For All Mothers:

Resounding questions among mothers who want to raise their children in the ways of the Lord often sound like:  what can I do? how do I do it? where do I start?  I get that.  Brad and I are learning daily what it means to grow our children up in knowledge and truth.  I'm a novice mother.  With less than five years of experience, I constantly ask the Lord for insight.   I claim to know nothing.  But, like most of you, I know the One from whom it all flows.  Praise the Lord that he isn't leaving us mothers behind as we journey.  Amen? Even Isaiah 40 reminds us that he gently leads those that have young.  It is a beautiful thing to be on a new adventure with the one who wrote the story.  You know what I'm sayin'?

In that, I would be wrong in saying that I don't use resources.  I do. We do.  God has allowed me to 'stumble' (I use that term very loosely because it was his placement that led me to them) upon some great resources.  And I have several favorites that I would love to share with you.  But before that I think it is vitally important to remind myself (and you) that our children learn mostly from our faith; the way we interact with others, handle adversity and stress, the words we choose to use in our home, the way we speak to and over our children, the way we love (our spouse, our family, our children, our neighbors) and the value that we place on people.  I mess up a lot as a mother.  I choose to give way to my flesh, but I am journeying in surrendering my flesh to the Lord and carrying the cross of my calling, motherhood.  It's a cross, no doubt.  No a burden, but a cross. A role set out for women to step into so that we can train up disciples.  And that is my role.  Simply put, my home is a place where disciples are being trained... me included.  I use that as my mental reference point when it comes to discipline. The purpose of discipline is to make a disciple.   Does the discipline used in your home reflect your heart's calling to make a disciple of each child?  That is what I ask myself.  I can attest, firsthand, that when my mind wanders from that point of reference, the answer is no.  But when I can ask myself that, I choose words and ways that are in line with the Lord.  Just like in Jonah 4, the Lord reminded Jonah that he should not be angry with the vine that he did not tend.  If I am not tending my children: leading them, teaching them, and pruning them, then what right do I have to be angry with them when they make poor choices?

So without further rambling, here are a few of our choices of favorite resources to use at home.

~~I really like and most often use The Village Church online resources:
It's good stuff.  They have it laid out clearly and with a new year rolling, now would be a good time to jump on board.  They have Developmental Guides that you can use to teach age appropriately.  They have a fun, colorful Memory Verse Calendar that is great.  My favorite part of it is that they put each month's verse to music.  We love singing our scriptures.  Trust me, we are all thankful that I'm not making up the songs anymore.  Our church, Hillside Christian Church, is fabulous and the pre-school department gives great resources to parents.  We always aim to stay caught up with what our children are learning in church and reiterate those values.  It is very important to me that we intertwine everything learned within the walls of my church with what takes place in my home.  I know other churches give great resources, also.   Stay up to date.  Ask questions, recite scriptures and sing the same songs that they sing at church.  One reason that I chose to share The Village Church resource is because it is online and accessible, making it easy for anyone to use.  Plus, the months ahead are clearly mapped out and I like that.  We deviate from it some, but overall, it's great!

~~Our Bible of choice is a new one.  My fabulous sister in law gave it to Emery for Christmas and I am so glad that she did.  We now use it most.  It is the Jesus Storybook Bible.  It is written in a beautiful, flowing story, like scripture was/is intended.  I've been asked by friends what to do if a mother isn't a trained teacher.  All I can say is that I wouldn't consider myself to be a trained teacher.  In fact, there isn't much I would consider myself adequately trained in so my encouragement would be to let scripture come to life while you read with your children.  Scripture is living and active, allow it to be so in your home.  Talk about, pray through it, allow it to be age appropriate and let the Lord speak to the hearts of your children through scripture.  We aren't reading about a God who is distant and inaccessible.  Remember that and act as such while you read.  Another important thing is our home is to acknowledge the Bible as 'God's Holy Word.'  That is what it is and I want my children to revere that.

~~Though I don't read many parenting books, I have read a few.  My favorite: the Bible.  Seriously.  My second favorite was told to me by a great friend.  Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk.  It's a good read.  With all parenting books I say, take the good nuggets, leave the inapplicable and use it to open and shape your heart to be for your child.


~~ Be for them.  Allow your heart to connect to theirs.  Know them and let them know you.  Then, and only then, can you guard one another's hearts.


And these are a few of my favorites.  I could talk about this subject all day.  But for the sake of sounding redundant or like I know any more than God's grace has allowed, I choose to stop there.  What about you? What are your family favorites?  Teach me, teachers!

Before/After Part III

Want to see more pictures of our home remodel?

Okay.

I did not finish showing you the house, I just got side tracked. 

The bedrooms had green carpet. 

Like this...

*big grimace*

 And looked something like this after all of the drapes were removed. 

They eventually looked like this

Now one of them looks like this

And our bedroom looks like this

There are soon to be changes in our bedroom.  

Do you see the broken piece on our footboard?

It was what my children referred to as 'the step.'

Well, the step eventually gave way to the stepper.

It just needs to be nailed back on, but I have postponed that due to inclinations of future stepping. 

