Sometimes, I Microwave The Veggies

Sometimes,

I microwave the veggies. And...
I use boxed potatoes when I need them mashed.
And I buy pre-cooked bacon.
If the girls didn't get their clothes really dirty...I let them fold them up and put them back in the drawer.
...and if we aren't going anywhere, I call 'jammie day' and don't even ask them to get dressed.
Baby wipes make great emergency bathroom sink wiper-outers. And counter-wipers. And table-wipers, and spill-wiper-uppers, and good I don't-have-time-to-bathe-you cleaners...
Dusting sometimes has to happen on accident. Like, if I'm wearing socks and the floor is dusty.
Sorting the laundry into darks & lights? Yeah, not so much.
Sometimes "baking" with my daughters means dumping something out of a box and mixing it with an egg or two, water, and maybe oil and/or applesauce.

Bacon = baked, from lunch.
Potatoes & Peas = boxed & canned, microwaved, from dinner.
The girls needed a lot of attention concerning their
rudeness toward each other today - lots of shortcuts at our house!

My heart holds many dreams. One is the dream of growing most of our own food, living in a little farmhouse on acres and acres of open space, preparing all of our food from scratch and having a home full of sweet littles & biggers who help me keep home a bright, orderly, organically clean haven.

Those are good dreams, and worth hoping for and working towards. But somedays,

getting hung up on that dream

d
r
a
i
n
s

me. And that is not healthy for my family.

With my days being full of homeschooling, caring for my 3 daughters & Elizabeth's health needs, managing our home, and desperately trying to be the wife that my husband needs and often falling short (in all of those areas), I cannot live in my dream world of totally wholesome food or cleaning everything non-toxically most of the time. Not now.

Perhaps in another season, it will work and little by little I strive toward that 'self-sufficient' homemaking realm. But God calls me to be content and faithful where He's got me, this day. and sometimes that means taking shortcuts in homemaking so that I can spend time making sure the hearts of my husband and my daughters are spiritually healthy. Making small concessions every now and again more often than I care to admit in the do-it-all-from-scratch mindset actually goes a long way toward the overall health of my home and the dear ones in it. And not holding on to the guilt of making shortcuts goes a long way toward my overall health.

I don't make all of those shortcuts a habit (...not sorting the laundry is definitely a habit though. for real. and probably for life.). But when the best thing for my family is to pull out the potato flakes and whip up 'mashed potatoes' in under 5 minutes so that I can spend extra time addressing a little girl's daily struggle with selfishness or to really listen to how my husband's day was - I let my hope of serving freshly peeled, boiled, mashed, pinterest-worthy potatoes go. For the health of my family.

What shortcuts do you take once in a while in your home-making?

Using the boxed potatoes now and again,
for His glory!
~Lisha

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