STEP TWO - Simplicity Series - Making a Simple Schedule for the Summer

STEP TWO in the Simplicity Series

Step One was the reason that I had to find a way to declutter my life.  Popped open diapers and neighbors who just walk right in.  If you want to read the whole story, check out Lysa's site where I guest posted.

SO here is the break down for the rest of this Series:

I will give you a home challenge connected with a heart challenge.

Three days a week.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

We hit it hard in the beginning of the week and you have that week to try some of the ideas.

Or try them sometime this summer...

take baby steps or plunge right in.  

The important part is maintaining what you do and add another step: Maintain Plus!

Since I gave you a schedule, today's challenge is keeping in the same theme:

SCHEDULES - 

How to Make Them Simply Work For You

It was Tuesday afternoon.  I knew I had to do something, but I could not for the life of me remember what it was. Did I remember to unplug the curling iron?  I rarely use one, so it totally could happen.  Yes, I did unplug it.

Is it garbage day?  No, that was yesterday.

I check my calendar and there is nothing written for today...oh wait, something is scribbled in the side of the margin...some numbers and CHUCK E. CHEESE!

oh.no.

I forgot my son's birthday party.  And actually not so much forgot just to go...I had forgotten to invite people.

So, one call later, and a changed date, and we have ourselves a new party.

I don't even think it counts as being forgotten if it was never really planned.  My son had no idea that I had already called and made that date.  He just new he was getting a party sometime.   He is the fourth child.  I guess he just feels lucky to be having one.

So, for me, to simplify my schedule is not just a thing I could to try if I have some free time this summer.  It is a necessity in order for my family to feel a sense of peace and fun anticipation. Children (and me) need to know what is coming.  It gives them a sense of stability.  And for fun events, it helps to get them excited.  I am not saying you cannot surprise your children, but, "Surprise, you have soccer practice in five minutes and we live ten minutes away" is no fun for anyone!

So here are some tips to help clear your calendar and make each moment more meaningful:

Don't Over Plan - Summer leads to a more relaxed schedule, but often that can lead to more things we try to get done.  Look at the calendar in the beginning of the week and be intentional about what activities you are going to be involved with.

Build In Margin - If there is a free day, you do not have to fill it!  A free day can be a wonderful time to get things done at home or even for the children to just "be" at home, whether that means reading, jumping on the trampoline, or playing games.

Plan for Interruptions - When you are planning to go somewhere, count on adding at least ten minutes for forgotten footwear, last minute bathroom breaks, and lost bumpies (blankets).  If you add on these minutes now, you will not find yourself running late.

Make a List - Whether it is a bucket list for the summer or a list of places to visit, make that list and put them on the calendar right now.

Be Specific - When I was a teacher, I was very specific in my daily schedule because I had a principal as  my authority.  Well, God is a bigger authority and I have to be responsible for the things he has given to me : children, time, gifts, activities.  I need to be specific in my schedule and mark down what I am doing. Put down time for just you and one child even if you have four.  If you write it down, it will more likely happen.

Celebrate - Don't forget to put in times to just have fun with no reason.  Or celebrate when a week went well and you made it to all the birthday parties! Life really does go too fast and you want to enjoy as many MOMents as you can.

Now for the Heart Connection - (Oh, I can't wait to switch to Wordpress so I can add different fonts and hearts here...)

In order for any day to run more smoothly, I have to put in time with Jesus.  We can plan our days and ask Him to join us, but what really needs to happen is for us to join Him where He is already working.  Even just ten minutes to connect and read His Word will focus our hearts and clear from our minds what are earthly distractions so that we may focus on what is eternal.

This doesn't mean we will forget that we need a new van or that a friend has breast cancer, but by coming to Him in prayer, and worshiping Him, we will be reminded of His omnipotence and know He can help us get through any struggle and we will be focused on His omnipresence and we will remember that He will never leave us.


And those are the things that I want to remember...along with my son's birthday party!

So excited to be posting over at the site of my friend who leads people to follow hard after God and encourages people to make this life an adventure! 

And there is a giveaway there and here!

Please join me over at Lysa Terkeurst's site for my Simplicity Series Kick Off!

For the next few weeks we will be finding out what true simplicity is and what it means in our heart and home! 

We will learn together what it is like to FULLY LIVE IN THE MOMENT.

