Making Your Home a Haven - Refresher Series

1) Refresh Your Spirit
I am starting a book 31 Days with God for Mothers,(Barbour publishing) that I will be going over every week on Making your home a haven series. This week's title is "Time for a break". "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest" Matthew 11:28. We know as mother's it seems we never get enough rest, there is always something that has to get done. But that is not the rest this verse is talking about. The rest this scripture is talking about is what only Jesus can provide. If you rest in Jesus the means feeling secure in Him and allowing His peace to fill your soul. So even though or lives are always busy and wives and mothers, we can find rest in Jesus. Start being thankful for the Lord's promises and His everlasting love for you and allow His love to overwhelm you and... rest.(some are my interpretation but for copyright reasons Used with permission)

2)Do Your Morning Routine
-time with God
-get dressed
-make breakfast
-get the children fed and dressed
-clean the kitchen

3) Take Time to Plan
-Laundry
-dusting
-Kitchen
-unpack one box(I still have boxes of "junk" that needs to be unpacke

4) What's on the Menu for Dinner?
I plan on making beef stroganoff, mashed potatoes, green beans, and biscuits.

5) Project of the Day
Main part of the house and Kitchen



This is the entry way, not that bad but it definitely needs to be mopped


Living room needs some tiding up(my coupons are all over the table, I need to organize them)


another living room view


Not too bad except last night pots and pans that I have to hand wash


another kitchen view



I need to eliminate refrigerator clutter like magnets



Breakfast area not too bad

I will update later with after pictures, makes sure to visit Crystal's blog for more Making your Home a Haven.


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First update 12:08 my morning routine is done. All laundry is done except for folding and putting away the clothes. Kitchen is done. I am about to go fix lunch and then start dusting. I will show after pictures later on in the evening. Blessings

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It is 4:53, and everything on my list is complete except going through that dreaded box. Here are the after pictures:



Much better



I got rid of some of that clutter



I even got rid of some of the magnets and wiped sown the refrigerator, hopefully some time this week I will detail the refrigerator inside and out.



Nice and clean dining area




The entry looks nice





The living room is complete



I thought this candle would be appropriate for the day it is called "Heavenly Home", and it smells wonderful. I hope everyone has had a wonderful day "Making their home a Haven" Blessings Delilah

Super Savings Saturday~Craig's list

One way to save money is Craigslist.org. I usually sell all my children's clothes, school books, etc on eBay, but for bigger items you can list them on craigslist for free. We listed our house, car, furniture, and within days they sold. We also found this house we are in now on craigslist. You can buy anything on there for a fraction of the cost. The only thing is you have to watch out for people who will scam you. My poor sister had some video games on there and a buyer sent her fake email supposedly from pay pal, telling her before she could access funds she needed to send a delivery confirmation. Poor girl lost the money she paid for shipping, plus the value of the games. That is why craigslist tells you it is better to deal locally. I only accept cash for the items I sell, because if you accept a money order or a money gram, it could be fake and even the bank will cash it but it will come back on you. For more great tips visit Moneysavingmom.

FRUGAL FRIDAY~EBAY

My frugal tip for today is ebay. In an earlier post I mentioned I bought a coach purse at a thrift store for $3.99, I sold it for $60. Now that is a nice profit. This week I also have all my homeschool items selling and the children's fall/winter clothes from last year that don't fit. So my tip this week is go through your stuff and list it on ebay to make some extra money. With gas prices as high as they are extra money is a must. For more great tips, visit Biblical Womanhood.

Making Your Home a Haven Monday: Refresher Series--Tackle the Bathrooms!

1.Refresh your spirit.

Crystal has encouraged us to pick out a verse, and I chose:

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."

Proverbs 18:10



I love this verse. Is it not the truth. Just calling out to the Lord can give you so much strength and make you feel so safe. I love the Lord with all my heart and want to live my life to serve him.



2. Take Time to Plan

To do:

Laundry from weekend

Dust the living room

Put up China in China cabinet



For dinner I plan on making Chicken Noodle soup with homemade bread.



3.Do something: Bathrooms

my bathrooms are pretty bad from the weekend, they need a good scrubbing. I will update with pictures soon.





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It has taken me longer than usual today to post pictures because this morning around 9 am my sister called me and told me she went to the doctor and they could not get a heartbeat on her baby. She is suppose to be 11 1/2 weeks pregnant, but the baby measured way too big. She said she could tell right away something was wrong because it looked like a blob and not a baby. The doctor tried for a while but could not get a heartbeat. I know all to well what she is going through but there are no words I could say to her. Everyone please keep her in her prayers, tomorrow she is going in for a d & c.



