Jumping Back into Routine

I am back from my trip to Haiti and what an amazing and spiritual trip that was! I plan on blogging about it later in the week along with pictures and videos. As for today and the rest of my week I am going to have to get back to normal! Which means working, cooking, cleaning, carpooling, homework, soccer games, and schedules. I took some time off from blogging and from my Good Morning Girls preparing and leaving for my trip, and then I continued my time off when I returned because of spring break with the kiddos and my husband.

Below is a sneak peak into my cleaning week, each week I'm in a different "zone" in my home and this week I'm working in my living room. I do try to keep a Weekly Schedule and a Daily Schedule. Please feel free to leave a comment below with any cleaning tips you may have along with a link to your blog site. If you too are just getting back from spring break I hope that you have a wonderful week jumping back into normal.

(Purple stays the same while the black changes from week to week)

Monday: Take out all trash, sweep & mop all rooms,  dust, Vacuum all rooms, water plant, Polish mirrors and doors, clean sheets, Grocery shop, Get rid of any and all clutter in my living room. If I don't use it, love it, or if it doesn't bring me joy when I look at it, I need to toss it or donate it.


Tuesday: Dust the tops of door jambs, tops of pictures, molding, windows, corners of the ceiling and the tops of the curtains 


Wednesday: Work Meeting, Clean up yard, Dust the decorative items in my living room


Thursday: Detail floor cleaning, sweep it, dust it, mop it.


Friday: Finish laundry, Clean out car, Clean playroom, Light a candle and bring in some flowers :)


Saturday: Clean out fridge

Mission Trip To Haiti

I am so excited that God has given me another opportunity  to take a trip back to Haiti this April. I was there last July and it was heart warming, heart breaking and life changing.

We're going back to help a church that has set up a child sponsor feeding program, much like we did last time. Many children there are starving, and their parent's cannot afford to send them to school. This program provides a meal a day for these kids, a chicken or goat a month for the family, and pays for their school. This makes a huge impact on a child's life.We also have a whole bunch of shoes to take over, most of the kids there are bare foot and the grounds are covered in trash, broken glass, and a million other things that you would not want to be bare foot in. We're also taking over clothes, toys, and whatever else we can pack up. Our main goal is to love on these kids and get them sponsored!.

While there on my last trip I met these two little girls, their names are Jolica and Angie. I was able to sponsor Jolica and my mom is sponsoring her younger sister Angie. Jolica loved playing with my hair and hand clap games with me. Angie never once smiled and her clothes were worn and torn. My heart broke for them, hanging out in the church yard just waiting to be sponsored.

Here they are eating a sponsored meal for the first time.

This is Emmanuel. This charming little boy touched my heart so deeply that I can't stop my eyes from whaling up with tears as I type about him. I was there for a week and I saw him wear the same clothes every single day. He could not speak English and I could not speak Creole, but I was able to understand him tell me that he was hungry. This was my first day there, I had met my first starving child. I broke down and cried. He was soon sponsored by another girl. He ate his meal and it was the most joyful thing I had ever seen. He finished his meal and then finished the leftovers of others. I have heard it be said that you can't save them all and though this may be true, I saw one girl helped this one boy, a boy who wasn't able to before but is now able to eat everyday.

I hope to run into Emmanuel when I get back, along with Jolica, Angie and many others who have touched my heart. I want to be able to get others fired up about sponsoring these amazing children, in desperate need of love, food, and an education.

If you would like to make a one time donation to this trip, please click on the donate button below. Or you can send a check to my church, LifeSong Church. Just make it out to LifeSong Church with an attached note saying it is to me, Candice Brevard.

12481 Greenville HWY/ PO Box 159
Lyman SC 29365

All donations are tax detectable and are greatly appreciated!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child please visit RestoreHaiti.com 

Below is a video I created from the pictures that were taken on my last trip.

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support! 

Weekly Schedule

Yesterday I shared with you my Daily Routine and today I am going to share with you my Weekly Schedule. Pairing these two together has proven to work for me in away that allows me to have more time for my family while at the same time keeping a clean house. Seems impossible, but its not! 


As I mentioned yesterday every family is different and so each schedule should be customized to fit your own family's needs. I use Flylady as a tool to help make my schedule and keep my home in order. I just love her system so much that I want to be able to share it with other women in hopes to bless their families as well. So please allow this to bless your family, don't get caught in perfection, just do your best and don't forget to schedule time with your kids and with your husband in your Daily Schedule.


