Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 65

One Word for 2014: Live {January Update}

source: Mandi Ehman

Despite the fact that I’m a bit overwhelmed by life at the moment, I’m determined to be intentional about my choices in 2014 — more specifically, to be intentional about slowing down, managing my time and making choices that better reflect my priorities.

As part of my one word {LIVE}, I’ve decided to work through three books this year, one chapter a month: Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine, Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford, and Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider.

Today I’m sharing my thoughts about chapter 1 of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode — Stop Trying to Do It All — over at Money Saving Mom, and I also focused on chapter 1 of Hands Free Mama, Acknowledging the Cost. {Notes from a Blue Bike just arrived this week, so I’ll start working through the first section in February.}

I love Rachel Macy Stafford’s encouraging words and commitment to living hands free and all in. This doesn’t come easily for me since I’m about as task-oriented and introverted as they come, but with the adolescent years just around the corner, I’m feeling the pull to really “tie the heart strings” of my girls to my own to help us get through those years.

This chapter, like the first chapter of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, was about acknowledging that for every thing we say yes to, we’re saying no to another.

The hard part for me, as a work-at-home mom who homeschools, is that rules like closing the computer when my kids are awake are simply not an option. I need to get a full week’s work in and still have time to unwind and sleep in order to function.

That means teaching my girls that when I’m at the computer, I’m working, and that if they constantly interrupt me, work will take longer. Which means — and here’s my big epitome for the month — when I’m sitting with my nose glued to the computer screen, I need to actually be working.

Rachel offers four practices in Chapter 1 that I focused on this month, and each one hit home for me with the weight of its potential impact on my life:

Go Hands Free at Specific Times

This hands free time for me, more than any other time, needs to be in the car. I have a much easier time setting technology aside when I’m busy at home, but because car trips are never less than 30-45 minutes for us, it’s too easy for me to pick up my phone and fiddle with it while we drive. The girls are often busy during this time listening to stories, playing games, etc. and may not even notice, but this is also a chance for Sean and I to have one-on-one conversations with fairly few distractions, and I want to protect that time better.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve been trying to go “hands free” in the car for 5 weeks now and I’m still not very good at it. Sometimes we want to look something up on the internet together (usually to settle some goofy argument about a weather phenomena, historical fact, etc.), but more often I’m simply checking Facebook and Instagram.

So I’m writing this publicly as I redouble my efforts and commit to being hands free in the car.

Identify Distraction

I shared my time and energy wasters in my guest post at Money Saving Mom, so I’m not going to repeat them here. Hint: the internet.

source: Mandi Ehman

Invest in Moments That Matter

While living intentionally is often about saying no and giving things up, I love that Rachel offers a positive spin on this practice by reminding readers to invest in the moments that matter. With four girls and a new baby boy, there are dozens of these opportunities every day, and opening my eyes wide so that I see them is just as important as actually seizing the moment.

Moments like when Jackson first opens his sleepy eyes and stares up at me, when I’d be tempted to try to get a few more emails sent or words written before he needs my full attentions. Moments when the 4-year-old is inside by herself and I can grab a chance to read and snuggle with her. Or when our 6-year-old is feeling left out of the big girls’ play and I can take time to play with her myself. Or when the older girls want to show me their latest creation, read me a story they’ve written, or tell me about the minutiae of their day.

These moments happen so often that it can be easy to classify them as mundane, but they really are the moments that matter. Ironically, the reason I work at home is so that I don’t miss them, but I think working from home might be hurting more than it’s helping at this point.

Let Go of the To-Do List

This is one I’ve actually gotten pretty good at in the months since Jackson was born. I still need to make a to-do list, obviously, because there are things I need to get done, but I have learned to walk away from the to-do list at times and not let the things that don’t get done weigh me down. This is a fine balance because I want to be productive and hard-working but I don’t want to live and die by a list of tasks.

One thing that helps me to let go of the to-do list is a weekly brain dump, where I write down everything in my head (whether it can realistically be accomplished or not). Sometimes just writing it down and acknowledging that it would be a nice thing to do — like dusting the baseboards, which simply isn’t happening during this stage of life — is enough for me to stop thinking about it and essentially cross it off the list.

source: Mandi Ehman

Successes & Failures in January

As we kicked off the New Year, my focus was simply on being more aware of the choices I’m making. I’m also learning to focus on each individual moment so that I don’t find myself discouraged by the big picture rather than celebrating my individual successes in this area. But I also need to acknowledge my failures so that I can continue to do better.

One thing that’s hard for me is deciphering when my failures are due to poor habits and bad choices and when it’s the weight of PPD pulling me under. At this point I tend to have good days and bad days, and I need to give myself more grace and room to breathe on the bad days, so I’m only counting the successes and failures from the good days!

