creating a haven...

I stumbled upon something interesting at The Homespun Heart http://www.thehomespunheart.blogspot.com/ which I thought I'd like to attempt, even though I am already two whole days behind. It's a challenge of sorts to make of our homes a haven...And clean. I have been so blessed with the kind of home I've always dreamed of -- a big old rambling house that could be filled with the happy laughter of children. It's in need of a lot of repair though, having been neglected for years before we bought it. I like to be challenged and reminded of the importance of getting things in order, in many different regards. I am hopeful that the effort I put into this will be a blessing to my precious family.

With six children, I can tell you that our home has long seemed too cluttered and unkempt despite my efforts. For a while, I have to admit that I kind of gave up out of sheer frustration -- not because I did not want a clean home and tidy children, but because it just seemed as though everything was going wrong. Our washer has not worked in months, which means my darling husband does laundry once every week at the laundry mat in town. That means that clothes and towels and rags and coats and sheets, etc. just have to wait around, and for some reason those items just do not always stay in their designated laundry baskets! In addition, I had set up a "center" of sorts for school work. I have three children in school and three homeschooled, so we have an abundance of paperwork that cannot be misplaced. I had bins for each child and shelves for books and bookbags...But somehow all of the paperwork and projects and bookbags mysteriously crawl off from their designated spots as well. So...

I will be praying more this week and trying to re-train my six children. I have had some difficulty in this area, as five are adopted and some of their issues make obedience a serious task and a chance for rebellion, hence my frustration. I do not have as short a fuse with them when it comes to patience, thanks to many talks with the Lord, but I admit that there are times when I'd rather walk away than attempt to get to the bottom of the crisis because it seems that so much is tangled up in one simple task. It's not laziness as much as weariness at this point, but as I said -- I've committed much of this to the Lord in prayer and have become more optimistic in the last month that I can certainly make things more peaceful for the family overall. And since that time, I've seen great changes in their beginning stages in the spirits of at least some of the children. That is indeed a blessing!

Aside from that, I am expecting a baby in June and I have the need to get things under control. My first pregnancy - resulting in 4 year old Samuel - had me on bed rest for the last six weeks, and everything downstairs turned more than chaotic, even when my mother and my mother-in-law tried to help. My second pregnancy - resulting in the loss of precious Jordan between 10 and 12 weeks into the pregnancy - had me on bed rest from almost the beginning, and the chaos was worse. I would like to have order throughout the whole thing this time and be prepared for whatever may happen, and I'm depending on much prayer to start to see some of the character traits emerge not only in the children, but that my husband and I will always exhibit deeper patience bourne out of love and try to restore our family to what it should be.

I really look forward to working on this!!!

Prayer...

I would love to ask for extra prayer during this season of my life. You see, I've had a little trouble lately with cramping and bleeding. While this is somewhat normal in a lot of pregnancies, after losing our precious baby last year I am very apprehensive of what that all could mean. I am trusting in Him, but I am afraid my human-ness tends to get in the way and I feel the devil just whispering to me. So any prayer -- especially in these still early weeks -- would be such a blessing to me! Thank you!!!