Glimpses from God

I had to witness something that no mother should ever go through.

I had to watch a mommy lose her sweet baby that was born at twenty-seven weeks. It is one of those things that there are no words for.  You spend all your time thinking about why this happened. What was the purpose? Why do babies have to die?  It is something I will never understand.  During the funeral the pastor said something very powerful. He said

"God doesn't forget. He will give you glimpses"

Most of you know that we lost our 5th baby at just 12 weeks.  It was difficult. I struggled a lot! I wrote this post to share how I dealt with my loss. Well at the funeral all of the pain and hurt came flooding back to me and Evanny, who is the sweetest child and had to go to the funeral to support the mom because she cares so much about her).  We shed many tears that day.  but I got to thinking about what the pastor said.

Glimpses?? 

Does God give me glimpses?  Then I remembered something. I always saw it has hurtful because someone was missing.  And to be honest I always feel like someone is missing and that is because they are. I really have six kids. It is just that we haven't met him yet. we haven't met sweet Gabriel but we will one day.  The glimpses are subtle.  Something you wont notice until I tell you. Just a message for me from God letting me know he hasn't forgotten my pain and he hasn't forgotten my baby. 

Here is my glimpse. I could only find a few pictures but there are more. See that gap?  in between Malachi and Jericho?  This is my glimpse. There should be a 2 1/2 year old baby there.  From now on I am choosing to see the glimpse from God in the natural gap they create instead of  hurt and sadness.  If you have ever lost one of your precious babies be sure you are looking for glimpses from God. 

A Month of Peace

As a mom of kids who love video games and movies, well anything with a screen I have to come up with a balance for our life.  If I let them they would be on a screen ALL DAY!!

I had come to realize that screens were becoming an addiction to our children. They were forgetting that there was more to life than video games and movies. They would sit and watch the clock until screen time!

So on December 31 I made the announcement at dinner time.

 We are taking a month off of screens.

 My announcement was met with a little crying, a little joy, and little wondering what they were going to do for the whole month!

A friend asked What I meant by screens.

What I mean is anything with a screen!
NO TV
NO Tablet
NO Computer
NO DS
NO XBOX

Next question I was met with was All of you?

Well no not really.

 My husband must use his computer for work and school.  I have to have access to my business page Crawley Creations.  Also we don't throw tantrums when we aren't allowed on a screen.  But we decided to limit ours also.  We decided that instead of watching a movie in the evening we would play games. Card games, board games, sometimes we just sat and talked.


We have exactly one week left of our no screen policy, and it has been a great month!  I was amazed at how much they found to do.  They played Lego's, they read books, they played with trains, they colored, and they listened to audio books. and they didn't complain about not having screens.  In fact I asked them to tell me if they were going to write a story about our experience what they would call it and they said A month of Peace (no prompting on my side) hence the name of this post.

We were definitely not perfect. they watched one movie at a friends house while the dads were babysitting, David may have spend a lot of time playing a game on his friends phone once, and Malachi may have played a friends tablet until it died while waiting for Martial arts.  But our normal rule was an hour a day. so that was pretty minor!

oh yeah and one day David and I broke down and watched a movie, but one movie in a month is not to bad! And we have binge watched Arrow until 1 am on the first so we could finish it up before we gave up screens. Hey! I said we weren't perfect!


So what next?

Well we decided to not allow screens on a daily basis.  The kids are much more focused on school with out them and it just overall made out house more peaceful.

Our plan is to allow 30 minutes of educational screen time on Fridays if  there school has been completed for the week.  They also will be allowed one hour of game/movie time on Saturdays as long as they have completed their school and chores for the week.

We will be flexible and occasionally we will sit down in the middle of the week and watch a show but, over all we are better off with out so much screen time.

Be sure to let me know your opinions on limiting or not limiting screen time.

Homeschooling, Cleaning and Nurturing, how I do it all: Part 3

Nurturing

Now that you have seen How we clean and how we home school you are probably thinking I run my family like a military school.  That is definitely not the case even though we are pretty strict.

What does it even mean to nurture?  The conversation I talked about in this post left me feeling as if people thought I couldn't possibly nurture my children as well as clean and home school.  At the time I thought Nurture just meant to hold them , to hug them, to kiss them. If you know me well you know that I am not touchy feely.  So with that definition of nurture in my mind I felt like a great big loser.  Now don't get me wrong I hug, kiss, and hold my babies but sometimes it takes a lot of pushing myself aside.  Anyway on with the real meaning of nurture.

