Book Review: “31 Days to Clean”

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I just finished reading “31 Days to Cleans”  by SaraMae as part of my strategy to get motivated to clean my house this spring.  I have to say that this book was just what I needed.  With every chapter she gives you a Mary thought for your spirit, usually a scripture verse and some devotional thoughts, along with a Martha challenge; a task to get you moving on the chores that need to be done.  The scope of the tasks range from daily maintenance, to deep cleaning, to de-cluttering and simplifying your life.

All in all, 31 Days to Clean was a great read and good to get me moving in the direction of clean!  You might consider it for a  morning devotional or an evening pick-me-up before you pull out your task list for the next day.  I read a chapter a day and it helped me to get the important things in focus so I could get more done.

Let’s face it ladies.  We all have alot more to do that just clean.  I’m all for getting the dirty work done so I can have more fun in my day.  If that’s you too, then you’ll probably enjoy SaraMae’s take on keeping your household fit for living.

As an extra bonus in the back of the book, she collaborates with ListPlanit  to include a great set of Printables to help you get your life in order.  That was a nice touch.

Hope you go check it out.  It might be the shot in the arm you need to get inspired to clean this spring.

Stay tuned for more recommendations… If I read it, I’ll do my best to post a few thoughts on the book.  I always like to pass along a winner.

Happy Reading,

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How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live! Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move my thoughts begin to flow–as if I had given vent to the stream at the lower end and consequently new fountains flowed into it at the upper. A thousand rills which have their rise in the sources of thought–burst forth and fertilize my brain. . . . Only while we are in action is the circulation perfect. The writing which consists with habitual sitting is mechanical wooden dull to read.

-Henry David Thoreau

Ancient Babylon & “The Epic of Gilgamesh” for Children

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For our studies of Ancient History this year we are using Susan Weis Bauer’s Story of the World Vol. 1 alongside our Bible reading.  It has been an awesome resource as it is written so well for a lower elementary audience. Just as much a story teller as much as she is a historian, Bauer knows how to capture the attention in her short biographies and funny stories of characters long ago.  As we read about Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar in our Bible, we also read about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that the king ordered built for his princess to keep her comfortable in her absence from her homeland and longing for Persia.  As we talked about the libraries that were built and the great city gates, we also introduced a tale that had been in Babylonian culture for centuries and written in cuneiform on tablets of clay, “The Epic of Gilgamesh.”  Ancient stories are so fascinating and I have to say that this one does not disappoint!  It is the fascinating  tale of an ancient friendship between two unlikely people, the history of a flood that killed all but one and his family, and the story of the search for immortality.  It hits so close to the longings of the human heart and is easily compared to the story of Noah.  Even for my second grader, it was easy for him to see that God’s word is true and ancient stories like this one, even though it was told by a people who’s hearts were far from God, still held echos of the truth of long ago.  The version we read was found at our local library, although you could purchase your own.

 This is the one we used:

Epic of Gilgamesh for Children

I would also recommend the “Epic of Gilgamesh Trilogy”:

Now before you get too impressed with our homeschooling curriculum, let me just say that I’ve never read this story and yes, teaching ancient literature is just a tad intimidating to me.  But, honestly, I can think of no better way to learn something that to teach it.  And, these stories, since they are all new to me as well, are best introduced in pint sized form.  I’ll be learning ancient Greek Literature the same way in our next unit…this mama is going to school too, ya’ll.  (I love how Paula Dean says ya’ll… just felt like trying it…ok, next subject).  Here’s a few more links so that you can see all of the resources we used for our studies of Ancient Babylon.  You can also take a look at our Bible Studies in the Bible Category:

For Bible we read aloud from our Children’s Bible:

For History we read aloud from Story of the World Vol.1.

Then we do the accompanying student pages for activities/narrations.

Writing Assignments:

Here is an example of how I often times handle writing assignments after we have read a book.  When we were finished reading “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” I talked with my son about all the different parts of the story, essentially having him narrate back to me what he remembered from the story.  To take it a step further, I asked the question, “What do you think is the moral of the story?”  or “What can we learn from Gilgamesh’s friendship with Enkidu?”  This was his response and I had him write it down.  Then he drew a picture to illustrate his favorite part of the tale.

