Monday, June 30, 2008

House Cleaning

So, for the first time EVER I actually gave up the control that I have over my house and thought I'd start the process of teaching my children how to do some chores. I actually heard the words that came out of my mouth and wondered if the first time my Mom said it to me if she felt what I felt. I said: "A job worth doing is a job worth doing well." You know, as an 8 year old learning the chore, I hated hearing that. And it just came out to my 5 1/2 year old trying to work a vacuum cleaner. I felt shock and the desire to laugh the moment I spoke the familiar quote.

I wanted them so badly to just "get it" the first time so that I could have three built-in maids. But then, I realized that I am instilling in them the ability to take care of home. So, a half hour chunk of one weekend, I realize they are not going to have it all down. I need patience in the process. A process that I am glad that I have finally begun.

Life here has been strange. We head off to a pool first thing each day and come in right around dinner time just tired and physically spent! I say strange because I'm still just filling our days with stuff to minimize the sibling rivalry that is going on within the walls of this house. Of course, leaving means that it really just happens in the car. :(
I still have the BIG anticipation of Young Life Camp Assignment hanging around with everything I do. My life as I know it is about to DRASTICALLY change. I mean, Nick will not be around like he is in the mornings and the evenings. These kiddos will be stuck with ME for 30 days straight. So, we leave on July 10th. A little over a week left of what we're doing then... it's off to camp we go to venture into something totally new to us as Young Lifer's! I'll do my best to keep ya posted on that adventure. For now, we'll be at the pool, cramming in delayed efforts for dinner and attempting to tackle the hard to reach dust bunnies on the shelves!

4 comments:

Stacey said...

Mark and I were doing a rundown the other day about things we swore we would never say or do as we got older. Some of the things on the list have already been done or said! Things like, taking a nap on Sunday afternoon (for a kid it's torture; for an adult...heavenly), and saying things to the kids like, "we will talk about it" when they ask for permission.

But, hey, 'a job worth doing IS a job worth doing well'! You got it.

Mimi said...

Yeah!! You did not like it so much back then!! Your idea of doing it right was having nothing show on the outside, BUT ...... under the bed was a different story!!! Remember!! That's what rakes were for in our house-keeping chores!!

Michael Rogers said...

Mimi, that's sort of a good analogy of our lives, isn't it - often we feel that if life is cleaned up on the outside, we can leave things "under the bed" until they are seen by someone else.

Rachel, when the girls ARE trained, can we borrow them? :-)

soonercolby said...

Hang in there, Rachel. You're a good teacher, and it will come. The girls may not like the cleaning, but it helps you and it ultimately helps them in the long run.

I hope your time in CO is awesome and rewarding.