The Family and Me

Before I go any further into "Who I Am", let me say directly to you: THANK YOU for stopping by and getting to know me better.

Who is Tillie? At 16, I never thought I would say this, but I am primarily a mom to six awesome children - five boys and a Girlie. They are hard working, hard playing. all-around wonderful kids to spend the day with. They are home schooled, so I get to be with them nearly 24/7, especially when their Pop is out of town. The nickname "Tillie" was bestowed upon me by my mom when I was pretty young. It fits me. Trust me on that.

My husband is my White Knight. He keeps me straight, and sometimes I have a thing or two to say in return, but in the end everything we do is done in love for one another. In 1998, we made a commitment to one another; our children deserve strong parents who hold to the promise we made. I love being married and being with my children - and want my children to one day know that marriage can be "work" sometimes, but the strength in marriage comes from inviting God into our lives, and having a deep love for life and one another. 

I am a convert Orthodox Christian and currently attend St. Basil the Great Antiochian Orthodox Church. It is a small church, and for the first time in some number of years, I am comfortable there. I have begun looking for opportunities to serve and volunteer. I feel like I fit in. Though I liked the churches, priests and people at the other parishes we attended in Maryland, I was still an outsider. This is a nice change.

I was raised under the banner-saying of, "Every church has something, and no church has everything." Well, I don't know that I can say I completely believe that any more, but I do know that that philosophy opened me up to a) having a faith at all - a blessing I am continually thankful for, and b) being open enough to step into Orthodoxy and give it a try, in spite of the fact that it is a very different church than any I attended growing up! My faith defines me, and how I work with my children and what I write on my blog. Expect to see it mentioned on here on occasion, and expect to see that I am a "crunchy-conservative" vegetarian person. 

Which means you'll see recipes on here on occasion too. I love trying out new ideas and perfecting old ones. Use the search bar on the right side of the page to see what reviews or recipes pop up for you!

I follow Dave Ramsey a lot. If you are holding onto debt - or rather debt is holding on to YOU - please look into his program. I do NOT make any money putting this endorsement on my blog but it is a great program that has helped thousands become debt free and move on up the financial path to Millionaire. It is worth your time and money and effort to work his program if you have debt.

Want to know the best thing about home schooling? 
My kids still learn because they want to - because they're curious about the world around them and what they read and what they see and, and, and... and it shows. Besides, we own around 1,500 books... what else would we do with that many books in the house?! So we follow the eclectic Thomas Jefferson Education Model. That means lots of mentoring, lots of reading aloud, lots of close-in family time, both in work and at play.

I also work from home. Under the "multiple streams of income" idea, I have several jobs I cycle through to earn money to supplement our income. I've sold things in the past, without much success: Pampered Chef and Silpada Designs were the two big ones. They were a nice start, but I don't do home parties well... except that I've also recently found a Wine company that does home party sales and I may consider giving that a go next year. We'll see!

But what do I do to earn money? I am a network marketing professional, Team Leader and Mentor to more than 400 members, and "professional" Essential Oil enthusiast! I hope in the meantime, that since you're here anyway, you'll consider signing up to receive my blog posts (I do try to keep them somewhat useful!) and perhaps drop me a note of encouragement.

God's blessings be on you,

Tillie