Home Sanctuary

A Weekly Schedule that Actually Works

My Weekly Schedule has changed more times than Britney Spears has changed her hair.  Sometimes I've let it go completely, and then other times it has kept me afloat like a life preserver.  Setting up a schedule for yourself is a tool to help you function and make good decisions for your family.  It gives you POWER!  It takes you from feeling victimized by that boat-load of tasks, and actually gives you freedom.  I like that!

And, in keeping with my theme song this week, it's also about respecting your role as a wife, a mom, a keeper of all things important, and overseer of your growing organization.

When I think about setting up my schedule, I like to borrow a phrase from a famous pirate movie, "They're not really rules, they're more like 'guidelines.'"  Guidelines give you some structure to work within, but there is a lot of wiggle room for when the unexpected happens, and we all know it will happen.

Katherine, at Raising Five, has an excellent post about a Weekly Schedule.  Since we are both Bonnie McCullough devotees, and because Katherine has really nice color-coded examples (jealous), I will give a slightly different slant. 

Paraphrasing from Bonnie, here are some tips on setting up your schedule.

1. Define your housekeeping goal. What level of cleanliness would be best for you and your family? (Sidenote: this can be an area of conflict if you and your spouse have different cleanliness level needs. I speak from experience....cough)

2. Decide how much time to spend on cleaning. Housecleaning, cooking, child care, laundry, maintenance AND self-fulfillment are all part of home management. Defining what MUST be done is important, so you are not wasting your efforts (i.e. overcleaning. no problem THERE!)

3. Make a 7-day work chart. Fill in fixed commitments and the basic family happenings for a week: departures, school, meals, arrivals. From these, a general horizontal time schedule will emerge, showing some structure. (Look at Katherine's cool color-codings.)

4. Set aside time for fun-specific time for relaxation. You owe it to yourself!

5. Group the same types of work together in your schedule as much as possible. Arrange days to spend AT HOME getting those things done. Arrange errands together. (Very important!!)

6. Delegate responsibility. You don't have to do it all! Every member of the family should carry part of the load. Be democratic, share the fun ones, too.

7. Plan ahead by scheduling. If your schedule shows soccer after school, dinner could be ready to pop in the oven before you leave. If you have a special event on a cleaning day, move your cleaning day over, or start it the night before. If an activity doesn't fit on paper, simply say no to it.

8. If an activity doeasn't fit on paper, simply say no to it. Oh, I just said that! But it deserves it's own special point. So quit cramming stuff in that doesn't fit.

9. Value your time. Pretend you are being paid a professional wage during your work times. Respect the work you do and what it does for your family!

10. Stay flexible. You are not a prisoner to the schedule. Its purpose is to allow you to take control of managing what happens in your home!

11. Be creative! It was a revelation to me to realize that I didn't have to do ALL my cleaning and laundry and yardwork and oversee kids' chores and do kids' sports all on Saturday! I began making Mondays my major work day, freeing up Saturdays to do other things.

Now, just a few thoughts: When you feel like your work is never done, it drains you of energy. Assigning days to do specific tasks frees you of the burden of the other undone things. See? You don't have to worry about doing that monstrous pile of laundry on any other day than Laundry Day. Sweet freedom!

I suggest starting very simply. Don't fill in every minute with tasks you know you'll never do. Think in terms of chunks of time, and just put in what you know MUST be done and live with it for awhile before you get real complicated.

Like Bonnie McCullough says, you deserve to treat yourself well, and with dignity. Caring for your household is a way of caring for yourself, and expressing gratitude for what you have. It's about creating a home sanctuary for the people you care about most: your family.

Here is a sample schedule for someone who does not work outside the home. How about I talk about setting up a schedule for a mom who works outside the home next time?

For more great Works For Me Wednesday tips, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

Start your week with a little RESPECT

We could all use some Aretha to get our week going, so turn up the volume and enjoy!

This song makes me think about how important it is to respect what I'm doing today! On Mondays it's tough to get motivated: the house is a wreck from the weekend and the week stretches out before me in its endless weight of tasks. Washing the same clothes, picking up the same socks left by the same people who shall go unnamed, cleaning the same potties and wiping the same noses. Will this never end?? What in the world is all this for??

Well, let me tell you. The minutes and hours you are spending, doing all those things and raising those little ones, you are doing more that just keeping house. You are more than a maid. You are more than a chauffer. You are more than a day-care worker. You're somebody's mom, somebody's friend, and that makes you special.

Think about what you're doing: You are making a home. You are making a life for your family. You are making memories and history and a solid foundation for their lives.

You deserve some RESPECT!

Give yourself some cred! Respect the life you are living. Maybe it's not laced with luxuries or leisurely pursuits. Maybe you are working at a job and then going home to take care of business on the homefront. Maybe you are dealing with a toddler hiding his poo-poos in the corner, or a teenager hiding some bad grades. I don't know what you've got going on, but I know that the girls who read my blog have something really important in common. We share a heart for making a good life for our families, no matter what the circumstances.

