.

Meatless Mondays: Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

Meatless Mondays started when I was looking for ways to cut our grocery bill. Ryan is game because as a compromise I make an extra scumptous meat the next night (which we spread out for 2 meals). The roast is already in the crockpot for tomorrow!

Corn tortillas filled with refried black beans and topped with homemade, garden-fresh enchilada sauce. Nobody missed the meat tonight!

Garden-fresh Enchilada Sauce
10 medium tomatoes, quartered
½ medium onion, diced
2 small chilies, chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ t dried oregano
2 ½ t chili powder
½ t basil
¼ t cumin
1 t parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Put tomatoes, onions, chilies and garlic in large pot. Bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients, stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool (or add a few ice cubes).
Put about 3 cups at a time in the blender, until everything is blended. This recipe made enough for me to make 1 ½ pans of enchiladas and I put some in the freezer for a future meal.

Enchilada filling:
2 cans of refried beans (I used refried black beans for a little more fiber)
½ medium onion, diced

Mix onion into the beans.

To make Enchiladas:
Microwave 10 corn tortillas for 30 seconds.
Spoon a little sauce into the bottom of the pan (I used one 9X13 and one 9X9).
Fill tortillas with filling, roll up and place seam side down in pan.
Spoon a generous amount of sauce over enchiladas.
Top with cheese and olives.
Bake at 400* for 15 minutes.
Top with sliced green onions and cilantro.

Enjoy!

Life as a Homemaker: Caring for the Bodies

As mothers we have such a huge responsibility to care for our children's bodies. The example we show in how we eat and how active we are is the example our children are going to take with them when they grow up and have families. The statistics on children being obese adults if their parents are obese are shocking.
Before Ryan and I had Sam we ate whatever we wanted and were rarely active. We never gave our health a second glance. We were quickly heading down the road to obesity. Once Sam started eating real foods it became apparent that we had to change something. We wanted to eat meals as a family, but I didn't want Sam to eat what we were eating. Also, I was overweight and constantly self-conscious. I don't want Sam to have to live with those feelings.
Ryan and I began a diet, we each lost upwards of 20 lbs. I began researching healthy nutrition and found “Whole/Real Foods”. Since then we have been eating real food instead of the processed junk. When planning meals this is what I consider: making from scratch is best, if I can't then I buy items that have very few ingredients and that aren't processed. My coin-phrase is “If God made it, it is good” Ryan and I have kept off our weight and have even lost more! It is amazing, when you eat the way you were meant to, your body stops becoming your enemy! I have also stopped worrying about what I can't eat, and instead focus on what I can eat. There are so many options and it is so fun to explore new ingredients.
I thought this was going to be a huge endeavor, however I am finding that it is much easier. Sam always eats what we eat, so I don't make 2 meals, and shopping trips are quick and painless because I stay on the outside rim of the grocery store and know exactly what I am buying.
We stay away from is sugar. There are no health benefits of sugar. In fact, I suggest Googling “reasons to not eat sugar” and began reading. It is disgusting what sugar does to our bodies. I substitute Sucanat or raw honey when needed.
We do not drink soda. I suggest checking out this website: http://parentingtips365.com/2010/01/27/15-reasons-not-to-drink-soda-pop-of-any-type-regular-diet-or-natural/ . A lot of people substitute diet soda and assume that makes their soda habit ok. The “sugars” that are used to make soda “diet” are just as bad if not worse then regular soda.
In addition to what we eat, our children will model our example on exercise. As a full-time working mom I know that the biggest excuse is that we don't have time. I have fallen prey to this lie several times.
First, if you watch TV, you have time to exercise. Run around the room on commercial breaks or do lunges every time you hear a certain word.
Second, if you clean your house, you have time to exercise. Fold laundry in your living room and then put it away one piece at a time. The extra walking will be great, but if you really want a challenge, pick up the pace! Do lunges while you mop your floor or do a “speed clean” and run around picking things up for 5 minutes.
Third, if you cook dinner, you have time to exercise. Stand on your toes while you are standing at the stove, or kick you knees to your chest while you are waiting for the microwave to count down.
Are you getting the idea? There are thousands of ways to fit exercise into your daily life.
It is all about choosing to be healthy and living your life accordingly. Guess what, your children are watching.

Of course, all of this is my opinion. I suggest you do the research and come to a conclusion that is fitting for your family. However, PLEASE do not choose to do nothing and continue feeding your children junk while feeding the obesity epidemic.