Here’s where we’re at for the first month of the year:

Stopping and looking the girls in the eyes when they talk to me. I would say I’m hitting this 50/50. Sometimes I’m really good at it and sometimes I tell them I can’t look or talk even when I could, just because I’m feeling overwhelmed or selfish. Those times typically happen when I’m nursing and trying to sneak in a few minutes of reading time if I’m being honest.


Playing games with the girls. I think about doing this all the time, although I’ve only fit it in a few times so far. But I’m going to call that progress.


Avoid wasting time on the computer when I’m bored. I’ve actually gotten pretty good at turning off the computer or walking away from it when I’m just clicking around out of boredom. Now I want to get better at walking away before I reach that point!


Being more intentional and spontaneous about play dates and coffee dates. I’m trying, but I’ll admit I still end up pushing this one into the “later, when I have more time” category…as if that day will ever come. We do have a play date scheduled for tomorrow, though!


Enjoying my time with Jackson rather than passing him off to someone else so I can get work done. Although there are definitely times when the girls or Sean take Jackson while I work, or I set him in his swing beside me, I think I’ve found a good balance here.


Closing the computer even when there’s work to be done. For me, this is mostly about creating a realistic to-do list, focusing on the things that have to get done first and then making time for one or two little projects without getting sucked into the vortex of big ideas. It’s still a work in progress, and I’m nowhere near perfect at it, but I’m getting there.


Making time for one-on-one dates with the girls. We’ve been doing a lot of family activities lately that don’t leave a lot of time for one-on-one dates, but I’m trying to do better about inviting one of them to help me in the kitchen or grocery shop with me, even though my introverted self enjoys doing those activities alone!

I’m really enjoying taking the time to focus on one chapter at a time in each of these books so that I don’t just read the words once and then move on. In February I’m going to focus on Saying Yes to the Best (from Say Goodbye to Survival Mode), Making Purposeful Connection (from Hands Free Mama) and Awakening (from Notes from a Blue Bike)

Here’s to a life worth living in 2014!

Did you pick a word for 2014? How is it going so far?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, 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.

One Word for 2014: Live {January Update}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Quick Tip: Pack a Nursing Basket

While I was on maternity leave, I made lists of the things I wanted to share with you about life with a newborn, and I’m excited to do that now through this series: Notes from the Newborn Daze. Because I know not all of our readers are at this stage or interested in reading baby tips, I’ll be sharing those just once a week over the next couple of months, with plenty of tips, stories and encouragement for other stages in between.

source: Mandi Ehman

Although I’ve used a nursing basket with every baby, I didn’t remember this little tip until Jackson was a few days old, as I was dragging stuff back and forth from the bedroom to the family room for the umpteenth time.

In reality, this basket idea could be called a “feeding” basket because it’s really not dependent on whether you breast or bottle feed, but since I nurse, I’ve always just called it a nursing basket.

The idea is a simple one: gather all of the things you need for each feeding in a little box or basket so that you know where everything is and you can easily move it with you.

source: Mandi Ehman

What’s actually in the basket changes from week to week for me, and now that Jackson’s older I rarely move it from it’s spot on the couch, but here is a list of things it’s held at one time or another:

Diapers
Wipes
Changing pad
Burpcloth
Paci (or 4)
Lip balm
Lanolin
Nursing pads
Nail clippers (for Jackson or the girls)
Nail file (for me)
Gas drops or gripe water
Zantac and a dropper
Kindle
Gadanke baby journal
Pens
iPhone/Kindle chargers
Baby toys

Keeping everything together makes it easy to just sit down to nurse without having to run around gathering diapers or find my Kindle. It also keeps me from having to get up in search of something when he’s sleeping soundly on my chest.

At some point we will transition it to just diapers and wipes, but for now it’s sanity in a basket!

What are your must-haves while nursing or feeding your baby?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, 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.

Quick Tip: Pack a Nursing Basket

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Children in Bulk: Are Big Families Eco-Friendly or a Carbon Footprint Nightmare?

The following post is from Katie of Kitchen Stewardship:

source: Katie Kimball

We all know that buying in bulk, preferably reusing containers when possible, is the eco-friendly thing to do.

But when it comes to having children in Costco-sized portions, the environmentalists start getting testy:

“Environmentally irresponsible”
“A drain on the world’s resources”
“Contributing to deadly overpopulation”

That these earth-loving critics of large families see children purely as one more mouth to feed or one more being who will emit toxic pollution into the air their entire lives makes a lot of sense to parents of newborns, who probably feel pretty much the same way about their feeding/crying/pooping little blob of humanity.

However.

