Happy Wednesday!

I’m sure you, like me, are in the midst of checking off your Christmas to do list. Of course a huge part of that list is buying gifts.  Gift buying can be fun and exciting, but it can also be overwhelming and stressful as the days tick by, the list grows and the budget shrinks.

On Wednesdays this month, I want to pass along some shopping ideas and resources that I hope will be helpful.

I love giving gifts, but hate the idea of giving people something that may get tossed in a corner and never used.  I try to think of practical and unique gifts whenever I can.  I also try to support local businesses and friends as often as I can.  Target and Amazon do get a lot of my budget, but I would much rather give to a small business owner, buying a unique and lasting piece to give, rather than a gift card that will be used and discarded without much thought.

First up is Noonday.  This jewelry and accessories company is all about empowering the lives of women all around the world.

Noonday’s story:

Jessica Honegger launched Noonday Collection in 2010 after she connected with Jalia and Daniel, talented jewelry designers in Uganda who dreamed of using fashion to create dignified jobs in their community. Jessica hosted the first Noonday Trunk Show, selling Jalia and Daniel’s jewelry in her home to raise funds to adopt from Rwanda. Women fell in love with the style and story of Noonday Collection – and Jessica began to dream bigger than a fundraiser.

Jessica soon partnered with Travis Wilson, a friend passionate about social entrepreneurship and experienced in building businesses. Both Travis and Jessica had spent years working in Africa and Latin America. Together they dreamed of starting a business that would alleviate poverty through entrepreneurship. This dream became Noonday Collection, a business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities around the world.

Need a necklace or bracelet? Buying it from Noonday supports a local business in an impoverished nation, rather than lining the pockets of an already wealthy American company.  The pieces are beautiful and high quality!

My dear friend Dylan just become an Ambassador with Noonday!  In our West Point community she was the in-demand babysitter and now she is a wife and mama herself to a sweet baby girl.  Ambassadors like Dylan not only help support their own families by selling Noonday products, they help share the message of Noonday and support local artisans from around the world.

Follow Dylan on her FB page or check out your own Ambassador!  Let’s support local businesses doing good things this Christmas season!

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Veggies Tales is a staple in many young families – wholesome, fun stories told and sung by vegetables.  What’s not to love, right?

Did you know Phil Vischer, creator of Veggie Tales, produced another line of DVDs and materials?  They are called What’s in the Bible with Buck Denver.

These are favorites in our house! 

The 13-part DVD set walks through each book of the Bible giving highlights, stories, basic doctrine, and even church history with plenty of catchy songs!  (My kids know the kings of Judah and all the judges thanks to these clever songs!)

Phil Vischer says about the series:
“Biblical illiteracy is a huge problem in the church today as far too many kids are growing up without a clear understanding of their own faith. The What’s in the Bible? video series is an effort to provide kids a foundational knowledge of the Bible and of their faith that can launch them on a lifelong walk with God—a journey that will change them and change the world around them.”

The doctrine is kept at a pretty macro level, which provides a great launching pad for teaching more in-depth doctrine and beliefs for each family.  It provides a great foundational understanding that kids and adults both can find useful.

If you lead children’s church or Sunday school, these would be great additions to any lesson.  Chad even used a section on justification in our adult Sunday School class in New York!  They have a variety of curriculum options, including VBS.

What We Love Wednesday – Styling Fireflies              Top 3 Styling Tips

Anyone else cleaning out closets this week?? In our house, my kids call it “The Great Clothes Changeover.”  It is my least favorite chore, but I always feel better when things are organized and fresh clothes are ready for a new season!

I’m excited to welcome Kat McNeal back to the blog today!  She’s bringing us 3 tips to remember as we pullout, refresh and rebuild our fall wardrobes!

I am honored that Stephanie asked me to follow-up after the August blog post. With the holiday season upon us, the white space on our calendars begins to disappear as it fills with events and social demands making it an annual struggle to keep Jesus the reason for the season.

