Week 11--Making the Bed

No, that's not April! That's a little Keanna! Same face an same wild hair!

Contemplations

The chaos of last week has spilled over into this week. In the midst of all this potty/night training, one of the thermostats in our dryer blew out. The result? No dryer for about 5 days! Eeeek!! The blessing in this one was that my dad was able to isolate the thermostat as the problem and I was able to order a new on online. He was not available to install the new one, so I got real acquainted with the inner workings of my dryer and it is now working!! Yay! However, I am still trying to dig out of the mountains of laundry that piled up. While it was down, I did wash and hang laundry around the house, but there are only so many places to hang wet things.

Tuesday afternoon Koda came down with a fever. A day or two later he developed a horrible lung cough. Of course, Lukas started with the same symptoms not long afterward. They are both still sick and will be going to see Dr. Ng tomorrow morning. This afternoon April developed a very mild fever---hoping it's something different!

We are still trying to make the repairs to the house that the bank is requiring for our refi, but have been met with a couple challenges along the way. We are muddling through them, very thankful that we have this house!

Along with all this craziness, it's the end of the quarter. That's usually pretty exciting...for the students. For teachers on the other hand, it means a lot more work. Robbie is busy trying to get all his grading done so he can enter his comments.

This coming week is already filled with a three-tiered shower cake and company on Saturday.

Needless to say, I am exhausted and overwhelmed right now. But through the craziness, I've seen a definite blessing. More than usual, I have been longing for my precious time in God's Word. When I am in the midst of the tornado, the rocking chair, a cup of tea, and my Bible just sound so good to me. If life were always easy, we'd never experience that deep desire and need for intense communion with our Savior. So I thank God for this hectic week and ask Him for the strength and stamina to get through.

One major blessing this week was that I got to attend a mother-daughter tea with Keanna! Just Keanna! No boys and no April! It was so nice to spend time with my precious one without distraction from the other kids. This is a rare occurrence these days. Thanks to Keanna's friend Megan and her mom, we had a great time together, eating tea sandwiches, scones, and sweets! It was also a great time of fellowship for some of us moms who just get to see each other in passing at school.

Habits in Progress

1. Scripture Saturation: Going well! Only about 5 chapters behind!
2. Toy Pick-Up Time: Pushed aside the last few days the kids have been sick. They built a "house" out of chairs, couch cushions, and blankets that we're letting them leave up for now.
3. A Hug and a Kiss: XOXO
4. Water: Still at it!
5. WDTP Scripture Memorization: Still need to put the next verse on a card. I Peter 3:3
6. Two More Hugs: Yup!
7. Disposal Check: Fished a medicine spoon out before running the disposal!
8. Toothpaste Check: Haven't caught April reusing toothpaste this week!
9. Family Time Tuesdays: Due to the refi, Robbie had to work on installing a ceiling fan on Tuesday so family didn't really happen. But the boys did really enjoy watching him and handing him things! And I made Tuesday's dinner on Monday so all I had to do was heat it up!
10. Earthquake Kit: Didn't make it to WinCo this week.

This Week's One New Habit

I really dislike making the bed. After all, it's just going to get messed up again. In fact, when I was in college, we had weekly room checks. I used to sleep on top of my covers with one blanket on so I wouldn't have to make my bed. And I don't really care if the covers are perfect when I'm sleeping. As long as I'm covered and warm, I'm good.

Robbie, on the other hand, likes the covers smooth, tucked in, and all in order before he can go to sleep. This means he is constantly having to adjust the sheets and blankets before going to bed (especially on my side). He faithfully does this every night and never complains. But I don't want him to have to take the extra few minutes every night---he gets too little sleep as it is. If I made the bed everyday, he wouldn't need to adjust and tuck every night.

Now, I'm a realist, so I'm not going to commit to making it as soon as I get up every day or getting it done before breakfast. Mornings in our house are crazy enough as it is and I'm lucky if I'm dressed before 9. A more attainable goal is to have the bed made before the kids wake up from their naps. This gives me a lot of time to fit it into my day and gives me some time to do it without the kids' "help." And since my ultimate goal is not to have the bed made, but to make evenings easier on my husband, it doesn't really matter what time it gets done as long as it's before he gets into bed.