Unlike pet plants or goldfish, these resource-sucking little beings are most likely going to grow up, at which point we parents hope they fulfill their potential to be a thinking, dreaming, creating, problem-solving, world-changing influence, not just another consumer of oil, natural gas, and food.

Human beings don’t simply devour resources like an alien in a sci-fi Armageddon movie.

We cogitate.

We contribute.

Each person has as much possibility of solving the world’s hunger issues and achieving world peace as they do to choose to over-consume and squander the wealth of the earth.

We can choose to live sustainably or not, no matter our family size.

Overpopulation vs. Ultra-consumerism

I have five children, and I don’t even own a farm. Traditionally, big families were necessary to help with the harvest, and there was also an understanding that some children may be lost to disease. Now we have tractors, and everyone is going to make it through the winter.

Big families are very rare today. When I was growing up, it wasn’t uncommon to have a friend who came from a big family. Today, big families are like waterbed stores; they used to be everywhere, and now they are just weird. Admit it, whenever you see a waterbed store, you think, “Wow. That has to be a front for something illegal.”

–Jim Gaffigan in Dad is Fat

If we’re running out of anything here in America, it’s not resources – it’s restraint.

We drive wherever we want to go, we turn on a plethora of lights and gadgets, we eat big meals, and we live in a disposable society.

We are not, as a general rule, gentle on the earth.

As Jim Gaffigan humorously points out, large families used to be the norm 50-100 years ago and no longer are. In fact, some countries are not even reproducing at replacement rate, yet the fear of running out of food in the future still reigns among those who believe in overpopulation.

The over-population advocates suggest that procreating beyond the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman is reckless, irresponsible, harming the earth and even selfish, but I disagree wholeheartedly.

In fact, I think the opposite may very well be true: Large families are an environmental dream come true and naturally foster a spirit of eco-friendliness.

There’s plenty of food and land on which to grow food, by the way. Our nation, with an ever-rising obesity and Type II diabetes rate, is in no danger of starvation.

More people on the earth won’t automatically send the world into a resource crisis and cause its quick demise. Here’s why:

Big Families Carpool, Stay Home

Although humongous vehicles are an environmentally friendly no-no, many families of four and even five children fit in the same minivans their neighbors with 2.1 kids are driving. And when larger families do upgrade to the mondo-sized vehicle, they generally aren’t driving around all the time.

There are too many other things to do to be spending life on the road, so moms with big families learn to conserve trips, shop once a week or less, and simply can’t have all 8 children in an activity every weekday – and thus the Suburban sitting untouched in the driveway of a house full of children isn’t exactly guzzling gas more than the soccer mom’s who is constantly running around taking her two children to umpteen events per week.

Big Families Reuse

Far from consuming resources like a vacuum cleaner, large families quite often reuse in the best “green” style. Each child likely uses the same high chair, crib, bouncy chair, and stroller, toys, and books. When it comes to clothing, hand-me-downs are going to be far more common than keeping up with the latest greatest fashion trend.

So although certainly a family of seven will eat more than a family of four, there are many, many resources that do not need to increase with each child.

Big Families Buy, Make, and Live in Bulk

source: Kitchen Stewardship

Simply because of the economy of scale, big families are able to purchase food and supplies in bulk, which is easily the eco-friendly way to go, and they likely waste less food since there are more mouths to take care of leftovers.

Also, mothers of larger families are often more concerned with stewarding limited resources and take great care to spend less money and better utilize what they purchase.

Making larger meals rarely uses more utilities than smaller meals – the oven or stove will be on for about the same amount of time no matter how many lasagnas are baking or how big the soup pot is.

Large families are even an exercise in “living in bulk” – meaning that their household is a “bulk” version of a smaller family’s. A house brimful with many people still consumes heating and cooling resources at the same rate as a house with fewer people and likely not much more electricity for most purposes.

Although the dishwasher and laundry machines will be run more often, moms in large families most certainly encourage the children to wear clothing more than once, motivated by ever-growing piles of dirty laundry. Lights, refrigerators and entertainment appliances are generally shared by whomever is around, no matter if it’s one or nine. Living in bulk saves resources in the long run.

Big Families May Reduce Chemical Load

Let’s talk about that output of toxic fumes for which each person is responsible.

The carbon footprint of an individual is the idea that each bite of food causes a certain amount of energy to be used in its growth and transportation (and therefore subsequent pollution). Each time we travel we contribute to the pollution in the air and consumption of natural resources, and every item we consume (purchase) leaves its mark on the earth – a carbon footprint.

Certainly each human being is going to have to eat a certain amount of food to survive, and the bigger the family, the larger that portion of the carbon footprint. But sourcing local food and sustainably raised meat (like the half cows large families are able to purchase that a family of 3 could never get through) is an equally effective way of reducing one’s footprint.