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Here is the before of the sink area:









and the after:



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Here is the whirlpool tub before(I do not know how that piece of paper got in there):





and after:







Here is the stand up shower before:







and after:







I hope everyone had a great day in "Making your Home a Haven". Blessings Delilah

super savings saturday

This week for Super Savings Saturday, I went to Cvs got 4 Bounty Paper Towel packs at $5.49, used a 4/20, 4 1/1, 10 ecbs spent 4.11 out of pocket and got back $10 ecbs(Thanks Crystal for the scenario). Then I went to Kroger and got $176 worth of groceries for $68. I love coupons!!!!(
Thanks to Ellie Kays Shop Save and Share. For more great tips make sure to visit Crystal.

FRUGAL FRIDAY

I went to the Goodwill yesterday because with my husband's job promotion, he went from wearing uniforms to having to dress up everyday, so he was in desperate need of some shirts. I got him 6 button up name brand shirts, me a dress, Haley some shoes, 4 bread pans, and a picture for the wall for $46. Then we stopped at another thrift store and I got me a skirt and I hit the gold mine. I found a authentic Coach purse for $3.99. It looked practically new. It is too small for me to carry so I am going to put it on Ebay, It retails for over $200. So hopefully I will make a nice profit. For more Frugal Friday tips visit Biblical Womanhood.

Giveaway at Families against Feminisim

Kelly is hosting a giveaway on her blog. It is for the "Reclaiming the Culture" series from Vision Forum. Make sure you stop by and enter this wonder giveaway.

Day at Gatlinburg and Ripleys aquarium with my sister! New pictures of Gabrielle(my cousin)

Last Wednesday my sister her husband and the kids went to Gatlinburg Here are just a few pictures













My cousin Felicia's water broke Thursday evening at 36 weeks, she was in labor for 24 hours, which is unusual for a third baby. Gabriella was born Friday night around 9:30 weighing 5 lbs 11 ozs. I don't have many pictures of Gabriella with Felicia because she was having trouble breathing and they had to put her on oxygen. I was at the hospital the whole time and was up 40 hours so I left right after she was born. I wouldn't trade it for anything though because I was there with her other two births. Felicia has been through so much especially losing sweet little Nathaniel 6 years ago. But I know Gabriella will be just fine. She should get to come home Monday.

Making your Home a Haven monday~Laundry

Today's Challenge at Crystal's blog :

1) Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)

Three things I am thankful for:
1.My salvation, without Jesus Christ I would be no where.
2.My family~my husband is my rock and the best man in the world. My children are such a blessing from the lord, and all of my other extended family.
3.My home~God has blessed us with all are needs.

STOP: Is your morning routine done? Don't move on to #2 unless it is!

2) Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)
My to do list:
-read God's word
-detail clean my room
-laundry
-mail off packages and bills
-get the house clean

For breakfast we are having cereal
For lunch we are having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
For dinner we are having spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, with boiled eggs


3) Do Something! (15 minutes or so)

"Today we're going to focus on the laundry and laundry room. Light a candle, put on your apron, turn on some uplifting music, and get busy!

Your goal by the end of today is to have all of your laundry finished, folded, and put away. I'm usually behind on the laundry on Monday mornings as I rarely run much laundry over the weekends so this will be a great project for me to tackle!

For those of you with a laundry room or laundry area, take some time to organize and clean up this area. Wipe down your washer and dryer, check for socks and other articles of clothing behind and on the sides of your washer and dryer, and clean out your dryer lint." (Crystal's words)

What a perfect day for this my cousin Felicia gave birth to her little girl Friday and I was in Georgia all weekend, so my laundry is really behind. So I will take a picture of before and update with pictures of after later.






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It took me longer than usual because my dryer would not dry my clothes I had to dry loads 2-3 times to get them dry. I sure do hope my dryer is not giving out on me, I believe it is a heating element. Oh well, I still have a load in the washer and dryer but then I am done for the day. I hope everyone else had a great day.

MAKING YOUR HOME A HAVEN

TODAY AT BIBLICAL WOMANHOOD CRYSTAL CHALLENGES US TO SPEND 10 MINUTES ON OUR LIVING ROOM. THAT IS A GOOD CHOICE BECAUSE MY SISTER IS HERE FOR A FEW DAYS AND WE KIND OF JUST BROUGHT EVERYTHING TO THE LIVING ROOM A THROUGH IT IN THE FLOOR. SO I AM GOING TO WORK ON THAT NOW AND WILL HAVE PICTURES UP IN JUST A MOMENT. I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A WONDERFUL DAY. BLESSINGS DELILAH

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HERE YOU CAN SEE BRYSON AND MY NEPHEW ETHAN PLAYING ON THE FLOOR. THEY ARE SO SWEET AND I AM SO GLAD I GET TO SPEND THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH DEE DEE AND ETHAN.




ANOTHER ANGLE OF BEFORE.




THE LAST OF ANGLE OF THE LIVING ROOM

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AFTER PICTURES MUCH BETTER










WELL NOW THAT IS DONE I STILL HAVE LAUNDRY AND THE REST OF THE HOUSE. IT SO NICE TO HAVE A CLEAN HOUSE. I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER WHEN THERE IS NO CLUTTER.