Nearing the end...

I am nearing the end of the challenge.  I officially need to send in my 'review' by the end of next week.  I haven't finished all of the challenges as of yet; the two kid bedrooms I am hoping to have finished by the end of the week.  We are purchasing, Lord willing, a second bunk bed for the girl's room.  It is my hope that once that is in place and we rearrange where the kids are all sleeping, I'll be able to finish all three of our rooms!  I must say that this has been quite a time of growing and stretching for me.  I've never had a book with such a wonderful guideline to help me in my quest to organize my home and create a functional and homey atmosphere.  I plan on rereading the book every month as a new challenge period for myself in order to further cement it's teachings into my brain.

Today was a busy, yet very productive day.  I purchased, through a recommendation, a book entitled "Managers of Their Chores" that has been a huge blessing.  I have always struggled in implementing an effective chore system and this book has helped to create one.  It calls for assigning ChorePacks to each child, I also have one, for different chore times throughout the day.  We have Morning, Lunch, and Evening ChorePack times.  Today was the first day that I implemented the new system.  It was amazing to see how excited the kids were in using them.  I also really enjoyed using them because I had a 'list' throughout the day of what I needed to do.  Another thing that helped me today was one of the Mary challenges in my "31 Days to Clean" book and that was to write up a schedule of my day.  I was able to discover how much free time we as a family have if I'm following the schedule.  Some days will have less than others due to outside activities, Church/Bible Study/Piano, but with the schedule I was able to tailor each day of the week for my family.  It feels so good to be able to look around my house and, though it's not yet finished, see how far I've come.  Thank you all so much for following me on this journey and keeping me accountable as well as encouraging me.  It has helped me to stay with the challenges because I am one to just say, 'I can't do this today, I'll do it tomorrow' and never get it finished.

Pray for me as I embark on the next challenge of reading the Bible in 90 days, as well as maintaining my home and being the wife and mother that God wants of me.