Titus 2 Tea - Final Thoughts on Household

1. "Work on your wall before noon."  This is something I read on another blog.  It refers to Nehemiah's job of re-building the wall of Jerusalem.  I know that in my house, it is much better if I work on all the things I have on my to-do list first.  And my goal is to have most of it done by noon.  Now, granted, there are always things to do after lunch.  But my list is small enough that I can be done.   Some things on my list are: laundry, bread-making, quick-clean the bathroom and school.

2. Be consistent.  In our house, we make our bread instead of buy.  But I have been rather inconsistent with the making of it.  So lately, I have decided that I need to bake something every day.  I didn't yesterday, but there was still bread in the bin.  If not bread, something for desserts to put in lunches. 

3. As much as possible, keep things in the same place.   I think our big bowls and things have always been down here on this shelf, since we moved here.  I did find that the little containers for lunches were a big problem down here.  It's too easy to throw them down here.  So I found space for them on a shelf where there had been some plates we weren't using much.  For this week, it's been a good plan.  Now for some consistency in that area - see #2.

4. Do the same things at the same time.  I try to do my blog first thing in the morning along with devotions and my verses at www.scripturetyper.com.  But getting a shower competes with that.  These are all things that I like to have done before the babies show up.

5. Plan a bit of fun during your day.  Right after lunch dishes and naptime for babies, (see #4) I like to have some time to sit and do quiet things and sometimes it involves a movie (see #6).  Lately, since I've started going to quilt guild, it's been quilting.  I picked up an old project, and I will finish it today, I hope. 

6. Don't turn the TV on till you're all done with work. If I do turn on the TV after lunch, it's super hard to turn it off because we can always find something on (the best thing, which is not always even good).  Because of how hard it is Carpenter and I are seriously considering canceling when our contract is done, maybe before.  We only got cable because we were required to have it in order to place someone in our home, and that fell through.

7. Design a system for things and stick with it, only tweak.  This is the current system and I don't love it.  It's not perfect.  But I will continue to use it rather than pitch it, because overall it's not bad.  The only thing I don't like is hearing them say, "I've dried for three times in a row."  because someone messed with it or because they don't remember. 

8. Make a place in your home that is reserved for quiet thinking.  Mine is my room upstairs and because it's cold during the winter I never go there, but my living room is quiet during the school year.  One note on this picture:  I know you're not supposed to have your office in your quiet place.  It's in the plan to make a different room into that, but right now it's not a possibility.

9. Work on one area at a time.  This is my area today.  It's actually so much better.  I've had the kids clear out the boots and coats for the basement.  Because this entryway is cold, I always procrastinate on cleaning it (see #10).  But today, I'm going to do a bit at a time.

10. Procrastinating about that "hated" task will not make it look more desirable.  None of my rooms look like this today.  This is from my de-cluttering days when things were disastrous.  But they aren't great either. I have some ideas to help the little ones with their clothes issues, but it takes time.

Finally, enjoy.  Find joy in serving your family.  Turn up the radio while cleaning.  Fill your mind with Christian songs etc.  This was the scene yesterday while I was finishing up my post for yesterday.  They took on this task themselves even though washing dishes is my job.  I pray that they find joy in serving all their lives, though I haven't been a good example of that.

Making the most of today.
Steph

Thursday's Thoughts - "Let my words be few"

This song was playing late the other night when I came home from work and then the next morning I jumped in the car to drive Sharpie to work and it was playing again.  Deserves some pondering, I think. 

Words can build you up

Words can break you down

Start a fire in your heart or

Put it out

Let my words be life

Let my words be truth

I don't wanna say a word

Unless it points the world back to You

I wonder just how well am I doing with my words. Am I pointing the world to God or just to me, and all the brilliance I have to give, which is nothing?  The wisdom of the world is foolishness. 

I'm a talker.  Not at home, but especially when I get let out of my cage.  Then you won't hear me let up at all.  Can you just see it?  There I am running around, "I'm free.  I'm with adults.  Let's talk about something, anything!"  And they're standing there saying, "Where did she come from?" 

