In previous posts, I have referred to our schedule.  I would like to explain why I feel so strongly about schedules as well as how we design and implement ours.  Schedules are great tools to maintain order in our home and ensure the most important tasks are completed.  They provide a sense of peace for Mom and children alike, as we can know what to expect for the day.

Everything in our created world has a rhythm to it.  Some examples of this are seen in the seasons, night and day, and the tides.  Our bodies too have a rhythm and function more efficiently when we cooperate with these rhythms.  It is amazing the difference this seemingly unrelated change produces.

The idea of a schedule frequently gets bad press but think of a schedule as a friend.   This friend has the job of reminding you what is important to accomplish.  In fact, this is the first step to making a schedule.  Make a list of all the things your day needs to hold.  This is best approached with a lot of prayer, as it is important to spend our time where God desires for us to spend it. 

The next step is to start filling in an excel spreadsheet with your activities.  You can put the time down the left column and the days of the week across the top.  Things might vary from day to day but it is important to keep some core anchors the same.  These would include things such as wake time, bedtime, meals and chores.  It is also a sanity saver to leave white space in your schedule to ensure a bit of margin in your day.  

Here is where some tough choices need to be made.  I have talked to many people who give up at this point due to discouragement.  Something to think about is that you have to make this choice one way or another.  Without a schedule, the choice is made on the fly and perhaps without thinking it through.  Why not make the choice ahead of time so your choices can be bathed in prayer?

Some things I have found helpful:

1)      1)Rank your activities good, better, and best.   Some activities might not be wrong but they might not be the best use of your time.  It is important the “best” things get in that schedule first!

2)      2)Remember it is your schedule.  Some people like to plan things down to the nearest 15 minutes while others prefer a looser format.  Find what works for you.

3)    3)  Schedules work great for children too.  It helps them to know what to expect.   If scheduling is new to your children, go slowly.  It is best to start with the main anchors and stay there until your children are managing them well.  Then you can add things a little at a time.

In my family, we consume almost entirely whole grains.  About the only things we use white flour for are cakes and sugar cookies.  This means our breads, buns, muffins, pancakes, cookies (other than sugar cookies) and yes, even our pizza dough is whole grain!  For many years, people have wondered why in the world I would bother.

Prior to the twentieth century white flour was confined to royalty.  There was not an economical way to make white flour for the masses.  What is white flour, you ask?  White flour is the refined, denatured product that remains after removing the truly nutritious part of the grain.  The germ and bran is removed.  It is bleached with chemicals and then enriched to make up for the now missing nutrients. Moreover, enriching white flour does not make up for the loss of Vitamins B, E, calcium, zinc, copper, manganese, potassium and fiber.  There are two reasons for this. 1) Only some of the nutrients are returned. 2) Adding synthetic nutrients does not compare to the original nutrients the Creator provided for us.  Is not that just like mankind to think we can do it better than Adonai?

In the late 1800’s the steel roller mills were invented.  Making white flour suddenly became efficient.  Now white bread products could be manufactured and sent all over the country without the fear of spoilage.  There was no longer a need for local stone-grinding mills or the local baker. 

Media, in recent years, has talked much about whole grains as an option for a healthier lifestyle.  Manufacturers have jumped on this bandwagon.  They now produce “white” wheat bread.  It is comprised of white flour with a small amount of whole-wheat flour thrown in.  Another common deception is the labeling of white flour as wheat flour.  Technically, it is true as white flour did come from wheat.  However, I believe it is done under the guise of fooling people into thinking they are buying a healthy product when in fact they are buying the same white flour product in a new and improved wrapper.    If you are looking at labels, look for whole wheat as the main ingredient.

Refined products such as white flour are large contributors to the escalation of many diseases that we have seen in recent history.   I want to provide the best food for my family to grow on.  I want to know that I am adding to their health and not helping them to have disease in the future.

Plenty of people have had the experience of using whole wheat from the grocery store and realizing that their food tastes like cardboard.  The answer lies in using freshly ground flour.  This can be accomplished by purchasing your own grain mill.  I personally use the Whisper Mill.  Another tip is to know the difference between hard and soft wheat.  Hard wheat is higher in protein and gluten making it the best choice for bread products with yeast.  Soft wheat is lower in protein and gluten.  Another name for it is pastry wheat.  It produces light and fluffy baked goods.  It is best for anything without yeast.  I cannot promise there isn’t still some adjustment when switching to whole grains, but freshly ground flour does make lighter, tastier bread products. 

Making your own bread is really more of an art than a science.  There are so many factors to take into consideration.  A good book about this is Wildflour.  The beginning of the book provides quite an education on the bread-making process.  Another option is to find someone who has already been baking with whole grains.  Ask her to mentor you!

The following recipe works best when prepared in a Bosch.  I realize the tools to get started are quite expensive.  However, it does not take long to recoup the money spent, especially if you have a large family. 

Prepare 18 cups (approximately) of fresh ground hard wheat.

6 cups warm water (120 degrees)

2/3 cup honey

2/3 cup oil – can use olive oil.  I prefer coconut oil.

5 cups of the milled flour

2 T.  dough enhancer

2 T. vital wheat gluten

3 T. SAF instant yeast

Mix the above slightly.  Cover and let sponge 15 -20 minutes.

Then add:

1 ½ T. salt

Add the salt and enough of the flour to clean the sides of the bowl.  Knead in Bosch for 5-7 minutes.  Shape into 5 greased bread pans.  Cover and let rise until it is about 1-2 inches above the pan.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

  Order in our home is an important matter to me.  With seven people in one house, things can become disorderly fast.  I have witnessed how chaotic children’s behavior becomes when the house is a wreck.  Another problem is how much time is lost looking for a needed item.  I am not a naturally organized person.  This has taken some real learning on my part.

Here is my first tip for getting some order to your home:

Dejunk your house

1)    We live in a time of serious materialism.   It comes from many sources such as Christmas and birthday gifts, relatives, impulse buying and having things passed on to us for free.  No matter what the source of all of our extra possessions, the common denominator is having more “stuff” than we need or could even use.  So sort that stuff and keep only what you really will use (not all those –oh it would be nice to use this someday –possessions.)

Dejunking your house can be time consuming and stressful but it goes a long way towards creating and maintaining order in the home.  It also helps us aim towards the goal of not storing our treasures up on earth!