Routine

Ok, I know yesterday I said I had intended to talk about organization. I misspoke, I'm sorry. I am definitely not the person to talk about organization. It was late and my brain just wasn't functioning. Anyway, my hope was to talk about some of the things I hope will help me cut time in keeping my home and family together while I go back to school. I mentioned freezing meals ahead of time, which I am very excited. In addition to that I got a dishwasher!! WoooHooo! I am very excited about that. The first night we had it I taught my children to load their own dishes into it. It has been a process but I believe by the time school starts in the fall they will be fairly well trained in this regard. I am also looking into other options that may help me save time without costing too much. For example, maybe I will try to get some of the little blue things you put in your toilets tank to keep it clean for a couple of weeks instead of having to scrub it several times in that period to keep it from smelling. I've never looked into the automatic shower cleaners, but maybe I should?? I don't know. At this point I am still in the brainstorming stage. I also think I may try to set up a place to have people take their shoes off. I know a lot of people always do this anyway but my family never has because I can't do anything if I'm not wearing shoes. I just can't get motivated. Maybe I should get a pair of shoes just for wearing in the house to cut down on sweeping and vacuuming. Just some thoughts I've had. We'll see how they work as the time draws nearer.

Diamonds

I had planned on talking about organization today, but God has led my thoughts in a different direction. So, tonight I want to talk to you about diamonds. Do you have any diamonds? I have the one in my wedding rings and a pair of earings. They seem to be of great value in our culture. People will pay a pretty penny for them, often in spite of the fact they can't afford it. Then there are those of us who opt to get the same look with a $20 CZ from Wal-Mart. Most people can't tell a difference at a glance and I don't know anyone rude enough to really try to examine someone else's jewelry that closely to determine its monetary value. The fact is, in circles like the ones I run in most of us assume that most of the jewelry we wear contain the cheaper immitation stones. That being said, if someone gives me a necklace and I assume the stone in the pendant is a CZ, I could be wrong. It might be a diamond even though I don't recognize it as such.
People are like that. So often we feel that we are only worth as much as someone else (our spouse, our parents, our friends, our pastor or his wife, a perfect stranger, our children, the list goes on) thinks we are. As common as this way of thinking is it simply isn't true. We are diamonds regardless of whether anyone ever recognizes us as such or not. We have value because God gave us value and no one else's appraisal of us can affect our true worth. I would encourage you to take some time to look at what God's word say's about who you are. Write down some of the characteristics you have trouble believing about yourself and read them often. Know that God's word is true regardless of how we feel. Begin to talk to yourself in a way that is in line with what God says about you instead of going over your negative emotions and insecurities. You are a diamond because God says you are. May God bless you and may you take the time to enjoy His blessings every day.

Doing Something for Me

Sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday. I had a great day, though. I finally went and got my nails done. This is something I have been wanting to do for myself for years. Then this morning I find out they are driving my husband crazy. He loves them, too. Now, I didn't do them for him but I am glad he likes them. It means he's not likely to fuss about me getting them done. It is so nice to take an hour out for myself and do something just for me. If you haven't done anything for you lately, you should. The world isn't going to stop turning if you quit worrying about everyone else for a moment, or two even. What a relief that is!
It was great for me to be able to tell my children a friend was comming to babysit so Mommy could have a little time to herself, too. I hope that will be something they'll remember and know when they are in the midst of their own balancing act that they deserve a momment to themselves every once in a while, too, and that it won't scar their families. Now I just have to work out a routine for keeping it up. That is they key to my balancing act. . . ROUTINE. When I fall out of my routine with the children they get destructive. When I fail to keep up my routine on housework I get completely overwhelmed by it. When I lose one routine it throws all the others off, and I know that if I don't keep a routine for keeping myself up and doing things for me I will never be able to make time for it. So, those are my thoughts for the day: do something for yourself and use routine to your advantage! I hope tomorrow to discuss more about my routine for anyone who doesn't have one and would like an example of a (relatively) balanced routine. May God bless you and may you take the time to enjoy His blessings.