So, I hereby resolve to make the bed every day before the kids get up from their naps so Robbie does not have to fix the covers before going to bed every day.

Weeks 7, 8, 9, and 10--Disposal, Toothpaste, Family, and Earthquakes

Contemplations

It's been a long time since I've written. When I embarked on this adventure, I specifically stated that I would not allow this blog to get in the way of my family or home responsibilities. These past four weeks I've had to push it aside to focus on my priorities. Life has really seemed to speed up in the last month. I can't really think of any one specific reason why. I think it is a combination of things.

The most time-consuming thing right now is continued potty training. April is doing really well. Still having occasional accidents, but is getting better at vocalizing when she has to go. She's peed in the big potty at WinCo and church! Yay! No more hauling the little potty to church every week! (I'll probably take it at least one more week just to be sure.)

Four days ago I added night training to my list of responsibilities. The boys will be four next month and still don't make it through the night. After reading John Rosemond's book in preparation to train April, I decided that once the pull-ups were gone, I wasn't buying any more. The boys are just going to have to learn to stay dry. We used the last pull-up three nights ago. Lukas has stayed dry both nights! Koda has woken up wet both mornings. Hopefully he'll catch on soon. My sister used this method with my niece and it didn't take long. In the meantime, it means I'm washing bedding every day. In the long-run, it will be well worth it, but right now, I'm just tired of doing laundry.

I added a new writing responsibility to my plate in January when I started writing a weekly post for The Frugal Find. This isn't that bad as I can sometimes use Near to Nothing posts and just tweak them a bit. (Sorry, can't figure out why this is centered.)

Another added stress has been the refi we're currently in the middle of. We're hoping to close in the next couple weeks. If all goes through as planned, we'll save a good chunk of money every month and a ton over the life of the loan. But before it can be finalized, we have some things we need to fix around the house. It's all stuff we wanted to do anyway, but it just wasn't high enough on the priority list to make the time for it. Now we have to do it.

Through it all, I've had quite a few times in the past two months when I just wanted to leave the kids to run amok while I crawled under the covers to hide, cry, and sleep. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a full-time mommy and wouldn't want it any other way. I'd really cry if I had to go to work outside the house. But lately I've just been so exhausted.

To get through those times, I just keep reminding myself of God's promises of rest in Psalm 127:2 and the glorious future rest in heaven that we read about in Hebrews 4. It truly is only the Lord who can sustain us in troubled times.

Habits in Progress

1. Scripture Saturation: With the craziness of February, I fell quite behind and am still about 10 days behind. Rather than try to catch up, I decided to start March's reading list and go back and pick up February's neglected readings as I have the time. I think this way I will be less discouraged about being behind. I am so far current for March.
2. Toy Pick-Up Time: Going well---need to do a thorough purge of the toys to make it easier and faster.
3. A Hug and a Kiss: Met Robbie at the door almost every day this week!
4. Water: This is becoming such a habit that when I forget, I remember as soon as I start eating my meal.
5. WDTP Scripture Memorization: Proverbs 29:17 "Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart." Due this Thursday.
6. Two More Hugs: Great!! Just gave them each a hug this evening!
7. Disposal Check: Now that they boys are old enough and coordinated enough, I've been having them carry their own dishes to the kitchen after meals. They usually dump them into the sink. But since they can't see what they're doing, this means that the silverware sometimes ends up in the garbage disposal. After running a few spoons through the disposal, I decided I need to make a habit of checking it before running it. Since then, I haven't run any silverware through it.
8. Toothpaste Check: April LOVES to brush her teeth! I often find her at the bathroom sink brushing away. She also loves toothpaste. She discovered that there is often a great supply of toothpaste in the sink after the older kids are done brushing. I have found her scraping the toothpaste out of the sink with her toothbrush and brushing with it. Gross!! So I now regularly check and clean the sink after the older kids are done.
9. Family Time Tuesdays: Sort of as a result of all the recent busyness and craziness, Robbie and I ended up having a huge discussion about how we can make more time for the kids. We decided that Tuesday nights are going to be family time. On Tuesdays, Robbie will not do any school work until after the kids go to bed. I will plan meals that require little or no prep just before dinner time and will wait to clean up the dishes until after the kids are in bed. This last Tuesday was the first time. We all played Legos together and it was so fun! The boys especially liked building things.