God is not a God of chaos! (1 Corinthians 14:33) Get ready to clean out those cupboards, organize that kitchen, and streamline your schedule for a life that gives more time to connect with the people you love!

And if that isn't enough....I am doing a giveaway on my new book: Clutter Free Simplicity - Seven Step to Clearing out the Clutter in Your Heart and Home over at Lysa's site and also here!  Two chances to win! 

SO, let me know in the comments what part of your house, heart, schedule, day, even throw in things like vacation planning, play dates, or closets that seem to make your life crazy

We are in this together and we are going to find out what it really means to live a simplified life that gives us time to really enjoy it and bring glory to God!

I will pick one person to give a copy of my new book! Just tell me below one great tip on getting clutter free or what part is always a challenge!

May you be blessed with these MOMents you have!

Only Grace Words Today

My computer is not letting me add pictures to my posts.  And I think to myself, "Why even write if I cannot enhance the words with images of beauty, crisp lines of simplicity, or a giggle captured by the lens.

It is especially hard when some images capture the words in just a snapshot like this post on keeping the main thing, the main thing. Pure beauty.

But then a quiet whisper tells me that His Story had no photos, no tangible images of a baby's first smile, the mighty waters being stilled by a calm voice, the drips of sweat, pain, and the sin of a nation falling from the brow of our Savior.

Only words. Only Truth.

And so my challenge is to speak His words into my children's lives today. My desire is for my words to be a picture of joy, for that will lead them back to His beautiful story of grace and love.

Thankfully linking up here today. (I cannot use the cute little button.)

Finish the Sentence Friday - What am I Passionate About? My FRIENDS..

What am I passionate about?  Or who? (Spoiler Alert: Friends)

To say you are passionate about something means to spend time on it.  Even if it is gardening and you do not know it, people measure your passion by what you spend your time on.

SO what do I spend my time on?

It certainly is not my house, although I wish it were sometimes.  Not that I do not like a clean house.  In fact, I wrote a whole book on how I am trying to have a clutter free house and heart.  I really do like to have clean and welcoming home.  It sounds as if I spend a lot of time on my home with the amount of time I talk about doing stuff to my house to my sister, but am I really spending that much time on it? Hmm..

The first would be MY FRIENDS. I need to say my extended family is very much included in this bit of friends, because they were my first friends and they have been with me for life.  My mom, dad, sister, and brother, as well as all of their families and all of my husband's side have places in my heart that will never change. Now, if my blogger account or my goofy computer were working how they should, I could add some great pictures of my family and friends.  But for now, you will have to trust me, because they rock. They stick with me through more than I want to live through.  Through pain, questions, anxiety and fear.  And they are there to cheer, to laugh, and to say they like my new profile pic. They love me no matter what!

I would also say my husband (MY BEST FRIEND), because I adore my husband more than chocolate covered strawberries. I love our date nights.  I love watching him with our kids.  I love him, and I love how he makes me laugh, but do I really spend a lot of time planning for him, serving Him, and just being with him?  Not as much as I should or as I would like. Or as much as he would like I am sure...

My kids would be one that I would say, for sure, I am quite passionate about and I would have to put it right up there with time since I home school and am with them almost 24/7. And as far as love goes, it is never ending and always filling.  They are my sweetest friends who I love for life. Take tonight for example, when my little one prayed to Jesus and said, "Thank you for making my Mommy who never says, 'No," when I ask her to snuggle." It doesn't get much better than that! So I would have to say that my kids are my passion, although I reminded when I hear prayers like that that I have been created with a hole that can only be filled with my Jesus.

I know He should be my passion. MY VERY BEST FRIEND! My first love. My consuming thought.  And on those sweet days when I do come to Him and ask for His wisdom, patience, and strength. When He becomes not only my God, but my true passion...Ahhh, those can be some good days. Because some days can be hard.  Some days I get so tired.  When one hurtful comment is said to me. When one more person lets me down.  When I mess up the same way again and again. My body hurts. My spirit is weary. God should be my passion, for  I am His beloved. His daughter. His princess. I am His Friend. I am His passion.

And that makes me want to change the way I spend my time...

What is your passion?  Where do you spend your time? I would love to know...



Link up here with others and read some funny, some serious, but always real life stories from some great writers for Finish That Sentence Friday.


