For the Love of Home

When the whole house is affected by sickness, things are run differently.  When the ones who are in charge of taking care of the majority of the clean up are sick, that means Mom has lots more to do.  When one who carries most of the pet responsibilities is out of town for 2 weeks, while the other 2 are sick, Mom has lots more to do, and a very busy time!

I must confess, I have delegated much of the household chores to my kids.  Let me rephrase that, "I have delegated most of the household chores to the young adults in the household."  It is something they are responsible to do regardless because "that's what adults do".  If they lived on their own, they'd be responsible for doing things regardless anyway.  When they were sick, they took Motrin, Acetaminophin, Naproxen, (Not all at the same time) or whatever else they could find to help feel better.  When they started feeling better, they took care of their basic responsibilities.  When they started not feeling well again and dogs needed let out, walked, fed/watered, or the cat cared for, I took care of that along with my own responsibilities.  The walking of the dog was when whomever felt well enough to do so since I'm under Dr's orders not to walk "for now."

I have slathered myself with Essential Oils to keep the sickness away from me because I don't like being sick and I'm going to have surgery on my knee this Tuesday.  (Since I've written this on Sunday and scheduled this to be posted on Tuesday, you'll probably read this after I've been through surgery and home already.)  I would love to be able to make sure it gets done Tuesday.  If it doesn't get done, it gets pushed off until I am better.  I'm tired of not being able to walk around the block, for exercise or for pleasure.  I love to walk, be out in God's creation and pray as I walk.  This is where I use to walk in Pennsylvania~

This lovely road curved to the right and went on and on.  I poured out my heart to the Lord on this road.  It felt good to walk, pray, and let the tears fall as I gave everything over to God.  I always came home feeling much better about whatever was bothering me.  The kids and I loved to take bikes down, walk, roller blade or canoe along this road.  My Mr. G and I use to walk meandering down this road just holding hands.  Occasionally, he took the kids inner tubing or canoeing down the river that runs by this road.  If we could find a lovely country road much like this one that runs along a lovely river here in Georgia to replace this, or something similar, I would love it!  

I've always loved being outside in God's creation.  I've had dreams of going back to South Dakota, Wyoming, and the Rocky Mountains to hike and maybe ride horses again.  I find myself longing for the west.  I do have family out west, so I know I can go see them any time.  I just yearn for the open fields, wide open skies, trees, and wild flowers.  Horseback riding cannot happen right now until I loose more weight (hence the reason this surgery is so important--so I can get to walking again and loosing more weight!).  I need to get the disc in my back checked before I do that type of activity anyway (it ruptured in 2002).  The kneeling in the garden or flower bed has ceased, for now.  The kneeling by my bed has ceased for now too.  It has been replaced with being seated, for now while I talk with my Lord numerous times in a 24 hour period.  

I'm just trying to keep myself well.

Additionally, a week and a half after my surgery, we're going to be blessed with a new puppy.  For 15 years I've prayed for a Golden Retriever puppy.  I've wanted one even longer, at least since I was a young girl.   I remember many friends who have had dogs and I love the breed.  I remember just simply starting to pray about the time my kids were little just to have a good friendly breed for my kids.  In the mean time, we trained the dogs we did have to be good friendly dogs.

I absolutely love God's timing with all of this.  My Dr tells me that after the surgery, the only physical therapy I'll need is to just walk.  Go figure!  So, after I get through surgery, I'll begin simply by just walking around my house for the first 2 days.  I'll try outside in the driveway first, then venture around on the road, building up to being able to walk more, a few feet/steps at a time.  Then when we have our new puppy, she'll walk with me as a type of therapy.  I'll need to walk, she'll need to walk, so it's a win-win situation.  God is awesome!  He's worked all this out wonderfully! 

While I am recovering, much of my daily responsibilities will be tweaked a little.  I know that my kids will pick up much of what I do, with a couple exceptions.  My hubby will pick up the other stuff with things specifically just for me to do.  I know I'll be doing more knitting and crocheting with a wee bit of sewing thrown in as well.  But, that's all good.  I love my home, taking care of everyone in it, loving on everyone and all the furry family too, no matter if I'm laid up or not.  When I am forced to sit more, it helps me to be able to be available to talk with my young folks.  They are around the living room more and they're talking with each other more.

