What I Call Home

Trust me, I would much rather be called a homemaker than an interior decorator.

Home… This is a word to describe feelings, a place of comfort, a place of nurture. Is that what you thought of as well, or was it the four walls that surround you in your house, or the town you grew up in? Well I believe it can be all those things, and I want to describe and encourage you to create and grow that place of home.

For so long I have been fascinated by homes, which led me to my Bachelors degree in Interior Design. But to me, design has been so much more than just the floor plan and decor. We are creating a home, and this involves researching what people do in their homes to create the spaces they love. I love creating a space where I feel the comfort of my routine, aesthetics, and the people who surround me…and that happens with more than just paint colors and pretty decor. Trust me, I would much rather be called a homemaker than an interior decorator. The word home means so much to me and I plan to share everything I can about what it means to me and to define it so many ways you may never have thought. Of course, I will also share some of my favorite design tips for your home and my homemaker routines.

I am the proud wife to my husband, Nick, and we have two young boys, Jack and Maxton. Our home is filled with love, chaos, fun, and most importantly a growing faith as a family. It’s almost always VERY LOUD as I don’t believe my boys came with a volume control. We are an Active Duty military family (Marine Corps) currently living in Washington, DC and we love traveling and exploring our area. Our life has been thrown way off OUR plan of course many times due to this military life, and some family struggles with difficult diagnosis, adding more to our hectic lives as parents of young ones. These are daily reminders for us that we are following the Lord’s plan, and not our own. It was these struggles that have brought us even closer and stronger in our faith. I love sharing about our story, and things that have helped us with some of these struggles that are unique to this lifestyle.

When I first moved to DC, I prayed hard that I would find other women who were like-minded, had a love of Jesus, and valued the family structure that we do. These two ladies (Lisa and Jill, co-founders of How Estherly) were my answer to that prayer. I love the friendship we have made, and the encouragement is like nothing else. These women are strong, faithful, caring, intelligent, and downright hilarious (BIG BONUS WIN). So when we discussed what we wanted from this blog, it made so much sense to name it “How Estherly.” I love everything about this project, and I am so excited to share with each of you, and truly hope you enjoy all that we have for you!

***No idea how I made it through this whole intro, without the word y’all. Seriously, y’all, —that’s a whole lot of punctuation going on and I have no idea if any of it is even right—this is what you can expect from us, imperfection, real, creative, lots of Jesus, and the word y’all!

-Heidi

Here for the Party

Hey Friends, Readers, Y’all…I’m from Georgia so we’ll go with y’all!  Hey Y’all! Okay, so here is the hard part about writing for me, writing about myself. Isn’t it funny how one little thing can unveil so many insecurities?? First things first, I know who I am and why I am here! I am Lisa and I am here to glorify God. I am also a wife and a mommy to four sweet kiddos, and we are a military family. I have been on this earth (now closer to forty years than thirty…that’s scary) and oh how rich the years have been! I have grown to love wife life and mommyhood more than I ever thought I would. The Lord has deeply blessed my family and me, but life is never just lollipops and rainbows.

When my husband and I were first married, nobody expressed to me how hard navigating life with another human would be, let alone adding four more little humans and a military career to the mix!! I have been to hell and back with that man, in the trenches, hard moments for sure. Along the way, I’ve realized the value in giving myself margins (in areas of time, health, self-care, etc) and I have found some incredible joy in talking about and encouraging others in this area.

I’ve revamped the saying “fill your cup first so you can pour into others”, as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, how about starting with just having a cup and what that looks like! God has graciously given us all so much. Life, for me, is viewed with an eternal perspective. Moving past and outside of myself, I want to do nothing more than glorify Him! The content I share may seem surface, but please know and understand my heart and where I am coming from. Faith first, always! Keeping the little daily logistical things (how a house runs, looks…what you wear after having a baby, I could go on) in check by being proactive is what I love sharing about. I am so thankful you are here and I hope this blesses you!

Lisa

How Estherly You Are

What womanhood was meant to be.

“Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.”

Mother Teresa

Women are incredible human beings. We are made in the image of God and we have unique gifts and talents and abilities. We are incredibly strong and have great power.

It seems that some of what it means to be woman has been confused by this world we live in. Voices tell us that to be successful in womanhood, it must look this way or that way. That to elevate womanhood means stepping on our male counterparts. Just the word ‘feminism’ has taken on a strange connotation that seems to include one view of womanhood that is considered liberal and progressive.

When we look back in history, we see these beautiful and dynamic examples of women who were strong yet humble. They knew when to speak and when to listen. They took pride in who God made them to be and where He placed them in this world, and they did not waste the opportunities at their feet.

Eve, the mother of all humans was not perfect by any stretch but she braved the new world God had created. Queen Esther faced death and went boldly before the king to save her people. Abigail Adams educated herself, raised her four children, and supported her husband’s political endeavors. Mother Teresa followed her calling to care for the poorest in the world and inspire millions. Rosa Parks actually sat for what was right, and was a symbol of strength and courage for all the generations after her.

These women are just a few examples of what we are calling “estherly” women. Women we can learn from, look up to. Women who paved the way for the women of today.

We are three military wives who love Jesus, love our husbands and families, and love being women! We hope to inspire and encourage women from all walks of life with love, humor, and life hacks to help make womanhood a more joyful, abundant experience. We hope that together we can redefine what it means to be female, and raise one another up in life.

Being a woman does not mean that we have to be like men. It doesn’t mean that we have to bend to stereotypes or what the world tells us we are to be. Being a woman means courageously loving God and the people He has put in our lives. It means working hard and being strong in faith, and handling challenges with grace and dignity. Being a woman means passing on a legacy to our daughters and younger generations so that when we stand at the end of our lives, we can look back and see how other women have been strengthened because of us.

We hope that you’ll join us on this journey and engage with us as we write together and do life together. We hope that you will send your friends, sisters, mothers, daughters our way so we can build a community of like-minded women who are not afraid to stand up for what it really means to be female.

Thank you for joining us sisters.

We look forward to sharing our hearts with you.

“How Estherly. Strength + beauty … for just a time as this”.

Jill, Lisa, & Heidi