Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 60

Celebrate Every Day with American Greetings Personalized Video eCards

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of eCards from American Greetings for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Can I make a confession?

I am terrible about sending birthday cars, get well notes, etc.

In my head, I want to be great about these things, but I just can’t ever seem to get my act together to actually get to the store, choose an appropriate card, write a note AND mail it!

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to jump on the ecard bandwagon, but American Greetings ecards are:

Quick and easy to send on an important occasion or holiday so you can send one right when you think of it without having to wait to get to the store or post office.
A fun way to send an electronic gift card attached to your card.
Perfect for any occasion — from birthdays and anniversaries to reconnecting with a friend or loved one or just letting someone know you’re thinking about them.

Personalized Video eCards

They also now offer video ecards with personalized lyrics as well, and these are so much fun! (Sign up for a free 7-day trial to try them for yourself!)

As you know, my husband has been dealing with a pretty serious injury from power kiting in our front yard, and he’s been spending a lot of his time in bed, so I couldn’t resist sending him a personalized “I love you” card for my first card. Not only could I personalize the song with both of our names, but I was even able to add “kiteboarding” into the song as well. Okay, so he might not have thought that part was as funny as I did.

(See the whole song here.)

Video cards can be sent via email, delivered straight to a mobile phone or shared on Facebook!

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What ecards will you send this week? Make your American Greetings eCard now!

Celebrate Every Day with American Greetings Personalized Video eCards

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Dear Readers… + Desktop Calendar {April 2014}

To download the image above to use as your desktop wallpaper, simply click the image (or this link: April 2014 Desktop Calendar) and choose Save Link As… Then, open the picture, right click and choose Set as desktop background.

Dear Readers…

Are you enjoying the “new” Life Your Way? What would you like to see more of? Less of?

I’m still working through the changes and updates on the site, but I’m enjoying Life Your Way a lot these days — from the new Life Your Way Monthly Facebook group to sharing the real happenings in my life alongside new printables and posts — and it’s been a relief for me to blog, rather than an added stress, as we’ve worked through the details of life while Sean is pretty much stuck in bed.

Speaking of which, we head back to the doctor tomorrow to hopefully get some more answers as to the continued pain and immobility he’s experiencing, as well as a referral for physical therapy, and your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Finally, I’m not sure whether I’ll end up blogging about the way we do Easter this year since I’ve shared my thoughts on that before, but I did want to highlight some great printables we have in the archives to help you focus on the Easter story:

DIY Resurrection Eggs & Easter Story Book Printables
8 Days of Easter Advent for Families

P.S. If you haven’t registered for The Mom Conference (formerly The Mom Summit), the dates have been pushed back a week, so there’s still time. Register today for FREE and get access to more than 30 sessions from top bloggers and experts to help you enjoy motherhood more!

As always, thank you for being part of the Life Your Way community and for taking the time to comment on posts, send me emails and share the site with your friends and family — I wouldn’t want to do any of this without you!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Dear Readers… + Desktop Calendar {April 2014}

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

    Related StoriesLife Your Way Monthly on Facebook & Spring Cleaning in AprilDopplegangers, Snacks, Stomach Flu Remedies and 4 More Quick TakesWelcome to the Brand New Life Your Way!

Life Your Way Monthly on Facebook & Spring Cleaning in April

For several months now I’ve been tossing around the idea of monthly themes on the challenges that we face as moms, unsure of what exactly that would look like: A paid monthly course? Themed posts on the blog?

The topics in my head range from intentional motherhood and pursuing your passion to  meal planning and creating a budget that works.

And spring cleaning.

Oh, spring cleaning, how you snuck up on me! As March flew by with it’s below-average temperatures and Sean’s accident, spring cleaning stayed on the edges of my consciousness. I knew the time was fast approaching; I could feel my own itch to declutter and reorganize and deep clean growing.

Last week, in between deadlines and mommy timeouts, an idea began to form: What if we created an informal place where we could work on monthly themes together, sharing links and progress and encouragement, without hijacking the blog each month?