The output of chemicals into the environment does not necessarily increase with each human being – cleaning a house full of 8 people will likely not take any more resources than cleaning a household of four. Plus, big families on a budget might be more likely to use DIY frugal cleaners like these and put fewer chemicals into the environment, period.

And although it isn’t always true, large families are more likely to be using natural family planning than tainting the water with hormonal birth control, which turns out to be a super big environmental and health issue.

Big Families Do More with Less

Bedrooms hold more children who learn to share space, showers are likely shorter per person because of scheduling necessity, furniture is often secondhand, and books, clothing, and even meals are made to stretch as far as possible. Large families by their nature tend to raise conservation-minded children, and what better antidote to over-spending and consumerism than a generation trained to spend less, waste less, use what is available and take care of what they have?

Raising a Generation of Treehuggers

source: Katie Kimball

Here’s Jim Gaffigan again to bring some levity to the situation: “I care about starvation in Africa, but I doubt the probability of our having one less child will somehow feed people. As for the carbon footprint, the seven people in my family live in a two-bedroom five-story walk-up apartment. Normally, you can’t walk three steps without running into someone. We don’t own a car or a pet farting cow. I can safely assume our carbon footprint is smaller than a lot of people’s.”

I’d never say that smaller families always have more disposable income or that only-children are by default selfish beasts who will ravage the earth. That’s ridiculous and unfair.

I will say, however, that children from families larger than two or three are more likely than the average American to graduate childhood with a frugal “make do or do without” nature, a tendency to conserve resources and avoid frivolous waste, and an innate sense of stewardship of the earth simply because they were raised in an environment where they had to share and learn the lesson of the common good trumping the individual.

Whereas many claim that the problem of world hunger, pollution, and the decline of the global economy are directly related to overpopulation, I posit that over-consumption by the world’s richest – those who were never taught to share or conserve – is a much more direct cause of at least the first two if not the latter.

And in fact, if people don’t reproduce at least at the replacement rate, the global economy begins to fall apart because there aren’t enough working young people to support the retired elderly (Social Security, anyone?).

Your best investment in a sustainable environmental and economic future?

Your children.

Why settle for less?

Let’s keep the conversation polite, as if you have to share a room full of bunk beds with the other commenters in the thread. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on big families being “green,” an environmental hazard, or not a green issue at all…

For the inspiration for this post, I am indebted to Simcha Fisher, who wrote an article on this topic for Faith and Family Live in 2010. It has since disappeared as Faith and Family must have disbanded, but it’s a topic that has literally been on my list for four years.

What are you thoughts on big families? Are they eco- friendly?

Other helpful sources:

Treehugger.com: Is Overpopulation a Green Myth?
Catholic Pulse: Media Attacks Celebrity for Having a Fourth Child
Overpopulation is a Myth
Population Research Institute









Katie Kimball is a mom of three (only three!) who spends a ton of time in the kitchen making real food with whole ingredients and then blogs about her successes and failures at Kitchen Stewardship. She believes everything in life is a gift from God and should be taken care of wisely.

Children in Bulk: Are Big Families Eco-Friendly or a Carbon Footprint Nightmare?

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Lime and Blackberry Jam-Filled Doughnuts

The following post is from Shaina of Food for My Family and Olmanson Photography:

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

Soft, yeast doughnuts filled with a thick blackberry jam and topped with a lime glaze made an appearance at our house recently. This is how they came to be.

We were sitting in church, the organ music filling the room as offering plates were passed starting in the front pews. Next to me on the thinly-padded bench my son’s feet swung in time with the music – one, two, three, four. Back and forth.

As the plate passed from one hand to the next in our pew of six, he turned to me with bright eyes and long lashes wide open and hopeful. Then in a voice just above a whisper, “Mom, can we get doughnuts after church?”

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

We are not a doughnut family. In fact, I can count the number of times that we’ve been out for doughnuts together in any given year on one hand. This is not for a dislike of doughnuts. It’s hard to dislike fried dough when done right, after all. No, this is because some parent is picky about their doughnuts. Having had a good many great doughnut, just any old doughnut won’t do.

Equipped with my smartphone, the search was on. While we found doughnuts that day in s’mores and salted pretzel and bear paws the size of your face, it did nothing for quelling the craving. Instead, it only sparked a desire in a certain parent’s heart to create a doughnut that would live up to expectations, that would sit on the tongue rich and light and just sweet enough all at once.

source: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com

That is how we ended up spending the next day off school making doughnuts. We mixed dough after breakfast and read while waiting for them to rise. We cut them out and colored during the second rise. Then as we snacked on leftover berries and handfuls of nuts, we prepped the last bits and set up the pan for frying just before lunch. There were no complaints.

