School Starts... Blogging Stops?

Is this how it works? I was wanting more "schedule" in my day, but is this it? Is there really a schedule? Ummm, where does blogging fit in???

Maybe I'm just not there yet. I was having the B man get his shoes on a whole hour before we were supposed to leave to get the H girl yesterday... totally messed up on time. (Granted it takes him a while to get them on, but a bit extreme in this case!)

I am not settled into a routine for sure. The kids are getting closer to it, though it has been a transition for B to go to school on different days than last year (M,W,F instead of T,TH). He gets confused with that. H seems to like going everyday.

And they are so tired! This PM kindergarten/preschool stuff is hard on us! The kids need naps still, but doing them when we get home is too late, too close to bed time - not that they would do it at 4PM anyway... And after being babies they have not napped before lunchtime so that is out of the question now. A couple times I have gotten B to sit with me for some quiet time on the couch with his blanket before lunch, but never H.

So we are working on it.

It just seems like we are spending our mornings just waiting for lunch to come around so we can go to school. There isn't yet any real defined activity times that we do things in the morning except the TV goes off by 8/8:30 depending on what time we are done with breakfast... then get dressed and then free playtime with a small snack around 9:30 and then lunch around 11:15/30 (so we can get toys put away, ready to leave for school around 12:05.)

So writing it out here, it looks like I could (if I really wanted to/had the energy to/really obeyed what I should do...) put in some kind of Mommy&Kids activity between 9:30 and 11:30. I have thought of a "chore jar", or some Christian homeschool curriculum (just something light and fun since H is in public school now not Christian preschool anymore), or some other form of activity.

Here are some thoughts now that I am sitting in the quiet (yes, older two are quietly playing together and lil'D is napping...) and thinking...

Maybe one day is "game day" to play board games or outside together (Monday?);
another a "learning day" for worksheets or special Bible reading, etc. (Wednesday?);
maybe two days of the "chore jar" (Tues/Thurs);
and what for another day?? "Art", "Kids choice"? ...hmmm, those scare me a little! :)

(I would love to hear some more ideas from anyone here...)

Not to mention filling in the time with the things I need to be doing like dishes, laundry (I have already noticed that I am not hanging out the laundry as often because of the time crunch...bummer), other cleaning, figuring out dinner.

I have already been able to determine I am not going to get through this (hmmm...life?) without a meal plan for the week, and I am not going to be able (usually, depending on the meal) to get away with "starting dinner" after the kids get home from school (3:30-4 ish.) There are too many needs/wants the kids all have during that time that I just can't focus on the kitchen stuff...which is usually a disaster by that time anyway. I feed the kids a small snack when they get home and we talk about their day, but with lil' D being awake also, he isn't willing to sit for as long as the other kids, and then "the chase is on."



It is so hard not to turn on that TV and "plug them in" for awhile... but I am doing really well so far at not until I "have to" to get through. (Oh, yeah, yesterday was a bad day, I was quite a grouch from 3 'till 6 ish...headache, mean, tears, ask for forgiveness, etc..) :-{ So, when the older two are at school, I need to get any errands done while in town, then come home, entertain lil'D (because he rarely has a nap after the morning one... ...gee, he has a bit of a strange schedule, but it seems to work for him), give him some "Mommy time" - he loves sitting and reading books then- and trying to get what I can going for dinner while chasing an 18 month old out of the kitchen. Fun, fun! :-)

And, looking at it all from this vantage point, it is fun.

Or at least like mostly fun,
should be fun,
except the tough parts,
and that is my call to reach out to God for help.

I am reading a great book right now, really inspiring, called Passionate Housewives Desperate for God and it is really helping me to see God's vision for women/mothers. It is a quick read; unless you want to look up every verse referenced for context, and then it will take you f-o-r-e-v-e-r! There is a lot of Scripture packed in there - it would be a great book to pass along to young Christian wives/mothers, maybe for Christmas? It is far from being about perfectionism - since there is only One who is perfect! But real. Written from the vantage point of real women who have been there, who are there, who have lived to tell about the blessings.