So this weekend, Life Your Way Monthly was born.

Each month, we’ll tackle a new theme together — spring cleaning in April and joyful motherhood in May to start. We’ll post links and resources in the group and invite you to do the same. And together we’ll learn and grow and maybe even get a few things done!

Because this idea is coming together at the last minute, I don’t have all of the details worked out. Rather than waiting, though, we’re going to go ahead and launch now.

Want to join us?

Click here to join the Life Your Way Monthly Facebook group.


Download the Spring Cleaning Made Easy printable checklist to help you stay on track this month.


Read through the posts from last year’s series for inspiration as you tackle spring cleaning.


In addition, I’ve created a Spring Cleaning board on Pinterest. If you’d like to join that group board, submit your email address here and I’ll send you an invite!


And finally, I’m hoping to host a laid back Twitter chat later this month to talk about the organizing and cleaning topics that matter most to you. Join the Facebook group so you don’t miss that information.

What other themes would you like to see us feature?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Life Your Way Monthly on Facebook & Spring Cleaning in April

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

    Related StoriesDopplegangers, Snacks, Stomach Flu Remedies and 4 More Quick TakesWelcome to the Brand New Life Your Way!

Giveaway: Wood Watch from JORD ($129 Value!)

Whether you’re looking for a unique and special gift for Father’s Day or a new accessory for yourself, you’ll want to check out JORD Wood Watches.

These gorgeous watches are designed to take people away from today’s metal & rubber and back to nature while also serving as a focal point for your everyday style.

Hand-crafted from diverse sustainable woods from all over the world, every JORD watch is truly a unique, one-of-a-kind, premium-quality timepiece.

The Ely Series offers an elegant, small-face design that’s perfect for every day:

Hardened, Scratch-proof glass face: 26mm diameter
Frame / bezel: 34mm diameter
Band width: 21.5mm
Lug ends: 40mm
Single action locking clasp (stainless steel)
Premium Citizen Miyota movement with date window

Enter to Win

This week, JORD is giving one lucky Life Your Way reader a wood watch from their Ely series in their choice of black, green or maple!

To enter, fill out the form below:

I received a watch in exchange for hosting this giveaway, but all opinions expressed are 100% mine. The giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, 4/4. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well. Unfortunately, due to the international laws governing sweepstakes and lotteries, we’re only able to offer these giveaways to U.S. residents 18 years and older.

Giveaway: Wood Watch from JORD ($129 Value!)

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

    Related Stories10 Ways to Choose Joy at the Start of Every DayOn Choosing Joy {Even When It’s Not Easy}Giveaway: Logic of English Foundations Set A ($156 Value!)

Weekend Reading: March 29, 2014

Morning conversations.

Baby boy is FIVE months old already, and although I am 100% sure that I have savored every moment and cuddle and midnight feeding, I’m still not quite sure where the time has gone!

Although he’s still not rolling over and only wobbly sitting for a few seconds at a time, his personality is really starting to come out. He loves to be happy and only cries when his tummy doesn’t feel good or we’re not paying  attention to his cues that he’s hungry or tired. He wakes up in the morning with a sleepy grin on his face and often goes back to sleep grinning as well!

His sisters continue to ooh and ahh over every move he makes, and his face lights up often at the sight of them.

He’s also started to show his flirty shy side, hiding his face in my neck when someone talks to him, which pretty much slays me every time.

Here are some of my favorite posts from this week. As always, check out what I’m reading and what I’m pinning to see the other posts that make me stop and think (or, you know, drool…). You’ll find new posts all week long!

The Real World Vision Issue

I know this issue has come and gone already for many people this week, but I just need to take a minute to share my thoughts. I don’t think the controversy (with World Vision’s original announcement followed by their reversal) has as much to do with gay marriage as it does with the evangelical community’s willingness to make innocent children pawns of an issue.

