Worship with a mop.

I'm trying to be more diligent about keeping a cleaner house in this new year.  I must admit though, I hate it.  I'd rather just keep one room clean and shut the rest of the doors.  I LIKE my house lived in and comfortable.  I mean, we've all been in those other houses.  You know the ones where the pillows on the couch scream I DARE YOU TO LAY DOWN!  I don't aspire to that in my home.  I want my guests to feel like they can come over, put their feet up on my sofa and snuggle into the blanket conveniently located on the arm of each piece of furniture.  I want my children to explore building forts with all of the pillows and sofa cushions.  Children should be relaxed in their homes I think.

My resolution isn't about pillow forts though.  It's about the scary stuff under my stove.  It's about learning to clean these "tilt in" windows ( i hear they're great).  It's about worshiping God in caring for my home.  It's about showing my children that a home isn't four walls to be taken for granted.  It's about showing my husband that I respect his efforts to provide for us.  It's about the pride i feel when I can dance barefooted across newly mopped floors and my crawling daughter's pants stay clean.

Now I'm not going to go crazy and bleach all of my doorknobs and cover my kitchen chairs with plastic as have been suggested.  I have come to terms with the fact the the laundry pile multiplies while I sleep.  I love my incontinent dog more than I love rugs.  I must admit though, the smell of pinesol in the morning makes my motor run!

On Resolutions

My husband and I decided long ago that going out on New Year's Eve is for amateurs and New Year's Resolutions are for idiots. That said at this the beginning of another year, 2012, we find ourselves on-again/off again smokers (gasp!), lazy nap-loving slugs, lousy communicators, overweight, underfunded, and fighting the valiant fight to do what is right yet consistently coming up short.

On this New Year's Eve,  I spent the evening at home reflecting on the past year and making a to-do-list for the approaching 2012.  In chicken scratch on the back of an envelope, my hopes and dreams are these:

1.  Keep my home clean enough to take pictures of my children and post to Facebook.

2.  Yell less.  Challenge our family to communicate without raised voices and anger.

3.  Be more active.

4.  Value our home and family.

5.  Quit putting things off.

6.  Get a shelf for the china cabinet.

7.  Take back the library books.

8.  Organize the family finances.

9.  Get a much overdue oil change in my minivan.

10. Plan for a new driveway.

11. Finalize plans for adopting a child.

12. Give God a year.

What about losing weight?  Paying down old debt?  Running a 5k?  None of those made it on there...but what's this about giving God a year?  I mean, we go to church.  I'm scheduled to start teaching Sunday school.  I sing loud and proud during worship.  Give God a year?  Haven't I given him enough.  I say grace with my children.  I pray before I go to bed (most nights).  I pay attention to Pastor Scott on Sundays.  Shamefully, I've also been ignoring God.  Yes, while eternally grateful for the many blessings in my life, I've been sticking my fingers in my ears during much of the time God has been talking to me.  Finally, I'll admit.  I couldn't take it any more.  There was an old testament kind of moment in my house on New Year's Eve.  My life had been building in that direction, but God's usually small nagging voice boomed in my ear.  He said, Amy, give me a year and let me open your heart and blow your mind.  Here goes everything!