Bringing Life

Tag: children

  • Homemade Laundry Detergent

    For Pennies A Load!

    Like maybe some of you, I used to enjoy meandering down the candle aisle in Walmart and smelling every one that sounded interesting. And I’d check every single bottle of soap or shampoo to make sure I bought the one I liked the best.

    Now, I find myself preferring, by far, natural scents over commercial ones. In fact, just one sniff of one candle or bottle of soap is often enough to bring on a headache.

    Add to that kids who break out from harsh chemicals in most laundry detergents, and we aren’t the easiest people to buy laundry soap for.

    So, the other day, I thought, why buy it?

    I started checking and soon found a recipe for laundry detergent powder with only 4 clean natural ingredients, one of them being fragrance of my choice. It sounded great to me and we even had most of the ingredients on hand.

    • Borax for odor control, stain removal, and general whitening. I used 20 Mule Team brand.
    • Fels-Naptha for cleaning and stain removal. I used Purex brand
    • Washing Soda for more cleaning power and odor control. I used Arm and Hammer brand.
    • Essential Oils for a great natural smell. I used one of Plant Therapy laundry blends.

    I didn’t have Borax or Washing soda, but a quick trip to our little local store provided Borax and we found a way to make our own Washing soda.

    It turns out, if you put regular baking soda on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour, you have Washing Soda!

    A box of Borax, a bar of Fels-Naptha, a box of essential oils, a bowl of washing soda, and a jar of laundry detergent powder.

    Homemade Laundry Detergent

    1 cup Borax Powder

    1 cup Washing Soda

    1 cup Fels-Naptha, grated (about 1 bar)

    15-20 drops of essential oil, your choice

    If you have Washing Soda, put it and the Borax in a jar or container. You will want to use a mask or something to cover your face to keep you from breathing in the fine powders. If you don’t have Washing Soda, you can make your own by putting a cup of baking soda on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for an hour. This changes the chemical formula and makes Washing Soda.

    Take the bar of Fels-Naptha and grate it. You can use the fine side of a cheese grater or your food processor shredder disc on the small side. Again, the powder is very fine and not something you want to breathe so wear something over your mouth and nose. Let it settle before you open the food processor.

    Put all three dry ingredients in a container or jar. I used a jar so I could just put a lid on and shake it to mix it.

    Let the mixture settle and then open and add 15-20 drops of essential oils for scent.

    Shake to mix in the oils and let sit overnight.

    Use 2 tablespoons for a regular load and 3 tablespoons for a heavy load.

    I also have a video showing the process on YouTube at Bringing Life Homestead.

  • Welcome Back!

    Welcome Back!

    This week started out much like normal. Tim has his photography and devotional walks every while I get the kids up and start on breakfast.

    Then, the scramble to get breakfast cleaned up, dishes done, and kids sat down to school.

    This year we have four in school. Micah and Alayna are in fifth grade and Kaitlynn and Harold have started first grade. They’re enjoying learning how to read. Soon they won’t have to ask anyone else to read to them. 🙂

    In the course of the day, the garden gets checked. Cucumbers and peppers are still growing, okra has started, and tomatoes are ripening.

    There’s laundry to do, floors to sweep, weeds to pull, and naps to take.

    Judah is growing as fast as he can and loves smiling and kicking for his siblings. And sleeping. He definitely enjoys sleeping.

    Even with trying to get the homestead side of things going better, we can’t ignore the business that pays the bills. We try to list to eBay every week day and there’s usually shipping to keep up with. These are a few of the molds we’ve listed recently.

    A frog on a garden trowel.
    A large rose and cross candleholder.
    These “people watchers” are always comical.

    And as you can see, we still have a ways to go.

    This is just a portion of what’s left to list.

    But, this is where God has lead us and we are extremely grateful for all He’s done. We know He’s going to continue to guide and there’s no place we’d rather be than right in His Will.

  • More Than A Handful

    More Than A Handful

    “Yes, we’ve been very blessed.”

    We were in Walmart, using one of those “family-sized” carts that proudly claims to seat three kids—as if that’s going to cut it. The baby was tucked in their car seat inside the main basket. The next youngest rode up front. Two more filled the big blue seats, and the oldest walked alongside the cart.

    A woman coming toward us looked up from her groceries and did a double take. You could almost see the numbers adding up in her head as her eyes darted from child to child—visibly counting. Then her gaze swung to me. For some reason, dads tend to vanish in moments like these, so Tim might as well have been invisible.

    Her eyes widened and she gasped, “Are all these yours? You must have your hands full!”

    I smiled and gave my usual reply: “Yes, we’ve been very blessed.”

    She went on her way and we went on ours, but the moment stayed with me. Honestly, they all do. Over the years, we’ve heard that phrase more times than I can count. Sometimes it’s said with curiosity, sometimes with judgment, sometimes with awe.

    People often don’t know what to say. Some offer a polite smile. Others let out a low whistle. Sometimes it’s a joke. Sometimes it’s a jab. And more often than not, it’s that old standby:

    “You’ve got your hands full.”

    They’re not wrong. I do. But what they usually miss is that my heart is full too—and that’s not an accident. It’s a choice. Tim and I didn’t stumble into having a large family by accident or ignorance. We walked into it hand in hand, prayerfully, one child at a time, saying yes to the life God gave us.

    Choosing a large family wasn’t about collecting kids or chasing chaos. It was about obedience. About trust. About believing that when God said children are a blessing, He meant it. We knew the world might not always understand, and we knew it wouldn’t be easy—but we believed it would be worth it.

    Before Micah, our oldest, was ever born, Tim and I felt God laying it on us to raise our children to be able to be used by Him. Early on, we realized that these children, who wake up at full volume and leave toys in their wake, aren’t really ours. They are entrusted to us to be raised as worthwhile people who are equipped, mentally, emotionally, and physically, to step up and fill the place God designed them for.

    That’s not to say it’s always picture-perfect. There are tears—mine and theirs. There’s clutter and noise and more laundry than I care to calculate. Some days I cry in the closet. Some days we eat a hodge-podge of leftovers for dinner. But even on the hard days, there’s beauty. There’s deep, meaningful, soul-stretching joy in this calling.

    I get the joy of sitting down to a meal and telling Alayna she did a good job on the bread and watching her face light up. Tim is able to compliment Micah on his hard work and willingness to tackle the tough jobs. We get to be interrupted time and again by small arms wrapping around us in hugs or little voices lisping, “I love you, you’re the best Mommy (or Daddy)”. We get the enjoyment of dishing up thirds for these bottomless pits other people think are our children and hearing the delight as they wolf it down. Tim and I have the joy of being “pestered”, no matter the job we’re doing, by children itching for a way to help.

    What people often don’t see when they count heads in the grocery aisle is the joy behind the numbers. They don’t see the sibling giggles during bedtime stories, or the way the older ones help tie shoes and fill thermoses. They don’t see the baby smiles, the spontaneous hugs, or the shared victories of a big family learning to do life together. It’s not always glamorous, and it rarely fits in a shopping cart—but in the noise and the ordinary, joy keeps showing up.

    So yes, my hands are full. But so is my heart. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Not for a quieter house, or cheaper grocery bills, or less laundry, or more sleep. This is the life God gave us, and we are honored to live it.

    Homestead Hilarity

    Micah’s Dilemma:
    More siblings meant we wouldn’t be able to drive his favorite vehicle—a pickup truck.

    Micah’s Solution:
    “I guess we’ll just have to get a bus, then!”