31 Days of Homemaking Series: What is Homemaking?

Welcome to the 31 Days of Homemaking Series!

Today starts a fabulous 31 days of homemaking writing challenge. When I first heard about the challenge last year, it was too late for me to take it on, but I knew I wanted to do it. I penciled it on my blogging calendar and was quickly reminded of it when I received a newsletter in my inbox. So I got busy writing some wonderful encouragements, tips and recipes!

31 Days of Homemaking Series

Everything I will be writing about will be related to homemaking for the next month. You will find tips, recipes and a few how-to’s.

Before I go on, my Thankful Thursdays link up will still be opened every week.

Those of you who receive these posts by email, those Thursday posts will be longer than normal because two posts will be included.

What is Homemaking?

Homemaking is the art of making a house a home for our families. This includes cleaning, cooking, laundry, decorating, managing the household accounts, and the list goes on. I am one homemaker who does not manage the accounts. My husband is in charge of the checking account and paying the bills. This is his choice after I tried dealing with them and gave him several heart attacks over the years.

The heart of homemaking is not how magazine photo ready your home is, but the atmosphere we create in making our home a haven for our families to come home to from being out in the daily world.

I was reading not too long ago about the word homemaker and how many feel the word is something that they either can’t measure up to or is offensive. Well, no one is June Cleaver. In fact, she was not a real homemaker; everything she did was for show. Martha Stewart, please, she has people tending to her everyday affairs so she can look as if she has it all together. And as for the word being offensive because it is a throwback to days gone by when women “didn’t have a choice”. I have to disagree, many women in those days “didn’t have a choice” because they didn’t want anything else other than being at home caring for their families. They chose to be a homemaker.

Being a homemaker is an honorable title for anyone who is caring for the home no matter how imperfect we are.

I hope you'll join me every day this month as I share 31 Days of Homemaking. If you miss anything, you can always go to the 31 Days of Homemaking page and find all the links to each of the posts I shared.

Quiet Moments {Thankful Thursdays}

Quiet moments, we all enjoy them. They are the moments we all need from time to time. As an introvert, I get a lot of rest during my quiet moments; those little 5 minutes here and there makes a world of difference for me. Lately, I’ve been sharing about spending time in God’s Word and why it’s important. Today, I want to share a little of what I’ve learned just this week in my quiet moments with God.

 

QUIET MOMENTS

I never want you to think I have a perfect life because I don’t. I try to share real life in words and pictures here. If you walked into my kitchen at the moment of writing this, you will find dishes stacked up in the strainer waiting to dry and be put away. My kitchen table is stacked full of school books that were shuffled around so we could have supper. My floor hasn’t been swept, and the laundry basket is waiting in the doorway to be folded and put away, so you see, I’m real just like you.

It's hard to keep our faith in the Lord -  I have a tendency to let my faith slip from time to time.

Just this week, I questioned the Lord about hearing my prayers and why should I even try. It seems like one particular prayer the Lord avoids answering for me; I had a rough day with this recently. Sadly, my son heard me talking and questioning the Lord. He heard things, I’m embarrassed about. After 16 years of teaching him to keep his faith in the Lord, serve him, obey him, to just live for him and then he hears me in a weak moment. What a sad day that was for me.

The next morning, I got up and quietly prayed and read my Bible. I was reading and I came across these words, He is the Rock, his work is perfect. (Deuteronomy 32:4) In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. (Psalm 120:1), The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord had done great things for us; whereof we are glad. (Psalm 126:2-3) Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. (Psalm 128:1)

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. (Psalm 37:7)

All it took was a quiet moment with God to REASSURE me that he hears and that he will answer my prayer – eventually.

God Hears and Will Answer Our Prayers

He also reminded me of a time not too long ago of how he answered a prayer when many thought it was a hopeless cause. That morning, I had to ask my son for forgiveness in him hearing my open conversation with the Lord. I want him to put his faith in the Lord; I don’t want him to be a weak faithed Christian.

Quiet moments with the Lord bring comfort and reminders of how He cares, hears and provides. I’m thankful for those moments.

Hymn Appreciation: Does Jesus Care?

Frank Graeff was a Methodist preacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 1900’s. He had a wonderful disposition and to everyone he met, he brought a ray of sunshine. Because of this he became known as the “Sunshine Minister.” Little did people know that Graeff went through many difficult trials. The lyrics to Does Jesus Care? was penned after studying the Bible and reading the words he careth for you in I Peter 5:7 during one of those trials.

There really isn’t much written about the difficult situations Graeff suffered in his life, only that he suffered them. While many are unsure of the situation at this time, it has been told that Graeff's daughter had caught her dress on fire and was burned to death. Being overcome with grief, Graeff began questioning if Jesus really did care about this tragedy and his family. It was then when he began writing the lyrics to the song.

Does Jesus Care

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press, and the cares distress
And the way grows weary and long?

Does Jesus care when my way is dark
With a nameless dread and fear?
As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
Does He care enough to be near?

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed
To resist some temptation strong;
When for my deep grief there is no relief,
Though my tears flow all the night long?

Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks,

Chorus

Oh yes, He cares, I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.

The Little Things in Life {Thankful Thursdays}

We’ve all faced those moments when the words, If it’s not one thing, it’s ten, have rolled from our tongue without a second thought; a moment in time when everything seems to go wrong. No matter how we look at it, being thankful in everything is a little hard to swallow when the kitchen sink is not draining for whatever reason. It’s the Little Things in Life I’m thankful for today.