Life as a Homemaker: Setting the Scene

There is nothing better then walking into your house and feeling it hug you. For me, this happens when it is free of clutter and there are things surrounding me that I love. I will always be a work in progress as far as the housekeeping and decluttering go. However, I work at it a little every day, and am satisfied that my family has a (mostly) clean home to enjoy.
There are 3 things that I do regularly to set the scene for our home:
-Regularly declutter items that we don't use, need or love. It is amazing how much more peaceful a home feels when there isn't clutter on every surface. It is also much easier to clean a home when there isn't stuff everywhere. Like I said, my housekeeping skills are a work in progress. With that said, there is one thing I do every day. I have one spot in each room to keep spotless. No excuses. Generally this is a flat surface. When this one spot is clean it tends to be contagious, and it stops me from getting overwhelmed. Here are my clean spots: Kitchen-sink, Dining Room-Table, Living Room- coffee table, Our room- headboard, bathroom-counter. I have gotten very creative with keeping these spots clean. For example, our kitchen table was our “dumping ground” when we came in from the garage. To stop us from placing everything here we always keep our table set. Complete with a centerpiece, plates, and silverware. Now not only does this spot not have junk on it, but it always looks nice!
-Re-purpose old items for décor craft projects. I love when you place something new in a room and it catches your eye as you walk by. What I especially love about this is it doesn't have to be something new. Rearranging a room or placing a décor item in a new spot does the trick. Recently my focus has been making our dining room table look like fall. A few years ago I bought a table cloth for our table and bought a size too small, it was on clearance and they didn't have the size I needed anyway so I didn't return it. In my attempt to bring some color to our dining room I pulled out this table cloth, folded it in thirds and (ta da!) I now have a colorful runner! My next project will be using the extra fabric to make cloth napkins.
-Light candles. Some people only light candles during fall or winter. I light candles all year long. In spring/summer I will light one candle (summer breeze, pina colada or something equally summer-ish) then in fall/winter I light several candles (I especially love winter pine during Christmas Season). I love the mood they set, the warmth they give the room, and how they neutralize any odors (which are inevitable with babies).
I hope this helps and gives you a place to start when it comes to setting the scene for your home environment.

Life as a homemaker- Nurturing loving relationships

Through this series, Life as a Homemaker, I hope to show you how homemakers (SAHM or Working Moms) can create a peaceful, loving and heavenly enviroment for the family.
I think the most important aspect of a home is creating and nurturing loving relationships with each person in your home.
Recently, Ryan and I began dating. Yes, it sounds silly, but it has made such a significant change in our personal relationship.
Here are a few things we have been doing:
-We take care of ourselves and look our best. I have a husband who would love me even if I shaved my head and stopped shaving my legs, but my whole attitude changes when I am put together and when you are dressing to catch your husband's attention, believe me he will notice!
-We have been carving out time each day to reconnect and focus on our relationship. This is very difficult for us since we work opposite work schedules. In a normal day we have an hour in the afternoon when we “switch shifts” and fill each other in on what happened that day. We were noticing that we were having more “emergency conversations” then we were having fulfilling, heart-felt conversations. (examples of emergency conversations: “Pick up milk” “Sam took a nap at noon and pooped twice today” “I need you to empty the dishwasher”) In the past week I have been staying up later to have some “us” time when Ryan gets home from work. This could look like watching a movie, reading together or making a late-night dinner together. We are trying to find a better solution that will enable me to get some rest, but for now, this is working great.
-We are going on weekly dates. Ryan and I regularly follow North Point Community Church through Podcasts on their website. I was very excited when I saw their “Great Date” Series. Ryan and I have gone on 1 “great date” so far and are anxiously awaiting the next one! (check it out: http://marriedlifeonline.com/greatdate_np.jsp)

Something I repeat to myself is “The best gift you can give your kids is a great marriage.” We all know marriage takes work, in the same way, a great marriage takes a lot of work. Ryan and I have found that these simple steps make it fun to stay connected and nurture the loving relationship we are blessed with.

There is more to come on this series, so stay tuned!

Life as a Homemaker

To those who know me it is no secret that I love being a wife and mother. I am very passionate about these roles and they come before any other priority in my life.
To sum up this passion I like to say I enjoy being a homemaker. Yes, I work full-time outside of the home. Many people think of homemakers as stay at home mom's (SAHM), and many times they are. In addition to this group I think that working mom's who take care of the house and take great pride in making the house a home are also homemakers.
Creating a peaceful, loving and heavenly environment for my husband and son is my number one goal. Often times I feel like I can't talk about this passion because I don't know how to accept the comments humbly and without stepping on a soapbox. Well forgive me, because I have been carrying around this soapbox and it is begging me to step up.
Women today think that they have to choose. They can either be a SAHM or they can have a career. I think that it is time for women to recognize the third option, which is to have a career while still being a homemaker. Why is this addition important? In my opinion, it is very important for each person (adults and children) to have a place where they can relax and recuperate. It is important for each person to have a home that hugs them when they come in. A place where they are completely at peace, can be themselves and can energize their spirit. Somebody has to create this environment, it does not happen overnight or without effort.
There are many things that go into creating a house a home. I am going to share some of these with you over the next couple of days. Enjoy!

