I heard or maybe I read one time that if you do something 21 times, it becomes a habit. So, I am working really hard to make an effort to keep the house clean, picked up, dishes done, and swept. I figure that if I can keep this up for the month of July, it will become a habit and I will just jump in there and do it. When school starts then, I will have developed this habit and it won't be an issue. The other habit I am wanting to work on instilling in my life is getting up earlier than I have in the past. You see for the last 2-3 years, during the school year, I get up at 630am and get the boys up. Then I go back to bed until 700am. I then get up, get ready, and walk out the door at 720am. I am in a dead run by this point. I am wanting to do better and actually get up and make my kids a real breakfast other than breakfast burritos to be warmed or cereal. I also want to have time to make my lunch and have a morning quiet time instead a middle of the day or nighttime quiet time. So, I am going to be getting up with my husband when his alarm goes off and making up the bed so that I cannot crawl back into bed.
I will post how I am doing on my two big goals as I go. I am determined to do this. I know I can if I just put my mind to it.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
My Latest Read (Again)
I have a habit of saving up all my reading for the summer. The reason being that I am the kind of person that likes to read from start to finish without interruptions. During the school year, I have trouble with this because I kind of have to get up and go to work the next day, chores have to be done, my family thinks I need to cook and feed them, and the list goes on. So, I save up most of my reading for the summertime.
I finished reading All Cracked Up by Patsy Clairmont for the 3rd time. I love this book. Of course, if you know me, you know that I love Patsy's humor. She makes me need to invest in Depends. I laugh so hard, sometimes...well, let's just say I laugh really really really hard!
With the dark times that have occurred throughout this past year, this book has allowed me to see the lighter side of everything. Patsy has such a way with her words, thoughts, and such. She has experienced fear and darkness and yet has come out with her humor leading the way. What a gift God has blessed her with. One I wish beyond wish that I had.
Anyway, if you need an uplifting, this is a book I recommend. Enjoy it with a cold drink, a sugary snack, and really--seriously--a change of clothes. :D
I finished reading All Cracked Up by Patsy Clairmont for the 3rd time. I love this book. Of course, if you know me, you know that I love Patsy's humor. She makes me need to invest in Depends. I laugh so hard, sometimes...well, let's just say I laugh really really really hard!
With the dark times that have occurred throughout this past year, this book has allowed me to see the lighter side of everything. Patsy has such a way with her words, thoughts, and such. She has experienced fear and darkness and yet has come out with her humor leading the way. What a gift God has blessed her with. One I wish beyond wish that I had.
Anyway, if you need an uplifting, this is a book I recommend. Enjoy it with a cold drink, a sugary snack, and really--seriously--a change of clothes. :D
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
I Love My House
I love the house my hubby designed for us. It is functional and welcomes people to come in and be themselves. Why do I know this? First, there is only bare concrete floors. We have a couple of throw rugs here and there but no carpet or "real" flooring. I love this for 3 reasons. The first is that before we moved in, the AC drain pipe was capped off and the water from the AC backed up into the laundry room, ran into the kitchen, my closet, and the garage. We also discovered that the sheet rockers had punctured the toilet pipes in our bedroom on the same night. If we had had any kind of flooring or carpeting, it would have been ruined and we might not have discovered it for a while. The second reason is because our dog at the time, chose our closet to give birth to 10 puppies. Again, flooring/carpeting would have been ruined. The best reason of all though and this is the one that I think helps people to relax is that a week after moving in the youth group met at our place. Within 20 minutes 3 Dr. Peppers were spilled on the floor and my response was "OK" and we mopped it up.
Another reason why I think that people relax at our house is the view out the front windows. It looks out onto the pasture and the hillside beyond. It is just a peaceful and wonderful view. People can come kick off their shoes, let their hair down, not worry about their kids ruining the carpeting, etc., etc. They can come and relax and breathe in clean, non-city, air.
The house itself is simple and completely us. My hubby drew up probably 30-40 plans before we decided on this particular one. When people come over and see it for the first time, they make the same comment that it fits us. We built this house so our kids would feel free to have their friends over and to house family things but most of all to just come in from work to a place where we can relax and unwind.
There are still several things we would love to add to the house but it isn't anything we can't live without. Contentment, comfort, and peace are words to describe my home. Come by sometime and see if you don't agree.
Another reason why I think that people relax at our house is the view out the front windows. It looks out onto the pasture and the hillside beyond. It is just a peaceful and wonderful view. People can come kick off their shoes, let their hair down, not worry about their kids ruining the carpeting, etc., etc. They can come and relax and breathe in clean, non-city, air.
The house itself is simple and completely us. My hubby drew up probably 30-40 plans before we decided on this particular one. When people come over and see it for the first time, they make the same comment that it fits us. We built this house so our kids would feel free to have their friends over and to house family things but most of all to just come in from work to a place where we can relax and unwind.
