Hello Friend,

If I was old and dying in a nursing home and in my right mind and someone asked me, "What was the favorite season of your life?" I would probably say all of them after age 20. With each season, I thought, "I am living my best life."

The single woman, going to college and working life.
The dating my husband while working the big marketing job I always wanted life.
The engaged to my husband while working the marketing job life.

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The married before kids and working the marketing job life.
The stay at home, doing county certified childcare in my home for three other kids while raising my own one to three children life.
The stay at home, learning to homeschool and not working mom raising four to five children life.
The stay at home, homeschooling, online businesses work at home mom raising six to eight children life.
and now The stay at home, homeschooling, online business work at home mom raising a combination of eight children and adults before becoming a Grandma (someday) life.

Amy at NeededInTheHome living her best life with her four youngest children visiting a cabin in Pepin, WI for Laura Ingalls Days.

With each of these - there was hardship and sorrow: four miscarriages, all of my grandparents and parents died, I almost died of heart failure after my 4th living child - yet with God, nothing is impossible - and I am thankful for every season.

Today, I am saying, "I am so blessed to be able to work at home, have seven of my children living at home, one child living the 'young married' life. I am so happy to be married to such a great man and to have an amazing large family vacation this year where his parents were healthy enough to join us. I am living my best life right now."

What you can see on the outside is that I am not perfect, I am overweight and my house always has at least one messy or "lived in" room. What you can't see is that we don't have a lot of money, between my husband and I - and we only own one vehicle between us and live on a frugal budget.

People have told me that I always look happy and peaceful, yet they can't even imagine themselves having 8 kids, homeschooling them, and working at home.

My happiness and peace comes from God and knowing that He gave me special abilities. My biggest priorities are to use those gifts and serve Him. I am not worried about pleasing humans because it is impossible. If I try to please one human in my house, someone else will not be. So I try to keep my focus on pleasing God and that makes me happy and peaceful because I don't need to worry about anything else.

I have completely embraced that I am not perfect and don't have time to "do it all." I choose not to. I choose to set boundaries with my time because there is only so much time and I want to spend it as wisely as possible.

I live my life in time blocks. There are time blocks for...

Bible study and journaling
online business
homeschool
crafting (my hobby - turned business with Etsy)
dating my husband
quality time with the children
vacations
activities outside of the home for children
church and church volunteering
managing the food (gardening, preserving, meal planning, shopping, making meals, etc.)
housekeeping
staying in touch with friends
etc.

Everything may not get done daily. Yet within the span of one week - all the kids showers are done, bedding gets washed, all the clothing gets washed and dried, all the dishes get done, all the rooms get clean and all the meals get made and connections are made with my adult child not living at home and Mike's parents.

Every day, I make sure to talk with God, my husband and each child living at home. I will never please man or child, so I do my best to please God instead.

I feel like I am living my best life now. What season of life are you in now? Are you living your best life and enjoying it or are you feeling like you are not perfect enough? But who is the judge? Who are you trying to please?

Keep your focus on The One that matters most, Jesus. Then, you can easily get through homeschooling a child that is not in the mood to learn that day. Or, a difficult day at work. Or, just about anything!

I hope this email has encouraged you to keep your focus on Jesus and not worry about what humans think. And to be thankful for what you have.