A New Day

I want to confess that lately I have not been the wife and mother that I know the Lord wants me to be.  I'm prone to idleness and I get easily irritated.  I have been neglectful in cheerfully training my children and making time for just sitting and playing with them.  Often I am late in making our meals and I've been slack in planning out menus/shopping trips.

At 2am this morning I was sitting in our living room while my beautiful family was sleeping.  While I was enjoying this time alone, the Lord showed me all these areas where I have not been obedient to His commands.  It made me so sad to see how I've failed Him and also my family.  

Don't get me wrong.  These are just the little things that tend to creep in while you're busy doing the laundry and cleaning the house.  We're still a happy family but I know that I could make our home happier and more peaceful.

Even though I was saddened I was also thankful that the Lord is faithful to show me when I've stumbled off the path He's called me to travel.  So I sat down with my journal and made a list of all the things I mentioned above and what I planned to do to rectify each problem.

Here it is:

• Wake up before Hannah & Samuel every morning to read God's Word, pray and just have a few minutes alone before the day begins.  I believe sleep has been an idol to me.  I love sleep and I'm not a morning person.  This often puts me behind in my chores and I know that a good portion of my day is wasted.
• The kids and I will eat breakfast at the kitchen table and I'll read their devotional to them while they eat.  We normally eat in the living room while watching cartoons on PBS.  But yesterday I bought them VeggieTales 365 Veggie Devos For Kids and I want to start their mornings the same way I plan to start mine.  I want to make God and His plan for us the most important part of their day.
• Less time watching cartoons/playing video games and more time doing chores together.  Hannah & Sam are really good at helping me with chores but sometimes I get in a hurry (or the perfectionist in me takes over) and I leave them to watch PBS while I do all the work.  They both know how to make their beds, help with dishes and separate clothes so I want to return to these things.  I want them to be an important part in making our home happy & peaceful and I want them to understand that we all contribute to make this happen.  Plus I want them to grow up with responsibilities so I don't have a lazy teenager on my hands years down the road.
• I am going to make time to just play with my kids.  After all of the chores are done I do spend time with Hannah & Sam but it's normally working with Hannah on her reading/writing or with Samuel on his letters.  It's been a long time since we've just wrestled or played hide 'n seek.  We could all use a little more fun!  Plus, if they're helping me get our chores done quickly, we'll have more time to play!  
• More Bible Stories.  I'm normally pretty good with this but I have been slack with it lately.  I like to make Bible time interesting so here are some ideas that I've had/that I have:  draw a picture about what we've just read, act out the story, some kind of craft (works better with stories like Noah & the rainbow or Jesus feeding the 5,000).  Any ideas you have would be welcomed as well!
• Better time & money management.  As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I've started our family notebook again.  This is going to help me to plan what chores I have to do each day, what activities we need to be prepared for,  and plan my weekly menus & shopping trips.  It's nice knowing what I'll be cooking for supper the next day so I know I won't be stressing two hours before supper should be ready!  This will also allow me to spend more time with my children and my husband.
  

My desire is to be like the Proverbs 31 Woman!!  It's my prayer to be a good steward with what the Lord has given me - my home, my children, my husband, our money and our time.