Epic of Gilgamesh for children 2

I hope our studies of Ancient Babylon have helped you on your way.   Here’s a quick bulleted recap of how you can study any ancient culture:

And there you have it,

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Sometimes This Is School

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I padded in my bare feet into the living room this morning to sun beams shooting across the sofa where I enjoy the first few quiet moments of my day.   “Today is beautiful,” I thought as I sighed inwardly at the blue skies that had now replaced the gloomy gray, gazing out the picture window.   We had been indoors for the majority of the week due to downpours, drizzles, and even a crazy outbreak of hail that had my husband scrambling to get our car into the garage.  Yup, this past week brought some crazy weather patterns, “Maybe I should have read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” I mused.   “Aw well, another rainy day will come and we’ll read it then.”  I dismissed the thought as quickly as it came.  I took another sip of hot coffee steaming in my favorite mug, as I tried to work off the aches of a busy Mother’s Day.

It’s May.  Really?  How and When did that happen?  This year has gone by so fast.  And sometimes so slow.

It’s May, and after 7 straight months of schooling, workbooks are starting to get on my nerves so it really doesn’t take much convincing to alter course from seatwork to grassy fields of green.  Today was one of those days.  We played outside most of the morning, had green monster smoothies and pb&js for lunch, and didn’t even pick up our pencils until after 1pm.

Because, sometimes this is school.

I love that when home, my boys don’t have to stay cooped up inside a brick building for 8 hrs. watching the birds go by, wishing they could fly where they are going.  Nope.  Good weather is a good rabbit to chase in rainy May.  When the weather’s nice we go outside to play.  Seatwork can happen at any point in the day but, sunshine has been so rare.  I’m really thankful on days like today for the freedom to learn outside the box, outside the system, and just well….outside.

Hope you enjoyed a sunshine-y day too, wherever you call home.   Here’s a few snapshots of ours.

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My Favorite Mother’s Day Moments

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It’s been 13 years since I spent Mother’s Day with my family and since our recent move places us within minutes of all of my extended family, Mother’s Day turned out to be something very special this year.  My hubby and I invited everyone over after church for some lunch, and we enjoyed an awesome spread of dishes on a lazy afternoon, nowhere else to go but the back patio with a cup of coffee in hand and our feet in the backyard grass for some fun.   I love nothing more than seeing our boys play with their little cousins, who will soon be turning 3; that’s right they’re twins.  We’ve got lots in our family to be thankful for, and I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day with the ones I love most. I Hope it was beautiful where you live too because all Mothers are and deserve a day that’s looks and feels amazing!

My beautiful mother

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My gorgeous sister and her daughter (my niece).

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My son giving the littles round trip rides in a tonka truck.

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Nolin practicing his NFL quarterback stance.

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She so adores her big cousin.

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And likes to push him around from time to time.

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Poppy finally got this one to smile.  He kept running from me and the camera….and I adore this picture.

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And I love that smile.

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Nothing says childhood like rolling down a hill.

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or digging in the dirt.

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or finding a worm.

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I think I’ll frame this one and keep it forever!

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And I think I’ll keep him too : )

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Hope you had many moments to cherish this weekend!

love,

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A Mother’s Day Gift for You! Free E-book by Melanie Shankle

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My Prayer For You:

Happy Mother’s Day!  I hope this Mother’s Day, wherever you call home, finds you filled with the Father’s joy over you.  You are an amazing woman and make miracles happen on a daily basis.  I pray He coats your life in new grace for the season you are in and fills your heart with an increasing measure of His goodness.  I pray you experience all of the life that you give away daily with your words, your touch, your service, and your care.  I pray that for lonely hearts, your would Hear you Heavenly Father’s pleasure over you.  For hearts that are starved for compliments and affection, I pray that you would hear your Father’s voice over you.  For hearts that are struggling underneath the weight that you daily carry, I pray that you would be strengthened by the Father’s arms around you.  You are an amazing woman, beautifully designed to give life and be free.  I pray this Mother’s Day finds you well cared for in the Father’s Love.

A Free Gift For Moms:

I came upon this giveaway this week and I thought it was so generous.  I wanted to get the word out in case you haven’t seen it yet.  Melanie Shankle of thebigmamablog.com  is giving away her book “Sparkly Green Earrings” for free on kindle.  It is a hilarious and heart touching memoir of her journey of motherhood.  I am in the middle of reading it right now, and I have lost count of the times that her voice made me laugh out loud and on the same page turned my heart to tears.  She is amazingly transparent with her life and it is such a breath of fresh air to mothers who need the real voice of a woman in the trenches of motherhood.  To Melanie I say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU for being so you on the pages of your writing and for being so generous with your work to give it away freely.  This book is so refreshing and I know that you will be touched by it as much as I was.  I know that Mama’s don’t normally buy themselves gifts on Mother’s Day, but since this one is free, I think your entitled : )  Go ahead and go download yours.  You’ll be glad you did.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Motherhood Is Not For the Faint of Heart.

