Redeeming the Time.....

Highs and lows, ups and downs are common in life.

After every HIGH......like my weekend with the daughters..

is followed by a LOW .....

And I have been wallowing in that LOW all week!

There is just SO MUCH to do!

And so much I want DONE that I cannot do myself!!

On Tuesday I could have worked from the time I got up to the time I went to bed...

and still not have the entire house cleaned!

So what did I do?

Gathered up a couple of friends and went to the movies!

It was a good afternoon! I came home and turned on a country music station!

Sometimes it is easier to just step back and take a little break and then return to the tasks at hand.

They will still be there......waiting!

Summer came over after work so I was looking forward to that.

As a new mom she does not get near enough rest!

What new mom does?

I was sleep deprived for YEARS!

Which may account for the reason I usually sleep late every morning now!

I CAN!!

She took a nice nap.....a luxury for her!

We had steak, baked potatoes and salad for a late dinner.

Summer spends one night a week here and I think that is a nice routine to have.

We get a chance to visit and she gets a night of good solid sleep!

Wednesday I got up all prepared to tackle that bathroom redo!!

But Louis Dean wanted to sort music.

SO we set him up in the den (the only CLEAN room in the house!)

and he organized his music notebooks and made some very nice paper stacks!

Since it was Ash Wednesday I decided to attend the service at First Christian Church.

There were several prayer stations set up and each one was meaningful

and prompted me to do a good bit of self examination.

I tend to want what I want.....right now!

God intends for us to be gracious and kind and sweet and patient....

even when things are not exactly as we wish them to be.

It was good for me to have taken the time to listen to the Spirit.....

I returned home and decided to REDEEM the TIME!

Do what I can with what I have and leave the rest to be sorted out in HIS time.

SO I did what I always do when trying to cope with something....

(like a bathroom torn down to the framing and in chaos for the last 6 months!)

I CLEANED something!

Anytime I get stressed I usually find comfort in CLEANING!

So I am happy to say my den and foyer and living room all smell fresh and each room has had some special chore accomplished!

I cleaned out a cupboard in the den and found all the old visualized Bible verses Amber and Ben had made. Treasures!  Memorizing Scripture was always a part of our morning routines when I was raising children.

It remains a part of MY morning routine even to this day.

We made visuals of character traits as well.....

I love the one Amber did to illustrate 'Cooperation.'

She was a synchronized swimmer for 11 years.

Ballet legs done in unison during a routine did, INDEED, require---cooperation!

I positioned my Rabbit in the den window.....getting ready to decorate for Easter!

The cross stitch in the basket is an old one I did MANY years ago of an old Amish saying.

"Every one's odd but me and thee....

And sometimes I wonder about THEE!"

The last thing I do in any room when I have finished cleaning is light a candle.

I love a home that has fragrance!

Wednesday ended with art class!

That's always a good thing.

I can lose myself in art and last night was no exception.

My sister in law, Ruth Ann, and Sabrina came.

We each had our own projects to finish.

The only one I actually FINISHED is the Christmas Raccoon....started in 2010.

Last night I worked on his eyes and the bow and pronounce it

DONE!

Sabrina led out in this acrylic project.

She is substituting her Mom's pie crust NEVER Fail recipe for this one.

Sabrina is painting several of these for Mother's Day Gifts....

so I decided to paint one as well.

I mainly paint in oils. Sabrina can paint in ANY media!

She spent the night which made it possible for her to paint until she was ready to quit...

and then simply go to bed rather than face a long drive home.

SO today I have decided to follow the attitude I have cross stitched on a sampler....

I just now marched into the bedroom to take a picture of it.

It has hung on my bedroom wall for many years......

but it is not there now and I have no idea what I did with it.

So much of the bedroom and ALL of the bathroom is 'under construction.'

However....the verse goes like this.....

"Make the MOST of what you've GOT!

And the LEAST of what you've NOT!"

And that is what I intend to do!

Oops.....gotta go. Something just crashed in the bathroom.

Never a dull moment arond here and ALWAYS something to clean or a project to finish!