Finding Joy in Your Home

In this episode, Jami chats with Jenn Lormand of Tighten Your Tinkler all about pelvic floor issues and how to correct them. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube For more from Jenn, go to www.tightenyourtinkler.com and use code HOME for $50 off their program! We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch soon - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout for 20% off! Our Sponsor: Treat yourself to the best bras on the market and save 20% off at honeylove.com/HOME.

In this episode, Jami some of her best tips on the topic of freezer cooking. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch soon - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Go to magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME!

In this episode, Jami talks about how she (attempts) to manage the chaos in her life. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch soon - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Go to magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME! Our Sponsor: Set your kids up for success and get started today at gohenry.com/home. (T&Cs apply. Renews from $4.99 per month unless canceled)

In this episode, Jami chats with Jamerrill Stewart about gardening, homesteading, and more. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off! Exclusive to podcast customers, you will also receive a free 3-year warranty on any unit, which is an additional $84 value! Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemakingfree and use code homemakingfree for FREE breakfast for life!

In this episode, Jami talks about slow food in a fast food world. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemakingfree and use code homemakingfree for FREE breakfast for life! Our Sponsor: Today my listeners receive 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier! Just go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout! Our Sponsor: Go to prepdish.com/findingjoy to get a 2-week free trial and a BONUS protein guide!

In this episode, Jami shares encouragement for the mom who feels trapped by all the expensive things. We also chat about aging with grace and body changes from having babies. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemakingfree and use code homemakingfree for FREE breakfast for life! Our Sponsor: Go to https://www.magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME! Our Sponsor: Go to prepdish.com/findingjoy to get a 2-week free trial and a BONUS protein guide!

In this episode, Jami shares her average daily routines, battling morning sickness, and how to get everything done. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! Our Sponsor: Go to https://www.magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME! Our Sponsor: Head to moshlife.com/HOME to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on your first 6-count Trial Pack.

In this episode, Jami chats with her husband Jason about their plans and goals for their reading for 2024. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Books mentioned in the episode: Headcovering Throughout Christian History A Cover for Glory The Reformation: A History Hand Made The Made-from-Scratch Life The American Puritans The Convivial Homeschool Masculine Christianity Durable Trades The Case for the Christian Family The Grapes of Wrath East of Eden Of Mice and Men A History of the World in 6 Glasses Discontinuity to Continuity Conception Control A Different Shade of Green Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age Band of Brothers The Last Kingdom Horatio Hornblower Ancestors A Mighty Fortress From Bread to Wine Home Comforts Home Management: Plain and Simple What Are People For? Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community Common Sense Christian Living Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson I Will Build My Church Home Making by J.R. Miller Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer Sourdough Culture The Art of the Commonplace Domestic Extremist: A Practical Guide to Winning the Culture War Six Thousand Years of Bread When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe The American Way Third Ways The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Everything Worth Preserving Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! We will be doing a 1-day workshop for setting goals, establishing routines, and making lasting changes the first week of January. Details are coming in the next few days, sign up to get notified: Findingjoyinyourhome.com/newsletter Our Sponsor: Go to greenchef.com/60homemaking and use code 60homemaking to get 60% off, plus 20% off your next two months! Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off! Exclusive to podcast customers, you will also receive a free 3-year warranty on any unit, which is an additional $84 value!

In this episode, Jami chats with her husband Jason about their theme for 2024 and their new goals. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! We will be doing a 1-day workshop for setting goals, establishing routines, and making lasting changes the first week of January. Details are coming in the next few days, sign up to get notified: Findingjoyinyourhome.com/newsletter Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemakingfree and use code homemakingfree for FREE breakfast for life! Our Sponsor: Go to www.magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME!

In this episode, Jami talks about how to set goals in your homes as we transition into a new year. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! We will be doing a 1-day workshop for setting goals, establishing routines, and making lasting changes the first week of January. Details are coming in the next few days, sign up to get notified: Findingjoyinyourhome.com/newsletter Our Sponsor: Go to www.magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME! Our Sponsor: Today my listeners receive 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier! Just go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout!

In this episode, Jami talks about how to choose a theme for your year, how it can help, and how it's not the same thing as new year resolutions. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I find resolutions to be mostly useless. We set these grand resolutions: This year I will draw closer to the Lord, this year I will eat less sugar, this year I will be a better mom. There’s nothing wrong with those ideas, but they don’t actually help us much in establishing real change. Why? A year is a long time. It’s hard to stay focused on 1 thing when the next 12 months could change drastically and we don’t really know what the year will hold anyway. These resolutions are not specific. What does it mean to be a better mom? Is this just a vague feeling or are there specific, actionable steps you can take? A single resolution doesn’t usually bring us any closer to our goals or things we want to achieve. So what do we do? Jason and I, for many years now, have set themes or words for our year. We think about, pray about, and talk to each other about how our year this year went (listen to the last episode) and then we discuss at length what our hopes and plans are for next year. So we break down: What didn’t go well this year that we need to change? What worked well this year that we want to bring into the New Year? What are you currently feeling frustrated with? What has been living giving recently? What big goals do you have? (Write a book, plant a garden, etc). After talking more vaguely about our goals or ideas, we then set a theme for the year. This helps in a few ways: A theme or word for the year allows you to easily keep it in mind all year (even when you have many goals in the woks) It allows you to easily filter new opportunities throughout the year to see if it aligns with your theme for the year. For example, one year my theme was rest. I needed to find more rest and margin in my life and routines. It was a year of scaling back, pulling in, and saying no to a lot of things. After that excellent year, my next year’s theme was community. After pulling back in and creating that margin, I was ready to add things back in, expand my community, dive back into hospitality, while keeping those margin lessons at hand. I have a much easier time setting goals in our 4 areas when I’ve got the theme to guide me. (Personal goals, business goals, family goals, and homeschool goals). Picking a theme: You can pick a word, like rest or community, or you can a theme which is often a sentence or so. The Year of Community, The Year of Rest, The Year of Trying New Things, The Year of Good Routines, The Year of Building Skills, etc. In the next episode, Jason and I will be doing this in real-time with you. For the first time ever, I think we are going to have a joint theme for our year. Our homeschool and family goals are the same and we build those together. Our business goals are usually 2-3 the same and we each then have 2-3 that are our own. And personal goals are our own. We will be breaking this down for you in the next episode. Don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter: Findingjoyinyourhome.com/newsletter Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube We are undergoing a huge website redesign. We will be moving things up a ton and will have a super fun relaunch in January sometime - big giveaways and other fun stuff. Stay tuned! We will be doing a 1-day workshop for setting goals, establishing routines, and making lasting changes the first week of January. Details are coming in the next few days, sign up to get notified: Findingjoyinyourhome.com/newsletter Our Sponsor: Check out homemakersfriend.

