Life Happens At Home

Where we live, you know that Spring is rolling in when at least once a week you can leave your back door open and the crisp breeze of fresh air can blow through the screen right into your home.  You can look outside at the blooms popping up everywhere! 

And, my kids also know (and probably dread) this is the time when the dust rags for deep cleaning come out and Momma goes on a rampage aimed at every dust bunny I can find in our home.  This is when our saying of, "If you haven't worn it/used it in the past year, then it's not going to get used and should go somewhere where it will," gets put to use!  This is when it hits...the spring cleaning bug!  

I like to be organized.  I work better in an organized environment.  Honestly, I relax and simply breathe better surrounded by organization and cleanliness.  So, how in the world do I find myself frequently surrounded by something that more resembles a scene out of the movie "Twister"?

I think the best answer to this is simply ~ Life Happens at Home.

Life that includes two dogs, one cat, and three children still at home.  Life that has led us to homeschool the two youngest of our children, while the oldest is in his first year of college.  Life that includes my part-time bookkeeping job that is done from home.  And oh, did I forget to mention, my husband also works from a home office?  Like I said ~ Life Happens at Home.

And I wouldn't have it any other way...most days.

Most days it is an incredible blessing to have us all here under one roof!  You can't trade for being able to call Dad in to help with a science project, especially for something like a dissection of a worm that Momma may be just a tad squeamish about. Or, to be able to rejoice with an ice cream bar outside on the hammock in the early afternoon to celebrate mastering multiplication of fractions. These are the great moments.

Then there are the not-so-great moments.  The moments of frustration when the phone has rung for the tenth time, and every time it rings my kids think it is a recess bell.  I find they are much quicker to dismiss for recess than to come back in when I call them to resume their school work! Then there are the moments when a child has not put a necessary reading book back on the shelf the day before and then spends twenty minutes looking for it when she needs it next.  This is only to find it exactly where I suggested it might be in the first place, but maybe she just assumed I didn't know what I was talking about twenty minutes earlier.  The moments where I look up and think to myself, "I would love for my kitchen to look like a kitchen and not a science lab!"

However, it is in these not-so-great moments that the greatest lessons usually come. These are the ones, if you allow yourself, that you can learn from.  This is where I have learned what curriculum works best for our family.  For me, it was one that I didn't spend days creating on my own when I can use one I love that someone else organizes for me!  This is where I have learned what schedule works best for my family.  For example, when I let go of this for one week to intentionally see what my kids would do, I found my 6th grader started setting his own alarm for 7am to get up and accomplish all of his independent work before breakfast and Bible time!  And another not-so-great moment filled with overwhelming clutter was where I figured out that my kids actually liked being organized, too!

One day, not too long ago, I looked up in the middle of the day and saw chaos. Instead of nagging at my kids to help pick up,  like I usually did, I simply began to quietly pick up and organize our work area on my own.  A funny thing happened...the kids followed.  And then, the best thing happened...my 6th grader, as he was cleaning up next to me says this, "Mom, I sure can work better when things are in their place to start with."  Wow. 

Spring has sprung.  The beginning of a new season.  The opportunity of a fresh start. Spring cleaning. Cleaning of the messes and clutter of our home, and with it, the picture of the messes and clutter I often carry in my own heart.  That clutter that only Jesus can clean up and make new.  I am thankful for this. I am thankful for lessons learned.  I am thankful for Spring.  

I am thankful that...Life Happens at Home!  No matter the season!