Hey! You are a hard-working woman! You've got what it takes! You are a rockin gal! Ain't nobody that can do it better than you! You might be soft on the outside, but on the inside, you are standing tall and taking it to 'em!

Give yourself a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T!

Now, replay the song and lip-sync along with Aretha! C'mon, I'll sing it with you!

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, I'm on a roll.

It's been one of those weeks and I can't deliver on my promise to post my Weekly Schedule. 

For example, yesterday, I drove like the wind from my job site to my son's school to pick him up early for an orthodontist appointment.  I had to leave Ft. Worth by 1:30 to get to his school by 2:40 to get him to the appointment by 3:00.  There was so much to do at the job site, and since it is such a long drive I try and pack in as much as possible while I'm there.  Feeling feverish at leaving things undone and already 10 minutes behind schedule, then making my way along the 70 miles to the school, I was just a little stressed.  Thankfully, we made it JUST IN TIME!  Woo hoo!

We ran into the office building, purse and backpack flying, only to see a "Closed until Tomorrow" sign on the door.

What??

We could see the receptionist inside and we motioned to her.  "Hey, what's the deal?" we mouthed, using exaggerated shrugging and pointing to our watches.

"Your appointment is TOMORROW at 3:00!" she said through the glass.

My son, G.T. turned to me and said, "GREAT.  I'm going to have to make up a quiz for this, AND miss tomorrow's class at this same time.  Good goin', Mom."

Actually, he was pretty nice about it, but that's what he was thinking. 

You see, that's what happens when you use a crummy purse calendar in which the week starts with a Monday instead of Sunday and then you count over 3 spaces to what you THINK is Wednesday, but it is actually Thursday.  It would help to look at the numbers, which I didn't do...24th, 25th, whatever.  Details, details!

All of this brings me back to my Weekly Schedule, which I said I would post, but I have not created as a word document as of yet.  If I had used my schedule, I would have remembered that I make appointments on Thursdays, not Wednesdays. 

And, had I used my monthly menu planner, we would have had pot roast instead of pizza bagels for dinner, because Crock Pot Night is on Wednesday. 

Oh, yeah. I'm on a roll.

Friends don't let friends have toenail fungus

Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Shannon.

Yeah, that's right, toenail fungus. Don't be surprised when you take off that pretty red summer nail polish if your toenails look a little ratty. Here's a natural remedy that really helped mine, and since we're all among friends you can leave me a comment telling me about just how bad YOUR toenails look. I'm here to help.

Just don't send pictures.

Use 1 part Tea Tree Oil to 1 part Lavender Oil and mix into a small bottle with a dropper. You can get these natural products at a health food store. Place a drop on each toenail morning and night, and let it soak in. Don't let it get onto your skin if you can help it. Tea Tree oil is a very potent antibiotic and lavender will help fight the infection and prevent skin irritation.

I started seeing improvement after about a week, and I kept doing it along with my vitamin regimen, which is pretty much whenever I remember it.

I also go all fall and winter sans polish, so that they get a chance to get healthy. With my feet stuffed into socks and shoes, no one can see the damage.

Try this before you get the expensive prescription stuff and hopefully it will work for you, too! For other tips, try this link.

What does Minimum Maintenance really look like?

One of the challenges of training kids to be able to clean is helping them "see" what needs to be done.  How many times have they announced that their room is clean, and you find that it still looks like a bomb went off in there?  They often don't see their own mess.

The same thing is true for us moms.  We need to train our own eyes to see the mess sometimes.  Well, in my case, our messes are only too obvious.  But we get used to seeing newspapers and toys and unfolded clothes laying around and don't even realize how it affects our subconscious need for order.  We wonder why we just can't feel good about our home life.

So here's an easy list of the Minimum Maintenance activities to help you "see" what should be done.

Kitchen: dishes, countertops, sweep.  (OK, it does take longer than 15 minutes, I lied.)

Entry:  pick up, no backpacks, shoes, stuff to take upstairs.  You don't want to trip on stuff as you come in the door.

Family Room:  newspaper, books, remotes, trash, pillows straightened, laundry not slung over the couch

Bedrooms: Everyone responsible for keeping their own room neat: beds made, clothes picked up off of floor, trash thrown away.  Obviously 2 year olds can't make their own bed, but if you spend a few minutes with your small child, helping them "see" what should be done, and then doing most of it yourself, it will gradually transition as they become more responsible.

Mail Center: (ahem, if you have one) junk mail thrown, bills and important papers where they go, etc.

You always want to start with the big items (bed, table top, countertops) and work down to smaller areas.  And work with gusto!  Why take hours to do what can be done in minutes?  Leave yourself time to do fun stuff so you aren't a slave to your house.  Try an "apronon" with pockets to put little items in as you go.