My Weekly Schedule changes from week to week, moving from the Kitchen, to the Living room, to the Dinning room, to the Bathroom, to the Bedroom, to the Entrance way, etc.  This week is actually a multi-zone week. What you see in purple stays the same from week to week, and what you see in black is what changes.


Also what FlyLady recommends, and what I recommend as well is to not spend more than 15 minutes on a task. This may seem crazy, but you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish in 15 minutes. Just set a timer and get started. Don't fret over the things that don't get perfectly cleaned, your precious time with your family is more important!


Sunday:   Menu Plan,   Clip coupons


Monday:   Take out all trash,   sweep & mop all rooms,   dust,   Vacuum all rooms,   water plant,   Polish mirrors and doors,   clean sheets, Grocery shop


Tuesday:   Dinning room Hotspots (clean up cluttered piles),   Livingroom Hotspots


Wednesday:    Work Meeting,   Clean up yard,   Clean up front porch


Thursday:   Clean up shoe/coat closet,  clean up front door entrance


Friday:   Finish laundry,   Clean out car,   Clean playroom


Saturday:   Clean out fridge 


Of course there will be times that I am not able to do all these things in order, and thats ok. Also there will be times where I may need to to a task twice, especially the task of mopping. Scheduling has made life a little bit easier for me, and I hope that it makes life a little easier for you too.




Titus 2:3-5 


"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children,to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

Daily Schedule

Are you feeling overwhelmed at home? Overextended? Frustrated with your kids? Embarrassed to have company over? All because you don't have time to clean?


Who doesn't have these days right? I know I do, and we all know that a messy house can create stress and unrest, even in our children. So what I have found that works best for me and my family is scheduling, even though I'm not a natural "scheduler".
This has actually helped me find more time for my family while at the same time keeping my house cleaner that its ever been before.


Thankfully 5 years ago I was introduced to a website called FlyLady, please click on the link to check her out. I have been able to use her website as a tool to create a schedule that eliminates Spring Cleaning. Ironically her website can seem a little cluttered to visitors lol, but her advice is effective and amazing.


There is no one schedule that is going to fit every family, so if you think scheduling will work for you, customize it to fit your own family's unique needs. A schedule should bless your family and help turn your home into a haven, so don't get so obsessed with getting a perfectly clean house that you push your kids away, or just give up all together (I've been there, done that on both sides). Put perfection aside, maybe even let your kids help if you have the patience ;) . Take breaks when you need them, love on your family, and so what if ( fill in the blank) isn't spotless when you crawl into bed at night, be satisfied with what you have accomplished.   


Below is my Daily Routine, tomorrow I will show you my Weekly Schedule. And with life being life, things don't always happen as planned, so sometimes I'm not able to get to a few things on my list or I do them out of order, and thats ok :)


 "Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family" ~Flylady

Morning Routine

Shower then straighten bathroom

Get kids ready

Breakfast

make school lunches

Get kids off to school

Quiet time/ Good Morning Girls

feed dog

laundry 

dishes

make beds

Check Calendar

Make a to do list

(hello 9am)

Start Work ( I work from home)

read a book or facebook/blog

Reboot laundry

Pick up kids

After School Routine

Homework!

defrost dinner

Start on chores (from my weekly schedule)

Put away laundry

Play with babies

Children story time

finish to do list

If finished and kids are busy playing - fb/blog or read a book

Start on dinner

After Dinner Routine

Sweep floors

Clean up kitchen
Straighten up living room

Baby bath time

tidy up baby bathroom
Baby bed time
Me time (brush teeth, hair, pjs, stuff like that)
(hello 8pm)

Snuggle Mitch

Please come back tomorrow to see my Weekly Schedule, which involves a more detailed cleaning :)

Cookie Exchange

I went to my very first cookie exchange on Friday with a group of ladies from my church. This exchange was super cute and super fun! Each lady brought in her own batch of cookies along with a enough recipes to pass around. Now my cookbook is filled with more cookie than dinner recipes, and thats fine with me!

For my cookie, I made and brought in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. You're definitely going to need a big glass of milk for these.

