Learning to Embrace Chaos
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 5:00AM
Does chaos drive you a bit nuts?
I don't function well with chaos. My husband and I are both Type A and love things to be neat, orderly, and predictable.
(If you know me you are nodding your head... chaos for me is probably normal for most people. I'm just really high strung!)
Somehow my home has gotten a bit unorganized and chaotic. I always have prided myself on being organized and peaceful. I was trying to think back to a time when everything was "in order" in my home and just what caused things to go a little haywire.
I figured out the culprit.
HOMESCHOOL.
I think the bottom fell about about 5 years ago when I brought my kids home for school. Since then I just haven't had the time for big projects around my home, and I've also accumulated a lot of STUFF.
Sound familiar?
Over the next few weeks my presence here may be spotty. Between new flooring, painting, general decluttering and cleaning out of a basement, I am not anticipating a lot of time for blogging.
In addition to the home improvement projects we also have a series of choral concerts for a children's chorus my daughter sings with, a spring piano recital, and a 3 day Practicum for Classical Conversations. Oh yes - it's also baseball season, which means 2-3 games per week for my son. There's also the matter of standardized testing for my 7th grader.
The fundraiser for our youth mission trip to Savannah is also happening, along with a fun project we are starting with a friend of ours who is going to Ethiopia on mission in September.
Summer plans still need to be finalized.
Putting Things in Perspective
Sometimes I can get very whipped up about details. Small things can become a big deal and rob me (and my entire family) of joy. I try so hard to not let this happen, but despite my best efforts I often fail.
I'm not handling the disarray in my house well. I'm getting irritated by the sheer amount of junk I'm having to sort through.
I have to keep telling myself: Put things into perspective!
Of all the things I listed above that are on our schedule over the next few weeks, each one is a BLESSING.
The children in the orphanages in Ecuador weigh heavy on my heart. My worries and "chaos" are absolutely nothing compared to the lives those precious children live. My family is so burdened by "things". We are making an effort to get rid of many of them.
This van full of things we no longer need will hopefully bless someone else.
My children are working alongside me; we are having fun doing this together (and stopping for frozen yogurt on the way home from Good Will!), and hopefully this will promote ownership of the finished projects in our home.
How lucky am I to have this TIME with my children - healthy children, and the resources to make changes and improvements to my home?
I want to reclaim my dining room (I love this room, but it's been overtaken with clutter recently). My dining room set was a wedding present to my mom and dad 55 years ago!
When this room is complete (floors are getting refinished and I will make a few other changes) I want to invite people over more often for dinner. I want to eat in this room more often.
The carpet in this picture is probably 17 years old. The paint color has been the same since we moved in 10 years ago.
Yuck. I cannot wait for this carpet to be replaced with hardwoods! I have no idea about the new paint color, but I'm sure it will come together.
Did I mention patience is NOT one of my virtues? I think God really does have a sense of humor because he made me a homeschooling mom and made me live with this carpet. (Actually, I think He placed some amazing experiences in my path to grow me to this point. It's all part of HIS plan, not mine.)
Embracing the Chaos
I have a sneaking suspicion there will be a lot of good that comes out of this chaos.
When it's all said and done my carpet will be GONE. The yellow walls will be a distant memory.
We will have been LIVING our lives and making memories along the way.
I'm going to try very hard not to get too disturbed by the lack of order, the many things out of place, and a disturbance in our normal routine.
Instead, I want to embrace the chaos and look for all of the blessings to be found in the next several weeks.
*Thank you for understanding my sporadic blogging over the next month. I'll try to keep up here, but life may just be too chaotic for a bit! (and that's ok.)
Don't worry -- I'll be back soon to blog about preparing for our next year in Classical Conversations, a new SQUILT volume, and more!
Have you had a particularly chaotic time in your life? How did you handle it? Care to impart any words of wisdom?
Reader Comments (4)
I had to giggle at your last questions since you know we are experiencing a high level of chaos right now. I always say when others ask how to survive chaos ~ How would you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I hope the chaos decreases a great deal for both of us in the coming weeks. Your home will look wonderful soon. It sounds like some wonderful activities are in your future.
Blessings, Dawn
A chaotic time? Yes, I suppose that's been our normal in many ways since Mason was born. We are finally in the process of scheduling surgery 13 for him and he's just 2. Add in the more than 150 medical and therapy appointments he's had in those 2 years, homeschooling, having baby #8, and the general hubbub of raising 8 children and sometimes I wonder how we've made it this far with sanity intact. Truly, one lesson God has emphasized in this process is trusting in His timing. Things happen WHEN they happen for a reason. I can wish it all went according to my own plan but that is not helpful, nor is it what would really be best for our family. God's plan is always best. I also have had many lessons in being consistent. That could be consistent in decluttering, or cooking and mealplanning, or doing schoolwork, or doing Mason's physicaltherapy, or a hundred other things.
We have been fighting chaos since we brought the three littles home! For me, the key is to daily be reminded to find the joy in each moment and focus on what is really has Kingdom value and it's not a spotless home (in my opinion anyway;)
I try to get one important thing done by lunch, another priority accomplished by dinner, and one more by bedtime. Just three things a day...today it's writing a blog post, going to the eye doctor, and finishing the laundry. Nothing earth shattering I know, but definitely what I can handle (which gives me a sense of accomplishment).
Your home is beautiful and the changes you are making sound amazing! Blessings!
Ah, I remember when we first replaced our hardwood floors! Now after another child and almost eight years, I am thinking of having them refinished to their original beauty! Actually an image you posted on Facebook recently about making things beautiful and meaningful in our homes is prompting me to create a "honey-do" lost (grin). Just this weekend, we tidied up our dining room to make space for our new acoustic piano! Now it is officially our music room! That little bit of organizing and decluttering has encouraged me to do more - yay! BTW, I frantically looked up the HS law when you mentioned the standardized test for your daughter, LOL. I wasn't planning on one until next year for my oldest :)