In this episode, Jami reviews her year and gives lots of good advice and encouragement. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I am in planning mode. Okay, I’m actually in thinking mode. I haven’t put anything down to paper yet but my brain has been going. The New Year is the perfect time to jump into new habits and new routines, but not just because it’s the start of a brand new year. It’s a perfect time because November and December seem to FLY! I am excited about the fall starting, new school routines, pumpkin everything, and BAM! It’s January 5th. January has historically still been a very busy month for us with our business and jumping back into good school routines. But it’s also a great time for fresh starts, new habits, and more margin. So as I start to think through my goals, which I have not solidified yet, I thought it would be helpful to walk you through my beginning steps in brainstorming these goals. Today you are going to get to do my year-end review with me. Look back over the goals you set last year: I had a lot of household goals. Gardening: Figure out planting onions and potatoes. And do a Fall and real winter garden. 2022 goal: Learn how to grow my garden from seeds. 2024: I need to plan something to add. Preserving more food this year. In 2022 I did a ton of stuff. I had wanted to do more preserving. Making more homemade household use items: Laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, etc. Getting household routines more smooth! Cleaning routines, better chore routines for kids, smoother routines overall. Conquer whole-grain sourdough What went well this year? We have grown tremendously in trusting the Lord. This year largely didn’t shape up the way we thought and yet, God is so good and my trust in him has deepened 10-fold this year. Our health: Jason and I have been smashing it when it comes to taking care of our health. We are building REAL exercise routines that are becoming HABIT. Our school routines since August have been the best we’ve ever had. What didn’t go well: our life, household, work, and school routines were so hard and so off the first half of this year. Part of that was me trying to find my rythym again after having a baby and part of it was just living through survival mode the first 6 months of the year. What did I do well in serving and loving my people this year? We had a lot of good, food centered gatherings and get togethers. I did well in making those things happen even when time was short. what can I improve on in serving and loving my people this year? I need to continue working on my patience. When 1000 balls are in the air, I need to continue choosing patience, kindness and love, even when I’m tired, stressed, or having a hard day. Other questions to ask: What changes did you navigate well this year? What limitations or circumstances did you have to work through? What is an ah-ha moment you had? What new skills or knowledge did you aquire this year? What were 3 highlights from this year? What did you accomplish this year that you’re most proud of? What (and/or who) are you most thankful for this year? I encourage you to think over these things the next 2 weeks. When you're wrapping presents, stuck in traffic, think through these questions. Just let your mind ruminate over them. You don’t need full answers yet. But if you start thinking through these, you’ll start to form ideas so that when you sit down to write out your goals, you’ll be a step ahead! I also think this an important step, because 12 months is a long time. There are things we forget, things we accomplished, that we are not thinking of so many months later. it’s easy to focus on our present hardships that need to change and we forget all the growth we did over the year.

In this episode, Jami talks about The upcoming holidays & time management. How do we juggle all the good things coming up, while making memories for our family, and doing it with joy? Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50! Our Sponsor: Go to greenchef.com/60homemaking and use code 60homemaking to get 60% off, plus 20% off your next two months!

In this episode, Jami talks about budgeting for groceries and everything that is involved with that. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Our Christmas shop opening is now through Dec. 8th. Check it out at: https://findingjoybookstore.com/ Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off! Our Sponsor: Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get $5 off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code HOME at lumedeodorant.com!

In this episode, Jami chats with Jason about planning and productivity for the end of the year. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Our Christmas shop opening is now through Dec. 1st. Check it out at: https://findingjoybookstore.com/ Our Sponsor: Get a 2-week free trial at PrepDish.com/homemaking!!! Our Sponsor: Check out all the organizing encouragement you need at Organize365.com!

In this episode, Jami chats with Jason all about how to navigate through changing theological beliefs with your spouse. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. As promised, here are a few resources Jason recommends to start with on the topic of covenant theology vs. dispensationalism: Article: Comparing Covenant Theology and Dispensational Theology Article: The Covenantal Hermeneutic Book: Discontinuity to Continuity: A Survey of Dispensational and Covenantal Theologies Book: Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God Book: Has the Church Replaced Israel? Book: The Christ of the Covenants Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Get your Homemaker's Friend Daily Planner at: https://homemakersfriend.com/ and use coupon code: PLANNING to get $3 off!! Our Christmas shop opening is now through Dec. 1st. Check it out at: https://findingjoybookstore.com/ Our Sponsor: Today my listeners receive a massive 25% OFF any AquaTru water purifier! Just go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME25” at checkout. Our Sponsor: Get Up to 60% OFF @honeylove by going to honeylove.com/HOME!

In this episode, Jami gives her top tips, tricks, and encouragement for holidays and hospitality. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. 1) REMEMBER the real reason for extending hospitality this holiday season. It's easy to get wrapped up in the to-do lists, the decorations, etc. But the real reason we extend hospitality is to love others by serving. Our focus should be on serving our friends, family, and those in our community. When we can have a heart shift towards service, it makes all the difference! “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” ~ Romans 12:13 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” ~ Hebrews 13:2 “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” ~ 1 Peter 4:9 “Hospitality from a Biblical perspective is to recognize that God is more interested in caring relationships than the mold behind the shower curtain…It need not matter if we live in a single-room apartment or a split-level ranch, the only real requirement is allowing God to use our lives and our possessions…Our homes and our lives are indeed the most powerful combination of ministry to our world.” ~ Hospitality with Confidence, Pg 9 2) In the hustle and bustle of this season, my primary focus right now, is my own immediate family. We all have different seasons. I've had seasons where my focus wasn't as much for my own immediate home, but how I could serve others. I once hosted Thanksgiving for my entire extended family and I cooked 100% of everything and took care of all the details. It was the right thing for that season and my heart was one of service. That would not be the right call for this Thanksgiving. If someone asked me to do a big giant thing of service next week, I would have to graciously decline. and to be okay with that! 3) Some tools that make hospitality a little easier: REAL sturdy paper plates and bowls. Or start to invest in real bowls and dishes. Coffee percolator. Cold drink container - 5-gallon one at Walmart for $14.99! Crockpot with a locking lid 4) The real key and secret to hospitality: Is that often, the fancier, more expensive, nicer-looking option is less practical. I don't think hospitality is just about being practical. I think there can be immense beauty in hospitality and I love baking bread from scratch for having people over. But we can also get so hung up on how nice or fancy it is, that we make it less ideal. when you have a group of 50 people over, function takes precedence because otherwise, it just doesn't work out as well. 5) If you are overwhelmed, work on your food. I find this to be the #1 place where people get overwhelmed. Yes, the cleaning can feel overwhelming. But it's the food that really makes people get stuck. Come up with a list of 2-3 different meals that are your go-to hospitality. One of mine is homemade rolls and soup. I can whip this together in no time and is always a crowd pleaser. Homemade cinnamon rolls and homemade chocolate cake have become a specialty of mine that I've perfected over the years. If you don't have any menus in mind, start trying some ideas out for your family. Practice these meals a couple of times and suddenly, the food feels like no big deal! Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Join Lisa's Holiday Blitz here: https://organize365.com/holidayblitz/ Get your Homemaker's Friend Daily Planner at: https://homemakersfriend.com/ and use coupon code: PLANNING to get $3 off!! Our Christmas shop opening is now through Dec. 1st. Check it out at: https://findingjoybookstore.com/ Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemakingfree and use code homemakingfree for FREE bre...

