Category: organization


Sep
2018

[september]

categories: change, faith, family, oneword365, organization, reading

September is the new January for many moms with kids still in school. My two younger kids actually went back to school two weeks ago. My oldest headed back up to New York yesterday to start his second year with Word of Life Bible Institute. So we haven’t gotten into our new normal routine yet. Today I opened my calendar to a fresh month. Not a blank slate because life doesn’t ever stop, but a chance to look over my life for the next 30 days. I can’t look much past that right now.

My one Word for 2018 is “simplify.” What have I done over the last eight months that would reflect to others that I am simplifying my life. Probably not much…I’m still just as busy, maybe even busier than I want to be, my husband lost his job of 27 years, a child who has made some really bad decisions that, honestly, we don’t know the long term effects as of right now.

But I do know that God is in control and that I have to remain faithful and obedient. And I have to trust that He’s got this. He’s shown Himself in many ways. My husband has a new job which has turned out to be a much bigger blessing than we anticipated. We’ll have to wait a little longer for the outcome for my son, but I know that He is teaching us something through it and that no matter the outcome, God is still good.

Simplifying my heart has been difficult. I knew it would be. One of my goals was to read through the Bible chronologically this year. I am on track as of right now. I pray that as I read the Word it will declutter my heart. The bitterness is fading. My hope was for restoration or at least genuine reconciliation, but God hasn’t provided that yet. But the days of lingering in the sorrow of a lost relationship are becoming easier.

Simplying my home is always a work in progress. I had to clean this past weekend because we invited a family over for dinner and a movie. I love the joy I experience while we fellowship but even more the joy I feel in my heart when my home is still clean the next day, even if only for a day. I want to bottle up that feeling to remind me why I should work a little everyday to make my home a sanctuary. I have an awesome friend who encourages me in this area and we hold each other accountable to declutter something every week.

God has provided a second person to my little discipleship group. It has changed the dynamic of the group but the conversations are wonderful. It’s amazing to me how coffee with friends can also satisfy my heart as I continue to learn to open myself up a little more each time. He also provided me two new ladies to fellowship with through short devotions on my Bible app.

God has shown me this year more than ever that the little things are so important to this journey and that I need to reflect on them more than I do. Coffee with friends, dinner and a movie, devotions with friends, any time with my husband and kids…He is in all of these things.

So as September blows in with all of the items on my calendar in this “new year…” ladies Fall Bible study, a few training classes/ conferences, kids gearing up for a new youth group year, uncertainty in some situations, I first need to look to Him for direction and guidance and then everything else will fall into place.


Jan
2014

[perfection…not]

categories: family, organization

I took 2 weeks of vacation over the Christmas and New Year’s break.  We all got to sleep in and lounge around the house for 2 weeks and 3 weekends.  It was so needed…I think we rented a dozen movies from Redbox and watched every Hallmark, Lifetime and UP TV Christmas movie ever made.

The first week was baking and getting ready for Christmas.  By the second week we started to get into a routine of hanging out as a family, keeping the house straight and actually keeping the laundry up.  So when I went back to work the Monday after New Year’s I was determined that I was actually going to get organized and attempt to keep the house straight and maybe even make dinner a couple of times a week.

If you know me, then you know that I don’t have any domestic abilities at all.  Of course that is an exaggeration but keeping my house straight, let alone clean, is a major endeavor.  Add on that I am a perfectionist who will procrastinate if I can’t do it all exactly perfect at one time so you can imagine how much dust has accumulated over time.  Now I am the first to admit that I have done a horrible job of enlisting my children to help with the major housework.  That’s a project and a post for another day.

And so I digress…I searched around the web for the perfect organization tool that will whip me in shape and get this house looking good all the time.  It’s almost overwhelming all that is out there and how many experts there are to choose from.  I really wanted to have the spiritual aspect to this so I ended up finding The Confident Mom.  I had heard of her before and even bought the 2013 Weekly Household Planner but never used it.  So I downloaded the 2014 version (it’s free by the way).  For now I think it will work for me.  I like it because it is broken down by the week and she gives you examples of activities to do over the week to help you get it all done in little bites.  I know that I will have to adjust it to fit our lifestyle but’s that’s ok.  It’s a place to start and I guess getting started is the hardest thing to do.

So I started today and one project that was way overdue is our master bathroom.  Now when we built our house in 1999 we only had one child.  The house has 2 full bathrooms and one half bath and another potential full bath in the basement if we ever get around to finishing it.  We’ve since added two more kids who insist on using the master bath instead of their own.  So that means 4 of us are trying to get ready in one bathroom every day.  I cleaned off the entire surface and the cabinets underneath.  I filled up half of a large trash bag.  It was pretty gross.  I can’t tell you how much dust there was.  But here it is now and hopefully we can keep it that way.  I should have taken a before picture but let’s just say that the left sink was completely filled with stuff so we could only actually use the right sink.

That gave me a small burst of energy and I cleaned out my bedside table.  Threw a bunch of stuff away in there too.  How does it all accumulate?


On a side note we did get out of the house a little over the break…2 movies (Frozen & Saving Mr. Banks, both excellent), the trains at Bevell’s Hardware (an annual tradition) and for the first time the Newport News Celebration of Lights.  Our Christmas Eve service and New Year’s Day prayer service at church were very special too.