Spring Clean, Year ‘Round: Product Review

Spring Clean Year ‘Round

I received this lovely tin in the mail today! It is made by a very creative lady who has developed a clever system for keeping up with all the major chores around your house! No more big spring cleaning! Instead, you can do a little every day of the year!

Most of us don’t really enjoy the cleaning part. There are a few chores that I do enjoy, but mostly I just do what I need to do because… well, because I need to. According to Travis, Spring Clean Year Round designer, you can keep your house “spring clean” clean in just 15 minutes a day! Now that sounds like a deal to me!

How does it work?

The system is divided into daily, weekly, and monthly chores. Each day you pull out a card and do the chores suggested. You then return the card to the tin to rotate it.

Here’s what Travis says about her system:

“This system includes most common chores necessary to keep your home “spring clean” year round. It is not exhaustive and therefore blank cards are included for your personalization. It does not include the daily grind kind of chores like washing clothes or cleaning up after dinner. The frequency at the top of the card can easily be changed to suit your personal needs.”

The tin is sooo cute, which just makes you want to use it. I mean, if you have to clean, why not make it fun, right? Also, the individual cards are really pretty, too! Some other things I like about this system are:

• each card is labeled weekly, monthly, or yearly
• each card has a helpful hints
• each card lists the tools you will need for that chore
• each card has an “age appropriate” suggestion so you can have your kids help
• and did I mention it’s pretty?

I know you will love this Work-at-Home-Mom creation! You can purchase Spring Clean Year ‘Round from Travis on her website.

Under Construction

Memory Verse: “So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious  cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.’” Isaiah 28:16 (NIV)

“We’ve come so far,” I said quietly to myself as I stared at the memory in my hands. A photograph of my husband and I standing in front of our first house reminded me of a time when the dream of a home filled our hearts. Pinching every penny, Marty and I had finally managed to save up a down payment for our first home. For years, it had not seemed possible. Yet, we now stood in front of a realized dream under construction. It was small and simple, quite modest actually. But it was ours. With wooden beams framing the unfinished walls, we looked towards moving day with longing anticipation. The naïve excitement in our faces brought a smile to my face, as I set the picture down and pondered all we have learned since then. Looking back, I realize, it wasn’t just a house under construction.

Back then, we were a young married couple, strategically managing two budding careers and a small child. With strong goals and secure plans, we had our future carefully mapped out. With hopes and desires as big as Texas, we stepped into the fast lane and foolishly chased after perishable goals. Young and inexperienced, we discovered never imagined twists and turns in the road ahead. Despite our detours and missteps, God continued to build something beautiful within our hearts, making His home with us.

In my husband, the LORD was creating a strong, godly leader, able to stand against the worldly lies of achievement and embrace heavenly priorities. With trial and error, Marty learned what it truly meant to be the head of our home. As a wife and companion, I too had much to learn as God fashioned me into the heart of our home. Countless times, we were forced to adjust our life so that it might be aligned with God’s plan. Taking humble steps of obedience, Marty and I learned to trust God for our full provision, granting Him unlimited access to our hearts and home. Both in triumph and in pain, we stood firm with Christ, holding tightly to the eternal promise that “He will be a sanctuary.” Isaiah 8:14 (NIV). As we grew in the LORD, our path turned away from the shifting sands of worldly desires, and we began to walk together in truth.

More than ever before, families today are challenged by growing demands and heavy responsibilities that threaten to unravel the peace of our homes. Yet, with Christ standing strong as the cornerstone in our lives, we can stand firm. For, “the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Matthew 7:25 (NIV) Surely, life is filled with surprises and we will most definitely experience ups and downs. Life’s journey takes us through seasons of triumph as well as loss. All the while, our Heavenly Father is building something magnificent for His glory. As the years pass by, we must submit our families to our Heavenly Father, “for unless God builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1 (NIV) Only in the firm foundation of Christ, do we find His unshakable peace. Today, let’s give our Heavenly Father our finances, our families, and our futures. For God is creating a masterpiece through His people, but we must remain “under construction”.

Heavenly Father,
We praise you for you are always at work making us into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ. Truly, we stumble as we chase after worldly distractions that take us off your path. Help us to seek You first and allow Your love to make us new each day. Take the pieces of this life and create something beautiful in our hearts where you alone can dwell. Make our homes your sanctuary and let our families be blessed with your presence.
-Amen

Reflection: What is God building in your life?

I love the snow…

I mean, really. What’s not to love? I love the fact that snow allows me to hole up at home and do homey things… like plan homeschool lessons, read good books, clean the house, and do the laundry.

It’s been snowing all day (again) and we are happily sitting by the fire with my girls all looking at books. It’s about time to eat lasagna for supper and we had potato soup for lunch and I am thinking about putting in our Les Miserables’ Broadway play in the DVD player in a little bit.

I love home and snow let’s be at home. I hope if it is snowing where you live, you are enjoying this time, too!

Cheerful Homes will be a Light to Neighbors

We need more sunshiny parents and more sunshiny Christians. We are too much shut up within ourselves. Too often the kindly, encouraging word, the cheery smile, are withheld from our children and from the oppressed and discouraged.

Parents, upon you rests the responisbility of being light-bearers and light-givers. Shine as lights in the home, brightening the path that your children must travel. As you do this, your light will shine to those without.

Frome every Christian home a holy light should shine forth. Love should be revelaed in action. It should flow our in all home intercourse, showing itself in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where this principle is carried out – homes where God is worshiped and truest love reigns. From these homes morning and evening prayer ascends to God as sweet incense, and His mercies and blessings descend upon the suppliants like the morning dew.

- Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 144

The Sweetest Type of Heaven

Home should be made all that the word implies. It shoulf be a little heaven upon earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and true courtesy to one another.

The sweetest type of heaven is a home where the Spirit of the Lord presides. If the will of God is fulfilled, the husband and wife will respect each other and cultivate love and confidence.

– Signs of the Times, Ellen White, June 20, 1911

Home is the Heart of All Activity

Society is composed of families, and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart are “the issues of life”; and the heart of the community, of the church, and of the church, the prosperity of the nation, depend upon home influences.

The elevation or deterioration of the future of society will be determined bu the manners and morals of theyouth growing up around us. As the youth are educated, and as their characters are molded in the childhood to virtuous habits, self-control, and temperance, so will their influence be upon society. If they are left unenlightened and uncontrolled, and as the reult bcome self-willed, intemperate in appetite and passion, so will be their future influence in molding society. The company which the young now keep, the habits they now form, and the principles they now adopt are the index to the state of society for years to come.

– Ministry of Healing, Ellen White, p. 349

Sunlight in the Home

We have had so much rain this year. The sky has been cloudy more often than not where I live. In fact it seems that it has rained nearly everyday for the last two weeks! So, when the sunshine came out this afternoon, even briefly, it was such a welcome sight! This evening I picked up the book Counsels on Health which I have been reading and came across the following statement. It rang so true I had to share!

If you would have your homes sweet and inviting, make them bright with air and sunshine. Remove your heavy curtains, open the windows, throw back the blins, and enjoy the rich sunlight, even if it be at the expense of your carpets. The precious sunlight may fade your carpets, but it will give a healthful color to the cheeks of your children. If you have God’s presence and possess earnest, loving hearts, a himble home, made bright with air and sunlight, and cheerful with the welcome of unselfish hospitality, will be to your family and the weary traveler a heaven below.

- Counsels on Health, Ellen White, p. 196