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A friend of mine so beautifully posted these thoughts on her facebook page.  I want to share them with you because I couldn’t have said it any better:

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you.
To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you.
To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you.
To those who experienced loss this year through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you.
To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.
To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you.
To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you.
To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you.
To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you.
To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience.
To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst.
To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you.
And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you.
This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

~Susan Odelius Bradford

Check out the rest of this series on Motherhood.

Significance in Small Places Significance in the Small Places & It Takes Courage To Be A Housewife.

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It Takes Courage to Be a Housewife

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It takes courage to be a housewife

I folded what seemed to be the thousandth little white t-shirt, looking inside the neckband for the size; my boys are so close in age that it’s hard to distinguish who’s t-shirts, underwear, and shorts are who’s without looking at the tag.  I dumped the pile of white socks onto the bed thinking to myself, “Lord, if I have a match another white sock I think I’m gonna scream.”  But, there they lay, all hundred of them, almost taunting me, “You can’t catch me!”  It really was like searching for a needle in a haystack to find the illusive match to a little white sock, but, alas, this is the work of a housewife.

A housewife.  A house. Wife.  Let me just say that again.  Housewife. When I was a little girl, I never said to myself, “I want to grow up to be a housewife.”  I mean what the heck is that?  It’s not one of those things I ever dreamed of being.  I mean being a house wife is what girls who didn’t have any ambition wanted to be.  You know, the ones that were wishy washy, had no sense of individual identity,  or sense of personal responsibility to make something of themselves.   “I just want to be a wife and mother,” always seemed to me to be a cop-out line for women who really didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives…or so I thought.  And yet here I am…a housewife.  And I can honestly say with all of my heart, that’s exactly what I want to be.  A wife.  A mother.  Take care of my household well, because I consider it my calling.  I am almost laughing out loud at myself by now, because I have become one of “those” girls.  And I realize just how hard-hearted and judgemental I have been.  Being a housewife is a calling.  It is a job.  There is a a great reward for it but, it doesn’t come in the tangibles.  In fact in my experience, it has taken great courage, to stay at home with my children.  I have had to let go of so many tangibles and rest my life on spiritual vs. natural things.  I have given up the hope of a paycheck, the credentials or degree that now seem inconsequential, and the visibility that makes most people feel important.  I have become everything I feared and I can honestly say, that I couldn’t be happier.  I used to think being a housewife was the greatest cop-out ever.  Now I find it has taken the greatest courage on my part, to sacrifice all of my ambition, to care for the little ones in my arms and the household that God has placed in my care.  My journey home to motherhood has been a long journey for me.  Giving up credentials, giving up calling, giving up ambition, giving up ministry, giving up so many things that I wrapped my identity in….until God has me just where he wants me.  Free. Unafraid. Home.  And I couldn’t be happier.  Some people always knew they wanted to be a mother.  I was not one of those girls, but for the first time in my life.  I envy them.  Motherhood is the best place in the world to be.

If you need a little chuckle today here is an anonymous poem titled “On a Tired Housewife”  If you’ve ever felt this tired it might give you a chuckle too…

“Here lies a poor woman who was always tired, / She lived in a house where help wasn’t hired: / Her last words on earth were: «Dear friends, I am going / To where there’s no cooking, or washing, or sewing, / For everything there is exact to my wishes, / For where they don’t eat there’s no washing of dishes. / I’ll be where loud anthems will always be ringing, / But having no voice I’ll be quit of the singing. / Don’t mourn for me now, don’t mourn for me never, / I am going to do nothing for ever and ever

Sometimes the work of a housewife never seems to be done.  But, I’m taking strength and courage in the one who makes all things possible! Be Blessed!

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Check out the other posts in this series, “Thoughts on Motherhood”:

Jump in and Join the Conversation!  Leave a Comment Below. Here’s some questions to get the conversation started…

  • Did you always know that you wanted to be a Stay At Home Mom? 
  • What was your shift from career to home like?  Easy? Hard? Both?

Significance in Small Places

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Significance in Small Places

It was a typical Sunday morning.  My husband and I rushed our children out of the house to the mini van,  buckled our seatbelts, and sped down the road to a full octane service where people’s lives would be changed.  At least we hoped they would be, after all, we were the Senior Pastors.  We honestly believed that every service could change somebody’s life…and many times they did.   There was so much significance to be found in the ministry that we carried.  But, little did I know, God was about to shift our feet to a new world…a new platform…one that was far less visible than the Sunday morning spotlight I had grown accustomed to.  One where I would struggle to find any significance in it at all, for the shear lack of visibility.  My new platform would be Motherhood.

