40 Days to a Stronger Marriage - Day 2

Hello all, and welcome back! How did your day of prayer for your husband go yesterday? Did you pray for him every time you thought of him? Did you come up with a reminder for yourself? If not, now is a great time to do so. We will continue praying for our husband each day for the next 39 days of Lent.

Today is Valentine's Day. This is what I woke up to this morning. My husband took some time before work to bake me some sugar free brownies and even frost them with sugar free frosting. Being I am a diabetic, he can't just run to the store and buy a box of chocolates. I feel so blessed that he took his precious time this morning to bake for me.

Being Valentine's day, I thought it was a great day for us to do something for our husbands. So, here it is:

Day 2:

Tell your husband what your intentions are for the next 39 days of Lent. 

Sit down with him and let him know that you are going to commit this Lenten season to creating a stronger marriage. At least on your half. A marriage takes two people working toward the same goal and we all know that we can't change our husband. We can only work on us. You can make this a grand or as simple as you want. I chose to sit down with G.I. Joe and tell him what I was doing for Lent. He was really moved by the gesture. I think it means something to our husbands when we make them a priority in our lives. 

I am interested in hearing what you did for today and how you did yesterday. Don't forget to continue to pray for your husband all through Lent and beyond. Prayer is a very powerful tool!

40 Days to a Stronger Marriage

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter, that Christians take as a time of preparation. We use this time to reflect upon Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

Growing up Catholic, and attending a private Catholic school, every year we were encouraged to "give something up" for lent. A lot of us did silly things like, candy or something similar. As we got older what we gave up became a little less "silly." Regardless of how "silly" the thing was, it really did teach me a lot about self discipline.

As an adult, I have parted ways with the Catholic church. I now just consider myself a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. The denomination of church I attend does not matter. I still learned a lot from the Catholic church, self discipline being one of the major virtues. I simply can not let this Lenten season pass by without some challenge for myself. That is why, this year, I have chosen to commit myself to creating a stronger relationship with my husband.

G.I. Joe(my husband) and I have been married for 8 years and 9 months. I am deeply in love with him and we have a pretty strong marriage. I believe that it takes work to maintain a good marriage, but I don't want just a "good" marriage. I want a spectacular marriage. This will take extra work on both of our parts, but I can't make him work. I can only work on me.

Starting today, I will start on this new adventure of being intentional in my marriage. I will pull from many different resources for new ideas. Number one being The Bible. I can't promise I will succeed every day, but I can promise that I will try my hardest.


I invite each of you to follow along with me. If you do, post in my comments and I will pray for you. I ask that you do the same for me. You can join me on Facebook and Twitter. I will post the day's challenge on each of those pages.

So, without further ado, the challenge:

DAY 1:

Commit to praying for your husband, each time you think of him for the next 40 days. 

This may seem easy for you or extremely hard. Either way, I believe it's a good idea. Think of something that reminds you of your husband. Maybe it's your wedding ring. Each time you see your ring, feel your ring, adjust your ring, put lotion on your hands and touch your ring, say a little prayer for your husband. 

Here are some things you can pray for your husband:

1. protection

2. health

3. guidance

4. his job

5. his relationship with God

6. his relationship with you

7. his relationshop with your children

These are really just a jumping point. There are lots of articles all over the web about praying for our husbands. There are lots of books written on the subject also.  Do a search on the web or in your local library to get some more ideas. 

Again, I invite you to share with me in the comments section. Even if it's just for a quick prayer and you don't want to share details. Just let me know that you are trying to do this with me and I will add you to my prayer list. 

  

 

FIAR:More "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel"

We have finished this book, but I still had some pictures, so I thought I would share what we did.

This day, my older boys wanted to join in with us. They are 6 and 8, so they do fit into the age range this curricula targets, we just have other things we do with them. They were interested in what I was doing with the younger two, so they sat in and participated. I think this curricula could really work well as a spine for multiple ages.

After we read the book again, we made some pinwheels. (This activity is outlined in FIAR Volume 1 ) I wanted to demonstrate to them how steam can move an object. This did not go so well for us. Our pinwheels did not want to move. We still had fun. I improvised and told them to imagine that the air coming out of my mouth was steam and blew on the pinwheel. They got the point.

To add in some Language Arts, I continued with some pages that we were doing while working through Little Hands to Heaven from Heart of Dakota.  It is a great curricula, just too repetitive for us. We need change and different things to do from week to week. This was just too much of the same thing. However, I do still use some of the ideas from this curricula.




Since "steam shovel" starts with an "s", I decided to have my two little ones do the worksheet for the letter "s." My little girl, "Raindrop," just used the marker to circle a whole bunch of letters, but she enjoys being involved. We talked a little bit about what an "s" is shaped like, and I'm sure she will get it in the coming years. ;)

 

My youngest boy, "Hurricane," really took his work seriously with this one. He studied his paper for a long time and then highlighted each "s" very carefully. He has grown so much this past year, it's just amazing!!