Home...what a blessing! 

Welcome December

We welcomed December with an 82 degree day complete with glorious sunshine.  Running on a few hours of sleep, the day was very busy going from appointment to appointment, so I could enjoy it by having my arm out the window in my van.  LOL  I finally collapsed at home, with dinner almost ready  by my hubby and youngest son having made "Lazy Lasagna" from our new Trim Healthy Mama cookbook.  It was awesome btw!

The rest of the month promises to be just as busy with the slight increase in appointments, but also a slight increase in other activities, like parades and Christmas parties.

I'm planning to continue with the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle right through the holidays.  How?  I've been keeping and printing out all those luscious wonderful treats that I find on the internet to make during this time to help me stay on plan, and have cake for breakfast! Yippee!

I would love to say that all of this change is easy, but it isn't. I am finding it extremely challenging, not for myself, but for my kids.  I have 2 who could stand to loose some weight too.  So, my husband and I have quietly decided to loose weight and get down below where they are to create a little "healthy" competition with them.

Here is a lovely picture of our Christmas tree.

2015 Christmas Tree in the Georgia house.

The picture of our tree symbolizes so much!  It is with so much love and appreciation that this picture, in all of it's flawed glory, represents so much of our lives right now.  Allow me to explain:

1).  The tree is beautiful with the decorations, lights, star, and ribbon.  This represents our family's love and work together to bring about something beautiful.

2).  The ribbon stops before it gets to the bottom.  There is a reason for that.  I have a beautiful dog named Rustie who has served us well for 14 years this month.  We love him to pieces.  He is getting older, moves around in a not so organized fashion anymore and when he goes by the tree, we'd rather be sure he doesn't get tangled in ribbon while we're gone.  Occasionally, he's been so nice to us to give us another view of the tree by rotating it for us.  That's why there isn't a tree skirt in this picture and why there is one lonely bulb on the floor instead of the tree.  ;)

3).  The bare, unfinished cement floor....yes, I love it!  It represents sacrifice.  It represents love.  It represents frugality and patience too.  You see, we could have taken our money and finished the floor, but instead we've decided to wait until our house in Pennsylvania has sold before we finish the flooring.  We want to be sure we tend to the obligations we have before tending to the floor.  So the floor takes a back seat.  Why not use a credit card?  Well, we have used the "all cash" system for a very long time and we will continue to use the all cash system not because credit is bad, but because it gives us more control over our money.  We can tell our money where to go.  This is a basic concept that Dave Ramsey uses in his Total Money Makeover program.  This is a basic concept that we're working diligently to pass on to our kids--patience with our life circumstances, and telling our money where to go.  So this floor represents love--as an action word.

4).  The love of books and reading is represented so well in this picture too. I bet you thought I wouldn't bring that up!  LOL   Yes, I have too many books, but I love books.


We are working toward becoming debt free.  This is a step in the journey.  We are selling more of our things and downsizing, decluttering, giving things away too.  The less clutter there is, the less we have to spend time taking care of, dusting, cleaning, upkeep and so forth.

I promise, I will post pictures of our progress.  The thought of being debt free tastes soooo good!  


God Bless,

Mr. G and me

Culture Shock or Culture Love?

Moving on from Pennsylvania has been interesting.  Our main reasons for moving south were to be closer to my husband's family, to get better health care for our son, to get out of debt faster, and to allow my husband to get out of the career mindset he was in while working in the PA state corrections system.  These reasons have not only brought thankfulness, but also challenges of their own.

Currently, we live a few hours from my husband's parents and brother.  We haven't had a chance to go see them yet with 4 animals needing to stay here with a house sitter.  We haven't found a house sitter yet.  We're hoping to find one soon so that we can go down to see them soon.  It has been too long!

