I know...I've got to be about as hormonally tweaked as anything aparantly right now, huh?.  What a season of life...a great ride, a weird day to day, and just far too many thoughts rambling my head.  I'm far too much a "thinker" and it's all coming home to roost in small snippets of discontent for me right now that I am simply not fighting off well.

So, my blog is a bit odd of late.

What happens when my blog goes a bit off the deeper side of this pool of life?  Well, I start thinking simple.  Not simple-minded, you cheeky bunch...just simple in manner and ways.  I start looking at all the *stuff* I have here, all the color, the pretties, the zillion links that I do use often enough to keep them, but not often enough to leave them glaring across what is a far too cluttered blog.  I feel the need to....oh boy...play with the blog template again.

 I know, I know.  I really do know.  I'm just insane.  Maybe that is what keeps me on the homestead.  Maybe that is why I choose this lifestyle.  Maybe that is what happens on the rural, secluded, backwoods homesteads of country life...folks go a bit off the 'normal' path the rest of the world uses.  Actually, that is exactly what most rural, backwoods homesteaders do...we leave the path the rest of the world uses and carve out that other path in our lives. 

I just want things to change a bit here on our homestead.  And, yes, I have been pondering that far too much lately creating my own little season of discontent here.  It affects my attitude.  That, of course, affects just about every other thing on this homestead, right down to the chickens laying eggs I think.  I'm 'action' and 'movement' and 'direction' and lately I feel I have very little of that at all.

So, today is "Count Your Blessings" Day here on my homestead.  The children are going to do it as well.  I thought I'd carry it over here to the blog as well.  There are so many to count, so I'll add a few to get started, but I know my home list today will be so much longer.

1. I have a loving, caring, soft-spoken husband full of more wisdom than one man ought to have.  He knows when to do something and how to get it done and he knows that rushing in doesn't help in the long run.  He needs a bigger, stronger yoke for his fast-moving, reckless wife, though.
2. I have 9 of the most amazing children, each different from the other, yet so similar.  Gifts from God each of them.  I pray daily that I won't totally louse up their lives with my silly streaks of oddity.
3. Our homestead.  The roof doesn't leak, the windows are tight, the bathrooms are all fully-functioning.  The a/c does a passable job.  What more doe I really need in this life?  Seems quite a list already of blessings and things to find deep contentment in.
4. I have several animals here to fulfil our desire to feed ourselves. Never despise meager beginnings...Scriptures are full of rather meager beginnings that created life-changing paths.  Jesus was born in a barn...not much would be more meager than that.
5. I have a few skills that help our family live a bit more on that simple side...I sew, I can do various other needlework, I can bake and cook from scratch, I can garden (most times) and I know how to 'can' and put those foods by.
6. I have the ability, and maybe more importantly, the motivation, to keep my children close to home.  We homeschool, we keep a tight family, and while there are still far more outside intrusions that I really want, there is a goal in place here and that is to raise God-fearing, God-reliant soldiers for His Army who will pass that same soul and spirit on into the next generation.

There are just so many things...I have no cause for discontent moments in my life.  It's too blessed.  If I allow satan to whisper thoughts of discontent into my heart, they will grow beyond what I can handle and I will lose sight of those blessings already in place around me.  So....NO MORE WHISPERS HERE. 

Contentment is my simplicity.

and yes -- I'm probably going to play with my template anyway...it's just my nature....

I'm stealing this...well, I'm stealing part of this so you have to go visit Julie's site and simply read the rest and check out everything else while there as well.  This fits so perfectly with all I've had on my heart lately with my needs here and the changes I must be making.  And it isn't just the children, either.  Momma can't make changes in her family without taking those changes into her own heart first!!

So, visit Julie over at Old Paths Family Farm and read, find your encouragement and get inspiration!!!
Start with this entry and this bit I've shared....then move on to the entry shared in part below...

I explained to my girls that it all started with the medicine cabinet. I knew a bit about how to clean and given the right circumstances, I could organize a closet. My most pressing problem was that I had no idea how to manage the cleanliness of my home, to manage the state of our home’s organization, to manage the budget, or to manage the pantry or menus… none. I cared for my home in spurts. I would go six months without making my bed, then have a major cleaning spurt and pull an all-nighter to get everything spic and span at once. The ‘clean’ would only last hours, as I had no idea how to keep it that way. I was disgusted with myself and sorely discouraged, but didn’t know what to do to change and had no one I could ask for help.  (visit the links above for Julie's story...)

Room Cleaning For Littles

12. 14. 2007

Here’s a question following up from the comments of this post:

I’ve been enjoying the dialogue on your blog about training children with managing their rooms. Once again, I’m amazed at the things I’m just now learning (b/c I was never taught), but now thankfully, I’m finding those “Titus 2″ women out there like you and others who are teaching other mommies like me.

Well, my question, is what age do you do this at? Do you never have stuff in their room until they can manage it by themselves? I have a 7 yo (girl) and 3 yo (boy) who share a room right now. Just trying to figure how to implement this. And do you box everything up and put away (except a couple items)?

I know your time is very limited, but I’d appreciate a little more insight.

My thinking is you can do it at whatever age they begin having a room to keep orderly. I would be perfectly comfortable expecting a 7 and 3 (yes, even a boy…grin) to keep their room in order. Mine always seem to like having ‘jobs’ that are just a wee bit above what they are easily able to do ~ they seem to feel ‘bigger’ about doing ‘bigger kid’ jobs.

That said, know this… this method of taking everything out of their rooms is not about punishment. It is training. Any potential weeping and wailing from them can be dealt with by a shrewd Momma marketing the thing well.

“Kids, I have a great idea! You know how messy your room always is, and how you always have to keep picking everything up all day? Well, I have an idea that will make your room waaaayyy bigger, and give you tons of space to play, AND be really easy to clean up… so you have more time for playing.”

Then, we would literally box up all but ____ and take it out of their room. (You’ll need to decide for yourself how much is the right amount to box.) If you really want this to be a positive experience, then think cold turkey… the more stuff you box up, the easier it will be for them. I know it sounds drastic… I do. Trust me when I tell you that it will help them so much! We have for a season taken the boys down to just beds and their clothes were moved into the laundry room to live…we just put their dresser in there. Once they were used to just getting up and making their beds and putting their clothes in hampers, we reintroduced an item at a time per child. We allowed them to choose the reintroduced items, to motivate them to prioritize  what they have and why. We have for a season also taken our big girls down to beds and one under-the-bed sized box of whatever they chose (they are older, and weren’t having quite as much trouble).

And just for added ummphh in your day's reading there...don't miss this one on television, videos and our entertainment choices (ouch!) and then move along to this one about The Buddy System used by so many large families these days, and of course, you'll want to read this one about keeping short accounts...

Ok...know what?  Just bookmark her blog, or set it as your browser's main page, and read one or two now and visit again to read another one or two and keep going...you won't be disappointed, I promise!