Welcome

This is my first post on five minute Fridays.  In this wonderful and inspiring group, you are given a prompt, and for five minutes, you write about that prompt.

Today's prompt- Welcome. Fitting, as I am really just starting to invest my time in sharing the Lord in our lives, because I wanted a more neutral environment (blogging, neutral? eh, I know- but still) to freely share how God is working in our corner of the world and inspiring others.

Welcome- our family is far from perfect, but we are attempting to muddle through this corner of the world, with the cross God has given us to bear, while turning Jesus daily for guidance.

Welcome- we have two children with cerebral palsy, and our walk is quite a bit different.  But then, isn't everyone's walk different, full of hills and valleys, wins and losses?

Welcome- I look forward to sharing with you big wins, epic failures, and different ways I try to make our lives easier- even when they end up making our life harder in the end!

Welcome- and know, that my family's most intense desire is to let His light shine through us- even if it's through a broken pot (because sometimes beauty comes from the most imperfect and unexpected places!).

Welcome to my tiny little blog- I hope you feel encouraged here, and come back to visit soon!

Amanda

Get Stronger With Me Spiritually!!

This week, I am sharing some of the printables for study purposes I have been inspired to design!  When I chose the word Stronger for 2015, I knew it would be multi-faceted.  Spiritually speaking, I  know I have been luke-warm, and I don't want to be anymore!

I want to have an in depth love,thirst, and knowledge of Jesus.  I want to venture beyond the milk, and get to the meat of scripture.   I want to be comfortable sharing what I learn with people I love, and strangers alike.  In order for that to happen (in my eyes, anyway) I need to study, and have tools to study with!

My generation was what I believe was the beginning of the massive paperwork study type generation. So when I set out to look for study sheets for the Bible, I was really taken aback at what I found to be a lack of what I needed.  I found a couple of  things that somewhat met my need, but not entirely.  I found notebooks at The Redheaded Hostess that were supposed to be appropriate for all faiths, not just Mormon, but I wanted something I could print over and over and organize and re-organize as time went, but would still want to be able to read my notes (and use them for teaching or family devotions).  Then I found a few printables at One of A Kind Gifts, but nothing seemed to hold the key to entirely giving me what I wanted.  I appreciated what these ladies had given, and they inspired me, but I wanted something along those lines, but more me. So I created a whole slew of printables for me, and decided to go ahead and share them with the blog world.  If you need something like this, please feel free to download them and use them as much as you need, but please do not sell them or reproduce them in a manner than that is for personal study only! Thank You!

Over the next week, I will be slowly rolling out some of the things I designed and will be using in my own personal studies.  These might be for accountability, character (and characteristic) study, studying the Bible by Chapter & Book, devotion help sheets, sermon breakdowns, or just your daily check up checklist.

If you are anything like me, it is easy to hit the ground running in the morning with the intention of spending time with the Lord "later" and then it's dinner time and bedtime before you know it, and you haven't spent any time with the Lord, in His Word, or any time in prayer.  I can totally admit my shortcomings, and I wanted to change that this year!

Whether you believe it takes 21 or 66 days to develop habits, the truth is, it takes time, accountability and consistency, regardless of a timeline.  For me, this accountability comes in the form of a checklist.  I need a constant reminder to take a break from my daily to-do list to make time for God. I hate that I am that way, but I  want to be real.  So here is my check-list.  It has space for 6 weeks of checklist style reminders- Prayer/Journal, Bible Reading, Scripture Memory.  All very important aspects of my study time.  You can  download this here or click on the picture to download.

The other thing I am sharing today is a devotion sheet.  It's easy to breeze through reading a small devotion and check it off the list, but I wanted to really take the time to understand what my devotion 

was trying to teach me and how to apply it to my life.  So, here is a sheet for you usage as  well.

You can click here to download and  use this printable or click on the image to download.  

Enjoy, and I look forward to sharing with you over this next week!! 

One Word 365- Choose One Word for the Year

Ditch the resolutions- Choose a word!

I love this!  I hate failing, and I usually fail at resolutions after about February.  So, the last few years, I have been loosely participating in something different-

Last year, I chose- Peace.  Ugh.  that was a distinct invitation to Satan- please, come rain chaos in my life.  This year, no thanks.  I chose-

My goal is to be Stronger in the following areas:

1) Spiritually Stronger- More study time, more study tools, more family study time, more Bible Reading, morning devotion as a family (and yes... I will be sharing these awesome new tools with you!).