Health care for our son has been met with the challenge of a Dr. who is only in our area 3 times per month.  If we needed anything, like a signature for a pre-authorization for medication, we'd have to wait until he came back in to town, otherwise he's unreachable.  Ugh!  So, we're switching Dr's to one that is more reachable.  The advent of more technologically advanced practices down here has been an eye opener.  Some of the Dr's in this practice do a type of Tele-conferencing where you just show up to the office for your appointment and sit in front of a computer screen with the Dr in their office--where ever that may be, and have your appointment with them.  Definitely an interesting change from Pennsylvania!   Fortunately, he is getting the care he needs and we're able to move on and get him in to a program for vocational training.

Originally, our prayer was to be able to buy a house outright, without debt.  But, after looking at countless houses, including foreclosures and HUD homes, we decided that a small mortgage with a 10 year loan from a local bank was the best way to go.  We tried larger banks, but for the small amount we needed, they would not lend to us.  They would not be making much money off our loan, so they would not lend to us.  Go figure!  So, here we are with a modest loan from a local bank, getting ready to pay extra on the principle balance to pay it off early--5 years instead of 10.  Will broach the "why" at a later time.

Our current house has been dropped in our laps, filling our needs quite nicely and many of our wants, in a very quiet little town with a quaint blow of a train whistle about 1/2 mile away a few times a day and once at night (confirmed by my daughter since she hears it at night from her bedroom).  LOL  The challenge, as I'm sure you may have read or heard from me has been that this house, while fitting our needs, has needed quite a bit of work.  The cockroach infestation has been mostly controlled, but we had to wait for a bit to put the kitchen items away for a good 2 weeks, sometimes longer in some cases, due to the infestation.  There is a cupboard that I won't use to this day because when I open it and clean the dead roaches, there inevitably is more once I open it again.  They are getting in from somewhere, but due to the spray my husband put down, they die within a foot or so of being inside the cupboard.  So, I clean them up every so often.  They don't get any further than that, fortunately.

Another issue has been ants!  Not carpenter ants, but the little bitty brown ants.  They've come up through the smallest of holes and gone after the dog food.  One morning Gus was barking at his dish and upon further investigation, the dish had ants marching in it and continuing to it from a tiny crack where the floor met the wall!!!  We had a good laugh, pitched the food, cleaned the dish and within minutes, he had more food and it was relocated.  Another incident with ants inside the house was on the "clean" dishes on the counter.  We followed the trail and found that they had gotten in where the addition meets the main house.  It only takes a small pinhole for these things to get in and they came up through the grout in the kitchen and made a trail to a wooden spoon that was just barely wet from being washed the night before.  Once again, my husband sprayed and they're all contained.  More ants though!  In the vehicles has been the roughest area.  They get in to the engine after the sweet smelling antifreeze, then make their way in to the main part of the vehicle.  If you don't stay on top of things, getting all the trash and wrappers out from a Mega shopping trip, then the next day you have a stream of ants forming a line to some small crumb laying on the floor.  Whew!

Lastly, my husband has been retired from corrections for 6 months now, thankfully.  His spirit is more at ease now.  He is much more relaxed and content.  He now has a new name that the locals gave him, "Mr. C____ from Pennsylvania."  He beamed when he told me.  He is no longer identifying himself in the former job he had, which I will not repeat the name he dubbed of himself which is very demeaning to himself.  He is such a visionary man.  He is a leader when leadership is called for, otherwise he is a Mr. Steady, going with the flow.  These have always been a part of his nature outside of corrections, he just didn't see it.  He was saved on December 30th, 2012 and now he's able to relax, away from the corrections environment, and allow the Holy Spirit to grow him.

As we have met people and talked with them about our lives, they've asked us, "What brings you to Southwestern Georgia?  Work?"  We say, "No, God  brought us here!"  That small statement has opened up so many wonderful conversations about God's work in our lives and His goodness toward us.  What a balm to our soul to find that just about every person we come across has enjoyed hearing about God's work in bringing us here.