I found that I don't do ALL the rooms, and all the rooms don't take 5 minutes EVERY DAY.  That's where being flexible is important.  When my kids were little, it was nearly impossible to go from room to room without interruption.  Maybe that's why I liked picking up at night.

I always kept some kind of basket in each room (living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc) that I could chuck toys into for the easiest possible clean up.  It wasn't the most organized way to handle toys, but it helped keep the floor from looking like a minefield, and made it easy for little helpers to do a quick pick-up, too.

Rachel Anne

The Secret to Successful Home Management-"Minimum Maintenance"

When I first quit my job to stay home with my babies, I really wanted to do a great job as a homemaker.  My biggest challenge was that my mindset had gotten a little messed up.  After several years of working, I had gotten into the habit of thinking that "home" time was "relax" time.  You know, kick back and unwind and watch T.V.  It took me awhile to figure out that, like any job, homemaking took some effort and some pride.  But where to start??  I had my hands full with the little ones and was overwhelmed at keeping house AND keeping everyone fed.

One day, in a rabid search for organizational inspiration at the Container Store, I stumbled across Bonnie's Household Organizer.  Coincidentally, my sister Katherine referenced this book yesterday.  (It is a recurring theme of our phone conversations.)  In it, Bonnie gives some guidelines for a simple daily maintenance rountine that I've adapted to my own family's needs over the years.  When life starts getting out of control, I often find that I've forgotten to put it into practice and I have to pull out my dog-eared book for a refresher.  Minimum Maintenance (along with a general weekly schedule) helps get my family back on track and gives me hope that I just might make it.

Minimum Maintenance in a nutshell is this:  acknowledging that every day a minimum amount of effort will go into that day to make it work.

Minimum Maintenance is not a thorough cleaning process.  It is a morning run-through of the house, that gives you a successful start to your day, whatever happens. 

Here is what Bonnie says:

1. Spend 5 minutes per room, picking up and straightening.  NO MORE THAN 5 MINUTES! (Except the kitchen, which gets 15).  When your friendly timer goes off, you move on.  Oh, good!

2. Don't start cleaning too deeply during your morning run-through.  Save that for later.  Oh, now we're talkin!

3. Don't let the needs of others control your life.  (ex. telephone calls, Regis and Kelly etc.)

4. Make the dinner decision early. (By 10:00)  Deciding early give you more choices, even if you are deciding to eat out.  It gives you control.  Try an easy monthly menu plan.

5. Start from the outside in.  Clean off the top of the counter before you attack a drawer.

6. Categorize items as you go:  start grouping stuff as you pick up.  Don't get bogged down in specific, precise categories, just simple groups so that when you begin to really organize, half the job is already done.

7.  Learn to pick up before the mess becomes monstrous.  We often don't pick up a little piece of paper because the rest of the house is so messy.  For today, just pick up the stuff you took out and used TODAY.

8. Make the picking-up process a habit.  At first it will take great effort, but soon it will become a second nature.  Clean as you go.  Having paper towels or pop-up wipes handy in each bathroom makes it easier to do a quick swab o' the deck.

So even if my closets are a disaster (and some of them are!) picking up and straightening the areas we live in gives me a euphoric feeling of success.  Knowing that I HAVE to move on after 5 minutes in each room helps keep me from getting bogged down in my quagmire of despair.

Sometimes it has worked better for me to do 5 minutes per room in the evening, rather than in the morning.  I like to wake up to a neat house, and getting the kids to pitch in to for quick pick up gives them an excuse to stay up 5 more minutes.  As if they needed it.

Next week, I will post how I've done my general weekly schedule.  I actually seldom use it anymore, because the needs of my family have changed.  But for at least 20 years it has been my lifesaver, the thing that brought me back from the ledge of insanity many times.

I encourage you to get out your timer and get rockin with Minimum Maintenance today.  I would be willing to bet my last dollar that you will feel incredibly sexy and powerful when you can see your countertops once again!  Hey, there's nothing like a little bit of success to give a big boost to your self esteem.  And we can all use some of that!

Sanctuary in Suburbia. Not the Impossible Dream!

It seems easy to think of my Barn House as a sanctuary. Because of its location, a few miles out of town and tucked back from the road, you do feel like you've found a little unfashionable oasis in this busy world. But don't let that fool you. Cable TV, High Speed Internet, video games and the stresses of life are all still readily knocking at our door, just like it was when we lived in suburbia. The only real difference is that it is a lot quieter.

For almost 20 years, we lived in your typical suburban neighborhood. At our last residence, our neighbors' houses were so close to us we could almost lean out our windows and shake hands with them. We could see into each others' back yards, and our front door was maybe 25 feet from a busy street. Our front yard was a small patch of green grass.

