The Simple Life at Home

First off, I apologize for not being around much this week, either here or visiting your blogs. It seems that the fall that I took did a little more damage than I realized. Once the pain from the bruising went away, I was still left with a painful golf ball sized swelling on my ankle as well as pain in my knee. I know, I know, I should go to a doctor. But I'm still nervous about going to a doctor in a brand new (to us) foreign country. If it doesn't go away in a couple more days, I guess I will. I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, I covet your prayers and your patience.

So this has been a week of trying to be more disciplined all around. It seems as though there are times when every area of my life kind of spirals out of control and I run around from here to there just trying to put out fires.

I've begun to read Ordering Your Private World, by Gordon MacDonald. People have been recommending this book to me for the past 20 years almost. I must admit that I have begun it before and not finished it, but now I find myself being more and more drawn into it. I want to have that sense of inner peace and order he describes. I find myself all too often in the characterizations he draws of someone who does not have order internally.

Some of the areas I've been working on this week include:

Homeschooling - Unfortunately, I often allow myself to be too lax and undisciplined here, just allowing my children to skate by doing the minimal amount of work. We've made a great deal of progress in the past week or two. I'm still not caught up to where I would like us to be, but then again, we did fall behind in part because I was a little busy what with moving across the world and all. However, it's time to stop using that as an excuse and get cracking.

Parenting - I have been lax in this area too, much to content to just send my kids upstairs to their rooms rather than deal constructively with discipline issues. It's too easy when you are weary to just stop the immediate problem and not deal with the underlying issues that cause the problems in the first place. I would like to give my children credit though. I have seen tremendous growth in them over the course of the last two months. Yes, they still fight, but they have also become much closer. They are much more willing to try new foods, having been picky eaters all their lives. They have also pitched in and are much more willing to help out with the chores around here, sometimes without even being asked!

Nutrition - Not just for me, but for my kids too, this has always been a problem. And it's my fault. I give in and buy them unhealthy snacks because I want them too. But in the last couple of weeks, I've definitely been encouraging them to eat healthier as I'm trying to as well. We've made a decision as a family (well, ok, Hubby and I imposed it upon the kids) that we are going to stop buying chips and junk food for at least the summer. Yesterday they didn't even ask for any junk food. Emily asked for sunflower seeds as a snack. Progress!!! Happily, I've lost about 5 pounds without really struggling for it since we moved into this house about a month ago.

Homemaking - I have floundered with this since our move. I was on a fairly good schedule in our previous home, but have been struggling to adjust. However, I think I'm getting it worked out and the house is usually neat and tidy by the time Hubby comes home, dinner is either on the stove or ready, and the laundry is kept up on.

Sadly there are two areas that I am still not seeing improvement in.

My Bible reading is woefully behind, although I do feel as though I am more often in a mode of prayer. I often take time while driving or washing dishes or doing laundry to just talk to God. But I would like to get back on my reading straight through the Bible plan.

And then there is exercise. Ugh. I did go for a walk with Hubby on Friday morning, but that resulted in the most excruciating pain and swelling in my ankle, so that may have to wait a little bit. Besides, Doha is not exactly a "walking" city, if you know what I mean. There are duststorms frequently and there are no sidewalks near us. Hopefully Hubby will figure out how to get our treadmill working (apparently it needs a special converter) so I can begin to use that again.

So while there has been lots of progress there are still areas where I need to instill discipline into my life.

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Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. Prov. 23:23

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. I Timothy 1:7

Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. Prov. 25:28

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Titus 2:3-5