We will become members of Sherwood Baptist Church on December 6th.  We have found our church home and look forward to being stretched and challenged by THE Word of God in a hope to continue becoming more like Jesus.  The pruning of our hearts and minds are about to begin.  Yes, pruning hurts, but we truly believe the Lord has brought us here to this point in our lives.  Because of that, our willingness to lay down our "self" and willingly submit to His loving pruning should be cause for celebration.  Thank God for His loving kindness!

In Christ,

A Day At the Beach & Life Lessons

Weeks ago, we decided that it was time to bless our kids with a trip to the Lake Erie beach that we love the most.  With all of the cleaning and packing we've been doing, it was time to stop, grab a friend, and go to the beach.

Lake Erie when we arrived and set up to relax.

It was such a beautiful day! 

I could barely see to take the picture, but here is one where Mr. G and I were sitting in the shade under the tree.  I take medication that makes me photosensitive, so we spent most of our time under the tree.

After spending over 3 hours in the sun, the kids were sufficiently crispy--even with 70+spf sunscreen--we went to Panera Bread before heading home.  It was something new for a couple of us, something familiar for others and just fun to pick out some neat treats that we don't normally have.

On the way home, my hubby didn't take pictures because he wasn't feeling well, but he did get a couple on our way up to Erie.

Small town with American flags waving.

Lonely old silo

Small grassy area on the hill

The valleys and scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.  I love looking as far as the eye can see and see hills and trees with an occasional splotch of green grassy patch.  It gives me a chuckle.

Upon arriving at home, we found a phone call from our Georgia realtor waiting for us.  We called and left her a message and within 5 minutes she returned our call.  The house that Mr. G put an offer on last week, we had been counter offering with 3 days in between each offer--it's a bank owned/HUD property thing where they get 3 days to reply to an offer.  The last offer, the bank/seller did not accept.  We are taking a step back and praying about how to word another counter offer, if at all.  The bank/seller would not budge on the price, but to come down $1,000.

We need to take a step back, regroup, get some things done here on our house in Pennsylvania, then see if there have been any other offers on this house.  We're waiting 2 weeks, then starting with the offer process again.  If the Lord wants us to have it, then He will make it available.  

For now, we get ready for a "Moving Sale" next weekend.  I'm getting so many things ready to sell so that the things we have to move will be limited and as small as we can possibly get it.  We are selling curriculum, too.

This journey through life is by far the most important time because it builds character, helps us to enjoy our time in the here-and-now, and it makes us linger to ensure the needful lessons are learned--sometimes whether we like it or not.  Our attitudes on the journey can be ones of thankfulness, or selfishness in which case it causes great heartache and stress for those who love us due to our own selfish responses to the unfamiliar.  

For now, though, we rest in God's will.  It's a good place to be.  Learning to rest there is difficult for many, but a very important and integral part of the journey.  I often visualize sitting in the passenger seat and letting God be the one in charge of my car.  How much I actually trust Him is directly related to how much I rest while He is driving.

It feels good not to have to drive this car through life, but to rest and let Him take the wheel.

God Bless,

In Which We Have Family & Pets

Earlier this month my brother, his spouse and their children came to visit from Vermont.  We took them to our favorite places, climbed rocks and visited for a long time.  The older cousins had a sleep over and what sleep over isn't complete with ice cream, mint oreos, and all kinds of potato chips?!

My daughter and my niece forged a wonderful new friendship.  What loveliness to behold!  The last time they saw one another, my niece held my daughter who was 5 weeks old!   They've changed just a little bit!

Snuggling with my 2 little nieces and Biscuit.  They absolutely loved him!

My brother and his spouse just trying to find someplace to sit after the cousins' sleep over.

While they were here, I finished the toe of my 2nd sock (just 20 stitches) while listening to the glorious hustle and bustle of little ones in my house again.

Finished in about 10 minutes!  I love the colors.  I have some from each of the 2 skeins leftover and I was thinking of making a small wrap, so we'll see.  If anyone has a suggestion for one, I'd love it! 

And, after the family left, our newest family member, Gus, needed a bath.  He was shivering after his bath, so my daughter wrapped him in a fleece blanket and took a couple pictures of his cute-ness.  :D

And another one...

