Setting up a daily routine.

In my first few days of "Stay at Home Daughter" endeavors, it became very clear that my schedule was really out of whack. I was staying up extremely late, sleeping in all morning... wandering around not getting things done, etc etc. I knew this needed to change if I was ever going to start being productive.

So last night before I went to bed (at 10:30, seriously early compared to normal) I wrote out a list of things I wanted to do everyday. Starting at 6:30am I wake up and shower/get ready, then Bible study, Breakfast, Piano, French (God help me), some kind of craft/project, house cleaning, leisure reading, and then history. That all adds up and lasts until about five in the evening.

I know it may seem so silly to schedule everything like that, but I really feel like I need to discipline myself to follow a routine, especially when I would much rather just snooze all day. I think this will really help me to be productive and meet some goals that I have set. Even the leisure reading. If I don't force myself to do things like that, it's easy to just say, "Oh I'll read some later" and then I never do it.

So here we are, my next step at this whole "Growing up" thing. Do you have some feedback? Does anyone else have a routine that they follow? :)

My First Steps as a Stay at Home Daughter.

I contemplated whether or not to write about this journey in a private journal, or here on a blog. Obviously, the blog won out. Hopefully, prayerfully, someone will find encouragement here. Maybe it will influence someone... I can only hope. :)

Deciding to become a stay at home daughter was an awkward choice for me. My home life probably isn't typical to other girls who make this choice. I was not saved young, I've experienced a lot (read: too much) of the world, I only homeschooled my senior year as God led... For some reason, these things make me feel inferior to other ladies who have always lived such a lifestyle as the one I'm pursuing. BUT praise be to the Lord, He gives us clean starts. Not only does He give us a new chapter in life, He gives us an entirely new book!

My first step towards this decision was to talk to my parents. They didn't quite understand what I was getting at to begin with, but after much discussion (and showing them a few blogs of other girls making similar choices) they have accepted and given total consent. This is a huge weight off of my shoulder. The world is good at making us feel like we are obligated to work and be career women, so taking another path is scary! Knowing that my parents are supportive makes it seem possible.

So I got past that and then I was left with a "Well, now what?" feeling. I started to look around my life and try to decide what I had been neglecting. Things that I knew would help my family. So, I cleaned the bathroom. (That may sound silly, but it felt monumental.) I scrubbed that place like karate kid, and it felt really great. I did that without being told simply because I knew it needed to be done. So try, if you would, to understand my point. Cleaning the bathroom wasn't really all that big of a deal, but it was a first step towards responsibility and serving my family.

I've moved now to organizing and doing some nitty gritty work on my bedroom. I'm putting things where they belong, giving everything a home, throwing away tons of hoopla I don't need. It's very refreshing, and it's encouraging. By God's grace I can be a help to my family, I can train myself to be a servant to God, and I can prepare myself for being a homemaker. The Lord is very, very good!

The first steps have been taken, and I can't wait to see where God will take me from here! <3 :)

From my heart.

This is my first post on this blog, and I really want to share my heart with you about some things.

I have been a Christian since December 5th, 2007. God is honestly my entire world, and without Him I am nothing but sin and shame. There is nothing good that comes from me. I never want anyone who reads this blog to feel inferior, or put down. My aim is to show others just what God can do with a low life sinner. I am living proof that God uses the base things of this world for His glory. I really want to emphasize this because I know (and have felt) how intimidating some blogs can be. The ladies that write them seem impeccable and sinless, almost untouchable. I do not want to be that blog. I want everyone to feel welcome and loved and encouraged.

I have a number of other reasons for wanting to start this blog. Mainly, I need encouragement. I need to have other Christian ladies in my life that are like-hearted. I am nineteen years old, graduated, and wasting my time bumming around the house! God has so greatly convicted me to be productive and useful in my home life. These years shouldn't be "suffered through" or a burden... I should be growing in HIM and learning to be a Christian lady.

So here I am. Here is my heart. Please join me on this journey of mine and know that you are not alone. We are all fighting this battle. And we, as Christians, have victory.

<3