As much as I do have some great sanity savers, and have the kids help me, and try hard to start the day right, my house still feels like is a disaster a lot of the time. Part of it is that we’re all here, all day, every day. And part of it is keeping up with laundry, three-meals-and-two-snacks-a-day, and wiping up toothpaste blobs and strawberry tops that somehow found their way all over the hallway carpet. There are also my own weaknesses and those of my children, and there are doctor’s appointments, extracurricular activities, travel, my husband going out of town, stomach bugs, third trimesters, first trimesters, everybody-wakes-up-grumpy days, and the list goes on. It’s easy for me to get frustrated. I work so hard to keep up with my house, but I can’t seem to be consistent. There’s also the fact that perhaps I am a little too attached to receiving my personal peace from a certain level of tidiness in my home, rather than from a deeper Source.
I love when some of my favorite bloggers and authors open up about what their real life looks like. It’s so easy to paint a picture of somebody else’s life that isn’t true at all (particularly in the blogging world!). Don’t get me wrong: I love to get my house looking lovely and gracious and ship-shape. But as you’ll see, the day-to-day over here is as real as it gets. All of these pictures were taken just before I put the kids down for rest time after lunch. (I think I had to make them eat outside that day because the kitchen table was still covered with school stuff.)
We don’t have a separate homeschooling area; we educate where we eat in this family.:) It’s a real challenge to keep the school stuff picked up so that we can eat on the table for meals. I can’t wait until our mild Louisiana fall and winter get here so that I can make the kids eat lunch outside more often. In the summer, making the kids play or eat outside feels like a punishment to them. I can’t blame ’em.
The kitchen…and the million crumbs always on that white tile floor…and the high chair full of spilled milk and masticated whatever-we-had-for-breakfast-and-lunch….
The laundry just never stops, ya’ll. And I can’t seem to train the kids to take off their pajamas anywhere but in the middle of the floor. Or the hallway.
I love my big kitchen. But it usually feels like a big mess. All that counter space fills up frighteningly quickly–even using paper plates a lot.
The view from the front door area into the front room and kitchen.
The kids’ bathroom. And I should note that I had already picked up the huge mess of towels and pajamas and last night’s diapers from off the floor.
This quote. It’s just so helpful every time I read it! I have about four aprons that hang from this little chalkboard. I wear them around the house a lot because so many of my shirts are stained from Mommyhood already.:)
This is the main kids-artwork display area I have. All the boxes and the toilet paper rolls from Sam’s stayed on the island for days before I finally put them all away. The funny this is, I think I went to use the restroom at least twice that week and had to go to another bathroom because the toilet paper was out, all the while a huge pack of toilet paper sat on the island for days.
I hate feeding the kids rice dishes because A Thousand Pieces of Rice Everywhere. But especially in Louisiana, how do you avoid rice?! I have found through experience that I detest quinoa even more though.:)
This little front room couch corner is where I pray in the morning. And where Gianna (4) pretends to read BOB books like her big brother and sister. I’m doing 100 Easy Lessons with her right now, and I think she’s enjoying the one-on-one attention and also feeling like she does “real” school like her big brother and sister.
My parents gave us this beautiful bookcase for our anniversary this year. We just love it. The little foam pumpkins were a fun and easy craft for a grand total of $5 from the Dollar Tree.:)
This quote is also a big help to me. I love having Scripture all around the house to “run into” during the day. You may or may not notice that the calendar at the bottom for September never quite got changed to the right start date…
After we had our beautiful new fridge for a couple of days, I asked Michael, “I thought this was supposed to be STAINLESS steel?!”
Our washer mysteriously and randomly leaks soapy water from time to time. Of course, the day Mike goes out of town this past week, I have a laundry room full of mess to clean up that morning…:(
I made the inexpensive DIY magnolia wreath this summer (because I love you, Fixer Upper people, but $99 is a little bit on the high end for us right now) and I really love it.:)
The front door area usually stays pretty neat, unless there are Legos or Ritz crackers or army men all over the floor or something. The painting is a study done by Bruce Williamson, an artist at our old parish in Houston. After Gianna was born, he asked me if I would be a mother-and-baby model for a charity piece he was doing for Christmas of Mary and Baby Jesus. He gave me a finished study he did for the painting as a thank-you gift. The baby he painted looks just like Roman as a baby, even though it was actually Gianna.:)
Our “Little Oratory” area. Still a work in progress.
