Six on Sunday

As I sit here listening to the sound of little J snoring over the baby monitor, I'm enjoying a rare moment of peace and chance to reflect on things that have inspired me or made me smile this week. In honour of my friend Lizzie's 5 on Friday, here's my 6 on Sunday:

1. We've just started getting into Geocaching. Armed with a hand-held GPS and a bunch of clues we went off in search of hidden treasure. It made our trip to the local park more exciting and it was great finding things we must have walked past many times without realising.

2. We've finally started doing family Bible time and it's going pretty well. We've been using some great material written by a friend of ours that you can get free online here (or even better buy a copy and support our dear friend, Glen). It's short enough to fit in before I rush off to work but it's meatier than most and very Christ focused.

3. Thanks to my new chores rota, I've actually found a better balance in life and had chance to sit and read articles and play on pinterest. I just found this great article that beautifully describes what it's like to be a stay at home parent, as well as giving tips on how to make more meaningful connections with our loved ones.

4. Even on the rainy days we've tried to get little J out of the house. Earlier this week we only made it as far as the cafe at the end of the street but what a great place! Comfy sofas, long communal tables that force us to be un-British and talk to strangers and the cheapest pot of Earl Grey in town. Add to that daily specials, friendly service, books/newspapers to read and cute little touches like jars of sugar cubes with mini tongs and you've got a winner of a place to while away a rainy afternoon.

5. There are many things I hope to teach my son and values I hope to instil. One is the importance of helping others. I'd really love to get our family involved in volunteering and doing regular mission trips abroad (any suggestions?). I just got an email about one of Save the Children's latest campaigns. Could you spare some time to read to a child who is struggling in school?

6. And finally, if you're struggling for ideas of what to do at home with the kids, pop on over to Nurture store and sign up for their free weekly emails packed with fun and educational ideas.

Saturday morning at our place

I'm definitely a better mama and better version of me when I'm focused and have a clear vision of how I want life to be. It's so easy to drift along and let life happen to us but that is when I struggle to get out of bed and take part in life. Being a wife and mother is not something that just happened to me, it is a God given calling that I need to grab hold of with both hands. Over the New Year holiday period I found myself asking questions about what kind of mama I want to be, what kind of home I want to run, what kind of atmosphere I want to create in my home and so on and so forth.

Thanks to our recent family time of reflection and refocussing, this Saturday there was a whole different atmosphere in the house.

Previously, Saturday mornings in the Gallagher household were very lazy and mostly involved mummy trying to stay in bed as long as possible while little J persistently poked her in the face and repeated the baby sign for "eat".

By 11am we had eaten breakfast, had family Bible study, unloaded the dishwasher, done laundry, made BBQ pulled pork, booked swimming lessons, rotated little J's toys, fixed the broken hoover, played with blocks, built a den and still found time to sit and read the paper while listening to classical music!

New Year, New start

As a new year dawned I stumbled across these two articles about reflecting on the old year and refocussing at the start of the new year.

I suggested to hubby that we sit down and consider some of the questions posed in the articles and we had a great time chatting about our highs and lows over the last year and our hopes for the new year. We made some promises to God and each other and came away with a renewed sense of vision.

There are several good habits I've been wanting to cultivate in my life. One is trying to find a balance with housework - a balance between making sure the house is clean but not spending so long cleaning that I don't get time to enjoy my family.  I'm going to try doing just one quick job each day and have written myself a wipe clean tick list for each month (I'm very much a lists kinda person and love the sense of achievement when I can tick things off). I've stocked up on cleaning supplies and created myself a handy little portable cleaning tool kit. For tips on getting organised, recipes for homemade cleaning products and a whole host of free printable organisational tools, check out cleanmama.

Another good habit I want to develop is making time in our day for family Bible study. Not easy with a little one but I knew I needed to stop making excuses and get on with it - what can possibly be more important that feeding my soul?! I've gotten so lazy in the mornings over the winter months that I've been skipping breakfast and getting ready in a rush just so I could stay under the duvet longer. Now we've made a pact to get up earlier to do Bible study and eat breakfast together. We've got some Bible study notes, set the alarm clock and even bought a big wall clock so I can see when I'm running late.

Other changes we've vowed to make include:
- Finding a new home group so we can grow together in Christ with others
- Making time to share our life with friends. We both miss our regular meals with our good friend Mike and hope to have friends round for dinner once a fortnight at least. So friends, please do invite yourselves round to our place for dinner! Also, we would love to go for more walks with friends so if anyone else is up for a good bit of fresh air, let us know.