As I was thinking about some of the things I accomplished this year, I really feel like I am a different person than I was a year ago. I am for sure different because of some life changing moments that were out of my control, but I feel like I am also different because of the things I chose to take control of and the change I made. I just want to reflect on some of those for a few moments. These aren't things that I necessarily made a goal of at the beginning of the year, but actually mostly just happened.
I have never been a great housekeeper. I tend to be a "wait for someone to come over and then clean the house" kind of person. My mother is an excellent housekeeper and apparently that did not come through the genes to me. But I have made HUGE strides in this area this last year and it has taken the entire year to get here, it did not happen over night. I started off with making a morning routine for my kids. Once I got them to a place where they did their routine without much help I ended up following the same routine for myself. In doing this I placed a rule of no breakfast for anyone until everyone has their morning routine done. This has been the biggest help in my change. I have also started making the kids help more with a few regular chores that they/we work together to do. I am usually great about getting all of our dirty clothes washed but the folding and putting away part is hard for me. I dubbed Monday and Thursday laundry days. I have been doing this for at least 6 months and it has become habit. I love it! Also to help with making sure it is all folded and put away I started having the kids fold and put away their own clothes. This was met with much distaste by the kids, but they are pros now and Oak (who loves to help with all chores) still does not like it much and will usually throw some sort of fit when we first start out, but she is quickly learning that she will be doing all day if she doesn't buckle down. With the dishes, which is another chore I struggle with, I worked on another routine for that. After finishing our morning routine and we head downstairs the kids are to empty the dishwasher while I make breakfast. Then I load any dishes in the dishwasher throughout the day and by evening it is full and ready to run and then we do the same thing the next day. As far as deep cleaning, I take a day once a month and we (the kids do it with me) do nothing but go room to room and declutter and clean. This one is still a bit of struggle but I still plan on working with it until it is a habit. Also I realized that I am a very grumpy mommy and wife when our house is cluttered so I try to declutter a lot during the week when I can.
How I parent is something that I am always working on and although I feel like I have come a long way this last year, I still have even further to go to make some big changes. I know what kind of parent I want to be so I keep that as my goal and make changes and reflect when needed. I really want to be a parent that can calmly and peacefully help my kids through their poor behavior, but mostly I end up losing my patience and yelling and acting like a 3 year old myself. I truly don't want to let my kids push my buttons and I don't want to take their behavior personally. Day by day I work on this. Some days are awful, horrible and feel like I am in the middle of a war, and some days I do great. I can always see my behavior reflected back at me from my kids behavior so I will continue to strive to do better.
Homeschooling! We officially started homeschooling a year ago. I didn't really know what it would look like for us, I have tried different ways to go about it, but in the end I always come back to making it fun and not so structured. My kids have made huge strides in what they have learned this year so I am not failing, YAY! But honestly, they are quick learners and they don't have any learning problems so they make my job easy. Most of all, I love homeschooling. I seriously never thought I would love it this much.
I still plan on working on these this next year since there is plenty of room for improvement.
Now onto this next year...
I have been in search of a word or motto to live by this next year. And for some reason the word that keeps coming to my mind is "Peace".
I want to bring peace into my home, have peace for myself, deal peacefully when I am parenting, feel peace in how my life has turned out, and bring peace to others by serving them.
I found some scriptures that I think might help me...
"Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer...bless them which persecute you; rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." --Romans 12:12-15
I really feel like my soul needs some peace and I know that if I turn to Christ that I will find that peace. I really want to seek Him and do all that I can to be like him.
I plan on reading AND studying the scriptures and conference talks; not only praying night and day but also those moments in the day that I am struggling and feeling unrest; not to sit idly too long and look at my phone or the computer and replace those moments with something with meaning; finding more moments to reflect and think instead of turning my brain off; showing more love and guidance in the hard moments of parenting; and finding ways together with my husband to strengthen my marriage; find peace through my diet and exercise; and I want to seek opportunities to serve rather than wait for opportunities.
I am also working on a family goal/motto for the year.
I will probably post about that soon.
Hint: it has to do with serving :)