The last thing we have time to do is go wardrobe shopping to accommodate our countless invitations. However, as women we have a natural desire to feel beautiful because we are called to display His image. Therefore, we want to make an effort to let His light shine through us. Thus, Matthew 5:16, is the mission of Styling Fireflies

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With this in mind, I want to share 3 style tips that all women can apply this season, and every season, to create a style with ease and help us look our best:

1. Match your shoe color to your hair color! Gone are the days of finding shoes to match your outfit. When your shoes match your hair, they will compliment every outfit you wear. Imagine yourself as a picture frame. Your head and feet are the frame; your face is the picture. When you create this visual balance, you become the object of attention, so don’t forget to smile!

Recommend: 1 hair color pair of flats or boots/booties to pair with jeans, leggings, and dresses. No matter the event, this 1 pair of shoes will match your outfit, because they match you!

2. 3-to-POP! When it comes to accessorizing, add 3 accessories every day to complete your style. This could simply be a pair of earrings, a bracelet, and a dash of lip color, and out the door you go!! Taking just a moment to add simple accessories will give you that polished look even in jeans and a T-shirt.

Recommend: 1 pair of gold or silver hoops or studs, 1 cuff or bangle bracelet, and purse that matches your hair color. (Same rule above applies to your purse too).

3. Less is more! If you do decide to do a little personal shopping for all the social demands of the season, keep in mind that every wardrobe purchase should coordinate with 3 other items in your closet. Found a new red floral blouse you love, but debating if you should spend the money?? Ask yourself if it will go with at least 2-3 items you already own…a pair of jeans, layered under a denim jacket or blazer, or with your black cropped pants…then your answer is “Yes.” Following this simple tip will help you build a larger selection of style with fewer pieces and relieve you from standing in your closet feeling like you have nothing to wear.

Recommend: Start with the basics.  Great wardrobe staples, i.e. jeans, navy and gray pants/skirts) create the foundation for more style selections. Are you an “App Girl”?  Stylebook is a great app to organize your closet and keep track of what you already own.

I pray this advice brings you confidence and simplicity as well as offers guidance on how to be a stylish steward, not only during the holidays but all year long!

Follow Kat on Instagram and Pinterest for more style trends and tips!

http://stylingfireflies.com

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I am passionate about helping families gather around the table.  Whether it’s sharing a recipe, selling Pampered Chef products, planning freezer meal workshops, teaching workshops about meal planning – I strive to share practical advice and encouragement to help provide tools to make family dinners more feasible for busy families.

Multiple studies have shown measurable benefits to regular family dinners, including:

• Better academic performance
• Higher self-esteem
• Greater sense of resilience
• Lower risk of substance abuse
• Lower risk of teen pregnancy
• Lower risk of depression
• Lower likelihood of developing eating disorders
• Lower rates of obesity

(The Family Dinner Project is just one resource that highlights the benefits of regular family dinners. )

But how do you routinely get dinner on the table between kids in multiple activities and sports, plus church activities and busy work schedules?

One tool that I have found to be indispensable in this process is my Instant Pot.   (I have the Duo 7-1, 6 quart.) With just a little research, you will find that there is almost a cult following to the Instant Pot – recipes, Pinterest boards, Facebook groups, etc…

The Instant Pot is basically an electric pressure cooker, sauté pan and slower cooker in one.  Most models include other settings to make rice, yogurt, grains and beans.  It has a timer to allow you to program a delay start, a cooking time and it automatically goes to a warm setting once cooking is complete.

The huge advantage to an Instant Pot over a slow cooker is the time it takes to cook.  I can pull a bag of frozen soup I have prepped in my freezer, throw it in the Instant Pot with a piece of frozen chicken and it is done in less than 30 minutes.  I can cook 2 lbs of dry beans in 25 minutes with no soaking required and make perfectly cooked boiled eggs in 2 minutes!

The quality of cooking in a pressure cooker vs. a slow cooker is remarkable, especially when cooking meat.  I can cook a pot roast in about an hour instead of all day in the oven.  Plus it can cook while we are aren’t home!

Another feature that I love is the sauté feature.  I can brown meat for tacos, chili or spaghetti sauce right in the Instant Pot, throw in the remaining ingredients, set it to cook (to cook/warm the other ingredients) while we are at volleyball or soccer practice and dinner is waiting when we come home!  Best of all, there are no additional dishes to wash.

