I must admit that sometimes, my house is just a mess.

As a stay at home mother of a sweet and energetic little two-year old and another baby on the way, there are times when just looking at the trail of toys, the clutter, the pots, the pans, and the dishes exhausts me…or sends me to the verge of tears.
The task in front of me seems overwhelming, and I wonder how I will, yet again, get it all done. The duty of cleaning seems like an endless one that I repeat every single day. And these times with my little girl are so precious and fleeting that the last thing I want is to have to spend all day cleaning!

I have often struggled to find a balance between all that there is to be done within the home, and being intentional about the time I spend with my daughter during the day. I want to create a home that is a peaceful haven for my child and husband, yet I don’t want to be so busy with tasks that I let these sweet times pass me by.

But, I have to tell you about a little method of cleaning I read about that I  have adopted over the past few months that has been so helpful: I have been setting the timer in my kitchen for 15 minutes as a race to see how much cleaning I can get done within that time. It’s that simple. No rocket science, no special equipment required. Just a timer set for a very reasonable amount of time to get me into cleaning mode.

Looking at a messy house can feel daunting, and scrubbing it from top to bottom can take some time. But the good news is, our homes don’t require complete scrub downs every day, just maintenance type cleaning.

Fifteen minutes may not sound like much time and goes by pretty quickly, but it’s amazing how much you can accomplish within that time frame if you just really focus on the task at hand. And if you do this every day (or even a couple of times a day), then it actually helps your home not need as many day-long scrub down sessions, because the house is already staying at a better level of cleanliness. 15minute cleaning

Here’s an example of a recent day. I had just put my little girl down for a nap, and the house needed some cleaning. I started a load of laundry (I try to do one load a day), set my timer, and I was off! My dishwasher needed to be emptied and I had a pile of dishes to be loaded, so it took all 15 minutes to clean up the kitchen.

However, by focusing and working quickly, I was able to get the entire kitchen clean during that time. I unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded it, wiped down the counter tops and scrubbed the sink, and then took my wash cloth and “mopped” the floor (I sometimes mop with the cloth under my foot and it actually does a great job without the mess of a mop and bucket when I am short on time).

15 minutes later-relief.  And I don’t know about you, but if my kitchen is at least clean, then the worse part is over.

Now, if I hadn’t had all those dishes to do, I could have gotten even more done around the house. My fifteen minutes was up, but I was now on a roll and motivated by how much I had already gotten done in such little time. So, I set my timer for 15 more minutes, and got most of the basic surface cleaning done around the house. I picked up all the clutter on the floor left by ‘hurricane Emily’, and put all of her stuff by her door so that when she woke up I could put it away. I put my clutter away, dusted the major surfaces with a damp wash cloth, then took the cloth and wiped down spots on our leather couch, cleared the clutter off our other counter top , and even managed to sweep the foyer and entry way, the dining room, and the living room. I moved pretty quickly, but it was well worth it!
This 15 minute cleaning principle can be helpful in so many different ways; you can use it for cleaning the kitchen, light surface cleaning if the house is clean but just needs a good straightening, or you can use it and focus on a bedroom, a bathroom, the mountain of clothes to be ironed, or even a closet that needs some work. I originally learned about it from FlyLady.

It’s amazing, if you just set your timer and get to work, how much you can get done! I tell you this to encourage all of you busy ladies out there -whether you are a stay at home mom, or a tired working woman-that if you will just set your timer for 15 minutes, your house can look MUCH cleaner in a matter of minutes! I’m not talking about having perfectly de-cluttered closets and drawers, (though setting a timer for one of those would certainly help as well and might not be a bad idea!) but just having your home be more of a restful, peaceful haven.

I love doing this just before or at the beginning of nap time because I feel like I can then breathe a bit easier and actually take some time to relax knowing my house is clean, and I also love for my husband to come home to a less cluttered house. This is also a great thing to do before bed, because waking up to a tidy home is always so nice.