I was truly shocked at the number of children who were dropped from sponsorship, and even more so at the church leaders encouraging their congregations to do so. This isn’t about my stance on gay marriage (honestly, I don’t know that I even have a stance other than that people come before an issue every time), but about the children who were suddenly unsponsored by Christians who had not only committed to them but also professed to care about them. My heart breaks not only for those children but also for the message of hate those actions send to gay people about where the Christian community’s priorities lie.

These posts express my thoughts on the whole situation better than I can:

Stuck In The Middle With You | Sharideth


World Vision, Gay Marriage, and a Different Way Through | Jen Hatmaker


(Un)Follow, (Un)Support, (Un)Sponsor : What does our response to World Vision say about our Faith? | Jamie the Very Worst Missionary

 Modern Childhood

The Overprotected Kid | The Atlantic


Homework’s Emotional Toll on Students and Families | NYTimes.com


When You’re Tired of Kids Complaining: 15 Ways to Happier, Grateful Kids | A Holy Experience

 For the Entrepreneurs Among Us

5 shocks I got when I became an entrepreneur.| Jon Acuff


Scared Of Failing? Ask Yourself These 6 Fear-Killing Questions | Co.Design

Have a great weekend!

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Weekend Reading: March 29, 2014

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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10 Ways to Choose Joy at the Start of Every Day

Earlier this week, after 10 days of being physically responsible for everything the kids, the animals and my husband need — and after 6 of the busiest days of my life thanks to some prescheduled commitments and extracurricular activities — I found myself on the verge of losing it.

I could feel my blood pressure rising, and I was angry with everybody — even the baby — which is a clear sign that there’s a problem. I set him calmly in his bed, said a few unkind words to my husband (if I’m going to out myself, might as well be completely honest), put on my jacket and shoes and went outside into the wicked wind chills to cool down (literally and figuratively). I ended up climbing into the truck because it was just ridiculously cold outside, and as I sat there, I spent some time thinking about what this whole “choosing joy” thing actually means, inspired by Naomi’s question in the comments of my original post.

***

I think “How do you choose joy?” is a valid question. We can talk about choosing joy all we want, but it’s not easy and there’s no guidebook for what that actually means.

So here’s what it means to me:

Choosing joy happens in two ways. It happens proactively by making choices for the day that reflect my desire to count my blessings and focus on the eternal rather than my circumstances, and it happens reactively once I’ve already ended up in that place of stress, frustration and anger.

Today I’m going to talk about choosing joy proactively, at the start of every day (we’ll talk about what it looks like once things go wrong next week!).

***

During the first week of my husband’s injury, I set aside all of my work commitments to focus on our family’s needs. I slept hard each night and woke up each morning with a plan for how I would choose joy that day and a realistic list of what I could get done.



I invited my girls to help me in the kitchen. I said yes more often. I gave the girls my undivided attention. And it worked. My plan, my focus and my attention didn’t eliminate the hard moments, but it did make it easier to choose joy when they happened.

Here’s what I learned about proactively choosing joy:

1. Get enough sleep.

This is often easier said than done, especially with little ones in the house, and one day last week, I posted on Facebook:

Several years ago, Kat shared her secret for being a more patient mom, and — you guessed it — it was simply getting the sleep your body needs.

Sleep is so, so important, and we can so easily end up in the cycle of staying up too late because we’re tired, which just leaves us with more of a sleep deficit and even less emotional control.

2. Start with quiet time.

As a Christian, spending time in prayer and God’s Word is an important part of how I start my day. Now, contrary to what so many people have told me in the past, I don’t find it to be a “magic pill” that somehow makes the rest of my day go smoother, but I do find that it helps me put my focus where it belongs, and — if I can keep my focus on the things that really matter throughout the day — that does help me choose joy.

If you’re looking for some help and accountability with a morning quiet time, Good Morning Girls is getting ready to start a 4-week Easter study, and I can’t recommend their materials enough. Another option is the Hello Mornings program. I haven’t done one of their studies, but I love the women behind the program, and I’m sure it’s fantastic!

3. Think of ways to make every day special.

When I intentionally look for ways to make each day special, I tend to be more patient, loving and kind. I’m not talking about big fancy breakfasts or trips to get ice cream every day, but just little things like trying a new (simple) breakfast recipe or greeting my girls with the good morning song when they come downstairs (“Good morning, good morning. And how are you today? I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m glad you came to play!”)

