I just got home from a coupon class that I taught. (My friend took some fun pictures)

On my way there I realized that tonight was the end of a chapter…sorta!

In February God impressed on our (John and my) hearts to do some type of marriage ministry. We had no idea what that was going to look like, but God confirmed it over and over and did some pretty cool things to confirm it!

We prayed, we sought Him, we talked to others, we talked to our pastors, we prayed more, we read the bible, we read more….we prayed more.

Then God showed us….we’ll be started a newly marrieds Sunday school at our church this fall.

I can’t tell you how excited we are! There are no words to describe the peace and direction we feel about this. God laid things in our path, He’s preparing us, He’s directing this endeavor and we’re just…well, EXCITED! 

When this all started to fall into place John and I realized that we needed to really put forth our extra energy for this class (we have a lot of homework and prep work). So, without talking to each other about this, we decided to drop all of our outside commitments that we’re not doing together. (Another cool thing God did….we both felt this need to drop some outside activities and we both did, without telling the other person, within a couple of days of each other. When I told John that I wrote an email dropping out of a big commitment, he told me that just a day or two before he dropped out of one of his outside commitments. Just such confirmation!) We want to be in ministry together and for this season (so yes we know this may change down the road) we’re going to focus on being a team in ministry. 

We both had a few commitments left to fulfill, but from here on out anything we do, will be together. 

So my coupon class was the end of a chapter…

I am excited about this new chapter and can’t wait to see what God does through our desire to be faithful to what we clearly feel is His leading and directing. 

Tomorrow morning we have a phone call with another couple (okay wait till you see how cool God is!!) who started a newly married class 10 years ago with 4 couples and they have over 60 couples, in their classes with a 3% divorce rate! We have a long list of questions, which we already sent them, so we’re going to just soak in all their advice and insight. 

One door closes, another opens!

(Yes, I’ll still maintain my Heather’s Coupon Update page on facebook…but won’t be teaching any more classes. My sister Lesli will be taking over if there is a need for more classes!)

John and I lead our Sunday morning Sunday School class…we have for almost 7 years. (And this fall we’re starting a new class for newly married couples!!)

We started our class before we even had kids.

Just yesterday another mom asked me how I get to church by 9 am. I don’t think she was looking for an answer and I am pretty sure she won’t read this, but it got me thinking…

I’ve heard the “kid” excuse with church. “It’s hard to get out the door with our kids on Sunday morning!”

Since we’ve had this Sunday morning commitment since before we were parents, we’ve not had the option. We’ve learned tricks to help us get out the door:

1) We lowered our exceptions. We stopped looking as Sunday as the one morning we can sleep in, have a relaxed morning, and do nothing till the 10:30 service. It is our morning to do ministry as a couple to those we worship with. (I don’t say this to make anyone feel bad…we just realized it was our act of service to get up and get going on Sunday morning.)

2) We started seeing that Sunday morning, actually starts Saturday afternoon! We find getting clothes ready, getting snacks ready, getting anything ready we need to take to church, giving the boys baths, and most importantly getting a good night of sleep. All of these help us get out the door in time.

3) We found that it takes both of us to get out the door: getting everyone dressed, making a good breakfast (one that will last almost all morning), getting lunch ready (what needs to get ready..crock pot) and making sure we’re not so frazzled that our hearts aren’t ready for worship.

4) We also read a passage of scripture on our way to church. We pray and sing on our way as well. We only have a 5 minute drive, but just that little time calms us all down (okay normally it’s just me that needs to calm down) and helps prepare us. 

What do you do to get to church on time?

The older Miles gets the more I love hearing what he is thinking about.

Last night as I went in to tuck him in and give him a kiss, he said, “Mom is my girl waiting for me?”

I told him that we’ll pray she waits for him and keeps her heart only for him. He said, “Can you pray for her now?” Sure thing! So we prayed.

Then I told him that she’s going to love that he was praying for her at 6 years old!

This morning he asked me, “Mom can you feel your heart pounding from the outside?” I told him I could. Then he said, “Is that God knocking to get out of my heart?”

