This month Courtney at WomenLivingWell is doing a month of encouraging women to make their homes a haven. Now is a great time to focus on this: kids are back at school and its fall, a beautiful time of year!

This week’s  post is about what I am doing to make my home more “homey” and about what I still need to do to make it more of a haven for my family.  Courtney asked us to get a large candle and light it every day. The candle not only creates a sense of warmth and coziness but serves as a reminder to us to be mindful to pray for our families and our homes every day!

What I’m doing.

• I found I had two beautiful multicolored candles (in fall colors) waiting to be used {I had forgotten about them}. I put them out on the stove top and light one every day. I do enjoy candles but since having kids I don’t use them very often anymore. I also like electric tart warmers and I have a lovely Scentsy one I can use as well. I’ve heard or read that the more senses a person uses the better he/she remembers things.  I hope my children retain fond memories of home through the things they see, feel and smell as a result of living in “our” home.

• A little while back I got the “If-Then” chart from Doorposts.com to help train up our kids “in the way they should go”.  Its a discipline chart. I got the large one, had my son color the little pictures on it, I highlighted the verses, and today I just had a “meeting” with my boys about the problem areas and what would be the consequences of their actions should they choose to disobey. Now my husband and I have to be diligent to stay consistent. If we aren’t, its like “reverse psychology” I guess.  What we will be teaching them is that its acceptable to disobey till the count of 3 or whatever.  They will become this kind of adult later in life as well.  And thats not true obedience.

What still needs done.

• I need to do a purge of unnecessary toys, stuffed animals, and paper crafts. One of my boys’ favorite pasttimes is to draw pictures and my youngest especially likes to cut them out. I struggle to throw stuff out right away because some or most of it is so cute and I want to save some. We go through paper at an alarming rate at times!  I generally will keep some and put the rest into the recycling stack (when the boys’ aren’t aware). For the cute cut-outs, I will have Jack glue them into a book or something so we can save them that way.

• I need to do go through some boxes and other clutter of my own. Get out my winter clothes/put away my summer clothes and find a new home for the unneeded items. I think I will host another clothing swap at my house for this.

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