Homemaking

I'm reading a book right now that is changing my life. It's called Large Family Logistics, the Art and Science of Managing a Large Family by a woman named Kim Brenneman.

I think maybe some people think that being a housewife is easy. Being a stay at home mom, you're not really doing that much work, you get to just hang out with your kids all day, you don't have to ever get dressed, it's not a big deal. This line of thinking could not be farther from the truth. Being a housewife is hard. Being a homemaker, a teacher, a home economist, a house cleaner, a meal planner. This stuff is difficult. It's difficult when you are your own boss in a sense. No one is checking in on you to make sure you are staying on task, you are dealing with an insolent two year old and trying to keep a newborn baby fed, changed and happy. It's difficult. Even if you are just at home with one new little baby you have quite a challenge when you are dealing with all the crying, trying to figure out nursing and naps.

Okay, that's enough complaining right? So where were we supposed to learn the skills of running a household? In school? No, not really, I learned about US History, Trigonometry, and Chemistry. Some of these subjects are used in my day to day life, but not much.

Kim Brenneman is teaching me how to organize my week. She is showing me how to streamline my days. This is exactly what I need. A lot of days go by and I think, "What in the world did I do all day?" So right now I am keeping a log of my minutes. Literally, I just look at my watch, it's 7:06 and I am blogging right now. I will be able to look back on this log at the end of the day and see that it took me 36 minutes to write a blog. So, if I want to write a blog I need to plan on at least 45 minutes of time. I railed against this idea at first. "There is no way I'm going to log my days!" She said to start right now. I was reading the chapter yesterday afternoon so I started at 3:47. I kept writing stuff down and I literally DID so much between folding and putting away two loads of laundry, doing all kinds of prep work for dinner, cleaning out the bottom of the refrigerator, straightening the master bedroom. It was like I had this little accountability partner notebook sitting there asking me if I was doing anything useful. I'm very interested to see what it will tell me to do today.

I am also beginning to write out a schedule for me and Levi. In this we will include Breakfast, Bible Time, Piano time, Snack, Building Blocks time, Reading time, Lunch. I am even planning out what we will eat. This way it's not 12:30 and I'm staring aimlessly into my pantry trying to figure out what to feed a starving two year old who is whining and asking for cereal. No way am I giving you cereal Levi, we are going to eat an actual lunch.

I am also writing down what I am eating as well. I have been getting the 3:45 sugar cravings that I tend to just give in to. Lord, help me to eat healthfully. I think that's why I have been so exhausted, because I haven't been eating as healthfully as I should. For now, I am considering my housecleaning as a workout. When you are on your hands and knees scrubbing the cabinets clean, I think that should count.

Lord, help me to work heartily as unto You. I want to glorify You through my homemaking. I don't want to do this to impress others, but just to give You the honor You deserve.