There are still several things we would love to add to the house but it isn't anything we can't live without. Contentment, comfort, and peace are words to describe my home. Come by sometime and see if you don't agree.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Our Sunday Adventures
Every Sunday is an adventure for us. We never know how many kids we will end up with for the day. Most of the time, we have at least 4-5 but today, we had 7 kids. Their ages ranged from 8-21. Luckily, we had borrowed the Excursion for a trip so we had the room. It was hysterical! They were all talking and joking around, laughing til they couldn't breathe. It was wonderful. I then realized that it would have been entirely possible for all these kids to actually been ours. If we had continued to have kids, this could have been our life. I loved it! I told my hubby that I was enjoying it and he totally agreed.
I know that God gave us three boys for a reason and stopped us when He did but He also knew that I was willing to have more. I originally wanted 5 kids. That was not to be. I just consider the kids that come over and hang out are my "other kids". I now have tons of "kids" of all ages. I feel blessed.
I look forward to our Sunday adventures every week.
I know that God gave us three boys for a reason and stopped us when He did but He also knew that I was willing to have more. I originally wanted 5 kids. That was not to be. I just consider the kids that come over and hang out are my "other kids". I now have tons of "kids" of all ages. I feel blessed.
I look forward to our Sunday adventures every week.
Friday, July 2, 2010
From the Table
Today (Friday, which is technically yesterday now) was a challenge for me. I procrastinated beyond belief about cleaning the house for the reunion on July 3rd. Actually, I don't know that I procrastinated so much as I had little to no motivation to clean. I finally geared up and got going today. I worked on and off all day on this project. My nephew has been staying with us this week so there were times when we all had to stop and take a movie break with him. My middle son would stop periodically and take a rock band break with him as well.
For some reason at 11:00pm, I decided that my pantry had to be beyond clean. It had to be organized, cleaned, declutterized, and it had to be done right then. I don't know why I chose this particular time to do this but I went after it. If you know me then you know that when I stress, I cook or I clean. Tonight was a cleaning night. It felt good to get it all done but I really wished I had been motivated much sooner than late night.
I will admit that I have been struggling with staying positive. This past school year was rough and I finally finished teaching summer school this week. I think that with all that has happened, it finally crashed down upon me. My family can tell you that I have been pretty unmotivated to do much of anything except read and watch old romantic movies. Maybe now that I have cleaned most of the house, I will get going on the rest of it and get that project knocked out in the next couple of weeks. I always swear I am going to do that over the summer and then I never do. This summer I hope will be different.
I received an encouragement from someone I have never met but would absolutely love to meet. She spoke the sweetest words to me and it was God's timing that I read my blog responses when I did. God knew I needed those words.
I hope everyone has a great holiday and gets lots of rest.
For some reason at 11:00pm, I decided that my pantry had to be beyond clean. It had to be organized, cleaned, declutterized, and it had to be done right then. I don't know why I chose this particular time to do this but I went after it. If you know me then you know that when I stress, I cook or I clean. Tonight was a cleaning night. It felt good to get it all done but I really wished I had been motivated much sooner than late night.
I will admit that I have been struggling with staying positive. This past school year was rough and I finally finished teaching summer school this week. I think that with all that has happened, it finally crashed down upon me. My family can tell you that I have been pretty unmotivated to do much of anything except read and watch old romantic movies. Maybe now that I have cleaned most of the house, I will get going on the rest of it and get that project knocked out in the next couple of weeks. I always swear I am going to do that over the summer and then I never do. This summer I hope will be different.
I received an encouragement from someone I have never met but would absolutely love to meet. She spoke the sweetest words to me and it was God's timing that I read my blog responses when I did. God knew I needed those words.
I hope everyone has a great holiday and gets lots of rest.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
An Answered Prayer
I have been reading this book from Lisa Whelchel called "The Facts of Life and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me". It is basically her testimony/autobiography. As I went through this book, I wrote down the scriptures she quoted so that I could put them to heart.
One thing she talked about was that when we pray and ask God to help us, etc. we tend to just say the words and then proceed to try to do it ourselves. That made an impact on me.
I have been really praying hard for my youngest lately. I have been praying that his heart would soften towards missions and mission trips. You see his grandpa goes every year and our middle son goes with him. Every time we have mentioned going on mission trip, the youngest has melted down. I knew that taking him on a mission trip with that attitude would be pointless.
Last night and this morning I was praying about his heart softening (really thinking more about him being willing to go with grandpa on mission trip). This afternoon I asked him if he had given any thought to going on mission trip with grandpa and he replied, "I really want to go with our church on mission trip but I think it's too late." (Bear with me on this next part.) My response at first was, *Big Sigh* in frustration. Then, I said, "I wish you had told us sooner. Oh my word." At that moment, I got a mental kick from God. A very, very, very large mental kick! It hit me. I had been praying for his heart to soften and here he was saying, "I want to go. I want to be a part." and I was acting like it was an issue! I immediately repented and told him I would check into it.
