Finding Time for God When You Can Hardly Find Time to Breathe

With a house full of children, it's generally busy and loud! Finding time for God seems like a monumental task!

But spending time with God isn't really about marking something off a to-do list. It's about being mindful of our relationship with Him. He loves us and he wants to be with us. And when we realize just how much he loves us, we will want to be with him too. When we have a true relationship with God, it will be more about acknowledging his presence with us always; not just a one-time formal event that we  might call “devotions.”

When you're a mom with young children in the house, it can be extremely difficult to find time for a designated Bible and prayer time.  When I had small children and toddlers, I was busy from the time my feet hit the floor until I finally fell asleep at night – wiping noses, changing diapers, cleaning up messes, and listening to childish chatter.  But, oh how desperately I needed the Lord!  Most days the first two words I thought of when I woke up were either “Help, Lord!”  or “Lord, help!”  Managing a household and nurturing young souls is HARD! There is no way I could do what needs to be done with my own strength and wisdom.

I'm sure many, many of you are in the same boat, so I want to share some practical ways I have found to stay mindful of God's presence even when it's not possible to get up earlier than everyone else and have a dedicated quiet time.

1. Memorize scripture – Even if you have only a minute or two of quiet time, you can make that time go further if you spend that time putting scripture to memory rather than just reading it. You can then spend time meditating on God's Word all throughout the day, and you're not confined to whatever quiet time you may have the chance to enjoy.  (See also: 10 Ways to Help Your Child Memorize Scripture – these will work for you too!)

2. Keep scripture around the house – This goes along with #1.  You can be thinking on the words of Scripture as you see it throughout the house.  It only takes a little effort to print out verses and post them all around the house.  I can remember memorizing several verses as a child just because they were hung in places where I would frequently look.  Over time I just simply knew them without even trying. (Find a free printable of Philippians 4:8 right here.)

3. Pray in the shower or while you're getting dressed – It may only be a few moments, but these are moments of quiet that you can claim to connect with God.

4. Read and pray with your children – If your children are already awake when you wake up, you don't have to forgo reading your Bible or praying.  You can simply allow your children to join you.  That way you can still learn from the Bible, and your children can learn as well. They'll also see how important it is to depend on the Lord every day and learn to treasure the scriptures for themselves.  (See also: How to Help Young Children Develop Their Own Relationship with God)

5. Meditate on scripture as you fall asleep – Rather than letting your mind race thinking about all the things you have to do the next day, meditating on Scripture can quiet your thoughts and keep your focus on Christ rather than on your problems.

6. Keep a Bible handy – If you keep multiple Bibles stashed in different places around your home, you can pick one up in the cracks of your time and read a little bit.

7. Listen to scripture on audio – there are several audio versions of the Bible available. Search apps on your phone for Scripture on audio.  You can listen to scripture as you do your work around the house or drive somewhere.  We also use these Scripture song CD‘s for our kids to keep scripture going in the house throughout the day.

Can you think of any other ways to stay mindful of God's presence even when life is busy?

Keep Good Going

This post was sponsored by New York Life. Find out how New York Life can help you and your family Keep Good Going by visiting newyorklife.com/keepgoodgoing

How can you keep good going in your life?  In the video below, you'll see how a young man was encouraged through the example of his uncle.  Then keep reading and I'll tell you a little about myself and how I hope to keep good going.

(If you could not view the video above, be sure to watch My Uncle’s Gift on Youtube.)

I know firsthand how important it is for families to use the gifts they have to encourage the next generation to be all that they can be.

From the time I was a little girl, I was encouraged to work hard and develop the talents that God has given me.  My most noted ability was in the area of music, and my parents recognized it as a special gift from God.  They ensured that I had piano lessons at the earliest age possible, and did everything they could to give me every opportunity to use my gift.  My mother was musically gifted and I she taught me by her own example to use my gift to be a blessing to others.  Our family often sang together in church, and performing music for the others was almost always a part of family get-togethers.

As I grew, my musical gifts grew too.  My parents did not force me to practice and take lessons, but they made sure my circumstances were conducive to making my love of music flourish.  Lessons were always provided with no hesitation even though there were times when it was probably a financial sacrifice.  Music books were given to me as gifts and good music was constantly being played on the tape player or radio in our house.  My family endured countless hours of hearing me practice boring, repititious scales, repeating difficult sections of songs over and over, and often had to listen to my mindless doodling on the piano as well.

If they would have complained about having to listen to my constant piano pounding or made a scene about having to pay for lessons, they could have easily squelched my love for music.  Instead, they did everything they could to help it flourish, and today I love playing, composing, arranging, and teaching music just as much as I ever did.

I hope that I can pass that love of music on to my children and to the students I have taught in the past and hope to teach again in the future.  I hope that the music I play and sing will be a blessing to others when they hear it live or on a recording.  I hope that the music I compose and arrange will be used by other music lovers for years to come to touch the lives of others as they play and sing it.