I told him no.

Then he said, “God can’t get out, I locked the door, turned the key and thew it away.”

So sweet! I love his heart! 

John went to Disney World almost every year for spring break. I never went as a kid…it was Six Flags for my family!

John’s family has all been to Disney many times. 

Over the past couple of years things have come up that have made us realize that, chances are, we’ll never experience Disney World with John’s parents.

On May 31st John’s dad told his mom that he wanted to take the little boys to Disney. When they told me, I thought, “Yeah, that won’t happen!”

Well, later that day, within two hours, plane tickets were bought, hotel was book, meal plan purchased, and 4 day Disney tickets were bought….for June 10th to the 15th!

Yes, we had 11 days to prepare for Disney.

We didn’t tell the boys we were going till we left last Saturday! 

What amazing memories we made! The boys have the memory of Disney with John’s parents and that just blesses me in ways I never could have seen coming.

Hard to put into words, but God took care of so many little details and the trip was a blessing to all 8 of us who went (the five of us, John’s parents and sister).

I posted a ton of pictures on Facebook…no I don’t expect most people to look at all of them, but for us they are precious keepsakes that we didn’t think would ever happen! (Best of Disney Pictures)

Yesterday was COLD and windy. They boys had been inside all day and they begged me to go out. So I put on their winter coats, with a sigh, hats and sent them to the back yard.

About two minutes later I heard a HUGE crash, and I lost power.

I knew right away what happened. We lost a branch of our last remaining tree in the backyard. 

“Oh dear God did it land on one of the boys!”

I went screaming, “Jesus, Jesus!” as I ran to the back yard (and one swear word…yes the sh word came tumbling out, can’t come across as a perfect, I was FREAKED OUT!)

Ran down the stairs and as I came around the corner both boys were running at me.

I started to cry, “Thank you God, thank you God, thank you God!!”

Miles was crying a bit, Luke was saying, “Mom the branch came down on us!”

I came into the back porch, fell to my knees, grabbed Miles, who had a scratch on his face and began to praise God! I was crying, shaking, and just so thankful they were both alive.

Then Miles started to act loopy. 

We called John and he wouldn’t talk to him on the phone. 

I thought it was shock and surprise.

Then Miles climbed on the couch and said he wanted to fall asleep and he said his head hurt. On the other side of the scratch was a lump on the top of his head that I hadn’t seen upon my first inspection of him.

I call John back, “I think we need to take Miles to the ER come home now.”

I called my mom, “Miles was playing out back, the branch fell, we’re taking him to the ER.”

They both were here in about 12 minutes. Mom saw Miles and at that point we could hardly keep him awake. Mom suggested we call the ambulance and I am glad we did because they took us to one hospital that was more equipped to handle this situation, and had we driven we would have gone to the other hospital.  

John rode with Miles and I took the van down there.

Of course I had a million thoughts. My stomach was in my throat. I felt like I could vomit.

Then peace washed over me. God was in control. I will bless His name no matter what happens. 

They took care of Miles quickly, and within 20 minutes he was having a CT scan and then it took about 45 minutes to get the results. Those 45 minutes I’d have moments of wanting to pass out and then peace. 

Miles finally fell asleep and when he was awake was a bit loopy. 

The dr. was awesome, before she even got in the room she said, “Good news! Normal CT scan”. No fractures, no bleeding on the brain…normal. PHEW! I could breath again.

The nurse said that he thinks the tree came pretty hard on him because of the degree of concussion. So we left with a Rx for some stronger meds if need be.

Miles perked up a bit at home after two short naps. Ate a bit and then went to bed with me about 8:15. He slept with us all night and we checked on him every couple of hours.

Looking at the pictures made me drop to my knees in THANKFULNESS to my awesome and powerful God! When John took Luke out for a shake for Miles they drove down the back alley and John said, “Where were you playing when the branch came down?” Luke said, “Right where the branch came down.” Wow…God was protecting both of my boys!

Maybe you want to organize your house, but you don’t have time to read “Organized Simplicity” or you just need some tools to get started.