2) Physically Stronger- I am not going to set a weight loss goal for this year, or anything like that, I am just going to work on being healthier, and stronger, and stronger willed (pass on the ice cream once in awhile, ya know?).

3) Personally Stronger- In homemaking, being a wife, being a mother.  I started this journey in November when I realized I couldn't stand the chaos and disorganization anymore.  Meal planning, home management binder organization, cleaning schedule.  You name it.  It's happening around here.  It's a slow process, but that's why I have a year, right?

Once a month, I am going to be blogging about how this process is going for us (me).  I am hoping by setting standards on growth, my family will come along for the ride as well.  We shall see!!

Until next time!

Excited For January!!

I know at this point, I have, like zero readers.  That is OK.  It's not about that this year for me.  I am excited to see January come!  I am excited because I finally feel like the right direction is coming, and that my husband and I have started making strides toward some really really great things.

We (I) knew that once I made the commitment to be more organized and structured, it would be hard break our old habits.  In November, I knew it was a commitment that was going to take time and preparation.  So, I started getting ready for January.

I sat down, and worked on a home management binder.  I knew I needed one to keep my sanity, but for years I had failed to make one work for me.  It was frustrating, and an expensive experiment as well.  I have a huge stack of printables that I printed thinking I would use it, and now it's wasting away, because they just didn't work for me.

So on my list, I decided on the following areas that were important to me.

1. Spiritual
2. Finances
3. Daily To Do Lists
4. Meal Planning
5. Cleaning

And a calendar in the front to keep my schedule in line.

These areas are important because they are the anchors of our family chaos.  If I can keep these going, in my own way, then I will be successful at getting things under control. After all, God is not the author of chaos, right?

The other thing my husband I and decided to do, was to sit down a few days before the start of a new month, and set goals for that month.  This puts us in the right frame of mind to start the month, and on the same path, so we are not pulling against each other with what we think needs to be done.  We felt so good last night when we went to bed, knowing we had set our plan out together.

I have several free printables I have designed for getting your year in gear with Bible Reading and Bible Study.  Both my husband and I are excited to start using these tools, because it is a way for us to begin a new course in our lives in growing closer to the God, together.

Until next year....

What's Going Into My Home Management Binder This Year...

As I have been working on and sharing the idea of a home management binder, more people have begun to ask me what I included in mine this year.

The first thing I did was sit down and ask myself what exactly I was hoping to accomplish by having a home management binder.  The reality is, this is my third or fourth attempt at said binder.  Could it be that it was because I was doing it someone else's way, and not my own?  Is it because my goals are different, and instead of making it work for my goals, I was making my goals work through it?  Probably.

So here is what I came up with:
1. I need to know what day it is, and what is going on that day.
2. Spiritual accountability.
3. Budgeting and Bill pay.
4. Daily To Do Lists.
5. Menu planning.
6. Cleaning.
7. Extra blank documents.

This is my monthly calendar.  I love it!  This blog has lots of great stuff.  You can find it here.  



Next up, I have my spiritual accountability.  This is divided into subsections.  The thing is my 52 week Bible reading plan on a single sheet.  I need a checklist.  In everything.  It's a problem, I know. You can find the link to print it here.  

Next is the scripture memory.  I set out out to find a yearly scripture memory plan, and Anna Voskamp did not disappoint!  This is an old plan, but I like it because it starts on January 4, which is a Sunday, which made it easy to have an accountability group at church to work with.  You can find it here.  I love that she has awesome pretty printables to print and put up through your journey to remind you.  I am a KJV girl, so I might have to rework them, but still the reminder is awesome!

**I had problems getting the guide to print, but was able to use my snipping tool to get the first half of the year to print.  I just never could get it download and print.  It would send a blank sheet of paper through my printer and that was it.  Frustrating yes, but I was able to work around it, because I think the project is totally worth it.  I am not sure how to access the studies that go with each memory verse, but I am sure there should be an archive.  I am just working on scripture memory in general, so again I needed a check list.




