Thursday thoughts on my faith

Wake up Call:
I have to say, this has been a really difficult couple of weeks for me. Since Bud got out of school, he has been obnoxious. I am beside myself with the chasing the girls, the girls screaming, Sweet Pea being needy and wanting to be held constantly, everyone fighting, etc...
I always have these goals for myself, pick up the house, do dishes, plan meals, pay bills, play with the kids, go to the library, read my Bible, memorize my verse, the list is neverending. As a mom, you know. It is tough. You go to clean up one mess and then someone pees on the floor. Sometimes I think I can't do it. It is too overwhelming. That is when I make my lists. My to do lists and they always start with read the Word. Read the Word. I really do want to do it. I think every day, have I read the Bible today, have I spent time in prayer today? And then...I don't do it. Praying is easier b/c I can do it anywhere. But reading the Bible is something I desire to do, yet my flesh messes it up everytime.
That's when it hit me. My flesh, my list, my goals. No wonder I have been failing miserably at everything lately. I am trying to do it all on my own and it isn't working. I will not accomplish my goals until I lean on God and try to discover His goals for me. His goals, His goals. Not mine. Mine are petty. His are worthy. I am not going to accomplish anything without His help. And I don't want to. Life is so much easier if we follow His plan and not our own.
Today, as a friend is in the process of a miscarriage and another friends father had a heart attack, I am realizing not only how fragile life is but that even though I feel I am failing, that even though my kids drive me crazy, even though I feel overwhelmed...I am so lucky to have all of it. I really need to start my day with being grateful for everything God has given me.
I have no goals this week, no challenges. Just me, trying to listen to God and praying for His work in my life to come to fruition, not my own selfish desires. And for my friends who are struggling with bigger things right now, not just the ones listed but all my friends, I pray that God pours His love on you this week.

Challenge + tip of the week

It has been one of those blogging days. I know, sorry. But I have 2 more and I will combine them.
The first is a challenge I am putting forth to myself because I really feel I need some accountability. I have a prayer partner and that has been amazing to know that every week, we check in and see what each other needs prayerwise. So now I need some accountability for digging into God's word. I know I should do, I plan to do it, and then at the end of the day, I have not taken the time. I know when I start my day in His word, I have a better day. It is such a good start. And I want my kids to see me doing this. It is so important in our lives. So here is my challenge for myself this week: to read the Bible every day. It doesn't matter if it is a short devotional, getting ready for my Bible study, or my through the Bible plan. I just want to read something.
Maybe as I get this down, I will add more to it. Baby steps here which is why I am doing the challenge for one week only. We will see what next week brings.
Tip of the week: as I was taking my shower today, I noticed how dirty it was. I mean pink stuff growing in the corners dirty. Gross. I hate cleaning the shower. It is so hard to reach everything and I always end up wet. Something I started a couple of years ago and sporadically stick with is, keeping an old body scrub sponge thing in the shower with a bottle of off brand baby shampoo. When I am taking a shower, I simply use that to sponge everything down. It doesn't to deep deep cleaning but it keeps it basically clean and if I started off with a super clean shower it would make do for quite a while. Because you are using baby shampoo, you don't feel gross using it while you are in there and getting it on you. It took me literally 3 minutes to do this and now I don't have to be grossed out in the morning when I get in the shower. Happy showering!

Laundry soap

Sorry this has taken me so long. My pictures are acting funky and I can't rearrange them so they are backwards. Sorry. Here is the recipe that I got from this site:

Water
1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Soap (or my favorite - Zote soap)
1/2 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda - look in the detergent aisle)
1/2 cup Borax
A bucket that will hold at least 2 gallons

Grate the soap. I use my cheese grater.
In separate bowl, mix together washing soda and borax.
Mix fels naptha or zote with about three pints of water in a saucepan. Heat on low until dissolved.
Stir in washing soda and Borax. Stir until thickened and remove from heat.
Add 1 quart of hot water to bucket.
Add soap mixture and stir well. Fill bucket with hot water until you have about two gallons. Mix well again.
Let set 24 hours, or until thickened.

It will be funky goopy. I use a big spoon to stir it up and then (plan to) use a funnel to pour it into an old detergent container. I use 1/2 cup per load.

