After my middle of the night cleaning spree the other night (it was just too darn hot in our house during the day,) I realized that I may have stumbled onto a couple of very important lessons.

The right thing to do may not be the same thing for you and me.

“Burning the midnight oil” worked for me. So maybe that’s what I should do.

For months, nay YEARS, I have been working on improving my cleaning ethic here at home. For years I have also been struggling with going to bed on time and getting up early so I can get enough done in my day. I will do well with it but then I will get right back to staying up insanely early and sleeping in til 8 or 9 (or some mornings ten!).

I’m just not disciplined enough to get up early. I’ve been trying to get there. But it’s not happening.

Now, I’m not saying it would be okay clean late and sleep in until noon - No, I have small children who depend on me to take care of them. Well, and it probably wouldn’t be okay to sleep in until noon even if they were older - cuz then you get into the issues of laziness.

As I was saying, perhaps instead of trying to go to bed by eleven and getting up by six, I could go to bed by one and get up at eight. Who’s to say I can’t? My children don’t need to be at school, my husband doesn’t need to be at work that early. The deciding factor would be what I do with those late night hours. (And, well, how my hubby feels about it but he’s a night owl, too.)

Writing a really great blog post does not justify staying up til the wee hours of the morning. I know, I’ve done that. But staying up late to catch up on cleaning? Now that just might.

I don’t know about you, but it seems that it’s the sort of thing the Proverbs 31 woman might have done. Well, not staying up til one and getting up at 8 specifically, but I meaning staying up after everyone else went to bed to get some work done and take care of her family.

I also listened to some good worship and a good sermon podcast while I was cleaning so it was a very quiet and spiritually uplifting time as well.

And don’t think for a minute that that means I am going to neglect my husband! Oh no! It’s absolutely possible to meet his needs and let him go to sleep and get to work on the dishes. I’m just sayin’.

I don’t plan on staying up as late as I did the other night. I just can’t stay up till 3 every night anymore. I’m not as young as I used to be. But I usually stay up until midnight or one anyway. I’m just, usually, well… blogging.

So I’m going to try this out for a while. Every night before going to bed, I will get off the computer a little earlier and get some work done. Every three or four days, I’ll stay up and get a LOT of work done. We’ll see if I can stick to that better than I can stick to getting up super early. We’ll see if it helps us keep the house cleaner during the hot part of the day. We’ll see.. if Momma can take care of her family by burning some midnight oil. My family is worth it.

This giveaway is now closed. A winner will be announced soon.

Hello, ladies (and maybe gents) - come on in! The Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is well underway. And. I’m. So. Excited.

Check out this beaded bookmark (made by moi!)

The ribbon is white, the beads are pink, there is one silver bead and a silver heart charm that reads “made with love” to remind us that we have wonderfully made by a wonderful God! This bookmark is good for a smallish sized book, such as a devotional or small bible:

You can use this bookmark like a regular bookmark, or you can slip one of the pages between the two ribbons to keep it from falling out .

One lucky lady/gent will win this handmade beaded bookmark absolutely free - all you have to do is:

• Subscribe to this blog or tell me if you already have.
• Leave a comment of substantial worth - not just a “thanks!”. Tell me anything, anything at all. Tell me what you think of my last post, or the one before that, for example. I know this is hard since you’ve got a gajillion giveaways to go through but you can do it!
• DON’T forget to leave your email address in the contact form so I can contact you if you win.
• When the giveaways start coming to a close, don’t forget to check your spam mail frequently so you don’t miss something.
• This giveaway will end somewhere around midnight CST on Friday, August 1st - which also happens to by my 10th Wedding Anniversary! Yay!

Also, stop by my other two blogs which have giveaways: Faith Family Home School and Bringing Good Home.

Now go forth, comment, subscribe, and visit more giveaways. Have fun!

How exciting! A brand new, made up, job well done!, poem style by my bloggy friend, Robin! Today we make history together. Robin made it; We’ll write it. It’ll be recorded in the halls of internet fame forever: Cuz you know, once you blog it you can’t take it back.

I’ve chosen to write my Pensieve about Motherhood. A challenge since the poem utilizes each of the five senses. But I believe I can do it. Let’s see:

Proverbs 14:1 “The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.”

