Well, lookee there...

I have a new article up at Blissfully Domestic! Come over and listen in to a F Family Christmas favorite and tell us all about what you're reading this Holiday season!

In other news, My carpel tunnel is doing a little better, but I'm still restricting my keyboard use. If you're just visiting from BD, hi there! Sorry you're coming by while things are a little bare around here. Things were really cracking a week ago, what with suggestions for raising your children in the Faith and the story of how J and I met. But now with the carpel tunnel thing... well, I'm just taking it easy for now. But hey! Click on the "Follow" button over there and you'll be sure to catch the next wave of Interesting! :)

Meditating

I've been feeling myself stretched thinner and thinner lately by all the demands of projects, businesses, school, children, friends and family in need and in pain and the daily work of house and home. Sometimes I get a mental picture of myself as a spider with many legs being pulled in all different directions.

And then other night I was reading 2 Corinthians 3:6 and the Lord brought to mind our pastor's words recently. We're studying the Gospel of John and looking at the idea of "the Now and the Not Yet" (a popular idea at Christ Pres and Cov Pres and something we hear about regularly). He mentioned that we ought to be more conscious of Eternity-- our Everlasting Life with Christ-- in our daily lives. That is, Eternity starts Now. It's not some far away thing that we will eventually attain. It means Now, and then on and on forever. This can change the way you think about every day. How important is it really to get to the grocery store by ten if today really is just one day in Eternity? Think about it for a minute....

As I meditated on this concept I began to see that mental image of me; the tortured spider, morph into a bubbling spring with eternal streams of water running in all directions, and I remembered the words of that old camp song:

I've got a river of life, flowing out of me,
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see;
Opens prison doors, sets the captives free,
I've got a river of life, flowing out of me.

Spring up, O well, within my soul;
Spring up, O well, and make me whole;
Spring up, O well, and give to me
That life abundantly.

It occurred to me that part of Faith is admitting that you cannot do it on your own, but you CAN do it in the strength of the Lord (as Jen talks about here). So the anguish and stress of my "over-busy" life is somewhat brought about by my own resistance to the busy-ness. Kicking against the goad, so to speak. The spider desperately pulling inward in self-preservation, setting boundaries that fence out those who need my help and listening ear, saying no when I should say I'll do what I can.

And that's been a key part of my meditation lately, realizing that my instincts of self-preservation can keep me from willingly and joyfully fulfilling my role as a servant in my home, my church and my community. Because if the Lord puts someone or something in my life, He will provide the resources needed for me to reach out to that person or situation. It's just a matter of me turning to Him, tapping into that River of Life and being willing to let the water flow out.

And that water flowing will make me whole.

Linking in to the I Am Blissfully Domestic link-a-thon :) Check out the others here.

New Review Up At Blissfully Domestic!

I forgot to post a link to my newest post at Blissfully Domestic! Here it is :) I'm talking about woman and relationships-- a topic dear to every woman's heart. Tell me what you think!

Dealing with outgrown clothes

Kim asked for clothing storage tips.

Living in a small house with no closet space, my clothing storage suggestions are pretty much limited to "less is better!". But I do have one tip I'd like to share.

One of the problems I used to always run into was dealing with too small clothes as the kids grew out of them (at an alarming rate, I might add). I seemed to always be dealing with overflowing drawers filled with outgrown shirts, pants and pjs and the prospect of the afternoon spent sorting, washing, folding and packing away was daunting to say the least. And I could never find things afterwards when someone asked about hand-me-downs of a certain size or gender.

BUT. I have now developed a system! (yay for systems!) I store an empty Pampers box under the changing table, next to the dresser-- fits perfectly. In this box I stack the outgrown clothes when I put away the folded laundry. When the box is full, up it goes into the attic, with a label indicating the size range and season and which child the clothes came from.

Now when I need a box of hand-me-downs for a friend, or want to take some things in to consignment I know exactly where it all is and what size and gender is in each box-- no hassle! Organized clothes for the busy, organization-challenged mom!!