You see, I used to be one of those women who got her significance from the limelight.  As a credentialed minister in our fellowship, I ministered alongside my husband as we Pastored our growing congregation in Northeast Philadelphia.  I spoke regularly, led worship on a weekly basis and even wrote a few songs of my own.  I certainly learned a lot from Motherhood by mothering a spiritual household.  There are a lot of parallels between what you do by way of the Spirit and by way of the natural concerning motherhood.  And I most certainly did have a few individuals that I was able to Mother by way of the Spirit into a new life.  Nothing could  be more fulfilling.  In fact, for a season, our ministry was the main place where I got my sense of fulfillment and significance from.  I won’t lie.  I guess you could consider this a confession.

Then, came our recent transition into a new field…a field where God has planted us by His divine hand.  Entering into the field of education has planted my husband in the local highschool and myself into homeschool.  It has been a huge shift.  Where is my platform now I ask?  I have no fans, no compliments, and no pats on the back.  No, “that was such a beautiful song, I just love the way you sang that!”  No, “You are so anointed.  God just used you to speak straight to me!”  No, “I just love how you preach!  That was such a great message!”  No.  There are no public accolades for my platform now.  Motherhood isn’t like that.  It’s done in the privacy of my own home, with my own family.  No one will ever see me mopping the floors, doing the dishes, folding the thousandth load of laundry, or waking up in the middle of the night to care for the needs of my children.  No one will see the 5 star dinner I put on the table last night or that I fixed myself up so I would look five star to go along with it (there are some days where that actually happens : ).  There are no public ravings for what I do on a daily basis now.  No limelight to revel in.  But in the absence of that spotlight and in the thickness of the silence, something holy began to happen in my heart.  When the voices of the complimenting crowd dissipated into the distance, the still small voice of my Heavenly Father began to speak.  I began to feel a fresh compassion for my family.  My heart began to break for my children.  I began to realize fresh and anew how much they need me to be present for them.  God began to dip my heart into fresh grace for a new season.  He took my heart of stone and made it a heart of flesh.  I was born again into a new calling.  Motherhood is a calling.  And I will not ever forget the moment it happened for me.

I can honestly say that I feel significance in the small things now.  Things that I used to do just because I had to, now I do because I get to.  I know now, more than ever, that my children need my love the same way they need air to breathe.  Love is the context for all of life.  And that’s exactly what mothers do.  Give Life.

I pray for every Mother out there, that you would know the importance of your calling as a Mother.  If you have been an ambitious, power seeking, and lime-light living woman like me, I pray God will be able to grip your heart also for a new season and a new calling.  Power to be in the present.  Ambition to see the smallest task done well.  Significance in the small places.  It’s in those places that your Heavenly Father sees and speaks.

God sees in the secret and rewards in public. -Bob Hazlett.

The greatest reward that I can have is my children walking fully aware of their Heavenly Father’s voice and fully awake to their earthly calling.

Her children rise up and call her blessed – Proverbs 31:28

We serve an amazing God who sees in secret and rewards in public.  One day, everything we do in the secret hidden places will be walking around in plain light.  Fully revealed.

For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. – Luke 8:17.

For those who walk in small spaces.  Secret places.  That is a great promise.

Be blessed,

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Check out the other posts in this series, “Thoughts on Motherhood”:

For Conversation:

  • Is there part of this post that resonates with your own experience?  What part?  Leave a comment.
  • What moments of motherhood feel significant to you?
  • When was the moment your heart shifted and accepted the call of Motherhood?
  • Or just leave a comment with your thoughts on Motherhood!

Free E-book on Blogging by Brian Allain of killertribes.com

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Bryan Allain of KillerTribes.com is offering his e-book “Community Wins: 21 Thoughts on Building A Thriving Online Tribe” for free right now on Amazon.  You’ll definitely want to go download it, because you can’t beat free.

But, more than that, it really is a great read if you are looking to build a community through your blog and expand your reach.  His writing is funny and light yet, it is crammed with excellent, useful information on having a web presence.  He covers topics of finding your own voice, writing with passion, and using social media to your advantage.  He also gives great insight on leading your blog community well through example.  Bryan has built his own killer tribe and I’m so glad he’s willing to generously share his expertise for free!  For that I say a big Thank You!!

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