WHY I CHOOSE MY FRIENDS WISELY NOW!

 

I recently finished crocheting a scrap wool blanket for my bed
 I really love how bright and colorful it turned out. 

Last week, my mum bumped into an old friend of mine at the supermarket who I have not seen or talked to in the last 3 years or so.  I remembered the last time we spoke, it was just a short catch-up chat but it felt more like a competition of whose life was better and whose kids were doing the best. Before this chat we use to be really good friends but she had moved away a few years earlier but was now back living in the area.

After the last conversation we had, I walked away feeling kind of defeated, she was traveling overseas, had an amazing well paying job, was newly engaged to a wonderful man, and lived in a new house. She quizzed me on what I was doing and where I was living and what my daughter was doing. 

I replied I was currently a foster carer, I still lived in the house that was slightly run down and I was homeschooling my daughter still. I was also still a single mum with no future husband prospects on the horizon.  

The comments that she made left me feeling not very encouraged or confident at all. For the next week, I stewed on them, wondering if I made the right decisions in my life or whether I had ruined not only my life but whether I had ruined my daughter's life too. It was like a thick dark blanket had settled over my heart especially at the prospect that I had set my daughter back and that she would not be able to function in society. 

I prayed and cried out to God but I could not shake the feeling of this heavy blanket or burden that had been placed in my life until I talked to my mum about what was happening. She spoke light and love back into my heart and life by helping me to see that it was all coming down to my friend's insecurities and problems within her own life.

Reflecting upon our conversation I could see the insecurities and mixing with my own insecurities about whether I was on the right track, helped me to step back and reflect upon areas of my life and I could see that I could make some changes. 

The most important change was to stop letting other people's opinions rule how I live my life and to not dwell on them, making me think less of myself. I could reflect quickly incase there maybe areas of blindness in my life that might need attention but I usually take advice from people I trust and have a stronger relationship with than from people who I bump into occasionally.

I now choose my friends carefully and definitely choose to surround myself with people who love and encourage me instead of people who have strong opinions about how I should be living my life and who choose to pull me down through negativity. This brings so much freedom and peace into my life.

 

 

Most Important Place on Earth

My most recent crochet project of Eeyore for my daughter 

For me home is the most important place on earth, because of who I share my home with. My home is a place of security not only for myself but for those who are either living here or for those who are staying with us temporarily.

Its important to me to provide a place of love and healing for the foster children that we have had staying with us and for them its important to feel secure and protected especially when they have come from a place of being unprotected and unstable. 

They can feel the need to find some control either through acting out in fear or frustration or being fearful and insecure causing them to be clingy. Finding some kind of routine is important to building security within a child's life. It does not have to be complicated just a simple morning and evening routine is all that is needed.

Knowing that after waking, that its breakfast time and after breakfast its time to get dressed and get the day started, is all that's needed for a morning routine. For the evening routine, its as simple as dinner, bath, book and bedtime, brings such a peace into their lives but it also helps with bedtime battles too.

Opening my home has been a real blessed within my life and my daughter's life too, its been hard and challenging too, dealing with everyone's emotions and needs, but seeing the joy come within their eyes and the pain and fear slowly fade, makes it easier and knowing that your making a difference even for a few days makes it worthwhile.

HOME

HOME

Its a healing centre...

Its a learning centre...

Its a place where love is born and where life's last breathe occurs...

When its such an important place, a sacred place for many, why then has it been left neglected.

In such a time of panic and confusion, home can be a place of peace and renewal against the storms of life.

A home must be built, not just from bricks, mortar and wood, but from love and a willingness to lay aside ourselves and serve those who God has placed within our lives whether its husbands, children, extended family members or those who are less fortunate within our communities.

Within our homes we can grow and learn to better ourselves and others through many opportunites especially now thanks to the internet, we can connect more easily through social media, but there are many people who even with all these advances are lonely and vulnerable.  

