You may have noticed I haven’t been blogging much, or maybe you haven’t.

Our life has gotten so busy, so industrious that the blog is waaaay down on my list of priorities. It’s not because I don’t have anything I want to blog about, actually, I keep saying, “I’m going to write a post about ‘that’ (insert passionate topic), but at the end of the day when I sit down to type, I am so exhausted my brain can not form a sentence.

“But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

My cake business has really picked up over the last year, mostly because I am baking/decorating for the restaurant that Olivia is chef at.

I am grateful for the extra income while still being at home, but I will admit it is hard some days trying to balance house, shopping, meals, schoolwork, kids, husband…

grandchildren, time with adult kids… I have to say no to a lot of extra activities which is probably good in the long run. I have no time for long phone calls, which usually ends up in gossip, and little time for shopping which usually ends up spending money I shouldn’t. Responsibility and work keeps us out of trouble!

Even though it’s really hard some days, this is where we are. The kids labor along side me and Jeff by helping with the housework more and Jeff does more with the kids for their schoolwork. Aaron, 9, walks along side his dad a lot more in his work- which is good for his growing in manliness and I use my crockpot more!

We are on a journey to one day having our dream and this is all a part of it. Because part of that dream is for them to be more self-reliant, to one day have their own family enterprise. Meanwhile our children are learning all about providing a service and goods to generate income. They are learning to manage their time and experience real life challenges.

And no, we are not making a lot of money, but we are (hopefully) building skills, character and a healthy worldview that will bring more profit than any dollar amount could give us. Hopefully we are breaking the generational chains of always thinking in the box and trusting the culture to dictate to us as to what is normal. It IS hard, swimming up stream is always hard, but at least our hands are not tied behind our backs and hopefully our kids will have strong arm muscles to swim faster and harder!

Aunt Cherish rocking a sick Javi to sleep.

Their life of childhood, schoolwork and peers is not separate from us…from our real life! They still have lots of time to play, to learn their lessons and see friends, but is it so intertwined with our family life, our family work, that hopefully as they become adults it will just feel natural to them. We as a family are doing all of this together, not perfectly and not always joyfully, because at the heart of things we are sinful, lazy, selfish humans. But this is the work the Lord has given us for this season, it is the work we do with our hands and it is not glamorous, but is it is ours and I am thankful!

This has been a very popular cake for Valentine orders!

You can see how to do the chocolate lace here.

I love this ruffle look and it is so easy! These were smash cakes for a set of twins.

You can see a video tutorial here.

This is a cake I did a couple of weeks ago for a baby shower. It is all fondant and I was really happy with how it come out.

This is actually a display cake I made of foam and fondant for the bakery.

This is another display cake I made for the bakery.

This one I’ve posted before. It’s buttercream and the turtles are made of fondant.

And these are Valentine cookies I made this week.

Yesterday I woke up to find a bite out of one of my orders. Which ended with a confession from the 5 year old. Which was another good time to remind her of last week’s memory verse.

And there are days I am working with fondant and the kids get to play with it. This has a 3 fold advantage. First, they are learning the feel for fondant which will benefit them later in life if they want to decorate cakes. Secondly, it keeps her busy. Thirdly, I can use the letters and drill her on her phonics which makes learning FUN for her! See… life, learning, working… all intertwined… naturally!

Little did I know 28 years ago when I took a cake decorating class that it would become such a big part of my life! Best time and money I’ve ever spent!