I don't want to be talking just for the sake of it.  But pointing the world to God has been hard for me.  I just don't feel comfortable talking about it at work.  It's been a shameful thing to me.  How can you be a missionary if you don't even tell your community about the Lord?  But that's me.  I know what to do overseas, but in my little farming community, I'm tight-lipped about the gospel.

If I took these words to heart, there would be so many things that I wouldn't talk about - those sleepless nights at the beginning of the week when I was getting home later than normal - who cares?  It's not that big of a deal.  Except to see God working in that He gave me a break with day care those next two days. 

Complaints would be off the list of acceptable topics.  Because that surely does not point the world  back to God.  Frustrations would be off the list, grudges unacceptable as well. So let my words be few. 

Let me be a listener.  I can easily say that I definitely am not one of those people.  I'm so blessed to have two of them in my life - one older and one younger.  And while they may have that as a natural character trait, I think part of it is that they've trained themselves to listen. 

So for the next days, I want to keep my mouth quieter, so that I can hear what is going on in someone else's heart.   And while it's quieter and listening, I want to be praying that my words would be few and words that point others to God.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

Making the most of today

Steph

Wednesday's Housework

Lately I've been working on de-cluttering AGAIN!  Seems we always end up with more stuff, even though I keep working on clearing it out.  And this past week it was my kitchen.  I wasn't working so much at de-cluttering as straightening up the mess of plastic containers. 

What a mess!  Always! And this pic is actually a bit neat.  No matter how much I clean up, it seems my dish dryers can't figure out where to put stuff.  So what I need is a heart change.  My heart.  Yes, I will continue reminding and teaching, but I will work at not being exasperated when I just cleaned it up and it's a mess again. 

One thought I had is that it's my new idea; they didn't dream it up.  So I can spend a few seconds making sure things are in their new spot.  As they get used to the place they found them, maybe they'll get the idea.  But maybe not, after all some of them are only five and six. 

Training is not about expecting it to be perfect all the time.  In fact, were that true, there would be no job for us as parents.  So when I look at it from that perspective I realize that this is how it should be.  Not that I should find joy in disobedience, but in training, yes.

This should be my joy.  Yes at times it's my frustration and at times I'm distraught with how little I'm getting through, but...I need to keep perspective.  Just as we are too near our children to see them grow physically, we can't always see the change emotionally and character-wise either.

I added a board, for double the capacity.  I won't need these till harvest.

 
If you're like me, you tend to hound them to get them to do the right thing - maybe nag is a better word.  But when I see the big picture, that they are growing and I see progress, not so much nagging takes place.  Sometimes I need to write it down, so that I can see it. 

So while the pictures have nothing to do with the subject, maybe they do.  My perspective needs to change.  At work, we have to document progress on charts.  You can look back over past months and see the change in a person.  It helps those who work closely with them to see improvement.

Just like grandma sees big changes when she shows up, after not seeing the kids for a few months, so I want to know that my kids are growing and thriving.  I want to realize that it's happening so that during the frustrating times, I can remember, "Oh, yeah!  Look how far they've come!"

Making the most of today
Steph

Cooking Tuesday - Garlic Bread (homemade)

 A loaf of English Muffin Bread ( I guess I'll have to post that recipe soon, any loaf will do) sliced and buttered

 Sprinkle garlic powder and then a bit of cheese.  Better yet is to mix some minced garlic in with your butter and spread it, then add cheese. 

The bread costs 37 cents a loaf and for this I used about 1/2 cup of cheese, which would be about 50 cents.  So for under a dollar we had plenty of garlic bread for our family.  We probably could have eaten more, but everyone had two pieces and some had three. Like I said, plenty.

Making the most of today,
Steph

Project Monday - Garage clean-up

I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning the garage.  That was my project for the week.  It's a rather intimidating thing trying to clean up Carpenter's area.  The things that I veiw as trash are things that he needs for fixing one of his machines.  My solution was to take a plastic container from peanuts or mayonaise and put all the pieces into that jar. 

