We had a fun time celebrating Jesus' birth today. Due to illness, our gathering was smaller than we initially anticipated. But it was a refreshing and very joy-filled time to be together.
I am admittedly falling behind on blogging. I can think of half a dozen posts that I'd like to make, but due to time restraints I'll just post a video of Joshua and Hannah getting into the Christmas spirit - worshiping the Lord Jesus through music and dance. More updates will come soon... hopefully...
Enjoy!
25 December 2010
02 December 2010
Prayer Cards
We're trying to pray more around here. Like every other endeavor, this one needs organization. I'll be honest, a whole day can go by and the only prayers I have prayed are something along the lines of, "Lord, please make that tantrum stop." For many months I've felt a gentle nudge to commit more time in prayer. In order to fit that in to the daily grind I have turned to index cards.
I now have a stack of cards with the names of family, friends and co-laborers in the Kingdom written on the front of each one. They are categorized as such: immediate family, specific individuals from our church, extended family, and friends. To keep track of details I can make notes of prayer requests and answers to those requests in pencil on the front or back of the card. These notes can then be erased, allowing for the card to be used indefinitely.
The idea is that I start at the beginning of the pack and pray for people one by one, always moving the top card to the back once I'm finished. When there is an interruption--and I know there will be at least every two minutes--I can put the pack down for a later time. There's no need to remember who I already prayed for because I know I just need to begin again with the top card. Can't pray for everyone in a single day? Then I just start wherever I left off the day before.
Now, let me say that this seems like a well-ordered system but the hardest part is yet to come--forming a habit of prayer. The prayer for myself is that the Lord would enable my faithfulness and discipline to keep it up. A stack of prayer cards, no matter how wonderfully color-coded, won't do much good collecting dust.
I now have a stack of cards with the names of family, friends and co-laborers in the Kingdom written on the front of each one. They are categorized as such: immediate family, specific individuals from our church, extended family, and friends. To keep track of details I can make notes of prayer requests and answers to those requests in pencil on the front or back of the card. These notes can then be erased, allowing for the card to be used indefinitely.
The idea is that I start at the beginning of the pack and pray for people one by one, always moving the top card to the back once I'm finished. When there is an interruption--and I know there will be at least every two minutes--I can put the pack down for a later time. There's no need to remember who I already prayed for because I know I just need to begin again with the top card. Can't pray for everyone in a single day? Then I just start wherever I left off the day before.
Now, let me say that this seems like a well-ordered system but the hardest part is yet to come--forming a habit of prayer. The prayer for myself is that the Lord would enable my faithfulness and discipline to keep it up. A stack of prayer cards, no matter how wonderfully color-coded, won't do much good collecting dust.
Ducks in a Row
Someone once said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step--or something to that effect. Today marks the first step of the Chew family's journey to organization. That's right, we're organizing our house and all of our belongings.
After a month of being on my own during the days with three kids 3 years and under, I am feeling our lack of organization. So, I found a book through the local library system called "The Organized Homeschooler". And after reading about just how organized life can be, I feel our need for organization all the more! You mean that the mail could actually have a home other than on top of the pile next to our computer?
We're looking at completely revamping our entire household and I'm excited. I'll be posting updates as we go along, and if we're really pleased with our end result I may venture to post some photos...maybe. If you want to follow along, you can check the posts labeled "Ducks in a Row" and/or "household".
Tonight was a small, but important starting point--the recipes. For more than five years I have thought how wonderful it would be to take my recipes out of the white folder that is falling apart and put them away in a three-ring binder. Today that finally happened. Purged, organized, and three-hole-punched, the recipes have been placed neatly in "The Chew Family Cookbook".
Why did we start with the recipes? I'm not really sure, but it is related to another part of our organizational revamp--meal preparation. For several weeks our weekly menus have not been made, our grocery shopping has been haphazard, and I've been stressed out every time somebody asks, "What's for dinner?" So, as part of the family cookbook, we have included a set of five weekly menus. These can be re-used and altered as necessary. Along with the menus we will eventually have a grocery list to correspond to each week. The idea is that grocery shopping will be a no-brainer--just get out the pre-made list, check the cupboards for safe measure, and head out to the store. And meal preparation will hopefully be less stressful now that we know in advance what we're cooking and when. Here's praying for maintenance of the system!
Recipes organized. Now for the rest of the house...
After a month of being on my own during the days with three kids 3 years and under, I am feeling our lack of organization. So, I found a book through the local library system called "The Organized Homeschooler". And after reading about just how organized life can be, I feel our need for organization all the more! You mean that the mail could actually have a home other than on top of the pile next to our computer?
We're looking at completely revamping our entire household and I'm excited. I'll be posting updates as we go along, and if we're really pleased with our end result I may venture to post some photos...maybe. If you want to follow along, you can check the posts labeled "Ducks in a Row" and/or "household".
Tonight was a small, but important starting point--the recipes. For more than five years I have thought how wonderful it would be to take my recipes out of the white folder that is falling apart and put them away in a three-ring binder. Today that finally happened. Purged, organized, and three-hole-punched, the recipes have been placed neatly in "The Chew Family Cookbook".
Why did we start with the recipes? I'm not really sure, but it is related to another part of our organizational revamp--meal preparation. For several weeks our weekly menus have not been made, our grocery shopping has been haphazard, and I've been stressed out every time somebody asks, "What's for dinner?" So, as part of the family cookbook, we have included a set of five weekly menus. These can be re-used and altered as necessary. Along with the menus we will eventually have a grocery list to correspond to each week. The idea is that grocery shopping will be a no-brainer--just get out the pre-made list, check the cupboards for safe measure, and head out to the store. And meal preparation will hopefully be less stressful now that we know in advance what we're cooking and when. Here's praying for maintenance of the system!
Recipes organized. Now for the rest of the house...
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