Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

In accordance with Amy's CCC - Colossal Clutter Clean-up, I did a heart check.  Our first assignment was to clean our hearts and find out where are hearts are in regard to the clutter in our homes.  There is a reason behind our clutter in our homes and it starts with our heart. 

I will be adding more to this series of posts as I declutter my home and get ready for the CHCHC (Clean Heart, Clean Home Challenge) which is deep cleaning our home (and our hearts).  First I needed to declutter and am so grateful to Amy for putting all that she has in this.

Here's my entry:

I'm realizing that this is a vicious cycle.  When I am stressed about the house and it's condition - I go to the store and try to buy happiness and peace.  I get home with my "happiness" and it clutters up my home more.  Then I, again, get stressed about the clutter and buy again.  And so the vicious cycle continues until I cry out to the Lord and say "Please help me STOP!"

I thrive in a neat and orderly environment and yet my home is rarely that way.  So, it would seem that this is the very reason I am stressed a lot of the time.  This isn't the legacy that I want to pass on to my children.  I need peace in my home - the kind of peace that only Jesus gives.  To be consumed with Jesus is to not be consumed with stuff.  When I think of peace, I think of clean, crisp, cool & warm.  I think of spring and fall at the same time because I love those seasons.  Christ is my Spring and Fall!

I have cried out to the Lord for help and He is helping me!!  Praise God!!  I'm learning, as He is graciously showing me how impulsive I am.  I will elaborate further in another post going into detail the issues that I have in my heart and why I struggle so bad in this area.

Some have expressed to me that it would seem on my blog that we have the perfect life.  We do have a great life, please don't misunderstand what I am about to say.  God is gracious and good to us!!  He loves me so much that He sent His One & Only Son for ME!!  Because of that, I lean on Him for everything!!!  And because of that, I can have a more positive outlook on circumstances as they arise and seem out of whack.

We have struggles!  I'm a sinner - my children are sinners!  But, God is bigger than all of us, and He allows me to see the best in situations and praise Him through all things. 

I have a dear sweet husband and a sweet best girlfriend who listen to me complain and then quickly set me on my feet with sweet words of encouragement and guidance back to the Word. 

They do not let me complain and join into that complaining!  That IS NOT A FRIEND!  Don't kid yourself if you think that someone who would let you wallow around in your sin and then sin right along with you is a friend, at least not a Christian friend.  And whether that talk is talking bad about your husband or your children or your circumstances, a real friend leads you to the Lord for strength and WILL NOT allow you to badmouth any of the above.  Read Matthew 18:15 and you'll know that for sure!!

And so, I've been able to share with b and Big P about this decluttering journey and I know that I have their prayers and guidance.  I'm excited about it!  Call me weird, but I look forward to the challenge of having God call out my sins! LOL  Seriously!!  It is a great and glorious thing for God to bring me to my knees and make me completely rely on Him.  My heart is so wretched!!!  And I need to clean it as much as I do my home!!

So, I look forward to adding onto this as I go through this journey and look back at where the Lord is taking me and what He is doing in my heart.  And I'm certainly looking forward to a decluttered and clean home!!! :)

In Christ,
Christine

Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

...I'm coming through!!

While reorganizing my office area, I discovered that I really needed some containers to put thing in and then have on the shelf.  These containers would be labled and could be taken down to retrieve whatever I needed and then put back.  Well, there just no way that I could make a trip to the beloved Container Store right now (between $ and time).  I was in desperate need of these containers.  So, I took a look around the dining room.  These little boxes have been sitting on my desk for months and I just hated to get rid of them.  I do a lot of ebay selling and wanted to use them.  Honestly, I don't have anything relatively small to sell right now, so I wouldn't be able to use the boxes anyway. 

So, here's what I did!  I cut the flaps off the boxes.  Then I put the stuff inside that I needed to house and put them on the shelf.  I'm planning to get some pretty wrapping paper this week at the store and wrap them up, then label them.

No, they aren't the beautiful, perfectly shaped, always fitting together, containers from The Container Store - but they work and they were free!!