Now he can see what he has, and yes, if he's looking for that piece he will have to dump out that jar, but at least he'll know where to look (and at least it's not in the trash). :)

It took me about 2 and 1/2 hours to get it cleaned up.  We still have supplies for finishing the siding project, so it may look messy, but like-things are together and therefore we won't be buying things that we already have. 

Making the most of today,
Steph

Have a great Monday.  Today I finished reading Numbers 33, Psalm 25 and Proverbs 12.  The verse that stood out to me was "I will walk in integrity." 

Titus 2 Tea - Household - my view

Every once in awhile, I have to re-evaluate my perspective - my view on my role in this house.  Because it quickly gDo I want to spend ets messed up by the things I see around me.  I want what I see, but do I really???  At what cost?

Do I want to spend my life working away at a job so that I can have nice things that others have?  We do not have everything that we want or even think we need because I stay at home and homeschool three of our children.  We also don't have everything we want  because three of ours go to the school at our church. 

I want to clarify that I believe that this is not a cookie cutter world.  So because we all have families made up of different people and we are all in different situations, things will and should look differently for everyone.

But lately I've been wishing for a way to do something more from home.  I've been putting in my time with my kids and not really applying myself to what they need for growth. 

So I need to spend a bit of time reminding myself that they are not distractions but they are the work, as my step-sister said in her blog. 

Because the world views things differently, I have to keep reminding myself of this truth.  A good way is to be in the Word and listen to Christian radio and memorizing verses and filling my head with truth.  Because this world get pretty loud and the more I fill my mind with truths from God's Word, the harder it is to hear the world view that is so prominent.

So today, I'm going to work on my memory work, read the Word, and leave the TV off.

Making the most of today
Steph

Thursday's Thoughts - Playing the martyr

This last week and month, I've been reading my e-mails from FLYLady.  Some of the e-mails don't pertain to things I'm struggling with but I find encouragement there to keep pressing on.  www.flylady.com is a site that I use for help with housekeeping.  When I'm using it, it helps a lot.

She's been talking lately about being a martyr.  I know a lot about that.  Often I can be found in the kitchen grumbling out loud or in my heart about all that I have to do and no one is really helping and if I have to tell them then it's not service from their heart.  Wait, what?????  I'd have to say if I'm grumbling then it's not service from my heart either.

Yesterday, I woke up to a sort-of clean but mostly dirty kitchen.  I had been gone till everyone was in bed last night.  I knew that I was doing the wrong thing by complaining, but I was grumbling about how I have to pay if I ever leave the house.  Consequences of a night at guild. 

I even grumbled to my husband about it.  He told me that they had done the dishes but the dishes on the counter were rejects.  They hadn't just left it all for me.  I should have known better.  My man likes having the dishes done and there is no way he would have just let it get skipped.

There are days when I get it.  When I realize that I cannot let my happiness be determined by whether or not a child does his chores willingly, or not at all.  There are days when I am willing to bend over backward for my family, to be the kind of mom that I envision is a good mom, but that's not most days.

When my child complains "He dried only 5 dishes and I dried 10."  I am so tempted to reveal the fact that, "Hey, I cooked, I'm washing the dishes, and then I'll probably end up helping you dry."  At the times when I do that, they look at me like I'm an alien from another planet.  Because they have that same super-mom in their head.

Not long ago, as the above scenario was playing out in my kitchen AGAIN.  A thought came, I believe it was the Lord gently admonishing, "You are the mom, they are the child.  When you were the child, you did not have the weight of running a household on your shoulders.  Take the weight I give you and do not pass it on to your children.  It is yours.  Theirs is different." 

Why do I lose the fact that serving my family is a privilege?  I want it to be a joy.  It's not when I get selfish and only think about my wants.  I want to enjoy serving my family.  I need to stop the grumbling in it's tracks and start being thankful.

It's rather interesting to me that last week's post was about being thankful and this week I had the most trouble with that.  

Making the most of today
Steph

Today I read through Numbers 24 and Psalm 24 and Proverbs 10.  Currently I'm working on Romans 1:31-32 for memory.