Home Series: Starting The Morning Off Right

A picture of our morning. Bible Reading and Devotions, tracking Weight Watcher Points Plus, a good cup of coffee, and breakfast for Aubrey and I.

It's been one of those mornings. I'll spare you the details because I know we've all been there and I know that you don't want my junk cluttering up your day. But just know that it's been a morning filled with a load of frustration and anger ... and I've been awake for less than 45 minutes. Insert "sigh" here.

But it's also one of those mornings where I know that I need an extra dose of grace to get me through. I cannot get through my day without a healthy dose of time with the Lord. I find that if I'm not dedicating some of my morning to prayer, learning, and Bible reading, I'm just not a good wife or mom. Can you tell that I haven't done it yet?

Every morning, during breakfast, I read my Bible and a devotional while Aubrey and I enjoy our breakfast. I sometimes read outload the verses or the devotion to her. At ten months old, she can't yet understand what I'm saying but I love to know that I'm surrounding her with the Word of God. 

Sometimes this morning routine is the only way I can get through.  

And today when I need the kind of grace that covers this angry heart, I'm anxious to get to that place with the Lord. I encourage you to spend your morning with Him. I know that mornings can be so rushed. I get it, I know. But can you wake up 15 minutes before the house explodes with activity? Or can you take some time while the kiddos nap? Or some time on your lunch break? Or even a few minutes before bed? I encourage you to set some time aside to gain strength, wisdom, and knowledge for the journey. It makes such a difference in my day...and my attitude. My whole family benefits and then I know I'm making strides at being the mom I really want to be.

And if you're really struggeling with spending time with God, here is a post I wrote about carving out time when I was a brand new mom. And trust me, I still use some of those techniques because there are days when time is the last thing I have.

Dream Home - More Than Bricks and Mortor

The last time we talked, we were discussing about having a vision for our home. Today we are going to put some feet to that concept and really make it work in our lives. I'm daring you to create the kind of home you've always longed for. We're going beyond the furniture, curtains, paint colors and accessories and daring to dig in to the true heart of the home.


So what does your dream home look like? What happens in that space? What sort of feelings are conjured up? What emotions are expressed? What do you do in your dream home?


I've created a printable of a house and what I'm proposing that we all do is print this baby off, and write those dreams inside the structure of the house. Make this a family kind of event. Maybe gather tonight at dinner and write what each person desires to have happen or to feel in the home. Maybe you'll write things like "Weekly Movie Night" or "Laughter" or "Have Parties". Maybe you need to have some more "Peace" and "Quiet" in your lives and for you, that would be a real dream. Make this a family thing. Is it just you and your man? Cook him his favorite dinner and sit down together and create your dream home. Are you just by yourself? Then girl, don't you count yourself out of this activity. Put onto paper how you want your home to rise up and greet you.

I'll be doing this with my family as well. Aubrey obviously doesn't have a lot of imput at just 9 months old, but she and her life growing up will be big focuses of what we want to accomplish in our home. My man is away for the next few days and truth be told, it's tough to nail his feet to the floor even when he is home. We are in a major season of business in our lives. This activity may just be my own dreams and visions until he can come on board. As the momma and wife, I am the Keeper of our home (Titus 2:5 KJV) so I feel confident in filling this page out myself. Which isn't to say that it will be all things that will benefit me. No way! I'm also hoping that when we celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary (on the 13th), we can have some time together to look to the future and talk about our dream home.


Here are a few things I'm thinking of putting on my paper.

* Christ as the Center of Our Home
* Prayer
* Laughter
* Joy
* Homecooked Meals
* Quiet Evenings
* Weekly Family Night
* Sundays As a Day of Rest
* Learning
* Communication
* Dinners Together
* Time For Traveling
* Smiles
* Neat and Tidy
* Organized - A Place for Everything and Everything In Its Place
* Creativity
* A Soft Place To Land
* Gentleness
* Celebrating Special Days
* Practicing Good Stewardship
* Peace
* Practicing a Health and Balanced Lifestyle


These are a few dreams for my home. Be sure to print your "home" off and plan with your family what your dream home looks like. Tack it to the fridge so that everyone can see and be reminded to put those things into practice.


Our Home Printable

I loved hearing all of your feedback about this series. I'm not promising to write everyday. That had been the plan but I just can't commit. But I've got a bunch of posts so don't you worry. :) You can't get rid of me that easily.

See you next time as we work on Finding Home!

A Vision of Home

Do you have a dream for your home?

Do you have a vision for what takes place inside its four walls?

Do you have a passion for making home the best it can be?

This upcoming month, I am daring to challenge you to create the kind of home you've always longed for. I kept trying to put these posts off. For every manor of reasoning, I've tried to push these posts out of my mind. My blog header is outdated. I don't have a fancy button. I don't have pretty pictures to go with my posts. I'm not even living in my own house! I...I...I.... But still, this series has been nagging at my heart until finally I found my fingers on the keyboard typing what's been stirring inside of me.

God has put a vision of home inside of my heart that I just desire to share with you. He's been opening my heart to how I can create the kind of home the nurtures my family and I'd like to share with you all that I'm learning. I'm learning as well so please don't count me as an expert. I just want to share the things that I'm trying to create in my home with you. Let's go on this journey together and hopefully all of our families and loved ones will benefit.


So that dream for your home....do you have one?

Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish..." KJV

Google defines "perish" as to "suffer complete ruin or destruction".

Sad.


Without a vision or a dream for our home, just imagine the destruction that can happen...or maybe already is happening. You have family members running in every conceivable direction, there is a lack of communicaion, you're harried, behind, unorganized, disconnect and overwhelmed. Home life isn't what you ever wanted it to be but did you ever have a plan in the first place of what you wanted that life to look like? I know I didn't.

Recently I've been challenged to take my family back. My family consists of my husband, myself and our 9 month old daughter. We have four dogs - one of which is a rambunxious puppy. We are in the biggest home renovation that one could imagine and we've actually been displaced from our home for over a year. We may not even be moved back in before Christmas. *sigh* The three of us share a bedroom at my inlaws house and as you can imagine, it's cramped. Life right now isn't what I'd ever imagined it would be but as we have had to strip down our life and get rid of the stuff I've come to experience family and home in a whole new way.


Because, home isn't about the stuff. It's about the people that live within your house that make home what it is. So join me as we take a few days to making our homes full of vision, peace and joy. See you tomorrow!