In this episode, Jami is interviewing Lisa from Organize 365 about how to plan will for the holidays. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Join Lisa's Holiday Blitz here: https://organize365.com/holidayblitz/ Get your Homemaker's Friend Daily Planner at: https://homemakersfriend.com/ and use coupon code: PLANNING to get $3 off!! Our Christmas shop opening is coming Nov. 15 - Dec. 1st. Check it out at: https://findingjoybookstore.com/ Our Sponsor: For Green Chef’s best deal of the year, get $250 off with code homemaking250 at Green Chef.com/homemaking250! Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50!

In this episode, Jami is interviewing Mindy from Advent Prep Club all about preparing for the advent season with joy and peace! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Join the Advent Prep Club and get 15% off the membership fee when you use code JOY2023 at checkout! Our Christmas shop opening is coming THIS MONTH!! Stay tuned for several new releases as well as Cookbook Volume #3 releasing!! Join our Build Your Natural Medicine Cabinet Bootcamp. We kick off Nov. 6th but join us any time! https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/Build-Your-Natural-Medicine-Cabinet-Bootcamp Our Sponsor: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code HOME at https://www.oneskin.co/ Our Sponsor: Head to moshlife.com/HOME to save 20% off plus FREE shipping on your first 6-count Trial Pack.

In this episode, Jami talks about building your own home library for you and your kids to enjoy. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. First: WHY do we want to focus on this? We’ve become very reliant on the internet for our resources which might not always be so accessible. Plus, blogs get taken down, moved, and you can no longer find or access those resources. Having a library out and accessible gets ALL of us off of screens more. How many times have you reached for your phone to look up a recipe and got side tracked and ended up down the Pinterest rabbit hole or Instagram? As Charlotte Mason says, we should lay out a feast for our kids with good books and resources and let them nibble on different kinds. We should be doing in this addition to our kids! Building our kids libraries: This is something Jason and I have been focusing a lot on this year. Our kids are really starting to devour books and we want a lot of books laid out for them to choose from. Our favorites are classics and series. I’ve started a master resource list and included my favorite books for kids. You can find it here: https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/jami-s-favorite-resources I am all for utilizing the library and swapping books with friends! But I also think you can slowly build up a library in a very sustainable way by shopping sales and thrift stores. Favorite places to buy books: Thrift Books: Sign up with a free account, sign up for their free Reading Rewards program, and do a $30 order and you'll get a FREE BOOK!! Half Priced Books Costco has good book sets Thrift stores & consignment sales AbeBooks.com: Another great place for used books. Thrift Books is my go to but I always check Abe as well. eBay is a terrific source for finding whole series or individual books. There's a book seller on eBay (Second Sale) who offers Buy 3 books under $5 and get 1 free. I've gotten soooo many books from their shop. You can find all their book deals here. I keep a running list on my phone of ALL the books in our library in order in series. I find books all the time in thrift stores and at consignment stores. Having a running list on my phone allows me to buy random books in series for super cheap without forgetting which books we have and which we need! Building a resource library: Practical & hands on books: Books on building, building a natural medicine cabinet, herbs, gardening, etc. This is for us adults but also for the kids to go through. Cookbooks: Do you have actual cookbooks? Or printed recipes? I love building up my cookbook library. For everyday recipes yes, but also unusual things like: Making kombucha, cheese, I’ve got a book on my wishlist for making my own tea blends, canning, dehydrating, etc. I love checking out these kinds of books from the library whenever I can. It’s a great way to test out if you love the book or if it’s just alright. And I’ve photo copied a page or two out of library books when there’s something so good I want to keep it. You can do the same thing with Pinterest tutorials, recipes, etc. Print out amazing ones and start to build your own DIY medicine cabinet cookbook or canning recipe book. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to start thinking through building up a good solid library for yourself. Christian books and theology books: this is a huge part of our library that we’ve been building for years. We want solid, terrific Christian resources that we we can read, our kids can start reading and that we can let others barrow. For Jason and I, we are thinking through building up our home library, not just for us, today. But also for future generations. With libraries becoming less reliable, with books being cancelled and banned, and with less good literature being produced, and so much more being moved online and digital,

In this episode, Jami gives some of her top tips for reading as well as her favorite reads so far this year. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Books discussed today: Conception Control: https://amzn.to/3May9v7 The Time Saving Mom: https://amzn.to/45G9ipQ The Core: https://amzn.to/45DgjYn All Creatures Great and Small: https://amzn.to/492Hj6p Standing on the Promises: https://amzn.to/494mibu The Hormone Reset Diet: https://amzn.to/46Gn39o Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age: https://amzn.to/3S632V0 Art for God's Sake: https://amzn.to/3QqdFRl Teatime Discipleship: https://amzn.to/3Q0U9cV A History of the World in 6 Glasses: https://amzn.to/3QoY4k3 The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals: https://amzn.to/3tHx0Vv The Backyard Homestead Kitchen Know-How: https://amzn.to/3QoP0fV Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 10 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off!

In this episode, Jami chats with Felicia from Grains and Grit all about grinding your own grains and making delicious, healthy bread. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our next 14 Day Meal Planning Bootcamp round will kick off next week. Grab your spot here: https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/2023-14-day-meal-plan-bootcamp Check out more from Felicia at grainsandgrit.com. Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 10 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get $5 off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code HOME at lumepodcast.com! #lumepod Our Sponsor: Get 20% OFF @honeylove by going to https://www.honeylove.com/HOME! #honeylovepod

In this episode, Jami gives her top 5 tricks for upgrading your food and saving money at the same time. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Some things to keep in mind: The Lord is in control. We do the best we can, with what we have, and trust the Lord with the rest. Teach your kids how to cook. Look at the things you already eat and see how you can make them yourself. My 5 things: Baking bread - It costs me $7.23 per 1 giant sandwich loaves to make 100% organic, fresh, clean bread. This could be cheaper too! Stop by processed snacks and start making them. We regularly make some really simple snacks of muffins and granola bars. Learn how to buy in bulk. Let's look at dried beans. Very little work is involved compared to buying cans of beans, A little effort but you can start to really save. READ pages 10-11. Figuring out what meats your family likes that stretch further. Our staples are ground beef, whole chicken, and ground sausage because I can do so much with those! Pick one "larger' thing you'd like to learn how to make that can save you big! We do homemade pizza night every Saturday night and it's become no big deal. I've gotten it down to a science and while it costs more than takeout pizza, it also saves us SO much money and we are making very healthy, delicious pizza. My kids are disappointed when we get take-out pizza versus homemade! Fall Collection Shop Opening!! This week only, we've got our bookstore open for orders. You can order through 10/9 with many items shipping out this week! We've got my cookbooks, our ice cream cookbook, Jason's Sterling Spectacles children's book series, TWO NEW fall dresses and so much more! Check it out here. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 9 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/50homemaking and use code 50homemaking for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months! Our Sponsor: Go to PrepDish.com/homemaking and use code HOMEMAKING to get your 2-week free trial!

