A Fresh Look

Our homes are a statement to the world about what is important to us. Why not take a fresh look at your home today and see what it reflects.

Sometimes it is easy to feel we have nothing to say about the way our home looks, especially when we live such lives in unusual places. In some cases we stay in staff housing and feel like we have precious few ways to make it our own. Instead of reflecting what we feel is important, our home may be suffering from indifference. Even worse, we may never allow ourselves to feel at home in our home. Change is just too much trouble and might not be worth the effort. Sure, it’s clean, maybe even tidy, but it feels a little stale.

One rainy day a number of years ago, my husband was away for the day and our sons were in school. What a perfect day to get a case of the blahs. Cabin fever, some call it. Instead, I decided to take a hard look at my house. It was time for a change! Our furniture had been in the same place for long enough. It was time to find some new places for old things. After all, why keep stubbing your toe in the same place when you can bang into something unexpected. So I overcame inertia, and the blahs and got things moving.

Before my husband came home and my kids returned from school, the work was done. As I moved the sofa and chairs, I felt my spirit lifting. “Hey, this is fun! I hope my family doesn’t think I’ve gone nuts,” I chuckled to myself.

After the furniture was moved, I began to look at the familiar treasures that had been in the same place on the same shelves for months. Even treasures can look like clutter after a while. I took them from their shelves, cleaned them tenderly and put some of them away- not to be seen for many months. For others I found places that displayed them from a better angle. Tucked away in closets I found old treasures that hadn’t seen the light of day for many months. How good to see them again! I added the crocheted doilies that, months before, I had spent hours enjoyably creating, and stood back to take in the effect.

My family liked it as much as I did, so it was well worth the time and effort. Rainy season or not, our climate had changed! Our home felt new.

For some of us flowers are readily available, not expensive, and really cheer up a room. And you can make a vase out of anything if you have to. Sometimes when we travel Mike buys flowers at the local market, and for lack of a vase, cuts a plastic water bottle in half. From a distance it looks like glass. Vases of different sizes can handle different size bunches and various colors coordinate with available flowers. And like many of you, I keep small house plants and move them from place to place. They always seem to make a room seem more pleasant.

So, if it’s been awhile since you did some rearranging, why not this week? After all, we want our homes to feel happy and peaceful to all who come in- a place of refuge in a hectic world. And while we’re at it, let’s see if our souls need a little freshening up, too.

Some of these treasures are new and some have been available for a long time. Please take a few minutes to look at the resources we are highlighting this month. Maybe you will find just the help you need.

Cheryl Savageau and Diane Stortz have written a book for parents of PWs. This book deals with how your call affects your parents, communicating with parents about the preparation, send off, and ways to connect across the miles. The goal is to help more PWs’ parents to thrive, not just survive their children’s service over seas. You can order your copy from Amazon. If you cannot use this link, you may email Editor for the full book title and order information.

If you have not seen Brigada and signed up for their newsletter, you are missing a great source for current resources, trends, and contacts. Their new Brigada web site includes an archive of past newsletters and blogs with current articles and lots of comments. To get the weekly email update go to Subscribe.

Glenda Smithies has written a booklet called Happy Homeschooling. It was written primarily for New Zealand families serving overseas, but has much information that would be helpful to other homeschool families. Her philosophy of homeschooling could help you see another way to accomplish the all-important task of educating your children. She has included an extensive appendix with available resources for various subject areas. You can email Denise who handles Glenda’s correspondence.

If you have not recently looked at our Favorite Links page, why not take a few minutes to see what help you might find for your current situation. Needs change from time-to-time on the field and it is good to know there are others out there with some answers for your current situation. We are always happy to add more links to this page. So please write the Editor to tell us your favorite sites.

Also, take a look at our Resources page. All the resources listed on this page are available to download free of charge. Just because they are free doesn’t mean they are cheap. Many hours of labor went into the resources provided here. Please download, copy, and use all you find on this page. If you have questions or need additional help with any of these resources write the Editor.

Blessings!
Diane