Making Our Home a Haven

Today was a good day but I didn't take any pictures! I just checked my camera to be sure and it says "no images".

This was just a normal day- but normal days are nice! Here is what we did:

• Prayer and Bible reading (I am reading through Romans). I choose a different room for my quiet time today and  I kind of liked that.
• Breakfast- Leftover pancakes, cooked pears, milk and herbal tea was the menu.
• School time. This went really smoothly today (thanks to God!) and everybody was done a while before lunch with their workbooks. Yeah!
• Since the kids were done early we went through some e-mails that I had that had things in them that I wanted to show them (pictures, video clips, links, etc.) That was a fun thing to do together and I was happy to be able to clean out my inbox a little more!
• Lunch was leftovers and homemade bread.
• For reading time today I decided to add to our normal line-up of books and we read an article out of the Voice of the Martyrs Magazine. That created some neat discussion. We often don't realize just how blessed we are and how much we should be praying for Christians in other countries. We also started a new book (we had finished our other story book yesterday) on Noah Webster. It is going to be a fun read.
• Next was rest time. This is a really important part of our day and really helps to make our home a haven. I feel so much more energetic after having some quiet time to read and taking a quick (10-20 min.) power nap. The kids rarely ever sleep but the quiet time they have to read and look at books is helpful for them in having a cheerful day too.
• In the afternoon I was able to do some laundry and work in my office cleaning and organizing. I was able to get rid of quiet a few papers and other trash, file a bunch of papers (I was realizing again how nice my file cabinet is and I need to make sure I put it to work better in the future!) and just generally clean my desk. It was nice to get those things done!
• For supper we had mashed potatoes, hamburger patties and broccoli with cheese and milk to drink.
• After that we were off to church. What fun to get together with other Christians to sing, study, pray and fellowship. The kids were studying in the book of acts and the adults were studying in 1 Timothy.
• Home to bed! For the bedtime story Ken read the kids a Dr. Seuss book since it was his (Dr. Seuss's) birthday.

Well I guess I didn't get this published last night, so I think I will include my goals for today.

On the schedule already we have:

• School work
• Normal chores and cleaning
• 3 piano lessons for me to teach
• A bride coming for a consultation
• The kids going to the library for a program (a friend is going to give them a ride there- I may need to pick them up.)
• Family night. This is our special night a week that we make sure to do something fun as a family. We usually play games, at least in the winter.

I would also love to work on:

• Megan's corner of the girls' room. It tends to be quite messy and I want to rethink how we could make it easier for her to keep clean.
• More organizing and cleaning in my office.

We will see just how much we can do. :-)

I am also trying to pray much throughout the day (besides in my quiet time this morning) that our attitudes and words will be pleasing to God and that our home would be a haven for us and any others that visit us here.

What are your plans for the day?