In this episode, Jami chats with Lyndsey Mimnagh of Treehouse Schoolhouse all about finding and managing the balance between homeschooling and homemaking. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. ✨Announcements in this episode ✨ 1️⃣ Our fall shop opening will be October 2nd-8th, one week only! It will feature TWO new fall dresses and all our books in print. 2️⃣ Our next 14 Day Meal Planning Bootcamp round will kick off Oct 2nd. Grab your spot here: https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/2023-14-day-meal-plan-bootcamp 3️⃣ We are kicking off a Get Dresses challenge over on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jamibalmet/ and in my community: http://findingjoycommunity.com/ Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 8 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Check out more from Lyndsey at treehouseschoolhouse.com Go to her website to get 15% off your total order by using code FINDINGJOYINYOURHOME15 Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/50homemaking and use code 50homemaking for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months! Our Sponsor: Go to PrepDish.com/homemaking and use code HOMEMAKING to get your 2-week free trial!

In this episode, Jami chats about her list of top 10 books that have impacted her as a homemaker. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Say Goodbye to Survival Mode Interview with Crystal Paine here The Read Aloud Family Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home The Lifegiving Table: Nurturing Faith Through Feasting, One Meal at a Time My interview with Sally: Cultivating a lifegiving family https://findingjoyinyourhome.com/cultivating-lifegiving-family-sally-clarkson/ Eve in Exile and the Restoration of Femininity Refresh: Embracing a Grace-Paced Life in a World of Endless Demands Embracing a Grace Paced life interview with Shonna Murray The Time Saving Mom by Crystal Paine Adorned: Living out the Beauty of the Gospel Together Biblical Discipleship and mentoring interview with Many Demoss Wolgemuth Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor by Donna Otto Comparison Girl: Lessons from Jesus on Me-Free Living in a Measure-Up World ✨Announcements in this episode ✨ 1️⃣ Our fall shop opening will be October 2nd-8th, one week only! It will feature TWO new fall dresses and all our books in print. 2️⃣ Our next round of the 14 Day Meal Planning Bootcamp will kick off Oct 2nd. Grab your spot here: https://findingjoyshop.mykajabi.com/2023-14-day-meal-plan-bootcamp 3️⃣ We are kicking off a Get Dresses challenge over on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jamibalmet/ and in my community: http://findingjoycommunity.com/ Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 7 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: Get 20% OFF @honeylove by going to honeylove.com/HOME Our Sponsor: Head to acorns.com/home to download Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today!

In this episode, Jami interviews the lovely Phylicia Masonheimer about anxiety and how to battle it biblically. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Check out more from Phylicia here: phyliciamasonheimer.com Keep an eye out for episode 7 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50. Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/50homemaking and use code 50homemaking for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months!

In this episode, Jami shares her own battle with anxiety and her journey through it. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I am so thankful to be able to sit here today and share that: anxiety does not dominate my life. I no longer struggle with panic attacks and while I absolutely can become anxious and have to battle against it often, anxiety is no longer the dominating force it once was. Anxiety is something that we need to be talking about today because it’s something that so many of us struggle with and we have come to think is normal. I had panic attacks as a teen and struggled greatly with anxiety, even though I didn’t know was it was. As a newly married 20-year-old, I ended up at the doctor with shooting pain in my chest, thinking I was having a heart attack. I went through rounds of tests and wearing heart monitors and stress tests, all to find out that I was having anxiety issues. God taught me so much through that season. And I know he was bringing me through those trials at the time he did because he was equipping me for what was right around the corner: Having twins and then losing my mom suddenly when they were 10 months old, only to have a second set of twins 1 year later (so 4 babies, 2 and under), and so much physical stress and strain on my body. Anxiety is a whole-bodied issue that goes far beyond “don’t stress as much”. Anxiety can be caused by so many issues and made worse by others. And so when we approach this topic of anxiety, we need to approach it from a holistic standpoint, meaning we need to look at our whole bodies and our whole lives. Christians can tend to fall into one of two ditches: Either they ignore anxiety completely and don’t give good resources OR they go to the ultra-therapy side and leave God completely out of the discussion of dealing with anxiety. Thankfully, I see that trend changing and there are so many good holistic approaches to anxiety and our health today. We well and truly can trust God This is honestly where so much of my stress came from. I was not trusting the Lord with my life, not really. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust he was sovereign, I did. But I trusted it so much that I was afraid it meant that Jason would be taken from me tomorrow. I had a warped view of God’s sovereignty and I didn’t realize it. Until I read Jerry Bridge's book, Trusting God. In it, he so beautifully laid out what it means to trust God and that as our Heavenly Father, God does want our good. He will act according to his will, but he will also do this with our good in mind. We don’t need to fear what his sovereign hand will do. He does allow things to happen that are hard and painful, but we can trust Him in the process. “That which should distinguish the suffering of believers from unbelievers is the confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God. Our suffering has meaning and purpose in God's eternal plan, and He brings or allows to come into our lives only that which is for His glory and our good.” “In the arena of adversity, the Scriptures teach us three essential truths about God—truths we must believe if we are to trust Him in adversity. They are: God is completely sovereign. God is infinite in wisdom. God is perfect in love. Someone has expressed these three truths as they relate to us in this way: “God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom, He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty, He has the power to bring it about.” It’s okay to not understand every little thing ““God’s plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don’t understand.” We need to learn to trust that we don’t nor will know everything “God's guidance is almost always step-by-step; He does not show us our life's plan all at once....

