family Archives - The Sparrow's Home

Oatmeal Bread: Two soft, easy to slice homemade loaves

October 11, 2021 by Susan 14 Comments

This simple homemade oatmeal sandwich bread smells amazing baking, is easy to slice, and soft and delicious to eat. You’ll be glad the recipe makes two loaves!

Sometimes you just want a good, sliceable, toastable, loaf of bread.

This is that loaf.

It’s perfect for slicing and serving fresh with just about any meal. We like it with butter, honey, or my dad’s homemade strawberry freezer jam. Mmmmmm…

It’s also totally delightful sliced and toasted with Nutella, or peanut butter, or lots of butter and cinnamon-sugar or more jam or honey.

I’m not particularly good at thinly slicing homemade loaves, but if you are…this would make fantastic saandwiches as well. Yum!

The 5 best and worst things you’ll face with your empty nest

August 2, 2021 by Susan 4 Comments

Beginning the empty nest season of life can bring a lot of different emotions. But you might find it is more sweet than bitter.

I expected to be the mother who wept uncontrollably when my children left home.

Turns out… not so much. In fact, kind of the opposite.

My eldest son got married last summer, and my youngest just tied the knot in June.

Don’t get me wrong–there have been moments of deeply missing my children’s presence in my home and of questioning my role as a mother now that they’re gone.

But honestly, overall, this empty nesting business has been more sweet than bitter.

Would you be shocked to see the amount of time you spend looking at a screen every day?

June 7, 2021 by Susan Leave a Comment

What would it feel like to see an actual accounting of your daily screen time? Would it match what you say your priorities are, or not so much?

Guest Post

I’m pleased to have my friend Jeremy back to share with you today, and am sure you all will appreciate his honesty on this issue as much as I do . Scroll to the end of the post to see more from him.

From Jeremy:

I did something on a whim the other day. I’m not exactly sure what led me to do it, but perhaps it was a combination of the following things:

The angry glances from my wife.
The feeling of disconnect between those around me.
The frustration of never having enough time.
Or maybe it was a simple observation of my son about his dad.

And what was it I did, you ask? Nothing bad, but something that will hopefully lead to a better husband, father and friend.

I downloaded an app for my phone.

Use these questions to break the ice ‘a Skittle’: An easy ice breaker for people who hate ice breakers.

May 7, 2021 by Susan 9 Comments

Low-pressure questions and candy ease tension and set the stage for people to have fun and get to know one another with this easy ice breaker. *Free Printable*

Ice breakers are not my favorite thing.

But getting to know people is not unpleasant. Candy is not unpleasant.

So when I needed to come up with a new way to engage a class in a sharing activity, my mind went to a couple of other things I’ve done before. (Why re-invent the wheel, right?)

I thought of a question activity where folks got to choose the question they wanted to answer. Because isn’t it always the case that when you get assigned a question, you always wish you had the question someone else gets??

And I thought of an M&M Ice Breaker activity that is a lot of fun. Because…chocolate.

Liking both of these ideas, I decided to combine them to create something new!

The beautiful children’s book that tackles loneliness, fear, & the vulnerability it takes to find connection.

April 6, 2021 by Susan 6 Comments

A lovely children’s book to teach kids to reach out to the lonely, encouragement be kind, or just to enjoy reading with your favorite little person.

Every once in awhile you stumble upon something remarkably great.

I was looking for books to use in the literature-based class I teach at a homeschool co-op when I found a book to order that I thought would fit nicely into a theme of reaching out to the elderly, the lonely, especially during this season of separation that we’ve been enduring.

It wasn’t until it arrived and I read it in full, complete with the lovely illustrations that I wept and knew that this was no ordinary children’s book.

This book is not just for those with littles in their lives…trust me.

Make a porch snack basket to brighten the day of your delivery drivers this holiday season (7 free printable signs to choose from!)

November 16, 2020 by Susan Leave a Comment

7 free printable signs for porch snack baskets for delivery drivers. Be a blessing this holiday season!

I was talking with one of our regular UPS delivery drivers in August and he told me that they’d been as busy as Christmastime for months. Months!

My guess is, that level of busy-ness hasn’t slowed down a lot this fall.

I have seen this idea of leaving a basket of snacks on your porch for delivery drivers before, but for some reason, this year…well, I think we can all agree that 2020 is a year much in need of some extra acts of kindness.

So when I decided to put together a thank you basket for my porch for the numerous delivery drivers who frequent our home each week, I thought I’d share some of my ideas with all of you and perhaps we could all spread a bit more cheer together.