I'm saying no to Resolutions...

Well it's 7 days into the new year and I haven't made any resolutions...and I'm not going to!  When I make resolutions I fail pretty early in the year and then I feel badly!  So no more!  Instead I have decided to break it down into monthly goals.  If I make a goal and give myself  one month to complete it or at least make a habit out of it, I am more likely to succeed.  And that makes Momma happy! :-)

I will post what my goal is at the beginning of every month and also I will try to update on my progress.  I am hoping that this method will keep me accountable and by the end of 2012 I have 12 projects completed or habits learned!  Please pray for me in this endeavor and if you want to join me, please do!  Let me know because I would love to encourage you along the way and I certainly could use the encouragement!

My goal for January is going to be a smaller project due to a trip we are taking at the end of January, which I'll tell you about in another post.  Because we own our business and I am the Business Manager we have paperwork filed everywhere!  With tax season upon us I feel like I really need to get better organized.  At the end of December I already started that project and it is moving along nicely.  However, I am also the Business Manager of my home, like many of you.  We all know how much paperwork needs to be filed away, shredded, purged, organized, etc!  Ladies, it is time!  January is the month that my personal filing cabinet will be getting her overhaul!  I will need several...several days for this undertaking.  Purging is the big step that I need to overcome!  I am fairly organized when it comes to filing but I keep EVERYTHING for a really long time!  The problem I have is that I that I hate to waste time at my paper shredder and I refuse to throw anything in the trash that has ANY personal information on it.  We were under a burn ban for months and months so I couldn't even burn...so I have way, WAY to much stuff to be disposed of properly.  Not to mention a GIGANTIC stack of junk mail that needs to be shredded.

So this January my goal is to get my filing cabinet under control and also make a habit of shredding when necessary.  By the end of January I hope to not have ANY stacks of papers anywhere and for my filing cabinet to shut properly! :-)

Let me know what you think and if you have any goals this month! If you have a minute please send up a prayer that God will help me along the way!  Thanks in advance!  Blessings to you this beautiful Saturday afternoon!

Intentionally Living in 2012

I am a homemaker.  I love being a homemaker.  I typically find so much joy in serving my family.  However, the last few months I have felt so absent.  My family has gone through some yuck, but we have made it through to the other side and it's time that I pull up my boot straps and keep on trucking. 

The last few months my house got cleaned when it was dirty, picked up when it was messy, meals made when there were hungry bellies (usually), school was accomplished - albeit half heartedly, and my prayers to my Heavenly Father were seriously lacking in heart and soul!   I trudged through the day, sun up to sun down, fell into bed at night, complained to God that nothing I did really mattered to anyone, slept restlessly and got up early in the morning and did it all over again.  I was just existing and allowing my days to fly by, just to get to the next day.  I missed so much!  I missed playing and reading to Arrow - for fun.  I missed laughing with the Mister and cuddling on the couch.  I missed looking out over all I accomplished in the day and feeling joy.  But most importantly I missed having a close relationship with my Creator God!  My only goal was to get though the day.  This has been an exhausting way to live! 

I want to head into this new year with a new outlook.  I want to remember WHY I stay at home, WHY I homeschool and WHY taking care of my husband and son are not drudgery that keeps me in bondage but why its total freedom!  I want to fall into bed at night, exhausted but joyful, thank God for the family He has blessed me with, remember Who I am truly doing this for and enjoy a blessed sleep that God promises.

In this new year, with God's help I am going to INTENTIONALLY  make my home a haven for my family,  INTENTIONALLY  teach my son, not only academically but Biblically, INTENTIONALLY  feed my family wholesome nutritious meals, INTENTIONALLY  love my husband so he finds joy in coming home and  INTENTIONALLY  grow closer to the ONE who makes my life possible!

So hears to a fresh start and a fresh out look on Homemaking!  I pray that you will join me and find some encouragement in my imperfect but from-the-heart ramblings!