Motherhood

Envisioning each hope for her children as clearly as her own, a mother’s eyes unique alone

Laughing, sharing, correcting, teaching and guiding- a mother’s words imprinted on the hearts of the young

A mother’s hands doing double duty to discipline and comfort must never stop with the work to be done

No scented candle can compare with the fragrance of a baby’s embrace, a nuzzled neck at bedtime prayer, or the aroma of a wisely built home

The fruits of these labors sweet, a passion fruit unrivaled in all else of life.

Visit Robin @ Pensieve to see more! I can’t wait to see what everyone else wrote and I’m sure Robin can’t either. The above photo is of a statue by Charles Grafly at Wichita State.

Check out this amazing display of God’s creativity: Nudibranchs, The Most Colorful Creatures In The World.

If you don’t look at anything else, watch this moving video of Who Am I by Casting Crowns.

Browse this list of “Essential Reading Curriculum: Church Youth & Parents.”

In case you’ve ever wondered about what you can and can not put into a blender, check out Will It Blend and click on “Try this at home” or “Don’t Try this at home.”

Robin’s Poetic License for the month of July is coming up in a couple of days. I like joining in her poetic projects because it give me a chance to stretch my poetry skills a little - something I haven’t done much of since high school. Poetry is also a great form of expression, and I like to tailor mine towards God, my faith, and what God has been teaching me or showing me.

Having said all that….

This month’s poetic form is a historic first - It’s a PENSIEVE.

Robin, under a little jibing and a little teasing from a friend, has taken on the task of creating her OWN form of poetry.

By the way, I’m really glad she decided to call it a PENSIEVE and not a ROBIN. Pensieve sounds way cool.

The basic idea is that you start with a subject (title) and write five lines of poetry, each addressing one of the five senses. It doesn’t take long of reading Robin’s posts to agree that it suits her perfectly. Robin is so very descriptive, dealing with all the senses, from every angle, living life to the fullest - It’s perfect.

So enough about that. Care to join along? Not only would it make Robin feel more encouraged, stepping out on this brave task, but it would be neat for it to be a huge hit and debut with a bang!

Visit Robin for the complete instructions and check back here Friday for my own version

“Grandpa, Grandpa!”

“Yes, dear, what is it?”

Placing her hands on his. “Will you tell me a story?”

“A story, eh?.. Hmm. Well, lets see what I can do about that.”

Cupping her chin he asked, “Should I tell you about when you were born, and God taught me about his goodness? Or the day I first held your mother and she wrapped her hand around my finger, and God taught me about sacrifice? Should I tell you about marrying your grandmother, and God teaching me how to love?”

Grinning, “No, grandpa, tell me the other one.”

Grandpa smiled. “I know just the one. I’ll tell you the story about the day God picked me up, and taught me about His grace, that I didn’t deserve…”

-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-*-:-

There’s something about this photo that defies the 40-word rule. When I think about grandparents, I think about their stories, and all the wisdom they have to share.

When I looked at this photo and thought about all the things our grandparents (and their parents and their parents) have seen, it made me realize that we have, through their stories and testimonies, a living, ongoing testimony to God’s continued faithfulness.

At the same time, the photo made me think of God, and coming to him like a child - trusting Him completely, with a child-like faith and with a child-like whole-hearted love. The same way that the little girl is looking at her grandfather. She loves him. She trusts him. She adores him.

For more Friday’s 40-Or-Less (But not this week!) visit Robin, who it seems, also broke the 40 Word Limit this week.

Wikipedia cites these variations for Murphy’s law:

• “If anything can go wrong, it will.”
• “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”
• “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way”.

I disagree.

I challenge Mr. Murphy and his “law” to a duel. Right here, right now.

For if you really think about it… there’s a lot of stuff that can and does go wrong on any given day, but if everything that could go wrong actually did… things would be a whole lot worse.

Imagine for a moment. Think about one of those mornings. You got up late, the kids won’t wake up or get dressed, you burn the toaster waffles, you spill coffee on your outfit…you get the idea.