So, as it goes, we are working on it. I am working on it. A life in process. Hopefully progress!

For I am confident of this very thing,
that He who began a good work in you
will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6

Thoughts for Today

Sorry no posting lately, our internet crashed and I just got it back up!

Here are a couple "Life Thoughts" from our families MyFamily.com page. Interesting to think about.


Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?

Why do I have to swear on the Bible in court when the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed outside?


hmmm...

Oh, yikes!

I didn't realize it had been so long since the last post. Lots of happenings here over the last weekend. Well, grilling, dessert/fireworks partying, Nana and G-pa J visiting, hammock sleeping, garden planting, soccer playing, bike riding, horse feeding, sprinkler hopping kind of happenings.

Also, I am realizing I am way (no... way) behind in reading all my books. I have made a mental effort to read my bible first which is really "cutting into" my other books. ;-) But I am being totally blessed by it. I have (if you remember...) started the Old Testament reading in one year schedule. I am behind. That's OK, I just keep going, starting where I am. I figure things will get sidetracked once the baby comes a bit anyway, so I am hoping to at least finish it all by the end of next year. That's OK. God blesses me with whatever I read so I figure it doesn't really matter what gets read on which day.

So far I have been reading in Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, and Proverbs. This is the first time I have really spent any serious time reading in the Old Test.. Some of it (most in the beginning of Isaiah) is hard for me. Most of it is very interesting and I love the stories in Genesis, learning where "Israel" came from, learning about the "Fathers of the Faith". Crazy how messed up some of the beginnings are - oh such scandal! And yet, how God blessed them in spite of their personal trials. There is hope!

I do think, sometimes, that it would be much better to live, like then, in a time where it was just "...and God spoke to him..." and told him what to do. Wow, how cool would that be? Just have this clear voice from the sky (or wherever?) telling you the absolute thing to do. Of course we have guidance now, but rarely (if ever for me?) do I actually hear a voice. Sure we have that ever quiet voice telling us things, giving us suggestions it seems, but to just have that clear voice saying "do this..." seems so much easier.


Anyway, before I talk myself into (another) circle, I will let you know about the books I am reading and want to read.

I am taking the Omnivore's Dilemma book off the list. I am just not that into it and it is a struggle for me to read all his "big words" when I am already tired at night. I'll let D read it and pass on the interesting stuff.

I am into my church's summer "book club" book called Finding Calm in Life's Chaos. We are into the 4th chapter called "Hey, I Need a Little Direction Here!" with the focus verse being John 8:12 - "I am the light of the world." This is reaching close to home after our recent job struggles - "What do you want us to do, God?" And now, again, that we are staying, revamping our priorities and saying "What do you want us to do, God?" I guess it is just a perpetual question.

I am trying to get through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Revisited, but it is due back to the library tomorrow and I am only 1/2 through! Of course there is another hold on it so I must return it. I guess it will just open up more Bible time until I get it back from the hold list. I am finding it very similar to the Total Money Makeover book so far, so I wish I was further into it to know if it gets much different.

Now, to add to my desired reading list: Dare to Discipline and The Strong Willed Child. Guess what I have been having problems with?? :-)

I am not sure if it is the lack of schedule this summer or just growing older, but it has been a real struggle with H lately. She really wants to "rule the roost" as it were. Going so far as to tell D and I what to do, blatantly ignoring requests, being far from respectful, oh, and my personal favorite "NO, I am going to do THIS" with a great big foot stomp and a whole lot of attitude.

I know these are all things "normal" to parenting, but our kids have really been fairly well behaved and this thing has come and gone quickly in the past (a day or two and they figure out they aren't getting away with it so why bother) but this has been hanging on for a couple weeks now. Maybe it has to do with cutting her hair. It isn't weighing her down anymore? Letting her hold her head a little higher maybe??

Well, whatever it is, it must stop now!!!

What are your favorite parenting books?

Aaah! Books everywhere!