My commitment in 2014 is to celebrate the every day, including all of the minor holidays (there are more of those than I expected — ha!), and decorating our windows with a banner or making cut-out cookies every couple weeks is a great way to keep my focus on celebrating life rather than just surviving each day.

4. Turn on the music.

It’s funny because too much noise can sometimes leave me feeling overwhelmed and cranky, but an instrumental station on Pandora, like Beethoven or 2Cellos, provides a nice backdrop to our day that seems to keep everybody calmer, happier and more focused.

Other times we’ll turn on the Disney or Veggie Tales station and have a dance party, or Need to Breathe radio when I need to get moving and clear my head. And, of course, the Frozen soundtrack is getting played regularly these days!

5. Even if you don’t have time to clean the whole house, hit the pressure points.

One of the first posts I wrote when I launched Organizing Your Way was about identifying your pressure points:

I love having a clean home, but as time has gone by and we’ve added each child to our family, I’ve simply had to relax my standards. It’s been a slow process, but the key has been identifying my pressure points – the things that make me nutty if they’re left undone – so that I can get those out of the way.

These will be different for everyone, and to identify your pressure points, you have to first let go of other people’s expectations and focus on the things that are important to you.

Maybe having a clean house shouldn’t be important to me, but the state of our house does affect my mood, patience, etc.

For me, having the couch piled with blankets and books, the counters covered in miscellanea and the bedroom scattered with clothes can make me feel like the whole house is out of control, even when it’s not. Taking 10-15 minutes to tackle these areas clears my field of vision and gives me a better perspective as I go about the rest of my day.

6. Expect the best, but prepare for the worst.

This is one of my favorite sayings whenever we’re tackling something new or hard. Whether it’s traveling with the kids, juggling work and family, or trying something new, I try to set my expectations somewhere between realistic and optimistic, but I prepare for the worst case scenario so that when things inevitably go wrong, I’m not shell-shocked and unable to recover.

So, for example, during the first week after Sean’s injury, my expectation was that the girls and I could handle it (we could!), that they would step up and help me out (they did!) and that I would find a way to juggle my work commitments and being “super mom” (okay, not so much…). Setting my expectations high gave me the confidence to actually tackle the crazyness that we were facing, but I also prepared myself mentally that I might not have enough time to write all the posts I wanted to write (I didn’t!) and that by the end of 6 days of running the girls to and fro’, I was going to be flat out exhausted (I was!).

I think there’s something to be said for our experiences matching our expectations: if we think something will be miserable, it probably will be. On the other hand, putting unreasonable or unflexible expectations on other people or situations will just lead to disappointment, so expecting the best but preparing for the worst allows me to balance both of those principles.

7. Make time for movement and exercise.

Okay, I’m not great at this one, but I know it’s true anyway. Getting exercise, even a little bit, is a huge mood booster. Starting your day with exercise also boosts your metabolism and gives you energy for the day.

The 7-minute workout is a great way to fit in a good workout on a busy day. Seriously, who doesn’t have time for a 7-minute workout? (Says she who hasn’t done in it a month.)

8. Meet the needs of your inner introvert AND your inner extrovert.

As an extreme introvert, it’s easy for me to focus on my need to have time alone for introspection and forget about my need to interact with people as well. Last week, I found that getting out of the house and spending time with people I really like helped me to keep going. Of course, the flip side of that is I feel like I still haven’t quite recovered from all of that interaction — ha!

No matter where you fall on the scale, you’re wired to need time alone and time with other people (how much of each will vary greatly), so it pays to do a little navel gazing to figure out how much you need of both so that you can fill your energy reserves rather than draining them!

