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Paula’s Bread Pizza Kit Winner!

By on October 27, 2010 in news & giveaways

And the winner of the Paula’s Bread Pizza Kit Giveaway is….

Tami Lewis from A Godly Homemaker

Congratulations! Thanks to all the lovely 606 ladies that entered the giveaway!

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Paula’s Bread Pizza Kit Giveaway!

By on October 23, 2010 in news & giveaways

Paula’s Bread has been a faithful sponsor of Passionate Homemaking for the last year, and they also helped sponsor my way to the Relevant conference (which is where we are now!). Paula’s Bread is a lovely Christian family business that offers a wealth of great tools for your kitchen, everything from grain grinders, Bosch mixers, stainless steel pans and tools, and more. Today, Paula’s Bread would like to offer a special giveaway kit with everything you need to make your own homemade pizza!

This kit includes:

16 inch Norpro stainless steel pizza pan ($16 value)
Pizza sauce mix (simply at 1 Tablespoon per 8 oz tomato sauce and you have your own pizza sauce!) ($7 value)
Deluxe Pizza & Pastry Roller ($9 value)
Norpro Stainless Steel Pizza Wheel ($10 value)
Bread Making DVD (includes pizza making tutorial)

For a total value of $54!

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment below and share why you would like to win this pizza kit.

2. For a second entry, follow @Paulasbread on Twitter. Let us know about it in a second comment.

3. For a third entry, share about this giveaway on Twitter, your personal blog or facebook page, and share the link in a separate comment.

Giveaway Closed.


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Christa Taylor Store Closing & Giveaway!

By on October 9, 2010 in news & giveaways

Christa Taylor, my sister’s online clothing business, has announced that they will be closing the doors and are clearing out their final stock for wholesale prices. Be sure to check out the cute selection of modest dresses, skirts, coats, and swimsuits while the final supplies last. And yes, they are going fast! In light of this event, we are celebrating as Christa moves on to other new adventures.

Christa Taylor is offering a free long denim sailor skirt for one lucky winner today! I personally have this skirt and absolutely love it. It goes with everything, is very elegant and easy to dress up or down. It is a classic piece for every gal’s wardrobe!

To Enter:

1. Simply leave a comment and share your favorite clothing tip – whether it be your favorite accessory, makeup item, etc. I’d love to hear your classic wardrobe pieces!

Giveaway Closed.

The winner is…Tara! (taraalic..@)

Due to the nature of the store closing, all sales are final.

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September at Our Home

By on October 1, 2010 in news & giveaways

This has been a full month of exciting changes in the extended Edmonds family! We celebrated the union of Aaron’s oldest brother, Nathan & Kathy, on September 5th, and then last weekend celebrated the engagement of one of Aaron’s younger brothers, Stephen & Anna. Yes, there are seven boys in his family. We also welcomed a new little niece, Nora Elise Edmonds (that makes four granddaughters to balance out the men a bit!).

Nathan & Kathy Edmonds

I also had the privilege of speaking at the Selah conference, which was an awesome experience (listen to my session here!). Sandwiched between these events, we took a lovely vacation to the Oregon Coast (our favorite spot in Lincoln City) and spent five days as a family just resting, reading, walking the beach, and a bit of shopping.

I am thankful for the ways the Lord has been working and shaping my life this past month. While enduring insomnia and the side-effects of depression, I have experienced the richness of getting away and taking time to plan, set goals, and strategies to complete them. It’s so valuable to schedule in time for such retreats mid-year when I need a refresh boost.

Simply re-committing to rising early, and get dressed before our little ones are up, makes a huge difference on my attitude and the productivity of our home. It’s so easy to get lazy when you are lacking sleep. When I don’t get up early, I don’t have time to spend with the Lord, the most important relationship in my life. When I don’t have a few moments to myself, it is even easier to succumb to moodiness. If you haven’t read Maximize Your Mornings, please do (it’s free)! It is such a great resource for fully utilizing your time most effectively for God’s glory.


The grandkids - Alita, Eva, Karis & Titus - Nora was still in the womb

Another thing the Lord has been encouraging me with is the value of always seeking to learn new things. I want to be faithful in my roles, and yet sometimes it is easy to get discouraged or tired and weary of the same routines. Why not learn something new? A new skill, a new art, a new book. What a huge difference it can make in your attitude! I started dabbing into developing my own sourdough starter, which has been a ton of fun (thanks to Wardeh’s sourdough e-course). I also took a leap and make my first batch of lacto-fermented products (in my case, salsa was a great place to start!). Seeking to learn new things can keep fresh joy and excitement in your homemaking!

