3 in 30 Challenge~ gonna try this out!

I see a lot of my new blog friends doing this 3 in 30 challenge and I thought I would check it out and see what all the fuss is about!  :)  Well basiclly you pick three goals for the month then work on them everyday... it takes 21 days to form a habit, so after your first month you should be able to continue your goals into the next ones!

So for the month of March here are my goals!

1) create and stick to a budget~  we really need to get our finances under control, pay off some bills, and just be more wise with our $.

2) spend at least 15 minutes a day reading my Bible~ right now I am doing my study about 3x a week, sometimes less.  I need to make time everyday to get some time in.

3) do not let more than 3 loads of laundry build up~ I need to be doing laundry everyday or as needed, not waiting until the bathroom is overwhelmed with laundry.

Ok so there are my goals for this month! :)  I will keep you posted each week on how I am doing!  I will be starting next Monday as weekends are typically off limits for work and computer!

What Makes a Christian Marriage Strong?

When a Christian couple decides to take an important step into the sanctity of marriage they want their marriage to stay strong forever, but how does that actually happen? Anyone who is married knows that a good marriage takes work. There are many elements that can make your Christian Marriage continue to grow stronger each and every day.

One of the most important elements is faith. To keep your Christian Marriage growing progressively stronger you must have faith. Have faith in yourself, faith in your spouse and most importantly faith in the Lord. Honestly, all marriages will have their good times and their bad times but if you have faith that the Lord will guide you and keep you strong, that your spouse loves you will their whole heart and that you are worth it, you marriage will stay solid.

Another element that is key not only in a Christian Marriage but in any marriage is the element of communication, you must be willing to keep an open heart. Too many times as a marriage progresses people tend to stop communicating. They stop sharing what makes them happy, what makes them sad and what they would like to change. Spend some time in prayer each day and ask the Lord to provide you with open communication with your spouse, it will make all the difference in your marriage.

Something that may seem obvious but still needs to be addressed is love. When attempting to grow in a Christian Marriage there must be an over abundance of love present. There must be an honest and pure love for each other and for God. Without this honest and pure love your marriage will unfortunately become stagnant. Do not be afraid to show your love freely and without reservation and you will receive it back. Love is what a Christian Marriage's foundation relies on, don't be afraid to give and be open enough to receive.

Lastly, a Christian Marriage will not grow stronger without the mutual love of the Lord. Each day spend time together with your spouse and God. Whether that includes going to church together, reading your bible together, or allocating a portion of each day to spend in prayer together, this is so important for the growth of a Christian marriage.

Make a conscious decision to incorporate each of these into your marriage on a daily basis and you and your spouse will be on the road to a long lasting love filled marriage with each other and the Lord.

Master Bedroom HOMEmakers Challenge

This weeks challenge is to clean up our master bedroom!  Well... Let me just tell you that I do pretty good at that on a regular basis!!  Our bedroom is to be OUR retreat!  We do not have TV in our room and usually do not read in bed either... We feel it distracts us from one another~ if you can read you can talk to your spouse.  I don't remember where I read it, but there was something about always making your bedroom romantic.  Have it be the retreat for your spouse and you, a place where you both want to spend time together.   

(Check out the challenge http://joyfulmothering.net/2011/02/25/master-your-bedroom-homemakers-challenge/)

Yes there is the times where our bedroom gets over stuffed with laundry waiting to be folded, changing of clothes (seasons/maternity/etc.) but for the most part I try to keep it up.  I was never one to make my bed.  Didn't see the point in it.  When I moved in with my Great Grandma (I was 19 at the time) she insisted that I make my bed... even came down to the basement and taught me how to make it.  I will never forget when she told me that if you just don't move in your sleep you won't have that hard of a time making your bed, you can just pull the covers up! :)  (This being said to someone who tosses and turns all night!!!!)  Anyways, she battled me on that for the few months I was living there, and even when I was on my own and married!  Well, Great Grandma joined our Lord in Heaven a few years ago just a week shy of her 96th birthday!  And wouldn't you guess that I make our bed almost every single day since she passed away?  I don't know why, I just do!  I guess it is part of me that just holds on to the time I had with her, and is just a way of remembering her. 