And my youngest, who is over 6'2" tall, with our kitty whose name is Pickles.  :D

Playing around in the living room. 

Doggie nap time...life must be "ruff."  Whew!

As you can see, we've been busy with family, school (although I didn't mention school above), and pet training.  I love seeing the progress of my kids with their schooling, understanding achieved and them working diligently with the animals to get them trained.  Just today my youngest son make a "Kitty Hotel" underneath my buffet table.  He has put Biscuit and Pickles in there together to sit and "make friends" but I heard some funny kitty and doggie noises of protest in there earlier.  LOL

What a funny boy!

Disjointed Catch-Up Post

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." 

(Rom 8:26-28)

When young folks are not feeling well, we can do all we can, holding them, nurturing them, to help them feel better.  When they have concerns, we need to talk them out, showing them their options, helping them choose their words wisely in a variety of situations.  When it comes to the ultimate Healer, there is a time to give Him the concerns by praying with them through each of their concerns.   

Sometimes their concerns are far beyond anything we can fix.  Sometimes we have to lay down our own pridefulness and give our children to God in unfathomable ways.  

We have done just that in this past year.  The gut wrenching experience is one that I do not care to repeat.

Now, we've established a new normalcy, complete with different expectations, different day to day activities, and lots of appointments for all of us.

My day to day activities remain the same, but I struggle to gain a semblance of order.  Without getting enough sunlight, and beginning the cloudy time of year, I know my Sensory Affective Disorder is going to kick in soon.  I work to try to find a way around the symptoms by exercising, going on walks--even on cloudy days--getting enough nutritious foods, but I struggle to get enough sleep each night without waking through the night for whatever reason.  Keeping things in check depends greatly on getting enough sleep.  Six hours, sometimes less, of sleep each night isn't enough though.  It is work to get enough sleep.  (Go figure!)

Through all of this, we are beginning to thrust ourselves in to getting ready to move to Georgia.  I would love for all the work to be done when I snap my fingers, but it won't.  We will be downsizing, purging, decluttering, pitching, selling, and eventually giving thing away so we don't have to move them.  We only keep things that we absolutely treasure and things that are absolutely necessary.  We will definitely have many yard sales beginning in May.  To begin, though, I am selling some of our home school books.  I am taking them to our local home school group meetings to sell a little at a time.  

It is amazing how much junk one accumulates! 

We've added a puppy to our home recently.  His name is Gus.  Before Gus, by about a month, we added an adult cat whose name is Pickles.  He's a good kitty who will make sure to take care of our mice problem.  We got him because the mice were getting smarter.  Now we have 4 critters to keep each of us (almost) company.  Biscuit has enjoyed sitting on my lap while Pickles goes with my husband, Gus has taken a very strong liking to JL and Rustie enjoys getting attention from anyone.  He is getting older and will probably be facing his final time through this winter.  That's why we have Gus now.

We've canned quite a bit more this year than we have last year and the year before.  This year we've made 2 batches of salsa--over 20 quarts--sauce, stewed tomatoes, and hot peppers.  We are looking at pumpkin next and whatever else we can preserve.  If we haven't eaten all of it by the time we move then we'll take it with us.  We plan to put in a garden next year just in case our house doesn't sell.  

Last week our kids participated in the Clarion Autumn Leaf Festival with the Civil Air Patrol.  JL is holding the rifle in the left front, HJ is right behind him holding the banner, and DA is right over her shoulder in the back.  They did a phenomenal job!

Now we concentrate on schooling.  I struggle with getting much in, so I'm working on that as well as the many other things mentioned above right now.  If you don't see me around for a while, that is why.  I may document my purging journey in all its glory--messes and everything.  In order to purge, you need to make a mess, right?  We've lived in this house for 9 years, so I'm sure the mess will be huge!

~Until next time~

God Bless,

Busy Summer

Lately I haven't come close to completing a post (shame on me!) with everything going on.  Lots of our friends are returning to public and private school next Monday, so we needed to squeeze one last trip to see friends.  We needed to hug them and visit and let the kids play.