Nurture-verb

1. care for and encourage the growth or development of

1. help or encourage the development of

1. cherish (a hope, belief, or ambition).

Nurture-Noun

1. the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.

1. upbringing, education, and environment, contrasted with inborn characteristics as an influence on or determinant of personality

Synonyms- upbringing, rearing, raising, child care; training, education
So Now that I have the real definition of nurture I feel so much better.  Nurturing isn't really a separate area of life.  Nurturing is homeschooling, It is cleaning and teaching chores. So because I love lists I am going to give you a list of what nurturing is to me.

• Nurturing is raising your kids to be a functional beneficial part of society

• Nurturing is giving them an education whether public, private or home school

• Nurturing is encouraging them to do good and to press on when things get tough

• Nurturing is providing a safe place for them

• Nurturing is believing in  them

• Nurturing is letting them fail sometimes

• Nurturing is letting them explore

I could go on forever with this list but I think you get it.  So I am not sure how to share how I nurture all five of my children.  I believe it is a God given desire for me.  I believe it comes naturally.  I don't believe nurturing has gotten harder as we have added to our family.   So how do I nurture five kids?  I live life.  I teach them.  I discipline them.   I let them grow.  I let them make choices.  I let them think, but most importantly I cherish them.

Homeschooling, Cleaning and Nurturing, how I do it all: Part 2

How I home school five kids at the same time 

Just like cleaning we use a strict schedule for school.  A friend of mine suggested that I get a planner called The Well Planned Day.  It has been wonderful!  I highly suggest it.

 Above is an example of the planner.  It is designed  for up to four students.  Each of my children have a schedule in it that tells what they should be working on at what time.  I am going to make a list of things that help us get it all accomplished.

1. We do Bible every morning.  What better way to start school than to learn about Jesus.
2. We only spend 30 minutes per subject.  I mean I set a timer for 30 minutes.  When the timer rings we move on.
3. We are not running a public school.  We don't have to do school for 8 hours a day, we don't have to stick to text books and we don't have to have school desks. 
4. I try to find curriculum that is multi-level so I can teach multiple kids at once.
5. School is supposed to be fun!  I want my kids to love learning!
6. Fill the littlest kids cups first.
7. Give yourself grace
8. Be Flexible(this is hard for me)

Here is my schedule.  Take a deep breathe it is crazy!!

7 am Bible
7:30 cook breakfast while kids clean rooms
8:00 Eat breakfast
8:30 Before Five in a Row and Foundations A with Malachi while the older kids do morning chores
9:30 Math with David while the other kids do Signing Time on Netflix
10:00 Math with Evanny David does Spanish and the others play in the playroom
10:30 History Mondays and Wednesdays Science Thursdays and Fridays Everyone is included
11:00 Morning snack/break
11:30 Teach English to Evanny and David,  Malachi and Jericho play, Alexis does homework
12:00 Teach Malachi and Alexis Math David and Evanny do homework
12:30 I cook lunch and Teach Alexis Foundations B. During this time Evanny does workbooks with Malachi and David works with Jericho or plays with her.
1:00 Eat Lunch
1:30 I get Jericho down for a nap and we do afternoon chores
2:00 I fold laundry on normal days on Mondays a friend and I sew dresses with our girls for Dress a Girl Around The World.
2:30 FREEDOM!!! Everyone else must read quietly I get to do what ever I need or want to do
3:30 Room of The Day
4:00 Snack
5:00 Cook Dinner
6:00 Eat Dinner
6:30 Evening Chores I leave for the gym at this time on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
7:00 Read aloud and baths for kids
8:00 younger three go to bed older two read
9:00 All kids in bed.



So You see my schedule.  It is crazy and this doesn't include gymnastics, AWANA, Bible Study, Dance, Library Day, or swimming.

I never said it was easy!  and Many days I look at my schedule and say How do I do all of this and my answer is....

By The Grace of God.  

Homeschooling, Cleaning and Nurturing, how I do it all: Part 1

So awhile back I blogged about an experience that made me feel judged.  It wasn't taken how I had hoped it would be so I decided to make a post about How I do everything from nurturing to homeschooling to keeping my house clean.

I started this thinking I could fit it in one post but I cant so I will do a series in the next few days. :)


How I Keep the House Clean( The Hardest Part)


First I keep a very strict schedule for my family. Here is a photo of our Daily Chore Chart.

Every kid has a chart that is divided into morning, afternoon and evening chores.  Each chart has 6 or 7 chores divided up between the three times.  They are also color coded  by time of day.  Each child also has a detailed list of their day for each day of the week.  It tells them everything from chores, to school and it even includes shower times.

