Reaching Beyond Our Family

 

By Sheila Campbell

 

I waved as they drove off and Jennifer waved back, with the excitement of spending the day at the corn maze bursting through her beaming smile. Through the van window I could see my boys eagerly looking ahead, already absorbed in the adventure of the day. I turned back with mixed emotions to see Justin, who sat quietly in his wheelchair, and I gently kissed his cheek. I loved my handicapped son and was grateful for a day to spend alone with him, and I was also grateful for homeschool friends who had offered to take my other children on a field trip organized by our homeschool support group, but my heart was torn—I wanted to enjoy the adventure of a corn maze with my kids, and I wished that Justin were capable of enjoying such an adventure too.

As the van drove away, I thought back to the day only a few weeks after my husband’s death, when our homeschool support group had changed the plans and location of our “end of school” party to help my family. Families arrived at our house armed with food and prepared to spend the day working. While the men built fence and completed some outside projects, the women provided food not only for their families and the men who were working but also enough to last our family several weeks. My heart warmed at the memory, and I once more thanked the Lord for the bountiful blessing of friends.

As I turned back to Justin and the quiet house, it was with a twinge of loneliness.   (more…)

De-Clutter Your Home in Time for the Holidays!

 

By Malia Russell

 

Several years ago I realized I was outnumbered. There were more people bringing clutter into my home than I could control. With five children in the house, several sets of grandparents, and lots of generous friends who would give us their hand-me-downs, my children rarely saw a day where they were truly in need of something. For that, I am truly grateful. What that also means is that everything brought into our home needed a place, or we would quickly drown in utter chaos. Add to that the fact that my husband and I both have things we love to collect. For me, it is books. He has what we affectionately call “The Cord Hoard.” He loves electronics, and sometimes decades after an electronic device is no longer functioning, we will still find its cord tucked away someplace unexpected. By themselves, cords do not take up much space, but after twenty-one years of marriage, we have lots of them. I secretly think that some other families have been leaving cords here too.

In any case, when I had only one or two children, I simply went through their rooms each month or so and would make sure things were back in their proper places. A little excess never really bothered me because it was tucked away in the privacy of their rooms, which I needed to see only in the morning and at bedtime. However, once children started sharing rooms, the excess began to spill out of the closet and onto the floor, under the beds, into my room, and into the main part of the house. Before long, I felt like I could never get the house clean. There was too much stuff to move around, organize, and dust before I could begin to vacuum, scrub, and polish.

Now that many of my children are older, I have found that having frequent de-cluttering days with challenges and prizes has been a fabulous tool.

Here is how we do it:    (more…)

A Stress-Free Advent Season

Taken from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/

Organize Advent Activities in Advance

{disclaimer: affiliate links are used in this post}

Advent is a special time for many families and the choices of how to celebrate and make this time meaningful are bursting up all over the internet as December 1st approaches. I shared our free Jesse Tree collection a couple of weeks ago, which is a great option for those of you looking for meaningful but simple.

We have used Truth in the Tinsel for the past two years and loved it. If you are looking for something new and haven’t done Truth in the Tinsel yet with your little ones, I highly recommend it! I even have a discount code for you {off of the eBook only, which is $7.99 regularly priced}. Use code: ONEPLUS to get 20% off!   (more…)