In this episode, Jami skirts around the controversial topic of parenting, particularly comparing older versus newer ways of doing it. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. There’s a reel going around, the 80's parent versus Millennial parent, and I think we need to address a few things. In the comments, OVER and OVER again it was moms saying “I wish I could be the 80s mom!” And now, this isn’t really about being an 80s mom versus being a millennial mom. 80s moms did things wrong too. There’s good info we do have access to today, there are times to be aware of what our children are doing. But, I think this viral reel hits at the core of what a lot of us moms struggle with today. Access to too much information is not always a blessing. You google literally anything today and it’s going to eventually tell you to head to the ER because you are dying. I am so thankful for the internet today, I am so thankful for access to good and useful information, but without a high level of discernment, the level of information we have access to can turn from being a blessing into a curse. Having SO many opinions and voices all screaming at us can crowd out our God-given discernment. We need to be careful that we are not letting other people’s opinions take over and crowd out what God is calling us to. When that anxiety and that overwhelm hits, are we off to see what our favorite IG influencer has to say or what Dr. Google recommends before and above praying and asking God for discernment in the situation? We can come to despise the older generations' advice, and this is a dangerous situation. Older moms, older generations, are where we should be getting our motherhood advice from. And when we end up in an echo chamber of just our own generation, on the internet, in often harmful chat rooms, we are not learning from older and wiser generations. NOW, this can be actually quite tricky right now. I am fully acknowledging that. We are a generation right now that is changing things. In many ways, we are the generation that is turning the tide back to how our great-grandmothers lived and raised their children and we are having to figure out what that looks like in our modern world. This is not easy and there is no clear way to do this. It takes a high degree of discernment which comes through prayer and wisdom. Just because we have access to more answers than our grandmother’s day, doesn’t actually mean we know more. Our children do not actually belong to us, they belong to the Lord. We need to trust that ultimately HE is the one in control, NOT us Ladies, we have a very false sense of security and control in our modern world. Thank the Lord, we don’t see high mortality rates in our babies. We don’t have to give birth to 15 children to just have 4 of them survive to adulthood. We have access to clean water, good food, doctors, medicine, and more. A lot of this can lead us to think WE are in control. Yes, God asks us to be wise and to be self-disciplined. We have to work very hard to care for our children and take care of our households. But this all needs to be done with the clear idea in mind that God is sovereign over our every breath. That he is the one that knows the exact minutes we will be on this earth and he cares so deeply for our children, that we can trust Him. Even when we don’t understand the big picture, we can trust AND we can recognize that we are not in control anyway. And that having anxiety about every morsel of food our kids eat, is mistrusting the Lord and doesn’t lead to a better outcome ANYWAY or more peace in our homes. In the next two episodes, we are going to be dealing with the topic of fear and anxiety. So many of us can struggle, just like we talked about today, with anxiety over our kids and our everyday actions and decisions. But we can also have so much fear over the world and what’s happening.

In this episode, Jami chats with the fantastic Alex from Sweet Siestas all about helping to solve children's sleep issues. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com You can find Alex and her excellent sleep training at sweetsiestasllc.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 4 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: Use our exclusive link to get 20% off - honeylove.com/HOME

In this episode, Jami continues the planning discussion from episode 1 and digs into all the ways she's planning for the upcoming Fall season. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. In episode one of this season, we discussed 5 ways that we waste time as homemakers, and what we can do about it. Today we are taking this lesson one step further and discussing how we can actively plan for the next busy season. I’m building out new schedules for the fall right now, let’s discuss how I’m doing it! Brainstorm and dream On the way home from our recent road trip, Jason and I took some extended time to really talk through our plans and hopes for the fall. We both have some areas we want to work on and incorporate into our schedules. But we are trying to make sure that we are being realistic with these plans and not trying to jam-pack way too much into our schedule! So we started out just really talking about ideas, kind of like a brain dump. We both talked about health goals we both want to work on, things we’d love to add to homeschool, etc. It helped to have a time where we just kind of brain-dumped all the things! Go category by category through our plans After we had that more general brainstorming session, I then took my Kindle Scribe and went category by category into our plans through the rest of the year. Here’s what we discussed: 1. Our health goals 2. Homeschool objectives and we developed a schedule 3. Big work projects and WHEN they will happen. 4. We discussed the Christmas budget and what our ideas are for the kids this year. I now have my Christmas list done and I’m on the hunt! 5. Then personally, I have my own goals and plans to work on: my cleaning routine and meal planning around the house, etc. Make sure to look back over the last season to see what worked well and what didn’t. It’s not just about productivity, it’s about designing a schedule that works well for our family Be really clear on what your priorities truly are. Remember, these priorities can change every few months. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for episode 3 of Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: Go to magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME. Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/50homemaking and use code 50homemaking for 50% off plus free shipping!

In this episode, Jami chats with the wonderful Melissa K. Norris all about food preservation. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Melissa's excellent book on food preservation: Everything Worth Preserving: The Complete Guide for Food Preservation at Home Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! Finding Joy in Your Home on YouTube Keep an eye out for Baking School with Jami coming this week: Baking School with Jami Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50! Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking50 and use code homemaking50 to get 50% off plus free shipping!

In this first episode of Season 3, we're chatting about time wasters, and how to stop it. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Hello friends! Welcome back to my podcast, Finding Joy in Your Home. We are here for season 3 with some fun new changes. I’m going to give you a few announcements and then we will jump into today’s topic of wasting time as a homemaker, and what we can do about it. Some of you right now are watching me over on YouTube as you listen to this podcast! As of this episode, my podcast is now also a video podcast over on YT. If you listen to the audio and you just want it to stay that way, that’s totally fine! But as of this week, we are officially relaunching my YT channel in a big way! Each week we will be publishing my video podcast (if you want to watch on video or keep listening to audio). AND I have a brand new weekly show starting on YouTube called Baking School with Jami! Each week we will learn something new about baking and then make a new recipe together! I’m convinced that the best way to learn to bake is by trying out just one new recipe a week and learning it as you go! And we are going to do this together during Baking School with Jami. For this show, you will need to hop over to YouTube to watch. Just go to BakingSchoolwithJami.com to find the link and to sign up to get the printables and recipes each week! Now let’s get to today’s episode: It can so often feel like we are just spinning our wheels when it comes to getting things done. I have felt many times in my motherhood journey that I have been busy, busy, busy without actually getting much done. How is it that we can feel pulled in so many directions but not actually making traction in the few areas that actually matter? As we kick off season 3, I think this is an important place to start. I don’t know about you, but Fall always feels like such a busy time. School is kicking off again and with that comes new co-op opportunities, sports and activities, Bible studies, and the looming holidays. I know that I’m going to blink and it will be January and we will be kicking off a New Year. So as I stare fall in the face and try to get my new schedules and routines together, I think this is a really important topic: How can we stop wasting time? I think it’s so important, every new season, to reevaluate what’s working well and what isn’t. And a big thing for me, with so many modern distractions, is making sure I’m using my time well and not wasting my days away, which unfortunately is all too easy to do. Do you need to be getting up earlier? And/or using your evenings better? This is one I struggle with. I am GOOD at getting work done at night, but I struggle in establishing better morning routines. Some of you definitely don’t struggle with this and that’s awesome! I’ve found the opposite to be true though too: If you are excellent at getting up early, then often that same person really struggles as they head into dinner time and the evening. So maybe you need to focus on ways to be more intentional with your time as the evening hits. Take a really honest assessment of your day, what is it that you need to focus on when it comes to wasting time? We thrive so much better when I’m up before the kids, have done my devotional, had my coffee, and can really hit the ground running with our full homeschool day kicking into action at 8 am. It’s better for all of us, I just have to really work at this sometimes! Get dressed for the day. This is huge for those of us who are home all day. As a younger stay-at-home mom, I was in my PJs most of the day. It was more comfortable to just stay comfy. But I’ve realized over the years, this greatly hampers my productivity. When I get up and am dressed by 8am, our day just starts. It’s like this terrific signal that it’s time to get busy and be productive.