9. Count your blessings.

Although I’ve never formally joined the One Thousand Gifts joy dare to count my blessings on paper, I like to think I’m pretty good about keeping even the smallest blessings in mind. I am so thankful for this crazy beautiful life — for each of my rambunctious, spunky girls, for the tiny baby boy that holds me hostage with his coos and giggles, for a husband who often knows me better than I know myself, for friends who get my neurotic tendencies, for this little slice of heaven where we get to live, for the chance to work at home, and on and on and on. When you count your blessings every day, it’s a lot easier to choose joy!

10. Keep your circumstances in perspective.

If  Horatio Spafford could write these words shortly after losing all 5 of his children as well as his fortune, surely I, too, can choose joy in the midst of my minor trials and pain:

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way,


When sorrows like sea billows roll;


Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,


It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

A friend of mine lost her home and all of her possessions in a fire this past weekend. While the past two weeks have been hard for our family, no doubt, focusing on what she’s going through gives me some much needed perspective.

Compared to what so many other people are facing, my life is good, and I don’t want to ever lose sight of that. And even if one of these unimaginable tragedies were to impact our family, I want to model Horatio Spafford’s example and focus on the eternal even as I grieve.

What about you? How do you proactively choose joy at the start of a new day?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

10 Ways to Choose Joy at the Start of Every Day

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Chores & Allowance Revisited {Plus a Printable Time Card for Kids!}

I’ve shared our philosophy about chores and allowance in the past, but I thought I would revisit the topic now that I’m the mom of three — soon to be four! — elementary-age kids and not a whole slew of preschoolers.

For us, chores and allowance offer opportunities to teach the girls about responsibility, team work, money management and more:

Chores

We define chores as the things each member of our family does around the house just because we’re all members of the same family. This includes both regular assignments and the needs that crop up in any given day that we ask the girls to do.

We try really hard to be fair about this, to model a “happy heart” when doing our own chores and even to make chore time fun with music, working together, etc., although there are plenty of times when it’s just plain work.

In our family, there is no payment for doing chores. You do them because you’re an Ehman and because you live in this house (just like Mommy and Daddy!). End of story.

Allowance

On the other side of the equation is an allowance, a set amount of money you get each week simply for being part of the family.

Although we have made some halfhearted attempts at giving allowance in the past, right now our kids don’t actually get one.

In the future, I can see giving them a monthly allowance that they’ll need to budget for clothes, going out with friends and other various odds and ends, just to help them practice money management rather than asking mom and dad each time they want to buy something.

For now, though, they get plenty of money for their birthdays and Christmas, plus the opportunity to earn money (more on that below), and I don’t really have any desire to give them more money to spend on stupid toys (which are the ones they inevitably go for!).

Jobs

Finally, we offer our kids jobs, which are paid opportunities to work hard and earn a little money. We’re fairly cheap in this area, and while our 6-year-old surprisingly drives the hardest bargain when it comes to negotiating pay, the others are happy to fold a load of laundry for $0.50 or dust baseboards for $0.25.

Typically, I’ll announce that I have a paying job for the first taker, but we do have a few regular jobs as well. For example, our oldest actually folds all of the girls’ laundry each week. She asked for a regular paying job, and I was happy to delegate that one, but we also think it’s important to teach work ethic and commitment, so our rule now is she can do it happily for pay or with a bad attitude and it will become part of her regular — unpaid — chores {#meanmom}. That said, we really haven’t had too much trouble with her attitude. She grabs a basket full of clothes 2-3 times a week and folds it during TV time, which is working out really well for all of us.

I’m also reconsidering the idea of a job board where I can post jobs that are available so that they can earn money more regularly and we can tackle some of the things we regularly ignore…like dusting the baseboards!

Money Management & Time Cards

Which brings me to the most recent addition to the way we handle paid jobs: the time card.

A few friends had actually asked about chores and allowance recently on Facebook, and in the comments of one of those posts, someone else mentioned that they require their kids to divide the money they earn between tithes, savings and spending.

This is something I’ve always been committed to in theory, but it’s a little bit harder in reality when you’re paying a quarter at a time.

Enter the time card.

