Looking Back: May

Why does the beginning of May seem like forever ago?  Wow.  At the beginning of May I had hoped to add some additional goals to the making of the bed, Scripture reading, etc.  I am glad I didn't commit to it because I would be feeling the pressure of not achieving those things right now.  I think I had enough foresight into what was coming my way to maybe hold off.  I did, however, commit to the Homemaker's Challenge from Joyful Mothering in correspondence with the book 31 Days to Clean.  About half way through the month that went right out the window.  I am okay with that and will probably resume this at some point as I thought that the heart challenges were good for me.  The task challenges we good and I have heard through the rumor mill that there are a new set of task challenges.  As I return to that I will probably blog more about it here.

As mentioned in a previous post I have a hard time recovering from trips.  We had a whim of a trip mid-May to San Diego.  Then about a week or so later we were on our way to Colorado deep in the San Juan Mountains.  We will be heading to Denver soon to celebrate with family a major milestone (will share about that later) and I think that will be all for travelling for a time.  I hope to recover before then but we will see.

Unfortunately, as of late, my bed making and Scripture reading have been...well...lacking.  I need to adjust back to a normal schedule and muster up motivation.  It's a challenge but I need to get there.  I guess, in a sense, those are my goals for this month.

Week 1: Purpose & Motivation

Let me just say...

              ...this has been a GREAT week!

I have way more motivation this week to do tasks that I would normally look at as overwhelming and daunting.  Which would then in turn lead to me just not doing them.  Even while chasing a toddler and a very fast-moving 8-month old things got done.  However, some things that I have been caught up on have been a bit lacking because part of our house is busy with renovation.  Laundry has me a little behind because water was off for a time.  I could easily catch up but I just haven't.  Hopefully, that will be remedied today and tomorrow.   But there is more to this challenge than tasks -- a change of heart is at the root of it all.

We were challenged to write our mission statement.  You can find my post on this here.  That was a process for me and I may still tweak it some.  But for now, I like it.  My husband even commented on it and that was helpful for me to know that he agrees with and approves of this vision.

The idea of giving life to my home is a bit of a challenge for me.  Well, at least when it comes to decorating our home.  There are places that are desperate for some sort or decorative love.  I just need to move forward with the plans and visions I have for those spaces.  Goals for that aspect of things are:

1. Finish decorative touches in Miss L and Miss A's rooms.
2. Collect supplies for Family photo wall.
3. Find and acquire decorative piece for above the fire place.
4. Word art for master bath, kitchen, laundry room

That should be enough for now.  While these are my goals for this area they are not my top priority...

...Nice segue, right?

Priorities (I'll probably fine tune these a bit and repost - these are my rough notes)

1. God - I have been getting up before Husband and children to get ready for the day and spend time in the Word.  However, I am realizing that I may need to get up even EARLIER! (UGH!)  But I think it will be worth it in the end.  I find myself rushing to read and praying as I walk out of our room to greet our children and start the day.  So, I need to adjust in this area.
2. Husband  - I am called to be a wife before I am a mother.  Sometimes that's a hard thing to wrap our minds around.  My husband is so sweet and easy going.  He has been encouraging as I learn to manage our household.  He's quick to tell me to not beat myself up about things and to keep moving forward.  He didn't really want to answer the question from Day 3 so as not too add more pressure.  But his request was simple and I really want to work to make it happen so that he feels less "chaos" when he comes home.
3. Children - I have been called to be a mom.  I would like to remove "overwhelming" from my vocabulary.  I want to teach them in loving ways that also communicate grace and realistic expectations.  I desire to be better at planning fun things for them to do and interacting more with other children/families.  Our plan is to home educate our children and that seems daunting to me.  However, I think that it is the best for our family.  This will require a great amount of discipline on my part in figuring out what each day looks like.
4. Home - I want a clean home.  I will not expect perfection.  I want to eventually declutter my home.  However, this house if full 24 hours a day.  It's not empty while people are at work, school, daycare, etc.  It will look lived in -- this is where I work.  Three meals a day for four people come out of my kitchen.  Toys are played with here.  It's okay if it looks that way.  I want it to be a place that all are welcome and feel like they are welcomed.  I want to take pride in what the Lord has provided for us.
5. Personal - There are a few things that I would like to try to learn -- making soap and sewing.  This is not the top of my list but they are somewhat exciting to me.