Print
Lime and Blackberry Jam-Filled Doughnuts


Author: Shaina Olmanson | FoodforMyFamily.com
Recipe type: dessert, breakfast



Serves: 10
 


Ingredients

⅓ cup buttermilk, room temperature
¼ cup water
1 egg, room temperature
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups einkorn flour (can substitute all-purpose)
¼ cup palm sugar or granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2¼ teaspoons yeast
16 ounces oil for frying
2 cups blackberry jam
½ cup fresh blackberries
1 lime, juiced and zested
1 cup powdered sugar




Instructions

In a stand mixer combine the buttermilk, water, egg, melted butter, and the vanilla. Whisk together until well mixed.
Add in the flour, sugar, salt, and the yeast. Mix with a dough hook until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove from the mixer and knead 10 times for the dough to come together.
Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a towel. Set the bowl in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (1 – 1½ hours).
When the dough is ready, remove it from the bowl and roll it 1 1’2″ thick. Cut 4″ circles using a biscuit cutter. Place each circle of dough on a small piece of parchment and place them on a baking sheet. Cover loosely and place in a warm area to rise for one hour.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. In a small saucepan add the blackberry jam, the fresh blackberries, and one half of the lime juice. Reserve the remaining lime juice for the glaze.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the blackberries begin to break down. Cool slightly and pulse in a food processor or blender until thick and smooth. Set aside.
In a heavy-bottomed pan with high sides, bring the oil up to 350º F. Add in the dough circles, being careful not to overcrowd the pan, 2-4 doughnuts at a time. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side, until they turn golden brown.
Drain the fried doughnuts on a cooling rack with a paper bag or paper towels to catch the oil.
Mix together the powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of the remaining lime juice. Add more lime juice as necessary until a thick but smooth glaze is formed.
While the doughnuts are warm, take each doughnut and using a wooden skewer, poke a hole in the outside edge and towards the other side of the doughnut, being careful not to go all the way through. Move the skewer back and forth to create a small pocket of space to hold the jam.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a round tip with the jam. Squeeze bottles will also work. Insert the tip into the hole of the doughnut and fill with jam, about 2 tablespoons of jam per doughnut.
Once filled, dip the top of each doughnut in the glaze, allowing excess glaze to drip off. Set back on the cooling rack and allow to rest until the glaze is set.



3.2.1255

 

Have you ever made doughnuts at home?

Shaina Olmanson is the home cook and photographer behind Food for My Family and the author of Desserts in Jars: 50 Sweet Treats that Shine. She is a contributor to Babble.com’s Family Kitchen Blog and the food channel on Lifetime Moms. Shaina can usually be found cooking, at the computer or behind the camera.

Lime and Blackberry Jam-Filled Doughnuts

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

5 Practical Parenting eBooks for $7.40! {BundleoftheWeek.com}

This week’s collection of ebooks is full of practical parenting advice. This isn’t a bundle of theories but a collection of how-to guides to help parents navigate the early years of parenthood. Discover advice from real parents on eating habits, health, potty-training, spending one-on-one time with your children and more!

This week only, get all 5 ebooks — including two that aren’t available anywhere else — for more than 75% off their regular price:

And now you can choose between the PDF, Kindle or ePUB versions of the ebooks in each bundle. Select your format at checkout!

The Dad’s Playbook by Ryan Anderson
The Happy Housewife’s Guide to Dealing with Picky Eaters by Toni Anderson
A Practical Guide to Children’s Health by Kate Tietje
Potty Train in a Weekend by Becky Mansfield
51 Frugal Father-Daughter Dates by Ashley Pichea

Get yours today!

Even if you’re not interested in this week’s bundle, be sure to sign up for the BundleoftheWeek.com weekly newsletter so you can be the first to know about the newest bundle:

5 Practical Parenting eBooks for $7.40! {BundleoftheWeek.com}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Giveaway: Gadanke Storycatching Prize Package {Journals + More}

The name Gadanke (guh-dawn-kuh) comes from a German word that means thought or idea.

Katie Clemons and her German-born husband, Martin, were living in Berlin, Germany when she created her first prompt journal, the She: Me, My Life, My Days personal journal. These days she offers dozens of prompt journals, but now she handcrafts them in a studio in the back of a vintage airplane hangar here in the States.

Gadanke was born out of Katie’s desire to help other people catch their stories with thoughtful prompts. Whether it’s the My Mom and Me mother-daughter journal, the A Note to Say Hi card & letter journal or a blank journal just waiting to be filled, each journal is a completely customizable experience, allowing you to add or remove pages, change the order of the prompts, add embellishments and more.

Katie sent me a beautiful You Are Loved baby book right after Jackson’s birth, and Jackson may just be the first of our babies to have an actual baby book (to go along with the hundreds of pictures on Instagram, I suppose!).

