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Green Spirals and Merciful Days

/ amylynw / Leave a comment

Mom, you never get peace, Jack said to me the other day.  Wait!  You had peace once!  And he went on to talk about when they all went to Grandma’s house.  I laughed out loud.  Or if you’re going to use today’s lingo, I “roffled”.  That is what I say in my head when I read ROFL… rolling on the floor laughing.  No, I didn’t actually roll, or roffle, but I did achieve a small release of stress when I laughed out loud.  Or lolled.  (That’s LOL, btw.)

Tonight was no exception.  I had great fun spiralizing my zucchini into fake noodles and tossing them with coconut sauce and blackened chicken.  The kids watched Daniel Boone so I could spin deliciousness into my pots.  But there is always one who doesn’t get the “peace memo”.  She rolled on the floor crying.  It’s always interesting trying to cook while stepping over a crying toddler.  My strategy was to wait until they were so hungry, they would forget that the green zucchini noodles were not actually made from pasta.  It worked for two of them, took convincing for two of them, and downright failed for the fifth one.  This is when I use every ounce in my body not to take a two-year-old’s opinion of my cooking to heart.  In the middle of our green spaghetti supper, a nameless highchair dweller knocked over one of the herb pots on the window sill.  The walls start closing in when things like that happen.
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I’ve been waiting for a really really good excuse to scrub my kitchen floor.  The successful eaters got chocolate ice-cream for dessert.  The last one… did not.  An hour later, I graciously gave her a banana, because she at least touched it to her tongue.  Elijah said, Mom, you were really merciful tonight! when he saw her eating the banana.  Thanks, Buddy.

Then I remembered these verses I just read.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
(Lamentations 3:21-25)

Even when I mess up, spill dirt, and wreck what He has planned…  He still shows steadfast love, unending mercy, and abundant faithfulness.

So the truth is, despite what is outwardly going on, inside I always have peace.  Jesus has wiped my heart of its spills and dirt.  He has left the calm assurance of His forgiveness and faithfulness in place of the mess.  Tomorrow, His mercies are new.

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And tomorrow, maybe my floor will be clean.

Loads Of Fun: Laundry Room Makeover

/ amylynw / Leave a comment

It all started back in April.  I asked for a bigger laundry room, and my smiling husband began the “weekend” project of extending the laundry room and shrinking the powder room.  It has taken… well, a few weekends.  It is finished, minus a new window which is on its way, and a touch-up here and there.  The powder room only has a few more pieces of moulding and a paint job before it is finished.  Here is a look at the before and after pictures.

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The shelves are from Ikea.  The baskets are from Target.  The moringa tree is from Haiti.  The floor was free from a job Matt did almost 8 years ago.  It has moved with us and finally found a nice home in the bathroom and laundry room.  There were only five extra tiles left over.  How is that for perfect fit?  The trim work was done by Weldon Carpentry.  The wall paint was free-cycled and turned out to be the perfect shade.

Each of the four youngest children have five baskets.  From Left to Right they hold: 1-Snowsuits/hats/gloves in winter, swimsuits and towels in summer.  2-Sweaters/sweatshirts.  3-Shirts.  4-Pants/shorts.  5-PJ’s, underwear, and socks.  The top five shelves hold my rag basket, vacuum bags, Matthew’s running clothes and gear, gardening gloves and seeds, and tablecloths.

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I am so very thankful for a laundry room and am thrilled to keep our family clean and clothed!

 

A Three-Minute Tour

/ amylynw / 6 Comments

There has been all sorts of rearranging going on over here.  In all of his “spare time” Matthew basically has gone waaaay out of his way to get two extremely helpful pieces of furniture for our growing family!  The first was a bunk bed for the little girls.  Their room was like a pig pen.  Crooked crib, mattresses on the floor.  Nowhere to put things.  An awful mess.  Bunk beds have been a huge space-saver and it is slowly evolving into a cute girls’ room.  Still not finished, but much more functional.

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I don’t have any “before” pictures here, but our living room underwent another change.  Now please don’t think that taking a photo tour through our home replaces a real visit.  I still much prefer real life.  Then you can see how very non-perfect it is and don’t come under any false impressions.  So please, stop by!

As you walk in our front door you see the “listening station”.  A new addition to our school year, there is a basket of tapes (yes, tapes!), CD’s and earphones with the stereo.  Hours have already been spent here listening to books on tape, Adventures in Odyssey, and music.   I want to make piles of pillows for this spot to make it more inviting and cozy, and the shelf on the floor still needs to be hung.  We gave away our piano, and this is also where I would like our replacement to go when that should happen.  In keeping with “listening”, it will be electric with earphones capabilities so practice can happen at anytime during school or naps without bother to anyone else.

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As you look to the left, this is our living room.  I would love a more neutral couch to blend everything together and not clash so much.  I’m reading about re-upholstering.  (Matthew, don’t read that line.)

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Not so clashy in black and white.

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Moving on to our latest find:  red lockers to feed the soul.  (Thanks, Sarai!  You understand!)  I’m so excited to move some not-so-pretty, but needed school supplies into this beauty.  The doors lock so I can have a prize locker, or keep things locked away which need permission to be used.

 

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The kids keep telling me they’re excited for school to start, which thrills my heart.  It helps that their books are all lined up on the school shelves but they’re not allowed to touch them.  I have a few days of planning ahead of me, but I’m starting to feel like my head is screwed on straight again now that things are more in order.