Refresh | June 2026

The summer salad I have on repeat, how frugal homemakers shop smarter on Amazon, and a reminder from Ezekiel that God is for you

Hello!

I hope that you’ve been having a lovely month of June! As a homeschooling mom, I’ve been enjoying the long-awaited break from daily teaching, and my boys, I am sure, are equally happy for a break from school, even if it does mean that studious hours of poring over schoolbooks have been replaced with long, mostly enjoyable hours in the vegetable garden.

We are working diligently now, doing preventive weeding and mulching, in hopes that we have less work to do later on in the summer and can successfully keep our garden from turning into a swatch of jungle by mid-July (which it usually does).

Because summers are both short and full for my family, as I imagine yours are also, this will be my last monthly newsletter until September. However, I plan to revisit a series I wrote several years ago on lessons gardens teach us about tending relationships. I’ll be sending out four short installments throughout July and August, so keep an eye out for those. I know you’ll enjoy this special summer series!

On a personal note, we will be travelling out of state in July as my eleven-year-old son has a full week of cardiology appointments, tests, and procedures, including a heart catheterization. It has been four years since his last heart surgery, and he has been doing amazing, but it’s time for him to have a full workup. I appreciate your prayers that all will go well, that he will have courage, that we will all have calmness of mind, and that he will be given the a-ok to continue with his very active boyhood! Thank you!

In this month’s issue of Refresh, you’ll find the recipe for a scrumptious broccoli salad, a link to the second article of a two-part series on how to shop smarter on Amazon (using it as a tool that serves you, not a master that controls you), and an encouraging look at how God is for you, and is in the business of transforming barren places into beautiful gardens.

I’d give you a bouquet of peonies if I could!

I’m glad you’re here! Pour yourself a cup of something delicious and come, be refreshed!

A Nourishing Recipe

Summer is the time for tasty salads, and this Easy Broccoli Salad doesn’t disappoint. It’s packed with crunchy flavor and is always a crowd-pleaser at potlucks and summer gatherings. To make it even better, it’s a great salad for prepping ahead of time, so you don’t need to be scrambling to stir it together right before mealtime.

If you try this recipe and love it, please share it with a friend and leave a rating so it’s easier for others to find!

Simplified Homemaking

The Frugal Homemaker’s Guide to Smarter Amazon Shopping

In the late 1800s, a new way to shop arrived and forever changed how homemakers in the United States, and soon Canada, bought goods. Aaron Montgomery Ward, a shrewd businessman, published his first mail-order catalogue on August 18, 1872, with the vision to make his products available to shoppers across the United States, especially those who lived in rural areas.

But millennia before store catalogues made their debut, Mrs. Proverbs 31 was bringing her food “from afar,” sourcing the supplies that she needed for her home like the merchant ships that sailed the high seas, in search of quality goods at fair prices. Exactly how she did her shopping, I’m not sure, but it’s clear that she was adept at finding the supplies her family needed without squandering her time or finances.

For modern homemakers, merchant ships have been replaced with surfing the internet, and catalogues have largely been replaced with shopping apps. However, frugal homemakers are still on the search for the food, clothing, and furnishings that are required for maintaining a home and keeping the people living in it well cared for, while also being smart about the way they spend their time and money. …

The Antique Hunter, Norman Rockwell

Biblical Encouragement

Earlier this week, during my morning devotions, I read through Ezekiel 36, a chapter that speaks beautifully of the restoration God declared he would bring to Israel after their time of captivity. When Ezekiel gave the prophecy, the desolation of the ruined cities and barren fields the people had left behind mirrored the state of their hearts, hearts that were beginning to long for what had once been.

Yet even as God’s people languished in foreign lands, living in bondage to their captors as judgment for their repeated disobedience and rebellion against him, God had not forsaken them. His chastening was only for a season, and it was for one purpose: to bring them back to a place of fellowship with him. The time would come when they would be ready to be brought back into their land, and their relationship with the Lord would be restored, even as their homeland was rebuilt. Listen to these remarkable words of Scripture:

“But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:…and I will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. …And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden…Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.” Ezekiel 36:8-9, 30a, 35a, 36

Just as a skilled and caring gardener works to transform barren ground into a lovely place bursting with life and fruitfulness, so God promised to work in the lives of his people to rebuild the ruined places and plant what was once desolate. Why? Because he was for them. And though this chapter is specifically talking about ancient Israel, our God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is still in the business of restoration.

We all experience times of barrenness, times that seem desolate, when once beautiful places now lie in ruins. Sometimes this is because we have stubbornly refused to let the Master Gardener do his work. Other times, the sins of others have left us barren and empty. Many times, the desolation comes just as a result of living in a world that groans for redemption.

If this is you today, remember this: God is for you! He may allow you to pass through a desolate season, but he has not forsaken you, and he can and will build the ruined places and plant the desolate fields. And when he rebuilds and replants, he will “do better unto you than at your beginning.” I’ve experienced this in my own life, and I know it can be true in your life as well, because it is God’s nature and character to bring beauty from brokenness.

Gratitude Prompt

Has there been a time when you have experienced the Lord rebuilding and replanting in your life? If so, thank God again for the work he has done. Though these times of restoration are often deeply personal, prayerfully consider whether there is someone else who needs to hear your story and be given hope that God can restore them, as well.

Conversation Spark (a fun and meaningful idea for what to talk about other than the weather)

What’s your happiest summer memory from childhood?

Quote of the Month

“Duties are ours, events are the Lord’s. When our faith goeth to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God’s providence, and beginneth to say, ‘How wilt Thou do this and that?’ we lose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office and steer His own helm. There is nothing left to us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls in well-doing upon Him who is God Omnipotent…”

Samuel Rutherford, 1600-1661

Recommended Resource

As a mom of special needs children, I was grieved to learn recently about a young couple, with a huge social media following, who publicly announced their tragic decision to abort their preborn baby after finding out that he had Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome).

In this podcast interview, Alisa Childers talks with two mothers of children with disabilities, one a mother of a son with Down Syndrome and one who is a mother of a daughter with Trisomy 18. This conversation is such a thoughtful, hope-filled push back against the heartbreaking narrative that our society has embraced that preborn babies with disabilities are better off never being given the chance at life. I hope that you’ll give this interview a listen and be reminded of the worth, dignity, and purpose that every image bearer holds.

In My Homemaker’s Toolbox

On Sunday morning, my two youngest children woke up with runny noses and coughs. Being sick is never fun, but it’s a little easier to deal with if you have some “get better soon” tools on hand, which is why I always have a few Earthley products in my cupboard.

A few of my favorites are Elderberry Elixir, Cough B Gone, and Herbal Throat Spray. Today (June 15) is the last day of the summer Black Friday sale, so if you hurry, now is a great time to stock up on supplies while everything is 30% off.¹

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Thank you for being part of the Each Ordinary Moment community. I appreciate you!

Have a lovely day because you are loved,

Cara

P.S. Did you know that most of my newsletter subscribers are referred by a friend? If you know someone who needs encouragement, invite her to sign up!

1. This is an affiliate link. I only recommend products and resources I actually use and would recommend to a friend.