Why I Changed Quiet Time (Or Five Step Decisions)

The quiet time game changed when Kevin and Micah started sharing a room. Before that Micah had quiet time in his room and Kevin napped in the nursery. Then I moved them into the same room. Micah moved to quiet time in our front hallway that's right off the living room. He loves the quiet time spot; we fix it up with a kid-sized chair, a sleeping bag, toys, and books. 

The only drawback is that my desk in directly in line of sight of the quiet time spot. This distracts me from my work (quiet time is when I do most of my writing and blogging) because I am not a good multi-tasker and it encourages Micah to be much rowdier in an effort to entertain me. So I changed what didn't work. 

I moved my workspace to the kitchen table during quiet time. It takes less than a minute to get my spot put together and to put everything away.  Micah can't see me but I can still hear him. We both get much more from the time with much less stress. 

Sometimes plans don't work the first time. We have to brainstorm new ideas and improvise with what we have. The second or third time might not work either. It might take a training period to teach everyone how to behave or use a certain setup. That's no reason to quit; it's a reason to persevere. 

Here's how I solve logistical problems around our home. 

1. Pray. That may sound silly but God cares about all parts of our lives. And since He's the one directing our thoughts it makes sense to take our problems to Him. I want to do my work with wisdom and He has all the wisdom I need. 

2. Identify the problem. Sometimes this step is the hardest. You can't solve a problem until you know what it is. My problem was that Micah could see me and he's a social child. He's fine playing for that hour by himself as long as he's not trying to get my attention. And I can't work well with that much distraction. 

3. List possible solutions. This is the place to seek counsel if you need too. I definitely asked Justin for input here; he's a wealth of good ideas. There are many other ways I could have handled this problem. I could have moved the quiet time spot. I could taught Micah to ignore me and go about his business. I could have changed the time when I wrote and worked. But the solution I picked was the most effective for the time. 

4. Try it. This time the solution works great. Sometimes it might not. If it does, wonderful! You're done until you have a new problem. If not...

5. Try something else. Pick another option and implement it for a few days. Nothing says you have to get that right the first time. (Obviously I'm not talking about big decisions like who you're going to marry, ok?)

Don't quit when you run into problems or difficulties. Work through them. Give your home and your work there the same respect you would give "a real job." 

Painting Party!

You have no idea how I've agonized over this kitchen wall color since we got it. As soon as we were in the car coming home I was nervous! And then the next morning I spent breakfast holding the color card against the curtain, the trim, the countertop, you get the idea.  Thankfully we painted that night so I wasn't in suspense long! And I love the color. I'm a little shocked, honestly. It wasn't at all what I expected (how does that happen when I pick the color??) but we both love it!! Some friends of ours came over to help paint and that was so nice! We finished much faster that way! 

This gives you the best idea of the color. It's very cozy and I feel like I'm in a small cafe somewhere. There should be soft music and candles. I do need to find some decoration for that wall. I'm thinking three mirrors. Or a painting with some red in it.

The light reflected weird on the color here but you get the idea.

I love how it looks with the countertops and the cutting board.

There is a slight purple undertone to the brown. But not that purple! Shows how lighting affects pictures :)

That's more like it.

Our neighbor's donkey came for a visit today. You just never know what's going to happen.

Micah wore Daddy's shoes and yes, one of them is on backwards. He's hilarious!

And this is who he gets it from! haha On to Kevin's room Let's not even pretend that we painted this! Justin's parents came up today and they knocked this room out in a couple of hours. I think they are really experts!

It's a sky blue color that I love.

Those same pictures hung in Micah's nursery.

I really like this picture. We just need to buy some curtains :) And that lamp has a small reading light that will come in really handy.

 I love the way the carpet, trim, and blue look together.

We still have a little work for this corner. A dry-erase/bulletin board is going over the changing table and I have some artwork to go up there as well.

We completed several projects this weekend and had a lot of fun! Thanks to everybody who helped! 

