House Rules & Giveaway Preview

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Our family is together a lot. Sometimes it seems to be too much time together, especially during the cold, endless months of winter. These are the times that try men’s souls, and just because we’re learning about Thomas Paine in our homeschool doesn’t mean it’s any easier to deal with some of our soul issues. Times can get tough around here.

In our household, we’ve had our ups and downs and ins and outs with “rules.” I’m not a huge rule maker, in the most literal sense, but rather hold on to the idea that training our kids in “the way they should go” will ultimately lead them to make wise decisions rooted in their hearts. However, there are some circumstances when rules are necessary in order to keep the chaos and insanity of life to a minimum.

For instance, after dealing with boy bathroom “spray” for years, I finally instituted the “sit rule” in our home. Enough said.

Not too many weeks ago, bad attitudes and behaviors had reached critical mass in our home. Politeness was replaced with screaming. Compliance with eyeball rolling. Helpfulness with laziness. Cheerful conversation with short, snippy sentences. The sense of self-centeredness in our home was palpable. In a sense, it was every man for himself.

We’ve dealt with this before. It seems to rear its ugly head in the winter months when personal space is at a minimum and little irritants become magnified. We couldn’t continue without change. But the change I was after for our family couldn’t simply be put in a list of “do’s” and “don’ts.” These “rules” had to be rooted firmly in the beliefs we all already cling to.

Have you ever been to a friend’s house that has something like this on the wall?

tumblr_lzpcd6aR0A1r2y1izo1_500It’s inspiring. In a way it’s a set of “rules,” but when paired with family values and history, it can become even more powerful.

The kids and I talked about the dark, trying day, and we discussed the reasons why we “do what we do” as a family. Why do we choose love? Why do we serve each other? Why do we listen first, speak second? What is the source of our “rules”? The kids and I talked about the things we’d been struggling with and talked about verses we’ve learned that apply to the ways we want to choose to live our lives.

After talking through our “rules,” I got a hold of a friend who I knew would be able to take our family rules and make them into a keepsake to hang on my wall for years to come. She took each of my kids’ writing and turned it into this amazing piece:

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And the beauty of it all is that we came up with these together, based on something we all believe to be true. These are some House Rules I know we can stand by.

AAAAND… don’t worry… you, too, can have a super sweet sign like this in your home. Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming giveaway from Adamo Design. You won’t want to miss it!

Adamo

What are some “rules” worth framing in your house?

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Marti Skow
Marti Skow is a boy raising, homeschooling, picture taking, blog/song/poetry writing, husband loving, work from home graphic artist. She has learned to graciously thrive in a house full of boys, living a life precariously between wedgie wars and warrior training. Marti has written several worship songs with her husband Josh and describes writing and poetry as her form of “knitting.” Some of her favorite things are good coffee (spelled Smokey Row), historical fiction and breakfast foods…preferably enjoyed together. Marti’s desire is to see the world as God sees it and to love His people as He does. You can read more about Marti’s life with boys at www.betterbelieveit.wordpress.com.

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