Saturday, April 16, 2011

routine, routine, routine

I look at the clock and I see it's 400p. Yikes! Dishes are still dirty, laundry is still not put away, dinner is not close to being started and I'm still in my pajamas.

I feel like I've been busy all day and yet have accomplished zilch. Hubbers will be home in an hour and the house is definately less than presentable, as am I.

Is this just me or does this happen to you other Mommy-gals out there? (Please don't say it's just me... I will officially go down as worse homemaker wife everrrrrr!)

Something's just got to be done. I can't continue to have my husband come home to a messy house and a pajama wearing wife. He works hard outside of the home all day and has a paycheck to prove it. I, on the other hand have nothing but the manner in which he finds me, our home and our children when he gets home as "proof."

So far, I should probably get fired.

Now, don't get me wrong-- this isn't an every day thing (no, really, it's not...). But part of being a Proverbs 31 wife is a consistent and continual honoring of our husbands. In everything! The way we look, the way our home is when they come home from work, etc.

Mike Bickle from IHOP-KC did a teaching series called "The Power of a Focused Life." In it, he mainly discussed the importance of scheduling our time in prayer and in the Word. He encourages us to schedule out our day so that we may be consistently using our time wisely and for the glory of God.

So, a few nights ago... I came home, sat down with my calendar, prayed and came up with a daily schedule that will provide me with structure throughout my day. I've scheduled in my time with the Lord, our little family's devotion time, Mommy's shower and "getting ready time" (yes, believe it or not, I have to do this... Otherwise I'll stay in my pj's all day and take a 2min shower right before bed) as well as daily homekeeping and cleaning.

I seperated my day into two routines; morning and afternoon. I much prefer it this way because it's not overwhelming. Seeing my entire day in one glance tends to overwhelm and discourage me, so breaking it down into two portions of my day makes so much more sense for me and keeps me encouraged at pursuing it rather than discouraged.

I also went ahead and stopped this scheduled routine when Daddy comes home. I didn't want to be too rigid with a routine when Daddy came home so that we were free to spend time as a family, without additional "requirements" for Daddy to fill. I tend to be a strickler when I commit to routines and schedules like this, and understanding my weakness, I didn't want to become a "dripping faucet" to my husband. ;)

Additionally, we have designated nights for things in our homes and I feel like that's routine enough. =) Tuesdays are family prayer nights, Wednesday's Mommy attends a class, Thursdays are date nights (hoorahhh!) and Fridays Mommy works and Daddy has Daddy-Daughters Date Nights!

Naturally, like Mike Bickle said, "we can't keep a schedule 100% of the time, but if we keep it 80% of the time (and that's high), then we are greatly increasing our productiveness..." as Mommies, Wives and Homemakers. Pretty much as individuals.

Having this routine this week has greatly helped me. It's been a busy week and I haven't been able to keep it super consistently, but it's already provided me with such a better ebb and flow to our day!

What about you? Do you keep a daily routine? If so, how did you break it up and how does it work for you?

2 comments:

  1. This is great! I do struggle with that, minus staying in my pj's all day, lol! I could not do that. But everything else yes. And I've been trying my best to follow the Proverbs 31 wife and mother. Just yesterday I ask Eliott if he could start reading that to me. I know it sounds silly, like I cant read, but when I was pregnant and worked full time every morning before we both went to work he would read that to me and I feel like it made a huge difference. As for the schedule I recently made up one to, well this is the like the 10th one,lol. But Im trying. My problem is that if I dont do one thing on the schedule I feel like I've srewed up on the rest. So lets keep encourgeing each other as moms. This is awsome!

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  2. I love this! I myself actually most of the time stay in my pjs. I try my best to have the house picked up before Moe gets home. I started a schedule too a few months back, I think routine is awesome n babies thrive off of it. Grace really loves when we are constantly doing something and not just wingging it everyday. My schedule ( which I have failed to really follow after Joshua was born) was an all day one starting from waking up to going to bed. Even though the major part of afternoon was being together as a family. I had meals, snack time, devotional, arts n crafts, reading, learning shapes, number n abc's...basically everything was mapped out :) I really need to get back with it, the days went quicker n my toddler was way less likely to throw tantrums. She is a busy body lol

    Routines Rock!! :)

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