I did take a picture, but have recently discovered that the Creative Memories Memory Manager that I used to upload my photos recently uploads them too large to then upload them into HSBlogger or Flikr.  And, we have a Kodak camera, but the software won't work on our computer.  Hrrrrr.  I don't know what I'm going to do - because I like to add pictures to my blog.  Honey.....????  (this is where I hint to DH that I need him to work on the computer and figure something out that will work with what we already own - he's great at that, as much as he hates doing it.  And since I don't have one of those "honey-do" lists, it sounds like I'm sweetly and inocently asking him to fix various projects around the house - instead of a long list of nags!! :) )

Once we figure out the photo deal, I'll post a pic of my new solution.  Oh, and I gave away or threw away 3 bags of stuff just yesterday!!!

Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

As we prepare for our big anniversary celebration (10 years - woohoo), we are kickin' cleaning into high gear.  We are behind the CHCH schedule, but the kitchen is coming along nicely.  I've been able to get rid of some stuff and we pulled things in from the barn today.  We opened the boxes and I've already gotten rid of some of those things!!!

Almost all the cabinets are cleaned out, decluttered, and organized!!!

We'll be working on it for the remainder of the week, I'm sure, but it's getting there!!!!

Now, if I could just get caught up with laundry!!!  Urggh!  It's my arch nemesis!!!

Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

The entrance to the house is cleaned.  We have never used this as a real entrance, but it would be nice to, as most people come to this one first, even though it is quite a distance from the driveway.

We've used it for storage mostly, and for my ebay stuff for a while.

Tomorrow we start on the kitchen and then the dining room.  The kitchen is going to probably take the majority of those days.  There is lots to do - and I won't get to take it leisurely, as I have these other areas.

It's coming along and I'm feeling more up on my game.

Should be fun getting rid of some of the stuff, too!  We have lots in the barn, and when this is all out of here, we'll start bringing it in to see what we want to keep.  I want my rotisserie chicken roaster back - the baby george!!  We love that thing!!

Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

Last night, I got in gear and cleaned the living room top to bottom - litterally.

All that is left to do is iron the curtains (they are really valances) and put them back up.  I'm taking today off, as much as humanly possible with needing to feed my family, which makes dirty dishes, etc.

Tomorrow we start on the entrance and will work on that for 2 days.

The living room is not really clean today - though.  It got messed up somehow! LOL  Could it be that I have 4 children?????  Haha!  It just need to be picked up and they will do that as soon as they return from swimming with Daddy.

Today, the church that we have been visiting was having Super Summer Sundays Event #3, which was swimming at Garland Surf & Swim.  Big P offered to take the older 3 so that I could stay home and just relax!!  With L it is hard to get out in the sun too much because of his sensitive baby skin.  We should resume our walks this week, for a decent amount of sun exposure.

Have I mentioned that the Texas summers depress me so?!

I've been working on menus for the afternoon and am about to soak some flour for a loaf of bread.  I'm going to use a different recipe and see what happens.

My next post will be on our new menu making regime!  Stay tuned!!

Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

Well, I feel like we are getting somewhere - sort of! LOL  Because we haven't done much in the house, it still looks horrible to me.  But the outside of the house and the big van is looking nice!

Yesterday we got out there around 6pm and did some work.  P and I cleaned the windows and front door.  She picked up trash that had blown in the yard.  I swept the front porch.  We never use this entry way, but we will be soon!! :)  C wiped down the boys play equipment of cobwebs and wooies.  Then he gathered up some of the brush and limbs from under one of the big trees.  I took the broom and got the cobwebs and some of the left over insects from under the overhang on the roof.  I left the Garden Spider eggs.  I love looking at them and they are wonderful for helping us with the grasshoppers.

B just walked around and had a fun time exploring the land.  L laid in his bouncer and watched us work.

While we were out there the neighbors had their cousins over.  One of them was 16.  They wanted C and P to come over and play.  But, they were working.  They told these kids that, but they kept calling.  C finally decided to ignore them.  When he did all of a sudden we heard "1, 2, 3 - We Hate You C.....".  Then they said it again.  C wasn't going to say anything, so I asked them why they said that.  They said they were just playing.  This was the 16 year old talking at this point.  I told them that that wasn't playing and asked them if they would think that was playing if someone else said it to them.  He said "I wouldn't care!" and I said "yes, you would.".  I asked him how old he was at this point and when he responded I asked him if he would grow up some.

