Blessing of the week

I often find myself looking at the mountain of work and sin issues that need to be dealt with in my home. Just today I was cleaning a room and took a minute to deliver some items to the girls' room, and I was quite discouraged to see the need for more decluttering in their room. So, I've decided to remind myself of some of the blessings of this week. By the Lord's mercy we are not consumed; great is His faithfulness!

These are in no particular order; just how my silly brain pulled them from the memory bank.
1. In the midst of cleaning off my bookshelf, I opened a box of Bible verses I had memorized years ago. Amazing! The $155 I lost 3.5 years ago. As far as I can remember, I put it in there just a few hours before Noah (just 6 months after his neurosurgery) split his head open and had to get staples and a CT scan, etc. I think through the events of the day, I had just forgotten where I put it.

2. Ruth spent her first night upstairs in the girls' room. Not exactly in her own bed, but we are making progress!

3. Ruth went potty on the potty chair for the first time this morning! I'm still holding out hope (her middle name, btw) for an easy trainer.

4. I have gotten a lot of things cleaned out this week. I know I won't feel much like cleaning in a few weeks, so I'm thankful for the energy to do it now. The boys closet is clean, and I think I should take a picture . . . well, at least it was clean yesterday; can't really say for sure about what it looks like tonight!

5. We were in dire need of dressers around here. Steve built me some "poor man's dressers" with rubbermaid containers and shelves; although, I'm not really sure they were that cheap in the end. But, the boys can now, in theory, put away their clothes and not just throw them on the floor because "they couldn't get the drawers open.

6. Steve is also working on putting up cabinets and shelves in my mud room, but it is still a work in progress.

7. The kids have had a great week getting chores done. Of course, it is because we have determined that if a child will not work, he will not eat around here and chores must be done before lunch. But the house functions so much better with dilligent kids!

8. Most of the kids can pretty well quote Ephesians 1:1-13. Mommy is still struggling with the last few verses, but I'm just memory challenged these days. In fact, I was playing memory with Noah and Esther the other day (we found some memory cards while cleaning the boys closet). After I was soundly defeated twice, Noah told me he was going to be on my team for the next game. I told him he didn't have to do that to which he responded, "I need to be on your team because you are not a good player." I couldn't argue with that!

9. Hannah and Sarah are making some progress on their research papers. I still think 7th grade seems young to be writing a research paper, but I thought I'd try it again (it didn't work well last year). Hannah wanted to write about what made George Washington a great man and Sarah wanted to write about the parallels between Narnian characters and Biblical characters.

So that has been the blessing side of my week! This weekend should be exciting with small group, two birthday parties, and two chili suppers. Next week the carpet will be laid (or is it layed - don't tell my kids that I can never remember this one) in the big room of the church addition - just in time for our first family-integrated Sunday School.

Thank you so much to those of you that think of our family and pray for us! It is very humbling to think of the wonderful people the Lord has placed in our lives, and we appreciate you all!