Below I will show you how I made them :)

For your ingredients you will need:

1 stick of butter

1/2 Cup of chunky peanut butter

1/2 Cup of sugar

1/2 Cup of brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 Cup of flour

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

1 Cup of chocolate chips

This will make about 18 cookies

Mix together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars.

Then add the egg and mix until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, blend the flour, baking power, soda, and salt. Then add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture.

Add the chocolate chips, mmmm :)

Then scoop out blobs of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350*F

Don't let the edges get too brown, and if the tops of the cookie still look like dough, thats ok! You're cookies will remain soft after they cool, which I LOVE!

After they cool plate them up and they are ready to eat!

Or take to a cookie exchange!

As I mentioned above this was my first cookie exchange, so I didn't know how to bring them, but I was told the way they were packaged was fine :) LOL

The exchange was fun, and I had a great time laughing and hanging out with a wonderful group of ladies. I hope you enjoy this cookie and surround with uplifting and genuine friends.

Skylar's Homemade Honey Butter

This is my beautiful baby girl Skylar. She is in the first grade and when she grows up she wants to be a chef! She loves to help mommy in the kitchen, and since she was 3 years old she's been creating her own little recipes. All of which I must admit were nasty, such as mixed eggs, flour, sugar, and whatever else she would mix in there, microwave and then expect me to eat, with a smile on my face. So I started teaching her how to make some yummy edible creations. For Christmas her grandmother, who she calls GiGi, got her an apron to wear in the kitchen, and whenever its time to bake, cook, or create, she puts it on eager and ready to go. 

One of her most recent creations was Homemade Honey Butter. Skylar made this all by herself and below she will show you how. This butter was delicious! 

The ingredients and materials you will need are:

A clean jar

A marble (optional)

Heavy Cream

Salt

and

Honey

Now lets get started!

Have your materials and ingredients ready

Fill your jar halfway full of heavy cream, then drop in the marble (the marble just helps with the mixing).

Then start shaking!

You're going to be shaking for a long time, so you might need a friend (or a mommy) to take turns with you when your arms get tired.

Half way through, your mixture will look like whip cream.

Keep shaking and have patience!

And soon, after all of your hard work, that white cream that has coated your jar will soon clear your jar and you'll have a large yellow lump in there, and thats your butter!

Spoon out the butter from the liquid thats left in there. That liquid is now butter milk! You can save that for other recipes.

 You will need to also take that butter and squeeze out any butter milk that is mixed in over the sink. Try to squeeze out as much as you can. Mom needs to help with that.

Sprinkle on some salt

Then drizzle in some honey. We eyeballed it to taste.

Mix it all together

Then spoon your mixture into a container that you can keep in the refrigerator 

And then you're done! Now you have some of the most amazing honey butter. This stuff is great on toast, dinner rolls, muffins, you name it! We ate it on toast for dinner that night and finished it off on toast for breakfast the next morning. Skylar was so proud of herself as we ate the butter and praising her for a job well done. I hope that you or your little ones have fun making this yummy treat! 

Enjoy your babies, have patience, and have fun in the kitchen! :)

Chunky Junk!

In James 1:27 God tells us to look after orphans and widows.

LOVOSO does just that! Love Orphans, Visit Orphans, Serve Orphans.

LOVOSO is an amazing ministry that sells Chunky Junk jewelry to help those in need. Half of their profits go straight to orphanages and to widows in India, Haiti, and Ghana. They don't only raise money for these orphanages and other ministries, but they also visit and serve in these areas as well.

Their jewelry is beautiful, unique, and of course CHUNKY. These pieces will look fabulous on you and will make for a great conversation piece. I don't know of one lady who hasn't worn a necklace, ring, or bracelet who hasn't received a compliment on it. Not only will you being wearing a rare piece of jewelry you'll also help fund orphanages around the world. Above is a picture of one of their bracelets that I love to wear. Amy over at The Hickman Happenings hosted a ladies night fund raiser dinner called "This Night" where the Chunky Junk jewelry was featured. I was able to pick out some great pieces and then give as Christmas presents to all the ladies in my family. The gifts were a hit!

I hope that you will check out their website and pick a piece or two for either yourself or for someone you love. With each purchase you'll be able help support orphans in need.

Click these links to visit their website  LOVOSO and their facebook page Facebook Chunky Junk

As you can see below, Haiti has a special place in my heart, as I was able to visit there last July and love on some amazing children in need. I plan on returning soon and I cannot wait.