For myself, my home is a place of refuge especially at the moment with the Coronavirus panic that is happening around Australia at the moment, seeing first hand the supermarket shelves empty of essential foods and toilet paper makes me thankful for the small stockpile that I have on hand in case of emergencies. 

My home is also a place for health, over the last few months we have been following the low fodmap elimination diet, trying to work out my daughter's food allergies. So far the biggest result has been learning that she is lacose intolerant but we have also seen problems with gluten so now she is currently doing the six week gluten challenge for a blood test for celiac disease.

Lastly my home is a learning centre now that I'm currently studying a diploma in health science. I have homeschooled my daughter here but i have also leanrt new skills here too such as cooking from scratch and crochet and knitting. Considering that we are learning all the time if we slow down from the busyness and learn to appreciate the simple things in life, there really is life and love that can be found within our homes. 

AM I CRAZY?

Am I Crazy?

For wanting to change the course of my life...of my family's life...

I think I am just crazy enough to do it...

Following dreams are scary right? Stepping off the edge is scary too? But what I have come to realize lately that staying in the same place and not moving is even scarier... Living a life stuck in fear is not who we are called to be by God..

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control... 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

Fear comes in many forms within our lives such as fear of snakes or spiders (I really do not like spiders...Yuck!) or fear of living alone or with someone or it could be the fear of failure that stops us from moving forward.

I have had many time in my life where I have had a little fear like a huntsman just chilling on my wall catching bugs, yes my heart skips a beat or two and a few choice words my escape my lips but then I move to find the fly spray so I can deal with it, but then there are those times when I have been completely paralyzed with fear unsure of how to deal with it.

One of those times has been slowly building over the last few years especially now that my daughter has just turned 18, I am now at a crossroad of what now? I have home schooled her for the last 10-11 years and she is just finishing up so I am closing that chapter of my life so what now? Do I step back on the treadmill of working 9-5 or is there something more?

Here is where I have been stuck.. Do I want to be like the others around me, where wealth and big houses and new cars are the normal...or do I chose something different? 

Do I want to keep up with the Jones's or do I want to be crazy and step off in a new direction?

To be honest when I have really chosen to be normal 

I am a Christian 

I home schooled my daughter

I am a single mother

I am a university student at the age of 39

After a long time of prayer I have decided to bring back my blog so I can document my journey into...

URBAN HOMESTEADING!!!!

For now I'm not moving because I cant afford it but I also want to build up my skills in many areas such soap making, candle making, cooking and growing my own food.

So I am beginning my journey into homesteading by learning to cook many things from scratch because my daughter has just been told she has to strictly eat Gluten Free but currently today is the second day of SPRING so I am going to begin weeding and starting my vegetable garden.

Next step I want to begin is ... CHICKENS!! Yay I am so excited to set up a pen and a home for them!

 I am lucky that my parents own a few acres with fruit trees and a vegetable garden too so I do have room to expand over there too.. maybe into meat chicken in the future.

But for now I just need to begin with small steps...inside and outside my home....I really need to declutter as well.

MANY CHANGES COME SOON.....

Not only in my life but also on the blog

SAY TUNED!!!!

 

NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

DAY 1 - 1950s HOMEMAKING EXPERIMENT

I slept in.

Don't think I need to say anymore!

I felt behind before I had even gotten out of bed. I started anyway beginning at step 1. I made it all the way to step 7 on the cleaning list that I found yesterday. Here's the link in case you missed it - http://www.jenbutneverjenn.com/2010/05/keeping-of-house-1950s-style.html
I did skip over step 8 & 9 but I managed even managed step 10 all before lunch.



Some background information before I begin with my excuse for sleeping in. The kids slept in too so don't worry I woke up when they did. I am a single mum to a 17 year old daughter, Miss E, and I'm also a foster mum to 2 children, a girl aged 3 and a boy aged 4. So I'm busy. Also 4 months ago I slipped and fell in my backyard and broke my ankle and leg, which is a major reason for the mess plus throw in little kids and its a disaster!