So it has been a blessed and rich month, to say the least.


Yes, this is US! They had a photo booth with costumes at the wedding and we all had a blast!

My Bookshelf

Having a nice trip to the beach enabled me to complete some extra reading this month.

Girls Gone Wise in A World Gone Wild by Mary Kassian is a rich and challenging read for women of all ages in our generation. Mary does an amazing job addressing 20 points of contrast between the Proverbs 7 (Woman of Folly – Wild Thing) with the Wise Woman (Wise Thing). She hits the mark and the heart of the matter while addressing the importance of guarding our hearts, counsel, attitude, habits, and lifestyle choices. It is eye-opening and convicting in guiding women in all aspects of life – but especially in understanding our role and the proper manner of interaction with men. Highly recommend!

Depression: A Stubborn Darkness by Ed Welch – I really did not want to read this book, but the Lord kept bringing it to my attention, and I’m still wading through it, but it is a rich read if you deal with any susceptibility to moodiness or depression. How to understand the reality of it and how to deal with it from a beautiful Christ centered approach.

Up next…Heaven at Home by Ginger Plowman!

I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for your continual support and encouragement! We passed our third blog anniversary this month and I totally forgot! It has been an awesome blessing to share with you all through the journey of learning to delight in homemaking. Thank you and many blessings upon you all!

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August at Our Home

By on September 4, 2010 in learning at home, news & giveaways

It was a lovely month at the Edmonds home. Aaron and I helped serve at Compassion Vancouver, an effort in our community to offer free medical, dental, and social services to the needy. I was coordinating the hospitality team and it was wild and crazy day serving several hundred people, but the event went extremely well, although I had never experienced such extreme exhaustion till after this event. I received a massage from one of the volunteers and slept from 8:30pm-6:30 am! Maybe that is what I need, a daily massage anyone?

Aaron received some extra time off work and we enjoyed it immensely by taking a quick trip to Manzanita, OR, biking around town, and just resting. Our family picture above was taken from the top of a mountain just north of Manzanita overlooking the Oregon Coast, the highest peak between San Francisco and Canada. We hiked 1.5 miles zig zag straight up this mountain with two kids on our backs. We died but were determined to make it to the top. It was worth it!

Titus started walking this month. Once he finally decided to take the plunge, he was rocking and rolling. It has been delightful seeing him explore on his two feet, even if he waited till 17 months to do it.

Karis is loving learning her ABC’s, thanks to the inspiration of Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve and our other preschool resources. I added a craft book, Little Hands Paper Plate Crafts in order to add more letter related crafts to our learning (this month is “B” so we made a paper plate painted bird). We make one craft each week and bake one treat related to the letter (blueberry muffins this week). I am not really the crafty type, but wanted some additional ideas for simple projects to make and these are simple, easy, and only require some basic craft supplies.

I honestly did not complete any reading this month, beyond getting started on one book. I immersed myself in the Bible for all my reading times to help sustain me through sleepless nights. It has been beautiful to see all that God is working in and through me. During a bought of depression, the Lord again reminded me of the importance of cultivating thankfulness. Upon waking each day, I strive to write out at least five things I am thankful for that day. Just practicing this habit is so effective in establishing a joyful heart.

The Lord also reminded me of the importance of good routines. I had stopped my menu planning and was randomly going to the store here and there, planning meals on a daily basis, resulting in a sky-rocketing food budget. I had stopped my weekly planning retreat and the results were quite disastrous. I am so thankful for the Lord’s gentle guiding me back on track. By the end of the month, I have re-established these routines, returned to my monthly menu planning for September, re-opened my planning notebook, and my heart and life has been so much more peaceful. These tools are invaluable. Thank you Lord for getting me back on track!

Today is my birthday…the big 25! We celebrated last weekend by taking a fun breakfast and shopping outing with my sisters (did I mention I love Buffalo Exchange for used quality clothing), followed by a special date walking around Portland with my hubby. We are off this weekend to celebrate the union of Aaron’s oldest brother, Nathan, to my soon to be sister-in-law, Kathy. We are thrilled! I will be sure to share some pictures of this lovely event later.

