I am taking a few days to plan for this coming year.  Most of the children are visiting my parents now as I am having a "baby-moon".  :-)  The youngest of our family is now a week old, and we had complications, so, I'm off my feet, but taking care of baby & myself.  Though it is a physically difficult time, I have been able to do a lot of reading & praying & planning.  :-)  God is good & wise.

I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who has taken great care of me during these difficult days.  I have been blessed with healthy and loving children!  I have been blessed with my parents who are watching the "olders" while I recover.  I have been blessed with a church family who is bringing meals and checking in on us.  Most of all, I have been blessed with a Lord & Savior whose will and way are always perfect.

Once again, I'm putting together a home management binder.  It usually works quite well for me until something happens (moving out of state, new baby, or something of that nature).  Hopefully I'll be able to stick to it & really tailor this tool for our family.  Last time, I was using the FlyLady system, and even though it is basically the same thing, I'm mostly referencing www.KeepingTheHome.com this time around because of her emphasis on homeschooling, large families, and the Biblical admonitions for being a manager of the home.

I did manage to pack up two huge bags to donate and one of trash yesterday - just from the master bedroom!  Last week, I did the same in my daughters' room.  We'll get there; slowly but surely.

I decided to use some fun medieval and victorian clip art from http://karenswhimsy.com/ for my binder.   These have been a great deal of fun to peruse.  Now, I'm adding titles & Bible verses and poems to each section divider.  I want to get a one month menu plan, the basics for housework and our basic homeschool schedule finished by Monday so I can give it a trial run.

-the TeaLady