Spring Cleaning

This morning my kitchen counters are covered in household cleaners. Why? Because today marks Day One of spring cleaning in the Birch household. Growing up, my mother never really had a set "spring cleaning" time, we just sort of kept things clean as we went. But me, I am obsessed with keeping things neat and clean....so I've decided that my family is going to have a set spring cleaning week once every spring. I suppose it may seem weird to some that I love to sort through cupboards and drawers and getting rid of stuff I am not using. It makes me happy to know where everything is and that I am not being wasteful and hoarding things I don't need. Oh and that everything is clean...it makes me smile when things are clean.

As I begin cleaning this morning, I find it ironic that our family's character quality for the next two weeks is Orderliness vs. Disorganization.

If you've visited my home lately you may have noticed this hanging off of my thermostat. Every two weeks we study a new character quality from Bill Gothard's "Operational Definitions of Character Qualities". I stumbled across this on the Duggar Family website after I went there to find their Tator Tot Casserole recipe. (Carson had seen them eat it on their show and kept begging me to make it....it is quite yummy!).

Anyways, its off to spring clean. I am hoping that in cleaning I can rid my home of all the sickness we've had all winter. Yet again, we were in Instacare yesterday, because Carson was running a fever and crying that his "brain hurt" and tummy was icky. Turns our he has strep again, so we are on round two of anitbiotics, this time a stronger one. I am hoping that with the warmer weather and a good cleaning of everything, we can beat the sickies!