Stepping Out In Faith

A couple of years ago my husband and I felt it was time to consider moving.  This was huge for us because when we built our house, we built it with the intention of never moving again. But in the first 5 years of being in our house we went from 3 children to 6. The majority of the decision was based on 2 things. The first being that we had 5 girls and their bedroom is only about 10' X 12'. Hardly big enough for all of them. We decided to hold out because our son was a senior in high school and we didn't want to move him for his last year.

Now, a year later we are actively working towards finding another home. We have been so happy here, but feel it is time to move closer to civilization. (we're about 1/2 from the town where we spend 5 days a week - at dance and church). We don't want to move back to a big town (we love the country) so we're looking at moving about 1/2 way closer. We still can had enough land to build a small hobby farm, and still be close enough that we're not going through 2 tanks of gas every week.

The dilemma - we're very close to deciding to build again.
The struggle - we need to sell our house, so we can use the equity as a deposit.

Hmmm, that means we're potentially going to have to rent while we build. Which ultimately means moving two times in one year. Not really what I want, but the end result is so.... exciting?!?!

So, I've begun the process of destashing. There are 8 of us in a 1450 sq. ft. house. Yikes! Stuff accumulates so fast. My new motto is: If I don't want to pack it (possibly twice) then we don't need it. 


We considered this last summer, right after my son's graduation, but it didn't come about. Things changed this weekend and the process is moving again. This time feels different and everything seems to be falling into place much easier. It's the end of the school year for us, so I will have a lot more time to devote to preparing our house to sell.  Now I'm just praying for God's direction and will, which is ultimately what both my hubby and I want. God is amazing and I feel like exciting things are on their way!

Repurposing Myself

At the beginning of 2012 I gave myself a word for the year. The word I came up with was FOCUS. My goal was/is to be a better wife, mother, and example to my children.  By changing the things I don't like about myself, I can repurpose myself into the woman I want to be.  To be more purpose driven, I decided to pick areas that I feel I want to see the biggest change.

F - Faith & Family

O - Organization

C - Children

U - Unclutter

S - Scripture & School

I've set out to change these specific areas of my life to be a better example to my children. I don't feel like I'm terrible at these things, but I do feel we can all grow and change for the better. Some of this (mostly the unclutter & organize categories) will be the biggest challenge for me.  For those that don't know our family grew quickly, and in 8 years I went from being a mother of 1 to being a mother of 6. I let my organization slip because of lack of sleep and energy.

So, I'm beginning a new chapter of mothering the way God wants me to, so I can be an example that my daughters can some day look up to. I've decided to try to find time to blog again so that I can journal my progress.

Creating A Home Office - When There Isn't One

I have 2 goals for today.

1) To get at least 5 of my 'no-longer-needed' homeschool items listed on ebay.  I've come to the realization I don't have the time to get everything listed at once, so if I do a few a day that may work.  Only one problem....I've been up since 2:30 this morning. (yes I'm crazy, lol)

2) To clean off my computer desk.  Not as easy as it sounds seeing as my husband and I each own a home business, on top of the fact that we don't have an office/den/spare room.  So our setup is in the living room, in a very little alcove.  I do about 1/2 of my crochet designing from there, so there's usually balls of yarn, handwritten notes, contracts & estimates for my hubby's tree removal biz, etc.  It wasn't bad until tax time.  I was an accounting major in college, so I do all of our taxes myself.  This year, for some reason, I still haven't organized and put all the files downstairs. 

We'll see how it goes.  I'm hoping to get the majority of it done so I can move on to something else tomorrow.

30 Days To A Clean(er) House

Here I am, exactly 30 days before my oldest child graduates high school. That means a graduation party is in order. The problem? I'm embarrassed to have anyone over.  It has gotten so out of control in the past year or two, that I didn't even know where to start. And because I didn't know where to start, I wasn't do anything. But I've slowly been trying to get better. Now that I'm down to the wire, it's crunch time. I devised this plan in my head to start a new blog, where I could hold myself accountable, but didn't have to be embarrassed by someone I new actually finding out I'm not 'Suzie Homemaker'.  Then I wondered, why?  If these 'friends' that I worry about judging me can't support me, then are they really my friends after all.  So, I've changed my mind, and I'm going to let it all out on here.  After all, do I really have time for another blog???
 
I have figured out there is no way I will get my house in permanent order in 30 days, so I'm going to have a daily goal along with my long term goals, starting now. Hopefully I will post something short every day to keep track but between 6 children, homeschooling, laundry, dishes, and my own business, I don't feel like I have two extra minutes. But I'm aware that's my weak area....time management.

My long term goal is to regain permanent organization (with 3 more children than I had back when I was organized), teach my kids to help more, keep up with the chores, go back to using a dinner schedule, write up a new chore schedule for my kids, and more.  

Each day I'm going to have a short term goal too.  Today's goal is to re-clean the kitchen, which was done on Saturday. But somehow, between Saturday and today (Wed) it's cluttered again. I'm learning that daily I will need to 'pick up' as well as have scheduled 'cleaning' chores. There's a difference. If I can accomplish that I will move on to something new tomorrow.  

I'd love to hear ideas if anyone has any.
 

 

Light Sensitivity

I think, for me, the light sensitivity issues my girls have, is one of the hardest aspects of this journey with them.  My other children love to be outdoors and they just don't.  It hurts their eyes to the point that they just leave them closed.  I once heard it described like this. 

Imagine that initial reaction your eyes have when you're coming out of a dark movie theatre on a sunny day.  That's what my girls see all the time.  With no reprieve.  There eyes are on constant overload from too much light.  The picture below doesn't do that description justice, but I this picture when we first learned of our oldest's diagnosis.  It helped me understand just how difficult things can be for them.

I can't imagine wanting to spend time outside if this is what I saw either.   We try very hard to have them spend some time outdoors after dusk, when it is much easier for them to see, but sometimes I feel like we live indoors. The older Baby Sunshine gets the more she'll get used to it. That's how it was with Princess Cuddles. Now, with a little coaxing, she'll go outside during the day.  Yes, sunglasses and a hat help, but only if you can get your one year old to wear them!