Music is a gift that can be passed from generation to generation, and I would be thrilled to know that my music has touched the life of someone else who in turn can touch the life of someone else.

How can you keep good going?  Do you have a special ability that you can use to bless others?  Maybe you don't feel that you have any incredible talent.  But by being a loving parent, faithful friend, or caring spouse, you can have a greater impact on people than you could ever imagine.

Learn more about how New York Life can help you and your family Keep Good Going.

Cooper Tire Spring Savings Event

This post brought to you by Cooper Tire. All opinions are 100% mine.

As the warmer weather comes, so the opportunities to get out and do more as a family.  That makes me happy!

When we go places as a family, we want to make sure we are as safe as possible as we drive.  One of the things my husband does is to make sure we have good tires on our suburban.

Cooper Tire is offering some great savings and amazing prizes for their customers this spring.

Cooper wants to help prepare drivers for safe travels by offering up to an $80 Visa®prepaid card on popular passenger and light truck tire lines during its national “Spring Savings Event,” as well as the chance to win a “Roll With Cooper” prize pack to get travelers started on their journeys.

Starting now and running through April 15, you can get a rebate when you purchase a new set of four qualifying Cooper tires. Visit Cooper Tire Rebates or stop by a participating Cooper Tire deals to see eligible products, obtain full terms and conditions and a mail-in reward form.

In addition to the rebate offer, Cooper Tire is celebrating life’s everyday road trips with a $1,000 prize pack sweepstakes. Visit Cooper Tire on Facebook to post favorite moments of daily travels in the car, or tag #RollWithCooper on Twitter or their new Instagram page to be entered into the Grand Prize drawing for a gas card and Cooper merchandise. They want to hear how you #RollWithCooper, whether it’s singing along to favorite songs while carpooling to school or commuting to work.

Where would you go if you won the gas card?

Apparoo App of the Week – Blinkbuggy

This post is sponsored by Apparoo.

I've partnered with Apparoo to highlight a new app each week.  These apps will be free or highly discounted during the weeks I post them, so grab them while you can!

How do we always find time to post super-adorable kid pictures on Facebook, but somehow never get that long-planned baby book done? Well, guilt-trip no more. Blinkbuggy is an online baby book that puts all your photos, milestones and funny stories in one place – and it’s as easy as a status update. You can keep it completely private, link to social media (it can even grab the photos you’ve already posted), or share with whomever you choose – great for grandparents! These precious years will disappear faster than that photo you posted last month, so don’t spend another moment procrastinating. Create an enduring – and endearing – album with Blinkbuggy online and in print!

Download the Blinkbuggy app here.

How I More than Quadrupled My Blog Income Last Year

In 2013, I made a halfway decent amount of money from my blog, considering the small amount of time I spent on it.  I was happy with that, but I knew I could do better. I set a goal for 2014 that was more than 4 times as much as I had earned the previous year.

In the fall of that year, I was doing fairly well income-wise, but I wasn't sure I would reach my goal before the end of the year. I decided to take a financial plunge and sign up for the Elite Blog Academy.  I immediately started on the course and started working through the assignments.  Honestly, a lot of what I learned was not new information, but something about having it all laid out in step-by-step assignments helped me focus and gain some traction instead of just learning without doing anything about it.

Also, I really appreciated the fact that Ruth kept in regular communication with the class, providing Q&A sessions and sending out extra handouts when a particular issue came up (like her super-crazy Pinterest spreadsheet!  She really spared no details about her strategy!)

I wish I had something like this class a LOT sooner in my blogging career.  Learning new things often feels so overwhelming, and I don't know where to start.  So I end up not doing anything at all.  Having a step-by-step action plan was EXACTLY what I needed to get me going!

Once I started on the class assignments last fall, I not only reached my income goal, I surpassed it by 25 percent!

So, what were the key elements that made the difference in my income?

1. Improved content and graphics
Makes my blog posts much more likely to be shared, and gives a more professional (and in most readers' minds trustworthy) appearance.

2. Increased traffic
The improved content increased traffic on it's own, but I also stepped up my game big time on social media and have made huge strides in increasing my page views.  Increased traffic means more revenue from advertisers and more opportunities for sponsorships.

3. Implemented more income streams
I focused even more heavily on affiliate marketing, got my ad networks optimized, and worked on marketing my own products better.

Continuing to improve in all of these areas is showing lots of promise for quadrupling my income again this year!

If you're ready to stop collecting pennies from your blog and bring in some serious income, it's time to get serious about how you play the game. I can promise that the Elite Blog Academy will give you the push you need.  Whether you learn new things like a successful Pinterest strategy or just benefit from having a step-by-step action plan, you will earn your money back many times over when you go through the course.  (And if for some reason you don't?  No worries!  Ruth is so confident in her course that she offers a 100% money back guarantee!  There's absolutely nothing to lose and thousands of dollars to gain.) Just a few of the things in the course syllabus:

• Content is King
• Presentation is Everything
• Grow Your Platform
• Social Media and Viral Growth
• Show me the Money
• Work Smarter, Not Harder

There's more – lots more, and I guarantee you won't regret the decision to take this course!