The Little Things in Life

I am guilty of saying those famous words from above. In fact, I said them several times earlier this week – all because of the kitchen sink; a sink with a drain that has a mind of its own.

Out of nowhere my sink decided to stop up. No matter how much boiling water I poured down the drain, that clog was not budging. Even after a bottle of drain cleaner being poured into the drain and sitting there for several hours, nothing seemed to work. The fear of calling a plumber flashed through my mind because just last spring, we made the dreadful call and were charged a 2 hour minimum for a 25 minute job to remove tree roots from our sewer line.

It wasn’t until I began praying the Lord would do something to clear that drain, that he brought to my remembrance, In every thing give thanks (1Thess 5:18). While both sides of my sink were four inches deep in water and nothing helped, it was not easy to be thankful. The thought hit me to clean the tub really well and let my dishes soak there. After filling the tub with water, I placed a pile of dishes there to soak and went on with cleaning the kitchen after a Chemistry experiment. About 10 minutes later, I noticed my sink slowly draining and then all of a sudden a loud gurgling noise and the water disappeared. I was a little surprised, so I turned the water on and it drained as if nothing had ever happened.

While I don’t know what happened to cause the sink to back up and drain so quickly after filling the tub, I do know the Lord answered a prayer. He drained that sink and he kept me from having to call a plumber. I am thankful for that answered prayer. I’m also thankful God knows me and how I am not always thankful during the bad times, but he loves and cares for me anyway and shows me by answering a simple prayer.

Today, I am thankful for The Little Things in Life like a sink that drains.

Little Nuggets {Thankful Thursdays}

In my daily devotions, I have a main reading selection in the Bible and then I read Psalms. Sometimes I read one or two chapters but then there are days where I get swept up in reading because of the little nuggets that are buried there, just waiting to be found and sometimes found again. These little nuggets would be missed if I didn’t spend time reading God’s Word. Many of these little nuggets are great reminders of who God is and what he can do for us.

Little Nuggets Hidden in God's Word

Recently, I read Psalm 115 and verses 2 - 13 jumped right off the page at me.

Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens

, caused me to pause.

My God is alive and in heaven

.

As I continued on reading I came to

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

The verses go on to tell they have a mouth but can’t speak, eyes but can’t see, ears but can’t hear, and so on. Sadly, there are millions who don’t know my God and what he can do for them. They are putting their trust in something that doesn’t exist or someone who is buried in the ground.

My God is real.

In verse 9 it says,

O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

Many verses in the Bible use the word Israel but are also for us. If you replace Israel with your name and the word their with your, it’s amazing to read. “O Lori, trust thou in the LORD; he is your help and your shield.” That verse is speaking to each of us, if we let it.

The Lord is our help and shield.

Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield

. v11

There are many worrisome things going on in the world today, whether it is something going on in our family, our nation, or the world in general – we don’t have to worry.

The Lord is our help.

He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

v13

Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

v15

The Lord blesses us in many ways. A lot of times we tend to take for granted things like our health, our home, our jobs, but if it were not for God, we would not have them.

The Lord blesses us

, no matter who we are. We receive blessings from the Lord who created the heaven and the earth.

Spending time in God’s Word is important. We miss out on hearing what the Lord has to say if we don’t spend time with him.

I am thankful for Little Nuggets hidden in God’s Word.

Freezing Soap Pads - A Kitchen Tip

For the past couple of days, I've been thinking about homemaking tips and if I had any that I could share. Today's tip I found about a couple of years ago on the internet. When I first read about it, I was amazed! I don't know why I never thought of this, but it never crossed my mind. If you're like me, then it probably never crossed yours too - Freezing Soap Pads between use.

{this post contains affiliate links}

Freezing Soap Pads

Every kitchen has some sort of scrubber for cleaning stubborn grime. From the time I was a little girl, my mom always used

Chore Boy Copper Scrubbers

. I loathe those things! Those coppery little mounds gave me the creeps when I would wash dishes and clean the stove. Let's not talk about how they stretch out and just drive you crazy.

For me, the

steel wool soap pads

are my kind of scrubbers. As soon as they get all grimy and gunky out they go. They're priced reasonably for the amount of scrubbing pads that you get. So it's not like throwing a whole lot of money out the window when you have to throw them away.

The only thing about them I hate is how they will rust after using them a time or two. If you're anything like me, you hate the thought of throwing the pad out after one or two uses still full of soap even with the rustiness in it.

Storing your used soap pad in a plastic bag

in the freezer, keeps it from rusting.

I've been doing this for a good while now and I've only had to buy three boxes since I've started this. I throw the pad away when it starts getting grubby and grimy. All I do is pull the bag out while I'm cooking so it will thaw out. BUT, there are days (more often than not) when I forget to pull the bag out of the freezer before I start washing dishes. I use it anyway, scrubbing my pots and pans (stainless steel) with a scrub pad encased in a chunk of ice - it works! While the water is melting the ice, I'm able to get a good scrub on a stubborn spot of stuck on something or another.

Don't let the pad sit out and dry or you'll end up with rust and have to throw it out sooner. Freezing the pads will help make the box last longer, and that's a good thing - You'll be saving moving.

If you have any homemaking tips that you would like to share, please leave me a comment, I'm open to new ideas.