Monday, April 18, 2011

Lord, why did you call me to be a homemaker?

Yes, here I am again. I warned you that I was posting my JOURNEY. This implies hills and valleys. It implies rough spots along the way and painful lessons. It also implies that lessons will be learned, life will be changed, growth will take place, and celebrations will be thrown. I look forward to those. Right now, I am still taking one step forward and three back.

First, I have to say that I am loving the projects getting done around here!!! Our master bedroom has been a DISASTER!!! It has been the entire family's catch-all for everything we don't know what to do with. It has also been the emergency place to hide the mountain of clean, unfolded clothes that were covering the living room couch 10 minutes before you arrived at my house. When you show up, I greet you with a warm smile and a hug, hoping all the while that you don't accidentally open my bedroom door thinking it is the bathroom.
Well, no longer! I am not completely finished. I have some files to make so that we have places for some of the stacks and a few odds and ends to find homes for, but for the most part, the room looks GREAT!! You couldn't even walk in our closet! I unpacked 2 boxes that we hadn't even bothered to unload when we moved to this house 3 YEARS AGO! Yikes! We laughed at how ridiculous it was when we found missing things that were there all along. We also got rid of who knows how many huge garbage bags of clothes to a local charity. The closet looks amazing! I can't wait to continue working and finally have the sanctuary that Chris and I have wanted, OUR place to get away and rest in. OUR place. No one else is allowed to put ANYTHING in our room anymore!!!!!

The other wonderful thing that has happened, is that I AM CAUGHT UP ON LAUNDRY!!!!!! I want to scream that to anyone who will listen! I have 5 children who have clothes that have either been worn out or out grown that still keep getting in the laundry. The mountain was unbelievable! I have washed, sorted, and folded ALL of it!!! The kids now only have the clothes that fit them and they are back within the little laundry basket in their own room. Ahhhhhhhh! I think I got so far behind during our months of throwing up. All clothes took a back seat while I washed sheets and blankets after sheets and blankets. UGH! Those take up so much room and take so much more time to dry! Finally, no more to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My last praise, is that my daughters did a project for me that has been hanging over me for a long time. Our pantry/laundry room needed to be cleaned and reorganized again. They (9 yrs and 10 yrs) spent the entire day working and did a wonderful job! I love you girls!!!! Seriously, they saved me. Also, my Ashlynn (9), reorganized and cleaned out all our cabinets! WOW!!!! This is saving us so much time in the kitchen now!

I do have to say that I still don't think we are getting it yet. I don't think my daughters and I feel any joy in serving in this way. It is a pain. It is not what we want to be doing. We get frustrated at the level of junk that needs sorting through.  Sure, it feels good to complete a project, but a calling? So, even though the house is getting into better shape, I still feel I have a very long way to go before I can call myself a joyful homemaker. We still have a long spiritual journey to go.

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