Four Questions to Reflect on, with New Resources that might help.

This transition from summer to fall, relaxed schedules to more structured back to school routine; it is a great time to pause and reflect on our practices and environments. Since we are still mostly at home for virtually everything these days, I have found myself reflecting on the environment I want to create for our family. Also, reflecting on the fact that the state of my heart greatly influences our home. It is essential that I not just think about the home environment as home decor. So I’ve been pondering these four questions:

What routines and practices do I need to change, add, or adjust to ensure I am tending my own heart to love and care for my family well?
What resources do we have in place or need to look for to help support this season’s routine and schedules?
In this season, where we are still physically distancing ourselves because of COVID, how are we intentionally building community and maintaining relationships?
Is our home working for what we need right now? Is it drawing our family together rather than sending us into our own spaces? Does it help us to do our work well, yet relax and enjoy time together?

These questions might create very different answers for each of us, depending on our children’s stage and age, depending on our interests and personalities. It’s important to process what works best for you and how your family functions. While I sometimes share how I have been working through and answering questions, today I wanted to take a moment to share some of the resources I have pulled together in this season. I love discovering new books, blogs, small businesses, and more. And when I find things that I love, things that are helping me, I can’t help but share them.

Tending my own heart: Shopping has never been my thing, but now, it’s my new favorite thing. Surprisingly shopping is now filling my bucket. Pandemic Life has been showing me ways to shop that fill my heart, bring stuff I love into the home, and feel good while doing it. It’s a win-win situation. There are times that it makes the most sense to just order from Amazon or run to Target, but where we can make our dollars matter, we do. I’ve been ordering some of my books from the local bookstore . I signed up for a fun surprise Fall Boxes from the local DIY store . I’ve been purchasing cards to mail to friends from Etsy and have researched some ways to allow myself to buy beautiful things while supporting some great programs. Such as Ann Voskamp’s Grace Crafted Home, When looking at our budget, I found that instead of spending money on seasonal decorations and items we use once, I can love supporting local and good causes with my shopping habits.

Working Smarter Not Harder: If you are working on simplifying your life, investing in what matters most, and being lazy about what doesn’t, then The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi is a book you’ll want to read. This book was just released earlier this month and is already on the New York Times Bestseller list. This book is not about “how to”; instead, it’s about giving you principles that help you figure out what works best for you. Simple principles like Decide Once and Live in the Season, to name just two, will set you on the path to working and living smarter, not harder. These principles help us be the best version of ourselves, not imitate someone else’s life.

Growing Community in Pandemic Life: Because I love books, supporting writers, and believe in this topic, I jumped at the chance to participate in the book launch for my hope*writer friend Twyla Franz. Twyla has beautifully written a devotional Cultivating a Missional Life released September 18th to kindle and will be coming out in book form soon. Since I can’t say it any better, I’ll share straight from her website

“Cultivating a Missional Life is a devotional that will make actually building friendships with your neighbors doable. The 30 bite-sized devotions are a gentle call to notice, value, and connect with your neighbors in meaningful ways. If you are lonely all the time, a quiet or sociable introvert, new to your neighborhood, a long-timer in your neighborhood, struggling to be present, wanting to be a better friend or desiring to live a life worth imitating, then this daily devotional is for you!”

I can’t encourage you to read this book enough. How can we live this one beautiful life we have well if we don’t start in our homes and neighborhoods?

Tending my home: Wait for it!!!!!! Yes, another book I am more than excited about has been released this month. September has been a fantastic month for new books. All so different, and yet when you read them, they feel as they fit perfectly together. One of my questions was reflecting on how our home was working for us. If you don’t follow @thenester, you are missing out on some great tips. Shopping with her on her Instagram stories is so fun. What is great about Myquillin Smith is that she doesn’t talk about just decorating your house. She helps us learn how to create homes. Houses that work for us that allow us to create spaces we feel comfortable inviting others. She isn’t encouraging us to spend lots of money, often the opposite, she is teaching us how to shop in our homes, in nature, and be smart about the purchases we do make.

Her new book Welcome Home is beautiful. I was smart (I’m not always planning ahead this well) and preordered for the bonus of her Welcome Home Prep School. So many amazing tips and ideas to carry with us as we get ready to celebrate various holidays and decorate for new seasons. And did I mention it’s a beautiful book too, and who doesn’t love beautiful books?

Resources that work for us: Some seasons I have felt overwhelmed with sports schedules and activities. Meal planning and cooking felt difficult on a good day. Maybe you are there, and a service like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron would be worth every penny spent. Sometimes time is money, and while we are all working with various budgets, budgeting can be as much about how you choose to use your resources as what resources you have. During busy seasons we have dropped different media subscriptions and put our money into a meal subscription instead. We weren’t home to watch TV during that time, but having preplanned ready to cook meals was life-giving. In pandemic life, we are home more, so cooking at home isn’t as hard, and having all the TV to watch has been a better option. Who knows, that might change again, but if we don’t pay attention, we won’t adjust to fit the needs with changing seasons and life stages.

When we take time to reflect and think through how we are living, we find such freedom. We don’t have to do what we’ve always done, especially if it’s no longer working for us. We can discover new resources, new principles, and new skills. We might also find things that use to matter might not matter as much now. Creating our best life isn’t about copying someone else’s life. Instead, it’s about learning principles and skills to help us live in a unique way that fits who we are and what works for our family.

When we take time to reflect and think through how we are living,
we find freedom.
Freedom to recognize we don’t have to do what we’ve always done, especially if it’s no longer working for us.
Don’t Forget to Pause and take some time to reflect:
What routines and practices do I need to change, add, or adjust to ensure I am tending my own heart to love and care for my family well?
What resources do we have in place or need to look for to help support this season’s routine and schedules?
In this season, where we are still physically distancing ourselves because of COVID, how are we intentionally building community and maintaining relationships?
Is our home working for what we need right now? Is it drawing our family together rather than sending us into our own spaces? Does it help us to do our work well, yet relax and enjoy time together?

On a side note: I’ve shared lots of links and resources. I am not being paid to endorse any of these books or services. These are just things that I love and want to share. There are affiliate links for the books on my site if you are interested in ordering through amazon. However, where you can, I encourage you to shop locally and support small businesses.

Resource Links:
ARWorkshop – Lawrence https://www.arworkshop.com/lawrence/
Raven Bookstore – Lawrence https://www.ravenbookstore.com/
Lisaspearls on Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/Lisaspearls
Ann Voskamp Grace Crafted Home https://gracecraftedhome.com/
Blue Apron – https://www.blueapron.com/
Hello Fresh https://www.hellofresh.com/plans/

Myquillin Smith aka @thenester website: https://thenester.com/

Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round

Kendra Adachi aka @thelaztgenius website: https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/