After I was done with the younger two, I called in the older boys and we did their Math and Language Arts. All in all, I would say this was a successful day!

Multiple kids in one room?

We have four kids. Three boys and a little girl. If you are keeping track, that makes 6 people in a 3 bedroom home. No basement and no attic. I have to be creative with out space........very creative. This past few months I have really been working on organizing. I thought I had the boy's room organized, then it exploded. We cleaned it only for it to explode again. Obviously, my organization was NOT working. I had to figure something else out.


First, I got rid of their toy shelf. You know the shelf with that holds all the bins? Great in theory, but it just wasn't working for us. I kept the bins, they did come in quite handy. I organized all of the toys into categories. Like with like. By the time I was done, everything had a place. I labeled each bin and put them up on the shelf in their closet. Each time they wanted to play with something, they had to check it out from me. Like a library.

 Before you all get upset with me and tell me I'm depriving my children, by not allowing them to have ALL of their toys within reach at all times, take a deep breath and read on. I don't believe that children NEED toys to have a good childhood. I believe that a good childhood involves imagination and creativity. That stick can become a gun or a fairy's wand. I believe that children can quickly become overwhelmed if we overload them with toys and toys and more toys. Okay, I will step down off of my soap box for now.

Back to their room:
Just getting a majority of the toys out of their reach was not enough. Despite picking up at the end of the day being a DAILY chore, their room exploded again! Something has got to give here. What am I doing wrong? Is it just their age? They are 8, 6, and 4. They should be able to keep a tidy space, shouldn't they?

I spent 3 hours in their room yesterday! THREE HOURS!! Yes, I am yelling. This is ridiculous! I shouldn't have to spend that amount of time in any room cleaning and organizing, unless it is a deep clean type of situation. Even then, 3 hours is a stretch.

I have read many different articles and blogs on organizing. I simply do not have the space. Most rooms are made for one, maybe two children to share. I have three in this room. Moving one of them to the other bedroom is not an option. First of all, they like being together. (Safety in numbers I guess.) Secondly, they don't want to sleep in the pink girl's room. I am not against different genders sharing a room, I would rather not though. I don't know why, so don't ask.

The fact of the matter is, I have three boys, their toys, their clothes(in the closet and a dresser), a set of bunk beds and one twin sized bed in their room. I am limited on how I can re-arrange due to window and door issues. The beds are pretty much stuck where they are.

Anyone have any advice for me? Links? Been there, done that advice?

FIAR:Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

This is our third week of "rowing" with Five in a Row. We are absolutely loving it! It is so much fun!

This week, we are "rowing" Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Yesterday, we watched a short video on steam shovels, after reading the book. Today, I made the kids each a sensory bin with various dried beans and some construction trucks we had in our car bin.

I had them play with that while I read the book. I find that if I keep their hands busy, they listen a little better to the story.

After we finished the book and played for a bit in the sensory bins, we did an art activity with squares. I had some sticky backed foam that I cut into various sizes of squares (Since Mike Mulligan had to dig a cellar for the Town Hall "nice and square.") They had so much fun doing this. They each made their own version of the "Town Hall."

When they were finished, we read through the book, All Sorts of Shapes. We spent some time talking about all the different shapes and finding them in the room around us.

As I said before, we are really enjoying this curriculum. I encourage you to look into it. I don't get anything from the company for telling you about it. I research things to death before I make a decision, especially when it comes to my children's education, so I like to share my opinion on products for others to read.

That's life & some good news!

I've not been blogging lately because, it seems, life has taken a hold of me and not let go. We started our homeschool year and it went great. Almost as planned up until Christmas. Then we took a break and are now back into the swing of things.

Amidst all of this,I have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Yes, it's odd for an adult to be diagnosed with type 1, it is usually a childhood thing. I am learning how to navigate life with this diagnosis. It's really hard at times, but I know God is my strength.

Anyway, I also wanted to share some exciting news with all of you. A woman, in my community, recently opened up a "free store" in the walk out basement of her home. Yes, a FREE store. She takes donations of anything you don't want anymore and puts them right back out for others to take. Clothes, books, toys, home decor, etc. It's really a wonderful ministry. I realize I've veered off to the left here. (I do that frequently, walking a straight line is boring. ;) ) Back on track, my first visit out there, I found the first three volumes of Five in a Row, plus the Bible Supplement! All for free! Amazing!

So, I have started "rowing" with my two younger kids. They are 4(almost 5) and 2(almost 3). We have done Night of the Moon jellies and had a blast! At the end of the week, we took a bath with moon jellies. It was so much fun! The moon jellies are made out of clear plastic bags, a glow stick and some water. Tie them shut and you've got a moon jelly.






This week, we are "rowing" Katy and the Big Snow. We have done lots of fun things this week. On Tuesday, we painted with "snow paint," made out of shaving creme and glue.


I am so excited about this curriculum! I look forward to sharing more as we continue "rowing" throughout the year.

Great giveaway!

This is an awesome giveaway, check it out!