So the next time you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the mess that surrounds you, be encouraged. Take a deep breath, set that timer, and get to work! However you think this could help, whether it’s light ‘pick up the clutter in the living areas’ type cleaning or tackling that messy kitchen, I encourage you to try it. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in just a little 15 minutes here and there!

Nancy is a pastor's wife and stay at home mother to their two year old daughter, Emily, and is expecting another baby this coming May. She loves "all things domestic", including cooking, organizing, decorating, and crafts, as well as running and photography. She can also be found at her recipe blog, Casual Cuisine, where she regularly posts new recipes she's cooking up.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Ann Voskamp’s Jesse Tree Advent Celebration Book was out of print.  Well, I have great news!  Not only is it back in print, but Ann and her family are graciously offering it to each of our family’s as a gift this Christmas.

What a wonderful gift to give.

We put our Christmas tree and Jesus tree up last night and began our own celebration of Advent using the devotional.  I am so excited to incorporate this into our celebration of the birth of Jesus!

May the adoration of our Savior so present during this season be in our hearts year round!

I’m probably giving Kelly a heart attack right now. I told her she would have my blog by Friday. It is now Tuesday at 4:30pm. Oops. My only excuse is that my in-laws were coming for the weekend for our baby shower. You know what that is like… “AHHHH! Our tub needs to be re-caulked! I need to mop the entire downstairs! All our towels need to be bleached!”Despite the fact that I haven’t written anything ’til now doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about it. I have. In fact, as I walked through Anthropologie in Boston the other day I kept thinking about you.

Now, the real question is, how am I going to get the photos I covertly took in the store off my phone and into this post… Well, friends, I’m not.  There was no memory stick in my phone so I’m going to recreate them. Here’s what I found as holiday displays in the store and loved:

Champagne flutes with a sprig of balsam around the bottom with a beautiful velvet ribbon. You could do this with any goblet (water, wine, you name it!). The ones I saw were skinny champagne flutes and it was such an elegant yet earthy way to spruce (no pun intended) up your glasses. I’m going to do this one for our Christmas party and will take pics for you. (The photo is neat too but I’m not big on sap in my drink… It was taken from Country Living) I’m still partial to the evergreen tied to the base of the flute or goblet.

Pots with birch trees and cabbage. I loved this idea… in fact the other day I went to the woods to find my own birch… and came back with an entire log infested with bugs. (I know AJ appreciated it when I brought it into the house for him to cut it for our fireplace.) It was such a simple arrangement if you can find non-rotted birch logs. Just prop them up vertically in a pot, cover with mulch or dirt to stabilize it and either plant cabbage / kale around it.  Or do what I intend to do (because it’s cheaper) and go into the woods and cut down evergreen branches and use some of those fabulous red berries on the side of the road now! (Or is that just a New England thing?)

Christmas trees made out of feathers. You may be thinking this is bizarre. It is definitely not your typical holiday look but I think that is why I like it (granted, I don’t like these feathers, I’d like white feathers). I’d go to a craft store, purchase the foam Christmas tree shape and then a bag of feathers and start pinning them with white headed pins to the foam.

Ornaments hung at varying lengths from a stick. That sounds strange, I know, but picture a stick hung parallel with the ceiling and then picture clear ornaments (or it could be any color) hanging down at varying lengths from twine. It was such a neat contrast of the sophistication of the ornament against the rough texture of the twine and the branch.

Okay, so as I was trying in vain to find a photo that I love of birch logs propped up in pots. I found the above photo (birds on birch) online at a website I’ve never heard of, www.artglitter.com. I am SOOO going to make this for my mantle but with less creepy white birds.

See you next month!

Giveaway of the month to one person who becomes a subscriber to my blog: A set of 50 boxed personalized note cards and envelopes! http://ajandjenmigonis.blogspot.com

Jen loves event design, baking, decorating, and working around the house with her husband, AJ. Their first baby, a boy, is due December 29. She loves finding things on the side of the road and re-doing them. She has been a runner since she was young and loves to read, especially the Mitford Series by Jan Karon. Last fall AJ and Jen started a Sunday Soup Night with friends from their church and hope to make it more of an outreach event this fall…once they finish renovating their kitchen. Follow their progress (and see some super cute pregnancy pics!) at their blog,AJ and Jen Migonis.