In this final episode of Season 2, we're going to talk about learning to cook, bake, and make all sorts of things. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. When @jasonbalmet and I got married 14 years ago, I had ZERO cooking skills. No, seriously. My skill set included top ramen (which we use to eat uncooked with the seasoning sprinkled on top as kids. 😂 Anyone else do that??)and microwaving frozen burritos. I didn’t know how to cook anything, meal plan, meal prep, grocery shop, compare prices…you get the idea. But when we got married, my domesticity snapped into place and I knew I needed to figure out how to cook and manage my kitchen. I knew that the time we had before kids was the most free time we would likely ever have again (and did I mention we were both working full time and finishing college full time). I’m not sure how I had that wisdom back then, but I’m so glad God gave me that mission to take it seriously to learn how to cook. But it was a sloooow process. For the past 14 years, I feel like I’ve had a crash course in cooking, but in tiny weekly baby steps. For about the first 3 years of marriage, Friday night was my night to experiment with cooking. For years, I consistently picked one new recipe a week to cook. Many recipes failed. Some burned. Some were inedible. Some were fine. And some were surprisingly good. But persist I did. And the failures became less and less and the winners became more and more. I still have a looooong list of things I’d like to learn. And really, that list now more just stuff I want to get into a regular habit of making since my skills in the kitchen have grown so much (Praise God)! I’m a very simple cook. I cook a lot of just real foods. I’m not fancy but I’ve learned how to feed my family 🙌😍I want to encourage you: if you feel a huge desire to take control of your kitchen, there is hope! Start with one small task at a time. Pick one new recipe and go from there. What I’m going to be tackling next: I’m finally ready to jump back into sourdough. But this time, I’ll be tackling sourdough from freshly ground whole grains. It’s a whole new challenge 😅 But I’m ready for it 💪 So on Instagram, I asked what items you guys wanted to learn how to make/bake/cook and today I’m going to share the responses with some advice from me on how to get started. I asked them to fill in a box that said “I want to learn to cook/bake/make _____” Just using my pressure canner: This is such a fun goal! Pressure canning is really fun but can also feel totally overwhelming. My go to cookbook for pressure canning is The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning: https://amzn.to/3YbSVis For anyone who really wants to learn how to can but you are a total newbie, I highly recommend learning first how to water bath can. It’s like low stakes canning. All you need is a big pot (as opposed to an actual pressure canner)! But it will help you learn the basics of sanitizing the jars, canning the food, checking the food, checking that it seals, etc. Then when you venture into pressure canning, it’s a lot easier! And I have a new book that is one my wish list currently! I got to interview Melissa K Norris recently, her interview will be here on the podcast in a few weeks. Her new book looks so good Everything Worth Preserving: https://amzn.to/43PmSWK Kombucha: Kombucha is so fun!! It’s scary at first. But give yourself time to get the hang of it and then it’s so simple to keep it going weekly. Last year we did a fun experiment and brewed Kombucha and Jun tea at the same time to test out all the flavors. My favorite resource: The Big Book of Kombucha: https://amzn.to/3OxHheK And I binged watched this YouTube channel when I was first starting out and watched all her episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@YouBrewKombucha Farmhouse teas is where we get all of our kombucha flavorings and tea for making kombucha!!

What is tea, and the difference between types of tea? What are the nutritional values of tea and how are the nutrients found in true tea good for you? Jami interviews tea expert Marla in today's episode to answer all those questions and more. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Let's take a look at herbal teas (tisanes) and how you can create your own types of herbal teas. What are some simple tips/tricks to look for when deciding what herbs to use to create your teas? A couple of easy herbal tea blends you can make, using herbs you may have in your own herb garden. Marla is the woman behind the MaraBette & Co, Tea and Hospitality, LLC, a wife, daughter, friend. She is an unconventional, God- loving tea & hospitality enthusiast with a no-nonsense approach to helping people discover the joy of hospitality and serving, through the time-honored art of taking tea and having afternoon tea. Through her company, MaraBette & Co, Marla has established a unique line of artisan teas reflecting the love of family, home, friendship, & hospitality, bringing to many a new sense of wonder through her many tea blends. Links and Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Book Recommendation: Growing Your Own Tea Garden; The Guide To Growing & Harvesting FlavorfulTeas In Your Backyard-By Jodi Helmer Book Recommendation: Homegrown Tea; An Illustrated Guide To Planting, harvesting, & blending teas & tisanes-By Cassie Liversidge Our Sponsor: Treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off at honeylove.com/home. Our Sponsor: Go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout for 20% OFF any AquaTru water purifier.

For many years, I’ve functioned well with a loose meal planning system. I needed my days to be extremely flexible and it’s worked well for the most part. This past year or so I’ve felt the need to take my meal planning to a new level but getting things more planned out and a bit more rigid, but still with the flexibility I need. Today I’m discussing the new rotating seasonal meal plan I’ve been talking about. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. I am excited to say that my first of 4 meal plans, my summer plan is almost done. Today I’m going to give you a run down of how this is working and what I’ve been learning about meal planning along the way. As the manager of my home, the kitchen is such a large area of responsibility that can either run like a well oiled machine or feel like complete and utter chaos. The past 6 months has seen more chaos than I’d like. So I’m going back to the drawing board and asking “What does my meal planning need in this new busy season?” I’ve come up with my plan: Rotating seasonal meal plans. My goals are a few: 1) To make more food from scratch in order to save money 2) Increase the health of my families food so that we all have vitality and energy to tackle the things that God has called us to and 3) Free up brain space and put more of my meal planning on autopilot for smoother routines. The most important thing to me for finally getting to this more advanced level of meal planning, is having family favorite recipes down. If you are in a stage of need to meal plan for the first time, I suggest you come up with a loose plan that allows you to try out new recipes and hone those recipes that your family loves. Don’t just drift through life and meal planning, come up with a plan to figure out those recipes and save them. Decide on a meal plan and then stick to it. Honestly a huge part of meal planning is literally just having the discipline to stick to it. With that said, start with the simplest version of meal planning that you can and build from there (the MVP idea). Stick with it and develop it as you go so that it makes sense for your family! Links and Resources: Our Sponsor:Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking16 and use code homemaking16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50. Check out our bookstore opening through 7/21 at FindingJoyBookstore.com And join our meal planning bootcamp at FindingJoyShop.com