Either way I hope these practical tips help:

1) Don’t think you have to do it all today! It’s taken me about 3 weeks to really go through my whole house and honestly it has consumed much of my time! Almost any “free” time I got as a mom of three, was dedicated to cleaning and purging. If you work outside the home, it may take long. That’s okay, give yourself the freedom to take a month or two to get through your house.

2) Write out the vision of what you want for your home. In the book she calls this a “family vision”. I shared my Family Vision a blog or two ago.

Having this vision helped me organize and purge my house. It gave me a filter to which I’d ask, “Do we need this? Do we use this? Does it aid in our vision?” I didn’t realize how helpful this would be! 

3) For me, starting in my most overwhelming space was good. So the kitchen was my first BIG project. It took me almost 5 days to complete my kitchen. Then my upstairs. 

If I wanted or needed a break from the task of my big project, I’d work on a smaller one: go through the boys shoes, go through a box of school books I’ve had for 6 years, go through towels, or organize a shelf of books. It helped to not feel overwhelmed.

4) Be ruthless in what you set aside to give away or sell. If you’re wonder if you should give it away or not, put it in a “look at again in a month” pile, then go back in a month and see if it’s something you really need or not. 

5) Evaluate if you’re ready for this massive purging in your life. Maybe you’re at a totally different stage of life than we are. One thing I learned in all of this, is that 3 or 4 years ago John and I were not this ready to really pare down our belongings. Our vision wasn’t as clear and our “needs” (yes, American needs are way over the top compared to 3rd world countries, so I hesitate to write that, but hope it’s understood what I mean) were different than they are now. We’re at a place where we want to focus on prayer, hospitality, self-control, communication, and teaching/learning loving others more than self. We were at a different place 4 years ago.

Your family, your needs, your life may look totally different than ours!

6) Make sure those you live with are on the same page. The type of purging and organizing I did was more of a transformation of our mindset. Had John been resistant at all, it would not have made this process as easy and smooth as it all went. 

7) Clean as you go. That helped a lot to wipe down, deep clean, scrub, and wash whatever I was working on. 

8) As you go, jot down any “monthly chores” you want to do. I’ve made sure that mine chores can be done in under 30 minutes (more like 15). This way I can keep up with the work I’ve done and keeping a running list help me not forget some of the areas I want to make sure I keep up with each month. (I also know I’ve not “worked” this system yet, so I may find something need to be done every other month or so….it’s a work in process.)

9) John and I have made a commitment with each other to bring nothing into our home for at least six months that is “extra”. This has been awesome and helpful!! 

Hope this helps! What tips would you add?

I am about 99.8% done with cleaning my upstairs and main level and there’s two things I’ve noticed since my house got really clean, organized, and purged of extra stuff. 

1) Now that the toys and books have been “purged” the boys tend to play with toys more. They are not so overwhelmed by TONS of toys, that they enjoy the ones they have. (I do think I will purge even more toys next month!)

For example, all the boys books are now organized. I got rid of a rather large box of kids books. Since there are not books packed in the book shelf, the boys are more likely to grab a book, sit and read it, and put it away. Crazy huh!? We tend to think we need more or that more is better, but I have found less is more!

2) My house cleans itself. Ok, well not really…I have not discovered how to wiggle my nose and everything magically gets put away. But when I go to put things away the cabinets and drawers are not BUSTING at the seam with too much. They are more bare than full these days. So I go to put away tape in the junk drawer and it’s not overflowing that I have to cram it in there, and shove the drawer filled. 

Everything has a home and we’re down to the basics of what we actually need. It’s pretty amazing how clean my house has stayed. Yes, the less you have the easier it is to keep clean!