The company also firmly stands behind their products.  Two weeks ago I had a fatal error on my Instant Pot.  I contacted the company and they sent me a brand new unit, even though mine was outside the 1 year warranty!

I could go on and on, but it truly is a one pot wonder and worth the investment!  Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday normally feature the best prices, but occasionally sales can be found during other times of the year.

What are your favorite Instant Pot recipes or tips?

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What We Love Wednesday – Brute Force Sandbags

A few months ago my husband announced, “I’m going to order you a sandbag.”  I rolled my eyes, but he insisted.

See, I used to go to the gym 4-5 days a week.  At my best in New York, I was consistently running, actually improving my times and training for my first triathlon.  I had two young kids and my husband was deployed – I had nothing but time for long workouts and routinely used my daily max of 2 hours for childcare at my local Y.

Fast forward six years and gym time is now basically impossible.  I know, I know…there are many homeschooling moms that consistently knock it out at the gym.  However, I’ve just struggled with how to fit in workouts consistently while juggling a baby that gets up at 6AM, nursing, naps, teaching school, making 456 meals and snacks a day, writing, co-ops, church responsibilities, etc…

Throwing school work in the car and going to the gym 3 mornings a week has just never worked for us and no matter what time I get up to workout, my little guy knows when my feet hit the floor.

I’ve done body weight type workouts at home for a while, but I had no accountability, no real plan and my fitness suffered.

Enter the sandbag.  As my husband promised, it has been the answer to my fitness needs at this stage in my life.

There are many different sandbags on the market, but we have the Brute Force Athlete bag, which holds up to 75 lb. of sand.  The bag comes with inner, removable bags that you fill with sand to your desired weight.

My favorite part is the accompanying app that provides daily workout.  They normally take less than 30 minutes and I can a lot of them in my house during nap times.  If a workout includes sprints, I either do them on my sidewalk or sub stair runs inside.

Since we move a lot, I love that we don’t have to haul around heavy kettle bells or weight benches.  When we are ready to move, we simply dump the sand out and pack the empty bags.

It may not be a crossfit gym or a 10 mile run – but it certainly gets the job done for this busy mom!  Maybe it could work for you too!

How do you fit workouts into your day?

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What We Love Wednesday – Book Review

Hands Free Mama

Raise your hand is you have a smart phone or computer.

Raise your hand is you are a parent, have a family or have a friend.

Then this book is for you.

Yes, it is written to mamas, but trust me, we can all use this message.  Technology is so prevalent in our culture.  It is virtually impossible to not use it and many forms of it are helpful and beneficial.  Like many things however, technology – our phones, tablets, screens – can take over our lives.

I sat at Panera the other day trying to wrangle my 4 kiddos and carry 27 trays of food to our table.  Sitting behind me was a lady with a 4 or 5 year old boy.  He had his tablet propped up watching a TV show and she was flipping through her phone.  It made my heart incredibly sad.

Do my kids use screens?  Yes, they do.  Do we have a perfect system of how often they use them? No, we do not.  Have I been guilty of shoving a screen at my kid in desperation in order to keep them occupied.  Yep, unfortunately I have.

But friends, there is a better way.

As a society we have bought a pack of lies that we need to be entertained and that our children need to be occupied.  Far too often this is achieved through screens or other technology.  In her book Hands Free Mama: A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really Matters!, Rachel Mary Stafford unpacks why we should put down the screens and to do lists and learn to connect.  I found this book is extremely practical and helpful.

She has a series of follow on books as well that address practical ways to slow down and focus on the things that matter most – the people around us.  They can be found on her website.

One example she give is what to do while waiting for an appointment in a doctor’s office.  The temptation is to hand our kids a screen and pick up our phones, but think of the connection that we miss with our children when this scenario is repeated time after time after time.

I have been convicted of this particular example and have challenged myself never to use a screen in a waiting room.  If my kids are with me, we bring a “go bag.”  We keep the go bag stocked with books, crayons, coloring books and small toys for Jake.  Even if I am waiting somewhere by myself, I try to read rather than check emails or surf social media.

So, here’s the challenge – if you look at your phone this week, while attempting to carry on a conversation with another person, read this book.