While we were at our friends' house, my youngest was riding his bike carrying his "Rip Stick" to the skate park to ride it.  When he tried to ride his bike with Rip Stick in hand, through the portal/gate/doorway, his foot hit the pole and some sort of wire went through the top of his foot.  We quickly got him cleaned & bandaged up and headed home.  We didn't go to a local hospital because none of the ones in the area knew his shot history and my husband was not comfortable taking him anywhere else other than our family Dr.  I forgot when his last tetanus shot was and I knew our Dr's office would know, so it's all fine and well.

We called Friday morning, got him in early, tetanus shot administered, x-rays taken, cheeseburger ordered and antibiotics taken.  We were home by about 12:30PM.  Everything was taken care of, he needed to keep it up and iced off-and-on throughout the day, so they watched cop shows for the rest of the day.  The older two children had completed chores and school work while I was gone in the morning, so I didn't mind.

I tried napping as well, but just couldn't bring myself to do so.  I decided my time would be better served by doing some planning for our vacation next year.  I decided which route to take based on my husband's preferences, my own needs to get up and walk around a bit, make sure we're at our destination at a reasonable hour, and so that we're not traveling 13 hours a day.  Those long days of travel are torturous on my knees and ankles.  They swell up as big as balloons and it isn't good for me.  As much as my husband doesn't like the shorter traveling times, he'd just like to get there and get home, he's quickly realizing that we're getting older and need to make concessions for our own personal physiological needs.  Yes, the vacation is going to be longer than our trips to Florida, but it's full of rest, relaxation, visiting, hugging family, seeing sights, reading, snoozing, walking and making lots of food over a campfire!  :)   Besides, with all the family and friends within a reasonable drive for us, it makes sense to utilize the distance to our advantage. We need to stop regardless, so we have a wonderful plus of being able to see family and friends along the way.

All of these plans are causing me to ache to see my family again.  Many of the family we're planning to visit I haven't seen since before my parents divorced in 1983.  Thirty years is a very long time!  I've reconnected with family on Facebook, which has been a complete blessing to me.  I get to see how they've changed, how their kids, grand kids and great grand kids have come along.  It is simply amazing to me how God has drawn all of us back together.  It blesses me so much.  I'm excited to see each one, hug them, catch up and pray for them.

If there is nothing else that is earth shattering that I do in my life, I count it a privilege and a blessing to my soul to be able to hug a loved one and pray with them.  There are lots of cousins, aunts and uncles on both sides of my parents' families, so there's lots of hugs to give and lots of prayers to be shared.  I want my husband and my children to meet all these wonderful people who are a part of our family history.  My children have asked me about my side of our family and they fill the dry erase board with names connected to Grandma and Grandpa.  Now they want to put faces to names and make connections with family.  I don't blame them.  Family is important.  We've lived virtually alone without family around us almost all of our 23 years of marriage, so it's time to see family and invite them to come see us too.    

With that, I'll leave you today with a picture I took of my black-eyed susans this morning.

A "double" or is it a "triple" eyed Susan?  

God is good, all the time!

Blessings,

Regina

July Fourth-Two-Thousand-Thirteen

I'm finding myself a bit melancholy lately.  I guess it probably doesn't help much that an upper level "Low" has stationed itself above us and is keeping the area cloudy with lots of rain and thunderstorms.

My work continues inside regardless of the weather, but when my work is done inside and it is raining outside, I've been looking on Google maps in preparation for our vacation next year.

I've looked at how to get to Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD so that my family can see what I use to see as a child from Skyline Drive while we enjoy a picnic lunch.  I love watching their faces when they see lovely and glorious things!

I've looked up a variety of campgrounds and I find myself faced with a difficult decision of which one to stay at for however many days for this stop or that stop.  I'll need to do the majority of the research, then present my findings to Mr. G to see what he'd like to do.  Here are a few that I've found:

Lake Park Campground--Located 30 minutes from Sturgis and 30 minutes from Mount Rushmore.

Days End Campground--Located in Sturgis.

