Me too!
Dear Robin,
I am so enjoying your blog posts :-) LOL
Robin and I have been on our Cozi journey together recently. After reading her post tonight I have to confess that after I read her previous post I silently rebelled at the idea of going completely paperless. That is so NOT my goal. I am implementing every tool I can to get our life a bit more into a rhythm. I say a rhythm in a great effort not to sound like I think I am in control of my/our life/lives. For years I have tried to de-clutter, organize, clean, rearrange... I was discontent. I was not healthy. I had my priorites way of order. I thought there was a perfect answer to create a perfect household management system. There is not.
There is... peace in trusting God to order my steps. I am learning to listen for His direction in every aspect of my life. God is in the details, all of them. What will work today might not work tomorrow. What will work for a certain child today might not tomorrow. The meal that everybody loves today may be the last thing they want the next time I make it. What school looks like today, tomorrow, next week more than likely is very different than it will at this time next year. I am wondering if He likes to keep it that way. After all, the more unpredictable things are the more we must learn to look to Him for direction and trust that He knows best.
Here's is something I have learned. God wants and expects us to do for ourselves what we can - He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It just so happens that I have been called to be a wife and a mother. I am privilged to work at home, in our home. My "job", among many things defintiely includes the management of our household. The practical aspects of managing a home can be challenging. If you throw in there years worth of clutter and years worth of not keeping up and a lack of proper tools to get the jobs done, well, now you're looking at OVERWHELMING.
I am 47 years old, have five children and one granddaughter and I am STILL learning to be a better parent. I have beat myself up over my failures in certain areas and took comfort in the areas that I feel I didn't fail completely. I have not trained my children well in certain areas. I do not enforce consequences when their chores are not done. Sometimes - used to be most of the time - it was just easier to do them myself. The tides have changed! I can no longer keep up even if I wanted to. I'm getting older, I'm more out of shape than ever. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts. But none of that is the REAL problem. I am unable to focus my attention for very long, I flit about from one distraction to another and I cannot remember from one room to the next what I came in there for... I ask my kids a question, they answer and 20 minutes later I'm asking the same kid the same question. At first they thought I was kidding, then they thought I was mad, then they got mad. Now they just know that somethings wrong with mom.
You might be asking ( since if you're reading this, you are reading this ) what does any of that have to do with Cozi and going paperless? Here's what it has to do with it - I have had to learn new tools, an entire shed of them, to do the things I can do for myself. I have lists, calendars, whiteboards, notebooks, planners and, now, Cozi. I have a lot of other tools, prayer being the absolute most critical, meditation, mass, meetings, a sponsor, devotions, scripture study - and these are all part of the big picture. I have to be diligent and I have to be intentional. I will use all the tools that God puts in my path to help me be a better wife and mother, friend and above all a better servant. And then I'll trust in Him to do for me what I cannot do for myself.
I have a calendar I carry in my purse and the monster master calendar on the wall next to the phone ( I am adding a weekly calendar sync in my plans!). I have had the same style calendar for years. I have all of my calendars since 1983. Yes, you read that right - since 1983. I have the calendar that has notes on it from before I was married. It has notes about wedding planning in it. My calendars are my journals. I never intended it to be that way, it just happened. The master calendar hangs on the wall with my 4' x 8' cork bulletin board. I post every sort of thing on the bulletin board. I keep it fairly cleaned up and updated. I have a medium size white board next to the calendar on the bulletin board and this week I hand wrote the menu for each night. My hope was that I would be commited to actually cooking the meals and that everyone would be encouraged to join us at the table for a family meal. It worked. It's only been one week, but it worked. It might sound ridiculous to some but I feel this is one of those small details where God worked in my life on something I really needed help with. Across from the bulletin board is the BIG white board and I have been using that for notes and lists that need updated daily and the growing to-do lists that I need easy, quick access to. Months ago I purchased a handful of the very small white boards. I have three on the refrigerator and one on the front door. It's been fun and interesting to see the notes people like to leave each other on their way out the door. The three on the frig have been used for lots of things in my experiments to see what works and what doesn't work as well. I used to have a small note pad taped on the other side of the frig for the on-going grocery and other shopping lists. The habbit of adding the items to the Cozi shopping list has been growing so I took down the note-pad and since the chores listed on the small white boards didn't seem affective I am using one of them to add things so I'll remember to add them to the Cozi list as soon as I can. The whole thing is a living, breathing attempt in one area to become more like the woman God intended me to be. I know I do better with Him at the center of my life. I have watched as it's happening.