On the far right side of our chart is a Room of the day chart.  It lists what room we will be cleaning that day with a list of what needs to be done in each room.  

Here is a list of what our chores are each day

1. 2 loads of laundry. washed, dried, folded and put away
   I fold all of the laundry and put mine, Jericho's and David's away, the kids put their own away.
2. Wash dishes after every meal
   I wash evening dishes and I put all of the dishes away but the girls do all of the washing for lunch and breakfast.  
3. Clean rooms every morning before breakfast
   This includes making beds and bringing dirty laundry down stairs they do not have toys in their rooms.
4. Take out the trash
   This is Little Davids job everyday
5. Vacuum after lunch and dinner
   David and Evanny take turns doing this job
6. Quickly pick up all toys and school supplies once school is done.
   Everyone does this including Jericho and I.
7. Wash table after every meal
   This job rotates between Malachi and Alexis
8. Feed and water the cat
   This is Malachi's Chore
9. Sweep kitchen after dinner
   Malachi helps me do this every evening unless I am gone then he helps his dad sweep.
10. Room of the Day
    We all do this job together

We also do evening chores which includes a lot of things from the list above as well as a quick pick up of toys and making sure everything is in there place. 

It probably seems overwhelming reading all of this in a list but it really isn't, well not all of the time!  Sometimes I am overwhelmed but who isn't?  I feel more at peace with a schedule. We probably spend 1 1/2 hours cleaning broken up throughout the day

The biggest thing that helps is that our family is a team. I am not everyone's maid.  

Play Room Makeover: Part 2

Step One of our playroom makeover was to downsize.

Step two was to sell off all our old toys and use the money for shelving or other items for the playroom.

So I, being the planner I am, drew out a shelf that I wanted in the playroom.  Then  my awesome husband built it for me!  And other than paint the money from the toys covered the cost of the shelves!!

The biggest tip I have for anyone wanting to take on this type of adventure is to keep your kids involved, it is their playroom after all.

So they helped us downsize, sell, build shelves, paint shelves, and reorganize all of the toys.  I always ask for their input and ideas and use some of them.  They loved the process of making the changes and they also enjoyed helping with the projects.  It was fun for all of us.  I did learn a few things though.  Kids do NOT conserve paint and they do NOT paint neatly.  Just take deep breaths and let them slop it on this is supposed to be a fun journey!

Here are some pictures of our new and improved playroom!

Play House area and an Art Easel I picked up for 3.00 at a garage sale

Reading Nook and a specific toy shelf for the baby. I wanted something that was on her level.

Barbie House (Remodel in process)

Book Closet!!  The bottom shelf is craft items that I do not want Jericho to have free access to.

Our amazing toy shelf that my awesome husband built!  I love it it is exactly what I pictured!  

So Here it is!!  We have some other plans but they may take awhile.  So far my thought is this is amazing!  The kids love it and no one has told me they are bored in quite sometime.  So over all I think it is amazing! They think it is amazing It must be amazing!

Play Room Makeover: Part 1

Going back to the basics

Earlier this week I read an article about simplifying the play room.  The playroom has always been my struggle!  It always becomes such a disaster, and if you know me you have heard me say

I HATE TOYS!!!


Well after a little thinking I decided to try a more minimalist approach and I wanted a  more Montessori style play space.

The first thing I had to do was to get my family on board.  So I had the kids make a list of five things they wanted to have in their play space and they struggled to come up with five things!!  This told me that I definitely needed to downsize.

So Step one...

Get

rid of

STUFF!!!

 My girls helped me sort through Barbies.  I chose a small tote and I told them if it didn't fit we were not keeping it. They were okay with this amazingly, we went through every item one at a time and decided what to keep and what to toss.

Above are the before photos. It was so bad! and I really didn't thing we had that many toys! Boy was I wrong!  We threw away 2 trash bags of just trash and we are going to try to sell this heap of toys! 

 Our goal is to use the money from selling the toys to get good shelving solutions and to purchase a few things like an indoor swing and a balance beam.



Following are our after pictures and a list of what we removed.

Eventually this closet will just have books, but that has to wait until we get shelves built.

Okay so pictured above is our step one progress! Yay!  All that you see pictured is all of the toys we have for five kids, and just in case you think they are deprived. They have been playing in their new space for over an hour!!

What we removed

1. About 75% of the toys we had
2. A huge table
3. two large deep toy boxes

So what is next?  First sell these toys! But really step two is shelving.

I cant wait to update you on more progress!