The Love that Keeps Us Sane

Okay, so I am stealing this title : ) Whoever can tell me the author of this book, will win a really big prize (fame and fortune and your name mentioned on this blog!).

I am writing this post as an answer to a question from a fellow-blogger. My blogger friend asked what were some of the things that "keep our days sane" with 5 kids and a cute dog (okay, she didn't really ask about the dog). I thought that I might do a series of posts on this topic, and I'd love to hear from all of you. What are your tips for keeping things sane in your home?

Please know that I am going to share some specifics about the things that work for our family. I hope that they are a help and encouragement to some, but please take only the things that are of help. Love is the goal, and my goal in writing this is to give some food for thought to those of you who would enjoy it. I pray that some of these things will be an encouragement to have love reign even more in your homes.

So, absolutely the most important thing in our family that keeps our days sane is making sure that we all have time with the Lord. A friend once told me that if God is our source, we need to be sure to spend a lot of time with Him. She definitely did not mean this in a "have to" sort of way, but in a relational way. We cannot receive all that God has for us, if we do not know Him and do not spend significant time with him.

So, what this all means for our family is that no matter what is going on in our home, we make prayer our top priority. For David, Adam, Yana and myself that means time (on our own) studying our Bibles and other spiritual books in the morning, family prayer/praise with everyone right before school, David leading Bible study first thing for school, individual praise/prayer time for me and all of the kids (and David if he is home) in the afternoon, and time for prayer/study in the evening for David.

The time that I want to focus on in this post, is our afternoon prayer/praise time. This time serves three purposes. First of all, it is a time to connect with Jesus, who is our dearest friend and first love. Secondly, it is a time for each of the children to have a break from one another and recharge, so to speak. And finally, it is a break for me from the responsibilities of our home and children. I do not ever do work during this time (that was a temptation for me in the past).

So, how does that work if you have young children? Well, when my children were still napping, we would have our time of prayer/praise at that point in the day. As soon as they stop taking naps, I begin to teach them how to spend time alone with the Lord. At first, they simply spend the time looking at books with beautiful pictures of Jesus and His life, and listening to praise music. When they begin to read, they may spend the time reading their children's Bible and listening to music. As they get older, we teach them more about how to praise God when they are on their own (not in a group) and how to thank and worship Him for all that He has done. Of course, this is a process that they are still in (and so am I!).

So, practically speaking, Adam and Yana generally spend the time reading their Bibles (we encourage them to pray the psalms aloud) for some of the time, singing praise songs (sometimes Adam also plays the drums along with praise songs), and also spending some quiet time talking to and listening to God. Lily loves to listen to praise/worship music and write psalms of praise for most of the time, and Jadon reads his Bible and listens to praise music.

At this point, Grace stays with me. She loves to follow along with whatever I am doing, so she will raise her hands and play the tambourine and dance around the room while praise music is playing.



Then, she will sit in her rocking chair and look at a book if I am reading my Bible or quietly praying (God Calling is her current favorite! She will actually get a bit irritated with me if I want to read this book! LOL)

I haven't actually "taught" her these things. She has simply learned by watching. She does, often, have a snack during that time, as well, so that I can have more focused time while she is occupied. I expect that in a month or two, she will be able to have timem with the Lord while sitting on her own little bed.

So, this is without a doubt, the foremost thing that "keeps us sane". What are some things that keep your life with children and other responsibilities sane?