Jacob with Great Grandma on our cruise to Mexico in December 2007

HOMEmakers Challenge

Schedules... oh I do not like them, but... I am finding that I do need to schedule a little bit for our lives to be somewhat orderlly...  Neither one of my kiddos has had to have a set schedule (Thank you God!)  however I am finding that if I do not set aside certain chores for certain days, they get pushed and pushed until I am feeling overwhelmed!  So here is my rough (and I mean ROUGH) schedule!

4:30 am~ get up and get car/truck started and make Greg's lunch
5:00 am~ get Greg out of house!
(M/Th) 5:05am~ go back to bed until 7:30ish
(T/W/F) 5:05am~ do dishes, tidy kitchen, tidy playroom/living room
T/W/F) 6:00am~ Hanna arrives, she does down on couch in playroom for nap, I have coffee and do my semi-daily Bible reading/study
7:30~ catch some pleasure reading, or start to get day going with shower/packing bags, etc.
Usually we try to do school between 9-12 (however this varies on how much we have to do, if Hanna is here, or if we have plans for the day)
Naps, if home and able, are sometime after lunch (depending on how late breakfast was, or what was going on that morning...)

Monday nights we have Small group (currently ALPHA at the church) at 6:00pm
Tuesday nights we have AWANA at 6:30pm
1st and 3rd Wednesdays we have MOPs from 9:30am-12pm
Thursdays are free day, get together with friends, clean house, anything that needs to be done!
Fridays we usually try to do a playgroup or something with friends

Weekends are open however Greg has men's study at 7am, and I try to have coffe with a few girlfriends while the boys are at church.
Sunday School at 9:15, church at 10:30

That is about as much as I can get done.  Everything is open for change and varies from day to day.  :)

Thoughts on some things...

So I just finished "Love Finds you in Lahaina, Hawaii" by Bodie Thoene. It is one of the Love Finds You series. Overall a great book. Really had you relate to the characters, keep you going with events, excitement, love and it helped that it switched back and forth from the 70s to the 1880s-1890s. Very easy read, with a great ending. (I am a sap for a good love story!) Lots of scripture~ which always is great in a book! This is the 2nd or 3rd that I have read from the Love Finds You sereis, and I really do like them. They are easy to pick up and follow and are just happy light readings!

Also finished "The Atonement Child" By Francine Rivers. Good story line, however did not make me cry... I can tell if I am really into a book and it has me captured when I cry~ sometimes bawl! (Certain authors I know not to read in public!!)

Well, on to some movies we have watched recently... "Welcome to the Rileys" rated PG-13... Horrible language, however I do believe that it was needed for the story. (I am not a fan of foul language and am the first person to step in when it is being used, however I did understand the need for it in this movie!) It was a great story about a girl who is a striper and a guy who lost his 15 year old daughter and how he trys to fix this young girl... Really good until the end... then it just ended- there was nothing!!! It would have been better if everyone died... at least there would be something, but this was horrible! Very big let down for a great movie!

We also watched "Red" the other night with Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis. Pretty good action comedy... I even replayed a scene twice it was so good! Not too much language (actually none that I can remember!) No nakedness, a few deaths, but not too much violence, over a great movie to cuddle up with the hubby (no kiddos though) and laugh.

Well, that is all for now... I am working on my first review for netgalley.com So I will let you all know how that book turns out! :)

Took the kiddos for a walk today down to the Post Office and then stopped at Subway for lunch on the way home... fussy kiddos!!! Oh well, it was good to get out! Hopefully I can start to make a tradition of it and get back into shape! Tonight is AWANA!!! Jacob is so excited, he has memorized John 3:16 and always gets so excited to share it with his wonderful leaders. Greg will be missing due to having to work on the car and putting the transmission in, although he did tell me it would not be done tonight~ gonna have to work on a ride to MOPs in the am :( I can't stand being carless! Oh well, I guess all his hardwork will save us about $1700 total, so it is not a complete loss! :)