Saturday started bright and early for us since we had finally decided to have a garage sale.  After about 6 months to a year of gathering ‘STUFF’ to go in this garage sale we were glad to get it done and over with.  It went well, but we wished it could have gone a little better. It’s funny how you put all this effort into getting all that stuff in the garage sale to make a little bit of money, then when its all said and done, the stuff you have left over you don’t want to mess with anymore.  We now have two different donate piles.  We’ll deliver those later this week.  We did get to meet some neighbors we hadn’t met before so that was an added blessing!  I also met two fellow homeschooling Mom’s and one was in the same covering as us!

Riley did pretty well, he was motivated to make some money!  I was surprised at the number of things he came up with to sell, in the end he made over $20.00!  Not too bad for a 9 year old boy! He decided to sell this old, beat up, guitar that our neighbor had given him when he was two or three.  It had a couple of dents where he had been slinging it around and it was missing some strings.  This elderly man came by and asked Riley how much he would take for the guitar.  Riley said, “Five dollars sir.”  (!!)  The man hesitated and said, “hmmm, I’ll have to think about it.”  I knew that was too much but yet I knew Riley wanted to make some money.  So I suggested that he come down off the price some.  Riley ran back outside and said, “How about $2 sir?”  The man said, “You got a deal son!”  He then asked Riley what he was going to do with the money and when Riley said he was going to put it in savings the man said, “here is one more.”  So Riley sold that old, beat up, dented, string missing guitar for $3.  I appreciated the man showing Riley the benefits of saving money.  You know it always helps when those principles you are teaching your children are reinforced by someone else!  The man thanked Riley for his business and said “I really don’t need this guitar but I wanted to help you make some money.”  Riley thanked the man and stuck his money in his pocket, to go in savings later.

Throughout his toddler years Chris’ mother always made sure Riley had a  good pair of cowboy boots to wear to church.  So, when I found three pairs of them in the bag of shoes, I had to get a picture of them.  They were so cute and all the memories of Riley stomping around in those boots made me smile and I thought it made a cute picture.

Yes, the pair on the far left are what he wore this year.  I just love seeing the difference in size and the tiny ones are just as cute as they can be!  A couple stopped by the garage sale and had their two year old daughter with them.  Her dad picked up both of the smaller pair and tried his hardest to get them on her feet, but they would not go.  That would have been cute too!

After the garage sale the rest of the day was spent at two different birthday parties.  One for my niece and one for my nephew.  I managed to get a picture of all the girls and Riley under Mom’s peach tree at Abby’s birthday.  Yes, to his chagrin, he was the only boy.  It was ok at first but after a while, he was ready for some ‘guy time’.

I was hoping the girls would lean against the trunk and strike some cute pose with Riley up in the tree but they wouldn’t go near the tree because of the bees.  Girls!   I think it turned out cute anyways.

Finally Riley got his guy time at my nephew Calvin’s birthday party.  It was his dream play time, Nerf guns and forts!  He had a great time but the long eventful day quickly caught up with all three of us.  Before we new it, we were ready to go home and hit the hay!  As we drove home recounting the events of the day, we were thankful for lessons learned, memories to recall and excellent family time!

Sunday rolled around and we took off for Church.  Our Pastor has started a new sermon series on the Beauty of God.  It was so good and definitely gave me a new perspective on His beauty.  I’ve always thought of it being within God’s creation but theres more to His beauty than just the creation….I can’t wait to hear next Sunday’s message.

After church we had one more birthday party to attend, Riley’s buddy Cory had a skating party.  All the boys had a good time and skated till they couldn’t skate anymore!  It was nice to sit and talk with dear friends and make some new ones.

It was a full weekend but the blessings out way the tiredness that hit us quickly at the end of each day.  God is good!  We thank Him for Family, Friends, A church home and family and the beautiful weather that we had all weekend long.

The Lord is good all the time, all the time God is good.  I see all these Facebook posts that people are “lovin their sweet life”, and I wonder, what is it about their life that makes them love it so much?  I remember feeling at one point in time when I read one of those posts a little resentment because our life at that time was so busy and I didn’t really love our life at that moment.  Not that they aren’t entitled to love their life but that I wanted to love my life!

Here lately, I have been able to look at our blessed life and see all that God is doing in our precious family.  And that has helped me to love our life from a new perspective.  All the business doesn’t seem to overpower me now.

We started work on our kitchen the first weekend in October and things are moving along nicely just a little slow.  We tore out part of a wall and moved cabinets to another wall,  added new cabinets, and granite and are painting.  Chris finished the drywall in the opening area and I have started painting cabinets.   Still a slow process but we are making progress!  Most of the time the work has to be done in the evenings and weekends because of work and school.