Faith’s artwork probably gets more display time than the others…I think it’s the eyelashes she puts on everything.
Whether or not your house is 10x cleaner or 10x messier than mine today (or every day!), I encourage you to join me in learning how to give your homemaking to God, seeking your peace and worth in Him rather than in what it looks like around you.
I’m slowing down big time right now: I’m about six weeks out from my due date with Baby #5. What a freeing truth it is for me that technically I can please God immensely and do all of His God’s will for a particular day…and still have a messy house by the time I slip into bed. Because sometimes, His will is to take care of myself mentally and physically–by leaving a kitchen-full of dishes and crumbs to go to bed on time (or actually spend some time with my husband at night). And sometimes, His will is to spend 45 minutes on the phone counseling a friend in crisis who called suddenly–instead of cleaning up.
Faith came back from a weekend with some close friends of ours with the knowledge of how to make a ninja hood out of long-sleeved shirts.
I think Michael feels sorry for me (that or he’s just scared and desperate to please his super pregnant wife), because he let me go buy all of the materials to make this lovely new fall wreath for our front door on a whim last weekend.
God bless!
Thank you for sharing! All I can think of is Trace Adkins’s song “You’re Going to Miss This.” It makes me cry every time. 🙂
Thank you for these consoling posts. I don’t how I got connected with your blogs but somehow the Lord delivers just the message I need and it often comes from your timely blogs that refreshingly encourage me right where I am at. We have the same problem with the kitchen being our everything room. And as my children are getting older I’m noticing funky smells through the house…just another thing I found myself getting discouraged by that I couldn’t keep up on. It’s so great to get out of the feeling of being odd and isolated, thank you! I struggle with concerns that my older children will think having more kids is “too much” because our house is always a bit chaotic and cluttered just by nature. Your post encourages me that that idea is probably more from me than from their innocent little hearts that just love their family and home. Thanks! God bless you and your growing family. Thank you for sharing your talents and wisdom on your blog. God has picked a great voice of course.
Suzanne, I have been so entrenched in my “day job” these past few months that I’ve barely checked my blog…I’m sorry that I’m just not seeing your wonderful comment! God bless:)
Thank you so much for this refreshing dose of reality… truly. Everyone says the years are long but the days are short. You have been blessed tremendously. My Husband and I have only been blessed with 1 child, despite our ardent desire for more. I know how I struggle with my house, and I commend you for sharing pics of what a real house with real life and faith looks like. Oh…. and I have true SAME washing machine. Mine doesn’t leak but the in we seal is always molding. I pray you have a healthy delivery of your baby soon. Your posts inspire me and give pause for a lot of prayer and reflection. Wish I had ‘Domestic Church’ here in California. God Bless You and your family!
This was uplifting and real. I appreciate you being so open and honest with us. When I listen to someone like you and see your beautiful blog it’s easy to think you have it all together and that you have a perfect life but it’s encouraging to know that you are living an ordinary life like the rest of us and struggle with the same things we do. And yet you do this amazing writing and speaking. It’s very impressive. Thanks all around. I would love to hear an interview of you with Finer Femininity blogger Leanne. Do you ever look at her blog? It’s my favorite but I really love this one too because you’re in the thick of it and she has already been through it.
Aymee, I am just now seeing your comment! I’ve been far, far away from even checking on my blog for a little while now. Please excuse my late response! 🙂 Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m definitely in the thick of it. I wish I had more time to write–maybe it would help me process things better. I’ve never heard of Finer Femininity, but then again, I’m not online much this year as a whole.:) I would love to go check out that blog, though!
You’re welcome:) And thank you for your prayers for a good delivery…it was! Hoping to post soon about it. I miss blogging more regularly, but God has not provided the time and energy for a while now. Hoping he’s got more plans for me soon.:)