Kaitlin Stearns

Hello and welcome to The Practical Homemaker. I am Kaitlin...child of God, wife, mother, "Suzie Homemaker Wannabee," former teacher turned stay-at-home-mommy, and serious chocoholic. I am far from perfect. I usually have a pile of dishes in my sink and toys scattered all over my living room floor. I'm trying hard every single day to follow the path that God has laid out for me and do everything to glory and honor of Him.

Here at The Practical Homemaker you will find information on how to live frugally, give generously, and love unconditionally. We have made so many mistakes thus far, but I hope I can share our experiences with you so that even one person can learn from them. We believe our world today has changed drastically. We are trying to get back to a simpler way of life where money, materialism, and the all-encompassing consumer-driven society are not the end-all, be-all. We believe in living our lives in accordance with God's word.

Following my relationship with the Lord, my family comes first in everything I do. I married the love of my life, Tom, on December 19th, 2009 at the "ripe ol' age" of 21. I was still in college, Tom had just graduated, and we quickly learned that money doesn't grow on trees. We were both frugal by nature (it was instilled in us from an early age), but that first year of marriage was definitely a challenging one for the both of us.

Just 11 months following our wedding we found out we were expecting a baby who was due in July of 2011. We were both scared to death. I was student teaching at the time and we didn't have 2 pennies to pinch together. God sure does things to change you for the better in ways you can never imagine.

Caleb Aaron was born at 6:05pm on July 15th, 2011. He has been the light of our lives for the past year and a half. I truly don't know what I would do without him. There are moments when I think that toddler will be the death of me. Then I look into his big blue eyes and realize that he gets it from his mother! What's the old saying..."You'll get what's coming to you." I'm pretty sure my parents said that to me a time or two when I was a child. I never really new what they meant until Caleb turned 15 months. Now I totally understand.

Our family just wouldn't be complete without our ornery, yet wonderful, goldendoodle Baxter. His birthday is just 1 day after Caleb's. Having a 1 1/2 year old boy and a 1 1/2 year old dog has definitely