Let’s talk about how we can have a lifegiving home. Be encouraged by these simple ways to fill your home with love…
As a homeschooling mom, I’ve had kids at home for 30+ years. This means noisy days, busy days, and these-kids-are-giving-me-a-headache days.
With our adopted little ones I’m looking at another 8 years of homeschooling and having kids at home. Does that seem overwhelming? It would have been if I hadn’t discovered something amazing: JOY!
Over the last year, God has been speaking to my heart and encouraging me to find joy in everyday living.
Joy even though the laundry is piled high.
Joy even though the kids are cranky.
Joy when work deadlines press.
Joy when I have a headache, when my feet hurt, and when I just want a nap. (Which happens often!)
Easier said than done, right? Each day offers new challenges and struggles to find and keep joy alive in your household. It’s something I’m continually challenged with being a wife and mother and why I’m so excited for the release of The Lifegiving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarkson.
A mother and daughter writing team, Sally and Sarah share their story and advice on how to make your home more than 4 walls and a roof … a haven of warmth, rest, and joy … the one place where you and your family can’t wait to be. Every day of your family’s life can be as special and important to you as it already is to God.
The home I raise my children in needs be one overflowing with love, grace, forgiveness, peace, and joy. This kind of home doesn’t just happen magically. It needs to be a daily choice to model and nurture a lifegiving home. I LOVE Sally’s prayer for her children and it is my hope as well:
Give foundations of strength and inspiration to these precious ones, but give them wings as well. Prepare them to take risks, to live by faith, so that they can take the messages and cherished values they learned at home and share them with a hurting world. And so our home became a launching pad, a place of blessing, as we sent our beloved children on their way—hopefully strong, whole, and secure in the ideals, faith, and values that truly matter.
What makes The Lifegiving Home so unique is how Sally and Sarah walk through each month of the year and share specific ways you can celebrate togetherness and create special memories for your children. For February, Sally focuses on giving love. From homemade treats to hand-picked flowers, look for extra-special ways to pour love on those in your household.
Here are a few ways you can love on your family this month:
- Write a special note for each member of your family and hides them in their lunches
- Plan a craft night and make keepsakes you’ll cherish for years to come
- Surprise your family members with breakfast in bed
- Have everyone write down one thing you do that makes them feel extra-special. Then do it!
- Have a date night with each kid and do something they love
- Spend a Saturday baking cookies and treats together and deliver them to loved ones
- Dedicate a night each week to pray together as a family
- Use the concordance in your Bible to look up verses about God’s love. Read a verse or two each day before dinner.
What ways will you foster a lifegiving home this month?