Home Improvement

My wonderful husband painted our shutters last week and he got them hung tonight! It took much longer to paint them than to hang them. I think he was glad that was over! But the house looks so much better!



I picked the lovely dark blue/gray color. There was a house that I passed every day when I drove to high school that had the light gray brick and that color shutters. And I loved that house! God is so good to grant us even little things.

We've been working on landscaping. My husband has pulled up or cut down several bushes and my parents have planted and mulched and planted and mulched. We're still planning on trimming those crazy bushes in the front but we didn't want to chop them all down and leave it bare :)

Friday Favorites: Dishwashers

We bought a dishwasher! My wonderful hubby installed it on Monday and can I just say, "I LOVE IT!" It's seriously amazing. 

We were thinking it would be a big time-saver and it is! That sounds really nice with another baby on the way. Cleaning house is like paperwork in an office- it has to be done but you don't want it to be your main focus.  So let's find the most efficient method and go with it! That's why I use my cleaning schedule.  But before I go off on how glad I was to have a cleaning schedule after I had Micah...

This dishwasher gets the dishes very clean! I love that. And Micah's formula cup doesn't smell. I'm doing a happy dance here. Don't judge; you've never smelled it :)

And where are the buttons? They are "hidden" along the top edge.  My husband liked the look better plus we let Micah play with the buttons on the broken one since we moved in. I could have retrained him but since we could avoid this issue we decided not to confuse him.

Do you have a dishwasher? What ways do you save time cleaning?

Thoughts on Sickness

Micah and I have been a little under the weather the past few days. I think it was a sinus/allergy issue. I could have quickly (at least more quickly) resolved mine with NyQuil and almost round the clock sleep. But Micah didn't seem up for around the clock sleep! :)  But God has a reason for everything and there were several things I thought on while I was sick.

1. I am so thankful for my health!! So many people struggle with chronic illnesses and fatigue issues. I am so blessed with good health most of the time even when I'm pregnant. It is a privilege to be able to manage my responsibilities and take care of what God has given me.

2. I have a wonderful husband! He has checked on me and taken care of me and picked up many of my responsibilities while I was sick. And smiled the whole time! He loves me and our boys very much!

3. I can Not-do all my scheduled work and the world will not fall apart. I know, a no-brainer, right? But I'm a list-maker and I love to check things off my list! But if it doesn't all get done the house does not explode. My husband does not get upset. And I don't think the little boy even notices. Probably a good thing to be learning!

While I was glad to think on those things, I'm even more glad to be feeling better! I'll probably take things half-pace today and hopefully be at it this weekend!

Home Projects

Between technical difficulties with myself and Blogger I've been trying to post this since Saturday! So most of this is late week/Saturday work.

We started cleaning out the junk room to make a nursery for baby Kevin! When we moved a few months ago all the extra stuff just got piled in there! And boy, did we throw things out. I thought we threw things out when we moved??

I really should have taken a before picture. I was astonished at what we got done in two hours. And it still needs a lot of work; we are going to paint, reorganize, and store baby clothes.

Speaking of baby clothes you should count yourself fortunate that you're not getting the "and this is the outfit that Micah wore home from the hospital" pictures. It was tempting. It was fun, and a little sad, to go through all the baby clothes! I'm going to hang and put in drawers the 0-12 months clothes and store the others in the now-empty tubs!

We are working on this a little early and I'm so glad! When it's 90 degrees outside this summer and I'm chasing Micah and doing my regular work I'm going to be glad to not worry about this!

My wonderful hubby hung my dry-erase board in the hallway behind the kitchen. Great place for items I need from the grocery store. A paper list on the counter is always in the way.

Fixed a shelf on the bookshelf and reorganized the top to make a spot for Justin's stuff.

That way the top of the dresser can now look like this! It was u-g-l-y before! And yes, those are pictures of us from high school!