Next up are the prayer journal pages that I shared previously on my blog.  You can print these out at your leisure. It is in seven different files.  I use these to give myself quick reminders of things I need to pray for.  I *might* do a prayer journal, but this is a good first step in disciplining myself in the area of prayer.  I know I shouldn't need a checklist for these things, but sad as it is, if I don't, I get started on the day and simply forget to do them.

You can find all seven files to download off of Google Docs here.


Next in my binder I have a Family Weekly Bible Study Planner Sheet.  I designed this because we plan to have weekly Bible Study as a family, and my children are getting old enough that I want to start giving them responsibility in this, and teaching them how to teach, because they will have to teach their families one day.  I love the thought of Family Home Evening, but we are not Mormon, so I thought I would take the principle and convert it to a format that we could use.  I am also providing this for download out of Google Docs and you can get it here.

I have all of these sub categories clipped together with pastel colored binder clips.  To save paper, I also try to print front and back as well.


The next section is the Budge & Finances.
I only have two sub sections in this category, as we are mostly debt free (my student loans are auto pay, and the only debt we have), so our finances are pretty straight forward.
This first thing I have is a paycheck budget sheet from Ms. Wenduhh.It's pretty simple, but has some color, and I am always about some color.  Get the Paycheck Budgeting printable here.
 The other thing I have is a Monthly bills sheet from Orchard Girls.  This gives me a place to write my paid confirmation numbers, the bill etc. Get the monthly Bills printable here. 


Section Number 4 is The Daily To Do lists.
The first thing I have is this reminder of why I do everything I do in the first place.  I found this great graphic on Pinterest, but sadly it only took me to a cache, so I took the exact image and put it on a document with a border.  If you know who's it is,  I would love to give credit for it!  Please let me know!

Next I am back to The Hand Made Home for my Weekly planner pages.  Instead of a full sheet of paper wasted for a To Do list everyday, I decided to use these sheets to make out my to do list.  I love the bright colors, wide lines, and that my home made calendar stickers work perfectly here on these lines.  The colors are great!! And it suits my purpose.  Get Them Here! 






Next Tab please!!
This is the menu planning portion of my binder.  I love to menu plan and shop for my menu plan.  I know, I am totally a nerd.  I got this great 4 week Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snack menu from Crystal at Money Saving Mom, with her book Say Goodbye To Survival Mode.  I like that it's one sheet for a month basically. Get more information about Crystal's book and contact her for the printables here.   I hated wasting a whole sheet of paper per week.  I do not know if she is still offering this free packet of printables, but I loved the book, and this one printable was a great resource for me!  I also have a great weekly menu laminated on my refridgerator so that I can write the weekly menu out, so I do not have to constantly answer the "Whats for-?" question.  When you cook three meals a day, it gets asked, often!  You can find them everywhere, but this happens to be my favorite! I love the colors and the cute owls.  :) Get this cute Owl Meal Plan here at I Heart Planners. 

I have two printed grocery shopping organization sheets in my binder after the menu planner (because we plan first and shop second, right?) because it depends on where and how I am shopping.  If I have one place to shop, I use the editable grocery list printable from Erin at Happy Organized Life.  If I am making multiple stores, with coupons and price matching, I use the Coupon Queens Shopping list, but I had Erin make me a customized List with only two stores.  Examples of both of the printables I use are in the pack shown below, and if you have a need you cannot find a printable for, Erin is amazing to work with!  Her monthly club is great as well if you are just getting started and like printables sent directly to you.  You can find her Etsy Store Here.

Erin @ Happy Organized Life

Next in my binder is the Cleaning Schedule s Tips & Tricks Section.  In here, I have a once a week cleaning checklist, and a laminated monthly deep cleaning check list.  It helps rotate through the deep cleaning that normally gets forgotten about around here.  Also in this section, I have a laminated copy of our 30 Minute Clean Routine we are going to be doing every morning before school, it was editable and also came from Happy Organized Life.   I also have a copy laminated on the fridge.  The cleaning checklists are from the Clean Mama Printables Etsy shop, and well worth the $10.  You will save it in paper, I promise! You can get her products here at her Etsy Shop.



So far, that is all I have!  You can also download the tab pages I created.  I trimmed down the pages, and glued them onto matching cardstock and punched out my tabs to match and then laminated them.
I am offering them to you as well.  Here is a sample of what they look like! I added scripture to each so that I would know the Lord's purpose in all that I do!  You can download all of these here as well!