Vacay! and Gentle Domesticity Catch-up

My girls and I were blessed last week to be invited to join my brother's family as they went camping in the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee (don't you love all those double letters?!). Though I was sad that my husband couldn't come along, I was happy that three of my kids could. And we had a fun, if not tiring, time hiking through the mountains.

We camped near an old settlement called Cades Cove, and enjoyed our self-guided tour through the valley settlement's restored farms and village.

We also enjoyed some time sitting by the campfire and answering the question "Who from the past would you most like to meet and speak with?"

This is actually less than half of our group.

I chose Augustine's mother, Monica, who persevered for many years in praying for her son's conversion and salvation. He eventually became a great theologian and servant of the Lord. I want to be that kind of persevering prayer warrior (with similar results, I hope).

It was a great time of refreshment, of discovering how out-of-shape I am (wheezing up mountain sides will do that), of enjoying God's magnificent creation, of good fellowship with family and new friends, of giggles and loud singing during the long drive from Northern Michigan (bellowing the little bit of the song "Rocky Top" that we could remember as well as "Elvira"), and renewed gratitude to be home. We were greeted at home by the lovely sight (though actually ugly) of snow melting.

So, that's why I missed getting to post about last week's Gentle Domesticity reading. So now I'm rejoining on Week 12.

Our fearless leader, Jenny, asked some questions at the end of her blog post on this week's reading which I'll use as springboards for my thoughts.

*  Is your life patterned with rhythms, routines, rituals? If so, what stands out as those which rarely change.

I have had a variety of patterns throughout the seasons of life. Since I have homeschooled my six children, I've worked at having at least a rhythm to life, changing as needed, ie. when we've just had a new baby things change. Also, teenagers don't get up so early in the morning, so school start-times changed through the years, too. I've worked up chore charts to keep the home clean and neat as well as to teach the children responsibility and how to keep their homes neat as they grew up.

*  If you have struggled with disorder or dare I say it, chaos, in your home, has anything shared today given you a light bulb moment? What was it?

I don't think there was anything particularly new, just mostly nodding in agreement.

*  Perhaps you're someone who can wing-it in your domestic life. Are there still patterns within?

People have often said that I am an organized person when they see my menu hanging on the refrigerator, or the chore chart hanging nearby, but I think that I am not really a naturally organized person, so I need the charts and lists to organize me. I do naturally have a regular wake-up time and go straight to my quiet time with the Lord before I start the rest of the day. That has not always been the case; I worked at making that happen, and when I had lots of little kids who woke early, it didn't always happen.

I do like the order of doing certain things at certain times of the day or week, just to be sure that they get done. Yesterday I designed some weekly planner pages to keep me on track. I was trying to use a bullet journal, but that wasn't so great when so many of my jobs are repeated (ie. sweep the floor twice a week, clean bathrooms 2-3 times a week, etc.) and I'd have to rewrite stuff so often. 

So I'm making my general, repeated lists on the computer and leaving open spaces in which to write new projects/commitments. Here's a peek at my new page:

Not really fancy, but it does the job nicely and looks fairly cute. I can even change the images to fit seasons and moods. This doesn't include lesson plans; I chose to put them on a different page because it was looking to cluttered and hard to find things.

*  When it comes to the art of making or learning something different are you a gestator or do you jump right in?

Usually it takes me a long time to get at something new because I have so much that I want to try. I tend, however, to get started on something new and exciting before I've finished the previous project. (sigh) 

I'm working on that which is why my new fascination...

...still sits on the bookshelf several month after purchase. So, there's hope for me to get some projects done before starting new ones. 😄