This Week's One New Habit

For those of us living in earthquake country, it is very important that we all have emergency supplies on hand: battery-operated radio, drinking water, flashlights, non-perishable food. I used to be real good at making sure we had all these things on hand. But since we moved into our house (almost 3 years ago), I haven't really collected these things again. I've wanted to get this going for some time now, but this week's small quake really gave me motivation.

Buying enough food for six of us for a few days will be really expensive. So to spread out the cost, I plan on buying one or two canned items each time I'm at the grocery store to put away in our earthquake kit. Once I've stocked up as much as we need, I will continue to buy new stuff and use it to replace items that are nearing their expiration date--yes, non-perishables do perish.

So, I hereby resolve to buy at least one extra can of food every time I am at WinCo in order to build up our earthquake emergency kit.

Week 6--Two More Hugs

Sorry, this is a long one...

Contemplations

This last week I started reading another book for DTP--Becoming God's True Woman edited by Nancy Leigh Demoss. I'm on the fifth chapter and cannot even begin to tell you how good it is! In the introduction, Demoss quotes a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier that I absolutely love (1st and 3rd stanzas quoted here)!

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!

Reclothe us in our rightful mind;

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.

...

Drop Thy still dews of quietness

Till all our strivings cease.

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Oh, how I want this to be the prayer of my heart every day! That I would take time out from all the busyness of life and daily contemplate the person of God! That my mind would momentarily stop churning the things of this world and offer up praises to my Lord and Father!

The first chapter is "Femininity: Developing a Biblical Perspective" by Carolyn Mahaney. She says "our femininity is a gift of grace from a loving God" and then proceeds to show how we are to express our femininity through our role as a helper, nurturing children (our own or other people's), and caring for our home. Regardless of marital status, God created and calls all women to express do these things.

If all of us mommies are going to be honest, we'd have to admit that there are times when we are tempted to throw in the towel. While we recognize and wholeheartedly agree that our children are gifts from the Lord, there are times when we've had it and just want to lock the bedroom door, crawl under the covers, and let everyone fend for themselves. Of course, we would never really do so. And I am quickly overcome by guilt when such thoughts flow through my mind, realizing how sinful and in need of repentance I am.

I hit that point a few times in the past week. Last weekend Robbie was at men's retreat. About 24 hours after arriving back home, he came down with the flu which lingered about five days. Counting his late nights out the previous week, I was essentially a single mom for about a week-and-a-half. My heart goes out to all true single parents out there! Anyway, between cleaning up from the potty training (which is going splendidly!), getting kids to and from school, keeping everyone fed and dressed, doing TONS of laundry, and attempting to keep up with some of the house chores, there were moments when I didn't know if I was going to make it through the evening.

But each day the Lord pulled me through the rough spots, was faithful to refresh my soul through His Word, and gave me the strength to get through the next day! As Carolyn Mahaney says, "there really is no other source of refreshment than God."

Habits in Progress

1. Scripture Saturation: I was able to start February one day ahead! This will help me finish on time since there are only four extra days this month. I believe I am on schedule or will be before I go to bed tonight.
2. Toy Pick-Up Time: Still going great!
3. A Hug and a Kiss: With Robbie being sick, I've actually been avoiding kissing him. But I've been trying to hug him, scratch his back, rub his shoulders whenever I could.
4. Water: Even with the busyness of the week, still going at it!
5. WDTP Scripture Memorization: I have reviewed Ephesians 5:22, 23 every day since my last DTP class. "Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior."

This Week's One New Habit

Chapter 3 of Becoming God's True Woman is entitled "Daddy's Girl: Knowing God As Father" and was written by Mary A. Kassian. I read this chapter while sitting at a table in the food court area at Target this last week. I'm pretty sure if I had been at home, I would have broken down and cried as I read it. Kassian starts the chapter by describing the sad state of today's families. "Our society has not only lost the physical presence of fathers, but we have also lost something even more fundamental: We have lost our idea of fatherhood....Our society is afflicted not only with the absence of fathers, but also with the absence of our belief in fathers."