And here for Five Minute Friday for some amazing, authentic, and sweet stories on the topic of FRIENDS.

Tacos in the Tub Equals Perfection

 

 

 

I am linking up with Finish the Sentence Friday from Kate's super funny blog.

 

 

Every Friday you finish the sentence with some humor, words of wisdom, or the first answer that your seven year old gives you and you find a good picture to go with it.

 

I think this is my first.  I was a little nervous. But, from a recent group that I just joined, I found a community where people are open, encouraging, and quick to be helpful.  They make you want to join in the fun and write!

 

 

And today's Finish the Sentence is...

 

If I could live anywhere, I'd live...

 



photo credit

 

 

...in my bathtub.

 

Is this one mine?  No, I totally wish it was, although I did look up other ones and there was another one I was wishing to make my own...in the kitchen! 

How perfect would that be?!

A little sudsy time, a homemade pizza, more suds, and pie.

 

My bathtub is THE happiest place on earth, excluding Disneyworld.  Although one of the last times I was at The Magical Kingdom, I was nursing the ENTIRE time and
 missed almost everything good.

 

My glorious bathtub has sweet candles to set the mood for some fun in the tub. 
And by that, I mean a glass of Pepsi, some Twizzlers, and a really good magazine
that I just got from Costco.

 

And, I even have bath salts from Hawaii!  One of my girlfriends goes there with her family EVERY year.  I know...Who does that?!  She is a kind sweet mama whose kids are the only ones around who can ever finish the license plate game in less than a LIFETIME! 

 

My bath tub is a also bubbly one. A whirlpool one.  Funny how I have no problem sitting in a hot tub at some random hotel pool where fifteen thousand other people have done who knows what
and I get totally grossed out when my husband takes a bath and says,

 "You can use my water if you want."

 

UGH. NO WAY!

 

My bath is where I dream, rest, read, and if I could pull of eating a late night snack of Taco Bell while watching The Office and still somehow remain in the tub, it would be as close to an earthly living place perfection as it could get.
 

 

Feel free to link up and read some other writers and all the places they would want to live!

 

 

 

Finish the Sentence Friday is hosted by:

Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic (Twitter, Facebook)

Mommy, for Real (Twitter, Facebook)

Dawn’s Disaster (Twitter, Facebook)

Can I get another bottle of whine? (Twitter, Facebook)

  

 

iPad Giveaway and Lead, Momma Lead Webcast Event

  Enter Today - 3/25- 4/16!       I have been blessed to be able to read, review, and share this AMAZING book!     What would Jesus do is a question everyone asks.  But how about...   What Would Jesus Do with Your Kids?
This book will not only give practical suggestions to become the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus, but Lead Your Family Like Jesus will share twelve priceless parenting principles based on  the Savior's life teachings.
I am taking one book challenge for the next fourteen days.   For those of you who know me well, you know I LOVE my sleep.  Yet, this book has encouraged me that solitude is not just a good idea, but needed for my relationship with God and for me to be refreshed in Him.  And along with that solitude comes a sacred time to pray.
So for the next fourteen days,  I am taking the challenge to pray intentionally for my children early in the morning.
I am going to get up just fifteen minutes earlier and pray for each of them  with a specific verse for each.   Might you  you take the challenge with me?  Maybe it is praying for your child.  Maybe it is reading the Bible.  Maybe it is just getting quiet before God. 

Fifteen minutes.

I will keep you posted!

Now if you have not yet done it...please click on the icon above to enter in an awesome giveaway!

Be Still and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10

After ~ The Best Part

 

 

A few of us love to write so much, we do it without thinking and with (little) editing.  Find out all about it here.

 

Here is my Five Minute Friday thoughts coming and my little fingers typing:

The topic for today: 

 

AFTER

 

 

It was after the egg hunt.

After the little legs scurrying for colored pieces of love left by the Easter Bunny all over the yard.

It was after the lunch of too much ham and just the right amount of not-the-dense-kind of too-thick cheesecake, but the just-right-fluffy tasty kind that Grandma makes.

It was after the sliding down the slide and hugging Papa for a photo.

It was after all that, that I saw this.  This sweet face of contentment.  This sweet face, resting in the shade, weary from a day well spent.

Her white dress reminding me of the fresh life of grace that we get in every new day because of what came after those three days.

I thank God for the after.