The Laundry Low Down!

 I don't know about y'all, but I DETESTED laundry! With 5 people in my family it's never ending! I mean it's me, my Mr., & three boys ages 6, 3, & 11 months, so it had become quite consuming!

I was doing on average about 2 loads almost every day & it became so tedious that I would just skip that day & the next day I had double my work so I put it off until I had a HUGE pile on my couch. I remember feeling so discouraged that I let myself get so behind.

During the boys' nap/quiet time I decided to tackle it. I turned on the TV to catch up on my DVR & went to work. I was amazed at how quick it went by. I mean I actually sorted, folded, hung up, & put away about 8 loads in what seemed like no time at all! That's when my new plan came into place!

Instead of doing laundry everyday, I have 1 BIG day, with 2 smaller days. I start on Sunday afternoon washing & emptying them on one of our couches once they've dried. We go to church on Sunday nights so I don't even bother folding them because we can usually get pretty busy. I continue the washing, drying dumping cycle on Monday morning in between waking up, getting breakfast fixed, & doing school.

I pull out any clothes that need to be hung up & lay them over the top of our other couch sorted by each person. Around 1pm it's nap/quiet time & all the boys are shoved away for about 2 hours. This is when the Laundry Low Down begins!!

I put on some music or a TV show on the DVR & attack the massive pile all at once! I forgot to take a picture of the massive pile, but below is my sorting process.

This is couch #2 where you can see our hanging clothes laid out on the top sorted by person. On the cushions are mine & my husband's folded clothes sorted by which drawers or shelf they'll go in.

Here's our coffee table where I sort the boys' folding clothes.

When the massive pile has been depleted I sit down & hang the clothes on the back of the couch & when the boys are up enjoying their snacks & playing I immediately put away all of the clothes. Then I am free from clothes laundry unless something comes up unexpected. Wednesday I do all of our dirty towels & rags which is usually about 1 or 2 loads & Friday I wash our bedding.

The only MAJOR laundry day is Monday is it's no longer overwhelming. It's actually kind of peaceful because I'm getting alone time to watch something non-kid related :) & I'm getting a lot of work done quickly & efficiently! Although I do admit, I still long for a nice laundry room with shelves, a sink, ironing board etc. But until then I have found a system that works for me!

So what's your laundry low down like?

What the BLOG is this??!!??

Heh! Pretty good title right?!

When I first started this blog it was my everything kind of blog. Family, homeschooling, life, relationships, journey with Jesus, etc etc etc. Since becoming a full fledge homeschooling momma I realized I needed a blog completely devoted to homeschool, but I didn't know what to do with this one.

Over the last few years my life has changed SO much! I went from being a working mother of one to a homeschool/stay at mom of 3 & counting (no I am not pregnant now, but we do want more).

I have had the great honor of having some incredible best friends to them disappearing, completely reopening old wounds of my issues with females (that's a whole other blog, can't dive into that now).

I went from being so ashamed of my past I carried an intense amount of fear of people finding out to being completely set free & healed by my Redeemer & speaking openly about it when the opportunity arose.

I went from living emotionally to living spiritually & understanding the real meaning of Ephesians 6:12 & battling the emotions constantly.

I have grown leaps & bounds in my Christian walk & now see I still have leaps & bounds to go. I have a new hunger & desire for God & His Word that can't be fulfilled by Bible studies & church alone. I want to truly eat the Bread of God, to drink His cup of Living Water, to not settle for the Southern Baptist status quo of Christianity!

I have a new desire to be a Proverbs 31 woman. To be a 1 Peter 3 wife. To be the mom my kids deserve. To be the walking testimony of how much Jesus loves us.

So that's what this blog is going to be. My Jesus Journey. Just me sharing my quest to become that Proverbs 31 woman, that 1 Peter 3 wife, my quest to be all Christ wants me to be & to not settle for anything less.

I want to be open & honest about my struggles with food, my wounds, my accomplishments, my failures, my fears, my relationships, my life.

I want to share recipes, my job as a housewife, tips from cleaning to having a stronger marriage, to share love & laughter & maybe even some tears (ok probably A LOT of tears because I am a crier). *smiles*

I hope you follow along with me & encourage me, converse with me, share your own tips, struggles, joys etc. God didn't mean for us to be alone in life. As Christ followers we are family. The STRONGEST family there is because we are covered by the Blood of Christ.

Blessings to you all have a wonderful week!

180 MOVIE

If this doesn't make you think, NOTHING WILL!!!

Warning! Pictures of the Holocaust

http://youtu.be/7y2KsU_dhwI

No Greater Love

John 15:12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

These verses are pretty powerful. We know that Scripture tells us that LOVE is the GREATEST thing we can do.

Do. It's a verb, an ACTION. It's easy to say we love others, but it's a whole other thing to actually show that love. Jesus said the greatest love is to lay down our lives for one another. He did it in the greatest capacity by giving His own sacred life for us to save us from our sins so that we may live in freedom & share THIS love with others so they can know the same love.

Jesus isn't suggesting we love others, He's COMMANDING us to! If we call ourselves Christians we HAVE to love others because it's in our divine bloodline we inheritted as adopted children of the Most High God. So it should be easy to do right?

In today's world it's so easy to be consumed with ourselves, our families, our jobs, our friends. OUR. OUR. OUR. MY. MY. MY. ME. ME. ME. I. I. I.

I don't know about you, but I am so grateful Jesus wasn't selfish.

So how can we show LOVE to others? How do we "LAY DOWN OUR LIVES" for others?

Maybe it's by forgiving someone who never apologized. Calling a friend you haven't spoken to for some time & not just commenting on their Facebook page.

Maybe it's by giving the homeless guy on the corner $5 or a cheap meal from McDonald's. Volunteering to help with the childcare at your church. Cooking a meal for someone for no reason at all.

