Sorry, I haven't written in awhile. I've had to take a little break and try to get a new routine down. Things had not been running smoothly, so I've been trying a few different things. So just to update you on different areas of my life right now.
~ I went to see the Maxwell's last month, with two of my "besties", Whitney and Lisa :) We listened to two different sessions, one for Mom's on "Scheduling" and one for Dad's and Mom's on "Keeping our Children's Hearts". They were both really good! And totally inspired me to get back on a routine. They do what is called "chore packs" and I will post a video at the end of this post, so you can check it out. I had read about them before, but kinda put it off on the back burner, but we are now doing them and they are going great!!! Teri, the mom, did say, that she thought some of her boys were going to take their chore packs with them when they got married. I was so glad to hear her say that, because there are some days I feel like the kids may never get the simplest things ;) They also talked in the second session about Family Worship/Bible Time and how important it was. He gave the illustration that if you don't read the Bible to your children daily, it's like starving them for a day of their spiritual food. He even went as far as to say, if your family forgets to read the Bible, then parents don't eat for the next day. Then you can feel the pain in your stomach, that your heart and life is actually feeling. It was definately a good idea to make you aware of how important Family Worship is!
~ My BFF, Melisa, and I have been working hard lately on preserving potatos (they have been on sale at our local Aldi's for .99 cents for a 10lb bag!!!). We've also been researching and trying out different freezer/crockpot dinner recipes for our families.
~ I've been pinning alot of organizational ideas and tools lately on pintrest and going through Fly Lady's webpage with a fine tooth comb. I've found all kinds of usefull ideas and I hope to put some of them into play very soon!!
~ I've been re-reading Large Family Logistics. It's one of my favorite books. Don't let the title scare you, if you have just one or even two children, it is a wonderful, wonderful organizational book!!!
~ I read Created to Be His Help Meet. That was an eye opener!!! I know there is alot of people out there that would totally disagree with this book, so if you are feminist, you might need to pray alot while reading this! But it was definately something I needed to hear! I get so bent out of shape sometimes when I feel like Ronnie does not help me enough or isn't doing what I "think" he should be. This book gave me a whole new prespective!
~ And I started reading Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit. I'm about half-way through the book and it's been really convicting!! I definately suggest reading it, even if you don't currently or plan to homeschool, it has a lot of ideas of how to deal with anger and disorganization.
~ This past month, I went to Mom's Night Out with our local homeschool group, where we were discussing the book Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe. It was really good to talk about our downfalls with each other and to realize we need to stop comparing ourselves to other families who seem to have it all together, when in reality, they really don't either :)
* Things I'm currently working on: Revamping the Schedule. It just wasn't working, as much as I loved it, there were some kinks that needed to be worked out. One of the things that Teri Maxwell suggested, was doing any preschool work first before you school the older kids. Otherwise, she found, she would put it off until she was finished with the big kids and then she didn't have the energy to worry about it. And since we have 2 "littles" running around the house tyring to interrupt "school time", we're going to start doing preschool time in the morning and regular "school time" for the big kids in the afternoon at quiet time while the 2 littles are down for nap. I'll let you know how it works out ;)
2nd thing I'm working on is: Trying to stay up when I get up to get Leigha. I've been going back to bed alot and then getting up when the kids get up. But, it puts me so far behind on things like getting schoolwork copied and myself ready and so on. I make to about 10:00 each morning and think, "If I had stayed up this morning, this would have already been done! Why do I do this to myself?!?" Well, mainly because sleep is my best friend!! So my goal is to try and start getting to bed earlier ;) Yeah, I'll let you know how that goes too!
A big part of being organized is realizing and taking account for what is NOT organized or NOT working in your daily life and trying to fix it! So don't be discouraged when you have to take a time-out and step back and start over :)
Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house; but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
Have you felt overwhelmed lately?? Do you have any great "Organizational Tools/Ideas"? Read any good books lately?
Here's the Chore Pack video. This is Courtney from Women Living Well.
