Today I’d like to welcome Jill and Mark Savage. Jill and Mark’s newest book Living with Less so your Family has More just released and I’ve invited them to share a little bit about this great resource!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

We have been married for 27 years…17 of them happily. After finding ourselves in a marriage counselor’s office around year 8 or so, we realized that we really didn’t know how to be married. We worked hard to turn things around and now we like to share that hope with other couples.

We have five children ranging from 13 to 25. Our oldest three are married. Anne (25) and her husband, Matt, live in Zion, IL, and are expecting our first grandchild in April. (We are very excited!) Evan (22) and his wife, Julie, have been married a year and a half and they live just a few miles from us. Erica (19) married her husband Kendall last September. They live in Augusta, GA, and wherever else the Army takes them.

We have two teenagers still at home. Kolya just turned 16. He’s learning to drive and we’ve nearly worn a hole in the carpet on the floor in the passenger seat trying to find that non-existent brake pedal. Kolya is the newest member of the Savage family. We adopted him at the age of nine from Russia.

Austin is 13 and in the 8th grade. He wants us to make sure and tell the world that this “living with less” life is a real bummer because he’s the ONLY kid in 8th grade who doesn’t have a cell phone.

Tell us about your newest book Living With Less So Your Family Has More?

The world screams the message that bigger is always better, but we have found that is not often true. When it comes to raising a family, less materially can actually result in more relationally. Children don’t need the best houses, the best lessons, the best cars, or the best clothes. What they really need is the best home life and the best family relationships we can give them.

Why did you want to write this book?

We didn’t start out with the “less is more” mindset. We started as a double income family wanting to have the “best” of everything. Then Mark decided to pursue ministry. We went from the “high life” to the “frugal life” very quickly as we moved to another state for him to go to Bible College full-time.

That experience introduced us to the concept that less is more. We definitely had less money, but we had more time. We had less stress and more peace. We had less activities and more fun.

Since that experience, we’ve continued to live primarily on one income for the past twenty years. We’ve had to battle cultural peer pressure and make different decisions for our family than many other families in our neighborhood have made. But we’ve never felt that we were materially depriving ourselves or our kids…instead we’ve focused on what we’ve actually been able to provide for them emotionally and relationally.

What do you hope your readers will gain from this book?

We hope the reader is encouraged to evaluate how they are living their life, spending their money, and thinking about family matters. Our goal is to introduce families to the “less is more” concept and then equip them with the attitudes and actions to actually make that happen.

For families that are already committed to less is more, we hope to bolster their resolve and help them stay focused on the long-term goal of providing relationally for their kids.

In today’s economy, there are many families being forced to live with less. We want to help them see the opportunity they have with this unexpected downsizing they’ve been forced to do.

And for those who have just been a little discontent with their life and saying things like, “I’m tired of the rat race of life,” or “Is there more to life than drive-thru meals for dinner?” we hope to help them see other choices they have and how they can lead their family in a different direction.

What unique elements will the reader find in Living With Less So Your Family Has More?

For couples who want to read the book together, we’ve included discussion questions at the end of every chapter. This helps move the readers to discussion and eventually actions. Even a single parent can use the discussion questions for personal evaluation.

Readers will find this book a practical guide to changing your attitude and your actions to live a successful “less is more” life. They’ll find our writing style to be a warm, casual, honest discussion where we not only share our victories but our mistakes along the way. We are an average couple living successfully on an average income who want to help others to see the possibilities before them.

This is a Hearts at Home book. What is Hearts at Home?

Hearts at Home is an organization that encourages, educates, and equips women in the profession of motherhood. Hearts at Home encourages moms through annual conferences, our extensive website (www.hearts-at-home.org), a free electronic newsletter, a radio program, and an entire line of books designed to meet the needs of moms all over the world!

Any closing thoughts?

It’s healthy for parents to occasionally pause and evaluate their vision for their family and the choices they are making. We hope this resource will help them do that together and that it will lead them to live a life of little regret.

Thank you to Mark and Jill!  I have had the privilege of meeting Jill and she  has a  passion for women in all stages of life to know Jesus.  Check out her blog. 

Have a blessed weekend,

Can you believe we are not even through Halloween and stores are all decked out for Christmas.  Yes, I typed Christmas.  I believe in Christmas and that is what  I am standing firm on.  December 25 is a day to celebrate Christ’s birth.  I think of the holiday season as the whole month of December but the 25th is His birthday, Christmas.   No political correctness here! 

I thought it would be fun to share how we celebrate the Christmas season.  How do you keep it stress free (can we do that)?  What cookies do you make? What is your favorite Christmas song?  Do you have a favorite memory of a toy or game?   These are some things I am going to be blogging about in the coming weeks.  First,  I want to share some tips I have collected over the years.  I attend the  Hearts at Home conferences and have heard fantastic speakers.  Karen Ehman is so much fun, practical and humorous.  She has several books out.  She has a class about  having a Blessed not Stressed holiday.  Here is what she suggests:

S:  Don’t seek to have the perfect Christmas season.  Have a memorable one.  Don’t worry if your home is perfect, the food is perfect or you are holding to tradition.  This will cause stress!

T:  Try not to do it all.  You don’t have to do all the Christmas traditions in one year.  If you have many spread them out.  Pick the ones that will work for you and your family in this season of life.