A true storycatcher, Katie loves to listen to other people’s stories, and years of studying poetry and personal essays taught her how to craft prompts that bring out the beautiful stories in each of us. She shared more about her passion for storycatching in this TED Talk:

From now through 2/6, save 10% off your entire order at Gadanke.com with coupon code LIFE.

Enter to Win

And this week, Katie is giving one lucky Life Your Way reader a prize package worth $70 to help you catch your stories!

To enter, fill out the form below:

The giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on 2/7. 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: Gadanke Storycatching Prize Package {Journals + More}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Weekend Reading: February 1, 2014

source: Mandi Ehman

Little man turned 3 months old last week, and we’re starting to see glimpses of how much fun the next few months will be as he’s started giggling at us and interacting a bit more. I am holding my breath waiting for his first belly laugh, although I have a feeling it will be one of his sisters who finally gets him to do it!

A few weeks ago we pulled the swing back up out of the basement, and thankfully it’s provided a place where we can set him down for a few minutes — awake or asleep. I love holding him, and I wear him in the sling for at least two naps a day, but sometimes I just need both arms free to get something done more quickly than I can while wearing him.

His mobile is still his very favorite thing, and the swing has one of those, so he will lay in his crib or sit in the swing and watch the animals move around, talking to them and kicking his feet.

This week he’s started mouthing everything, and he does his best to pull all the things to his mouth, although he still doesn’t have very much control over his arms.

After four non-sleeping babies, I’ve been very blessed that he’s been going 8 hours between feedings at night for more than a month now. He still wakes up a bit in the early morning hours looking for his paci, but I feel like I can pretty confidently call this “sleeping through the night” from a feeding perspective, something that I’ve never been able to do before a year old before!

He definitely seems to know we’re “his” at this point. I love how he leans and scoots to get close to me when someone else is holding him, and it’s fun to watch one of us catch his eye from across the room because he just stares and stares.

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!

Holy moly…this is quite possibly the longest Weekend Reading post ever, but I just couldn’t choose between all of these great posts!

Education {More Than the 3Rs}

School ditches rules and loses bullies | National News


Share This With All the Schools, Please | Momastery


What I saw | AutisticChick


Reading Books Is Fundamental | NYTimes.com

Family {For the Mamas…and the Papas}

Surrender To The Snow Day | The Happiest Home


A Big Deal | {in}Courage


Mommy Is Beautiful | Kate Conner


Here’s What Being A Stay At Home Dad Is Really Like | Thought Catalog


The surprising things you learn when escaping the mundane (hint: it isn’t as mundane as you think). | Keeper of the Home


In which I am learning to live with the ache | Sarah Bessey

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Dear Fellow Sponsors All Over The World | Nesting Place

And just in case you haven’t seen it yet, this maybe the funniest thing I’ve ever seen: The NFL Is Still Hilarious When Subjected To Bad Lip Reading

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 on the way, 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.

Weekend Reading: February 1, 2014

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Dear Readers… + Desktop Calendar {February 2014}

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

Dear Readers…

I was sure when I made the announcement at the beginning of the New Year about Life Your Way’s new direction that the new site would be up within a couple weeks. And yet here we are turning the calendar to a new month…and still no new site!

With my realization that I’m dealing with a bit of postpartum depression and my commitment to really living in 2014, it’s been a slow process, but I am still plugging away on the new site. My plan at this point is to take a break from posting the week of February 17th so that I can finalize the design and the transfer. I am so excited to show it to you and I’m afraid I’ll never get it done without clearing my schedule! I also gave the girls the two weeks of the Olympics off from regular school (I’ll prepare a few Olympic unit study activities for them ahead of time!) so hopefully I’ll have plenty of time to focus on getting the site done.

Even though the new site isn’t up, I’m enjoying the new, slower pace of Life Your Way and getting back to things like printables and organizing, quick tips and sharing stories from my own life.

We’re also working hard behind the scenes (and I’m so thankful that my mom handles this part of it for me!) to bring you weekly giveaways of products and services that I truly believe you’ll love. Because the new chill Mandi (ha!) is determined not to get overwhelmed by trying to stick to a perfect schedule, I can’t promise we’ll have one every Saturday, but we hope to bring you a new giveaway most weeks. {And on that note, if you’re interested in sponsoring a giveaway at Life Your Way, please email Terry Newsome at advertising@yourway.net.}

As usual, my brainstorming pages are overflowing with things I would love to do in 2014 — ebooks I want to write, courses I want to release, new features on the site, etc. — but I think learning to slow down and only choose the best during this season will be good for me. I hope you’ll stick around to see what we have in store, though!