In order to make this a habit, we decided that I would track the money the girls earn and use a $10 payout threshold, at which time the girls will give 10%, or $1, to our church as tithes, put $4 in savings, and keep the remaining $5 to spend. (I know some people do a separate charity category as well, but the girls find plenty of other ways to give to charity — whether through their change, cleaning out their toys or volunteering — so I don’t want to complicate things further by requiring that as well.)

I had initially been keeping track of the money they earned on my computer. However, I really wanted to turn the tracking over to the girls themselves, so I created a set of time cards for them to fill out each time they do a paying job.

The time card lists the date, a description of the job and the agreed pay plus a place for Sean or I to initial. At the bottom, there are fields for calculating the tithes, saving and spending for the total amount earned.

Click here to download or print the time card.

I’m sure our system will continue to evolve, but for now this is working out pretty well for us!

How do you handle chores and allowance in your family?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Chores & Allowance Revisited {Plus a Printable Time Card for Kids!}

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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How I Organize My Tea Collection

I’ve been sharing my love of tea this year — both for the caffeine as a busy, nursing mom and for the pleasure of snuggling up with a warm cuppa in a variety of flavors — and several of you have asked how I organize my teas, so I thought I’d give you a peek inside my tea cabinet!

We have two cabinets with rolling doors in our kitchen that we refer to as the “garages” (which works since we don’t have a real garage), and last year I got rid of several small appliances and designated one of the shelves as the coffee shelf. Over Christmas break, I took that a step further and cleared another shelf for teas, and I’m loving having them all organized right next to the stove.

Actually, for a while I just had the cardboard boxes of teas stacked precariously on the shelf, but that got old real fast as they inevitably toppled over while I was digging through them. It also made it hard for my sweet big girls to make me or themselves a cup of tea, so I started searching for ways to organize them, and I finally settled on these gorgeous (and affordable!) bamboo boxes.

I thought one would be enough, but it quickly became obvious that I have a problem they don’t hold as much as I hoped, so I decided to divide my caffeinated (black and pue-rh teas, mostly) and herbal teas between two boxes.

A couple of weeks ago we finally got around to printing out a couple of vinyl stencils on the Silhouette and I painted labels on the boxes. (I’m trying really hard to use the supplies we have rather than buying new ones for projects like this, so I painted them with shimmery white paint we had gotten for  the girls’ pinewood derby cars!)

Beside the boxes, I have several jars and bags of loose teas as well as a few tins of tea sachets.

Technically, loose tea should be kept in a dark container, but I have a couple jars in there that I think are probably okay since we keep the door closed. My plan is to cover the tins in a pretty patterned paper and use those for loose teas once the sachets are gone.

We also have a shelf in our dish cabinet for this pretty tea pot that Shannon gave me as well as the tea cups I got for the girls at a local thrift store. They love to have tea parties with various herbal teas (Tazo Passion is their favorite), but I prefer my tea in a big mug as opposed to a delicate tea cup!

How do you organize your tea?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy, and together they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

How I Organize My Tea Collection

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Overwhelmed with Green and Natural Living? You Need These 5 Simple Truths

The following post is from Emily of Live Renewed:

source: Unsplash

One response I hear a lot when talking to people about their green and natural living journeys is how overwhelming it can be. All of the information, changes to make, and toxins to worry about can really drag you down and even leave you feeling paralyzed, unsure what step to take next, or ready to throw in the towel because it’s all just too much.

I understand and totally get the overwhelmed feeling. There is a lot of information to take in, and it can lead to a feeling of helplessness when you realize that there aren’t a lot of good regulations in place to protect you and your children from dangerous toxins and chemicals in the environment.

But, when the feelings of overwhelm threaten to take over and I’m tempted to just stick my head in the sand and pretend like green living is not something I need to worry about, I try to remind myself of these five simple truths to keep me moving forward:

5 Simple Truths About Green and Natural Living

These truths are simple, but powerful, and will help get you past the feelings of overwhelmed and back onto the path toward healthier choices for your family and for the planet.