For those of you interested I’ve created a monthly maintenance check list on an excel spreadsheet and hung it up in my plate cabinet:

TASK:  

Clean junk drawer

Super Pantry (this is our room off our side porch, it becomes our catch all room)

Side Porch – sweep and organize

Hot Tub Room  

Clean out toys

Upstairs flat surfaces

Master bedroom Dressers

Boys bedroom dressers

Vacuum under couches

Clean out van

Clean out bill bin

Front porch

Organize Stockpile

Pick a cabinet and organize

Menu plan

Organize upstairs bath

Organize downstairs bath

Organize DVD’s      

SEASONAL  

Back Porch windows

Upstairs Windows

Boys Clothes

Hot Tub

Vacuum walls (I have textured walls and the only way to clean them is to vacuum ), baseboards

Oven

Vacuum stairs

Vacuum behind TV Armiore  

No we’re not moving. We’re staying put for a long time!

Let me share a little of my childhood.

In my family it was a joke that “we don’t spring clean, we move.”

Yes, we moved A LOT! I think I’ve moved something like 25 times…Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin, mostly Illinois. 

So we were always paring down our stuff, cleaning, purging, organizing, and starting with a “clean slate” in a new home.

I prayed that God would allow me to marry a man who would want to STAY PUT! 

God answered that prayer, although if He called us to move we’d go, but He’s not even nudging us to move at all.

But one thing that comes with living somewhere for 5 years, is stuff. (As you know if you’ve been reading my blog lately.)

It’s hard to put to words the type of deep, deep cleaning and purging I’ve done. It’s because I feel like it’s been a change in my mindset. But if I could try, here’s what I’d share:

• I’ve filled my garbage can, my neighbors, and John has taken 3 or 4 bags to the clinic dumpster 
• I’ve used a toothpick on my kitchen cabinets
• I’ve added a ton to my garage sale pile
• I have about 7 bags of give away to different people and organizations
• I have one empty shelf in my pantry
• I went through a box (threw 3/4 of it away) that was from when we moved!
• John said, “Looks like we’re ready to move!”

Hands down best part of this whole process is honestly if we were to move next week, I’d just have to pack what we have. I have no extra (except in the bedrooms and part of the basement, that’s my project in the next few weeks). 

Not only that, NEARLY everything in my house has a “home”. Tape, extra pens, lightbulbs, and all those 1,000 of little things around everyones home is organized. SIGH! It’s wonderful!

I’ve always wanted to live in this type of environment, but it’s taken work…lots of work and I am not done yet (getting closer). Then I’ve written up a monthly, bi-monthly and seasonal maintenance lists in order to keep up this simple living. 

The benefits I’ve already see: peace of mind, ease of cleaning (when you don’t have a lot, it doesn’t take long to clean), and just a lightness that’s hard to put into words!

A friend blogged about this book: Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living. I was instantly intrigued. Intentional living has been on my radar for about 4 years and our goal has been to live a simplified life.

So I got the book from the library.

This book speaks my heart for intentional simple living. She talks about creating space, margins, and living our lives slowed down, simple, and with less stuff.

She challenges families to write a vision statement. Then as your are striving to live intentionally simple you filter your “stuff” and activities through your family statement.

This has always been our vision, but to write it out made it more “official”:

Our family vision is to

 glorify, honor, and serve God

by promoting a simple environment

 where we value prayer, self-control,

honest/open communication,

hospitality, and loving others

more than self.

As we purge, clean, and organize this is what we filter our thoughts through. Does keeping this or that help our family vision? 

I am excited to keep organizing, purging, and creating a home where this vision can be easily fulfilled. 

A few weeks back I felt suffocated by stuff. 

Then I was inspired to PURGE! My pile grew quickly and I had a garage sale last week. Our town as a new rule that you can’t put up signs on public property, so it wasn’t busy. Our plan is to take it to my in-laws in June and have another 1 day sale. They live on a rather busy road.

Ahhhh…I feel like I can breath!

Now because we decided to have another 1 day sale, John and I have started to re-go through every cabinet, shelf, drawer, box, and we’re finding even more stuff to get rid of.

Just feels good!

I can think clearer.

I can function better.

I am more motivated to keep things organized because there’s not as much stuff.

I want to be intentional about keeping stuff out of my house (which I think will be a life time of work).

I want to honor God with my house, my belongings. I don’t want the stuff to get in the way of serving Him. 

It feels good! 

How about you? Are you working towards purging (I know some of you mentioned you were)? How’s it going?