What am I Learning Friday

This week I have learned a lot about myself. I think we go through areas in life where we just really have deeper desires than others. This week I found that my continual desire to be more of a Proverbs 31 woman is greater than ever. I find that it is very important to me to please my husband and children. Making sure they have a good dinner, changing our dinner time to be close to when they get out of school so that they are more satisfied and not hungry while they are trying to get homework done. Being more organized. This is a huge battle for me lately. I am fairly organized but staying on top of it is not always easy.
I found myself stumbling upon a great resource online for Proverbs 31 I love the way the site breaks it all down. I looked into my life this week to decide how I am a Proverbs 31 woman and then also what areas I would like to improve.
Lately I have really dug into coupons and trying to better adjust our menus and money so that we eat better meals and also don't feel like "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Life has been scary these past few months. When you look at the logistics of our budget there is no money at all with what Paul makes for food, gas and extras of any kind. Kind of a scary fact if you ask me. One I try not to focus on all that much. I then found I needed to be more creative.
This week I joined a coupon class to get more insight into how I could better meet our family needs and maybe even help others, which I truly love doing. I have been teaching a few friends what I already knew and inspiring them, this class inspired me even further. It reminds me of this section of Proverbs 31
¹⁴She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.

Did I need the coupon class? Probably not. I have read a good bit online through various blogs, spent hours upon hours doing research about all kinds of things relating to coupons, manufactures, and stores. It was three hours of my night, away from the kids..However, I felt after leaving that it was probably the best three hours I spent all week. I did really learn even more than I knew and I could then bring that information home and apply it to our lives. I also have a few friends that are even more interested so I can pass this information along. It also furthered my desire to stockpile, which helps me on my next Proverbs 31 goal.

I do love making quilts. I admit since this new year I have not been as disciplined as I could be. The quilts and things do bring in some extra money which is what I use to buy groceries. Its in a way income specifically for that. When I read over Proverbs 31 again it stated,
²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
I really dug deep on that one. I thought wow, that is so me. I had never realized that before. So I need to get better with using my time while the children are at school and in between times that I am volunteering at the school. I want my business to be more productive so I need to balance my hours better and set aside real time to work at getting more done.

Another area I have been focusing on is with the kids. We sure have had a couple rough weeks. Mainly with choices they make. I find that part of it is really my fault because I may ask for something to get done but then I don't do a very good job at following through and making sure it has been finished. For example last weekend I spent Saturday shopping at various stores, trying to balance all the sales and the coupons I had. I asked our oldest to do wash all day. Well come Sunday night I realize only one maybe two at the most got done. If I had come in and paid attention and been diligent I would have known that he had not done as I asked. On the same hand I could have put in a load or two myself while we watched TV both evenings. So I was very guilty of idleness.
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
We tried chore charts in the past and they did not work well. I had a new idea. My children seem really excited about all the new coupons, the different foods we can now afford to buy etc. So I am creating a new chore chart but I am not assigning a specific person to that chore. The reward will be several things from picking a meal,to picking a dessert, to helping me cook, choosing a game or movie etc. I would like them more involved and in the same respect I want them to want to help around the house. I can't afford to pay an allowance anymore, simple facts are we owe them again right now as we have borrowed all the cash they had on hand over the last few months. So we shall see if my new idea will help me keep a better house. With 5 people and 3 dogs it sure does get out of control pretty quick.

So I feel I am digging in deeper to become the woman that I would like to be. The woman that I feel our Lord calls us to be. I am praying that I can continue to improve upon that and will continue to dig deeper in the coming weeks and share on Fridays what I am learning about truly being that Proverbs 31 Woman, Wife and Mother.