Blogger Friend School Assignment #8 {Dirty Laundry}

Here is the assignment Tamara at Training Hearts challenged us with for this week:

Hmmm...How many are thinking what is this assignment going to be?  My laundry or something hidden deep within that you haven't shared?  Let me end the suspense and say BOTH!  Keep in mind that these assignments are meant to stretch you and encourage you to creatively blog.

Part A - Share about your family's laundry.  Where is it kept?  Who does it?  How does your family sort it?  Do you wash by hand? Hang clothes on the clothesline? Make your own laundry soap?  How often do you do laundry?  How many loads each day/week?  Indoor laundry room, in the garage, or a laundry mat? Even more fun...share a picture!

At our house, I am in charge of laundry, and do almost all of the sorting, washing and drying.  The kids do the folding and are supposed to put away their own laundry.  This usually works fairly well, the problem arises with getting the laundry folded and put away, because the kids seem to "forget" that if they want their clothes washed, Mom needs laundry baskets in order to transport laundry to the washer! And if the baskets are all full of unfolded laundry, this causes delays. 

 

I rarely wash anything by hand, but I do use the delicate cycle on a fairly regular basis.  We have a clothesline, and I do like to use it.  But I do whatever is most expedient, which is usually the dryer.  I have seasonal allergies, which can make hanging out the laundry a pain, and I think perhaps we live in a wind tunnel.  LOL  More times than not, it is so windy here that I fear that the laundry would wind up in the next county if I hung it out!

 

I recently bought supplies to try making my own laundry soap, but haven't tried it yet.  Probably won't happen till the new year, and I'll make it a school project. ;~)  We try to do at least one load of laundry every day, but on average I'd say we do 6-10 loads during a week.  The laundry area is in the unfinished part of the basement, so it's not very attractive, but it works.  But a picture?????? I think not.  LOL

Part B - Do you have an area in your life that you know that the Lord is tugging at some heart straings that needs to be cleaned up?  Have a testimony of your past struggle(s) that might help another homeschooling mom?  Share a piece of your heart (dirty laundry) that you are seeking a good washing or how it got cleaned up.  Sharing with one another is a great way to have your post feel human and real.

The area that I really need to be working on these days is my shameful tendency to procrastinate.  I am not a "schedule" person, I never have been, and I think that's okay.  But what's NOT okay is my bent to putting things off until the last minute.  It causes extra stress when I have several deadlines coming at once, and I imagine it probably causes me extra work many times as well.  I've made up schedules for schooldays, and when I follow the schedule, it really makes a difference! The trick is to follow the schedule every day!  So that is my dirty laundry.  Something I am doing, THIS WEEK, to deal with this issue, is to plan out a lesson outline for the co-op class I will be teaching starting at the end of January.  The supply list should be submitted by Dec. 1st, and since I'll be on vacation then, I am going to get the lessons outlined this week and get my supply list done EARLY!

 

As a testimony of a past struggle... for many years I nursed a bad habit in my thinking - it was not "wrong" or so I told myself, but I knew very well that it was not productive, or edifying, and it wasn't always thinking on those things that are lovely etc, as Paul says.  And when I was thinking about useless and stupid things, I couldn't very well be praying.  Yet it was a habit and I wasn't even sure it was necessary to retrain myself differently.  At revival services at church this spring, I decided that it WAS time to deal with this thing.  I realized that even if it wasn't directly harmful, it was not honoring God and it was distracting me from more edifying thoughts and from prayer.  So up to the altar I went and gave it over to God.  It was not an emotional thing for me (so it was kind of weird in a way to be at the altar without any weeping, because the others that came forward were mostly in tears, from what I could tell - I am weird though, so that's okay!) but a decision, a determination that I would do this with the LORD's help.  And I can say that God has taken that thought pattern AWAY.  It's like all He was waiting for, was for me to confess to Him that it was not good for me and that I needed help.  I know that God doesn't always deal with our habits and addictions that way, sometimes we need to fight the temptations as He helps us; but in this instance, God showed me so clearly that what I thought would be SO HARD to overcome was as nothing to Him.  In my weakness, He is strong. (II Cor. 12:10)  What I learned is that God has available ALL the power, the patience, the strength, the wisdom, EVERYTHING we need for living a godly life (II Peter 1:3) - all we need to do is come to Him and ask.

Part C - FIND a scripture this week that pertains to this assignment to help you with your laundry and share it this week.

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

~Psalm 90:12