My thoughts have already been skipping ahead to the warming scents of Christmas foods and the music that begins playing in our home just after Thanksgiving.  It’s already time to be thinking ahead to the Christmas season!  It’s just around the corner and it’ll be here before we know it.  It might seem early to be writing about it, but I have some exciting resources to share with you that might help in your holiday planning.

A Meaningful Time

Christmas is usually a time of struggle for me.  First of all, I did not grow up celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Sure, we went to church on Christmas Eve, but the holiday was all about gift-giving.  I can recount several years of tears and sadness as my family totally missed the point.  It still grieves me.

Now, I also hate how it’s become such a commercialized holiday as I feel the tug to be greedy as Christmas lists are still asked of us.  Am I the only one that struggles with this? I don’t want our children to know Christmas as a time to rack up great gifts.  I want them to understand that it’s a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and for them to understand why we can have such joy in the celebration.

We haven’t banned gift-giving, for we think it would rob particularly the grandparents of great joy.  It’s fun to give gifts, because truly “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Our children are still small so we haven’t yet incorporated our long-term plan/tradition of giving a large gift that the children will enjoy together.

Our Traditions

We are still a young family, so we are still developing traditions.  However, we have established a few and it only aides in the anticipation of the holiday!

We do an advent calendar throughout the month of December, read Christmas books throughout the month, listen to classical Christmas music (Best Carols 100 is on my husband’s Christmas list this year!), read the Christmas story on Christmas Day and celebrate with the yummy sweets in our house.  I had planned to make a birthday cake last year, but really, with all of the other sugary stuff, I didn’t think we needed any more!

I made my own ornaments a few years ago with the different names of Jesus on them.  Even though I came to our marriage with a huge box of Christmas ornaments my mom collected for me as I grew up, I have had the hardest time putting them on our tree. Again, I have felt like it takes away from the true meaning of the holiday.  There is something about seeing “Star of David”, “Lamb of God”, “Messiah,”  and others every single day that helps meditate on the wonderful gift of the life of Jesus!

I’ll share my Christmas menu (and recipes!) next month, but for now, here are a few links to recipes that we’ve incorporated:

Incredibly Yummy Eggnog – I double this recipe.   Need I say more???

Nourishing Fudge – This recipe can also be found in Nourishing Traditions, which is where I first came across it.

Butternut Squash Lasagna – come back tomorrow for the recipe!

The Best Chili Ever – as declared by my loving husband, who asked that this be our traditional Christmas dinner.

Helpful Resources

There are several resources that have helped me think more creatively in how to make this season a time of purpose and meaning in our home:

Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper

I’ve really appreciated not only the practical ideas in the book, but the personal anecdotes Mrs. Piper describes!

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell

I would love to add a new Christmas book to our repetoire each year that is age appropriate.  This is perfect for very small children as it captures simply the concept of welcoming Jesus.  The illustrations are my favorite part!  I’ve not yet decided on a book for this year…any suggestions?

The Graham Family 12-Week Holiday Planner

This is new to me this year, and I’ve really enjoyed it!  Not only are there many practical ideas for planning, but with her many years of experience, Sheri Graham has wisely planned each week with ideas of what to accomplish so as not to end up with an overwhelming list of things to do at the last minute.  I started it a little late this year, but with a little bit of catch-up, it’s been so helpful! Sheri has graciously offered one of my readers a free copy of this ebook!  To enter, simply leave a comment below.  Entry for the giveaway will be open until 11:59 pm on Saturday, November 6th. Update: Giveaway has ended!

Willow Tree Nativity Set

This was a wedding gift to us (great idea!) and I’ve enjoyed putting this on display each year.  Now that we have kids, the lambs are missing legs and I find them in all sorts of fun places throughout the house.  Time to look into a kid-friendly one?

