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Finding Joy in Your Home

Finding Joy in Your Home

Written by: Jami Balmet
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 The Finding Joy in Your Home podcast exists to give you the tools, inspiration, and encouragement that you need to craft a Gospel-Centered Home (formerly called the Homemaking Foundations Podcast)! Join Jami, creator behind FindingJoyinYourHome.com, as we explore various aspects of homemaking including biblical womanhood, marriage, healthy living, organizing, cooking, and so much more! If you feel like your home is out of control - or if you ever feel overwhelmed in your role as homemaker - then join Jami each week as she stands firm on God's Word as our path to bringing glory to God and finding true joy and peace in the everyday. Christianity Ministry & Evangelism Spirituality
Episodes
  • Can You Really Raise a Large Family Well? - BLOG

    Can You Really Raise a Large Family Well? - BLOG
    Mar 23 2026
    Rediscovering God's design for family in a world that sees children as a burden I have mostly been off of social media entirely since early January when I got my new "dumb-ish" phone for my birthday. But even so, news reached me that Hannah Neeleman from Ballarina Farms had her 9th baby. And that the internet has imploded over it. I'm honestly not sure what is so shocking about a Mormon mom, who's had 8 previous babies, presumably every 1/5 - 2 years for over a decade, now having one more child. Like, don't you expect it by now? But nevertheless, baby #9 is here, and the interwebs have strong feelings about it. Not being a Mormon myself, or particularly interested in what Instagram influencers are up to, I am not here to defend Hannah's family or enter into any debate about their life, their finances, or how they live their life (or portray it online). What I am particularly interested in, however, is this backlash against the simple fact that she would dare to have 9 children. "Hannah, don't you know that you are not supposed to have more than 1.6 children? Anything more is outrageous and clearly immoral!" The outrageous thing is that the United States has fallen to a birthrate of just 1.6 children per woman(1), which is now tragically below the replacement rate, and is a record low. We are seeing this same trend over most of the developed world, including Canada (1.4), virtually all of Europe (with a combined birth rate of 1.4), Japan (1.3), South Korea (0.8), Australia & New Zealand (1.6 each), among others. If you are someone who believes the world is overpopulated and that this change is good because immigrants will come in and do all the jobs needed, or that technology and AI will replace all of the jobs needed, we can still be friends, but we will not agree on this issue. You might want to go on your merry way to a different article. Our two sets of twin boys, back to back! Because of the birth rates that have been falling for decades, when you go outside your home with two cheery, or two cranky, toddlers, you will hear over and over again "Wow, you've got your hands full!" or if anyone is having a tough time being out past naptime or just being a toddler, you will get nasty comments and looks. (This is a topic for another day, but I do think two things are happening here: on the one hand, no one disciplines anymore, and children are allowed to run wild in public spaces and can genuinely be a nuisance. We are tired of parents not teaching and training their children, and so any outburst, noise, or even laughter from someone under 5 feet tall is looked at with a side eye or outright sneering. We, as a society, have forgotten what it's like to have children around. We've forgotten that they are entitled to live and take up space as much as any adult. We've forgotten that children are precious and that they are learning how to be adults and members of society, and such training needs to happen in the real world. It's as if our tiredness of permissive parenting has convinced an entire society of adults that 100% of all children are ill-behaved and a nuisance. But I digress...) Our society can no longer fathom how someone could have 5-9 children, and that it must be impossible. What we forget is that until about 3.5 seconds ago, this was the norm. And don't come at me with "Well, rates of infant mortality were higher." Yes, and families still had a lot of kids who grew to adulthood. You can disagree on the reasons why they had so many children, but the fact remains that generations upon generations of women raised more than 4 children and did it successfully. So, back to Hannah. A viral tweet when the news broke relays the sentiments of a large portion of my generation: "You cannot give nine children adequate time, attention, and connection." This sparked articles and comments arguing that large families bordered on child abuse, that large families are oppressive or ignorant, and that mothers (and children) in large families are miserable. As someone with a whole lot of experience in this area, I've been mulling this all over for days. But I haven't been mulling it over when it comes to Hannah. I've been mulling it over because moms in this generation need to know that there is another way to have a family than the 1.6 children they see in society. Families need to be encouraged that you can have a large family and that it can be a joy and a blessing. I love looking back through old literature or hearing stories of great-great-grandmas raising their brood, but it's hard for us to connect with these stories on a personal level. We read about Ma Ingalls raising her larger-than-normal family (by today's standards, anyway) in a dugout without electricity, running water, or an urgent care to run to when the cough turns deep in the chest. We are inspired by the rugged courage it took to be a mom back then, and we might even pick up a tip or two. But by and large, we don't know how to connect the ...
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    12 mins
  • My 40 Before 40 Reading List - Working on the Western Canon - BLOG