The Perfect Day

I had a perfect day!  Well....as close to perfect as you can get, I suppose.  I rose from a deep and blessed sleep at 6:30 this morning.  The house was still quite, the sky was still dark.  I tiptoed to the bathroom...showered...dressed...and crept downstairs to spend some quite time on the porch.  The air was crisp with a hint of dew on the grass...the temperature hovered at 52 degrees...and I curled up on the swing with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, my feet tucked under my skirt and my Bible, journal and pen in my lap.  I spent almost an entire hour out on the porch in sweet fellowship with my Creator.  Reading, praying, worshiping and just being still in His Presence. 

After my quiet time I spent the morning in my kitchen, my sanctuary, making homemade applesauce for breakfast, homemade breadsticks for dinner and awaiting the arrival of my sleepy family.

I remained in the Presence of the Most High all day!

Then tonight as I was putting my little man to bed, HE read ME a story!  When I get discouraged at myself for "not teaching him enough" I need to remember that moment!  Then my almost 6 year old "baby boy" lifted his voice to Heaven and prayed with me...the most raw, heartfelt and undefiled prayer!  His words came straight from his heart!  The kind of prayer that I want to pray!  I have no greater joy then to hear my children walk in truth! 1 John 1:4

Thank you Heavenly Father for pouring Your Presence out so thick in the house, that I couldn't hide from it even if I wanted to!  I can't thank You enough for the blessings that You so freely give us!  Things that we don't deserve!  My heart and my mind are Yours.  Teach me to love like You love.  Lead me where You want me to go.  Teach me to follow You and know Your voice above all else.  Father, I want to know Your heart.  I want to cry when You cry, I want to laugh when You laugh, I want to hate what You hate and love what You love.  Teach me Lord...

I am alive!

Good Morning!  Whew...what a glorious morning it is!  So here's my very condensed excuse for being gone so long ~ I really needed a break ~ So much has been changing here at my house and in my life that I really needed to focus more on my family, and less on the computer.  We just got back from an awesome trip to Pennsylvania and I feel so revived and re-energized!  I am ready to get down to business and be the Proverbs 31 woman that God has called me to be!

We have gone from 4 bodies living in this house to 8 bodies.  That's quite a jump in numbers!  It's mass chaos 'round here most of the time, and sometimes I feel like complaining...or crying...or sometimes laughing out of sheer exhaustion!  But God has us here in this present situation for a particular reason, and because of this, I am trying to be very open to all of the changes that have come.

The one main problem I have had with this whole situation is the fact the our water and electricity bills have nearly doubled since bringing more people in.  Okay...so we can't ask people not to shower or wash the laundry, and we certainly can't turn off the AC due to the southern heat...but I think that I have figured out some ways to conserve.

The two main ways I have come up with to conserve electricity is this ~
Hanging laundry instead of using the dryer and crockpot cooking as much as possible.

Hanging laundry is typically a no-brainer, but with so many people living here it's a little harder to get every body on board...but I think we've got it.

Crock Pot cooking ~  my original thought was to use the crock pot for a whole week...then I thought what about a whole year?!  I have since rethought this and come to the conclusion that we need to be a little more realistic.  So I think we shall try to use only the crock pot, grill, and steamer for a month and see how that goes.  I have been searching out meals and it totally amazes me what you can make in a crock pot!
Monday we had amazing beef stew, Tuesday we had chili, and tonight we are having creamy chicken over brown rice.  I have some really great ideas for next week after we hit the grocery store.:-)  I will try to keep you updated on this experiment.  I'm very excited to see how it all effects our electricity bill.  I'll keep you posted.

I would love to hear any more ideas that you all my have to conserve electricity.

Have a very blessed day and I am so glad to be back!

I'm back!