Step One

As we begin the summer I know that autumn is not far behind and that is when I will be starting school and life will get crazy. Therefore now is the season of preparation. I want to anticipate many of the challenges I will face in trying to balance college and raising a family and do what I can now to ease the future frustrations. So I began by making a list of all the things I will be responsible for and want to do and start to plan ways to make time for them all. I will have 16 credit hours of class and I'm sure plenty of homework and studying to accompany them. Caring for a 5 year old, a 4 year old, and a 1 year old, in addition to all the things I do for my 10 year old step-daughter. Those are essential. I must make time to enjoy these children and my husband while keeping my house clean and keeping descent meals on the table. I'll still want to make sure we get to church on Sunday, Wednesday night children's night, and Celebrate Recovery on Thursday. Then there's sleep, I'll want to do that occasionally. How can I do all this without feeling like a chicken whose lost her head?
I have a few ideas and I'll share them with you as I try them to let you know how it all goes. Right now the majority of those ideas are still in the planning stage. The only one I have actually begun to work on is food. We are growing a pretty big garden this year which is giving me a lot of time to enjoy my children now as they work along side me and watch in amazement as things begin to grow. We are having a blast with that and I am hoping that whatever we have for canning and freezing at the seasons end will help limit the trips I must make to the grocery store. Additionally I have begun some freezer cooking. I bought a used commercial-style upright freezer and I think it will be a major asset to my quest to save time. Last week Hy-Vee had strawberries on sale- four pounds for $3.99. You have no idea how many strawberries I went through! We now have a whole shelf full of strawberry muffins, breads, and pound cakes in the freezer and ready for me to thaw for mornings I don't have time to worry about breakfast or evening desserts I'm too tired to mess with. I spent several days cutting up berries and baking, but I enjoyed it. My girls helped some and I had a friend who came and worked through her own four pounds of strawberries alongside me. That helped things go quickly. I hope to devote one day a week to cooking things to stock our freezer and make life easier in the future. I'll let you know about this adventure as it unfolds. Maybe tomorrow I'll get into ideas for cutting time on housework. Until then, may God bless you and may you take the time to enjoy every blessing He gives.

Greetings

Hello to anyone who happens upon this new blog. I am 24 years old, though I often feel more like 42. I am a stay at home mom to 2 beautiful daughters, one ornery son, and a very challenging step-daughter who has been my girl since she was three (and I was 18). Though I am young I have faced a great many challenges in my time and I am always learning and growing. The good Lord has been there for me always, even in the midst of my stupidest choices I can see how He always was demonstrating His love for me. One thing God has been revealing to me lately is my own value in Him. I have come to realize that I am entirely too co-dependent. I allow my happiness to be based on what I think other people think or feel about me. Especially people whom I love. If my husband did not seem particularly happy one day or made a silly choice I immediately thought it must be because I was not good enough. Perhaps you can relate, or maybe not. Either way that was how I felt, and not just with my husband. I felt I must always meet the demands of my friends and the rest of my family as well, even when these things conflicted or really weren't their business. I truely believed that in order to avoid being selfish I must completely disregard myself and my own emotions and needs. This was foolishness and I now see that as I continued to devalue myself in my own eyes I did so in everyone elses as well. As I think of my daughters growing up there are many traits I want them to have. I want them to be kind, respectful, women who always think of others while taking care of themselves so they have the ability to help those around them. I want them to be good wives who know how, when and why to submit, without being doormats. I want them to know that they are dearly loved children of the King, and to live accordingly. If this is my desire for them, then surely it must be what I model for them. It has not been but to the best of my ability it will be.
As I come to realize all this I have started to change my behaviors to be those of a woman who knows her own worth. Sometimes I still don't feel it, but I know that frequently our emotions follow our behaviors. I have taken the time to begin buiding some new friendships. I have been working through the steps of Celebrate Recovery to deal with my hurts, habits, and hang-ups that lead me to feel so unimportant. I have taken more time for things I enjoy, starting a garden, going for walks, getting my eyebrows waxed and with any luck I'll be getting my nails done soon. In addition to that I intend to start school this fall. That is what I hope this blog will be about. I hope for it to be a way for me to think through how to balance taking care of myself, my family, my friends, and my school work. I anticipate it will be quite a journey, but it is one I am anxious to take. There are sure to be many challenges, but I expect there will be many rewards as well. Won't you join me as I seek to discover methods by which I can appropriately value everyone in my life, including me? Maybe you can begin to value you as well. You are all welcome to comment, just please know that I will not make my choices based on what I think other people want, even you. I would love to hear from you none the less.