Maybe laying down our lives is by offering to keep some one's kids so they can have sometime to their self or a date with their husband. Visiting a home-bound member of your church. Sending a care package to someone in the military whether you know them or not.

Maybe it's giving above your tithe even though you don't have the funds, but you're going to trust God anyway. It could be to spend extra time playing with your kids & playing what they want you to play.

Maybe it's giving away the stuff you don't use anymore to someone who does instead of selling it, even though you may need the money. Laying down your life could be sending a nice card to someone in the mail just to say you love them, you're thinking about them, you're praying for them.

Maybe it's just giving a simple smile to a complete stranger. Or being extra kind to the cashier or waiter who is doing a horrible job & being rude, then tipping them well anyway.

Laying down your life could be sending $50 to a ministry that specializing in stopping sex-trafficking, or to your local CPC, sending it to K-Love, to a friend you know who needs it, or just sticking it on a shelf in a grocery store & praying God sends the right person to find it & then trusting that He will.

Maybe laying down your life is making love to your husband when you're just not in the mood, he hasn't been romantic, & you honestly have a headache, but you know that it'll mean a lot to him.

It could be inviting someone who's not in you circle of friends to a get together, or on a playdate with other moms. Maybe it's cutting a neighbor's grass, bringing them cookies, inviting them to church, or just stopping by to say hey even when you honestly don't have the time. You make the time.

Let's face it, there are so many ways we can lay down our lives for someone else, to genuinely show them that we love them, to bear the fruit of the Spirit, to sow the seed of Christ that He has planted into us.

My prayer is that all of us who call ourselves Christians start acting more like Christ & less like ourselves. I know without a doubt I have not loved like I should, like I'm commanded, but now I can move forward & starting doing this kind of love, instead of just having the intention to.

May you all have a blessed week & please share a comment of how someone has laid down their life you recently or how you have done it for someone else. Let's encourage one another in that LOVE!

NEW BLOG

Well to make a long story short, we are FINALLY back in our house!!! :) YEA!!!!

So now that I'm back I am trying to get back into the groove of our life!

This blog will be dedicated to my personal journeys with God & I now have a NEW blog completely dedicated to our homeschooling! Whoo hoo!!! So PLEASE go follow me at Schoolin' The Boys!

Thanks!!!

Ashley

Letters H & V & Valentines!!!!

Last week began discussing Valentine's & how it's a holiday for us to remind others of how much we love them & more importantly that God loves them. We started the week off with the letter H for Heart. The boys used these little Hearts for EVERYTHING all week long! They made patterns with them & sorted them by color & size.

Brady used them to count while he did his addition.

They glued the Hearts to a letter H.

Decorated their Valentine bags with them.

And Brady used them to decorate the Valentines he made for all his friends.

As we talked about love we focused on the Verses Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" We discussed many ways we could show love to others & how we can show God how we can show God how much we love Him. I really enjoyed talking about God's love! In fact I NEVER get tired of about of the love of my Savior & Bridegroom...but that's a whole other blog not in homeschooling :)

Our H foods were of course Hot dogs & Ham & cheese sandwiches.For the letter V we didn't have any foods except what I called our special Valentine meal of Heart shaped pancakes. We have some Venison, but I never got around to thawing it out to cook :)

For our V craft the boys made Vases.

I drew different kinds of flowers& let the boys color them. We cut them out & pasted them with stems to fill the Vases. I thought they turned out SUPER cute!

Today we concluded our Valentine lesson with a Valentine party with some of our favorite home school friends!

We went to Kidz Rock which has many inflatables for the kids to go crazy on.

And arcade games & outside playgrounds.

The kiddos played, us mommies got to chat, we talked about love & the lil ones exchanged Valentines.

We ate some yummy food & had a fabulous time! I am SO incredibly thankful that God has brought some sweet homeschooling mommies to me! It's nice to have some friends who understand what I am going through in this area of my life.

This week we are reviewing our letters up to this point so no big crafts. Hopefully this break will finally let me upload a blog on Tot School...Rylan's special stuff :)

Super Mom vs Abiding Mom

This is from the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler but ALL mommas should read this chart & see where we fit in on things! Pretty awesome!!!!

Today’s Challenge:

As a minister to your family, what is God’s plan for you as a homeschooler and parent? Take some time today to remind yourself who you are in Christ. (I realize this is geared towards mom’s, but really can be applied to any parent.)

Super Mom	Abiding Mom
Does	Is (Psalm 46:10)
Tries to impress others	Pleases the Lord (Eph. 5:10, Proverbs 29:25)
Is controlled by an agenda (curriculum, schedule, etc)	Is controlled by the Holy Spirit: (Gal. 5:22-26) (Uses curriculum & schedules as tools for orderliness so she's more free to follow the spirit)
Her self worth is found in her accomplishments (clean house, perfect kids, the perfect bulletin boards, etc.)	Her self worth is found in an accurate view of who she is in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10)
Her peace is found in the “perfect” environment	Her peace is found in Jesus in the midst of any storm (Is 26:3)
She is discouraged by failure	Failure reminds her that God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
She expects perfection from herself and others	She practices grace with herself and others (Eph 4:32)
She teaches her kids to be good	She teaches her kids to be Godly (Proverbs 22:6)
She is frustrated with her lack of spiritual fruit	She abides in Christ and bears much fruit (John 15:5)
She does things with her children	She builds a relationship with her children (Deut 6:6-7)
Her perspective is based on what is seen	Her perspective is based on what is unseen (Col 3:2)
She chooses quantity of activities	She chooses the most excellent Way (I Cor 13)
Her kids may recall how busy she always is.	Her children rise and call her blessed. (Prov. 31:28)