We also hung the extra curtains on the big window in our bedroom and took down the Roman shades. These aren't the curtains I want permanently but they made such a big difference in how everything looked! I was shocked. And I definitely want dark-colored curtains; I wasn't sure before.

See that couch? Yeah, that's not where it goes. But when Micah leans on it, it scoots. And so it gets scooted a lot! It's supposed to be turned to face the right and about where the ottoman is! Micah loves to rearrange furniture as much as I do!

Be Your Best...at Home

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. -Luke 9:23

A couple of weeks ago, I remarked to Justin that I felt incorrectly perceived by someone who only saw our family once every couple of months. He thought for a minute then agreed that I might be. (Not what I wanted to hear!) But then he said, "But you are the same everywhere so I don't think it's anything you are doing wrong."

What does that story have to do with that verse? The word that sticks out to me in that verse is "daily." God wants me to take up my cross daily. I don't get to wear my Christianity only on Sundays. Or only in front of people I want to impress. I get to live out, or die to, the life God has called me to every day.

God doesn't want a parade of my "spirituality" when I am in full view of others. God wants my daily life at home with my husband and my children to shine for Him. Joseph may have run the entire country of Egypt for Pharaoh but it was only after he did his best for God in the prison.

But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. -Genesis 39: 21-23

Joseph wasn't just blessed of God because he was sitting around not doing anything. Joseph was the doer of everything that happened in the prison. And I think if the Lord was blessing him it was because he was doing it God's way.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. -Colossians 3:23

God wants me to do ALL in His name. Encouraging my husband, changing diapers, cleaning toilets, reading "The Cat in the Hat," preparing meals, disciplining toddlers, writing blog posts, etc. There is nothing so lowly or menial that God doesn't want me to give it my best. Nothing so unimportant that I can give it less than my best attitude.

God doesn't want me to sit at the piano on Sundays and smile and pretend to be an example of a Godly woman while my family knows that I grouched at them all morning and was too undisciplined to get out of bed in time to manage our mornings.

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. -Luke 16:10

I want to know that if I was nice to someone it was my husband. If I was patient with someone it was my little boy. If I encouraged anybody it was one of the dear people who live in this house with me. I want to give my best to my family, to these people that God has given into my care. I want to pour out God's love on them before I try to give anything to others. I want them to have my smiles, my fun, my heart.

And I don't mean that I don't try to be a good testimony and encourage others. But it won't mean anything if it's just a show that I put on in public and isn't real in my daily life. And who better to tell me than my husband? And if he thinks it's true you can bet that I want it to be. I don't want to disappoint him! Won't you join me in my challenge? Give your best to your family. Be that Christian you are in public at home too!

First Week of the New Year

We got Micah's room painted on New Year's Day! It was pink. Kinda sad for a boy's room, don't you think? So we picked green and blue and got to work. Actually Justin did most of it. And he did a great job! I love the way it turned out. (I need to work on taking better pictures.)

Friday was also my birthday! I had a great day! My boys spoiled me rotten. We went to eat at Cracker Barrel and Justin bought me some beautiful roses. He also got me some slipper socks. I had never heard of them and they are wonderful. My feet are always cold even when I have on socks and now they never are!

I also got a new chandelier for the dining room! We wanted to replace the other one and Justin found this one for me. He also installed it and put in a dimmer switch! It's amazing!

Isn't it beautiful? I love it!

Anticipation

Our curtains have arrived!! I'm so excited. However, they aren't hanging yet because the curtain rods aren't here. I can't wait to get them put up so I'm giving you a sneak peek of the curtains beforehand :)

The dark brown ones are for the dining room. And don't worry, we bought them with the intention of repainting those orangish walls that you can see in the next picture. And the whitish ones are for the living room. They are really closer to cream in actual color. They are 95 inch curtains so we're going to hang them at the ceiling and let them hang all the way down! Beautiful!

We've had a nice Saturday! I was cooking and took this picture of my wonderful family! Not to worry their attention quickly switched back to the ball game! And even if TN lost.....so did KY! :)