C was asked to haul and old dish disk thing up to the front for trash.  While he was up there, two of the boys came to talk to him.  His friend, Justice, wasn't part of it, but wanted to make sure that C knew this.  The older boy came to and told C that he had been beating Justice up to make him say it.  It was like he felt guilty for possibly ruining a friendship by his little antics.

C started making excuses for these kids. It gave me a good opportunity to talk about his relationship with his sister.  I asked him what would happen if P said these things to him.  And then what if she had made excuses about saying them.  He admitted that he would have been mad and not forgiven her easily - as he had his friends.

I told him that often times we have higher expectations of our family than we do our friends, yet, we don't treat our family as nice as we do our friends.

We are still working on relationships here.  It seems to be getting worse before it is getting better - but I know that God is showing me something in His timing!!

We finish the front yard today.

Posted in Clean Heart - Clean Home

Okay, I did the devotional last night and even journaled.  I was so excited!!  I wrote my prayers to the Lord asking for His help.

Big P and I got to bed late, because we were talking.  It was nice to have some uninterrupted time to catch up!!

So, this morning I got up a bit later than I expected to.  I had a few minutes with the Lord before getting out of bed, then went in to greet C and B.  Then, C put on Thomas for B, so that I could grab a shower.  I read my Bible for a few minutes.  I'm reading 1 Corinthians right now.  Got a shower, then went in to make breakfast.

The morning was good.  Big P had to take the big van in to get the plates and registration, so C went with him.  He's learning what it takes to take care of a family and therefore vehicles.  He also had them look at the cup holder that was broke and the seatbelts that need adjusting.  He'll have to go back on Wednesday to get the things fixed.

P, B, L, and I went to Herbmart and picked up some grains.  They don't carry anything in bulk, but I was able to get a few different things to try in my Nutrimill when it comes in.

When C got home, he got to work on his math.  P worked on her Summer Bridge Activities when we got home.

We had lunch, then read some of our Texas History.  Couldn't do much more on that, because Big P hadn't hooked up the printer to the computer, since it crashed again.  He said that he'll work on that and the camera tomorrow.

So, Big P had also vacuumed out the van for us.  There wasn't much else to do on the vehicle which is what our first "cleaning assignment" was today.  C, B, and I went outside and put Armor All (sp?) all on the dashboard and such.

We then headed to the car was.  Like Amy says "why do the kids think this is such a treat?".  Well, I found out why tonight! LOL

I scooped up some quarters from the change jar and we went to town on cleaning the van.  I think we used everyone of those buttons on $3!!! LOL  We did the tires, then pre-soaked, then soaped, then scrubbed, then rinsed, then waxed, then rinsed again!  I sprayed the kids.  We had a great time.

I had fun!  These times are happening more often, and I'm so glad!!  This is exactly what I have been praying for.  That the Lord would open my heart and allow me to relax and enjoy my children!!  I just let loose and had fun!!

We sang all the way to Walmart.  It was the Nicole C. Mullen song "When I call on Jesus" and I was singing out "Thank you Lord for my children", "thank you Lord for fun times".  The kids got in on it and started laughing and singing.

Christian immitated a "fire and brimstone" preacher.  It was funny! LOL

I used the rest of my mother's day money to get some things for the van, since I like it to be organized.  I got some hooks so that we can put walmart bags up on all the rows for trash cans.  I also got some air freshener, that doesn't seem to work very well.  I got a basket for the Atlas, Mapsco, various papers, napkins, and CDs.  We don't have a glove compartment in the big van, so this will serve as one.

The little boys fell asleep on the way home and B went right back to sleep when we got him in.

It was a good day.

tomorrow we start the front yard.  There is stuff that needs to be picked up and I'm going to get Big P to show me how to do weedeating.  Hmmm, should be interesting! LOL