What We've Been Doing

My past two weeks can be summed up in one word: ORGANIZING. I've gone through all the baby clothes, washed, dried, and put them away. Gone through all of Walker's clothes, gotten rid of things, moved it all to his new room, and finished up his room, too. I'll take pics later. The biggest project has been taking every single thing out of my kitchen cabinets and going through it all. It wasn't put together well to begin with. For instance, the drawer right next to the sink had all the booklets and instructions for our appliances, which we need about twice a year. So that got put to the top of a cabinet and I moved the dish towels there. Much better. Wow, I just realized what I wrote. If ever something screamed stay-at-home-mom, that was it. Fascinating.

So Harris helped me go through all the baby clothes. We had a pile to move downstairs and he suggested we just throw them down, rather than use a basket. So we did.

I think I liked this as much as he did.....there was something therapeutic about it. But most of my organizing needed to be done by me without little hands, so I've been coming up with random things for the boys to do on their own. I left my job almost two years ago, so I'm clearly a late bloomer to just now notice this, but life goes so much better when they're entertained.  They have really liked doing these little things, and I can get things done without our day degenerating into screaming and fighting. I don't know how people parented before google and Pinterest.

They have been digging in dry rice and beans.

Yes, that means there are rice and beans all over the place but it's easy to sweep up. As long as the house is still standing, I"ll pretty much clean up anything that buys me a little time.  

And I have a helper.

Watching him try to clean that up was painful. All he was doing was pushing things farther and farther away. If by chance a few things got together in a little pile, he would plow through them on accident and scatter them even farther than they were. Bless his heart, he tried.

Walker played with magnetic toys on a cookie sheet. We used to have these on our fridge but they would just get scattered. Only dragging them out occasionally seems to keep it interesting for him.

And Harris has been on a kick of these things. He got some crafty things for Christmas and this was part of it. They're supposed to encourage creative play since there's no real agenda to follow when you do them. It seems to work because he comes up with different things to do with them all the time.

While they were doing all this, here's what my kitchen looked like at one point.

This picture really doesn't do justice to the enormous mess I made. But it looks so much better now! We had way too much. I found three whisks, for example. Three. And I also found three cheese graters, but I know where those came from. Mom, you were on a kick of buying me cheese graters for awhile. Thank you, but we're all set now. :)

My last project to tackle before #3's arrival is my closet/dresser. I want to get rid of the things I don't love and organize what I'm keeping in a way that's easy to see and maintain. I have way too much crammed in my closet and dresser and lots of it I don't even wear. Someone else could be using it and that makes the things I've got left easier to keep track of. Doing this while pregnant makes me a little ruthless, which is a good thing in this case. Post partum, I'll probably be wondering where all my clothes went. Someone remind me that I thought it was a great idea to "be ruthless."

I read this the other day and just keep going back to it.

The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." Haggai 2:9 (NIV) 

But reading The Message translation was interesting.
⁹"'This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.' Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies."

So wholeness and holiness = peace?
One definition of holiness is: to be specified or set apart for a religious purpose. So if these translations are accurate, then you'll find peace when you are set apart for God.

There was a good example of this in my life recently. I wrote about needing to let go of anger I've harbored at someone, and I finally did. I haven't forgotten what's happened but I have forgiven and I feel like a weight has been lifted. I don't tense up thinking about it or anticipate the next battle. I can just take situations as they come without bringing years worth of hostility into the picture. It's biblical advice that brought peace. This kind of goes against worldly standards for relationships but it seems clear that worldly answers to things aren't working. I definitely didn't feel peaceful holding tightly to my anger.

I think this concept of peace when you're set apart applies to other things, too, such as service. But right now I think the Lord is using this to refine me in ways that are more personal, especially as #3 is due very soon. I am being given ways to practice this often in everyday life lately and it's been hit or miss when I get it. I am thankful that the Lord has tremendous patience with me because if it took my kids this long to learn a lesson I think I'd be beating my head against the floor.

Here's another verse that's on my heart right now. This one I fall short of so often and have been VERY convicted about. It's a post in and of itself. As I'm writing this I realized what I want 2012 to be for me.....living this verse. So, in a great big dose of accountability, here goes.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Phillippians 1:27

Please call me out when, not if, you see me missing the mark.