    My 40 Before 40 Reading List - Working on the Western Canon - BLOG
    Mar 6 2026
    For the first time in a couple of years, I've really been enjoying my reading list! I've set a goal of reading 104 books this year, at a clipped pace of 2 books per week. Here at the end of February, I've managed to stay on track with this goal and hope to see it through this year. Part of my renewed vigor with reading is that it has now been 4+ years since I've gone this long without being pregnant. In fact, 2026 might be the first year that I will not have a nursing baby or be pregnant since 2019 (7 years, wow)! In fact, I've only had two years (2013 and 2018) since 2011 that I have not been pregnant or had a baby under 1. Holy moly, when you put it that way, I need to give myself a lot more grace for my failing routines. I say that partially in jest and partially in truth. Only the Lord knows what is ahead but my focus this year is building back up my body, my strength, and hopefully some braincells while I'm at it! It feels like a year wide open for good routines and nurturing parts of my health that have gotten neglected as of late. I know you landed on this post to read my 40 before 40 list of classics I'm attempting to tackle over the next 4 years, but for me, the context matters. I think I'm finally ready to tackle some of these more daunting reads. And more than that, I'm excited to! Jason and I have each taken on a big reading goal. We will turn 40 and 42 just 3 weeks apart from each other. So I made my 40 list and he made a 42 list. We have a lot of overlap but many changes too (books either of us has already read and he replaced the homemaking books on my list with others). This gives us just under 4 years to complete this list. So at a pace of 10 books per year, I think we can do it! Now technically, my list is actually 44 books long. I counted C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy in one spot an then ended up adding two more books to the end of the list. I'm on a big classics binge right now and I want to read those anyway, so might as well add them to my list! My reading list is based on working through the entire Western Canon. Also refer to this article for a crash course in the classics or for starting your own 40 before 40 list. I'm already looking forward to my 50 before 50 list. Jami's 40 Before 40 Reading List: Classic Literature & Story: 1. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë 2. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 3. East of Eden – John Steinbeck 4. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 5. Middlemarch – George Eliot 6. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 7. Bleak House – Charles Dickens 8. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë 9. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet 10. The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton 11. Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell 12. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier 13. Gullivers Travels - Jonathan Swift 14. Silas Marner – George Eliot Epic & Philosophical Literature: 15. The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri 16. The Aeneid – Virgil 17. The Odyssey – Homer 18. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky 19. The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky 20. The Faerie Queene – Edmund Spenser 21.L es Misérables – Victor Hugo 22. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Christian Faith, Family, & Home: 23. The Hidden Art of Homemaking – Edith Schaeffer 24. What Is a Family? – Edith Schaeffer 25. A Chance to Die – Elisabeth Elliot 26. Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton 27. Pilgrim's Progress – John Bunyan 28. The Space Trilogy – C.S. Lewis 29. Life Under Compulsion – Anthony Esolen 30. How Should We Then Live? – Francis Schaeffer 31. On the Incarnation – Athanasius History, Philosophy & Formation: 32. Meditations – Marcus Aurelius 33. Pensées – Blaise Pascal 34. Plutarch's Lives – Plutarch 35. Church History – Eusebius 36. Foxe's Book of Martyrs – John Foxe 37. In Defense of Tradition – Richard Weaver 38. The Gulag Archipelago – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 39. Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry 40. Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset 41. Paradise Lost - John Milton 42. Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer Another goal that I will slowly be working through (without a timeline) is reading all of the works of a few particular authors including: George McDonaldC.S. LewisJ.R.R. TolkienJane AustenCharles DickensEdith SchaefferFranics SchaefferG. K. ChestertonJohn Steinbeck Jason and I both just got our lists finalized and I'm off to a good start! I just finished Pride & Prejuide and then dove into Emma. Emma isn't on my list but I am working on reading all of Austen. I took a break from Emma though because my book club is reading Cranford, another book not on my list but well worth a read! I will be diving into What is a Family by Edith Shaeffer next. I started this years ago and never finished it. I'll add some 40 before 40 reading updates for you throughout the year! Have you created a similar reading list? I'd love to know what you think I need to start adding to my 50 before 50 list!
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    7 mins
  • How to Grow as a Homemaker (Without Feeling Behind) - BLOG

