The summer is the perfect time to be intentional with family memories, making time for family, and slowing down (just a little bit). But if we are not very careful, it’s easy for our entire summer to go by before we know it. So this summer, we are working on being intentional with our time, energy, and resources! Come along to listen: 

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What we are focusing on this summer

Our Morning Basket Routine: 

This is the newest thing in our routine and it’s a fun one!! We started implementing a morning basket time. My #1 goal with this is to sing a hymn or two with the kids (and get them to memorize more songs) and do our Bible reading together. But we also have a poetry book, a book about how things work, some fun chapter books, and more in it. 

The goal is to cycle through a couple different books each day (but not all of them each morning)! We are implementing this right after breakfast and it’s been a fabulous habit to start cultivating. 

You can check out a great podcast on the topic: Your Morning Basket episode #1. And my friend Victoria does this for herself with a Bible basket. 

Being More Intentional To make memories as a family: 

Here’s a quick list of what we want to implement more this year! 

• More trips to the parks in the evenings (eat dinner at the park) 
• Picnics outside on our lawn
• Roasting marshmallows on the deck
• The boys want to watch the stars one night on the trampoline
• Letting the kids do a “sleepover” on the floor
• Doing a few camping and day trips

Summer Hospitality:

I have a lot of fun family plans this summer, which are important! But I want to make sure I am making more time for hospitality as well. 

• We just got a Hibatchi grill – makes hospitality so much easier (You can also plan a BBQ!) 
• You can host a potluck! 
• Make good use of Crockpot meals during the hot and busy months
• Host a Smores dessert fellowship
• Use paper plates – and make it easy! 
• Host a Watermelon party – This is a fun tip that I got from Katie and I think it’s brilliant!! Invite people over in the evening after dinner, and crack open a watermelon. Let the kids run around and play in the backyard and enjoy a sweet (and inexpensive) treat!

Make meal time EASY with our new sponsor! 

Please welcome our brand new sponsor to the show, Hello Fresh! They are a meal kit delivery service that delivers fresh and delicious ingredients to your door that you can make into meals in about 30 minutes or less. 

We got our first Hello Fresh box last week, and honestly, I had no idea what to expect. I’ve been intrigued by these box meal kits in the past but with so many options, it felt a little overwhelming. So when I got the chance to try Hello Fresh, I jumped at the chance. 

Well Jason and I both have been extremely happy with the box! It has been really fun to cook with Hello Fresh! Okay so how does it work? You get three meal options to choose from: Classic, Veggie, or Family. We got the family box and as a huge plus, all of our kids devoured the meals!! 

Each of the meals comes packaged in it’s own bag with all the ingredients in the perfect portion for that recipe. So you literally just pull the bag out of the fridge for that recipe and everything is ready. I did not anticipate this being one of my very favorite things about the service. 30 minutes before dinner, I literally just pull out the bag, grab my full color recipe card, and take the items out. 

I had no idea how much mental energy actually goes into planning my menu, shopping for each ingredient, and assembling it all…all before the cooking even begins. Plus, as a bonus, it had me cooking more involved recipes that I’ve felt like I had time for (even though they were only 30 minute recipes). 

So you are getting delicious and nutritious meals delivered to your door for less than $10 a serving which is pretty amazing! Especially if you are in a rut of eating out a lot, this can be an incredible switch! AND if you go through my special link for todays episode, you can get $30 off your first box. I went in to test $30 off and it makes the box and the serving price an amazing offer! 

So go to hellofresh.com/foundation30 and this is important, use coupon code Foundation30 at checkout to get $30 off your first box. If I hadn’t just got one, I would absolutely take this deal right now. It’s such a fun thing to try out! 

Bible Reading: 

For many of us, Summer brings with it, new schedules and routines. And one thing that inevitably happens during Summer is that some of our good routines fly out the window. Most of this is fine and we adapt to the new season. But some things, like letting go of our Bible study time is not as good. 

If your schedule needs to change, decide right now, when you will fit in your Bible reading and study time. Does it need to get moved around? That’s okay!! But just make sure actually plan the new time in. 

Join a Summer Bible study! 

You might not have the capacity for this. Summer for us usually means lots of extra fun things. But I know for many, summer means slower activity and time. So plan to do a summer bible study. You can find many good ones online, My friend Katie Orr is hosting a study through Jonah that starts May 21st. Or gather a group of ladies together locally. My sister and I are starting a study through Philippians. And we are going to meet at the park each Friday morning to let the kids play and we are going to do our study.