A New Thing – Serving From Home Redesign Launch Day!

Today is the day! Welcome to the NEW look for Serving From Home! Cue the celebration!

Photo Credit: Bhumika.B via Compfight cc

Thank you so much for your support and grace over the redesign period – I have been so blessed to have so much support behind the scenes as things are worked out and over. Many thanks to The Man for staying up late and helping iron out some of the sticky stuff. There may still be some bumps and glitches to fix, not everything is perfect, but we are here and so excited! Many thanks to Kenneth from Blackpixel Studio for his AMAZING design work! If you have any work that needs to be done on your site, he’s the guy you want to talk to!

We had so much fun meeting with him and discussing the direction we wanted to take the blog in. He was a tremendous help in guiding me through the thought process to simplify my categories and streamline my writing – he even made me come up with a writing schedule, and I’m so glad he did! A little structure and dependency is just what I’ve been needing more of lately.

So what’s new here? Take a look around! The categories are much more easily accessible and searchable.

The About Page is FINALLY up (yes, in over 6 years of blogging, I’ve NEVER had an about page!). Check that out and learn a bit more about our family and what you will see here on Serving From Home.

Kenneth did fantastic work on my recipes landing page – each category has it’s own picture! You’ll want to go browse through there and get your tastebuds watering :0)

I can highly recommend and wholeheartedly back the work of Blackpixel Studio – standing ovation!

And on to some more big news of a new thing. I’m speaking on a radio show!

A few months ago, my friend Rebecca Brandt asked if she could interview me for her show, Rejoicing Daily, on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Show. She is an amazing communicator and has such a passion for encouraging moms and women – I was honoured that she would ask me. The day before our interview was brutal – the topic was on learning to rejoice and thrive as a homeschool mom of littles, and I was failing miserably at it. I was drained, disheveled, had lost my temper, been unreasonable in my expectations, seen some attitudes seeping out of my heart and reflected in the hearts of my children that were not pretty.

Basically, I felt like the last person on earth who had any right to speak on rejoicing as a mom. But God revealed to me that though my attitude throughout the day was not acceptable, in and of myself I didn’t have anything to offer. All I have is Christ, and the work he is doing in me. All that I am is because of who God is making me to be. Anything I do or know or what I can speak and share is because of where I was before and how I am walking in the Lord. And I am so grateful for this journey of motherhood and maturity he has taken me on!

Sometimes you may feel like a failure, like you can’t handle what you’ve got. And you start comparing yourself to others around you – Facebook and the online world are big traps of comparison. Don’t fall into it! Your life and your lot is yours and yours alone. While it may look like someone has it all together in their Instagram pics, you don’t know what is going on behind the scenes.

He who called you is faithful; he will surely do it! (1 Thessalonians 5:24). You are enough, you are a good mom, the best for your kids! Lean in on who Christ is, take refuge in him, for in our weakness, he is made strong.

So today, you can listen to the podcast online at Rejoicing Daily. I’ll be sharing my experience as a (fairly new!) mom of 9 years, homeschooling for 5 of them, with little ones – the challenges and joys of it all! You’ll learn a bit about our family, how to homeschool when you have a baby (check out one crazy day in the life!), marriage, and the importance of discipleship.

Thank you for your continued support to this space – it is all that it is because of what God is doing. I marvel daily at how it has grown from a recipe blog to what it is now: an opportunity to speak life, truth, laughter and love into the hearts of others. I am truly grateful for each one of you who spends time here – you are loved!

I love connecting with you, not just here on the blog, but also on Instagram, Google +, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook (if you “Like” my page, to ensure it shows up in your feed, click on “Get notifications” or add my page to an interest list. Don’t worry, I won’t inundate you with posts!). I tend to share my posts from the blog, tell about funny things going on in our day, and ask questions to get to know you all better.

In celebration of today’s launch, we have a giveaway for one of our favourite family resources. Stick figuring through the Bible with Grapevine Studies is fantastic for helping kids (and adults!) to dig deeper into God’s word.

Right now, their Resurrection Study is 20% off until March 30th. Plus, we have an opportunity for you to enter to win a $25 shopping spree! In addition, you can also win a burgundy and gold cross bracelet from Puravida Bracelets.