Huge Summer Bounty!

This year I was gifted with 25 pounds of beautiful tomatoes. I accepted them quickly without thinking about my lack of canning supplies. We are on a tight budget this year so I asked several people if they had anything that could get me on the right track and ended up empty handed. Determined to not let this gift go to waste I began researching. Freezing seemed like the right solution. We eat a lot of pizza, spaghetti and other pastas so I chose to make spaghetti sauce. As I began cooking I kept adding things from my garden. Here is what I came up with...

Garden Spaghetti Sauce (for freezing)
30 medium size tomatoes, quartered with skins
2 large onions, diced
4 large carrots, diced
1 small pepper, diced (I used green, since that is what I grew this year)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
10 leaves fresh basil, chopped
2 T Dried Parsley
2 T Sugar
4 T Salt
2 t pepper

Place tomatoes, onions, carrots and pepper in large stock pot (I split it up into 2 pots since I don't have a large enough pot.) Cook on medium high with lid until boiling. Add rest of ingredients. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, keep covered. Let simmer for about an hour. Let cool. Put about 3 cups at a time into the blender. Whirl on high for 30 seconds. Split into 4 gallon size bags. Freeze laying flat.

I am so excited with how this turned out. I cannot wait to use this throughout the winter. 4 meals ready, using mostly fresh, garden vegetables! Also, I still have about 15 tomatoes left. So stay tuned!

The Next Step

So, the experiment was a success, we have made some huge changes around our home! All of which are good (even if they sound odd, they are good!) I have been reading several blogs, websites and ordered some books about the lifestyle I want to live. The basic idea being this: living sustainable, natural and healthy lives dedicated to God and showing others His extreme love for us. I love all of the information I am finding. I feel like this is how I was meant to live, and have been very surprised at how easy the transitions have been.

Here is what the Murphy's have been up to...

-I started a monthly baking routine. Basically making all our baked goods for the month on one day. This month it included soaked whole wheat bread, spelt biscuits and granola bars. I loved spending a day dedicated to baking. I love that all our bread is made, so we are less tempted to buy what is cheap or on sale when it isn't what we should be eating. I think I will make some changes next month, such as adding muffins and maybe tortillas.

-We are moving to becoming a paper free home. We are taking baby steps on this one. The first change we made was moving the paper towels to a hidden spot and keeping cloth towels readily available. The next change was using cloth baby wipes. This was a big transition; however it is going very smoothly. Every other day I wash the wipes and make a new batch of the solution, I keep the wipes and the solution in a reused disposable wipe container. The next change we are planning is making moist cloth wipes for quick clean-up of the counters and spills; this will replace Lysol wipes (which we go through like crazy!) There have been 2 obvious positives with these transitions. First, we are saving money by not buying paper products (except for toilet paper, we are not going there!) Second, since I have been making the baby wipes and will be making the moist wipes I know what is added and have reduced the amount of chemicals we are exposed to.

- Ryan and I are on a sugar-cleanse. This has been easy for me (my weakness is salt), a bit more of a challenge for Ryan. This includes high-fructose corn syrup, sweets and white bread (since your body processes this the same as sugar). The main reason we are doing this is to remove the things that our bodies have created addictions to. Also there is no positive aspect of sugar, and there are so many things that feed off of sugar (including cancer). We will be adding it back in, in moderation and even then only eating natural sugars, but for the most part we will be avoiding it in the future. (Side note: I have lost 4 lbs and tons of belly fat after eliminating this, not to mention I feel GREAT!)

-While creating our meal plan and determining what we are going to eat we have been paying special attention to whole, satisfying foods and avoiding packaged food and preservatives. I have found that I have been eating less and feel better about what I am putting on the table for my dear husband and son.

-For me the most important change has been realizing that I am worth all of this. Making healthy choices for Sam has always been a no-brainer. I wouldn't feed him 1/2 the stuff I was eating. Why? Because I knew it wasn't healthy and would ruin his tiny body. Then why would I feed it to myself?! I had a huge aha moment when I realized I am just as important to this family as my dear son. It is my passion to create a peaceful, heavenly environment for him and if I am not taking care of myself that will not happen. Not only am I eating better and exercising, I am choosing to take time to relax and take care of myself.

I am so excited to see where this adventure takes us next...stay tuned!