• honey bee on a purple flower
    Bible Study - Encouragement

    Bible Study & The Honey Bees

    October 3, 2025

    I’ve been studying honey bees a lot lately. Strange intro for a blog post on Bible study, but I’m totally hooked on getting to know honey bees. I dream of being a beekeeper one day. Maybe when I’m old and all my kids are grown, I’ll be a hippie herbalist beekeeper. I think that sounds pretty nice. Visiting the Honey Bee Hive At a family party, my sister-in-law mentioned that she had just gotten her first honey bee hive. She said she needed some extra help, and I jumped at the opportunity. While I slipped into the bee suit, my…

  • Cream lotion in a small amber glass jar with the lid leaning against it.
    Herbalism

    Blemish & Skin Cream DIY The Easy Way

    September 29, 2025

    Tincture Cream I’ve had an idea brewing. What if I could make a lotion or cream with tinctures in it? As a beginning herbalist, I’m trying to find a way to incorporate the power of tinctures into a skin cream or lotion. Because my body is so sensitive, I wanted a low key way of getting the benefits of a tincture. By low key, I mean using a cream or lotion instead of taking a tincture by mouth. There is nothing wrong with taking tinctures orally. In fact, that’s the best way to get all the good stuff that a…

  • Family - Family Relationships - Foster Care

    Our First Two Weeks Being Foster Care Parents

    September 23, 2025

    I’ve thought a lot about what I should write. I still don’t know. We’ve been foster care parents for two weeks today. It feels like a million years. I need a place to land my chaotic mess of weary thoughts swirling around in my mind. But I don’t have the time or energy to explain any of them. All I know is this: The world is broken. People are broken. I expected this to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done-but it’s more than that. I find it chipping away at my soul. Eating me, tearing me apart, breaking me…

  • Herbalism

    An Herbalist’s Steps

    June 9, 2025

    An herbalist’s steps are important. They are a sort of road map that each herbalist follows in order to come to a remedy best suited for a person’s imbalance. Each herbalist follows these steps in their own way; herbalism is intuitive. Different herbalists may come to different remedies for the same ailment, but each remedy, although different, can bring balance. There are four steps that an herbalist follows. These are flexible steps that herbalists around the world will execute differently. The names and descriptions of each step will not look the same for every herbalist, but the ideas are similar.…

  • Fixer Upper

    Before and After : Our Mid-Century Fixer Upper

    November 6, 2020

    I can’t believe the time is here. We’re about to say good bye to our fixer upper. After almost 5 years, it’s time. Time to move on to-well, we have no idea where we’ll end up. But we will always remember the time we spent here making this little house a home. I hope that whoever lives here after us loves it because we really loved making it what it is now. It really doesn’t look like the same house. So thankful for the ability God gave us to finish it. It was hard. But when I look at these…

  • Cleaning - Pots & Pans

    Cleaning Stainless Steal Pans

    March 31, 2020

    Cleaning stainless steel pans involves a process. I’m excited to share it with you because of my love-hate relationship with stainless steel pans. In the past, I’ve given up. I wanted to be that amazing chef who could cook on any surface successfully. Ha. Yeah, whatever. Obviously, I’m not. In fact, a few months ago I had shoved all my stainless steel pots and pans into the bottom of the oven. There was no hope for them. They were beyond rescuing. I eventually threw them out. Then for my birthday, I thought I’d save the day and become a hero.…

  • Family

    Liv and Asher

    March 31, 2020

    The light. The smiles. It’s the simple stuff. I have no fancy words. I’m tired. I’m about to go make a cup of coffee and get breakfast and it’s already 10:30 a.m. It’s actually early for me to be eating. I usually don’t do breakfast until noon. Does that make it lunch? I don’t know. But I do know that I love this little life of mine. I love the smiles in these photos. I love the light…and I love coffee.

  • Dairy Free - Dips - Four Ingredients - Sauce - Sugar Free - Whole30

    Homemade Mayo

    March 4, 2020

    I was never taught much about cooking growing up. Homemade wasn’t what we did. Most of the food we cooked came from a package or a box. But when I started Whole30, I found that most of the packaged foods contained sugar. Sugar feeds candida. I had to find an alternative to a lot of things – especially condiments. Soon, after I started changing my food choices I stumbled upon a paleo/Whole30 food blogger, Danielle Walker. She shared how to make your own mayo. Say what? I was naive. Never in my life had I thought about making my own…

  • Beef - Dinner Recipe - Health - Whole30

    Hearty Beef & Veggie Bowls

    February 3, 2020

    Today is day 21 of my Whole30. This time is much easier than the first time I did the Whole30. The first time was extremely difficult. The first time I did the Whole30. I thought about sugar all the time. I wanted it. It consumed my thoughts. I craved it like the Cookie Monster craves cookies. Not giving into those cravings was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Yes, even harder than labor and four c-sections. You have no choice about having a baby. Labor happens whether you want it to or not. But everyday you are doing…

  • Family - Personal - Photography

    Liv & the Dogs

    January 31, 2020

    Our dogs with Liv-she absolutely loves them. Bentley is the fluffy one. He’s half German Shepherd and half Great Pyrenees; he also weighs 115 pounds. Yup, that’s right. He’s a bear. Schaden is a pure German Shepherd. They are the best dogs (most of the time. ha!). We love them like crazy. When I saw Liv sitting there between them, I just knew I had to grab the camera. This is the good stuff that I never want to forget.