Blogging: 5 W's

My friend Grace is talking today about the 5 W's of her blogging journey over at wheelsoffun.blogspot.com and I thought I would jump on the bandwagon as well!

Who do you blog for?
I blog mostly for myself right now.  Kind of a chronicle of my journey through life (marriage, parenting, spiritual journey, etc.).  I also post this for friends and family that live in other parts of the country.

What do you blog about?
Lately it has been things God has been laying on my heart about our life.  I also hope to blog in the future about cloth diapering, cooking, my journey of being a home manager, and more about our family.

When do you blog?
During Carter's nap times and after he goes to sleep (if we don't have any other pressing chores to work on).

Where do you blog?
In our guest room/office.

Why do you blog?
As a way to keep myself accountable to the things I am working on.  I also blog as a way to show a bit of our life to others around us and hopefully help others understand the "odd" things we do.  I would also love to be able to share with others that there are other options out there.  Many of the things we do might come off as strange in the culture/society we live in, but these choices are valid options and things that don't need to be scary.

Weekend Epiphany (pt. 2)...a long time coming

So several weeks ago I wrote about my weekend epiphany...my crazy shelf that runs my life ;).  It has taken me some time to come to grips with part two of what I realized that weekend.  

While I was driving home from the grocery store, it was one of those rare times where James was at home, the baby was at my in-laws, and I was alone in the car with God and my thoughts.  I had been struggling with the concept of doing what is best for my family.  For those of you who don't know, I am a perfectionist.  It is something God has been slowing working on in my heart for years...and unfortunately something I tend to fight Him on way too often.  I want to do the absolute best things for my family.  I think I know, in many cases, what those things look like but not always how to go about changing and I tend to think in terms of all or nothing.  

For example, cooking with Teflon coated pans has been shown to be bad for your health in the long term.  To me that means throwing out my Teflon coated pans and cooking with other types of cookware (which I already own).  But I also know that eating meat full of hormones and antibiotics is bad for you.  So in my mind the answer is to start eating grass-fed, free range meat in addition to throwing out my Teflon cookware.

That even sounds crazy to me!  Why, you may ask, don't you take one step at a time.  Good question...one God has also been asking.  Which brings me to the revelation I had in the car that day.

I need to do what is best for my family at this time with the resources God has blessed us with.

That doesn't mean perfection.  It doesn't mean starting over or doing every single thing that I feel needs to be done right now.  It means taking into consideration the most important things and changing what I can.  For us, in this season of life, that means staying on budget.  That is the most important aspect of my daily life...staying within the income God has blessed us with without complaint and while honoring God through my diligence and obedience.

The action plan has taken shape over the last few weeks (with much thanks to the films Food Inc. and Super Size Me for their wealth of information and to my husband for his direction and wisdom).  For our family this means we won't eat out at fast food restaurants (which is good for us in LOTS of ways), we will cook as much as we can from scratch, and cooking through our overflowing pantry.  It means focusing our grocery budget on fresh produce.  With the next step being that once our pantry is depleted, we will restock with foods that are much healthier (i. e. not repurchasing but the occasional can of cream of whatever soup, processed foods, and junk food).  I am learning to make more from scratch -- which I have always loved doing -- and I am setting us up for a healthier life.  We are also making sure that our son will benefit from healthier foods that will nourish him as he grows and hopefully avoid some of the poor eating habits James and I have had in the past.

I could probably write for hours about the things we are changing and the things I want to work on next, but that would be getting ahead of where we are right now.  And thus, challenging the path God has laid before me...to be present in what I am doing right now instead of living in the future.  For me, this takes continual trust in God and requires me to seek His guidance and provision every day.  I would love to fall back on my own understanding, but that would get me nowhere...fast!

Giveaways Galore :)

So I know I am long overdue for a post about my weekend epiphany...from last weekend, but things have been a little crazy.  More to come on that later.

In the meantime, I wanted to let everyone know about a wonderful set of giveaways being hosted by my friend Grace.  You can check them out at her blog...wheelsoffun.blogspot.com.  Enter to win some cool stuff made by work-at-home-moms and check out her other posts about her crazy exciting life as a stay at home mom to 4 littles all under 5 (amazing, huh?).

Weekend Epiphany (pt. 1)

I had a revelation this past weekend...two actually.  It is changing the way I think about my home, life, and parenting.  Isn't it amazing when that happens?

Revelation #1
Some people say that they need one room in their house clean to avoid feeling overwhelmed.  For some people this is the bedroom or maybe their kitchen.  If that one "safe haven" looks good and everything is in order, so is the rest of their life.  No burnout, feeling overwhelmed, or frustrated.  These people will tell you that if that room or space isn't clean they just can't function.  They may start fighting with their spouse or getting frustrated with their kids.  I realized this weekend that I have this problem...but not with a room.

Oh no, my problem?  When one particular shelf in my pantry is disorganized.  That's right...you read correctly...ONE SHELF!  It's utterly amazing!  I did not know this about myself on Friday, but by Sunday night I was at my boiling point with my house.  Everything felt out of control and I didn't know where to start.  I took out my frustration on my husband (bless him for dealing with my horrible attitude) and even got frustrated with my son.  That is until I realized the source of my frustration was one shelf in my kitchen.

To be fair, there are few convenient shelves in my kitchen.  Many require the use of a step ladder to reach and we have way too little cabinet space anyway.  This one shelf is the most convenient shelf in my whole kitchen, and it happens to be where I keep plates, bowls, mugs, and cups.  Over the last few weeks, random things have gotten piled on that shelf because there wasn't a better place to put them (see previous note about minuscule cabinet space).  A half loaf of bread, box of cereal, funnel, pudding mix, and a can of something.  That was what it took to turn me into a horrible person.  I cleared it off and awoke this morning to the same chaos (house is cluttered, dirty dishes in the sink, fussy baby) but my attitude was remarkably better.

I will leave you with that for today, tomorrow I will post about revelation #2.  It's quite life altering for me and I'm just feeling I need more time to truly get into the subject before I'm ready to post it for all to see.