Friday Feature: Kelsey Van Kirk of 'The Home Loving Wife'
"abbie," "Featured Friday," "Kelsey," "The Home Loving Wife"Hello gorgeous gals! It's Abbie here and today I am so excited to introduce you to a lifestyle blogger who is as sweet and kind as she is organized and motivated.
Meet Kelsey. Kelsey Van Kirk is a lifestyle and clarity coach for wives and moms and the founder of The Home Loving Wife community. She is a wife, mama and passionate about inspiring and equipping women to create and live grace-filled lives full of balance, purpose, happiness and fulfillment!
I asked Kelsey a few questions about her life behind the scenes. First of all I wanted to know a little bit more about this incredible lady and her family.
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Meet Kelsey. Kelsey Van Kirk is a lifestyle and clarity coach for wives and moms and the founder of The Home Loving Wife community. She is a wife, mama and passionate about inspiring and equipping women to create and live grace-filled lives full of balance, purpose, happiness and fulfillment!
Hi Kelsey! Thanks for sharing with the Blended Blog today. We are looking forward to get to know a little more about you! First of all, how would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Ambitious, kind, perfectionistic!
Never mind stunning and organized! Ha! Can you tell us a little bit about your family?
I am the proud (and tired!) mama of four beautiful daughters, ages 1-5. Yep, you read correctly. I gave birth to four separate babies in just 5 years. And no, we didn’t plan it that way!!
Wow. That is incredible. As a mom of four little princesses, what parenting advice would you give to someone having a new baby?
The biggest thing I’ve learned over the course of these crazy baby-making years is to trust my own intuition and not sweat the small stuff. Parenting is really an intuitive process and the more we learn trust ourselves as mothers, the happier and more peaceful we will be. It’s good to seek advice from people and resources you trust, but at the end of the day there are usually very few finite answers to be found! You’ve got to do what’s best for you and your family, stand firm in your convictions, and move past mistakes with humility and grace.
Read Kelsey's 7 Things I’ve Learned From Having 4 Kids in 5 Years
Wow. That is incredible. As a mom of four little princesses, what parenting advice would you give to someone having a new baby?
The biggest thing I’ve learned over the course of these crazy baby-making years is to trust my own intuition and not sweat the small stuff. Parenting is really an intuitive process and the more we learn trust ourselves as mothers, the happier and more peaceful we will be. It’s good to seek advice from people and resources you trust, but at the end of the day there are usually very few finite answers to be found! You’ve got to do what’s best for you and your family, stand firm in your convictions, and move past mistakes with humility and grace.
I love that! As a busy mom, what marriage advice would you give to a couple just getting married?
I married my husband Andrew 7 years ago, when I was just 19 and he was 23. He was my high school sweetheart and we dreamed up quite a future for ourselves back in those heady, romance-filled days! Good grief have I learned a TON since then! I can truthfully say that we have an incredible marriage because we are both invested in doing what’s necessary to not just make things work, but make them wonderful. However, this in NO way means that we haven’t gone through our share of hardships and trials. Boy, have we ever. But the thing that seems to be key is that, instead of letting the inevitable challenges of life come between us and push us apart, we’ve faced them head on, together, and developed a deeper level of intimacy with each other from walking through the tough times hand-in-hand.
Read Kelsey's Learn How To Live Simply, Live Lovely, Live Well here!
Great advice! When you and your husband get a little time, what is your ideal date night?
My favorite date nights typically consist of delicious food (preferably sushi, chinese, steak or alfredo pasta), good wine, amazing dessert (chocolate anything!) and lots of snuggling. I’m so happy to snuggle in bed or on the couch watching Netflix with my guy!
What is something that your readers might be surprised to know about you?
I’m not a kid person! But I have four children. Yes, I know it’s confusing. I was never that girl who grew up dreaming of having babies and a family of her own some day. I grew up dreaming of being a Broadway star or a famous fashion designer or maybe even the President. But God got a hold of my heart when I was about 16 years old and I completely switched gears. He showed me how he had created and designed me with specific capabilities and capacities to be used pouring into the raising of new little lives. So even though I never dreamed of being a mama, and even though every single day of my motherhood journey presents obstacles and challenges to overcome, I’m so thankful that I had the sense to walk in the direction I was called to. My kids are my legacy, and that is something so very, very valuable.
I admire the way you have embraced motherhood in all its glory! So in this busy season of life, what inspired you to start blogging?
After wading through the trenches of having four kiddos in five years, I began feeling like I needed to reclaim a bit of myself as a woman, outside of being a wife, mama and homemaker. But it needed to make sense in the season of life I was in. I realized that there are so many women out there, traveling on the same path as me, and we could all use a little more inspiration and encouragement in our lives! Thus, my blog was born. It beautifully ties together my desires to inspire, empower and connect with other women, with my passions for writing, design and living intentionally. While blogging has added a lot more work to my plate, it’s been so fulfilling and satisfying on a number of levels!
I can relate to that so much. I love your focus on living intentionally. Okay, on a totally separate topic, to finish off, you are GORGEOUS and always look so put together, so I'd like to know what you consider your style “uniform”?
I don’t really leave my house much these days, and not many people see me on a daily basis besides my husband and children so it can be a real challenge for me to make myself get dressed in a real outfit every day. If I’m being completely honest, I usually don’t! My typical daily uniform consists of yoga pants, comfy v-neck tees and pearl earrings to add a little pizzazz! On the days that I exert a little extra effort, I’m a big fan of jeggings, a camisole and a waterfall cardigan with a pretty statement necklace. I’m all about comfort and practicality, neutral colors and simple, luxe style.
I find your focus on simplicity and classics refreshing! Thanks so much for sharing a little behind the scenes peek with us today!
If you'd like to follow Kelsey, you can connect with her at her blog The Home Loving Wifeand on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, or in her members-only Facebook community, The Home Loving Wife Sisterhood!
Abbie's a high school teaching wife and self-professed mombie of two littles searching for humour among the Huggies and wisdom in the wining whining. Follow along the fails, faith and family mayhem at Grumbling Grace.
