Blog - Creative Home Keeper

February Family Connections Calendar

Draw closer as a family this year with the Family Connections Calendar and Scripture reading plan. Each month includes simple and easy ways to connect as a family as well as a Scripture plan to read aloud together. It's a new month and a fresh opportunity to connect with your family in meaningful and intentional ways. In February, we will focus on loving and blessing one another through our monthly family connections calendar! Each month, you will receive a calendar with thoughtful, yet intentional, activity ideas for your family that doesn't require much preparation and are almost ... read more

Progress Not Perfection: January 2018 Goals Update

Um... how is it already the 31st of January? I still feel like I'm in post-holiday recovery mode! ;) Thankfully, I'm aiming for progress, not perfection this year as I make intentional steps towards achieving my goals. I always feel like there is this huge emphasis on the magical number of January 1st but coming off of a busy holiday season, it seems like more and more of us are also taking a slow approach to the start of the year. So here I sit on this final morning of the month and look back. While I didn't hit every mini-goal I had for myself this month as I work towards my big ... read more

Build a Strong Family with a Secret Valentine Experiment

Looking for a meaningful Valentine's Day tradition to bring your family closer together? Check out the Secret Valentine Experiment! Connect and develop a strong family bond through random acts of kindness, service, and encouragement. Perfect for families of all ages! Can I be honest? I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. It sort of rubs me the wrong way that we have to build in a day each year to tell those who we love in over the top ways. From fancy dinners out, red roses, jewelry or other small gifts, it seems like we move from one holiday where gift giving has taken over to ... read more

Two Simple Words that Will Change Your Approach to Goal Setting (& Will Actually Help Achieve Them This Year!)

Here we are one month into the New Year and how are you feeling about those goals you set so fervently at the beginning of January? Research says most people will have forgotten, or even have abandoned, those goals by now or will within the next few weeks. But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if we changed our approach to goal setting? What if we embraced a more Christ-focused approach to setting goals & actually acknowledged that slow and steady, DO in fact, win the race? Goal setting seems to be ever changing in my life. I used to create a mountain of a ... read more

6 Healthy Tips for Moms (& Women in ALL Seasons)

Motherhood can be hard, and sometimes draining, work but incredibly fruitful. Still, it's important that we spend some time focusing on our own self-care and wellbeing with these 6 healthy tips for moms (& women in ALL seasons of life too!) Take care of ourselves through self-care is so important but sometimes we don't always have a good perception what true self and soul care looks like. I believe filling our cups falls into three different categories: spiritual self-care, physical self-care, and emotional self-care. Today let's examine ways to tend to our physical needs as busy ... read more

What Does the Bible Really Say About Self-Care? (The Answer May Surprise You!)

When you hear the term self-care, what comes to mind? Does it sound selfish, extravagant, new age, or for women who have a lot more time on their hands? Is self-care all about pampering and "me-time" activities? (not that there is anything wrong with those) What if I told you self-care was so much more than a desired list of activities but rather more about true soul-care, filling our cup from the inside out? What if I went a bit further and told you that we have the perfect example of One who believed in the value of pouring in so He could pour out? Would you believe ... read more

Set Reading Goals to Read More Than Ever This Year

Is one of your goals to read more this year? Set reading goals to help you achieve that goal with these simple ideas, challenges, and book recommendations. Recently I shared my goals for the year and one of those goals is to read 75 books this year. I'm an avid reader, so it's not a hard goal for me. But in recent years, I have been inconsistent about reading. Take a look at my progress from the past 6 years (when I first started tracking my reading goals): In 2012 I read 69 books In 2013 I read 90 books In 2014 I read 40 books In 2015 I read 39 books In 2016 I read ... read more

My Goals for 2018

Have you set your goals for 2018 yet? I'm a big fan of setting graceful goals that are intentional and purposeful and that is why I'm sharing my goals for 2018 with you today! I love setting goals! Even as a little girl, although not knowing entirely what they were, I would set little goals for myself with school, dance, or other activities I was in. I have always been a self-motivator but as I've gotten older, I have also discovered that while I'm really good at planning, dreaming, and casting a vision, I always get lost in the details. Overwhelmed by everything that needs to get ... read more

My Favorite Books from the Year

I didn't read as much as I had intended to last year. In fact, I read far less than I have in previous years. Life was busy and full, which is good, but it didn't leave a lot of room for extra reading time. And if I am being completely honest, I didn't use my free time the best. Regardless, I still read some good books this year and as always, my shelves are overflowing with books I want to read and still plan on reading in the New Year. For today though, before I look forward and start planning my reading goals for 2018, I want to take a look back and reflect on the books that ... read more

Survey Says…. A Look at Your Feedback & What’s Coming to the Blog This Year

Well here we are almost a full two weeks into the New Year and I can hardly believe it! As with all fresh starts, I've been slowly easing myself into 2018. We did not hit the ground running come January 1st and that's not a bad thing. I don't believe that if you don't have your goals and plans in place in January, then you are doomed for the remainder of the year. Quite the opposite in fact. Instead, I took a slow approach. I savored our holiday season, spent a lot of time with family, rested, slept, and pretty much unplugged. It was glorious! That rest and break gave ... read more