LivinginLilliput: This-N-That..

LivinginLilliput: This-N-That..

This-N-That..

Sunday evening the girls and I had some "girl time". We decided to paint our fingernails and toenails! We all look beautiful! :)








Even the baby had to get in on the fun!




Quentin finished his blanket and is now making potholders and covers for the arms of my couches. Here is his pot holder;



I love the colors he chose! :)
Micah is also working on pot holders for me and to give to others. Gabby is crocheting this and that too! Morgan is working on a blanket for baby ahava due in 38 days!! And me, well, I need to get busy working on my blanket which will be for the baby's carseat. I best get busy!! :)

Chores, Charts and Order........

Lynn asked in her comment on my last post about some examples of the chores and ages of my children..

I would be happy to share what I do in the hopes it might help another mama! :)

Our chore chart is written on a blank monthly calendar. The days of the week across the top with blank boxes for each day of the month/week.

On the left side I have written the chores and then for each day of the week a child is given a chore(s) that they are responsible for thruout the day. An example or two: Sweeping the kitchen is my son Josiah's (14 in April) chore on Sunday, Monday & Saturday. On Monday Josiah washes dishes and Zeke (13 in June) dries. On Tuesday Zeke washes and Gabby (11) dries. And so on thruout the week with different children doing what needs doing on different days.

My son Micah who is 8 in May dries dishes on Thursday, clears and cleans the table on Thursday, sweeps the stairs on Sunday and cleans the upstairs bathroom on Sunday.

My 9 yr. old son Quentin dries dishes, cleans bathrooms, vacuums and dusts etc.. on various days..

We also have a "Did You..." chart in the girls room and the boys room. This chart consists of 4 different things that they are to do before they leave their bedrooms each morning. Such as did they make their beds, pick up their bedroom floor, put away toys, hang up coats and put away any laundry? This applies to all of the children even down to my youngest dd who is 4 and makes her own bed along with doing as asked on the "Did You..." chart.

We also have a laundry chart and cooking chart.
The laundry chart outlines when the girl's laundry and boys laundry is to be done. My dd's Gabriellia (11) & Morgan-Britney (18) are in charge of getting the girl's laundry done; each having their own day. My son's Josiah(almost 14) & Zeke(almost 13) are in charge of getting the boys laundry done; each having their own day. Two days a week are for girl's laundry and two days a week are for boy's laundry. The rest of the days each week are for our cloth diapers, linens, and mama and daddy's clothes, etc..

The cooking chart outlines who cooks on what day. Such as Morgan-Britney cooks each meal; breakfast, lunch and supper on Mondays. Zeke cooks each meal; breakfast, lunch and supper on Tuesdays. Gabby and Quentin work together for each meal; breakfast, lunch and supper on Wednesday, and so forth... Sat & Sun are the days daddy cooks as he loves to cook! I cook on various days and supervise when needed, etc.. I also have times when I will cook the entire meal as time allows.

My children are up at 7am each morning. Daddy wakes them when he gets up and ready for work. They are required to have breakfast and chores finished by 8:30am so that they can begin schoolwork. Most days this means we can have our afternoons free as our schoolwork is finished by noon.

We do give allowance but in our home we have a different type of currency. :) Our currency is goodies...
Depending on the amount of times they have to be reminded to do something, how well they do it and if they do it at all is the deciding factor on how much goodies they get. Goodies like special fruit we don't get often, maybe some type of sweet something or other...crackers, etc.. They get to pick the goodies they get. Also if they meet the requirements mentioned above as to their chores they get to have a friend over, or something else really special at the end of each month.

I hope this is helpful to another mama..:) I know it certainly helps me to be organized and to train my children to stay on task and to work hard keeping our home in order.

I want to...

These last few weeks I haven't been feeling very gracious towards my children. I just feel like I have given all I can..

There were things with the children's behavior that caused these feelings and then of course being at the end of my pregnancy and all that comes with that added to it.

I don't want to feel this way so today I took action. I redid our chore chart changing chores and adding some of the younger ones. I then made up a laundry chart, cooking chart and "Did You"...chart for the cleaning of bedrooms. I also set new rules for morning routines. What's to be accomplished by what time, etc.. I set a new currency for chores done without being asked. All of these things were talked over with the children so they are aware of what's expected of them.