That is the recipe. I bought a 5 gallon bucket and etched a notch at 2 gallons. That way I have plenty of room for everything and I don't have to measure the water everytime, just fill to the line.
I somehow misplaced the old laundry soap container I was saving, so have left it in the 5 gallon tub. That was a mistake as it didn't have a lid so the water is evaporating. Next time I will be putting it in an old laundry container for sure. I also forgot to figure out how many loads I got from this. Most sites I have checked say they get about 70 loads. I spent $2.99 on Borax, $1.23 on Fels Naptha, $3.19 on Washing Soda. Plus $4.99 for the bucket and I can't remember how much the funnel cost but around $2. That equals: $14.40. The fels naptha will go toward 2 more loads as you only use a 1/3 and the borax and washing soda will go towards numerous loads. Someone else has done the math and it came out to .70 cents for a batch. That is 1 cent a load. I don't know about you but I like Tide and it is something like $22 for a container at Costco and it is about 120 loads so 18 cents a load. That is a big difference.
I am not sure about the Fels Naptha. I am not a big fan of the scent and most sites seem to really like Zote soap but I couldn't find it. Someone said they found it in Target so I will keep looking. All of the items can be found in the laundry aisle.
Let me know what you think. Apparently you can also use a bar of Ivory soap but I haven't tried that and some people use one of those hand held emulsion mixers (I think that is what it is called) to blend it really well so it isn't so goopy. I might try that next time.

Cracking Down

Sigh. I go through spells of being a great disciplinarian and spells where I sort of give up. After a few weeks of not doing so well, I definitely notice a change in my kids. They whine, cry, throw tantrums...you know the drill. If you have kids, you know the drill. Even my 6 year old seems to be regressing. Husband says I coddle him too much, well all the kids actually. I want to have a fun summer of limited whining. So I am cracking down. But this stage, the stage where I start getting tough again, is the hardest of all. The stage that wants me to quit trying b/c I have to be sooo diligent I get nothing else done.
Honestly, I have spent the last 2 hours trying to get my girls to be quiet and settle down for a nap. They need it, their behavior this morning showed me how much they need it. I think, should I just give in, should I just let them get up? But then they win. They know they win and the next time I try, it will be the same thing, potty, drink, toys, talking, getting up...etc. Now that Sweet Pea is in a toddler bed, it is harder. We are just adjusting to it and today it is wearing me out. And i have gotten nothing done b/c I have to keep checking on them, keep reprimanding them, need I say spank them. But how many times do you spank a child or take a toy away for it to work?
I know, until it works. That is what we need to be: diligent. I guess that is my word for the day. Diligent. But I still have hope. Because I have seen how my kids act when I am diligent. They are good kids and they will turn out to be good adults.
As long as I am diligent now.

Thursday thoughts on my faith

Hope.
Such a small word but filled with lots of promise. We received an email from some missionary friends this week and he was talking about the verse "...faith, hope, love but the greatest of these is love." How easy it is to accept the importance of faith and love but hope...that may seem not as important. He was talking about how without hope, it is hard to have faith. How do we have faith if there is no hope of God.
It hit home to me yesterday as Princess was asking me about Maggie, what happens after she dies, is she in heaven? I honestly don't have an answer for her about that. I don't know if animals go to heaven and I am not going to say definitely to her one way or the other. But I do have hope. Hope that we are going to heaven, hope that Jesus knows our hearts and knows how much our animals mean to us on earth. I have hope as I talk to my child about death that when we die, it isn't the end for us, it isn't scary. There are no more owies in heaven. What an amazing thing to be able to tell her.
Imagine if I wasn't able to tell her about heaven, that after we die there is nothing. We are just put in the ground and forgotten about. So sad and so hopeless. What would be our purpose if that was all there is to life? If there was nothing more?
An amazing gift God has given us.
Hope.

Tip of the Week

Here is my tip for the week: I am trying to find ways to save money on my laundry. Between soap, dryer sheets, and the energy it takes to wash and dry all of those loads, it really adds up. So anything to help in this way I am willing to try. I purchased these dryer balls (shown here from Lillian Vernon for $9.98):

They say they help with static, softening clothes and decreasing drying time. I think they do help with decreasing drying time and also with fluffing the clothes. They don't seem to do a whole lot for static cling but what I have been doing is just using 1/2 a dryer sheet and that seems sufficient for the static. I don't use any fabric softener and I have been using my homemade detergent (which I need to post about and will eventually), sometimes I use vinegar in a downy ball for a little extra help in cleaning/sanitizing and that seems to work well.
Give the dryer balls a try and let me know what you think. I actually bought them at Walmart for under $6. A good investment I think.