The Happy Homemaking Blog

A tradition that my family has done for a long time as we’ve sat around the dinner table sharing dinners together, is going around the table and each saying something that we’re grateful to God for, and something we’d like to ask God for. And because I just celebrated my 20th birthday on Sunday, I thought it would be fun to do something similar. First I’m going to go over a few things that I’m grateful for from the past year of my life, and then I’m going to list a few prayers and goals I have for the next year of my life. I am excited to begin this next year of my life and I’m greatly looking forward to all that God has in store for my twenties. 

So let’s begin with some things that I’m grateful for from this past year. I’m thankful to God for…

1. My husband’s job.

There was a long period of time where my husband didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and didn’t know what his next step should be, career-wise. For months on end it consumed his thoughts and prayers and he felt a lot of pressure over it. 

Finally, he decided to give a trade job a try. Originally he didn’t believe that the trades interested him, but then he came around to thinking that he may enjoy a hands-on type job in which he would get to learn a valuable skill. He didn’t know exactly which trade he wanted to go into, and he was interviewing all over the place. There were interviews we were hopeful about but, as God seems to love doing, he surprised us by securing a job that we had not expected to work out. 

This job has blessed us far beyond our prayers and God’s hand in it has been so clear to us. Of course there have been some difficulties associated with it that my husband has had to overcome, but I am so incredibly proud of all his hard work and perseverance. 

Every day that my husband goes to work, I am just so grateful to God for providing us with this job. It may not be my husband’s forever job, for who knows what the future holds and what God has in store for us. But as of right now we are so grateful for this wonderful blessing. 

2. Obtaining an extra freezer. 

For our entire marriage I’ve been wanting more freezer space than the amount attached to our fridge, and finally, we were able to get an extra freezer! We found one for a good price on Facebook marketplace, and it was barely ten minutes away from us. It works perfectly and I am loving it! 

I typically want to buy the larger packages of food because they are often better prices than the smaller sizes, but my husband and I are unable to get through the larger portions before they go bad. Now, I’m able to buy food, use only what we need for a meal, and then freeze the rest! I’ve also been able to do a lot of preparing and freezing of fruits and vegetables, and it’s been super fun and handy. 

I’ve been so grateful for our new freezer.

3. Our apartment.

We’ve now been in this apartment for over a year, and while I would like a house and at times would like more space than we have, we still love our apartment. This apartment has definitely been a blessing to us, since the options around us are generally very expensive. Of course this place will not be our forever home, but it came to us at just the right time and has fit our needs very well. We have enjoyed living in our small town while also being in proximity to larger cities, we have made lots of wonderful memories here, and we have enjoyed making this place our home. 

I will always look back on this place fondly and will continue to enjoy living here however long the duration ends up being. 

4. My rekindling love of reading.

As you know, if you read my post from a few weeks ago, I was in a book slump for two years and I only recently have found my way back to reading. This has been such a wonderful activity to rediscover! 

When I first started to get back into reading a month ago, I was constantly worried that the reading bug wouldn’t stick and I’d lose motivation each time I finished a book. But God has enabled me to find books that I’ve loved and that have thoroughly gotten me back into reading. In fact, it has honestly made it difficult to maintain motivation to do anything other than reading!

I am very thankful to God for returning my love of reading and I’m pretty confident now that it won’t be going away. 

5. This blog!

I started this blog in April. Thus far it has gone well and I’ve enjoyed keeping up with it. I love hearing that people are reading my posts and I love it whenever a post causes a fruitful conversation with someone. It’s been very rewarding and fun. 

I have published 15 blog posts (including this one), I have released one recipe so far, and I’ve been posting for four months now. It’s been super fun! I’m so very thankful to God for making this possible, for giving me things to say and the courage to say them, and I’m thankful to everyone who has supported me by subscribing and reading my blog posts. 

  There is so much to be grateful for! Now onto my prayers and goals in this next year of my life. I’d like to ask God for…

1. My reading journey to flourish. 

Getting back into reading has been so fun and life-giving for me. I’ve set a goal for myself to read 30 books by the end of the year, and so far I’m 10 books through that goal. I believe I have a good chance of exceeding my goal at the rate that I’ve been flying through books!

The world of reading is so fun and such a cozy hobby. While I’m not a fan of cold weather, I am somewhat looking forward to curling up on the couch with a good book and a steaming cup of coffee on a dreary day this fall and winter. 

My husband, who has never been much of a reader, has also tentatively embarked on his own reading journey, and it has been a fun and bonding hobby to explore together. I greatly enjoy our quiet evenings of cuddling and reading next to each other. We also both enjoy getting to tell each other about our books, as we each have very different reading preferences. 

So anyway, I’m really looking forward to seeing how much my reading journey flourishes in the next year. Reentering the book world after being away from it for so long has been rather exhilarating, as there are a lot of great, new emerging authors and exciting things going on. I hope to log away many fantastic reads in the next year. 

2. Growth in my blog.

As I said above, I’ve only been posting for four months and my blog has already come a long way as far as posts, subscribers, and views. I’m so grateful to everyone that has subscribed and for every view my blog gets. 

However, almost all of my subscribers are family members and friends of mine and I would like to see my blog grow and branch out. As thankful as I am for all my subscribers, I’d like to see my blog reach a wider audience, as I thoroughly believe in the messages and lifestyle I am promoting. I’d like my blog to make somewhat of a difference in the world, even if the difference is small. I do know that it’s still early though, and I’m excited to see where God takes my blog. 

If you, the person reading this blog, have anybody in your life that you think would enjoy my content or could benefit from it in any way, I would be so grateful if you could share it with them! Again, thank you all for your readership and support. 

3. Continued exploration into food preparation and preservation.

In addition to my hobbies of reading and working on this blog, there is also my hobby of tinkering around with food. I still love cooking and trying out recipes, and I do both of those things all the time.

And now that I’ve gotten my new freezer, I’ve been able to explore a lot of new food preparation and preservation. A few ingredients that I’ve preserved through freezing are: chopped carrots, minced garlic, homemade garlic paste, caramelized onions, minced ginger and chopped celery. I’ve also frozen a homemade garlic broth and I’ve started freezing vegetable scraps in order to save them for later use in a veggie broth. My husband and I also went blueberry picking and I was able to freeze some homemade blueberry jam and syrup!

I want to dive deeper into this hobby in the next year, as I find it very fun, cost efficient, and rewarding.

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I’m so excited to see where God takes my husband and me as I step into this new decade of my life. There is so much I’m grateful for, more of course than what I included in this post, and there’s so much that I’m looking forward to. 

I’d love to hear about your blessings and the prayers you have for your life! Tell me about them in the comments.