Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saturday on The Homestead

This hasn't been the most productive day around here. I mean, it hasn't been the worst we've ever had, but still, I know so much more could have gotten done. I did get a denim jacket, 3 dresses, 3 aprons, 4 pairs of bloomers, 4 sets of boxers and 4 kapps cut out for sewing. Lord knows when I'll get to the sewing part, but they are ready for me now.


Eldest son and Dad will be home this weekend. Eldest son wil be loading up his storage unit and he and his fiance (who's been staying here all month) will be heading back to Arkansas.


It's not nice to say, but I am so so looking forward to having everyone gone from here. We have had a hard time with Dad being gone, but honestly, we just haven't had a chance to adjust to Dad being gone from the family. The day he left to head down for this job, our friend/neighbor called with 'dysfunctional family issues' going on and their 17 year old son needed to come over her for a couple of days. Just what I needed. Like rocks in my head.


Dysfunctional family issues subside and then here comes son's fiance. She isn't remotely Plain or conservative or unworldly in the least. It has been one trial after another now. I'm living with attitudes that need serious deprogramming and a life that is about as upside-down as it can go.


I need time to get used to Dewey being gone. The children need time to get used to Dewey being gone. We just need time to decompress from the chaos we've been thrust under in the past month. Everyone is back-talking, everyone has made really poor choices as to what they need to be doing daily around here...no one has touched more than a lesson or two of schooling the past month. They are constantly arguing over things that are settled and carved in stone around here.


We need to regroup and restablish the long-running Rules of This House for everyone. We need a refresher course in proper attitudes, proper dress and proper direction of and from authority.


What we need...what we are going to have here...is Boot Camp 101. We are going to get back to the brass tacks of things. Basic and simple. No 'demoncratic style' whatsoever. I will speak, they will listen and follow directions. I will be assigning every moment of every day and some freedom will be given after a time of adjustment has been completed. No bathroom breaks, no talking without being spoken to first and directly, no drinks, no movement of even the tiniest little toe unless so directed and mandated by me. Everything will move along in an orderly fashion according to the schedule I set out daily.

Just like life in the real world here. You don't get to choose when you wake up and start your day. It's chosen for you by your job choice, and your employer. You don't get to choose what you wear. It's chosen for you based on the decisions this family has had in place for many years. You don't live in a hotel. You don't own a restaurant. Meal time is scheduled and those not prepared go hungry until the next meal. I don't run a short-order kitchen. Every single thing you do in your life is governed by someone else. That's how life works in this world, and that's how it will be working around here until we get back to where we belong.

Eldest children will receive the deepest punishment --
1) they know better. They have lived under the same rules their entire life. They know what is expected, what is and will be tolerated and what will not. They have full and total recall of all rules and consequences they have lived under for however many years. They are conscious enough to make their decisions and know full well wht will happen if those choices do not line up with the family standards.
And, 2) it all trickles down through the ranks. If the olders are brought back under subjection, the youngers don't have issues of authority. They see that it is simply how things work.

I will be the supreme power of life on this homestead until things are back to some sense of normalcy again. No more free choice/free will allowed. Period. I don't do the "this family is a democracy" mumbo-juumbo very well at all. Things are not gray -- things are either black or they are white. But never are they both. You listen; you follow rules and direction the first time you are told; you obey with a spirit of joy and a smile on your face; you put a full effort, 100% of your energy and heart into it. Afterwards, once this or that direction is followed and completed, you may come to appeal the priority of said direction. Give me a viable argument with sound research and we'll discuss it, and it will be taken under advisement for next time. But don't give me some sobby little whine and wimper rant about it. That's just a poor attitude and a poor plan of action. Save that tact with your boss at McDonald's/Wendy's/Burger King/etc., when you are flipping burgers for a living, lamenting your poor childhood and lack of direction and foundation.

We need this in this household right now. The sooner the better. Time to pray over the doorposts and anoint the corners of every room and push the spirits of the world back out to the curb where they belong.

4 comments:

On A Hill Homestead said...

The time without Logan is our hardest time as well. I'm not even myself without him here guiding and helping me. He just left this morning for his last trip up there before winter. Thank the Lord it's his last 4 weeks to be away for awhile. Our rules in our home are the same as yours, and I can relate the needing of the "General" there to help you put things back to normal! Praying you'll make it till your husband returns. LOL!
Peace, Kris

Anonymous said...

All I can say is "Yes Drill Sergent!" lol. Just kidding! I totally agree with you and quite honestly we are in need of the same thing around here. I'm packing my kids up right now, they'll be there in a couple of days by bus. I'll tell them they're going to Sister Deanna's boot camp. lol.

One issue I'm having right now is that I'm too tired to discipline most days, and my husband is worse than the kids in his behavior, so I'm all alone in the discipline department. Ok, I've gone on long enough, 7 weeks to go, the emotions are running high. lol.

Blessings,
sara

TEAM HALL said...

Amen sister!!!!

Dawn said...

I enjoy reading your blog. It is refreshing to see a Christian Sister with real life issues. I love reading several blogs. I am not good at keeping up on my own, but reading gives me Christian inspiration. So many that I came across are so perfect and to much fluff. God doesn't make our lives perfect, he just sees us through the storms. I am far more inspired by reading how a sister deals with everyday issues than how perfect her children behave. I am the mother of 7. Children never behave perfectly.
I also admire you for reigning them back in.

In Christ
Dawn

Jer.6:16

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

Blog Archive