Have a blessed weekend!

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July at Our Home

By on August 11, 2010 in news & giveaways

Me & Vonni Renee

Last week was an intense week of preparation for a local outreach over the weekend (Compassion Vancouver) that we were helping coordinate, so I am finally getting around to posting our monthly update. July was a month of seeing the hand of the Lord open up some neat doors for us.

After releasing my desires to the Lord and surrendering my will (as described in my June update) , God started working so beautifully. He opened the door to receive the three doula clients that I needed to achieve my certification, nicely spread out throughout the remainder of the year. I helped welcome the arrival of Vonni Renee on July 25th, through a beautiful natural hospital delivery. God orchestrated all the details for the perfect timing. I was able to serve and support this sweet couple welcome their first baby and they were thrilled as much as I was.

Secondly, Aaron and I have begun leading worship together at our church on a regular basis, which has always been a dream in my heart. The Lord has given my husband a real gift in this area, and I always wanted to partner with him through my piano skills in serving the body in this way. With the wonderful support of our church body, and the recent purchase of a keyboard by the church, we are now able to work together in this way. It has been such an encouragement to see the support and love of the body. It is a wonderful outlet for us both to continue to develop our musical skills and serve the body at the same time. I cannot wait to welcome our little ones to the team in the future!

Our house continues to be on the market for sale, but we are completely at peace with that. We are considering the options of renting it out, but continue to wait for further direction for the right renters if that is the way God would have us pursue.

In the meantime, we are continuing to reach out in our community, preparing to start preschool with our daughter Karis, and also preparing to speak at the Selah conference. The Lord is good!

What did I read this month?

Gardening Eden: How Creation Care will Change Your Faith, Your Life, and Our World by Michael Abbate – my favorite read thus far on our responsibility as Christians to care for God’s creation. It was very challenging and biblically sound. I appreciated his well rounded approach of not living out of fear, but choosing to enjoy God creation and strive to care for it in a balanced God honoring manner.

Graffiti: Learning to See the Art in Ourselves by Erin Davis was an encouraging read on the importance on understanding your position and image in Christ, especially for those who struggle with image, appearance, or talents. Erin provides a motivating challenge to see your beauty in Christ and how to live that out practically in our day and age.

Aromatherapy for Mother and Baby: Natural Healing with Essential Oils for Pregnancy and Early Motherhood by Allison England – As I have began to explore the world of serving pregnant and mothers in labor in natural ways, I picked up this book at my local library and found it truly fascinating. There is a whole world of natural essential oils that are wonderful for preparing for labor, for the actual delivery process, and for postpartum healing. A great resource!

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Gnowfglins Fundamentals & Sourdough eCourses

By on July 15, 2010 in news & giveaways, recipes & kitchen tips

I was blessed to be a part of the promotion of Wardeh’s original launch of her eCourse discussing the fundamentals of a real food diet, and I am excited to share the continuation and expansion of her courses. Wardeh has a heart to share information, tools, tips, and recipes and making the real food diet practical at any level. She has changed her structure to make it accessible to all whatever your budget. Each course is accessible all at once and can be completed as desired.

She is currently offering two different eCourses: the first is her Fundamentals eCourse, which focuses on the basics of defining whole foods, culturing, soaking nuts, seeds and grains, sprouting your grains, homemade stocks, skillet dishes, and more at an easy introductory fashion.

. Her second course is all about Sourdough, which offers simple lessons on preparing nutritious and tasty whole-grain sourdough options. You will learn how to prepare and maintain your own sourdough starter followed by a plethora of sourdough recipes: tortillas, cinnamon rolls, bread, biscuits, donuts, pancakes, pizza, pasta and much more (over 20 different recipes)!

Each course offers videos, print materials and recipes!

Membership at GNOWFGLINS eCourse comes with these benefits:

  • Enrollment doesn’t close. Join us any time.
  • Total access to all available classes and lessons from the get-go.
  • Immediate access to brand-new lessons (added weekly).
  • Three membership plans to suit your commitment level, goals, and budget.
  • Lessons presented through multi-media tutorials: video, audio, and print.
  • Downloadable print and audio lesson materials — yours to keep.
  • Exclusive members-only forums.
  • Weekly email reminders (optional).
  • Discount pricing on eBooks.
  • Lifetime access to exclusive monthly thank you videos for qualifying payments — yours to keep.
  • Monthly Q & A conference calls (not all plans).
  • Weekly menu plans (not all plans) — yours to keep.

