Dear God ~ Create in Me a Clean Heart

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away fro Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit."  Psalm 51:10-12

Dear God,

How dare I try to be fake before You!; Almighty, all-knowing God of the universe. You see everything; Right through this flesh into the depths of my soul. Neither my thoughts nor my motives can hide from You. You are the very One who created me! You knew me before I was ever in my mother's womb. 

This anger and pride deep inside of me does no surprise You. You are never caught off-guard. You know my thoughts. You know my desires. You know my heart. It is impossible to fool You and yet here I am plotting the dialogue to be spoken before you as though my pretty words impress You; as though eloquence can cover my wretchedness.  

You are God.  I am woman. 

You are holy.  I am wretched. 

You are truth.  I am deceit. 

You are worthy.  I am evil. 

You are love.  I am hate. 

You are pure.  I am stained. 

Is there hope for a wretch like me? Where is my faith? Where is my trust? Where is my belief? 

My soul is dying. My heart is parched. I stand at the well of living water. I am dry and thirsty, yet I just stand. Unbelief and fear shackle my wrists. Pride and anger shackle my ankles.  I am dying to break free.

A broken and a contrite heart You will not despise. 

Deliver me, O God, the God of my salvation! 

10 Goals to Tackle This Week

Last week was just an off week for me.  I don't know what happened, but I just didn't get very much accomplished.  :-(

Last week's goals:

* Reorganize toys.  This goal is just going to have to come off the list. It's so not a priority right now. 

*Exercise 3 days.   Only 1 day last week......   Not good. 

*Get up at 6:30am 3 days.   I was wide awake and up 2 days! 

*Catch up laundry by Friday.  Again, I got it all washed but not put away. 

*List needed school supplies.  Going to have to do this very very soon. 

*De-clutter piano and surrounding area.   I got the piano itself cleaned off, but the surrounding area is still cluttered.  

*Clean out refrigerator

*Clean out children's closet - take out winter clothes. Doing this one means sorting out the clothes I'll consign and the ones I'll donate. 

*Work on Father's Day gifts

*Learn to use the weed eater.  I was mowing when my wonderful husband came home and so he just started up the weed eater and went to work too. Maybe I'll learn next week?  

My goals for this week:

*Exercise 3 days.

*Get up at 6:30am 3 days. 

*Put away all the clean laundry by Friday evening. 

*De-clutter piano area. 

*Clean out children's closet. 

*Learn to use the weed eater. 

*Read more books to the A & J. 

*Teach A & J 2 new songs at the piano.

*Mail Father's Day card to my dad.  I'll deliver his gift in person when I travel back up to KC next weekend.   

*Learn to use the weed eater. 

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

I absolutely love when I set out to try a new activity and then one learning opportunity sprouts after another. We found ourselves going with the flow of learning experience to learning experience this morning.  Today's activities happened to have revolved around sidewalk chalk.  

I cannot tell you how much we enjoy sidewalk chalk! I found the initial idea at Mama to 4 Blessings, which lead me to the very easy recipe for sidewalk chalk paint at  Meet the Dubiens blog.  

I just made a bowl of equal parts cornstarch and water. I then poured the mixture evenly into muffin tins and then added the food coloring to each muffin section separately.  

This was certainly an interesting activity. The paint seemed kinda runny and didn't spread very easily on rough pavement. Lucky for us, the "porch" is smooth.  

 

I tried to demonstrate the difference of the appearance of the paint when you first apply it to the ground and then its appearance after it dries. The sun on the left is wet.  That same sun on the right is dried.  This impressed me very much.  :-)

 

Leave it to Jonathan to put his knee right in the paint.  No worries though; it dried just like chalk on his leg so it was easy to clean off.  

 

When we used up all the chalk paint, I decided to get out our store bought sidewalk chalk. As we drew on the concrete, we talked about the differences and similarities between the sidewalk chalk and the chalk paint.  

 

We ended the activity by "washing" away the chalk using spray bottles; an excellent fine-motor development practice.  

Both children said they liked using the chalk paint rather than sidewalk chalk.  We will certainly find ourselves outside painting more often than not.  

10 Goals to Tackle This Week

When I meet one goal and I can't think of what else needed to be done, I go back to my visual reminder.  Making this weekly list is very helpful! 

Last week's goals:

*Reorganize the children's toys.  I have yet to accomplish this one! It's just a bottom priority. 

*Take a brisk 20 minute walk at least 3 days.  I really need to reword this one. Mowing the grass, chasing the kids around the yard, etc.. are giving me the same amount of exercise as walking briskly.  

*Plan dinner menu for June.  I have to do a month at a time... it's just easier for me to look at the whole picture. 

*List needed school/crafts supplies  I still have a little time to get this one done. 

*Rework daily schedule routine. 

*Catch laundry up by Friday Technically, I didn't have to wash any more, but I still had to put them all away over the weekend.  

*Clean the van inside and out.  Inside done, outside not done. 

*Declutter my bedroom dresser.    YES!

*Get up at 6am at least 2 days this week.  6:30 both days. Think I'll revise this goal a little. 

*Mow the grass.  I like doing this chore! I think I want to give this job back to The Man!  LOL  (j/k)

My goals for this week:

* Reorganize toys

*Exercise 3 days

*Get up at 6:30am 3 days

*Catch up laundry by Friday

*List needed school supplies

*De-clutter piano and surrounding area.   I have clutter bug problem.....

*Clean out refrigerator

*Clean out children's closet - take out winter clothes. (you'd think I'd already done this by now!)

*Work on Father's Day gifts

*Learn to use the weed eater.  I've mowed for 3 weeks now and no one has gotten the weed eater out.