Everything Update

First thing first... Baby Jude.  God has been so gracious and has just shown Himself merciful throughout the last week.  So many prayers have been answered.  Praise God!   It is nothing short of miraculous that Jude's pediatrician felt this tumor on a well visit (thinking his liver was enlarged).  The pediatric oncologist has mentioned numerous times how unlikely this was.  I read on the internet that most cases of neuroblastoma have already spread by the time they're detected.  Jude's softball size tumor was removed encapsulated, with no sign of having spread.  Thus far all of his scans have returned normal.  Please keep praying for Snuzi and her family as Jude will be closely monitored for the next three years.  You can read more about Jude and the many ways God has been gracious to them this last week on Snuzi's blog Every Captive Thought.

Next... Today I'll finish my 3rd 90 day Bible Challenge (hosted by Mom's Toolbox).  I like Revelation more each time I read through it.  I'm revelling in the glory of God!  I'm planning on taking April off and then repeating the 90 day Bible challenge again May-July.  Big D says he's doing it with me this time.  Monk (11) has mentioned wanting to do it again this summer, too.  I'm so blessed to have a family that loves God's Word!

And finally, I know you've been wondering how I'm coming on the 40 bag challenge.  Saturday before last I worked in Prince's room and closet.  Prince and I had both gotten so frustrated with his room.  We both felt like he spent most of his time picking up his room.  The main problem areas:  too many toys and too many books.  Also, I noticed that although he had no problem removing his books from his bookshelves, he really struggled to put them away, spine facing out.  I read in an organizational book that younger children are better at keeping books organized when you keep them in a basket or container face forward so that they can flip through to find the book they want and then replace the book easily in the basket.  Most of the books in his room have been reshelved downstairs in our homeschool library.  The books remaining in Prince's room are now easier for him to see, so he knows what he has, and much easier to put away.  I threw away 2 bags of trash and gave away one bag from Prince's room.  And the real test... I cleaned Prince's room for him the other day in about 2 minutes.  That's what I call progress!



Notice Prince's "basket of books."  Everyday he gets them all out and everyday he puts them all back.




It seems like a terrible waste of shelf space, I know, but Prince "reads" these books
lots more now that he can see them and they're so easy to put away.

 Queen's closet and room were my big project last Saturday.  I hadn't gone through her closet thoroughly in about 8 years, though I had reorganized clothing several times in the last few years.  I gave 4 bags of clothing, toys, and baby paraphernalia (her room is our "nursery") and threw away 3 bags of hopelessly stained clothing, broken toys, lonely single shoes, etc.



The top shoe shelf has shoes from our hand-me-down shoe bin that are almost Queen's size (lest I forget about them). 
One basket holds pajamas and the other contains her socks, tights, and panties. 




Can you believe these blankets are the girl blankets I couldn't part with? 
You should have seen how many were in here before!




I think there's almost room for Measle Bug to move in!




There's one basket with three or four dolls in it.  She also has one bookcase with four baskets for toys in her room.  One basket is for dolls, one is for doll accessories, one is for doll clothes, and one is for dishes.  Each basket is only about 1/3 of the way full.  Prince and Queen played in there the other day and were able to easily pick up within a few minutes.


So if I'm counting right, I have 15 bags to go.  No problem considering I'll be working in my big girls' room this weekend.  YIKES!!!

Oh, and Twinkle Toes celebrated her 10th birthday last week.  She had a cupcake decorating party and 8 friends spend the night.


The birthday girl with her sister reaching across her.




I know what you're thinking.  Yes, it was messy. 


I've been missing all of you and plan on getting back to blogging more regularly in April.

Anyone else spring cleaning or organizing??