I'm alive!  Whew!  It's taken me a long time to realize this! :-)  No, I've just been very busy.  My mind has been too busy to come up with anything to blog about!  Even today, I don't really know what to say, but here I am anyway!  I would love to get back into a blogging schedule.  So pray for me! :-)

I have been down for the last month or so, and I couldn't really pinpoint what the problem was, (other then being so busy)  but the past few days, several things have happened and they really helped lighten my heart!  I think that I was just carrying around some sin that I needed to let go!  It's funny...I think that God just shut me down, until He could get through my very very thick head!  Here's one of my problems.  I love lists and schedules!  But I tend to over fill those lists and schedules and run from one thing to another all day!  I may get them all completed but I don't really include God in any of it!  And then, I get depressed because I feel like nothing I do actually matters!  I recently had a dear sweet friend tell me that we need to remember that what we do at home shouldn't be done for anyone but the Lord!  That comment has stuck with me and really seems to help!  My hubby might not notice that the windows were cleaned AGAIN, and my Arrow might follow behind me and re-mess up the room, but my Loving Father in Heaven sees everything that I do and He is proud of me!  And that's what matters!

So here's to a new outlook on all my duties of being a loving, competent helpmeet to my husband, mother to my son and most importantly, a Daughter of the Most High King!

Blessings to you all!

Asking for Help

I'm having some trouble girls!  I don't know what has happened to me and I can't seem to shake it!
I have no ambition to do anything.  I feel so tired and lazy and uninspired!  I haven't wanted to blog, meal plan, grocery shop, cook, clean, organize, play, pray, study....and the list goes on and on and on.  I get up in the morning and think okay, today is the day.  I'm gonna get this house in order and feed my family a nutritious meal, play with Arrow, love on my husband and get organized and re-energized.  Then suddenly, it's evening again and I literally have done nothing.  And the heavy guilt sets in!  I'm in a vicious cycle and I can't break free.  I have prayed about it, but I think that I am too lazy to listen for His voice!

I have so much that needs done and the only thing that I want to do is turn away from it all and pretend it's not waiting for me.  Ever since we came down with that cold bug, I have been a sack of lazy bones!

What can I do?  Does anyone have any encouragement for a momma that feels down and out?  I need some fresh inspiration to mix things up a bit. 

Please, any ideas would be appreciated!  I want to lay down at night and know that I will have a blessed sleep that God promises to those of us who earn it!

Blessings to you all...

An Easy Way to Save

Good Morning everyone!  What a beautiful day it's gonna be today!  God is so good, isn't He!?
Well, I wanted to share with you an easy, affordable way that we have chosen to save money.  We started this plan a few years ago and in that time, we have saved somewhere in the neighborhood of $600.00, possibly more.  To some that may not seem like a lot, but for as little work as I do, this is an incredible savings!  Also, this is so easy that we never feel a pinch in savings or in spending it!  In fact, we never even think about it!  It's just something that happens behind the scenes!  Okay, I've made you wait long enough!
For explanations sake, I have created a fake check register and I'm going to post a picture of it.  I'm hoping that with a visual, I'll be able to explain it better!

Our plan is simply this...We round up debits and round down deposits in our check register!  That's it!
When I add a transaction in my check register I also enter the real number first, for reconciliation purposes.  When I enter in the last column, that's when I do my rounding.

 For instance at Target $4.23 was spent.  However, after rounding up, I enter $5.00.  Then I just start adding up the savings and keep track under the description in parentheses.
So with the Target transaction, we saved $.77.

Next, the feed store...we spent $25.16.  I enter $26.00.  Our savings end up being $.84.
Add $.77 plus $.84 and you get $1.61.

Deposit of $112.84.  Remember to round DOWN deposits.  I enter $112.00, which gives us a savings of $.84.
Add $1.61 plus $.84 and you get $2.45.

Finally at Home Depot, the transaction is for $6.88.  I enter $7.00 and that gives us a savings of $.12.
After adding $2.45 plus $.12, we have a savings of $2.57.