This is the only picture on my computer of Noah's room. I am sure that he was napping when I took the other pictures.  I know you can't really see anything so I will take another.  Someday.

  

Kayt's room is about to get a big girl overhaul. 

It will include the armoire pictured above in our room.
Ah......
I cannot wait to show you after pictures of her room.
Because after pictures mean the work is finished.
I like finished work!

Getting Warmer

Boom, Bang, Crash, Splat

A few weeks ago Noah and Kayt were in the kitchen and something went BOOM.  And then something else went BANG.  And the the shelf on our den wall went CRASH.  

I still don't know exactly what happened.

What I do know is that my black candle sticks on the shelf went SPLAT.  

It was okay though. 

Actually, I was glad the commotion happened because I have had intentions of re-doing the items on the shelf since...    oh....     when we moved in. 

I know.

Prior to the noisy accident, I had seen this item and I liked it. 

The problem: I didn't know where to put it.  

The answer: in place of the splatted candle sticks. 

Late one night (and by late one night I mean sometime around 12:45am) after small group and one too many cups of coffee, I decided to dive into the Bible and styrofoam wreath that I purchased at Dollar Tree.  

I had fun.  

Lots-o-fun! 

Hubby thought I was a bit wacky tearing apart scripture in the wee hours of the morning, but hey....  

If you are wondering about my purchase choice of a Bible, I will say this... I was not up for experimenting with a pre-owned book.  When I grabbed for some trashy romance novel on the shelves of Dollar Tree I could not bring myself to purchase it, much less hang it on the walls of my home. You see, I am particular about what 'stuff' we allow in our home.  That is another post all together though.  Anywho, what would be better fit for adorning the walls of your home, a place the Holy Spirit resides, than his living, breathing word?  

Right? 

Therefore, I used a Bible. 

From Dollar Tree. 

Yes, they sell them there. 

Who knew?

Somewhere just shy of 2 am, I hung this on the wall.  I pulled the cute bird house out of a closet. It was a gift from two of my favorite people back in my college days. (love you girls!) I intended to snag a can of spray paint soon and go to town on this lovely bird house because this shelf needs some COLOR! 

I am thinking something that will coordinate with this, the project that I started tonight.

The wreath of scripture cost me a whopping $2. 

Not too shabby for quick re-do. 

And it brought me sweet joy!

Oh, I LOVE the Word CLEAN

Anyone else? 

Clean makes my heart flutter. Clean makes my energy soar.  Clean helps me focus.  Clean empowers me.  Jesus does too.  But today we are focused on clean. I absolutely love for my house to be sparkling clean.   But keeping a nice, orderly, clean home is hard with three little ones.  Hard, I tell ya.  And it has become harder and harder with each child to find time to set apart to scrub the house.

I saw that Kelly @ Kelly's Korner had a great post yesterday where people left cleaning tips and ideas.  I cannot wait to find new, efficient tips.

A few tips that I have learned...

1. Like Kelly, I never leave dirty dishes in the sink.  I rinse dishes immediately and I run the dishwasher every night.  I unload the dishwasher while the kids eat breakfast and then load them throughout the day.  I detest scrubbing dried food off of dishes. Eck.  Noah helps me unload the dishwasher and he does a great job!

2. I use vinegar water to clean most things.  It's disinfecting, natural, cost efficient and works great.  The only place that I don't use it is on our granite countertops.  Mix half water with half vinegar in a spray bottle.  It also neutralizes smells like the microwave or refrigerator.  I add a splash of vinegar to warm soapy water when I disinfect the kids toys.

3. I keep Clorox wipes under each bathroom sink.  That way, it is easy to grab the wipes and do a quick swipe of the counter top, toilet or tub without having to completely clean the bathroom.  I do this most nights while my kids are in the bath. While they play, I give the bathroom a quick wipe down.

4. I sweep with a sweeper similar to this multiple times each day.  I sweep the kitchen at least twice, if not three times each day. It's easier to get crumbs and food up before they are tracked all over the house. Not to mention my children are messy eaters. One in particular. :)

5. I clean in intervals.  I dust one day, clean glass one day, mop one day, etc.  I wish I could do it all at once, but I don't have that amount of time. The down side to this method is that I never get the extremely clean feeling.  The upside: at least something is always clean.  I time myself for fifteen or thirty minutes and I clean all that I can in that time frame.  It's amazing how much I can accomplish before my timer goes off.  I also do a lot of five minute cleanings.

6. I NEVER leave clean laundry piles laying anywhere.  I fold clothes straight from the dryer.  It is much easier for me and our clothes are not wrinkled.

7. I wipe down the kitchen sink and all appliances at night.  It is so nice to wake up to a clean, orderly kitchen.  Shining the kitchen sink is a tip that I learned from Fly Lady.  Check out fly lady for quick tips to de-clutter and clean.  I used it for several months, and learned many helpful tips.


If only I could find tips for helping my (almost four year old ) boy keep his room clean.  Oh, the stress. Any suggestions? What are your cleaning tips/hints? By all means... share them!

p.s. One day I WILL have a cleaning lady. I have confidence in this.  And I will hug her every single time that she comes to my home. A big bear hug!