Our ministry team is awesome! The pastor and the youth pastor immediately said, "Yes!" to him going. I "told" my husband that I was going to pay for this and (another kick from God) my hubby said that it was not a yours and mine situation with the money but ours and there was more than enough in the savings for him to go.
Lisa spoke in her book about how she would get ahead of God and her husband and how she would try to be in control all the time. She also talked about how God got hold of her and changed her heart in this matter. God knows that I struggle with the same issues and today He proved that everything I read really does happen IF we would just let God do what He wants to do for us. He has a much bigger plan and a much better plan than I could ever imagine. I know that my prayers will be much different from now on.
One thing she talked about was that when we pray and ask God to help us, etc. we tend to just say the words and then proceed to try to do it ourselves. That made an impact on me.
I have been really praying hard for my youngest lately. I have been praying that his heart would soften towards missions and mission trips. You see his grandpa goes every year and our middle son goes with him. Every time we have mentioned going on mission trip, the youngest has melted down. I knew that taking him on a mission trip with that attitude would be pointless.
Last night and this morning I was praying about his heart softening (really thinking more about him being willing to go with grandpa on mission trip). This afternoon I asked him if he had given any thought to going on mission trip with grandpa and he replied, "I really want to go with our church on mission trip but I think it's too late." (Bear with me on this next part.) My response at first was, *Big Sigh* in frustration. Then, I said, "I wish you had told us sooner. Oh my word." At that moment, I got a mental kick from God. A very, very, very large mental kick! It hit me. I had been praying for his heart to soften and here he was saying, "I want to go. I want to be a part." and I was acting like it was an issue! I immediately repented and told him I would check into it.
Our ministry team is awesome! The pastor and the youth pastor immediately said, "Yes!" to him going. I "told" my husband that I was going to pay for this and (another kick from God) my hubby said that it was not a yours and mine situation with the money but ours and there was more than enough in the savings for him to go.
Lisa spoke in her book about how she would get ahead of God and her husband and how she would try to be in control all the time. She also talked about how God got hold of her and changed her heart in this matter. God knows that I struggle with the same issues and today He proved that everything I read really does happen IF we would just let God do what He wants to do for us. He has a much bigger plan and a much better plan than I could ever imagine. I know that my prayers will be much different from now on.
A Story of a Girl
Once upon a time, there was a girl who dreamed of being anything that she wanted. She had no constraints, no limitations. She was intelligent, beautiful, and talented. She had goals that to some people were unobtainable but in her mind she knew she could achieve them.
As time went by, she began to work toward her goals and put a lot of effort into them. Every time she thought that she was getting closer, there was someone there to remind her that she would never be good enough to achieve these goals. There was always someone there to put limitations on her dreams and goals. There was always someone there to remind her how she didn't measure up.
Over time without her realizing it, these words that others had spoken had taken root into her heart, soul, and very being of who she was. Now, she began to have doubts. She questioned her goals and dreams and saw them now as lofty and silly. Eventually she pushed her goals and dreams deep down inside and was convinced that she was not able to fulfill them.
These same people were the same ones that told her how stupid, fat, and ugly she was. This too, took root into her soul and mind. She tried to be better but felt she could never measure up to the standards that these people had placed upon her.
She could never accept compliments and struggled constantly to be what she could. Unfortunately, there were no constraints and limitations placed upon her life. These were placed there by others but she had allowed them to root in her.
She felt no joy, no happiness, no worthiness. She didn't let on that this was inside her. What others saw was happy and jovialness. She would swallow deep down the feelings and thoughts that invaded her.
She knew that she wanted to make changes and become the person she dreamed of being. She knew that she had to work hard. It was going to be a long road but she knew that eventually she would get there and that someday she would be the person that she originally set out to be.
As time went by, she began to work toward her goals and put a lot of effort into them. Every time she thought that she was getting closer, there was someone there to remind her that she would never be good enough to achieve these goals. There was always someone there to put limitations on her dreams and goals. There was always someone there to remind her how she didn't measure up.
Over time without her realizing it, these words that others had spoken had taken root into her heart, soul, and very being of who she was. Now, she began to have doubts. She questioned her goals and dreams and saw them now as lofty and silly. Eventually she pushed her goals and dreams deep down inside and was convinced that she was not able to fulfill them.
These same people were the same ones that told her how stupid, fat, and ugly she was. This too, took root into her soul and mind. She tried to be better but felt she could never measure up to the standards that these people had placed upon her.
She could never accept compliments and struggled constantly to be what she could. Unfortunately, there were no constraints and limitations placed upon her life. These were placed there by others but she had allowed them to root in her.
She felt no joy, no happiness, no worthiness. She didn't let on that this was inside her. What others saw was happy and jovialness. She would swallow deep down the feelings and thoughts that invaded her.
She knew that she wanted to make changes and become the person she dreamed of being. She knew that she had to work hard. It was going to be a long road but she knew that eventually she would get there and that someday she would be the person that she originally set out to be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)