Two resources I’m sad that I can’t recommend for purchasing due to their unavailability this year, but that I wanted to share for future reference (I feel kinda cruel!) include:

The Noel Advent Calendar from Desiring God. This was a gift to us before we had children and it is probably my favorite tool for the holiday.  It is simple and extremely kid-friendly (good, since it’s for kids!) with burlap as the calendar background and velcro to affix the animals, people, and symbols.  A little laminated booklet (so obvious it was created by a mom!) comes with it that has a little story (a sentence) for what each animal, person, or symbol’s role is on that day.  I can’t wait to pull it out and am so sorry it’s not available this year!! And I’m sorry that my box is still in the attic so you can’t see what it looks like!

The Glorious Coming: A Jesse Tree Advent Celebration by Ann Voskamp

I was so sad lamenting recently when I learned that this too, is not being sold this year.  I knew I should have bought it last year!

Ann, like my new blogging friend Sara, have what I believe to be a gift from the Lord with their writing.

This year, I hope and am planning to incorporate a Jesse Tree into our advent celebration.  I first read about it over here on Lindsay’s blog.  What a fun way to get little hands involved and to plant seeds!  I would love to make the decorations together and as they are ready, to add them to the tree.  We’ll see how it goes. 

Ten Questions to Ask at a Christmas Gathering by Donald Whitney.  Because we entertain family members that we don’t see often and that don’t espouse to the same beliefs we do, these serve as great conversation starters and should the Holy Spirit allow it, provide opportunities to share more about our faith in Christ.

As our children grow, I want to continue to deepen our celebration of Christ’s birth.  For those of you with children three and older (Tara’s age), what do you do to make it meaningful?

I’m sitting in my house needing gloves. It’s October 17. Something doesn’t seem right. Something isn’t right! Our thermostat was ripped out of the wall during our kitchen renovation so, needless to say, our heat is nonexistent. It was really great (written sarcastically) to turn on the space heater at night and see that the temperature in the room is a balmy 47 degrees!

Why am I telling you this when I am supposed to be writing about decorating? Well, the chilliness of the house reminds me of our not-yet complete kitchen renovation. This kitchen, friends, was a long time coming.  To sum it up: the oven didn’t work properly and no appliance repairman would fix it because it was literally an antique.  And the rest of the kitchen was pretty much the same way. How did we know what we wanted to do when it came time (and by “came time” I mean “found out we were pregnant”) to redo the kitchen?

In my spare time you can find me surrounded by magazines and catalogs with a pile of ripped out photos of anything that inspires me.  I have a few binders that I have organized over the last six or so years with these photos. Some of the photos are as small as an inch by an inch and others are a full magazine spread. There are photos with a tablescape that I’m in love with and photos of a vaulted ceiling that I would love in our master bedroom one day.  Photos of Christmas decorations and Christmas wrappings…

Like anything in life, if you put enough thought and preparation into something it’s going to come out a better project and more like what you’d envisioned in your head than plowing through without prior planning. My husband and I flipped a house nearly a year ago and it was fairly easy for me to make decisions on the aesthetics of the house.  I just had to flip through my “books” and look at all the photos that I’d ripped out and decide what would work best in that space.

For our kitchen AJ and I knew exactly where we wanted to splurge (which meant we also needed to figure out how to save).  He wanted a 5 burner cooktop with a separate oven and I wanted Bianca Cararra marble countertops. My “book” made it very clear what I wanted to splurge on because photo after photo that I ripped out was the look of the Bianca Cararra marble.

I encourage you to start your own “book” and hone your style… the simplest way to do this is to rip up the catalogs you already get in the mail and start filing away those photos that make you excited to live in the scene they created!

The “book” has been great for me because it has shown me what I naturally gravitate towards, and have gravitated towards for years. If you know your style you’ll make smart decisions, which in the long run will turn out to be frugal because you haven’t changed your mind a million times!

So what does this have to do with sitting in my house needing gloves? Well, if you know what you want and can envision the end result, it makes the process of getting there a little easier… even if you have to sleep with an LL Bean 32 degree sleeping bag over your down comforter (while 7 months pregnant)!

