Sometimes I keep a clean house. I am a dictator and I bark at my children. I get frustrated with interruptions. No one is happy, but the house is clean.
Other times I recognize the importance of maintaining peace and harmony. I play with my children. I love on them. I still get frustrated with interruptions. And our house is a wreck.
How do I strike a balance? How can I have my home clean AND happy?
I decided that we would have a beautiful day today.
How?
-I would take the interruptions as they come with grace
-I would be fully present with the kids, including them in my work and not allowing the tv
-I would focus on making our home beautiful one area at a time.
Here is how our morning has gone:
7:30- No barking. Snuggles with the kids (I promise the baby was happy until I turned the camera on! She wanted to eat, not be a model!)
7:45- Nurse the baby while I read from Romans. I listen to it online while I read it, so the kids can hear too. A beautiful day must have a beautiful beginning in the Word. I pray about our day.
8- Start water boiling for instant grits, scarf down a bowl of cereal (terrible, I know), get kids dressed, feed them breakfast, assess the mess in the kitchen, start laundry, clean the kitchen with the kids
9:30- Stop to drink water and take my supplements, switch the laundry, change diapers, lay baby down to nap, sweep and mop the floor, take a beautiful picture, assess the mess in my bedroom
10- stop to drink more water, work in my bedroom with the kids (change sheets, clear clutter, dust, vacuum middles), take a picture of my beautiful bedroom, assess the mess in the living room
10:40- begin to lose focus, drink more water, work in living room (clutter, dust) and yell at kids to clean their room since they didn't do it the first 15 times I asked them to (totally forgetting the "no barking" rule).
11- stop to nurse, change diapers, then vacuum living room and kids' room (sorry, no picture of the kids' room).
11:30- I'm done. I'm tired. I don't want to work any more. I let the kids watch Thomas the Train. But I have a nice bucket of mop water and I haven't mopped the bathrooms in forever. I don't FEEL like sweeping and mopping. So I forget the sweeping and just mop. Sure, there's still dust bunnies, but they are CLEAN dust bunnies!
This afternoon I plan to fold the laundry and put it away, do school with the kids... and keep the kitchen clean after lunching on leftover pizza (because we're healthy like that...)
I believe Flylady said, "Housework done imperfectly still blesses your family." (Thanks, Dawn, for reminding me who said that!)
Even though the bathrooms aren't clean, even though I mopped without sweeping, even though I yelled a little, it is okay. I am not perfect.
But I can still have a beautiful day.
Have you had a beautiful day today? If not, please stop for a moment and give your day back to God. He can make it beautiful.