I pray that my kids will remember me looking into their eyes when they talk to me.  I pray that I will give them my full attention.  I am charged with raising four members of the next generation, there is absolutely nothing on my phone more important than that.

Have you read this book?  If so, what did you think? What other books you have read on this topic?

Given the time, this is almost a What We Love Thursday post, but I just made it!

I hope you take time to flip through all the What We Love Wednesday posts and show some love and support to the artists and small business owners I will feature.  As always, leave a comment or send me a message if you know someone I should feature!

Today’s is going to be short and sweet, but is truly something I love.

I love podcasts.  I’m not sure if podcasts are old school yet, but they are totally my jam.  With my husband’s schedule, I spend a lot of nights alone (like years at a time…) and quite often, there are dishes to be done or floors to be cleaned once my kids are in bed for the night.  Podcasts help make those chores go by more quickly.  I also listen to podcasts when I’m making dinner.

Last year during our 3rd deployment, a friend mentioned the podcast – Presidential.  This friend has clearly known me my entire life and knows how much I would love 44+ hours of presidential history neatly organized into episodes.  I actually began to look forward to my nightly chores and the chance to listen in.

So maybe if you live in nerdville like me, you may enjoy it too. 🙂

Kristen + Laura

Today I’m excited to introduce an up and coming singer/songwriter duo – Kristen + Laura.  

Laura and I met at West Point in 2013, where we each had baby girls just a couple of days apart.  Anytime someone asks, “If you could do anything what would it be?,” my answer is always the same: “Be able to sing like Laura!”  🙂 

Kristen and Laura help lead worship at Max Lucado’s church – Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, TX.  They just recently started writing songs together and have a brand new song coming out today!

Let’s get to know Kristen + Laura:

Stephanie: So, first things first – How can people follow you and check out your music?

K: Our FB page (Kristen + Laura), Instagram (kristen.laura.music), on YouTube @ Kristen + Laura Music and our new website: www.kristenlauramusic.com

Stephanie: So, what is your story? How did you come together to write music?

K: We met in January during a songwriting workshop at our church, where we were actually never paired to write together!  We immediately connected and made an effort to start writing together after the workshop ended. We felt really passionate about writing songs for our congregation that synced with our heart cries and that paralleled our pastors sermons. Pastor Max’s new upcoming series was titled Unshakeable Hope and it was full of standing on the Promises of God. We were instantly inspired and started writing immediately!

L: We officially started writing on this project earlier this summer!

Stephanie: What is the heartbeat of your ministry?

K: To equip the church with songs that honor Christ, and resonate in their hearts.

L: When we were trying to think of a clever name, (before we settled on our actual names lol), we kept going back to the words ‘overflow’ and ‘abide’. We said, ‘what are we doing when we write?’ And the answer was we were sitting and listening and leaning into Christ. We were letting Him write these songs. We were letting Him minister to us over certain situations and over verses and by abiding in Him, the overflow spilled over into these songs and this is what we got! 🙂

Stephanie: I love your new song Come and See! What is the story behind this song?

K: Good question! It’s funny, that song actually started as a few different songs. I had a piece the “Come and See” chorus from another song, and Laura a piece of the “Hallelujah” bridge from a different song. Once we started writing out of Revelation 21 together, we knew those pieces fit perfectly!

Stephanie: Exciting things are happening for you guys!  What is on the horizon?
L: More songs! Now that we’ve released a few acoustic videos with #promisesproject, people are asking where they can get the songs so our hopes are to record an EP soon! We also have been writing quite a bit for another project and it’s so exciting! Honestly, it’s just going to be wherever God takes us, and that’s exactly where we want to be 🙂

Stephanie: I always ask guests on my blog: What would you say to someone standing at the edge of their dream?  Many people have big dreams and plans and yet they just aren’t sure what to do.  You ladies took the plunge – what you say?

K: That’s a hard question to answer! For us it feels more like a calling than a dream. I’d say if this is a calling God has placed on your life, then nothing can stand in the way of it. Be patient, be diligent, lean in and learn to know the whisper of the Holy Spirit. He’ll tell you what to do and when to do it!

Be sure to check out Kristen + Laura’s music and follow them to keep up with their journey!