Whistler Gulch Campground--Located in Deadwood.

Sleepy Hollow Campground--Located in Wall, SD.

I know he'd like to visit the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.  I'd like to see it as well since my great uncle Al was one of the founders since he use to live in Sturgis.  =0)

I'd love to take the family to Lead & Deadwood, SD to see where Black Hills Gold is mined.  My mother use to work in the gold mines when I was 8 years old, so it has a bit of historical significance for me.

Of course Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park would be visited. =0)

Why all these preparations now?

Every time I'm around a pine tree the scent of the Black Hills comes flooding back to my memories.  The west is calling me greatly.  The search on Google maps has brought me blue skies and glorious scenery of the west.  The memories of God's magnificent beauty and the experiences there--both good and bad--come flooding back to me.  I want to replace the bad with new memories, and I want to share those things with my beloved husband and my wonderful children.  I feel as if my time is running out with my kids at home and it is time to hasten the trip.

Does this seem unreasonable?  I don't think so.  Things like this are very attainable, if prepared for ahead of time and as many details worked out as possible, right down to the miles driven daily and planning how many times you'll go out to eat, adding 10-20% for tips.  Additionally, what foods you'll pack in the cooler, bottles of spring water to bring, right down to which rest stop you'll be at when you eat your sandwiches or salads.

I need to plan very well for this trip, for the sake of my husband, for the sake of my children, for my own sanity, right down to where and when we'll do our laundry.  Why so meticulous?

In the planning, there is peace.

In the Kitchen

This week, according to my calendar, is the week we deep clean the kitchen.  Yesterday was Monday, so it was dusting day.

This morning already, I've taken care of the kitchen windows on the inside.  You see, I'm the detail person.  It is my job to take care of each detail in the house.  What about the every day things?  Well, the children have been trained to vacuum, sweep, mop, do the dishes, unload the dishwasher, dry and put away dishes, wipe the counters and table, wash, dry & fold and put away laundry as well as hanging it out on the line.  So if my kids can do all of this, why do I do anything at all?  Well, as it goes with children, they don't see the details most of the time.  This is where I come in.  

The above schedule helps me to remember which room we're in for the week.  Yes, I need reminding.  I write things down so I don't have to remember it.  With all the appointments, classes and responsibilities I need to take care of, the less I need to remember the better!  This reminder is wonderful!  

I take care of myself better when I know things are done and cared for.  While "everything" isn't done at the end of the day, I know that I can see progress.  I've learned that this is better than not seeing progress, or heaven forbid, things get worse.  I don't kick myself in the pants for not doing xyz because I know it is going to be done on the above rotational schedule. So there is no guilt.  

Does my house resemble "tornado" status at times?  Yes!  But, the wonderful thing is that with one hour of steady work from 10 hands, things are much better!  

Throughout the month I take note of areas that need my attention and when that time comes up, I take care of it then.  This goes for the kitchen as well, unless there is a cupboard full of ants going after that ONE drop of honey that may have spilled.  (Ask Me How I Know!!!!)  Yes, there are times when you absolutely have to take care of those details that are right in front of your face.  It is a wonderful reminder for this Momma to remind children  who use the honey to make sure the bottle is wiped well before placing it back on the shelf.  We don't want any more ants!  Whew!  

Now, I'm sure there is another question running through your mind right now, "Why not just clean the whole kitchen instead of small bits and pieces at a time?"  I'm glad you asked!  I have many many hats that I wear throughout the day that need my attention (call my name, demanding at times...) so in order to maintain my own sanity by making sure those attention grabbers are tended to, I try to make sure the 15 minutes it takes me to tend to details in the room of the week after the necessary people needs are cared for.  Yesterday I wiped down walls.  It took me a little longer than 15 minutes, but I was the only person here at home.  After I was done I hung sheets out to dry and rotated the calendar above to the next 5-6 weeks.  Hurrying in the shower, I shuffled off to get the kids from berry picking, bring them home, push the oldest along to the shower to get ready for an appointment almost 2 hours away.  You see, the details were done in the morning.  This morning it was the windows.

