Starting to feel "homey"...

Has it been that long since I've posted on my home blog.

Yikes!!!

LOL!!!

ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

I guess I don't even know what to write about. I sometimes feel like my life has to be

absolutely

PERFECT

to type here.....

No, not really....

I never created this blog to write down my perfections

BY FAR

ha ha ha

This is a place for me to write down who I really am

I'm a work in progress

YEAH--DEFINITELY!!

So.....hmmmmm.....what has been going on since my last depressing post.

OH

Lots of fun things

awesome things actually.

My good friend was throwing out her furniture and I came just in time to save it. She bought new furniture and didn't want to sell her old couches because she thought they were in awful shape.

OK........

I had to totally laugh because her couches she thought were "AWFUL", they were by far better than what I had currently in my home. :)

So guess what I did.....???

I told her to NOT throw those couches away, but give them to ME!!!

Yep, so now I have some more furniture for my front room and it really has brought a homey feeling into the house.

I am going to post the pics later. My husband is out of town and I don't have the camera on me.

Sooooooo.........

I am planning on sewing (did I just say SEWING...ha ha....and I don't even know how to sew)....anyway.....I am planning on sewing some couch cushion to give it a more cozy feel to my front room.

Thank you Lord for sending these couches my way.

They are treasured.

AND

I am going to paint the boys' room. I bought some paint but I still need to "make" some time to actually get in there

to

tear down the old bunk beds

Kilz

steam clean the carpet

Sew curtains

(there I said it again...SEWING...yikes... I don't know what I'm saying!)

Put in the new bunk beds that have been in my garage for MONTHS!

Lots of little things are getting

fixed

replaced

and yep

I feel like maybe I might

be making this old house a

HOME!!

YAY Lord....He loves me and knows my heart!! And He ALWAYS answers prayers!!

Chris

Taking Time to Sit at His Feet

Believe me...I am getting better.

You might ask....what are you talking about?

I am talking about my diligence in managing this large family of mine. Boy, it can be hard work. I tend to sometimes shut in and try to DO IT ALL myself. I then walk around grumpy because NO ONE IS HELPING. Hello? Of course no one is helping because I haven't asked.

WHY DO I HAVE TO ASK? DON'T THEY SEE HOW HARD I'M WORKING!! THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER?

These are my daily mind struggles. I know for some of you this might be so easy to handle. Truly.... I can now relate..... just a bit to how my mother might have felt. She rarely asked us to help and then she would walk around grumpy and YELLING at us for not helping. You know what? I tend to do the same. I remember refusing to be like my "mother". I REFUSED to manage the home like her. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom :) She just didn't know how to teach us to do basic housekeeping.

I find myself doing the same thing. Yes, I have dusted my CHORE PACKS off for the millionth time! Yes, I have the kids help!! But I tend to not be consistent. I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW! CONSISTENCY is a MUST. But why do I keep stumbling. LORD HELP!!

Guys, I hate to be so negative but I am just sharing my struggles as a mom. I have read the books, I have done the chore charts, I have read almost everything that is out there.!! I think I have some deeper issues to deal with. :( Oh, boy....now I have to do some deep soul searching LOL!

I know the Lord in His great mercy is sitting on my couch just watching me walking around unorganized and not knowing where to begin. He probably has a smile on His face and just waiting for me to come to Him and let Him give me the answers I've been searching for.

"Lord, I've been to you so many times. Why can't I get it!! What is the deal with me! I need to obey, I know!!"

I haven't allowed the Lord to really minister to me in this area. It's like you have a child that you obviously know needs to be taught in say cooking, and when you instruct him or her, they are not really receiving all your instructions. They are so quick to get up and go. Well.....this is me!! Yep, I will sit at His feet about this issue for so long (a few minutes) and not allow Him to minister to me completely. I get up and go before He is finished instructing me. Do you see the picture I am trying to paint? So when this "child" tries to make the meal, they mess up the recipe and then comes crying because they "messed it all up". Reality is that they didn't mess it ALL UP, they just added that extra cup of sugar or forgot to put in the egg.

I need to take the time to sit at His feet and have Him minister to me. As I am typing this, I'm thinking "When am I going to have the time to do this." Ooops!! Instead of typing on this blog, I guess I should have been with the Lord. Actually, typing this out has helped me see my problem. :)

Thanks for hanging in with me and following my life :)

Love Ya,

Chris

Home Improvement--highly needed!!!

Yes, I am starting a new blog!! A blog devoted to home management. Actually, a journal of my journeys of home management-- The "ins and outs" of the "nitty-gritty" of putting my house in order while raising my eight children. BEWARE: The following pictures are of my house in "messy" status...this is what it looks like after having a busy week and neglecting our ChorePacks.

( Before: School books all over the desk, after this weeks evaluations)

(After: My oldest son cleaned up the school room--yeah, for teenagers)

(my unorganized laundry room with lots of baskets of dirty laundry)

(dishes to wash)

(my neglected bedroom with dirty clothes to be washed and carpet to be steam cleaned)

(toys that need to be sorted and gotta get rid of some)

(my front closet that needs some order)

I must confess, the one thing that has been highly neglected (at least just maintained), while having bunches of babies, has been my home (better the home, than the children...LOL). Throughout my childbearing years, I've had to "let loose" on many house goals and on how clean I want my house. Most of it has been from not having much time, not having much energy (mental and physical), and not being a "natural born" housekeeper. Yes, the children do help, all the time, but a child's sense of what is "clean" is not as crisp as an adult's. Also the more children you have (especially many little people at once), the more taxing on the house it can be. To name a few: Toys--EVERYWHERE; handprints and footprints on the walls, hot wheel marks on the my new coffee table; crumbs on the floor (good thing for my dog), oatmeal stuck on the blinds; food in their clothes drawers---ewww; nasty, rotten sippy cups under the couch; pee pee underwear in their drawer--not knowing my 3yr old messed in his pants and changed and decided to put his dirty undies back in his drawer with clean clothes---then me and the rest of the children trying to figure out where the stink is coming from, oh yeah...a big ewww; and yes the list can go on and on and on.... I hope I am not the only one with a messy children--LOL

Now that my "dirty laundry" has been exposed, I hope you will join me on this journey (long, short, or never ending...LOL) of putting my home in order. I am looking forward to sharing what I am learning along the way. I would love it if you could help me by giving your input. Leave your comments or email me with some organizational, cleaning, or house keeping tips. Anything is helpful, because I am not a "natural born" tidy person. LOL...

Sooooooo....... till then....

Chris

P.S. If you want to catch up on my family life and other things on my mind...continue to visit my other blog Joyful Mother.