"Help For the Home" Harvest of Ideas

I'm ashamed to admit it,

but before my grand "Touch everything in my house & find it a home" mission,

(which I began in January) this is how our entryway often looked.

Now, it consistantly looks like this:

(& please no one remind me that part of the reason may be due to putting away winter gear!)

(oh, & if you are wondering, that is our front licence plate from our accident in January. I want to always remember how the Lord spared our lives......& seeing this every day helps me!)

This area is where I started on my mission to take back my house,

& now my tip is,

WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED WITH YOUR WHOLE HOUSE,

GO BACK & START OVER AGAIN.

& that's what you see here.

I did have a simple Rubbermaid shelf here,

but I knew I wanted something a bit nicer.

The other day, I found the perfect cabinet,

so I purged even more

(it is smaller than the shelves were)

& now I can look at this every time I come home,

instead of what used to greet me!

In here, you see how the kids each have an area of the shelf to store things that on their way in or out of the house. My area's on top, & Dave has a spot for his computer, too.
Now, I move on to my family room & see if I can purge more.......or re-organize better......or improve the "look" of my room some other way!
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Don't forget to leave your tips & I'll link your blog!!!

"Help For the Home" Harvest of Ideas

Coming tomorrow........long hike in the sun today has done me in!!!!

"Memories"

When I saw the topic for this week’s FFF……

of course my mind went a hundred different directions

(well, no-mostly to when each of my kids were added to the family-

those times make such an impression on you!)

But……then I thought I might need to go in a slightly different direction………

& make myself laugh.

I need to laugh-often & hard-know what I mean?

So here are a few funny memories……from my early blogging days-

before I was participating in FFF.l

Hope they make you laugh as much as they do me:

Ana’s Impression of Work

(& her attitude is much improved now! HeeHeee!)

Ruth’s Busy Days

(Geeez!!! How DO I keep up with this child!?!?)

Ana “Helps” Mama
(& no, it wasn't very helpful, lol!)

Anyway, thanks, Sarah, for helping me take a walk down memory lane!

Thursdays Before the Throne

Ok.......so the Lord has really been laying on my heart how quickly time passes.......

& if you read my blog much, you also know.......

that He has also been impressing on me that I am not guaranteed tomorrow........


As a result, I have started a journal where I just scratch down how I slowed down

& enjoyed my kids…..each new day.

So far……I have painted with Ana, played blocks with the babies & read books to them all. (Natty under great duress-he would rather be ANYWHERE but sitting still on my lap-but, he’s slowly coming around-as long as the book has trucks in it!!! Ha! Ha!!!)

Can you think of some other good idea ideas that SLOW me down to enjoy them……but don’t make a HUGE mess for me to clean up?

Wordless Wednesday......."The Way We Were"

Our Story.....Part One.....

(Ana-2005.......Los Angeles, CA)

Thought I might share a bit of our story that led to our adopting two wonderful kiddos from Guatemala…….if some of you are interested, great. If not, I am also keeping this blog as a sort of journal of our lives together, so it’s mostly for posterity anyway!

Ana was born in 2001 after a fairly trouble-free pregnancy……..
one we didn’t have any trouble getting pregnant with
(perhaps that's more info than you wanted.....
but, hey, like I said, this is mostly for us......
& I'm usually pretty transparent-
maybe more than I should be!!!).

We were delighted by our first-born……
(although there was some disagreement about whether or not there would ever be MORE kids).

(I had some serious post-partum issues,
& I’m sure that didn’t help Dave want more kids-
but that’s another story).

Fast-forward a few years……
& we had finally agreed that Ana needed a sibling
(ok……I wanted her to have more than one-
Dave thought ONE SIBLING for Ana was enough-ha!!! ha!!)

We tried to get pregnant for what seemed like FOREVER……..

Every month, we got our hopes up-only to have them dashed.

This continued for almost a year.

The tears……
The “Whys?”
The accusations to my Heavenly Father
(I’m ashamed to admit)…..
"Do you REALLY love us?”
“Are You judging us?”
“Have we displeased You in some way?”

If any of you have suffered from “Secondary Infertility”
you know what that emotional roller-coaster is like!
That’s a ride you definitely want OFF of!!!

Tune in next Tuesday for more of the story!!!

I LOVE that these 2 have eachother!

There's nothing quite like a sister.........