But hurry!  Course registration ends soon and will not open again for a full year!

P.S.  Order today, April 21, and take an additional $50 off with the coupon LASTDAY!

Pssttt… one more exciting thing to note:

Exclusive Bonus! If you decide to purchase the course through my link, I will provide you with a free professional blog evaluation (reg. $99!)  Take the course to a more in-depth level by having another professional blogger critique your blog and offer personalized suggestions for specific areas of improvement.  To receive the free evaluation, simply forward a copy of your receipt to imperfecthomemaker@gmail.com once you've enrolled.  *NOTE: To be eligible for this exclusive bonus, you must clear your cookies first, then purchase directly through one of the links on this page.  If your name is not on my affiliate ledger I will be unable to provide the bonus for you.

Ready to quadruple your income?

Sign up for Elite Blog Academy here. (Don't forget to clear your cookies first if you want the free professional blog evaluation!)

15 of the Best Products You Can Buy from Vitacost

When I first started on this journey to healthy living, I was rather shocked to find out how much more certain foods were going to cost.  Pastured meat?  Roughly 4 times as much as grocery store meat.  Organic vegetables?  Again 2-4x as much as I had been spending.  Eggs?  $2 – $4/dozen compared to $.99.  If I was going to follow-through with this healthy living thing, I was going to have to do a lot of legwork to find the best prices on everything that came into my home.  (And add a lot of beans and rice to the menu too!)

I shared earlier some of the places to look for food like shopping Farmer's Markets and other options for shopping for local food .  For meat and produce, I don't think there's anything that can compare to buying local.  You don't really know much about grocery store food other than what you are told on the (often misleading) packages.  When you buy locally, you know exactly how your food was grown, you support the local economy, and your food is more nutrient dense since it was harvested at its peak rather than picked unripe and shipped.

But what about other non-fresh items?  I have found several favorite places to purchase things online at the best prices, and in the coming weeks I will feature those different places and what I typically buy there.

This week I'll give you a list of my favorite items to buy from Vitacost.  Their website is so huge, that if you don't go there already knowing what you want, you could easily be overwhelmed and give up.

But I highly recommend shopping for the following items there.  Their prices are usually the lowest on these items to begin with, and they often have sales and coupons besides.  If you are a new customer you can also get a $10 off $30 coupon when you sign up through my referral link. (Update: Vitacost has discontinued their referral program, so I can no longer offer the $10 coupon.)

In no particular order, these are the things I purchase regularly from Vitacost:

1. Garden of Life Raw Meal – allergy free, non-GMO meal replacement protein powder with no icky fillers.  This saved my life many days when I was in the throes of chronic fatigue syndrome.

2. Liquid castile soap – I use this for bathing and making my homemade cleaner

3. Garden of Life RAW Probiotics – therapeutic grade probiotics; one of the few brands that arrive refrigerated so that they stay alive!

4. Garden of Life Cod Liver Oil – Omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin D, and DHA are crucial nutrients to my health, especially when breastfeeding.  Taking a spoonful of this everyday ensures I get what I need.

5. Blackstrap Molasses – I use as a sweetener, and also take a spoonful occasionally to boost my Vitamin B and iron.

6. Liquid Chlorophyll – provides magnesium and helps…ahem…keep you “regular”.  I used to buy the NOW brand, but I don't see it on their site right now.

7. Vitamins – I can tell a huge difference in my energy level if I don't take my vitamins.  These are an organic, whole-foods (non-synthetic) vitamin and herb blend.

8. Cacao Powder – You know me and my chocolate.  I use this to make my peanut butter cups or hot cocoa.  Or sometimes I just stir some up in a glass of milk with honey and mint oil – the most delicious mint chocolate shake ever, and it's full of antioxidants and protein!  What more could I wish for?

9. Essential oils – I'm just now learning about essential oils, so I only use them for a few things — peppermint for making mint chocolate recipes, tea tree for making disinfectant, eucalyptus for decongestant chest rub, lavender for adding to my homemade hair spray.

10. Coconut Oil – I prefer to buy my virgin coconut oil from Tropical Traditions, but for cooking, I choose expeller pressed coconut oil since it is odorless and flavorless.

11. Chocolate chips – gluten, dairy, and soy free.  Perfect for anyone with food sensitivities.

12. Gluten free flour – Pamela's gluten free baking mix is to die for!  You will be in gluten free heaven once you try it!  Thank you, Pamela, whoever you are!

13. Real Salt – It's important to use a salt that has not been bleached and had all the minerals processed out of it.

14. Bentonite Clay – I use this for cleansing toxins, brushing my teeth, washing my face, healing burns and bug bites…I'm sure there's more!

15. Apple Cider Vinegar – great for treating colds and flu as well as soaking grains.

Update: I did an impromptu video of my son unboxing some of our Vitacost favorites.  Take a peek inside!