Again, 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 {February 2014}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

     
CommentsThank you for the calendar! Take care of yourself and have a ... by MichelleBRelated StoriesLiving Creatively Even When You Don’t Feel CreativeWhat Does It Mean to Live Intentionally?Where Life Your Way Went Wrong…And What I’m Doing About It

Organizing Legos {And Free Printable Labels!}

source: Mandi Ehman

We are all about the Legos these days, to the point that I think I could get rid of every other toy in our house and no one would notice!

Between our fall birthdays and Christmas we may just have every Lego Friends set except Olivia’s House, plus two big boxes of bricks. Which means the bricks themselves were getting out of control as we searched for ways to organize them.

source: Mandi Ehman

I asked for ideas more than once on the Life Your Way Facebook page, and since Lego organizing is always a hot topic, I got plenty of ideas, which we used to come up with a system that would work for us.

At first, the girls really wanted to organize the pieces by type. However, since the 4-year-old is our biggest Lego enthusiast, it just seemed like a system that was going to be way too complicated for her to keep up with. So when Christina and several other people mentioned organizing by color, I started encouraging the big girls to consider that system instead.

source: Mandi Ehman

Eventually, they agreed, and the house above is a perfect example of how it’s turned out to be a good thing. They were afraid they wouldn’t be able to find the pieces they need if they didn’t know what color it was, but having them sorted by color has resulted in some very pretty color schemes in their houses, which they weren’t really doing before!

source: Mandi Ehman

I don’t know if boys do this too, but the girls not only build their houses but then spend hours playing with them, making up scenarios and acting out stories, building their houses and vehicles as they go, much like they play with their doll house.

source: Mandi Ehman

The big girls have mastered the art of building sturdy houses, but the little ones typically build on a cookie tray (we have four of them from our road trip!), which they also use to claim and corral the pieces they’re currently using.

source: Mandi Ehman

Over the course of a few days, we sorted the Legos into four sets of plastic Sterilite drawers (for a total of 12 drawers), organizing the bricks by color and using the fourth set of drawers for people, animals and accessories. {Of course, those drawers stay pretty empty since they are the most sought after pieces and therefore in use pretty much all of the time!}

We actually had a lot of fun sorting them, and everybody can help put the loose pieces away with this system, which is good because I imagined myself hanging a sign like at the library, “Please do not reshelve the Legos.” Truthfully, they can do it without labels (it’s pretty easy to match yellow to yellow, after all!), but who doesn’t love a pretty label when getting organized? So I created these printable labels for our drawers…and for you too if you want them!

Print the labels out on plain cardstock or on sticky paper (I used Avery Clear Full-Sheet Labels, but only because I had them already), cut along the lines and either stick or tape the labels to the drawers.

Click here to download or print the lego labels.

How do you organize Legos?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, 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.

Organizing Legos {And Free Printable Labels!}

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved

Our Family’s Non-Health Insurance Coverage

source: Mandi Ehman

I was originally planning to post this on Tuesday morning, but just after we finished breakfast, our 4-year-old fell off the picnic table bench and busted the back of her head open (on a flimsy plastic storage drawer that holds Legos, of all things), and we spent the morning at the ER instead. In the wake of yet another hospital visit (this time with SIX staples), it seems especially fitting to share our experience with this non-insurance option:

With the Affordable Healthcare Act deadline looming on March 31 and the increase in premiums for many people, I’ve been asked several times over the past few months about our family’s choice to forgo traditional insurance.

For six years now, we’ve been members of Samaritan Ministries, a Christian non-profit that operates not as a charity to cover medical costs but as a “medical needs sharing organization.” Each of the 30,000 member families helps share the cost of the other members’ bills, and Samaritan steps in to coordinate this sharing, assigning needs and making sure everyone is fulfilling their commitment.

What does that mean on a practical note? It means that each month we send a check of between $370-$385 to another family to help cover their medical bills.

It means when we have a medical need, we submit our bills to Samaritan and they split the cost among other participating families who then send us checks to cover those expenses.

It means we pray for each another – for healing and comfort, thanking God for healing and new babies – and send encouraging notes.

It means our monthly share is just a fraction of the cost of regular insurance, and we pay less out of pocket for each hospital visit or medical incident as well.

It means we have the flexibility to make our own medical decisions rather than worrying about what insurance does or doesn’t cover.

And it means that for each of our last two births, we’ve paid exactly $0 out of pocket.

In fact, Jackson was our second baby born while we were part of Samaritan, and we’ve also had several ER trips, tests for various things, and a pretty severe blood disorder with one of our daughters, and we’ve been very happy with the coverage over the last 6 years!

And because I know you have them, here are answers to a few common questions:

Can anyone join?