Slowly but surely I'm on the mend but the key word is slowly, which is frustrating because I really want to have a tidy house where we can invite friends over without embarrassment.

First up step 1 and 2 of the cleaning schedule was to fold back the covers or in my case doona and open the windows and curtains, I then threw on my dressing gown and got the kids up. It was just a quick breakfast because it was so late so the kids had toast with cheese spread and I had coffee and raisin toast with peanut butter.

After breakfast and getting dressed, I dropped the kids at day care, which happens on Fridays, I came home and tidied the kitchen and did the breakfast dishes.

My mum rang and we made plans to meet at the pool to exercise, so that took care of the 10 minutes of exercise. I put on a load of washing and I went and had a shower and completed step 7. I also made my bed while I was in my room.

We had an early lunch because I had to drive 30 minutes away to drop my daughter off at a birthday party, I then met up with my mum at the pool where we walked in the pool for about an hour.

It was time for a coffee once we had finished and we also enjoyed a raspberry and white chocolate muffin. I quickly snuck to the grocery store before I went and picked up the kids from day care.

I stopped on the way home and picked myself up some satay chicken from the local Chinese shop, made it home and fed the kids dinner and gave them a bath and then it was early to bed because they didn't have a nap.

No complaining from me because it meant that I was able to eat my dinner in peace for a change. Plus the bonus is that Miss E had youth group with the birthday girl tonight and my dad is picking her up after its finished.

I also hung out the washing and put the kids clothes on to soak over night so my laundry is all caught up. Double Bonus!

Now its time to relax and put my feet up and definitely early to bed, I'm exhausted!

Dishes done and kitchen cleaned before bed!

1950's HOMEMAKING EXPERIMENT!

Waking up today, I just feel so utterly defeated with my home. Its an absolute mess, things everywhere and piles of items that need to be sorted through and put away or even better thrown out. The floor needs vacuuming and don't even look at the shower! Its just chaos and I'm done and I mean I'm really done living this way.

When did it all get so BAD!

Its not like I went to bed with a beautiful clean, tidy and organized home and then BAM get out of bed to find myself tripping over all the stuff piling up.

To be honest it's not really as bad as it seems but it just feels like every cupboard has been emptied on every surface possible.

So my solution to my homemaking problems is to turn back the clock to an era when women had immaculate homes, even though that's not what I'm aiming for, but how did they manage to have a tidy and organized homes while looking after their children and husbands, while looking fabulous too, without all our modern conveniences.

Even though its now afternoon I'm going to begin today, I was thinking of starting fresh tomorrow morning but there is no time like the present and I might even be able to go to bed feeling better than at the moment so I'm just jumping in and learning as I go.

Firstly I'm going to do some research on cleaning schedules so that I can make some goals to aim for.

This is the schedule I am going to follow-
http://www.jenbutneverjenn.com/2010/05/keeping-of-house-1950s-style.html

My chin hit the floor, oh how far I have fallen, but its only up from here, right?

I was going to just print out the list but decided I'm going to find a pretty notebook and write the list in there so it feels more authentic.

Okay now to begin today - First step is make my bed

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of day 1 of following the cleaning schedule listed above. I know I wont be able to complete it all in one day but I'm hoping that by the end of the year to be able to complete all the tasks.

So I'm committing the next 80 days to the 1950s homemaking experiment which will bring it to New Years Eve.

I'm excited for all the changes that are about to happen since they are so lone overdue but I'm excited to not be living in constant chaos and feeling defeated before I even get out of bed.

Alright early to bed for me tonight because I'm going to need to get started early to accomplish even a few tasks on the schedule.

Behind my beautifully made bed is the truth :-0

I will keep you up to date with how its all going.

NEW BLOG BY TEENAGE HOMESCHOOLER

An exciting new homeschool blog made by a teenage homeschooler with some great videos and information about different homeschool topics. There are some interviews with some wonderful experienced homeschool mums so be sure to click the link to check it out:
http://marnieadventure.blogspot.com.au/search/label/home 
*click on the tab labelled blog to see the videos.