As I read this, I could not help but thank God for my own daddy! I am incredibly blessed to have parents who are still married to each other and who still love each other. My dad was always there. When we were little, he took us to our soccer games every Saturday. He helped me build my California mission in fourth grade. During our junior high years he was attending our softball, basketball, and volleyball games and French braiding the whole team's hair! Yes, he can French braid! And in high school he helped us with our Calculus by having us explain the difficult problems to him until we reached the "oh, I just found my mistake" point.

And even though my sister and I have both left home to start our own families, our daddy is still very involved in our lives. He is an excellent Bapa to our combined five children, he rescues me when I am having car trouble, he fixes things around the house for me, and he BBQs/grills dinner every Sunday!

A few weeks ago Robbie made an observation of something that I had been thinking about as well. He commented that my family doesn't really hug that much. The truth is that we were always very physically affectionate when we were younger. I remember hugging my parents a lot when I was a kid. I have fond memories of snuggling up to my dad to watch football on Sundays. But in the past few years, the hugs have been absent. I think one reason is that we see each other all the time. We hug Robbie's parents when we see them because we only see them once a month. But I see my parents multiple times each week. Also, I usually have my hands full of kids and kid-related things. And the kids are always needing their hugs. But none of these are valid excuses. I not only need to tell my parents that I love them (which I do all the time), but I need to show them that I do. This evening as we were leaving their house, I made it a point to hug each of them, even though I was juggling April and my purse. And it was nice!

So, I hereby resolve to hug my daddy and mommy on a regular basis, that they would know that I love them not only by my words, but also by my physical affection toward them.

Week 5--Scripture Memorization

Contemplations

I am exhausted. There's just no other way to say it. It's been a busy, chaotic week, though I feel like I didn't accomplish very much. The truth is that I accomplished much: my kids received three meals each day, I hugged owies away, I washed a TON of laundry (not put away), worked on some new Near to Nothing recipes, and potty-trained. Oh yeah, and I cleaned up a lot of pee. Yes, I am potty-training April at 18 months. It's going very well, but it is draining. But that's another story. All this to say, I am tired. To top it off, Robbie is gone this weekend on men's retreat. He's going to receive my most enthusiastic greeting yet when he gets home!

Anyway, as I was in the middle of this crazy week, I was struck by how blessed I am to be a wife and mother and be called to this life. I was brushing someone's teeth when I just had to silently thank God that, though much of my life would be considered "mundane," I am able to glorify God through ALL that I do. "So, whether you eat or drink [or clean up pee], or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Habits in Progress

1. Scripture Saturation: I'm still only about 2 1/2 days behind! Hoping to get a head start on February before Wednesday.
2. Toy Pick-Up Time: Going well! Even when Robbie was gone, I was mostly able to keep all the toys picked up.
3. A Hug and a Kiss: Loving it! And can't wait for him to come home (any minute now!)!
4. Water: This habit has been extremely easy to incorporate into my daily routine. Since I attached it with something I regularly do (eating) it does not get neglected. I have surprisingly found that, by drinking more water, I want to drink more. I often find myself going back for a partial glass between meals or before bed.

This Week's One New Habit

As I mentioned in my first post about spending more time in God's Word, I am taking Women's DTP at church. One of our assignments for each class is to memorize Scripture. My goal for the remainder of DTP is to start my memorization right away so I have two weeks to let it marinate in my mind. I want to not only be able to regurgitate, but to understand and live the verses I am learning. I want my mind to be so familiar with Scripture that it spills out of my mouth (especially when talking to my children).

My method for this I got from my friend Stephanie who is also taking DTP. She told me that she puts her verses in zip-top bags and sticks them to the shower wall. I started doing this last quarter, but not as faithfully as I should have. One unexpected benefit of doing this is that Keanna has started to learn some of my verses! One day she recited Romans 5:1 to me: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." I didn't realize she was reading them!

So, I hereby resolve to start my Scripture memorization immediately after each DTP class, that the Word of God would saturate my mind, transform my heart, and overflow out of my lips.