And the next thing I plan to do is R-E-L-A-X! I am hard on myself and want everything to be just so... I like order and to be organized having a perfectly clean home. I want children who say nothing but yes ma'am and then obey without question. My children are well behaved but they are not perfect. We are still in the process of training them. In reality all these things won't always happen exactly like I want them to. There will be times of setbacks and frustration. Times I am overwhelmed and tired.
I can relax; knowing that my children know what's expected and what will happen if it's not done and done well. Cause and effect...obedience and disobedience.

I want to learn to be uptight less and love them more! I want to spend time loving on them and cuddling; reading books and laughing. This is my greatest goal as their mama!
I want to learn to understand my olders and to learn to listen when they share. Growing up is such a hard time for the kiddos and for mama and daddy! I don't have all the answers but I am willing to learn..willing to let the L-rd guide me as I walk in His ways.

And I need more patience...lots of it! Patience to let them learn by messing up and the consequences that come because of their choices.

And most important I need to be in His Word as much as I can. Soaking up His wisdom! I will have another baby blessing soon. And life gets overwhelming but thru His strength and the endurance He gives I can be all He wants me to be.

(NKJV) Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart fail; [But] God [is] the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

(NKJV) Psalms 55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

(NKJV) Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

(NKJV) Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing [I do,] forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

Deeper Water

I just finished Deeper Water by Robert Whitlow.

It's about a 2nd year law student at the University of Georgia who gets a summer job as a clerk at a prestigious law firm in Savannah, Georgia.

What's so unique about this story is this character was homeschooled until high school and comes from a Christian family. She is the first of 5 children and lives on a small farm in Powell Station, Georgia.
Later in the story we also meet another associate lawyer who was homeschooled all the way through.
Homeschooling is painted in a positive light and I was very impressed.

The main character is a also a very obedient young lady. She consults her parents on decisions and as a family they pray together before making choices.

While at the summer clerk job she is given a case that stretches and challenges her. Thruout this case she learns more about herself and how good G-d is. Even bringing the main person in her case to salvation.

I found this story to be enjoyable and interesting!

Crochet & Multitude Monday..

Progress pics on crochet projects..

Micah working with the big hooks for the first time..

Quentin's blanket..almost finished!!

Gabby's first baby blanket..


I haven't made anymore progress on my baby blanket but am hoping to get some more work done on it soon.



101. pretty colors

102. digital cameras

103. front loaders

104. vanilla chai

105. pencils

106. that I am a super conqueror
Romans 8: 35 Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? 36 As the Tanakh puts it, "For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, 39 neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.

107. black shirts

108. right relationship

109. the choice to speak or remain quiet..

110. baby items

falling forward

Today I started a new book called falling forward by Sandi Patty. I wasn't sure if the L-rd had anything for me in this book and almost didn't see the point in reading it. Her story is not my own but as I have been reading I have found that so much of what she writes hits home for me. I just want to share a few quotes from this book here with you;

If only humans could see our sin from G-d's eye view! Christians would probably judge my outward sin as the worst one I've ever committed. I probably would have agreed. After all, my Big Sin had huge consequences and hurt many people. But in truth, it was the private "spiritual sin" that began my eventual prodigal slide into public pig slop, so to speak.

When "pop-up" pain happens and I feel frozen in my failure, I just try to imagine my Father running down the road to meet me. I look in his eyes-brimming with acceptance -and remember that it isn't about my failures, it is about His love. It's about being G-d's beloved daughter, who is always welcome home. Then I dry my tears, lift my eyes toward heaven and sing with all the gratitude my heart can hold the song He gave back to me.

Visualize yourself in the arms of Yeshua. Let Him hold you and remind you that you are His beloved child. Your picture is still on His refrigerator.

First of all, you are not the sum of your failures. You are not your slips or sins. G-d doesn't read one page in your life and call it a book.

Allow your past, even your worst failures, into your present only as part of the experience that led up to the person you are today. But do not let one experience determine who you will be tomorrow.

**********************************************************

If you are in need of a good book to read may I suggest this one? You will be blessed by reading it!

Crochet and my biggest helper..

We are still working on crocheting around our house..
Quentin and I are working on blankets for little ahava.

My blanket..


Quentin's blanket..


I am sure most homes have a child who loves things to be neat and tidy and will spend countless hours cleaning without complaint?? In our home that would be Micah. He loves keeping things neat and tidy and begs me to give him more chores and will just start cleaning randomly without any asking on my part.
Here he is cleaning out the homeschool drawers..


He is such a great little helper!!