31 Days To Clean Challenge Day 3

This day was all about how to give life to your home. How to raise your family’s home life above the level of mere existence. There were a list of 10 ways in the 31 Days to Clean book, but I will just share a few of my favorites
1. Retrain our tongues to give words that encourage, comfort and edify others.

2. Make our homes a place of grace where mistakes and sins are not met with anger but with love and hope.

3. Decorate our homes to make home a place of jewelry. Beauty raises life above the level of mere existence.

4. Play praise or worship music to lift everyone’s spirits. (Even king Saul in the Bible, when the Holy Spirit had left him, was refreshed and calmed by David’s worship.)

5. Ask the Lord, “What areas of our home are causing stress or bringing spiritual/emotional/mental deadness? What can I do to bring life to those places instead to make them a place of refuge?”

What are some other ways you can think of to “bring life” to your home environment?

The Martha challenge was to dust the top of the refrigerator and shelves, and clean and shine the kitchen cabinets. I never think to dust the top of the fridge!! It’s especially important for me to so though because my husband is tall enough to see the top of it every time he walks by. I can’t see it unless I stand on a chair. lol. I don’t want him to see that dusty mess all the time though so I’m trying to remember to keep up with it.
31 Days To Clean Challenge Day 3.

Diary Of An Imperfect Housewife

The name Diary of a Happy Housewife conjures up pictures in my mind of an immaculately clean, organized, tastefully decorated house with a wife who is dressed beautifully with her hair done, makeup on, cute little apron firmly in place, whipping up gourmet meals in a tidy kitchen and ready at a moments notice to drop everything to serve her husband with a good drink, a foot rub, or whatever his heart desires. Does it do that to you too? Now, those things are wonderful and goals I can reach for, but the reality is that my house is a 24 ft travel trailer with three cats (yes, I said THREE cats) and it is not perfectly clean, or organized, and there aren’t a lot of things I can do to decorate it because we want it to look pretty new and original in case we want to sell it in the future… I do try and look nice most days but sometimes I look frumpy and my hair looks disheveled or I just threw it into a ponytail, and I’m learning to cook more exciting and creative foods but I’m from a long line of meat and potatoes plain jane kinda cooks so it takes practice, and sometimes I’m a little selfish when my hubby asks for a foot rub when he get’s home from work.

So no, I’m not a perfect housewife, but I am a happy housewife. I’m happy doing what God has called me to do, serving and loving my husband, and making our home a welcoming and comfortable place. I am happy when I serve my husband with an unselfish heart. I’m happy learning how to do things better. I find joy in a clean kitchen, a mound of freshly washed and folded pile of laundry. I’m happy because I’m embracing the roll that God created me for, not because I love doing dishes or folding laundry. Even when life is difficult and things are hard I have a peace and joy, a sense of fulfillment in my life.

It helps too that my husband is a loving, gentle extremely hardworking man. He loves a good foot rub every night but he’s willing to return the favor with a back rub if I ask. He works very hard in the business he owns with some of my family, fixing equipment, maintaining our trailer and vehicle, paying bills, and being my tender loving friend and supporter, and I work to make our home a comfortable, welcoming, relaxing place for him to come home to, help with the bookkeeping, and try to be his loving friend, his biggest fan, and the one that he can confide in. It’s an equal partnership with two very different but very important roles.

Even if Josh wasn’t the amazing husband that he is, it would still be my responsibility to do my part, but I am so thankful to God for giving me a man like him. And that is a subject for another post 😉
So welcome to my blog. It’s a picture into my life as an imperfect wife learning every day and finding joy and fulfillment in the journey. I hope you will find something here that will encourage you.