This is before....

New countertops

Chris sanding the drywall, boy am I glad that part is done!! What a mess it makes!

School has gone well, Riley has done really well also.  It is such a blessing to see times that he is learning and growing.  That lets me know I am doing SOMETHING right!  Praise the Lord!

We participated in the geography fair with our school.  What an experience that was!  Riley’s state was Kentucky and he did a great job!  He read all about the state and then was able to put all the info together (with a little help) and make a display board and present facts about his state orally.  I was so proud of him for taking the initiative and having the courage to do it.

In our new church we are attending, they have Royal Rangers.  Our main reason for wanting Riley to join was to make some friends.  We thought there would be some overlap with the activities in Scouts but thought we would try it out.  To our surprise there hasn’t been any overlap yet but what Riley has learned has been great!  He has made friends, learned a lot about boy stuff, and the Bible.   It has been so awesome to see how God has blessed that decision and how Riley has been blessed as well.

Our church also partners with an organization called Manna House which is a food distribution warehouse that helps the needy for free.  Wow!  How God has opened my heart to people in need is so exciting!  I had no clue what it was like to work with such precious people.  To realize how God loves them and they need to see that love.  I am learning to put my political thoughts aside and love these people instead of  judging them for their misfortune.   To let them have a glimpse of Jesus in me or my family.  To let Jesus work through me and in me.

So yes, I do love our “sweet life”, but for a different reason.  Because God is working in my precious family, Chris, Riley and myself.  Keeping our focus on Him is helping us to see the blessings of a life in Him.  We are still busy but as long as our focus is on Him, the business is manageable and doesn’t over power us.  When we rest in Him, wait upon the Lord, let Him be Lord of our lives, we will see what He can do.  Our efforts by ourselves are nothing in comparison to what God can do.  With God the possibilities are endless!

Today is a new day! The sun is shining and it is warmer than it has been all winter! I am so thankful for some warmth and sunshine. There is definitely something about spring that renews the spirit and gets you going! I am thankful too for that renewed spirit. I have been struggling over the last month or two with not having any energy, no motivation to get stuff done, being tired all time. It’s time for a change! It’s time to get off the couch and away from the computer…and get busy!!

I posted earlier in How Do You Do It? that I was thinking about starting a household notebook. Do you have one? I am ready to make some changes regarding getting the clutter under control, staying on top of things and keeping track of stuff. I do make lists of things to do, to buy etc but just not consistently. When I do make a list it helps me immensely. I find myself a lot of times getting bogged down with trying to remember when to do something or trying to find that one piece of paper…by the time we finish school, I am ready to tackle a task and not get stuck on a wild goose chase! I heard from a few people about what they do for a household notebook, chores, and managing their household. Once I heard a few of the suggestions I was a little more motivated! So I got started. It took me a while to get a feel for what I needed our notebook to be like and consist of, but I think I at least have a good start.

Jennifer Tankersly aka List Mama at List PlanIt had a good suggestion on household notebooks. She uses more than one, she has one for finances, one for her kitchen and then a third one for household stuff. If you visit her site you will see she has lots of great ideas for organizing, lists and making life easier. For a $20 annual fee you can print the forms she has on her site, she has other options available with an annual fee.

There are some other sites out there that make forms available to you. Molly’s Econobusters Money Saving Digest which you can purchase and download from The Old Schoolhouse store. They have a couple of different E-books that you can download and get the forms to print. They range in price from $4.95 to $20.00, depending on which one you pick. I also found this site that has forms as well. The Organized Home site has download and print forms for free. The nice thing is that there are so many options out there you might be able to find the forms that fit your needs perfectly!

For our household notebook, I have started out with one notebook containing monthly calendars, daily to do lists, weekly planner, weekly chore list, spring cleaning room by room (I hope I actually get to this part…). I bought dividers with folders that I can put coupons, menus from restaurants, and our flex spending info in (with a few extras). I also included a big pocket for our box top collection for school. I can see how I might need to expand to another notebook but right now I will start with one and go from there.

My prayer as I start this is that I will keep it up. I see how it can help me keep track of things, not forget to do certain things, and have a lot of stuff at my fingertips. My problem is getting something started and making it a habit. I am motivated and ready for a change, to get some things under control, so lets go!

So if you have a household notebook or another method of keeping things under control, I’d love to hear about it. Now I am off to get our day going. I am doing the Simplifying for Sanity with Lynnette over at Dancing Barefoot this week, I’ve got a lot to do today so I better get going.

Y’all have a blessed day!