So, there you have it.  I think that I will close with a picture of my fridge.  It makes me happy each time I open it.  This was probably my favorite task this week even though I REALLY did not want to do it.  So very worth it.  I couldn't bring myself to take a photo before because it was blech!  Props to those who are far more transparent than I!  HA HA!

Day 1: Purpose

Today begins the Homemaker Challenge with the ebook, 31 Days to Clean.  I am glad that my task today was "merely" to create a mission statement.  I know some other folks have already jumped on to the next day's task.  I may or may not do that as there are some other things that I would like to get accomplished today.  Mondays can be a little crazy as we have grandparents over in the morning to take care of Miss A while I take Miss L to speech therapy (today was AWESOME!)  On top of that, today began our shower remodel so we have an assortment of people in and out of the house.  Thankfully, they were done well before nap time and will resume tomorrow.  Minor adjustments but still more activity around here than we are used to for sure.

So, a mission statement.  I have never been good at writing them as I always think that all the ones that other people write are far superior and much more eloquent.  I read some of the statements written by others in the challenge and found a few that I liked.  However, Joyful Mothering recommended reading Inspired to Action's Mission Statements for Moms e-book.  I skimmed it enough to have some tracks to run on and I finally settled on the following mission statement:


My family needs a sanctuary in which to find peace, strength, encouragement and love.  By the grace of God I hope towards this by doing my best to model loving, godly behavior, be diligent in our work in and outside the home, and to speak words that strengthen the souls of my husband and children so that we might be continually united as a family that endeavors to create a life-giving, loving and Christ-centered home.

I think that this was a good exercise in that I have a clear and concise vision of the end goal.  This is vision that I can put in front of myself for many years and not just a short season until "such and such" is accomplished.  For me, it is also convicting as I reflect on how much damage my tongue can do and has done.  (ouch!)

Somehow I am supposed to make it all pretty and such.  I may do that later but I will print it up and post it on the inside of my pantry door where I keep other Scripture, encouragement, my calendar, and meal plan..  I'll see it... often.

I look forward to reading more statements.  If you stop in and have a post about yours, please leave a link in the comments!

Challenge: 31 Days to Change

...my heart
                ....my mind
                               ....my motivation.

This challenge and this ebook came along just in time.  It was like it was meant to be.  I can do all the FlyLady stuff or read all the books by the local Queen of Clean but in the end if my heart, motivation, and reasoning do not line up for what my Lord has deemed for me as a wife, mother, daughter, friend... woman... then it is all in vain.  My ultimate desire is that my husband, my children... and then myself.... would feel comfortable in our home.  Safe.  Relaxed.  I want them to see that from me as well.  I don't want frantic and task to be my default mode.

While I have already skimmed over most of the month there are heart things that I will find VERY challenging.  I am not sure that the "tasks" will help get my WHOLE house clean it will help in some trouble spots.  Some of the tasks don't apply.  (For example, I don't have a window in my kitchen to clean)  But I will supplement other things that I am doing and try to keep up with what has been working so far.  There have been some recent developments that will challenge me further in a good way but those things will be revealed later in the month as we encounter different challenges and tasks throughout the month.

If you would like to join in on the challenge you can click on the photo in this post and it will take you to a series of posts that will let you know what to do.  I appreciate that we will be taking the weekends off for this challenge (Which also means it doesn't start until Monday, May 2nd).  It will take us a little beyond May 31st but that is just fine.  You can also buy the ebook as a download or for the kindle for $4.99 -- totally worth it even if you don't do the challenge.  It will be an interesting journey to take with other women (one of which is a long-time friend!)

Let the cleaning (of heart, mind, and house) begin!!