In just four transactions, we potentially could have saved $2.57!  I think that's pretty good!  It's like saving change in a jar without touching all that dirty money! :-)

With our savings, we have been able to give to others in need, go out on a special out-of-budget date, weekend vacations, buy a push lawn mower and purchase a TON of homeschool stuff!  The possibilities are endless!  For instance, besides what we have already used our savings for, you could make that your "Clothing Budget" for the year, or use it for storage/prep items, keep saving for future use, use it as your gift giving budget, and of course use it as a safety net if payday doesn't come on time or as expected!

What else could you use it for?  Does anyone else use this plan to save money?  Please share your ideas! 

If you have any questions about this plan, let me know and I'd be more than happy to share!  I hope that I explained it well enough! :-)

Blessings...

Spring Cleaning

I've got Spring Cleaning on the brain!  I actually think that it is running through my veins right now!  It's funny that about this time every year I start to feel claustrophobic in my home.  I get antsy, frustrated and my mind is in knots!  I have so many thoughts all jumbled up inside and I can't seem to iron them out unless I start to declutter, organize and clean!  My poor, dear, sweet husband can't seem to figure me out!  He just quietly goes along with my seasonal rants, smiles and prays for the day it's over!  Trust me, I'm certainly not mean to him, I'm just confusing.  I ask him to do something for me and before he's had a chance to finish, I have changed my mind!  I have an extreme case of nesting, with out the baby in my belly part!:-)

I am trying to plan a yard sale...a huge yard sale.  I'm talking an entire property sale!  I look around my home and spot things that can go!  It truly amazes me how we collect "stuff" throughout the year!  And what a sad thought it is, that if we have it, we must have spent hard earned money on it...and now it's going out the door!
True, my husband does work out of the home and we are consistently lost under mass boxes of equipment, but it's not just that!  It's clothes, and kitchen stuff, and books and knick knacks, and way to much home school stuff!  And on top of that, we are remodeling and adding on to the house...which in turn creates construction mess!  Anybody who has been in this position knows how bad construction mess can get!  Now, I'm certainly not complaining...I love that my husband works from home, and I'm so blessed that he is building on to the house for me!  I feel like we just have an OVER abundance!  (Just a note...we don't have nearly as much as the typical American family...in my opinion!  Just more than I'm comfortable with.)

So I am on the path to a clean, decluttered and organized home!  Ahh, I can't wait for the day!  So I have to accept the fact that one room in this house must stay cluttered...where else could I store the yard sale stuff?  It's hard, but I'm willing to work around it!:-)  Yesterday, I went through all of my home school supplies that were scattered through out the house.  This stuff was EVERYWHERE!  Some in the living room, a bit in the kitchen, a ton in the office, and bits and pieces in just about every other room.  I have now boxed up the excess that will be posted on eBay and sold at the yard sale.  I then had my very helpful husband bring down a set of shelves from the play room, set it up in the kitchen and organized the remainder of the school stuff on these shelves.  We typically do school in the kitchen...so this seemed appropriate until our addition is done.  It actually looks really good!  (Love you hunny!)

Today I caught up on some light house work, and now I'm waiting for my grandparents from up North to visit!  I'm sure we will have a nice day of fellowship!

I'm not sure if I will get to anything else today...depends on how long they are here.  Although I sure do have a ton more to Spring Clean.

Closets, cupboards, bins, shelves, bedrooms, toy boxes, front porch, storage, office, front and back yards, and of course keeping up with the construction, schooling, training of my Arrow, daily cleaning, cooking, laundry, book keeping (for the business), visiting with company...and it goes on and on and on.  Still no complaints, just making a list...and asking God for the strength I need to accomplish these tasks, and also thanking Him for His blessings in my life!  Without those blessings, I wouldn't have these tasks to accomplish! 

What do you have planned for Spring Cleaning? 

Blessings....

Just a quick note...

Good afternoon!  I just wanted to stop in to share a few little things....

First...Please continue to pray for everyone that is affected by the disasters in Japan.  What a sad time this is!
My heart continues to go out to these families!  

