Housewifing

lambs and goats

I'm taking another break, from mowing the lawn, now.  I was thinking of this little ditty.

Lambs eat oats and goats eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.

a kid'll eat ivy too..so shouldn't you?

I know there will be a time when Christ will separate the sheep from the goats(Matt25:32-33).  And I know that now is still the time that the gatherers cannot weed out the tares, because they might pull out the wheat with it(Matt 13:29).  I think about all the things that I screw up, and my faulty thinking, and my hard heart.  Can a leopard change its spots (Jer 13:23)?  I think about all the wrong I do (and have done).  Am I a leopard?  A goat?  A weed?  I love Jesus.  Do I do what he says to do?  Do I feed His sheep(John 21:17)(?  Do I obey His commands(John 14:15)?

Does God do a new creation in me when I confess Him, confess to Him?  Do my spots(Jer 2:22), change?  Does the DNA of my sin get covered in blood?  Do the nucleotides rearrange?

weeds

I'm weeding my flowers and garden.   While taking a break to do this my husband called to ask me if I could mow the lawn.  I guess so he can have time to catch some more fish.  We have a good share of fish.  We are going to have more than a few BBQs this week-end.  Guess what we are having?  Fish.  I wanted to blog about humility and how Jesus tried to ram the log out of my eye to get some room for humility.  But I'm busy.  I'm going to mow the lawn and think about weeds and fish and humility. 

much to do about nothing

I have been enjoying my calling a lot more lately.  If you don't know, my calling, my great endeavor, my purpose in life is to be a housewife.  I've done a lot of praying lately.  I have disliked my work so much.  I have been praying to just start enjoying it, to be more productive, to be fruitful.

I'm actually having a good day, on this rainy day, and being an ex-weather man, I really do like rainy days.

It's not without challenges.

Last night Mike was working very late, so the kids and I were watching Biblical history on the National Geographic channel.  One was on Cain and Abel, and we really enjoyed it.  The kids stayed up too late and fell asleep on the couches.  Often, I do carry them upstairs and put them to bed, but the boys have bunk beds, but they weigh 58, 62, and 65 pounds.  Guess what?   I didn't do it.

And because they didn't have their normal before bed routine, with one of the steps, "going to the bathroom"...R. wet the couch.  M crawled on the foot of Mike and my bed in the middle of the night and wet our bed.

So this morning, I'm very productively steam cleaning my bed mattress which has a very absorbant pillow top, and our couch.  I got it all done.  Then while taking the dirty water recepticle to the sink, I dropped it.  All the gross water was on my kitchen floor, and my favorite pair of jeans, and my favorite pair of running shoes.

It's fun to clean house.

everyone's sick

The flu went through the whole house.  Mike is the only one that escaped the throwing up part.  Thank God.  Yesterday M. and R. had it.  M. must have had his head in the bowl 20 times.  For a good part of the morning M. and R. were tag teaming it.  I have some advice to future mothers.  Have icecubes, fresh, cold wash cloths, huge bowls, and comfy pillows and blankets ready.  The icecubes are for refreshment, because I've found that if they drink too much, it will come right back into the bowl.  While they are getting sick, wipe their foreheads and back of the neck with the washcloths.  And after you clean them up fluff their pillows and tuck them in.  Read them stories and let them watch all the Spongebob they can take in.

Today everyone is well enough for homemade chicken soup.

I am so behind.  I just can't imagine being a mom that works.  I can barely take the load I got; and I don't work.  Mike and I talk often about me going back to work.  There would be no value added to the extra money we would get.  What do we need, more stuff?

Back to my non-work.

multitasking

In one month from now everything that I struggled to do today will mean nothing.  And if it weren't for me writing this post; it would also be completely forgotten.  So if what I try so hard with sweat and tears to endeavor, means nothing; why do I do it?

I helped in Rachel's class today.  They made their own creative bird nests.  At my table they took real bird's nests and broke and tore them apart to see what they were made up of.  When the class was over it was quite a mess.  I cleaned up while the teacher took the kids to the bus stop.  When the teacher came back; she criticized my efforts to help her.  Why do I do it?

When the kids came home from school I packed M. & P.'s bikes into the car for a bike outing at boyscouts.  I then packed all their baseball gear for the practice following boyscouts.  The kids ate their dinner, but were still hungry; so I decided to take a quick trip to McDonald's for icecreams.  As we were getting all packed up, R. threw a fit that I didn't pack her bike, which would not fit (and these bikes are heavy).  By the time we were all packed in, Matthew was crying that his stomach hurt.  I went inside and grabbed a huge salad bowl, Thank God!, because yesterday P. was out ot school with the stomache flu.   While I was getting the bowl, I got a call from the scouting leader, that boyscouts was cancelled.  I thought I would just go ahead and take the kids riding anyhow.

Going through the drive-thru at McDonald's Matthew got sick and filled half the bowl.  So we turned around and went home. 

There has been more, but I've got some serious messes to clean up.

A reluctant task

Did you ever rebel against a calling?  Like Jonah. 

I'm a housewife.  And there is nothing I dislike more than housecleaning.  I'd rather be doing anything other than doing just that.  I certainly don't want to learn my lesson by being cast off, swallowed up into a big fish, having my flesh being bleached by gastric acids, and waiting for the fish to spare my life by vomiting me up onto ground so that I can get back to work.

I'd rather escape to Tarshish.

If I would just obey God, I could probably get this whole house organized in a whole week.  Then I could get on with my life, devote all my energies into my kids and husband, and still have some time left over for my passions with the Bible and drawing and painting pictures.

As soon as Jonah went to Nineveh, he was totally prepared to preach to everyone else!  Who wouldn't listen to a preacher that could convert Nineveh.

If I got my house in order, who wouldn't listen to me?  I used to be such a successful person (before I had kids).  Why don't I succeed here?

convicted

IIThessalonians 3:11  Indeed, we hear that some among you are disorderly [that they are passing their lives in idleness, neglectful of duty], being busy with other people's affairs instead of their own and doing work.

An idle housewife begins to blog

As I sit alone so dreary

I try to post a blog so clearly

Something clever to spark a query

Though (it) has to fit a wee bit meerly

A life not even close to Martha's

Seeking, seated, clinging like Mary (Luke 10:38-42)