R:  Don’t REPEAT mistakes of the past.  Figure out what stresses you out and avoid it.  If it is baking cookies from scratch, don’t.  Make some that are semi-homemade.  If it is getting all your shopping done in one weekend, spread out your time.  Enjoy life!  We only get one!

E:  Evaluate your Christmas season by not comparing yourself to others.  Look  God in your own celebration.  All families are different.  Take the ideas from your friends and family and pick ones that work for you.  Don’t feel guilty about this.  Your family is it’s own unique identity!

S:  Set no agenda according to your kids.  The Christmas season doesn’t revolve around them.  The holidays are to expose them to those who are less fortunate.  Take this opportunity to plant some seeds of compassion, kindness, and giving. 

S:  Start off the season with a plan.  Without a plan you will fail.  Your holidays will go by in a blurr and you will be stressed out!  Plan out your holiday budget!!  This is so important.  Don’t allow your family to become stressed out due to overspending.  It is so easy to do!   Sit down with your calender and plan out shopping days, a few nights to write out Christmas cards while watching a fun Christmas movie, plan your menu and start picking things up here and there at the store (this will help your budget), plan a weekend to put up your Christmas tree and lights.   Plan fun time, go see Christmas lights, go to a local church for a Christmas play, have fun in the snow, bake cookies, read the Christmas story (Luke 2). 

These tips and ideas have helped me through the years to have a less stressed Christmas.  I tended to think that I had to be doing everything that my friends families where doing.  It left me so overwhelmed.  I went to this class with Karen Ehman and a light bulb went off.  I was free from all the “have to’s”  My Christmas’ are so much more enjoyable now.  

Next we will talk about how to bless…I hope you join me!!  I truly believe we can learn from one another.

There is an organization that was created to encourage, educate and equip women in the profession of motherhood. Hearts at Home helps thousands of moms love their lives through their many resources including conferences, website, and books.

Recently I partnered up with this organization as a blogger. Over time I hope to share with you the many resources this ministry has to offer (old ones and new). To learn more about the Hearts at Home Blogging team go here.

In the meantime I would like to encourage you to explore their website and blog for an immediate dose of mothering encouragement.

It has been gorgeous here in Northern Ky.  Sunny, warm and lovely.  It is   fun seeing God’s creation come back alive.  My daughter, Phoebe, has been hard at play outside.  Riding her bike, sidewalk chalk, digging in dirt.  Oh, to be a kid again.  I have enjoyed watching her and cheering her on as she flies down our street on her bike, that does have training wheels. 

So, I wanted to look at some things I learned at Hearts at Home.  Stop over to a friend’s  blog,  Jennifer @ focus findings.  She has a great article on “reclaiming your family.”   That was the jest of the weekend.  Reclaim your marriage, reclaim your children, reclaim authority, etc.

I felt another theme was “foundation.”  The definition of foundation is:

• We need to build a foundation in our homes before we can move forward to a plan of action.  You would not build a home without a blueprint so we need to have a blueprint of what we want our family to be.  Think about it, there is a foundation to every building, tower, amusement park ride.  There is even a product called foundation for the makeup we wear.  It is the base for everything.

Where is your foundation and what is it made of.  I want my families foundation to be Jesus Christ.  Here are some biblical truths: 

Ephesians 2:20 

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone

Psalm 62:2  

² He alone is my rock and my salvation;  he is my fortress, I will never be shaken

Psalm 31:3  

³ Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me 

I want Jesus Christ to be the foundation for my family.  I want my girls to know that he is the rock of salvation.  When tough times come and they will, I want them to lean on Christ.  Know him and his word.  I want them to build character, morals, respect, obedience, and all of the fruits of the spirit.  I want to build my families foundations on biblical truths. 

We will have a tough job in these worldly times.  More pressure to be of this world and conform to it.  It is hard because we live in a culture where we try to keep up with others and we base our worth and value in what we do, where we live, what we drive and the list goes on and on. This is dangerous.  This can make for an unhappy home.  Competition is grueling on the soul.  Instead of competing and trying to keep up why don’t we support and encourage one another.  Families are gonna be different.  But one thing remains the same.  GOD!!    Stand strong, dive deep into God’s word!   Know  your worth in God.   He loves you so much that he sent his son to the cross so we could live in eternity with him.   

We are called to be like Christ and bring others to know him.  This takes being a disciple.  Be grounded in the foundation of His word, having daily quiet time, prayer, surrounding ourselves and family with christian friends.  Being accountable to one another.  Encouraging one another and loving one another. 

 The stakes are high.  They are worth it!

I am back from the Hearts at Home national conference.  We had a blast.  I had so much fun I forgot to take lots of pictures, but here are some. 

from left to right: Karla, Carol, Jennifer, Lori and Tricia

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I am getting so excited.  I am going to get away and get my “juice box” refilled.  If you haven’t heard of Hearts at Home you need to check them out.  It is a wonderful ministry  for women of all ages in all stages of life.  They are having their national conference next weekend and I am going.

This is not my first one.  I have been two other times and let me tell you, WHOA!  You come back so revived, encouraged and on top of the world.  I love spending time with my friends, talking, crying, praising God and learning from some of the best speakers around.  When thousands of women are singing worship songs in an auditorium…wow it is an awesome sound.  I am definite that God is just smiling from ear to ear listening. 

I have signed up for some fun classes.  I try to cross the board with what I pick out.  I chose one on marriage, one on parenting, one on spiritual growth and one with Jill Savage the founder of Hearts at Home. 

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