Second...I made homemade bagels today for the first time!  Oh - my - goodness!  They are delicious!  I found the recipe on one of my very favorite blogs.  Go check it out!        www.homejoys.blogspot.com
She has some amazing recipes and she inspires me almost daily!  I would highly suggest trying these.  I probably won't ever buy bagels again because these were so easy and so delicious.  Definitely a keeper!

Last but not least...Beth Handler made her buckeye balls today and I helped a little.  They are so easy, so good, and yes...they are so fattening!  But delicious if you take a few bites here and there.  ;-)

Here's a quick recipe...

A jar of your favorite peanut butter
Some powdered sugar
Melted chocolate.

Yep, that's it...no measurements here!

First, empty peanut butter into mixing bowl and add enough powdered sugar so that you can easy handle the peanut butter without it sticking to your hands.  Add a little at a time so you don't over do it.  (for one large jar of peanut butter, you will use about 1/2 bag of powdered sugar)  After you have a large peanut butter dough ball, just start rolling bite sized balls and set them on waxed paper.  Once the balls are all rolled, melt the chocolate.  Once the chocolate is melted, start dipping the peanut butter balls one at a time.  Place back on wax paper.  Continue until they are all covered.  Let harden...and you have a delicious (and dangerous :-) treat!

Get creative if you have extra time or ingredients.  You could drizzle white chocolate on them, or top them with sprinkles or colored sugar.  Maybe roll them in crushed peanuts...the possibilities are endless!
Do you have any other ideas?  Please share you thoughts!:-)

And they make a great gift or party favor for special people!  The Mister LOVES them, and Beth always makes them for him for Christmas!  Now that I know how to make them...I'll be able to do it!

Have a very blessed weekend!  We are off to build a super special Jungle Gym for Arrow!

Blessings....

Confusion versus Peace

Last week we had a DirecTV guy come to the house to check to see if we had any signal strength at all for the satellite...or so I thought!  I was under the impression that he was coming and going up on the roof.  Oh how wrong was I!  He needed access to the entire house, because he was here to install!  What!?  I had no idea...so...because I had no idea, my house was...shall we say...un-presentable!  Ugh.  I was so embarrassed that a stranger had to come into my house, walk around it and see the mess we had be living in!  What must have he thought of me!

Okay, for anyone who doesn't know me, I like a clean house, I like organization and I like peace.  However, winter brings a sense of "yuck" to the house.  I have a real hard time getting motivated and staying energized.  So my house suffers and I believe that my relationships even suffer a little bit.  (I'm praying about this!:-)

As I was thinking about how embarrassed I was, it occurred to me that the tv guy could have been anyone!  What if someone came to the house needing to be ministered to with food, a warm bed, love of a friend, or the Love of Jesus.  How awful would they feel to come into a house of confusion.  What if Jesus came to my door?  What would He think of the mess?  My Father has blessed me with a beautiful home and a beautiful family, and I haven't even been thankful enough to keep peace and order in it!  I yearn for a peaceful home.  A place that people want to be, a place that my family can relax and a place that screams YHWH from every corner in every room.  I want people to feel the presence of the Most High the minute they walk in to this home!  I don't want their senses to be clouded with disorganization!

I can accept that my family  LIVES here and, and yes it won't be spotless and magazine worthy, and I am okay with that!  I just want it to be a place of comfort and peacefulness.  I don't want to be embarrassed the next time someone drops in for a visit!

So I sat down and spent a few hours scheduling and reorganizing my days.  I have tried several different methods in the past, with no success...so I am trying another one and praying through it.  Praying that I can stick with it, with JOY!  I am also praying that He guides me in my decisions, that the most important things get done first and that He gives me the strength and the energy I need to accomplish everything that needs done.  My schedule consists of everything that needs attention through the week, with blank spaces to fill in extras.  The days may include, cleaning a specific room, bathing the dog, school days, blogging days, and a whole host of other little things that get overlooked!  If any of you feel led, please pray for me as I try to make this "plan" work for me and my family!

May my home become a peaceful haven for a weary soul...

Blessings!