Ok, so I have been trying to "read more" lately, both in the Bible and other books. Unfortunately I can't finish one book before another shows up in my life! (And I am getting behind in my Bible reading schedule I set for myself...)


I have the one book I am reading that is borrowed from a friend, it would be nice to give it back shortly, but these library holds keep coming in and they seem to have a more pressing deadline so the other gets put on hold.


Now, to top it all off, I joined my churches summer "book club" where we are reading Finding the Calm in the Chaos. I couldn't not go, I mean, look at my life. Yes, I have contentment, but not necessarily calm!!! ;-) So, now here I am reading this book.


Of course two of my library hold books just came in, one a couple days after the other. The first being that Financial Peace Revisited, which is great so far. The second being The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. How ironic. I wonder if I should drop everything and read the effective people one!?

Or maybe just drop them all and go back to the Bible until I can get that back on a daily track.

Flooding Creeks

Are you a "Hell or High Water" or "Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Flood" kind of a person?

On Sunday our "Investors Class" wound up in this quick discussion during our study of James chapter 4. This question came from James 4:13-17

13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Basically, do you try to do everything in your own power as you think it should be (Hell or high water) or do you acknowledge God and consult God first, asking for help (Lord willing and the creek don't flood)?

It is so hard to remember to ask in all things. In the morning "Lord, what do you want me to do today?" Throughout the day "Lord, what do you want me to do about this? Lord, what should I do now?" At the end of the day "Lord, did I do as you asked? Lord, what can I do better for you tomorrow?" Etc., etc., etc..

Sure, it is easy (easier?) in the big stuff. "Lord, is this the house for us?" "Lord, is this the job you want for me?" But what about the everyday? What about in the grocery store? "Lord, who can I witness to here today?" What about with your kids "Lord, what should I say today? Lord, what can I teach them today? Lord, how can I model your love to them today?"

Life changes dramatically every time I try to keep God with me in everything. I have an easier time of it when I listen to the Christian radio stations all the time. It helps keep Him forefront in my mind. (Radio streaming online at Praise 106.5 and Spirit 105.3) I am more productive, happier, and the kids are happier as well... well, usually. :-)

We are thinking about T-shirts:

Just kidding!

Items of Note

Ok, so if you are into reading your Bible, or are looking to get more into it, I have a website for you! It is called Bible Reading Plans and it gives you many options of Bible Reading Schedules. There are Old Testament, New Testament, Gospels, Words of Jesus, etc. in choices of one or two years or even a month or quarterly plan for some of the items. You can also choose which Bible translation you would like to use.

The website will email you the planed reading each day and there is a link in the email to BibleGateway which will give you the exact verses you are supposed to read that day in the translation you requested. Very cool, especially if you are sittin at your computer a lot during the day.

You can also print out the schedules and read them on your own. This is what I do. I like to see my check marks on the page as I finish each reading. It is more motivating for me that way. I have been feeling convicted lately that I have been making time to read secular books, whether they be fiction or (mostly) non-fiction, but not making time to read the Bible regularly. So I am now committed. I have been working through a New Testament in One Year reading schedule for lets see here... 3 years! I am almost through, so I am finishing that and I have committed to reading through the Old Testament in one year. (Obviously from May to May, not trying to catch back up from January!!) So I am just going down the printout, starting at January, but just making it work so that I am reading the days Monday - Sunday as they should be, not looking at the actual dates. See you need to read more on the weekends to get the whole thing in in one year. So far (hee hee one week!) it is working OK. Pray that I will be able to continue!!

Also of note is this awesome blog by a "Tiny Farm" near Ontario, Canada. They have great posts about how they have grown this farm and about the "business" of small farming (on only 2 1/2 acres I think) and growing veggies without any prior experience starting six years ago. It is inspiring to us to think about doing something like that. Probably that romantic idea that always exists for people. Probably something totaly unrealistic for us at this point, but it is fun to think about. Check it out if you are at all interested in vegetable gardening, organics, or farm life.