If you are interested in keeping up with the Migonis’ (and watching our house progress!): http://ajandjenmigonis.blogspot.com

Welcome to Domestic by Design! I’m so glad you’ve stopped by.  If this is your first time, please start here!  I’ve been offering giveaways all week.  In order to enter, check out Tuesday and Wednesdays posts as well.

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Ladies, as I prepared for today’s post to go up, I wrestled with a few things.  In the spirit of being real, I thought I’d share with you.  And since I know some of you, I figure there’s not a better place to be real than with a friend!

First of all, this has been a busy and tiring week with the “official” launch, so I’m tired!  Even with pre-planning for this week, there have been last minute things to change, add, or fix.

Secondly, this blogging business requires delicate balance.  My family is my most important priority on this earth.  I am blogging first to be a blessing to my husband, in light of what is modeled to us in Proverbs 31 (I’m not insinuating that you are not emulating her if you aren’t doing what I’m doing).  And then to encourage and spur you on in the Lord.

But it’s a lot of work.  It requires much discernment in the use of my time because just like housework and raising children, there’s always something to be done on the blog.  I have been reminded this week that no matter how successful I may be in encouraging other women, it won’t matter in the end if I have failed in my roles at home.  Which is what I’m seeking to encourage you in as well!

As I’ve been working this week, on the forefront of my mind has been the desire to keep my family first.  But it’s a battle because I enjoy blogging.  And, I’m so easily distracted at times by housework that needs to be done that it’s harder for me to just get down and play with my kids at times. Do you ever with  struggle the beast of selfishness as a mom?  I want to kill it, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

I read a convicting, yet inspiring blog post last night here that I’d encourage you to read if you have the time.  Sometimes I just need to refocus!  I already light a candle regularly in our home (see blog post!), but will enjoy it with new meaning today.

So, I’m picking up a copy of one of my very favorite books, The Family (originally called Homemaking) by JR Miller and getting cozy for a sweet reminder of this most noble calling I have as a wife and a mother. I am so excited to get to know you and to serve you, but I don’t want to neglect what is more important.  This is one of those moments when I question whether this kind of “being real” is healthy for a blog like mine.  But I am sharing because it’s who I am and what I’m about.  And I want you to know that about me so you can pray for me (and know that you’re not the only one who struggles with being selfish).

And I feel the need to let you know that I approach this blog with fear and trembling. I am not more holy than you.  I don’t want to come across as thinking I am, either.  I hate messing up and don’t want you to see my failures. But what scares me the most is not obeying God in the roles He’s given me within my family.  So this blog is a tricky thing.  Balancing time and practicing humility when it’s all too easy to promote self and be selfish.  I want to learn from you, too.  I am fairly young. I don’t want to try to teach any older women (even just one year older) who might visit my blog, but to humbly share what I’m learning in hope that it will cause you to see Christ and to worship Him.

This has been a very plainly “spoken” post.  I sure hope it isn’t terribly jumbled and ill-written.     Because my husband isn’t editing this one.

If you are in need of inspiration, refreshment, or renewed vision for your role as a wife and mother, I highly recommend JR Miller’s book.  I could put quotes from it all over my home, because it’s beautifully written.  I want to offer one of you a copy today.

Update: This giveaway is now closed.  You can find the book in my store, though!

To win a copy, simply leave a comment below.  You will be blessed as you read this wonderful book.

This post is part of Making Your Home a Haven, Fall 2010 hosted by Courtney at Women Living Well.

Welcome to Domestic by Design! Have you subscribed yet to receive free updates by email or RSS? You can also find me on Twitter! Mark your calendar for Monday, October 4th, when the official launch will be underway! You'll find a new look and some great giveaways...spread the word!

