Thankful for a Clean Kitchen Floor

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For Christians, praying is as important to our faith as drinking water is to our daily health. Prayer is necessary for our relationship with God to grow and be healthy just like water is needed for our bodies to be healthy and grow.

But where and when are Moms supposed to find that quiet time to pray? We are constantly on the move from the minute our feet hit the ground in the morning. Those of us with little ones barely have a moment to get a drink of water or use the restroom. Warm meals are almost unheard of and we are lucky to get dinner on the table at a decent hour. So when are we supposed to carve out the time we so desperately need with our Lord? We know we need to but some days it just seems so impossible.

Over the years and through the various seasons of Motherhood, where and when I most often pray during the day has varied. At one point when my youngest was sleeping through the night I faithfully woke up early and sat around my kitchen table to read His word and pray. Those days are long behind me though and won't be a possibility for the foreseeable future, afterall I've got 3 littles under the age of 2. I still need to carve out that much needed quiet time in prayer though, not only for my faith but also for my sanity and mental well being.

So when do I most often pray?

The simple answer is whenever and wherever I can. It is never anything fancy, I just say quick prayers and give thanks for His blessings whenever a quiet moment presents itself. Doing dishes, sitting down to give the twins a bottle, nursing my youngest, folding laundry, even cleaning the bathrooms are all places I have prayed in recent days.

Tonight however, it all hit me. Earlier this evening I had a very rare moment when everyone was in bed and I still had enough energy to clean. Keep in mind my youngest is still waking up every 2-3 hours at night so in a typical night I am up 4-5 times; energy and wakefulness are not my strong assets in this season of my life. Tonight I was able to finally clean my kitchen floor. Cooking, canning, and daily traffic had left my floors far dirtier than I prefer. As I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the splattered tomatoes, leftover food pieces, and other unknown stains off of my white floor tiles I prayed. Not only did I pray but God opened my heart to the specialness of that moment. Yes, cleaning my kitchen floor on my hands and knees on a Saturday night was a special moment.

Why?

Scrubbing the floor tonight was so special because it symbolized all that was right in my life. I could be a million other places right now but I am not. I am here at home with my 6 beautiful children who are healthy, thriving, and growing in His word. There was no where else I wanted to be at that moment than on my hands and knees cleaning my kitchen floor.

I am blessed and so are you! Sure there are daily struggles and worries. But through it all, think of all that you have been blessed with and have to be thankful for.

Be thankful for your clean kitchen floor!!

4th Year of Homeschooling: Off and Running

As I was planning the upcoming school year earlier this summer my anticipation steadily grew with every new box of curriculum and every new entry into my favorite planner, The Well Planned Day Homeschool Planner. I had dreams of picture perfect, conflict free hours around the kitchen table. Fantasies of every lesson completed just as I had planned. Visions of intricate and highly planned lessons filled my head. I had every reason to dream. The past two years of homeschooling were anything but complete, far from easy, and wrought with life distractions. Now that life has settled down I saw this new school year as a rebirth for our homeschooling journey. A chance to redeem myself as a home educator and an opportunity for my children and I to return to the glory days of homeschool year number 1.

What was I thinking? August 1st was the first day of school for the new year here in our house. Reality quickly collided head on with my picture perfect dreams. My school age children were no more ready to start school than I was. My beautiful school lessons were too much and overwhelming right out of the gate. Not only that, but I have irish triplets of which the older 2 are only 19 months. Not only were my lesson plans too much too soon but I didn't take into account all the time and effort needed to care for my younger 3. I can not sit down for long stretches of time to teach a length lesson. God blessed my family and now I need to learn to work within those blessings and make this the best school year that I can.

I erased a LOT of lesson plans.

Now that my dreams and visions of grandeur are behind me I am beginning to settle into reality. I have rearranged the lesson schedule, made lesson instructions shorter, and taught my children that Mom can teach them anywhere, not just at the kitchen table like usual. Most importantly though, I have come face to face with the fact that it isn't all about how much schoolwork we get done in a day. Teaching my older children to keep the house and care for one another is of first and foremost importance. These are formative years in my young family, caring for one another and the blessings around us in crucial. There will always be time for a math lesson or a science experiment, they don't have to happen exactly when I have them "scheduled" in my planner.

We are enjoying school, loving each other, and loving life. Isn't that why I started homeschooling in the first place?

I will post our curriculum and my early impressions in the coming days.

Here's to a wonderful new school year!! May your home be blessed!!

Really miss blogging!

It has been months since I last logged on this blog. So sad! I truly miss writing my ramblings, my random thoughts about motherhood, homeschooling, and my faith. Even though I am not actively writing here blog post ideas are constantly popping in my head. Sometimes I am even able to draft a post in my head, if only I had the time to stop and write down those sentences I would have countless posts these past months. But I don't, my family has to come first. I do have every intention of posting here again on a fairly regular basis. I think I know how I will make that happen but until I can actually put my plans into practice I will make no promises.

So until then, please know that I am still around and doing well.