1. You can’t do everything, but you can do something

The reality of life is that we are never going to be able to do absolutely everything we want to do to live a greener life, protect our family from toxins, and remove chemicals from our homes. We cannot live a toxin-free life on this earth, so we need to start with letting go of the idea that we need to do everything. Perfection is not the goal, positive changes and moving in the right direction is the goal of our journey! 

So we recognize that while we can’t do everything, we do have the choice to do something. We can make changes that will move us and our family in the right direction toward the kind of life that we are pursuing.

source: Steven Depolo/Flickr

2. Just start

So, once we’ve determined that we can do something, we have to just choose something to do, and do it. Whether it’s a big lifestyle overhaul or a very small and simple change, we can’t make the change unless we start. Every change starts with taking that first step. Choose one area of your life that you think  is most important, or even will be the easiest to change, and start there. It doesn’t matter where you start, and long as you just do it!

3. Every change, not matter how small, makes a difference

As you begin the change you have decided to work on, you can be proud of the fact that what you are doing is making a difference. It’s making a difference for your family. Because everything in our lives are interconnected, any change that we make, even a tiny change, will impact our lifestyle as a whole, and can also have an impact on the world around us.

It’s up to us to make changes that will have an impact on our health, our environment, and others around the world. That’s how green living really can change the world.


~Green Your Life: A Guide to Natural, Eco-Friendly Living

When we make small changes, and encourage others around us to make small changes, together we can change the world!

4. Let go of the guilt

Because you can’t do everything or make every change that you want to make, you may spend time worrying or feeling guilty about the changes you haven’t made. I want to really encourage you to let go of that guilt!

As humans, God has created our bodies to be extremely resilient. Our bodies can fight back against illnesses and toxins from our environment. Worry and stress can be just as bad for our health, so it’s best to just let the guilt go, and focus on the positive changes you are making, and the ways that you are moving in the right direction.

source: Emily at Live Renewed

5. Use what you already have

I think sometimes green and natural living can feel overwhelming because we think we need to go out and buy new “greener” things to replace our old “non-green” things. But that is not always true. There are many ways that you can make green and natural changes to your lifestyle using things that you already have around your home.

Here are a few ideas, just to get you started:

Save your glass jars and start using them all around your home.
Find natural beauty products in your kitchen cupboards.
Repurpose containers for toy storage.
And when you sign up for my email newsletter, I’ll send you a free report on 5 Non-Toxic Cleaners you already have at home (and vinegar and baking soda aren’t even on the list!)

So, when you start to feel overwhelmed by all the information and changes to make on the journey toward greener and more natural living, come back to these simple truths, pick one to focus on, and move forward on your journey!

What are some things you feel most overwhelmed with about making the change to green and natural living? How can you apply one of these simple truths today? 

Emily McClements is passionate about living with compassion and caring for creation in a way that will impact the world. She is a blessed wife and mama to three young children, and blogs about her family’s journey toward natural and simple living at Live Renewed.

Overwhelmed with Green and Natural Living? You Need These 5 Simple Truths

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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Free Printable Spring Thank You Cards

The following post is from Jason & Jennifer Bruce of New Season Design :

If your thank you note collection needs a little seasonal updating, be sure to print these cute spring thank you notes!

Last week, our daughter got several pieces of mail that were just for her. In our instant messaging digital world, we’re in the habit of sending emails or Facebook messages for just about everything. But those envelopes showing up in our mailbox just made her day! Email couldn’t hold a candle to those letters.

When we’re the senders, thank you notes are the one thing that we insist on being handwritten. We’re on a huge thank you note writing binge right now. Having just had knee surgery, I have thank you notes headed out to friends who made meals, parents who watched our daughter, people who loaned us gear we needed, and more. ‘Tis the season for thank you notes!

Click here to download or print the spring thank you notes.

Jason & Jennifer Bruce are the husband-and-wife design team behind New Season Design, where they work together to help clients put their best foot forward online. Jason is a pastor-turned-graphic designer, and Jennifer is a teacher-turned-blog designer who also blogs at The Simple Pen about life, learning and the things she loves.

Free Printable Spring Thank You Cards

© 2010-2014 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

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