Week 4--Water

Contemplations

In this week's Bible reading, I spent a lot of time in Genesis, specifically reading about the patriarchs and their families. These men are often considered "Bible heroes" and are revered for their faith and obedience. But what struck me as I read through this time, was how messed up they were. If it's been a while, go back and read over the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons.

Two thoughts run through my head as I think about these men: 1) God's faithfulness and 2) my sinful heart.

It is clear from the Genesis account that these men were far from perfect. They were human just like any of us and sinned as is the way of humanity. But God chose them despite their failures because of His great love, mercy, and grace. They became great not because of their own efforts, but because the one true God who chose them made them great. Even when they were in sin, God was there repeating the covenant to them, protecting and prospering them. Does this mean God was rewarding their sin? Absolutely not! For they suffered greatly for their sins. Abraham's house was full of strife between Sarah and Hagar and his two sons, Isaac's wife and son deceived him in his old age, and Jacob had to flee from his father's house and was deceived by his uncle. And these are just some of the consequences they faced. Yet through it all, God was with them.

These very sad accounts also point out the darkness of my own heart. Unfortunately, I am all to often the Pharisee of Luke 18, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men..." I give in to the sin of self-righteousness and think of myself as better than they were. But the honest truth is that all of our hearts are "deceitful above all things" (Jer. 17:9). Without the work of the Holy Spirit in my life, made possible by the justifying work of Christ, I would be held captive by sin heading for eternal condemnation. I must daily remind myself the depths from which God saved me that I might not fall into temptation.

Habits in Progress

1. Scripture Saturation: Now that I have fully given over to the idea of breaking up my reading time into small little segments, it is a lot easier to get my Bible reading done. This week was really busy and I fell a bit behind. But last night I was able to get a lot done after the kids went to bed! I am still only two-and-a-half days behind! I'm really enjoying the Bible reading plan I chose. It's interesting how the passages sometimes seem to complement each other so well.
2. Toy Pick-Up Time: Robbie and I have both felt the relief of this one new habit! Our house has so much more order and the kids can usually find the toys they want.
3. A Hug and a Kiss: I really made an effort this week to stop what I was doing and greet Robbie with a proper hug and kiss when he came home at the end of the day. Except for one day when I was in the middle of nursing April when he arrived, I put aside my busyness to let him know how happy I was to have him home!

This Week's One New Habit

Most of my time is spent caring for my husband, my children, and my house. And that's the way it should be. I love the role God has given me and wouldn't trade it for anything! But sometimes I neglect myself. I've noticed a few areas where I need to care for myself more diligently. And I'm not talking about the world's "take time for yourself, you deserve it" care for myself. I'm talking about God's "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you" care for myself. In order to most fully glorify Him through the roles and responsibilities he has given me, I need to make sure I take adequate care of the body He created and gave me.

Lately I've noticed that I've been letting myself get really dehydrated. This has actually been a problem my whole life--I never really did like water. But with caring for Robbie and the four kids, my housekeeping responsibilities, writing, cake decorating, church events, and everything else that consumes my time, I've really been neglecting to consume enough fluids. Even at meal times, I'm often too busy getting food for everyone, cleaning up messes, feeding April, and cutting food for little mouths that I either don't even get myself a drink or don't drink the one that's in front of me.

The result of this seemingly small thing is that I don't always feel my physical best. Dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches, dry skin and lips, lactation problems (I'm still nursing April), as well as a host of internal organ issues.

My goal from this point out is to drink more fluids. But, going back to the reason behind my dehydration, I often get so busy that I don't think about it or forget. So, I will attach fluid intake to something I do regularly each day--eating. Before I can eat my breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I will drink a whole glass of water. The average size of the glasses in our house is about 16 oz. This will get me at least 6 cups of water each day. Add in a cup of tea or two and milk in my cereal and with dinner, and I've got my recommended 8 cups of fluids each day.

So, I hereby resolve to drink an entire glass of water before each meal every day in order to help maintain my body in a way that is honoring to its Creator.