Read: More on the benefits of membership (and eCourse format).

You can find testimonials of the eCourse here.

If up to this point, you have been wanting to take one of the eCourses that have launched around this focus of whole food preparation but have not be able to afford it, this is the solution for you! Pay as you can and be blessed by the rich materials offered by Gnowfglins.

Remember: enrollment is always open and materials continually accessible- making it possible to work with any schedule! I cannot wait to learn more about sourdough through Wardeh’s wealth of experience!

Check out their Fundamentals & Sourdough eCourses today!

Thank you to Gnowfglins eCourse your July sponsorship!

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Giveaway Week Winners!

By on July 14, 2010 in news & giveaways

Thanks for all your wonderful participation in our week of giveaways! We are excited to announce the following winners:

FBS Books Preschool Pack goes to…

#86 -SPKarenO – ke_osborn@…: She shared: I homeschool my older child, so as much as possible, and as much as her interest/attention span will allow, I include my preschooler in her sisters lessons. We do lots of things together and I don’t sweat it if she wanders off or does some other activity at the same time. Preschoolers learn by osmosis – it doesn’t take much!

FBS Books is offering free shipping on all orders! Enter: FREESHIP at checkout.

Naturally Knocked Up eCourse membership goes to…

#50 – Amanda -aleighsweb..@…: “After two miscarriages this year, we are ready to begin the process again. A healthy outlook would help me prepare physically as well as mentally.”

There is still time to register for the eCourse: 12 weeks of natural fertility and pregnancy help for all woman. Registration ends July 16th. Learn more here.

A Fruitful Vine Blush Undershirt goes to…

#76 – Jaime - jaimebenoi@…: The Blush is definitely my favorite item on there. It is so practical!

And finally…

The 4 tray Excalibur dehydrator from Cultures for Health with over 1200 entries, goes to…

#882 – Jennifer Nichols. She shared: Wow, why would I love a dehydrator? Because I’ve had one on my “list” for two years or so. I am a mother of three, soon to be 4, and have definitely gotten more granola. We currently in our freezer have local, blueberries, strawberries (both we picked), peaches, plums and pumpkin. I love banana chips and would love to be able to actually make them at home, making a healthier version as well. I would love love love love love a dehydrator. My aunt has even said she’d like to get me one. This would be great. Not to mention the money we could save, plus it would be more uses for all the fruit and veggies we have. Oh, it would be great! Especially after the last two days I’ve had. I spilled chilli in my van yesterday, dropped my cell phone in a pot of water yesterday and today the van got a flat tire. Winning a dehydrator would just ROCK!

I am totally excited for you Jennifer! Check out Cultures for Health for everything you need for culturing dairy products (kefir, yogurt, etc), kombucha, fermenting vegetables, dehydrators, books, and more!

Thanks everyone! God bless!

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6 Reasons Why I Love My Dehydrator & Giveaway

By on July 9, 2010 in news & giveaways, recipes & kitchen tips

I was recently blessed to receive an Excalibur dehydrator from the generous folks over at Cultures for Health, and boy, have I been having so much fun exploring all the wonderful uses of this machine. There is no end to the creativity that can be developed as you learn to use this machine to significantly cut down on food waste in your home while making such wonderful nutritionally dense delights for your family!

Why do I love my dehydrator?

1. Get the most out of our food

I love how the dehydrator will help to preserve and protect the nutrients in our food. According to “Preserving it Naturally” (the companion guide that comes with the dehydrator), “Dehydration is the best way to preserve the essence of raw fruits and vegetables. When raw food is heated to an internal food temperature of 118 degrees or higher, for an extended period of time, its nutritional values begin to deteriorate, especially enzymes. Dehydrating does not subject food to the high temperatures associated with cooking, or traditional canning methods.”

The effects of water removal of dehydrated food is minimal except that some vitamin A and vitamin C are lost. I can also soak and dry my nuts and help break down the enzyme inhibitors that help our bodies digest them more effectively. Sprouting grains is another task that can be completed in order to break down phytates. There is an endless list of food ingredients that can be dried – fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains – practically anything that has water in it.

