All in a day's work!

My house...my house is a disaster!  Oh, so messy!  We moved upstairs in January and have tons more space than last year when we shared one bedroom with Elizabeth, but still waaay small enough that I should be able to keep it clean.  On the contrary!  There are PILES laundry, clean and dirty, all of my pictures are sitting on the floor in corners waiting to be hung up, I have about 4 file boxes full of papers to file, the current state of Elizabeth's room is TOYS EVERYWHERE, the list goes on, but all of that is to say that mostly I just stay downstairs and pretend that the mess isn't there.  I have a very long way to go before the house is not only clean, but decorated. 

The day before Josiah was born, we were able to get all of our stuff from Kansas City that had been sitting in storage for TWO YEARS!  When we moved back in August 2008, we left our stuff expecting to get it a few months later.  Well, the Lord has His own timing.  But, finally, in the spring, some of our friends called and said they were moving back to the Carolinas as well and wanted to split the cost of the moving truck.  So, we saved money, and we didn't have to go get it....they loaded it for us and drove it to our driveway!  Huuuuge, blessing!  Also, yesterday, we bought a bedroom set from a friend for an amazing price and I'm going to put it in Elizabeth's room....it's a white canopy bed and matching dressers and nightstand!  I can't wait!  HOWEVER, because there are two families in one household, it is already packed with furniture, so I need to do some rearranging.  So, I will be updating you with the progress I've made on my house by posting 'before and after' pictures eventually.  I have already taken the 'before' pictures, but they're too shameful to show without my future awesome 'after' pictures by their side!

As for today...well, first and foremost, I am running on a grand total of about four hours of sleep....COMBINED!  Two of those are thanks to Sami for going to work late and letting me sleep in :)  So, I'm sure you can gather that I AM TIRED!  Well, usually I like to have a pity party when I'm running that low and just veg out and declare it a 'sick day', let Elizabeth watch tons of cartoons, treat myself to lots of fattening food, etc.  Well, I realized this morning that I usually do that and at the end of the day I feel even crummier because I got nothing at all accomplished and the kids are still out of sorts.  SO, I decided I was going to be productive today, by golly!  I went upstairs with both the kids and made them cooperate while I worked around the house. 

My house is actually far messier than this morning, but I got a lot accomplished so far.  To make room for Elizabeth's new furniture, I started by moving one of the dressers out of her closet, then I moved the two huge file cabinets out of my den closet and into my bedroom, then I moved the dresser into my den closet, then I moved the rocking chair from Elizabeth's room into my room, then I moved Elizabeth's toy cabinet into her closet.  That was a lot of rearranging!  All while Josiah played in his exersaucer and Elizabeth tried her best to keep him entertained.  Whew!  THEN, it was naptime, so I laid Elizabeth on her bed and bounced Josiah while I sang to them....and she fell asleep without her bottle (which is a small miracle in and of itself)!  And now, they're both napping and I'm blogging.  Bliss! 

So, even if I sleep even less tonight than last, at least I'll have done something!  Why should my day be as awful as my night?  I CAN be productive, even if it's with greasy hair, toys and clothes strewn about, and a screaming baby on each hip, because the JOY of the Lord is my STRENGTH!  Ask me tomorrow if I feel the same way and I just might laugh in your face, but at least for today He's given me grace! :D