Imagine if EVERYTHING went wrong. You’d get up late, your kids wouldn’t want to get up either. One of them would be puking and another one making the third one cry. You’d burn the breakfast - both times you tried - and then end up eating pop tarts which would turn out to be stale. You’d be one package of pop tarts short and you’d have to cut one in pieces to share. You’d spill coffee on your outfit and then you’d burn a spot on the second outfit while ironing it. Your third outfit would be terribly wrinkled but without time to iron you’d throw it in the dryer with a damp rag instead - which would of course spark and set fire to some old lint behind the dryer. Your fire extinguisher would naturally not work so you’d end up ushering 3 half-fed, half-dressed children out of the house in your coffee stained outfit (or maybe even your bathrobe) while you tried to call 911 on your cell phone that couldn’t get a signal.

Extreme?

Just a little.

So, Mr. Murphy, how’s your law holding up now?

Life is hard. Bad things happen. But how do you react when things go wrong? Do you throw your hands up and say, “Figures! Everything is out to get me today!”

Do you plead, “Why me??”

Do you get angry or frustrated or mean or sulky or whiny or spiteful?

It’s too, too easy to react in any of those ways. I don’t always handle interruptions in my day or my plans with a measure of grace and peace.

Okay, most of the time I don’t handle interruptions in my day or my plans with a measure of grace and peace. It’s a big sin area for me.

But the key is remembering that God is sovereign over all things, no matter what happens. I am not in control. God is in control. I do not know what He is doing. He does. Because of that, I need to work on “acting” rather than “reacting.”

Reacting is in the moment. It’s borne out of sin and laced with emotion.

Taking action is a choice. I choose not to let my circumstances dictate my reactions. I choose not to react in sin, like I really, really want to do. Instead I will cling to Christ, whether I’m clinging on tight against a tsunami of anger or barely hanging on against a flood of worry. I will cling to Christ and pray for grace and peace and I will trust God when everything falls to pieces.

I know that when bad things happen, it may feel like the world is falling apart but it isn’t really (see above demonstration with Mr. Murphy). I know that come what may, God will carry me through it.

I know, because I know that God is good.

One bike asked the other: Wanna go for a swim?

Collapsing on the beach in exhaustion: Nah, I’m TWO TIRED.

Friday’s 40-Or-Less Photo Challenge is hosted by Robin at Pensieve.

Just one link today.. THIS is really COOL!!

The most unique and entertaining version of Swan Lake I have ever seen - like ballet meets acrobatics and then some. I think even people who don’t care much for ballet will be impressed with some of their tricks.

Swan Lake

While browsing recently, I ran across this great blog post. With her permission I am reproducing part of it here.

Stay, Stay at Home and Rest

I am quite the old fashioned spirit stuck in a modern day body.  Feminism doesn’t appeal to me one bit.  It tried to capture me, and at times it still reaches it’s claws out, but I just lift my eye brow.

Growing up I was indoctrinated into the American feminist ideal that one should “go to school, go to college, get a career, make money”.   Having been born in the 1980’s, after the women-go-to-work movement had firmly taken hold, I can honestly say that my generation of women seems to have missed out on the fact that opening career fields in the job market for women was done under the guise of “having a choice”.  What choices were there supposed to be?  The choice to either stay home OR get a job.

But I tell you, there is absolutely no “choice” left in it in mainstream American culture today.  Girls are told from early on that they must go to school…go to college…and get a career.  House-keeping, motherhood, and wifery are a “second thought” if anything.  Skills needed to run and maintain a well-functioning family home are rarely taught, because most girls (those under 30) nowadays were the latchkey kids of the ’80s and ’90s and come from moms who never practiced it themselves.

If a woman nowadays chooses willfully to “stay home” they are considered lazy, unproductive, boring, abnormal, unintelligent, and moochers.  She is no longer considered to be “contributing” to her family, and thus little value is placed on her work.  If she is educated she is even told it’s a waste of intellect to “do nothing”.  Debt, rising gas / food prices, housing costs, and the increasing consumerism of our society…even the opinions of young husbands who were trained in the socialistic mindset that women now must work…also hinder today’s young woman from being free to make the “choice” to stay at home if she wants to.

Thought provoking to be sure!!

You can find the rest of this piece by Lisa at Little Jack’s Corner.