I had the awesome privilege of having three lovely young women help me in my home yesterday.  Let me tell you…it was a blessing!  Not only are my floors vacuumed, but my bathrooms are clean AND I was able to make a run to the post office sans kids.  I consider that an accomplishment in and of itself!This is a season of life in which I often feel overwhelmed by all there is to do.  You know, the never-ending list that grows by the moment.  I have learned that many things really don’t need to be done on the timetable I used to subscribe to.  My husband certainly doesn’t expect it, my children never seem to notice, and it is definitely not a measure of godliness.

But still, there are times in which it would be helpful to get caught up on these things.  However, life with small kids in need of my time and training leaves little time for cleaning a house.   Let me clarify:  I need help.

I am so thankful for a wonderful, dear friend whom I am getting to know that has walked my path five times over.  She has children who bear the fruit of careful, consistent, attentive mothering, and who are growing into delightful young adults.  Oh, she’s still in the throes of parenting in many respects, but her youngest is several years older than Tara.  After spending some time with her and her girls (15, 13, and 11), I knew that these are young women I’d like for my little girl to spend time with.

And what little girl doesn’t look up to the older  girls she’s around?  I am thankful to have these exemplary young women, whom I trust, for my daughter to spend time with.  I want her to walk with the wise to becomes wise, not be a companion to fools and therefore suffer harm (Proverbs 13:20).  What a gift these girls are to our family!

So, once a month I will have the privilege of having help from them.  And I get to sit at the feet of their mother who I glean wisdom from every time I’m around her.

And next time, I will even get a little guitar lesson to oil my very rusty skills!

Have you thought about having some young women come help you with your children and housework?  I bet it will not only bless you, but serve to give them excellent training ground in becoming a homemaker!

My husband, love him, planned a day for us at Dollywood, “the friendliest place in the south” yesterday.  I’m an East Tennessean now and I needed to have the experience.  Now, I can say I’ve been there and done it.  And…that is enough for me!After being reminded that I don’t care for upside down roller coasters, Blane was determined to get me on one (they have two).  Oy.  I discovered that I just don’t care for roller coasters at all anymore.  It’d been a long time since I’ve been in a theme park, and you know, I’m just not a thrill seeker.  My kind of thrills come from accomplishing a goal I set for myself (like a half-marathon).  Boring, I know.

The trick, I discovered, was to keep my eyes closed.  For the entire ride.  That way, I had no idea what crazy angle from which I may have been dangling.  Afterward, we looked at the lovely pictures taken during the ride and it was hilarious.  Blane had a look of sheer enjoyment on his face while I had my eyes scrunched closed as tightly as possible, my head bent down, and a death grip on the harness. I was just trying to keep from getting whiplash and my brains bashed around, thank you very much.  Not to mention preventing potential bruises.

My poor husband.  His boring, unadventurous wife was thrilled to ride the carasouel, “a mild thrill attraction,” as well as the bumper cars and flying elephants (aka Dumbo at Disneyworld).

All in all though, it was a fun day because we were together.  He is my favorite person to spend time with even if we are getting whiplash and a good brain sloshing.   It meant so much that he took the time to plan the day and wanted me to have a good experience at a place that brought back to him so many childhood memories (like running from security with a weighed down fanny pack from taking money from the fountains, sigh).

We missed our kids and were excited to see them in the evening!

This weekend has brought more fall-like weather…I opened the windows and daydreamed of apple pie, hiking in the Smokies (our next kid-less day date), camping, and football (I don’t necessarily enjoy watching it, but it means fall is here).  And I made a mental note of the soups I hope to prepare when the cooler weather is here to stay.

what a crew!

I ran into Hobby Lobby the other day to get supplies for a wedding gift I’ve been asked to make and saw the 50% off sale on all of the fall decor.  I didn’t have much time to look around, but decided to make a trip over the weekend when I’d have more time to peruse the goods.  I came home over the weekend with a few things to add simple fall beauty to our home and asked Tara if she wanted to help me get everything out of the bags.  It was such a delightful time of hearing her exclamations about each item.  “Loot at this!  This is so petty!”  She loved the beautiful pumpkins and decorative candle centerpiece  as much as I did.

“Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. “

Isaiah 63:15

The Lord lives in a beautiful place, in which one day, for the remainder of our days, we will also dwell.  It is natural to want to beautify our environment.  We are loved by one who created beauty itself!

“Loot mommy, I’m det-urating!”  While Tara’s putting a foam number around a decorative fall display and putting it on the desk is not exactly the same way I would do it, it was so neat to see her living out an aspect of our female-ness that I believe God put in us: a desire to beautify our world around us.  Her (Lord willing) husband will appreciate this one day.

So, I have left her “deturation” right where she put it, because it’s a “thumbprint” of Tara in our house.  She has sought to make our house more beautiful.

And also because it makes me smile.

We are almost to the end of the book!  Have you enjoyed reading it?  It is my favorite book (thus far) on mothering.  If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, I’d encourage you to do so today!  It is a book I will pull off the shelf many times (and already have) through my journey.

“Home–it’s such a beautiful word!  It’s the center of our lives, the place that holds us with invisible strings of love within its walls…Home is a haven from a world that is swimming with challenges and difficulty.  It is a school where one learns how precious life is intended to be.  It provides the context of learning to know and love my Creator, the beauty of the world he made, and his Word, which guides me.  And it is the environment where direction and purpose and values are passed from generation to generation, protecting and preserving all that is precious to life.”

Home is a haven.  It is a place I love to come home to when away and even when things are crazy, just realizing that we have a place to call home is comforting.  It is a privilege that we have the opportunity to set the atmosphere of the home.  I don’t know about you, but it seems to be a daunting task when I take into consideration the ramifications of my attitudes and actions regarding my role here.

Ms. Clarkson covered quite a few aspects of being the keeper of the home and I really appreciated and benefited from her wisdom.  I’ll cover the best from each section!

A  Vision for Home

Hospitality is a characteristic she mentioned that several women in her life demonstrated of which she respected and desired in her own home.  This is something we both desire to always have as a part of our home life.  Not only do we desire to reach out to people with the purpose of ministering to them, we desire to model and therefore teach our children the important role hospitality plays in the life of every believer.

In addition to hospitality, she mentioned moral purity was modeled and taught.

“In the context of these homes, where the moms and dads sought wisdom every day in directing their homes for God’s purposes, the children thrived…What was the common denominator in these homes?  It was the woman’s commitment to making her home consistently welcoming, comfortable, and life giving.

“That kind of home-making is not easy…It is a commitment of the heart, mind, and soul to the task of subduing (making productive) a very specific part of the earth–the domain of the home.  It involves teaching minds and nurturing hearts and shaping souls, in addition to getting the rugs vacuumed and dinner on the table!

It’s not a job for the fainthearted!”

Creating a Nurturing Environment

In the many moves the Clarkson family has made, she shared the keys she found to help accomplish this goal.  “One of the first things I have always considered was how to make the physical home a giving place–a source of rest, comfort, beauty, peace, and pleasure for those who live there as well as for those who visit.”

What a neat perspective to have when considering how to decorate or arrange our homes!  I am so thankful for her later reminder that the most important aspect of creating a nurturing home environment is our own attitudes and actions toward our family and our role within the home.

A (Somewhat) Organized Household

Ah, ladies, pay attention to this section!  This is where so many of us get tripped up in our role as the keeper at home.  Ms. Clarkson says it perfectly at the beginning of this section,

“Most of us live under the heavy cloud of ‘House Beautiful’…because the responsibilities of maintaining a home, especially a home with children, are so varied and unrelenting, the pressure to get it all together and keep it together is constant…That’s why effective home management is an important part of making a home into a nurturing environment.”

This topic is worthy of a post of its own!   I have learned that the most important thing for me to spend most of my time and thinking on during this season is the souls of my children.  I am not (usually) a lazy person, so I know that the housework and other responsibilities will get done eventually.  I have learned that we don’t need to eat elaborate meals, the sheets don’t need to be changed every week, the bathrooms can go a little longer than I used to think (but read about my time saver!), and that we can live out of laundry baskets for a few days.  I don’t like things to be messy, but I’m not a neat freak.  I’ve found a happy medium (most days) that works for us.  I think the key is finding what best serves your family and going with it.

