A Day in My Life--December

On Sunday mornings I usually get up early and get myself ready about an hour before the kids get up. This makes our Sundays go so much more smoothly, since we attend the early service at 8:30. However, Sarah (my 3 year old) was up several times last night complaining of a sore throat, and sure enough, she is sick this morning. So I changed out of my church clothes and into jeans in preparation for a day at home.

After I fed the children, I put some turkey bones on to boil. I'm a huge fan of the Nourishing Traditions way of eating, and I've found homemade soup from bone broth very comforting and healing when we're sick. My kids look forward to it too. I made this little bouquet garni to add flavor. The rosemary is from my tiny herb bed, and the bay is from an elderly friend's huge bay tree. He gave me a six-foot branch and told me it's the most fragrant variety of bay.

Then I spent some time reading my Bible. I've been mulling over Psalm 119, which is a long treatise on God's Law. This verse (37) jumped out at me: "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things." As a busy mom of 4 small children, time management is my greatest challenge. It's a struggle to know where to devote my limited energies because there are so many worthy things calling for my attention. I need God's help to know which things are "worthless" and which things deserve a second look.

This question was especially on my mind this morning as I spent a few minutes reading blogs. I find these journals of the wonderful things people do so inspiring, but at the same time I must understand that I can't do it all. So when I have a few minutes to read for inspiration, where should I go? Blogs about crafting, frugality and simplicity, homemaking, homeschooling, health, cooking, gardening??? Should I read for pleasure or simply for information? I wonder.

The kids and I had a little church/Sunday School time here at home. I plunked out a few songs on the piano (and plunk is right--Elizabeth says, "Mama, you need some more practice!") and Silas strummed his guitar and we make a joyful noise. Elizabeth read us the creation story and we talked about things God made and their Proverb from church Wednesday night. Then we prayed and they watched Veggie Tales. (OK, so Veggie Tales isn't part of the church thing--that's simple entertainment.)

Through the rest of the morning I rearranged the dining room, did laundry and cleaned, and finished the soup, as well as staying in touch with a couple friends via facebook. My sick baby didn't want to stay in the living room alone, so she brought a beanbag chair and the basket of Christmas books to the kitchen where I was.

Then Billy came home and we ate together before I tackled the pile of dishes on the counter. The afternoon was filled with mundane little things. One included the collapse of my cookbook book case. It's been wobbly for awhile, but it finally fell apart altogether. I guess I'll have to find a new place for my books, or get a new little book case.

Before I knew it it was time for Billy and the older kids to go to our church school's Christmas musical, leaving me with the little ones.

I plan to keep working on the house this evening, so it's tidy for a new week. There's bread in the machine and Sarah is watching Spot. Later, I'll feed everybody a light supper and we'll all head to bed.

Hope you all had a lovely Sunday!

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