A Moment with M.O.M.- Keeping the Home orderly

Keeping the Home orderly throughout the chaos of the day can be a challenge if you aren't prepared. Last week I shared that the first critical step to "getting it all done" is order in our lives. Order in our relationship with God, our husbands and with our children. Order in our home, order in our schedules, and order with our priorities!

When my children were little we had a few 'techniques' for keeping the home orderly. Today, we don't have to use these much anymore. It seems we have learned to operate more orderly in general so there is less panic moments. One of the things that is very important to my husband and I is that people feel welcome when they come to our home.

We are often praying for His peace to pour down on our home so that others feel His grace. We want our home to invite others in so they desire to learn more about our Lord's amazing grace! With His peace in place in our home the kitchen dishes won't be a bother. However, if the home is perfect in cleanliness but lacking His peace our guests will leave feeling empty.

Another thing we use to do was have an SOH (save our home) moment! I would be schooling the children and somehow the house would explode with laundry or pencils and paper scattered from one end of the house to the other. I would decide that we would take a 'break' from whatever we were doing and set the kitchen timer for 5 min. I would then declare, SOH! and we would all work as fast as we could to clean up the home. The children enjoyed the challenge and would rush about saying, "SOH!"while working hard to beat the timer bell. It was fun to see how nice we could make our house look in such a short amount of time! Now, there are a couple of important tips to make this SOH successful in your home. First, start cleaning up the area that is the first thing people see when they come to your home. We would often have a child sweep the porch while the rest of us cleaned up the front room or entry that people would see if they dropped by for a visit. After the timer would go off, I would go to the front door and look at the home as if I had just entered as a guest. Any last minute pick ups would be done and then we would go back to our scheduled activity. Another critical tip is this: YOU have to participate! If you are sitting on the computer or the phone it won't work. You have to join the fun for this to work! Make sure you are being cheerful and encouraging others as you rush about with the children. Make sure you are putting your cheer leading skills into practice as you cheer for each of your children as they show up for the SOH. Don't forget to give a 'high five' as the timer goes off and you all see what you've accomplished! Make the SOH fun! It's been a long time since I have had to call for an SOH. Maybe we should have an SOH just for fun!

I hope you have found this idea to spur on your own creativity! May the Lord's peace fill every part of our hearts and home!
With much love,
Mrs. Joseph Wood