Week 3--A Hug and a Kiss

As I sit here, trying to figure out what to write, I am filled with many different emotions as I reflect on the past week. Overall, it was a great week! But this evening I allowed my heart to be ruled by my flesh. The boys didn't get a nap and were extra difficult. I let their sinfulness draw out the sinfulness of my own heart. Just as my children repeatedly disobeyed and rebelled today, so I repeatedly disobeyed and rebelled against God in my heart. I think one reason God created the parent/child relationship was to show us parents how sinful we are. I am thankful for this in that sin exposed is sin that can be dealt with. I am so glad that the Lord laid on my heart to start this year off by spending more time in His Word! It is only through Scripture and the Holy Spirit's work in our hearts that we can see and lament our wickedness before the Holy God while at the same time rejoice in His atoning work and imputed righteousness.

The Scripture that had the most impact on me this week came not from my own reading, however, but from Keanna's Bible story book. Today we read about God's judgement on Cain for killing Abel. As I read, surrounded by my children, my heart was just heavy with the fact that I am no more righteous than Cain. Had Christ not shed His blood for my sins and covered me with His perfection, I would be no better off than the first murderer. Praise God for His plan of salvation!

As for my Bible reading plan, I am doing well. I am about two-and-a-half days behind, which is perfectly fine since there are six extra days (25 readings per month; 31 days in January). As long as I stay at this pace, I should be able to start February on schedule.

Toy pick-up time was a success this week!! All the toys, couch cushions, articles of clothing, blankets, etc. got picked up and put away before the kids went to bed. My goal was to have them do it before dessert time, but sometimes we forgot and realized it afterward. Nevertheless, we had them pick everything up afterward and the house stayed really clean!! And as the week went on, they needed less and less prodding from Robbie and I. They still need verbal help, but they are getting the hang of it. I can honestly say that the little extra effort every evening is making for a more relaxed house overall!

This week's new habit stems out of a DTP assignment that Robbie had to do. He was given 11 questions that we had to sit down and seriously discuss. Things like, "In what ways can I [Robbie] be more Christ-like?," "What things do I do annoy you?," "How can I listen to you better?," etc. While the goal of the assignment was to help him take a close look at himself and become a better husband and father, I definitely saw areas where I need to work.

One thing that came up that I want to change is how I respond to him when he gets home from work every day. Often he comes home when I am in the middle of preparing dinner, changing a diaper, cleaning up a mess, or switching laundry around. I usually just say, "Hi!" to him and finish what I am doing before washing my hands and giving him a hug and a kiss. To show him that he is my domestic priority, I want to stop what I am doing, wash my hands if necessary, and give him a huge welcome-home hug. The chicken can wait a few minutes to be chopped, half the laundry can sit in the washer until he knows he is loved an appreciated at home, the spilled milk on the floor will still be there in five minutes. Of course, there will be some times I will have to complete the task at hand before physically greeting him--a half-changed April will still be there after a hug, but those few minutes of naked baby running free in the house could be disastrous!

So, I hereby resolve to lay aside all tasks within reason to great my husband with a hug and a kiss when he comes home from work so he knows that he is loved, appreciated, and cherished at home.

Week 2--Toy Pick-Up Time

Week one of 2012 is over and so far so good. I’m slightly behind on some of my reading, but that’s okay as my reading plan has catch-up time built in at the end of the month. I did not have time to do any reading last Sunday because we hosted a huge New Year’s open house. Throughout the day, about 50 people and a handful of dogs came through.

The truth is that we didn’t even go to church that morning because we were preparing. When Keanna found out we weren’t going to church, she said, “We’re trading God’s Word for a party?!?” Robbie and I are so thankful that Keanna’s heart is sensitive toward spiritual things! Fortunately, our church streams the service on Sunday mornings so we were able watch it while dusting, sweeping, and rearranging the furniture. (You can find it here, but not next week--1/15.)

Anyway, I have about nine chapters of Genesis to read to be caught up. We’ll see if I get all caught up this week.

One verse that jumped out at me in my reading for this week is Psalm 4:4, “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your hearts on your beds, and be silent.” We’ve been dealing with angry outbursts from the boys, especially Lukas. I definitely want to commit this one to memory so I can use it to admonish him.