I had to ask God for help in remembering to check on the progress of the kids' school work and their chores. I need help with the follow through. It's happening, s-l-o-w-l-y, but it's happening!! I see progress and our motto is progress, not perfection!!!!
There are far more important things in the world than whether or not my dishes and laundry are done, the floors are swept, dinner is on the table at the same time every day (and I don't have to order pizza - again!), the house is picked up reasonably, the bills are paid, the refrigerators don't house several science projects and our feet don't stick to the floor as we walk across the room - BUT these are the things that are important to me as the manager of our home. After all, that's what it is - our home, not just a house. Of course, RELATIONSHIPS COME FIRST ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE.
This year, for the first time ever (intentionally because last year doesn't count - I was in a drugged stupor because of my back) I did NOT take down the Christmas tree and all the decorations and have the house all cleaned up and sparking (at least temporarily) for January 1st. That has always been my habit. I spent the entire week from Christmas to New Years cleaning, de-cluttering, griping and whining. My usual habit included things like - no, I can't stop to play games, no, I don't have time to watch a movie, give-me-just-another- minute and I'll do that with you.... Not this year!!!! For the first time ever, I have no regrets about how we spent our time over the holidays. I was present, physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally to my family. John and I encouraged each other and reminded each other and ourselves that all that "stuff" would wait. It would be there later. We needed and wanted to play with our family!!! We wanted to laugh and share stories and get to know them all a little bit better. Lots of photos, lots of laughter, lots of hugs and I love yous! No regrets. All because, together, we are putting God first in our lives. I'm not saying we have perfection - it's simply unattainable. I am saying we have JOY and PEACE and CONTENTMENT.
A last word (at least for now) about household management: It's simple but it ain't easy. I'll take all the tools God wants me to have, thank you very much!
Susan
I am so enjoying your blog posts :-) LOL
Robin and I have been on our Cozi journey together recently. After reading her post tonight I have to confess that after I read her previous post I silently rebelled at the idea of going completely paperless. That is so NOT my goal. I am implementing every tool I can to get our life a bit more into a rhythm. I say a rhythm in a great effort not to sound like I think I am in control of my/our life/lives. For years I have tried to de-clutter, organize, clean, rearrange... I was discontent. I was not healthy. I had my priorites way of order. I thought there was a perfect answer to create a perfect household management system. There is not.
There is... peace in trusting God to order my steps. I am learning to listen for His direction in every aspect of my life. God is in the details, all of them. What will work today might not work tomorrow. What will work for a certain child today might not tomorrow. The meal that everybody loves today may be the last thing they want the next time I make it. What school looks like today, tomorrow, next week more than likely is very different than it will at this time next year. I am wondering if He likes to keep it that way. After all, the more unpredictable things are the more we must learn to look to Him for direction and trust that He knows best.
Here's is something I have learned. God wants and expects us to do for ourselves what we can - He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It just so happens that I have been called to be a wife and a mother. I am privilged to work at home, in our home. My "job", among many things defintiely includes the management of our household. The practical aspects of managing a home can be challenging. If you throw in there years worth of clutter and years worth of not keeping up and a lack of proper tools to get the jobs done, well, now you're looking at OVERWHELMING.
I am 47 years old, have five children and one granddaughter and I am STILL learning to be a better parent. I have beat myself up over my failures in certain areas and took comfort in the areas that I feel I didn't fail completely. I have not trained my children well in certain areas. I do not enforce consequences when their chores are not done. Sometimes - used to be most of the time - it was just easier to do them myself. The tides have changed! I can no longer keep up even if I wanted to. I'm getting older, I'm more out of shape than ever. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurts. But none of that is the REAL problem. I am unable to focus my attention for very long, I flit about from one distraction to another and I cannot remember from one room to the next what I came in there for... I ask my kids a question, they answer and 20 minutes later I'm asking the same kid the same question. At first they thought I was kidding, then they thought I was mad, then they got mad. Now they just know that somethings wrong with mom.
