Spring

Spring is nearly here! We are having more dry days between the wet ones, and the sun shines for a while, making it get as warm as 22 degrees one day last week! This warmer weather has struck a spring cleaning nerve in me, and I am preparing for a garage sale. I am getting to the point where 'Less really is more' and have been working on 'the purge of 2012'.

My least favourite room in our house has always been the spare room - or, rather, the dumping grounds. For a while we had decided that the new baby and Camia will be sharing a room so that we could still have our office/craft/junk room. Then I decided that I wanted the baby to have his/her own room. And I convinced myself that it would be a good thing so I could organize, deep clean, and purge the spare room. I was amazed at all the stuff we had squirreled away in that room. After almost a week, I had that room completely empty, other than the computer and a few totes that need to yet go into storage. Another problem we had was that all that stuff now sat in the hallway. I figured, get this room empty and deal with all that later. I don't know which was more overwhelming. The room that had a door that could be closed, or the tripping over stuff in the hallways for a few days. Nevertheless, I got it cleaned up. A pile for donation, a pile for the trash, a pile that was and is still growing for the garage sale and a pile for storage. I put away all my scrapping/card making stuff. I downsized my sewing collection. I decided to pick one hobby, and either put the rest away or get rid of it. So, I purged my crochet and knitting. I kept my needles, but gave my yarn and wool to my mom and oma. One hobby. Well 2, if you count my hand work, counted cross stitch which I can tuck away in the living room. The room is ready for baby...almost. Pretty soon the furniture such as the change table and cradle will arrive from my parents. Blinds will get installed as well as a closet organizer for his/her clothes. We installed one in Camia's room after getting rid of her dresser due to craving more space, and wished we had done it right away.

My new rule for maintaining tidiness is that if it does not belong to the person whose room it is, then it can't be there. Camia's room is for her things. Baby's room is for baby's things, and our bedroom is for our things. They cannot be used as storage. And so far it has worked rather well. I've developed a schedule to help me stay on top of the housework, and usually my afternoons are free. Rather than clean all in one day, I spend a little time each day cleaning and as a result, I have 3 days a week where I have free time. Wednesdays are Bible Study and errands, if I have any. Saturdays are free because I don't want to clean my house on the day Ryan is home and Sundays are free because, well, it's Sunday.

Also, as Camia is getting older and has more questions, I find myself wanting to be more knowledgeable when it comes to our faith so I can answer her questions. Turning over a new leaf, if you will...And also, I find that I am craving reading about my faith, reading more about the Bible, and the Bible itself and parenting in a Christian manner. I want Camia to know about God now, when she is young. I want her to know that she is His child and that He created all things. That He made the rainbows, and not fairies, who she once claimed painted them in the sky. I want her to still be a child, and I am ok with her knowing about things like the Easter Bunny and Santa, but I want her more to know that Santa and the Easter Bunny are characters, people dressed in costume. I want her to know the real thing.

We had an opportunity as of late to teach her about God in 2 things in her life. One was stealing. It first came up while we were on a walk a couple of weeks ago. The city has bulbs planted here and there, and the crocuses had come up and were looking prettier than ever. She wanted to pick one and take it home. So did I. But I didn't. I decided to use it as an opportunity to teach instead. I told her that they were there for everyone to enjoy, and they were not ours. I told her that if we take one without asking, it would be stealing and God tells us that we are not allowed to steal. The opportunity came up again when she took an apple from the fridge without asking me for it first. I don't care that she has an apple. I want her to learn, though, that she needs to ask for it first, and just taking it is actually stealing. So, I explained this to her. And then I said 'And what does God say about stealing?' She hung her head and said "God says don't steal'.  I know she is getting it because usually when I grocery shop, I first go to the books and she is allowed to pick a book and look at it while we shop. We almost never buy it. I tell her right away that we will not buy it, but when we are done we will be putting it back (thus she learned what 'borrow' meant.) The book she picked once had a page on stickers in it, and the page had one missing. She was rather disappointed that someone had stolen a sticker from the book and put the book back on the shelf. She told me that it was bad to steal because God says don't steal.

The other thing we had the opportunity to teach her was about obeying. She's been having a bit of a listening problem lately, especially when we are out in public, so we've been telling her something which we've heard another parent say to her child. We say 'Who is in charge?' she responds with 'Mommy and Daddy' (sometimes it changes with where we are, for example, when she is at story hour, her teacher is in charge. When one of us is not around, it's whoever the responsible/capable adult(s) is(are)). We say 'And who put Mommy and Daddy in charge?' She says 'God. And God says I have to listen to my Mommy and Daddy'.

I pray that in these things we are doing right by raising our daughter in such a way that she will mature in faith and want to walk with Him when she gets older. I hope that we are doing the right thing by trying to teach her now, while she is still so young.

I had a couple of proud moments on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We had explained to her that Easter meant that Jesus died on the cross to save her from her sins and that she may go to Heaven, so on Good Friday, while we were singing in church, Camia was standing there beside me belting out her own song which went something like this: "Jesus died on the cross for my sins! Jesus died on the cross!" And then on Easter Sunday while singing hymn 1, Camia sang along almost word for word. Later on in the week, while in the dollar store with my mom, Camia was walking around belting out Hymn 1. A customer responded with 'Jesus loves me, this I know!' Such a powerful witness! Oh to have that child like faith! I was a proud mommy. :)