Are you ready, girls?

Get those aprons on, and join me for for Making your Home a Haven Mondays! Oh, how I love this series! Doing it on Monday just makes me feel engergized for the week. This is what got me started on wanting to blog my homemaking adventures in the first place.

So, are you ready to join me and Stephanie tomorrow? Did you go over and revamp your morning routine? If you did not, take a few minutes today to do it so you can be prepared for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I hope to post the pictures of the challenges that I gave myself last week. I will admit, that even though I have myself only three, I struggled with them.

If you need a little help on what you should be doing, read the following. Stephanie explains what she'd like for you to do in order to participate.

1. Refresh Your Spirit (5 minutes)
Take five minutes, brew a cup of tea or coffee or pour yourself a tall glass of iced tea or ice water with fresh-squeezed lemon, and sit down and be still before the Lord. Pray, read something from God's Word, and take a moment to thank the Lord for His goodness and blessing in your life.

Having a home that is a haven starts with an inner peace in our own hearts, a quiet resting in the Lord. You can have a beautifully decorated home with everything neat and orderly, but if you are frazzled and frustrated, your home will not be a peaceful place. After all, the saying is so true, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

So before you do anything else today, take time to refresh your spirit in the Lord.

2. Take Time to Plan (5 minutes)
Today's planning project is centered on a morning routine. This is a habit I usually follow pretty faithfully, but the last few weeks I've fallen off the bandwagon. I'm determined to get back on track, though, as this is such a tremendous help to the rest of my day!Write down five things you want to do in the same order every morning. Keep it simple and only stick to five things. If five things seem overwhelming, start with three. Starting somewhere is better than not starting at all!

We'll be keeping each other accountable for our morning routines over the next few weeks. Put your list in a very conspicuous place and consult it first thing each morning.

I'd love to have you post your list on your blog to share with us.

3. Do Something! (5 -15 minutes)
Each day I'm going to be giving you a simple organizational task to complete in your home. And today we're going to start at the very beginning - a very good place to start!

Put on an apron, light a candle, and turn on some uplifting music. Then go to your front door and pretend you are a first-time visitor to your home. Walk in and take a look around. What is your immediate impression of your home? Is it calm and clean or cluttered and chaotic? Take five to fifteen minutes to clean, de-clutter, and beautify your entry area. Do a quick pick up if there are items out of place, mop or vacuum the floor, shake the rug, spot clean the walls, and rearrange things.

Take before and after pictures if you'd like and post them to share with us.

* this is from Biblical Womanhood

We have a wedding to attend tonight, so I may not get my last challenge finished in time. But at least I did some things. Good luck and I will see y'all tomorrow!