2. Create fun, healthy snacks for our family

With a few simple steps, I can create granola bars, fruit leather, and jerky and let my dehydrator go to work. Thus far we made yummy soaked granola, fruit leather, and soaked nuts for homemade trail mixes and munching. What fun!

3. Save money

After the initial investment in the machine, you can prepare goodies at half the cost of store-bought brands. Plus, the dehydrator will take significantly less electricity than an conventional oven to prepare our food, cutting back on costs and helping be a good steward of our environment. According to the manufacturer, an Excalibur Food Dehydrator only uses $.04-$.05 of electricity per hour!

4. Easy to use

The Excalibur comes with a delightful book (Preserving it Naturally) with detailed instructions, recipes, and helpful hints on how to create anything and everything my heart desires. I just adjust the temperature as needed and the machine will do the rest.

5. Perfect balance in drying

Unlike many other dehydrators, the Excalibur has the fan in the back of the machine enabling balanced and even drying. All trays get the same even heat.

6. No waste!

The dehydrator helps me to avoid food waste in my home. When veggies or fruit start fading, I can simply lay them out in the dehydrator and preserve them for future use. There is definitely some nutritional lose, as it is preferred to dry fresh ingredients, but they prevent them from going in the compost or trash. Stale bread can be turned into croutons. Old crackers that are starting to get soft can be re-dried to refresh their crispiness.

I have the 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator so that I can prepare many things at once and save on electricity and time in preparation. You can prepare nearly 25 pounds of vegetables in one day in this machine! It is large, but fits nicely on a shelf in our garage. It quietly hums in the background, and fills our garage with wonderful scents. The Exalibur dehydrator is definitely very sturdy, well made, and comes with an excellent warranty. Plus it is BPA free.

The only two things I do not like about this machine:

- The door – I wish it were able to pop open and slid in, but you have to remove it entirely. Not a big deal just annoying at times.
- The lack of a timer – there is no timer on this machine, but a simple fix of purchasing a small timer that plugs into the wall is a cheap alternative.

Protecting our food budget and getting the most out of our food, make this machine a valuable addition and worthwhile investment to any homemaker’s kitchen!

Now for the exciting news!

Cultures for Health is offering you the opportunity to win a 4 tray Excalibur dehydrator for your kitchen (retail value of $150)!

To Enter:

1. Visit Cultures for Health and enter your name and email address. Come back and share why you would love to have a dehydrator and how you would use it.

2. For a second optional entry, share about this giveaway on facebook, twitter or your own personal blog and let us know in a second comment.

3. For a third optional entry, follow @cultures4health and @passionatehome on twitter, and let us know in a third entry.

Note: If the winner would prefer the larger model, Cultures for Health will offer a gift certificate for the price of the 4-tray model so you can apply it towards the bigger one.

Limited to US and Canadian entries.

Giveaway Closed.

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Sponsor Giveaway: A Fruitful Vine Blush Undershirt

By on July 7, 2010 in bellies & babies, news & giveaways

A Fruitful Vine is a new online store that believes that children are a blessing and motherhood a divine privilege. Their passion is to supply families with top quality resources that help assist women in the art of mothering and homemaking. They adopted their store name from Psalms 128:3, which states: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in your house, your children like olive plants around your table.” They offer a variety of natural body products for mother and baby, nursing covers, baby carriers, cloth diapering accessories.

Today A Fruitful Vine would like to offer a Blush (Topless Undershirt) to one special winner! This accessory garment serves a dual purpose for mommy as she is expanding for the growth of her baby but also as she is adjusting back to her original size. It helps cover your belly from exposure while wearing the same wardrobe as you had before, or help conceal that unbutton pair of jeans. Additionally, it can add extra support under your belly. For me personally, it is the perfect accessory to help conceal those postpartum tummy rolls (which are still quite evident even when Titus is 16 months!), or just help guard my modesty with a shorter length top. Chose from the selection of white, black or brown.

To Enter:

1. Head over to A Fruitful Vine and pick out your favorite item in their selection of goodies. Come back and share it in the comments below.

2. For a second optional entry, complete one or both of the following: become a fan of A Fruitful Vine on Facebook or follow on twitter @AFruitfulVine and let us know below in a second comment.

Giveaway Closed.

Thank you to A Fruitful Vine for your July sponsorship of Passionate Homemaking!

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