Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Making Your Home A Haven: Clean


Good morning! How did your day go yesterday? I hope it was a blessing to you to be in your homes and focused on creating havens!

I was so encouraged to see all of the before and after pictures, goals for the day and Scriptures that you meditated on throughout the day! Great job, ladies! {PS: Does anyone have any ideas why the links from yesterday have mysteriously vanished?}

Let's move along to today!

Time with Our Father: This would be a great time to pray over our lists for today, pray for God's blessing on our homes and the homes of the other ladies participating and spend sweet time in fellowship with Him. One of my favorite prayers to begin the day with is the Prayer of Consecration. What thought will you carry with you today from your quiet time?

Yesterday, I focused on tidying - today I will focus on cleaning. With things picked up, this will go much more smoothly and even quicker! If you'd like to join in - make a list of the areas that need your attention in cleaning today or jot down a few items of our own for today instead. Whatever is most needed in your home. What is on your list today?

It is always fun to hear what everyone else is having for dinner - what are you serving tonight?

Here's my plan for today:

Up and dressed; sitting at the kitchen table by 7am for Quiet Time
Littles up; fed; dressed
Dust
Clean both bathrooms
Vacuum
Sweep and Mop floors
Clean kitchen
Clean entry way window
Dinner: Salad Bar with Chicken and Cheese Muffins

I would love to hear what you are planning for the day. If you are able or interested - please take before and after pictures and tell us about your day! I'll be posting my update later today on how our day went. Please add your link (directly to your post, please) or comment so we can visit and encourage one another. Let's also be diligent in praying for one another during this week. I look forward to hearing from you!

23 comments:

Catherine said...

Sorry to grab first spot again - I don't mean to be greedy, but your post comes in just as I am logging off at the end of the day over here! Next time I'll wait in line!

I'm focusing on the kitchen tomorrow! Though it can be discouraging to see the rest of the house when you've only worked on one area, there is also a sense of achievement in just sticking to one spot and doing it well.

Lisar said...

I'm in early this time also as I need to get to bed so I can be up early...your prayer of consecration is wonderful...I think I will put it on my fridge...speaking of which... really needs a good clean...so I think that will be my task for tomorrow.

LeeAnn said...

I missed yesterday, but I realized that didn't mean I couldn't follow through with the rest of the week!
I got up early and made my husband his lunch! I have never done that before!

Anonymous said...

I am up early and ready to go! I actually look forward to cleaning today, because all of the decluttering we did yesterday will make this easy work!

Unknown said...

Good Morning, Monica! Excited for another day! I will be focusing on following my schedule again and my cleaning spot will be my microwave!YUCK! We have a little friend coming to visit the kids today and we are going to make homemade playdough! Hopefully, I can keep up today will the Lord's help!

Unknown said...

Oh, the prayer you posted is such a good reminder! Thank you! I also am going to add in my kids rooms for my cleaning area...they need a little help getting them into better shape! :D

Elizabeth Sue said...

Monica, I added you to my blog list on my blog and couldn't help but noticing that we both refer to our blogs as kindred spirits. I guess we are both Anne fans as well! Have a great day.

Fatima said...

I'm going to give baskets to my 5 and 3 year olds and send them from room to room collecting stray toys today. It really works! Without the basket, they end up taking a toy to their room and distracted into playing with other toys! I hope to get the living room, kitchen and bathrooms cleaned today. Supper is easy tonight. Smoked Sausage (sliced up), two cans of green beans, one diced-up onion, 1 Teaspoon of salt, and some red potatoes in the crock pot for a few hours. It's yummy and so easy that I might even have time to make some bread to go with it.

Tania said...

My sister has told me anytime she post mister linky twice on her blog in one day she has some sort of problem. We wondered if this is just the case with the free version. So she waits until the next morning to post with Mr Linky. Don't know if that is why--hope that helps. (-:

Alesha said...

I missed yesterday, but I am jumping in today. This is a great idea, thanks for hosting this. Our homes are so important to our family life.

Laine said...

Here I go today, hope I can get it all done! =) I'm excited though!

Lisa @ The Plain-Spoken Pen said...

I got my Day 1 tasks accomplished, now we're tackling Day 2!

fixedonHIM said...

I was so happy to complete the goals yesterday. This has been an awesome and rewarding challenge! Thanks again Monica and all you ladies for all the encouragement.

Unknown said...

Monica,

Thanks for doing this! It is great motivation and accountability when you publish your plan for the day and share with others!

Sadie said...

Last night, we had spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. Today I'm baking a chicken, which we'll have with Au Gratin potatoes and steamed broccoli. I'll hopefully get enough leftover chicken out of it to use for enchiladas or soup later this week.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to seeing more progress here today. Thanks for sharing that prayer, it is really neat. I am so humbled that the Sovereign Lord of the universe would choose to care so deeply about us as to direct our steps through our homes each day, and yet...He does! What a privilege we have, to daily abide in Him and ask Him to work to bring fruit in our lives. I'm thankful for the focus you're doing this week, it's very timely for our family.

Michelle said...

We had an early start this morning and was able to get a lot accomplished earlier as well.

Jamie - Family Focused Fun said...

Just wanted to tell you I love these posts! So glad you took over since Crystal hasn't been doing them lately! They are so encouraging!

Anonymous said...

Sigh. I had stumbled across this and thought it was a great idea, but I am forever running out of time as a working mom with two little ones.

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

Sounds like a productive day! PRaying for your Wednesday! :D

Susannah said...

This challenge is helping me focus! Thanks!

I'm still not organized at all, and I'm still getting up too late. But our home is definitely better for it!

Jenn said...

Ok, finally I am done with my post on "Clean". My fridge is quite nice now. =D

I also put up a post on make-ahead (no pre-cook noodle) Lasagna here:

http://jennsnook.blogspot.com/2008/11/make-ahead-lasagna-using-regular.html

Joy @ SAH Missionary said...

Thank you Mrs. Monica. As usual, you are the best!

Blessings!