In today’s episode, Jami chats with Jason all about their mid year reading goal statuses. They also discuss their plans to read more classics, as well as introduce them to their kids, as well as how they are raising their kids to love reading as much as they do. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor:Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking50 and use code homemaking50 to get 50% off plus free shipping. Our Sponsor: Go to magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME. Books mentioned: The creedal imperative The case for the christian family Family driven faith Jason's reading a lot of Steinbeck this year The Convivial Homeschool Modern Miss Mason A Cover for Glory Durable Trades Becoming Free Indeed The Little Women book Series Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

In today’s episode, Jami interviews Jill Winger of The Prairie Homestead all about growing community and her upcoming book, Old-Fashioned on Purpose. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Jill can be found over at her amazing website www.theprairiehomestead.com and on instagram @jill.winger Her excellent podcast can be found at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/old-fashioned-on-purpose/id1475835329 Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and, depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 40% off.

In today’s episode, Jami interviews Brettnay Brazzell of No Higher Calling all about hymns and the value of teaching them to your children. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Brettnay can be found over on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nohighercalling Her excellent podcast can be found at https://nohighercalling.org/no-higher-calling-podcast/ Our Sponsor: Treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off! Use our exclusive link to get 20% off - honeylove.com/HOME. Our Sponsor: Get 20% OFF any AquaTru water purifier when you go to AquaTru.com and use code “HOME”.

In today’s episode, Jami answers lots of your questions about meal planning. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to https://www.magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME! Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking16 and use code homemaking16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping!

In today’s episode, Jami is going to share her fun plan for making a year's worth of meal plans and how to do it simply! She shares 5 steps she's using to create these plans. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. My Goal: I am really excited about this. Over the next month and a half, my goal is to make a year’s worth of meal plans so that I can put my meal planning on autopilot. But I’m not actually making 52 weeks of meal plans. I am going to make rotating, seasonal meal plans. I will take each season, broken down into 3 months and create one 4-week meal plan for that season. So summer will have the summer meal plan which consists of 4 weeks of meals, without a ton of repetition in meals. So June, I’ll pull out my summer meal plan and go. July hits and the 4 weeks start over and then again in August. Once September hits, it’s time to pull out the Fall meal plan. I’m planning on adding in some easy changes for when your week gets off built right into the meal plan, but in this simple way, I’m going to not only be able to develop a year’s worth of meal plans very easily, but also do it seasonally. How I’m going to do it: Figure out some seasonal guidelines. Things like: more ice cream recipes and fresh produce in the summer, pumpkin, gourds, and squashes in the Fall, soups and comfort food in the winter, and so forth I also want to plan around things like: There’s more time for baking in the fall & winter and lots of fun holidays to do so, I don’t want to heat the summer up as much from the oven, so more easy crockpot, bbq, and simple recipes. Pantry Put together my first 4-week meal plan, and then spend 2 months adjusting it. This is where I think the simple part of this will come in. I can spend the time up front to make my first meal plan and then spend a month or two tweaking it. As I pull it out again for the next month, I’ll be able to adjust it and take notes! Put together an individual binder per season. I will have the full meal plan, a calendar view, all the recipes, prep ahead instructions, and grocery list in each binder. This will also allow me to stick other seasonal recipes I come across or want to try into the binder that’s easy to pull out when we need it. I’m going to aim for a simple version first. As I play with it, I can perfect it and even add to it if I want. What I don’t want to happen is that I make this incredible meal plan that there is no way I can follow. I’m doing the pre-work right now in June. I’m gathering recipes, starting to think through season changes, and getting the printables all created and ready to go. July 5th is when I’m starting. I’m committing to 20-30 minutes per day to get my first meal plan totally created and in progress. I don’t have hours a day to commit to this right now. So I’m going to just steal a few minutes each day to work on it and I hope you join us!! Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50. Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking60 and use code homemaking60 to get 60% off plus free shipping.

In today’s episode, Jami is sharing 3 seasons of waiting that her family has walked through, and what God has taught them along the way. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. When my mom died, it took 6 months to get her toxicology reports back. In this season of grief and not understanding, I had to turn to the Lord again and again in my grief, in my anger, and in my utter inability to fix any of it. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7) When we tried to sell our house, the market was raging hot, it crashed the week we listed our house and took 12 months to sell. In a season of financial struggle, we learned a lot about trusting the Lord and thanking him for every single dollar that comes in. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - Matthew 6:25-33 When we desired another baby and it took 12 months to conceive, we had to come really to grips with the fact that we are NOT in control of our fertility in any way, shape, or manner and that we can choose peace and contentment no matter what. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6) Now, we find ourselves in a season of waiting once again. We are ready and excited for the next step of building our homestead. We feel a certain amount of excitement and impatience since it feels like our kids are growing so old, so fast. But God has said not yet. He is asking us to be patient and to trust him. And so once again, we find ourselves in this season of waiting on the Lord, trusting in Him. And these seasons of waiting have taught me many things: To plan well, to be a wise steward of what God has given us, and then sit back and be totally content with how God leads. When he opens a door you will know, when he closes a door, you can praise Him. When everything feels impossible to line up, if it’s God’s will, it will line up. We well and truly can trust in all of the Bible verses urging us to trust in the Lord. It’s often in the waiting that God is refining us, molding us, and shaping us. Before we had kids, before I had lost my mom, and before I had really encountered very many hard things as an adult, I struggled greatly with anxiety. Now, I can hardly fathom why I struggled with it so much since what I was dealing with and facing then feels so minor to the things I have walked through since. But it was an intense season of anxiety none the less. And through that season, God was teaching me.

