So. far. behind.

I don't even know where to begin to catch up. We went to see so many awesome things this summer and fall. Should I go back and post about them? Does anyone care when the events are so far in the past? Is the purpose of the blog to update family and friends about current events or to keep a diary of our time in Japan or both? What to do? What to do?

I know I want to be writing more again. I am trying to get my life in order. Everything has been so scattered for almost a year. I guess I would like to blame that on the 3/11 earthquake. It is partially that. And other things. Like Facebook. What a distraction with almost no substance!

I fell completely off the wagon on exercise and healthful diet and home baking over the past few months and am barely keeping to my daily prayer plan. And God is tapping me on the shoulder saying, "Hey, remember me?"  And I do. So He comes first. Then the laundry. lol! the life of a mom. :)

Speaking of laundry (or more specifically, the laundry room), I have found the "Happy Home: The Reasonable Clean House!" posts on Like Mother, Like Daughter very helpful. Who knew there was an actual, do-able method of deep cleaning a room? John and I tried it in the laundry room over Christmas break. Nothing like starting with the smallest room in the house. ;-) BUT...what a breath of fresh air that room is now. Laundry seems much less like drudgery in a clean room. Katie laughingly suggests doing schoolwork in there, since it is so clean. As if we could all fit--lol! But truthfully, she is my best encourager when it comes to cleaning and organizing the house. Thanks be to God for daughters. :-D

I would still ALWAYS rather read a book than clean my house, but I definitely see the advantages of deep cleaning. The feeling of clean is so peaceful! And I suspect we will work better as we bring things into order, even if we can only manage to clean one space at a time.

Notice where I am, though. At the computer writing about cleaning instead of doing it. I still have a long way to go in this area. The Christian life is all about new beginnings, though. Every season, every day. For me sometimes every hour.

So let's get going.

Oh, Katie... remember that little matter of the upstairs linen closet? (We're starting small, remember.) :-)