Tomorrow the calendar says "declutter."  The refrigerator needs cleaned out and wiped down.  I need to go through my drawers to see if there is anything I can put in the yard sale we're having over the 4th of July.  I also have a junk drawer that needs some attention.

Thursday it says to "detail the floors."  I'll have my daughter sweep the floors really good this afternoon, then I'll scrub everything after taking them to work in the morning.

What about my husband's days off?  I try to spend as much time as I can with him when he's home.  But, when he's in the garage, I try to get my own work done.  Sometimes it happens.  Other times there are other things that pull at me.  The important thing is that I look at the calendar and make plans to do the work the Lord has given me and plan accordingly when I know I'll be busy.  Thursday I plan to do my Friday work in the afternoon so that I don't have to worry about it when I'm spending time with my hubby.  

Will this system work for you?  I don't know.  You can use it, but feel free to tweak it to your own family, home and needs.  Just pray about it and ask God for His direction.  That's what I did!  

Have a Blessed Day! 

Blessings--New Pictures Added

Crocuses popping up through the leaves.

We've been going through some very roller coaster like times lately, so it helps to focus on the blessings.

For those of you who do not know, we had a house fire that started in our basement in March of 2005. 

This is what our basement looked like. 

God took this mess and not only blessed us through it, but also the lady who bought our house.  Everything was fixed up nicely for her with a new furnace, hot water heater, electrical, duct work and everything was painted fresh for her.

Our prayers were answered!  

During that time, we'd lived in a campground in a camper so that our children would have room to ride their bikes and play.

We started out in an 18 foot camper with 3 kids and 2 dogs.  Yes, things were cramped!  We traded up to a 35 foot 5th wheel and spent 4 more months in it.  Needless to say, we were ready to move in to our house, which seemed so roomy and spacious when we first moved in.  

During the past 8 years my husband has had no desire whatsoever to do any more camping.  He didn't even want to consider a camper unless it was a drive-able Winnebago type RV.  He was so very disgusted with the thought of camping that we just stayed in motels whenever we went somewhere and didn't have friends to stay with.

Last year when we went to the end of the school year field trip to Columbus Zoo and the Creation Museum, we stayed in motels.  Plus we left our dogs behind with some good friends.  He wasn't too thrilled with doing that, but they were left in good hands. (He's attached to our doggies. )  Couple that with the cost of the motels and he was newly convinced that we probably should consider a camper.

We started looking, but not too seriously.  We just wanted to check prices and see what we needed to start saving for.  We realize that both of our parents are getting up in years and we needed to go see them, even if they did live thousands of miles away.  The best way for us to do that was to drive and camp.  

The Lord had His hand in this so much so that we just could not believe it!

About a month or two ago, a friend from church approached my husband about a camper.

"Huh?!" said my husband.  "Have you been talking to my wife?"  Our friend said, "No, should I?"  And the Lord worked out the details through my husband who didn't want to go camping for 8 long years.

I will say that the Lord works in mysterious ways.  His ways are not our ways, so when this camper was literally dropped in our laps, we decided to accept it without question, even though we didn't have a good vehicle to tow it with, yet.  We figured if the Lord wanted to give us a camper that He would provide the good quality vehicle to tow it with where ever we needed to go.

What an undeserved blessing this is for us!  The kids are smiling at the thought of making more memories, going camping, and enjoying our family.

When our friends delivered it, I was gasping because I didn't realize it was so HUGE!

The front of the camper complete with working stove, oven, microwave and full size camper refrigerator.

To the right is the shower and just below, the potty.  (I know...something you always wanted to know.)  LOL

Turning around looking toward the back of the camper--behind me is the table.  The first closet to the right is a pantry or linen closet, then there are clothes closets.  To the right is the bathroom and, of course, the bedroom in the back.

The bedroom, of course.  We bought ourselves a new mattress, so our old mattress went out to the camper.  

God bought us a camper.  It was only done through Him.  Just about everything we'd been looking for in a camper was given to us.  Isn't that just like God?  :0)

God is so good!

What an awesome blessing!