In today’s episode, Jami answers your questions on all things homeschooling. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Questions Answered in the Episode: Q: Teaching how to read: https://amzn.to/3N1QOKn ‘DASHIN UINTO LEARNING READERS TGATB READERS Q: Reassurance that when we find a curriculum that continues to work it’s okay to stick with it. Sometimes I feel like my kids will miss out on all the other amazing options out there. I get it! With so many terrific options out there, it can really feel overwhelming and hard to choose. What I like to do is add in a lot of quality reading, this way, I know we are still hitting all kinds of amazing things! Q: Curriculum Recommendations for Age 5? MasterBooks, The Good and the Beautiful, And Gather Round. Q: My son ins’t in the correct grade level - is that normal? Finishing 1st, going into 3rd. One of the most beautiful things about homeschooling is the ability to tailor the education to your child. Who says that every single subject needs to be taught and mastered at the exact same age? Do adults function like that? Or do we all learn different things at different paces. I use grades as a general guideline to help me moving forward, but only you know your child well enough to know what they need! Q: General Words of wisdom? Starting K this year You’ve got this! I know it feels so hard and overwhelming. But K-3rd is a LOT of play and reading. Stick to that and you are golden. Also, read some homeschooling books to get a good idea of homeschooling trips and tricks. Q: How homeschool daily routine looks like schooling multiple kids? We try and bunch together subjects as much as possible. The only thing each kid does on their own at their grade level is math, everything else is done as a group. Gather Round or unit studies is a great way to do this. Especially for K-5th, it’s easy for everyone to study the same thing at a time. Once 5th and beyond, the kids can much more easily study subjects on their own. 8am: daily worksheets & handwriting during breakfast. 9am: Morning basket time & Biblio Plan & current GR unit, & then math. Done with regular school by noon. Lunch break Afternoon we do other fun, hands on things. We do art lessons twice a week and a music lessons twice a week. This is also free play art time, play outside, work on coding, quilting, or knitting a hat. No electronic, tv time, or playing until 4pm. 4pm until dinner they can then play. Fridays are project Fridays! Q: Do you use a curriculum or make your own? Well now, sorta both since we are creating homesteading units! But mostly, I don’t make my own. Q: Do you bind your books that you print off? Yes! I have a binding machine that is amazing. It’s saved us thousands of dollars. This year we are trying a new method though in 3 ring notebooks. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout to get 20% off! Our Sponsor: Go to MagicMind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME.

In today’s episode, Jami invites Jason on to the show to discuss all things tech. They each share what they're currently doing to control tech in their lives, and they also go into details on how they handle tech with their kids. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking16 and use code homemaking16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping! Our Sponsor: Get 15% Off at dockatot.com with the code HOME.

In today’s episode, Jami fills you in on allllllllll her homeschool plans for the next school year. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com For Math this year: We are going back to using The Good and the Beautiful. We will be doing Math 5, Math 4, and Math 2. https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/pre-k-8-curriculum/math/ We will be starting BiblioPlan: Ancient History in about 2 weeks: https://www.biblioplan.net/ We will do a few Gather Round Science Units spread throughout the year: Rocks & Minerals, Human Body, and Dinosaurs to start In the Fall we will be starting IEW for language arts for the 4 older boys: https://iew.com/taxonomy/term/7/?f%5B0%5D=im_field_grade_level%3A7 We will be doing their Grade 3-5th. And Magnolia will do TGATB Level 2 Language Arts since it's free to print off. If we end up not wanting to finish it, I may switch her to MasterBooks language arts, we will see how the year goes. Mid year: We will add in a typing course for 4 older boys around January. We do Art Lessons twice a week. We look up Bob Ross painting videos, watch Kids Art Hub, and find other drawing, painting and art classes online for free. One of my sons really wants to take a full illustrating course, so I will find a good one for him to take. We do music lessons 3 times per week. We take online classes from https://prodigies.com/ We use Project Friday to explore additional hands on skills and training. Most of our Project Friday's lately have been coming from our own new homesteading curriculum: https://findingjoybookstore.com/collections/sterling-spectacles-homeschool The Talk by Luke and Trisha Gilkerson: https://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/store/product/the-talk/ Jason went through book 1 with the older boys last year, he's doing book 1 with the middle twins right now, and will start book 2 sometime this year with the older boys. We highly recommend the series! Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and, depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 40% off! Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50.

In today’s episode, Jami welcomes Jason on and together they discuss their secrets, superpowers, and kryptonite when it comes to productivity. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking60 and use code homemaking60 to get 60% off plus free shipping! Our Sponsor: Go to magicmind.co/home and get up to 56% off your subscription for the next 10 days with my code HOME!

In today’s episode, Jami gives a good peek into her planning process and thoughts for the coming months. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: For a limited time get 15% Off at dockatot.com with the code HOME! Our Sponsor: GET $5 OFF a Lume Starter Pack with code HOME at LumeDeodorant.com! Planning: Revamping my mornings: 6-7am: Bible, coffee, get ready time. 7-8am: 30 min instagram, 30 min current project Planning time in realistic chunks. Tighter homeschool plans. Putting fun things on the calendar: We want to go swimming at least 2x a month, make a list of Oklahoma state parks to visit. Canning & Gardening: Making lists & plans and doing them Taking time to develop my new meal plans

In today’s episode, Jami goes into detail on her top 5 ways she's planning to cut costs this year. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com A healthy bread with most meals: I’ve gotten into really good routines now with making my own bread products and other flour products. And I’ve found, that with a growing family, adding in as many bread products as I can, helps not only with cost but in keeping those bellies full without sacrificing health. IDEAS: English muffins, butter, and eggs for breakfast Ezekiel Waffles for breakfast Bean, egg, and cheese breakfast burritos for breakfast Making 4 sandwich loaves a week: PB&J Grilled Cheese Toast on the side with raw butter Dinners: Easy artisan loaves with dinners Homemade tortillas Herb & Cheese muffins with dinner, etc. Getting back to making my own pantry staples. Homemade cleaning items again. I’ve started first with laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent. Growing & Preserving more of my own food. This might be limited a bit this year, but working on it none the less Much more consistent meal plans. I’d like to develop four weeks of rotating meal plans for each season! I think this will start in the summer. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll share what I learn as I go. Our Sponsor: You will receive 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier! Just go to AquaTru.com and enter code “HOME” at checkout. Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/homemaking50 and use code homemaking50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

In today’s episode, Jami shares the Balmet family's tips and encouragement for traveling and adventuring with kids, whether on a big road trip or just a simple day out. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HOME and, depending on the model, you’ll receive UP TO 40% off. You are saving UP TO 40% off! Our Sponsor: Go to magicmind.co/home to get up to 56% off your first subscription in the next 10 days and 20% off your one time purchase with HOME.

Are you feeling frazzled right now? Maybe overwhelmed as you look to the end of the year and a start of a new one? I've been feeling that a lot this year so I had to remind myself: There is important Kingdom work for me to do each day. I just need to refocus enough to see it. We are going to talk about the right priorities today: Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: For 50% off your first Care/of order, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter code home50 Our Sponsor: Go to GreenChef.com/homemaking60 and use code homemaking60 to get 60% off plus free shipping!

In today’s episode, Jami answers listener questions about homeschooling, housekeeping, attending conferences with kids, sleep training, and more. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find all the links and notes for this episode below! Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com Our Sponsor: Get 22% off your first order when you use code HOME at iherb.com. Our Sponsor: Treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% Off at honeylove.com with the code HOME. Supplements for Jason and Jami's Pond Water Drink: Thorne Magnesium Bisglycinate Trace Mineral Drops ChlorOxygen