We shouldn’t compare ourselves to each other!  And, just to encourage you a bit, in a little informal survey I’ve been doing, most women don’t clean nearly as often as we all seem to believe we should clean.  And as far as meal planning, household notebooks…do what works best for you and your family.  I’m so thankful for other women sharing how they do things in their homes because I’ve taken some from here and some from there and have passed by some ideas that wouldn’t best suit us.

Managing Stuff

“Stuff consists of all those things that seem necessary to life but also seem to pike up to unmanageable levels.  Stuff is what surrounds us, collects in the corners, and jumps on any open tabletop or counter.”

Can I get an “Amen”?

I can’t stand to have “stuff” just lying around.  But it somehow happens everyday. Not just that, but our kids have somehow acquired miscellaneous small toys that have no place and don’t go with anything.  Ms. Clarkson hits the nail of a head when she says, “If there are children in the home, their stuff will always give evidence of their existence.  House Beautiful will inevitably become House Reality.”  Ha!  So true!

She mentions that in their home, they have a once-a-day pick-up time.  In our home, we strive for twice a day…before naps and before bed-time.  I don’t always accomplish the before-nap pick-up but in the evening, we strive to accomplish it daily.  It makes a huge difference in my work load and in my sanity!

I have also been in elimination mode lately.  Also deserving of another blog post, I don’t want my children to love or just have piles of “stuff.”  And, there is so much “stuff” that they just don’t even play with, but gets dumped out anyway and then left behind on the floor.  (Actually, Blane says this is their way of playing with it).  So, the toys that don’t have matches, that I notice are never really played with have been collecting into a bucket to give away.  This has also helped my sanity level.

My kids are content with less.

Managing Information

Ms. Clarkson admits that this is not her strong suit.  I like her strategy though:  she deals with “every item as it comes in, assigning it a place to belong, even if it’s not perfectly organized.”  How helpful!

We have a designated place for receipts that need to be entered into our budget, a place for mail that needs to be read, places where we (usually) put our purses/wallets/keys, etc…It’s so helpful!

Managing Time

I was just speaking with a new friend the other day (who has five children aged five years and younger!) and she mentioned that they try not to be busy.  Someone else told me of a mom who began homeschooling and exclaimed, “I guess I need to be at home if I’m going to home school.”

Our culture is always on the go.  However, as Ms. Clarkson so keenly stated, “We also realized that for the children to be influenced primarily by us, they had to spend most of their time with us.”

I have sought to keep our days simple for the sake of togetherness, enabling necessary training and discipline, to fulfill responsibilities within our home, and to guard precious sleep that my children need.

Establishing Life-Giving Routines and Traditions

Any mom of young children knows how beneficial routine is in a child’s life.  In fact, I know how beneficial it is in my own life!  What a helpful reminder from Ms. Clarkson that by developing routines, we can save time on the details of running our homes as we don’t need to repetitively and constantly need to be planning.  Sure, some plans (like meals) need to be re-planned, but systems can help simplify this greatly.

I love the section when she speaks of how easily routines can become family traditions!  Just thinking about the fact that these things are what our children will remember is so special.

“Family routines, of course, easily become family traditions–those things that “we always do”–and such traditions are essential to maintaining a secure sense of family identity.   They build a sense of belonging that all of us were meant to enjoy.”

Ensuring the Future

“Even under the best of circumstances, the work of subduing the domain of the home often goes unappreciated.  Children are often oblivious to the fact that they have an important person who is managing so many areas of the home in order to provide them with a stable life and a warm, nurturing home environment…

The strong and secure future we help build for our children is laid by the hundreds of small deeds we do every day as we serve faithfully in our homes.  Yet the great value of our service will be felt for generations to come and throughout eternity.”

Wow.  This chapter was such an encouragement to me as I consider the value of my role.  It is indeed one I take very seriously, and I’m reminded that it’s for good reason.  I hope that you were encouraged and inspired by this chapter as well!