Samaritan is a Christian ministry, and they do require that members be professing Christians who are active in their local churches and accountable to their pastors.

Is there a deductible?


Because Samaritan is not insurance, there is no “deductible,” but the first $300 for each individual medical need (a pregnancy, an ER trip, etc.) is the responsibility of the member. However, any discount from a medical provider is applied to that amount first, and because our local doctors and hospitals offer discounts, most of our bills end up being covered 100%.

So, for example, if you end up at the ER and receive a $2200 bill but are able to negotiate a cash discount of $450, the remaining amout that you need to pay would be covered.

For families with more than three needs in a calendar year, the $300 “deductible” is waived for any additional needs, so the most that ends up costing you is $900 out of pocket for the year.

Do you have an insurance card?


While there are membership cards that can help explain what Samaritan Ministries is, we’re cash patients in the eyes of the ER, doctor’s offices, etc., so we’re responsible for making payment arrangements ourselves and they don’t submit anything directly to Samaritan.

How do you pay medical bills?


As cash patients, we’re responsible for making our own payment arrangements. Once a need has been processed through Samaritan and assigned to other members, we then receive checks from individual members to cover those costs.

We’ve held off on making payments until we’ve received the checks in the past, but we now keep a credit card specifically for medical bills. We pay the bill with the card and then pay off the card with the checks from Samaritans. By using a rewards card, we’ve earned quite a few free hotel nights over the past year!

Are well visits covered?


Well visits are not covered. Normal sick visits are not covered either because you pay the first $300 of each “incident” out of pocket, and most illnesses don’t exceed that.

While this can be a lot out-of-pocket, especially during the first year of a baby’s life, because the monthly cost is so much less than traditional insurance, it’s pretty easy to put some of the extra in savings and then use that when you need to pay for the things that aren’t covered.

How much did you really pay for your pregnancies?


We had traditional insurance when I was pregnant with our third daughter, and after her c-section, we ended up paying $3,000 out of pocket. However, because our hospital and OB both offer cash discounts, we’ve literally paid $0 out of pocket for my last two pregnancies. Everything is covered, including up to 20 chiropractic appointments (which I’m kicking myself for not taking advantage of).

Please note that there is a limitation on pregnancy coverage if you are already pregnant at the time you join.

What about dental and eye care? Prescriptions?


Unfortunately, dental, eye care and prescriptions are not covered. However, like well visits, we’re able to budget for these with the savings over traditional insurance. I have not looked into getting separate, private coverage for these, but Samaritan does partner with an (optional) prescription network that offers discounts on prescriptions. Also, many grocery and drug stores offer basic prescriptions — like antibiotics and pain medicine — for $4-20, so we haven’t found prescriptions to be especially expensive for our family either.

How long does it take to receive shares from other members?


Bills are published two months after the month they’re received. So the bills I sent in in December for Jackson’s pregnancy/delivery will be published in February.

It can be a lot of money upfront, depending on the payment policies of the doctor/hospital, but the credit card system is working for us, and we’ve generally found it easy to set up a payment plan when needed.

Is there a list of participating doctors?


Because Samaritan is not insurance, there’s not a list of participating doctors/hospitals. However, you could call and ask the billing offices of any places you’re considering about their policies for cash patients to help you choose the best one upfront.

Our pediatrician, who we love, does not offer a cash discount other than for immunizations, which are $15 each, but they’ve been easy to work with as far as payment plans, etc. when we’ve needed them. On the other hand, the family doctor that Sean and I see offers a 50% discount if you pay at the time of your visit.

What’s the biggest downside?


There are two things that are hard about the non-traditional option, but we’ve learned to deal with both and I still really, really appreciate this program:

1. Sometimes a share is sent late. Honestly, I’ve been guilty of this myself because we’re self-employed and at times I’m just waiting for a check to come, so I try to be understanding. Samaritan offers members a few months to get caught up and get their shares sent before they reassign the needs, so that can be nerve-wracking, whether you have a provider waiting for payment or the money sitting on a credit card.

2. Most doctors and hospitals don’t understand what a need sharing ministry is, and I get offered assistance applications often. Or they just look at me like I’ve lost my mind while I try to explain it. But really, that’s a small inconvenience, and our regular providers all know that we are “covered” even if they don’t understand how that works exactly.

Are members subject to penalties under the new healthcare laws?


The new healthcare laws contain specific provisions that allow for healthcare sharing ministries to operate. Samaritan Ministries is working with the IRS to draft instructions for how members will show their membership on their tax return, but that won’t be needed until next year when we file 2014 taxes.

For more frequently asked questions, refer to the Samaritan Ministries website.

Do you have traditional insurance? Have you participated in a healthcare sharing ministry?

Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, 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.

Our Family’s Non-Health Insurance Coverage

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