You might be asking ( since if you're reading this, you are reading this ) what does any of that have to do with Cozi and going paperless? Here's what it has to do with it - I have had to learn new tools, an entire shed of them, to do the things I can do for myself. I have lists, calendars, whiteboards, notebooks, planners and, now, Cozi. I have a lot of other tools, prayer being the absolute most critical, meditation, mass, meetings, a sponsor, devotions, scripture study - and these are all part of the big picture. I have to be diligent and I have to be intentional. I will use all the tools that God puts in my path to help me be a better wife and mother, friend and above all a better servant. And then I'll trust in Him to do for me what I cannot do for myself.
I have a calendar I carry in my purse and the monster master calendar on the wall next to the phone ( I am adding a weekly calendar sync in my plans!). I have had the same style calendar for years. I have all of my calendars since 1983. Yes, you read that right - since 1983. I have the calendar that has notes on it from before I was married. It has notes about wedding planning in it. My calendars are my journals. I never intended it to be that way, it just happened. The master calendar hangs on the wall with my 4' x 8' cork bulletin board. I post every sort of thing on the bulletin board. I keep it fairly cleaned up and updated. I have a medium size white board next to the calendar on the bulletin board and this week I hand wrote the menu for each night. My hope was that I would be commited to actually cooking the meals and that everyone would be encouraged to join us at the table for a family meal. It worked. It's only been one week, but it worked. It might sound ridiculous to some but I feel this is one of those small details where God worked in my life on something I really needed help with. Across from the bulletin board is the BIG white board and I have been using that for notes and lists that need updated daily and the growing to-do lists that I need easy, quick access to. Months ago I purchased a handful of the very small white boards. I have three on the refrigerator and one on the front door. It's been fun and interesting to see the notes people like to leave each other on their way out the door. The three on the frig have been used for lots of things in my experiments to see what works and what doesn't work as well. I used to have a small note pad taped on the other side of the frig for the on-going grocery and other shopping lists. The habbit of adding the items to the Cozi shopping list has been growing so I took down the note-pad and since the chores listed on the small white boards didn't seem affective I am using one of them to add things so I'll remember to add them to the Cozi list as soon as I can. The whole thing is a living, breathing attempt in one area to become more like the woman God intended me to be. I know I do better with Him at the center of my life. I have watched as it's happening.
I had to ask God for help in remembering to check on the progress of the kids' school work and their chores. I need help with the follow through. It's happening, s-l-o-w-l-y, but it's happening!! I see progress and our motto is progress, not perfection!!!!
There are far more important things in the world than whether or not my dishes and laundry are done, the floors are swept, dinner is on the table at the same time every day (and I don't have to order pizza - again!), the house is picked up reasonably, the bills are paid, the refrigerators don't house several science projects and our feet don't stick to the floor as we walk across the room - BUT these are the things that are important to me as the manager of our home. After all, that's what it is - our home, not just a house. Of course, RELATIONSHIPS COME FIRST ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE.
This year, for the first time ever (intentionally because last year doesn't count - I was in a drugged stupor because of my back) I did NOT take down the Christmas tree and all the decorations and have the house all cleaned up and sparking (at least temporarily) for January 1st. That has always been my habit. I spent the entire week from Christmas to New Years cleaning, de-cluttering, griping and whining. My usual habit included things like - no, I can't stop to play games, no, I don't have time to watch a movie, give-me-just-another- minute and I'll do that with you.... Not this year!!!! For the first time ever, I have no regrets about how we spent our time over the holidays. I was present, physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally to my family. John and I encouraged each other and reminded each other and ourselves that all that "stuff" would wait. It would be there later. We needed and wanted to play with our family!!! We wanted to laugh and share stories and get to know them all a little bit better. Lots of photos, lots of laughter, lots of hugs and I love yous! No regrets. All because, together, we are putting God first in our lives. I'm not saying we have perfection - it's simply unattainable. I am saying we have JOY and PEACE and CONTENTMENT.
A last word (at least for now) about household management: It's simple but it ain't easy. I'll take all the tools God wants me to have, thank you very much!
Susan
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