This blog post has been a long time coming. I’ve been bouncing the words around in my head for several weeks now, grappling with how to get my thoughts into readable form.

You may have noticed that I haven’t been around the blog for a while. In fact, I’ve been absent from Country Wife Chronicles for almost a month now.

And while I’ll spare you all the details of exactly how I got here, I will share with you that this was not my original intention for September’s blog posts on CWC.

Continue reading A Season of Rest at Country Wife Chronicles.

The older I get the more I think I may be transitioning into becoming a minimalist. I feel like I’ve always had a love for simplicity and stillness, but today, in my mid-thirties, I feel like I am truly living it. Simplicity with intentionality.

There is a balance that comes when you are able to slow down and simplify your life. There is a freeing sense of contentment and joy that lies in just being still and knowing that God will take care of everything.

Continue reading 10 Easy Tips to Simplify Your Life Today {Part 2} at Country Wife Chronicles.

I know, I know, most of you are so busy right now, what with a new school year underway and all. The last thing you are thinking about is simplification of your life. Slowing down? That’s what summer was for.

But I have to disagree. If you are seeking a simpler way of living, a more relaxing way of life, then that is something you want year-round.

Continue reading 10 Easy Tips to Simplify Your Life Today {Part 1} at Country Wife Chronicles.

In my original post, “Taking Back the Sabbath,” I shared how establishing boundaries in my life that included guarding the Sabbath as a holy and restful experience was a critical factor in my shift to slow down.   I spoke of my struggles to balance work and home life and suggested 5 tips to help you take back the Sabbath in your home.

Today I’m sharing 5 more tips with you that I hope you will find helpful and inspiring when it comes to taking back the Sabbath in your own life.

Continue reading 5 More Tips for Taking Back the Sabbath at Country Wife Chronicles.

The day starts in a rush…packing lunches, picking up the kitchen, and trying to get out the door for work or an appointment. Hopefully a workout can get fit in somewhere, a quick scrub-down of the house in a spare moment, while paying bills and checking off the to-do list get pushed to tomorrow. And this is just your day-to-day schedule, add in a husband’s, children’s, and anyone else that depends on you and your agenda is overflowing.

Continue reading Taking Back the Sabbath at Country Wife Chronicles.

Country Wife Chronicles is a blog that documents the journey of a country wife seeking to savor the stillness of a simple country life…but who exactly is the Country Wife?

Ok, that statement sounds a little like “How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?” But I think you get where I’m going here…

So, grab yourself some coffee and peruse the pages of this blog and you’ll find out just who the Country Wife is.

Continue reading Who is the Country Wife? at Country Wife Chronicles.

Stillness is absolutely a choice.  I know, that can be hard to hear.  But it’s true. Stillness is a choice that can seem obstinate and far away, even unattainable and it is definitely easier said than done, like for real.  But still a choice nonetheless.  I can say this, because I’ve been on the crazy train of hectic schedules and full calendars and I’ve made the choice to get off and be still.  I did it, and you can too.

Continue reading Choosing Stillness: 10 Tips for Slowing Down at Country Wife Chronicles.

In Part 1 of “Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness,” I shared how I reconnect with the Lord by spending quiet time alone with Him on a daily basis. I shared with you what quiet time is and what it can look like. I am hopeful that the readers of Country Wife Chronicles also shared their own examples of what quiet time can look like in their comments on Part 1 and will do so again here.

Continue reading Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness {Part 2} at Country Wife Chronicles.

Every once in awhile, seemingly at random, I begin to feel distanced from God…maybe only slightly, but it’s there. A prayer that feels like it’s left hanging in the atmosphere, never quite reaching the heavens. A rushed-through devotional because I just don’t have the time today to let the message sink in and truly resonate with my soul. A solemn, bummed out feeling that I can’t quite seem to place. A general lack of connection…

Whenever I feel this disconnect…discouraged and distant, without a guiding light, treading water and not really going anywhere…it’s time.

Continue reading Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness {Part 1} at Country Wife Chronicles.

Let me just state it bluntly: I had to get used to frugality. Saving instead of spending was a fairly natural mindset for me, but in a career that paid me well and increased my salary with each consecutive year, convenience buys were worth it and price tags weren’t all that important.

And then the shift…

My husband and I made the choice to change our careers abruptly, with no idea of what we were doing next.

Continue reading Learning to Live Simply at Country Wife Chronicles.