Queen of the Castle

A few posts ago, I mentioned a book that I'm currently reading; it's called Queen of the Castle:  52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged, or Just Plain Tired Homemaker by Lynn Bowen Walker.  A dear friend of mine mentioned it to me a year or so ago, and another friend gave it to me as a gift before the military moved her family to the other side of the country a few months ago.  Anyway, Lynn approaches homemaking with an annually-organized eye:  she makes suggestions for Easter projects, for example, two weeks before you actually need them so that there's time to put the ideas together.  Right now, I'm working through some chapters on cleaning, and it's been very inspiring and encouraging to read her thoughts and suggestions.  I'm so, so glad that I'm not the only mother with young kids that has struggled to keep a tidy, organized home; that knowledge alone has helped me tremendously.  And, even though I'm on this "quest" to scrub my house until it sparkles, one chapter I read recently really stuck with me.  Lynn mentions that our role as homemakers is to create a peaceful home...one where our children feel love and support, where our husbands look forward to coming home, and where utter chaos is kept in check.  But a peaceful home is not necessarily a home out of a magazine or a display window; it's more important to bake cookies, read a picture book, or take a walk together than to mop the kitchen, at least in most cases.