This is Week 3 of the Simplify the Season series. Happy Monday! I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend celebrating with your loved ones! I also hope that your weekend wasn't too overtaken by the crazy consumerism of Black Friday! I was really surprised on the first week of the Simplify the Season series when I ran the giveaway for A Simpler Season that so many of you said that your biggest struggle during the Holidays is simplifying your gift giving. I guess as our family has … [Read more...]
A Hungry Child Can’t Wait: Ask5for5
Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography Guest Post by Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5 Thank you to Emily at Live Renewed, and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week. A hungry child in East Africa can't wait. Her hunger consumes her while we decide if we'll respond and save her life. In Somalia, children are stumbling along for days, even weeks, on dangerous roads and with empty stomachs in search of food … [Read more...]
Question of the Day – What Does Conscious Consuming Mean To You?
Photo by Christian Guthier Since we were talking about our stuff and the effects that our choices have on others on Monday, (and thanks for all of your great comments!), for the question of the day today, I wanted to ask what you all do to be more conscious consumers. For me, it can be really hard and overwhelming to be a conscious consumer in every area, but it is still something that is on my mind almost any time that I purchase something, whether food, clothing, or household … [Read more...]
Creation Care and Loving People
Photo by idea ablaze So, we're cleaning out and decluttering our stuff, and getting rid of 100 items this month. (Oh, and I need to get going on that!) But I really believe that our relationship with our stuff, and our view of creation care, goes beyond just what we use, and have, and keep in our homes. I wanted to take the opportunity to share a little bit of my heart about this. It's something I've been convicted of and been thinking about a lot over the past months/year. The last … [Read more...]
My Frugally Green Journey – Taking Baby Steps To Where We Are Today
So it's been more than a few weeks since I last wrote about my family's journey toward living frugally green. I left you hanging just as my husband finally found a new job, and my family was figuring out that saving money and saving earthly resources go hand in hand. The Next Steps A lot happened over the next year of our lives. I became pregnant with our second child, and we finally sold our house after 7 months of it being on the market. We moved out of our house and into Jer's … [Read more...]
My Frugally Green Journey – Learning to Live Frugally
Kaelyn in a Fuzzi Bunz cloth diaper at 3 months A few weeks ago I started sharing the story of my journey toward living green and living frugally. Last time I told you about where my hubby and I started from, and the changes that began when I became pregnant, and then continued after the birth of our beautiful daughter, and I had switched to using homemade and green cleaners, and using cloth diapers on her. One thing that I didn't talk about in the previous post, but have been thinking … [Read more...]
What’s Your Inspiration This Month?
Photo by John Morgan It's November! I still can't quite believe it, and while November is not my favorite month - it usually brings the first snowfall and the days get progressively colder and darker, I do love Thanksgiving and the joy and excitement that comes with the beginning of the Advent season. So, here's what's inspiring me, and helping me to get through the cold and dark days. My Inspirations The Library! First, I just have to mention the library. If you have not checked out … [Read more...]
What’s Your Inspiration This Month?
Photo by ruralgold One of my new favorite blogs is Sorta Crunchy . I love to read what Megan has to say about faith, family, parenting and natural living. Recently, she posted about what she is into this month, and encouraged others to write similar posts. So, I'm am inspired by her blog and her post to share with you where I am finding my inspiration this month. My Inspirations What I'm Reading The Bible - not to sound cliche, but I started a Bible study this fall called BSF (Bible … [Read more...]
Why Live Renewed?
Photo by Refracted Moments I have gotten the question, “How did you come up with the name Live Renewed for your blog?” on multiple occasions, so I thought I would take the chance to share with you all, my wonderful readers, – who made the switch with me from Blogger to Word Press (woo hoo!) – a little about what Live Renewed means to me. And more on the big switch-a-roo too. Okay, I didn’t mean for that to be cheesy, but… Anyway, when I started this blog it was mostly as a journal for me. … [Read more...]
A Letter for My Dad
In honor of Father's Day yesterday, I wrote a letter to my dad thanking him for the way that he shaped the woman that I am today. This is really personal and important to me, but I wanted to share it on my blog because I think that it is that important.I haven't written about it before, because it's obviously pretty hard for me to talk about, but my dad has stage 4 (terminal) prostate cancer. He is doing pretty well right now, and although it's not imminent, we live with the reality … [Read more...]