This week’s new habit has to do with running an organized house. With four kids, it doesn’t take long for a clean house to go to shambles. And once it’s a disaster, it’s harder to get back in order and more overwhelming of a task to tackle. So the new habit we want to establish is having the kids clean up all their toys, projects, and forts before getting dessert. We used to try to have them clean up right before bed, but too often we’d skip the clean-up because it was getting late and we just wanted to get them into bed. By moving up clean-up time to right after dinner, we won’t be tempted to let it go because of the time. And by having the kids clean up before dessert, it gives them an incentive to get it done quickly.

Before our New Year’s party, we got the family room in good order, so we have a good start. And my wonderful husband hauled the mess out of Keanna’s craft area and completely organized it for her! She will be required to clean up this area every day as well.

This is going to require some planning ahead on days when we won’t be eating dinner at home or will be leaving the house right after dinner. In those cases, we’ll have to leave time for clean-up before we need to step out the door.

My desired outcomes for this habit extend much further than having the toys cleaned up. My goal is that I will sweep and vacuum more often because the floor will already be toy-free. Also, I’m hoping that the kids will learn that, if they clean up a little all day long, they will have less to clean up at the end of the day.

So, I hereby resolve to have the kids clean up their toys every night after dinner and before dessert in order to maintain a more orderly house.

What Is One New Habit?

It's the beginning of January, which mean resolutions and a metaphorical clean slate. But I don't think I've ever really made a New Year's resolution. All year long I am thinking about ways I need to grow as a child of God, be a better wife, love my children more, manage my household more efficiently, take care of my own physical needs, be a better steward of what God's given me.

In the past I've come up with big picture goals, plans, and schedules, only to become overwhelmed after the first few days. I've decided to give up on making a lot of changes all at the same time, because I always end up making little or no change. Instead, I will attempt to make small changes, one at a time. Each week in 2012, I will add a new habit to my routine, hoping that the gradual introduction to change will be less overwhelming and more doable. Not only will I be making changes, but I will be publicly writing about them so as to have accountability and motivation to keep up those changes.

As I am already a very busy women, I will keep the posts to one or two per week. I don't want this endeavor, which is meant to grow me and bring organization to my life, to consume my time such that I am undoing any of the good it is accomplishing. And I most likely will not be proofreading any of this. Ah!! The horror! Those of you who know me well, know that that is way out of my character.

Seeing as this is the first week of the year, I think a good place to start would be with a spiritual habit. Given my busy life with a husband, four children ages seven and younger, a house, church activities, my other blog, my cake business, and everything else life throws at me, my time in God's Word has been on a roller coaster over the last few years. I want that to change because "all Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16). I actually resolved to do this a few months ago while reading out of Donald S. Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it. But be forewarned, it is very convicting.

On a side note, I was reading Whitney as an assignment for my Women's Discipleship Training Program (Women's DTP) at church, Grace Bible Church of Pleasant Hill. For those of you who attend Grace, I cannot urge you enough to take this class!!

To bring some order to my Bible reading, I stopped by the church library and picked up a reading plan (they're free!). You can find reading plans online and even in the front or back of some Bibles. The Grace bookstore carries two: M'Cheyne's Calendar for Daily Bible Reading and The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan. They both have readings from four different passages each day. I decided on the latter because there are 25 readings each month rather than 30 or 31.

"But that encourages you to be lazy!" Possibly, but for this point in my life, it's a more realistic expectation. There are those days when all the kids are extra needy, one of the appliances gives out, we have doctor appointments, and Robbie gets hung up at work late. Life with young children does not get lived by a calendar, but by lovingly, graciously, and sacrificially loving each one of them every moment of the day.

I think part of the reason (other than sin) I go through periods when my time in the Word is neglected or minimal is that I am a perfectionist. Looking at my house, you'd never think so, but that's the problem. If I can't do a job completely, I tend not to do it. For some reason I've had this idea in my mind that my time with God's Word needs to be completely focused and completed in one quality sitting. While that is desirable, it's an unrealistic expectation for this time in my life. I finally realized that a few shorter times in the Bible were much better than attempting to get in one long time. So I read a little while the kids are eating their breakfast. I read a Psalm while I'm on hold on the phone. I read a passage while I'm waiting for the pasta water to boil. And that seems to be making all the difference.

So, I hereby resolve to saturate my heart and my mind with the Word of God by consistently spending time in it, understanding that life will throw in some interruptions, but never using those interruptions as an excuse.