I'm a mom. Can I REALLY have a day of rest?

Keeping the Sabbath does seem overwhelming.  I liken it to starting to tithe when it hasn't been a practice the majority of your life.  10% of your income in a chunk.  Figuring out a way to have a day of rest seems daunting.  But God always shows up to help us accomplish His will.

We've tried keeping the Sabbath on and off a few times over our marriage.  It is an evolving thing for us.  The main goal is to rest, enjoy each other's company, and reflect on God and His goodness in our lives.  The road to get there has a few snags and some learning curves along the way but here's where we are currently at.

1.)  We start with the food.  On Fridays we cook ahead for one day.  This was our beginning when we first started to implement the Sabbath because it went right along with how the Israelites gather the extra manna for one day ahead.  Surprisingly, even with 3 little munchkins, this has never been a problem and so I attribute that soley to God because most days I can hardly get one meal on the table.  This past Saturday our menu was:
-blueberry muffins and cut up fruit for breakfast (watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple)
-chicken salad sandwiches and pickle spears for lunch
-pepperoni and more lasagna for dinner

Juggling the kids during this time always seems easier than normal.  A lot of times they like to help and I started doing a thing I call "Stool Snack" on Fridays while I cook where the kids can come to the island whenever they want and get little tastes of what I'm cooking (lasagna noodles, pepperonis, cut up fruit, etc.)

Last Friday I was completely done in the kitchen by 10 am!!!!

Stool Snack - The kids LOVED eating the cooked lasagna noodles

Time for some pluots.

V is always my little helper - making muffin mix

This coming Saturday we will have our niece and nephew over so the dinner casserole with be more kid-ish (a tator tot dish) but breakfast and lunch will be similar.

Once we got the meal thing down we've added the following:
1.) All laundry done and put away before the Sabbath
2.) Floors cleaned and vacuumed before the Sabbath
3.) Dishwasher emptied and kitchen cleaned before the Sabbath

During that 24 hour period we clean up after ourselves (i.e. put a toy back where it came from, put dirty laundry in the hamper and dirty dishes in the sink) but besides that we don't do any other work.

I cannot emphasize how amazing it is and how God really provides the avenue to make it happen.  I hope this gives some direction if you are wanting to implement the Sabbath.  Let me know if you have any questions!

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Yay, God!