New Year's Reflections

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm home from church this morning with sick little ones. This is a rare occurrence because my kids are almost never sick. They feel OK today, but they are still very congested and probably contageous.

I had a few hours last week just to reflect and plan for 2006. It was a great time just to be able to scratch notes and think through my life and the direction I want it to take this year. Not that my thoughts were that profound! They mostly centered around getting my home and family routines in order. These are things I have always struggled with, but since Billy was sick for most of this year, I lost most of the ground I had gained in regards to managing our home. We have all just been in survival mode, and God has provided so much grace. We're just thankful that Billy is well now and we are ready to move forward in every area.

I got Clutter's Last Stand by Don Aslett for Christmas (A rather ironic gift at this time of year, don't you think? But it wasn't a hint from someone, it was on my wish list!), and in the book he points out how much time and energy it takes to manage excessive amounts of stuff. Decluttering is the one aspect of home management that I've resisted, mostly because I didn't think I had time to declutter. However, I've noticed over the past few days how much unnecessary time I spend looking for things or just maintaining the excessive stuff in my house. So one of my biggest goals for this year is to declutter my home and get it in order. Don't worry, Billy, I won't be decluttering your stuff, just mine and the kids'! *G*

I also want our family to get into more of a routine. I'm not big on rigid schedules, especially with little babies in the house, but I do see that we need to have better guidelines to go by, especially now that Elizabeth is in kindergarten. I scratched out a daily routine as well as a weekly school routine, housecleaning routine, and menu plan. For right now, at Billy's suggestion, it's just 7 reasonably healthful meals that we'll repeat each week, and as I get things running more smoothly I'll introduce more variety. I want to incorporate a daily walk and weekly errand day back into my life.

I've tried Flylady before, and it worked great when I just had one little child and few demands on my time. I still appreciate a lot of what Flylady has to say and I'm incorporating many of her suggestions into my plans. However, our life is so nontypical that all her suggestions don't work for me. I'm getting other good ideas from Large Family Logistics, even though I don't really have a large family yet. LFL addresses the unique challenges that face a homeschool family, which is where a lot of my efforts have broken down.

In any case, I'm looking forward to this year. By 2007, I hope to have made great strides toward having a consistently orderly and peaceful home, which will result in greater peace for me and my whole family. I know that it will take discipline and determination, and those are things that I'm willing to invest. I think of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, one of which is self-control. Discipline is mine if I am just willing to appropriate it! Onward!