    How to Grow as a Homemaker (Without Feeling Behind) - BLOG
    Mar 2 2026
    When I first got married, I was behind. Admittedly, I was only nineteen. That alone explains part of it. But if I am completely honest, I do not think that five more years would have made much difference. Even if I had finished college as a single woman instead of a married one, even if I had waited until twenty-four or twenty-five, I do not believe I would have been significantly more prepared to run a home. Like many women of my generation, I had spent my teenage and young adult years focused on school, grades, college applications, part-time jobs, and preparing for a future career. I learned how to write essays and take exams. I learned how to meet deadlines and navigate academic systems. What I did not learn was how to manage a household. No one had intentionally taught me how to plan meals, build cleaning rhythms, grocery shop on a budget, manage my time within the context of a family, or establish spiritual habits inside a home. I stepped into marriage with good intentions, but very few practical skills. Over the years, I have realized that my experience is far from unique. I regularly hear from women in their twenties, thirties, and even forties who are just now coming to the quiet realization that they do not actually know how to run a home well. They feel overwhelmed, scattered, and constantly behind, but they cannot quite identify why. I believe this is one of the great unspoken struggles for modern women. It is not because life is harder than it used to be. (It most ways, it's not! We have ovens, washing machines, dishwashers, grocery delivery, and hot running water.) Nor is it simply because we lack a "village," though community certainly matters. Ma Ingalls managed an entire homestead, often snowed in for months at a time, without seeing another soul. There were seasons when there truly was no village. Community is a blessing, but it is not the sole explanation for why we struggle. The deeper issue is this: many of us were never taught the skills. Some of us were not shown. Some of us were not interested at the time. Many of us were swept up in a culture that prioritized academic achievement, career preparation, and constant outward productivity. Practical domestic skills were often treated as secondary, optional, or often outdated. As I teach my own children now, I see this gap more clearly than ever. My older children, between the ages of nine and thirteen, already possess more hands-on, practical life skills than I did when I was newly married. They can cook simple meals, manage basic chores independently, and understand the rhythms of our home. Watching them grow in competence has made me realize just how much harder it is to build a stable home when those skills are missing at the beginning. Yet here is the hopeful part of the story. Not having the skills at nineteen did not determine the trajectory of my life. Over time, I chose to learn. I embraced the domestic arts gradually and imperfectly. I learned how to meal plan without panic. I learned how to cook three meals a day. I learned how to garden, preserve food, and ferment kefir and kombucha. I learned how to build systems that keep a household of ten functioning with relative order. It is not flawless—far from it—but it is steady and intentional. And I did not learn these things as a child sitting at my grandmother's elbow (I wish!). I learned them as an adult. Which means this: if you feel behind, your story is not over. You are not disqualified. You are simply at the beginning of your learning curve. And that is a very hopeful place to be. How to Grow as a Homemaker (Without Feeling Behind) There is a quiet pressure that many women carry in their homemaking. It rarely gets spoken aloud, but it often sounds something like this: I should be further along by now. Why does everyone else seem so organized? Why can't I keep up? Why does this feel harder than it looks online? If you have ever felt behind in your homemaking, I want to begin by gently reframing that thought. You are not necessarily behind. More often than not, you are simply growing. Growth in homemaking does not happen overnight. It unfolds slowly, intentionally, and often quietly. It is built through faithfulness in ordinary days. Understanding this changes everything. Let's look at what growth in homemaking actually requires. 1. Recognize That Homemaking Is Learned Very few of us were handed a complete blueprint for running a home. Most of us picked up scattered pieces along the way — perhaps from our mothers, perhaps from observation, perhaps through trial and error. We burned dinners. We tried elaborate systems that failed. We quit, adjusted, and tried again. Homemaking is not instinctive perfection. It is a learned skill set. Cooking is learned. Budgeting is learned. Meal planning is learned. Time management is learned. Even establishing spiritual rhythms in a household is learned. When you understand this, something in your brain shifts. Instead of ...
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    13 mins
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