And yet somehow we found ways to make it a home sanctuary. While we longed to move to Montana, or at LEAST to the piney woods of east Texas, the years went by and we had to make do with what we had. It wasn't perfect, but it did seem like we owned a little slice of peace in our cookie-cutter world.

I've thought back to those days and realized that we still do most of the same things now that we did then.

We didn't move to a sanctuary,we brought sanctuary with us.

Here are some simple ways we made our suburban home a sanctuary:

1. Start at the front door. A pot of flowers and a swept front porch says "Welcome." Not just to visitors, but to your family. Some years we didn't have the time or money to put in a big show of annual flower beds, but a few blooms in a pot is always the first thing that says "I care about this place" to anyone who comes through the door.

2. Make a grand entance. Our last house had a PITIFUL entryway. You opened the front door and would nearly run into the steps upstairs. Our lovely Barn House has a sliding door that opens into the kitchen--so tacky. But regardless of our lack of a grand entryway, I ask myself: "What is the first thing my family (or visitors) will see when they come it?" The clutter of mail, shoes, toys, and in our case, dirty dishes? Take a few minutes each day to tidy that up. Be vigilant about the "Drop Zones" and have everyone put their backpacks and papers where they belong.

3. Turn down the noise level. At one point, our neighbors played their music so loudly, it vibrated the pictures on our walls. So pleasant. We had to confront that issue and it nearly came to blows. Our other neighbor's dog barked incessantly. Incessantly, I tell you. That confrontation didn't go well either. But the things we could control, the TV, radio, stereo, children's voices, we worked on. I always felt that kids didn't need to be yelling in the house. Not at me, not at each other, not for fun. Take it outside, kids, or face the consequences.

4. Have some good smells coming from the kitchen. Hey, the Pillsbury crescent rolls smell almost as good as home made, so that counts, too. Even fishsticks and tater tots taste better when eaten together.

5. Guard your family time. My sister Katherine has a great post about this. Our kids used to think we were mean and unrealistic about requiring family time, but I think it paid great rewards. As my husband, Tom, likes to say, "This isn't a way-station, where you just change clothes for the next event. You gotta live here, too." So what if your kids say there's nothing to do here. So what if you're bored. Boredom is good.

6. Create a sense of Order.  OK, this is a whole post in and of itself.  I will post a complete thought on this on Friday, so stay tuned for that.  For today, I will mention Minimum Maintenance. Minimum Maintenance is simply recognizing that a there is a minimum amount of effort that needs to go into each day to make it work. It is a morning (or evening) run through of the house, picking up and straightening. I spend NO MORE than 5 minutes per room, (15 minutes in the kitchen). This isn't a heavy-duty cleaning process, but it is enough to make me feel on top of my day. I've said before how much a timer has helped me, and I encourage you to see how much you can accomplish in 5 little minutes!

7. Have a sense of fun. Life can get to be awfully heavy with responsibilities and stresses. Give your children the gift of joy as you look for things to enjoy and treasure each day. In our city life, we played in the backyard, made forts in the living room, and ate cookies whenever possible. We didn't have wide open spaces to run around in, but we had each other and we made some great memories. Regardless of where your sanctuary is, it is really all about the people who live there.

I come back to my theory that Peace, Order and Beauty is the three-legged stool that Sanctuary rests on. Ask yourself: in which of these areas can I improve how my home operates day-to-day? My challenge has always been the clutter that threatens any peace and beauty that's going on. Maybe you are there, too. I know I will never be as organized as Laura the Org Junkie, but on Friday I will share more on what has worked for a struggler like me.

Thank you, Laurel. You lifted me up today.

Laurel, at laurelwreathsreflections.com, gave me this sweet blog award the other day. I don't usually post "awards" because, I don't know, I feel kind of funny about doing it. But I know we are among friends, and so I'd like to take the opportunity to pass on the award to a few blogs that lift ME up as well.

First, right back at you Laurel. You are such an encouragement, not just to me, but to so many women in the blog world. I think of your blog as a cup of cool water to a thirsty soul. Your words are kind hearted and, well, uplifting.

Then, there is Kate, at smallscribbles. She makes discussing stories and people from the Bible as natural as breathing. I love how she lives and breathes a calm sense of spirituality and fun. She makes things interesting, even if it is cleaning out a garage or folding laundry. I find that to be an uplifting quality.

I give the award to Mary at Not Before 7.  Even in the midst of sick kids and sleepless nights, she is creating a sanctuary for her family.  A woman after my own heart.  She hosts Tiny Talk Tuesday, a sure-fire way to uplift your spirits every week.

And to Ann Kroeker.  I love her blog because it's so.....intelligent.  Informed.  Classy.  Fun.  All the things I aspire to be.  Maybe if I hang around her blog, some of that will rub off on me.  And she freely shares her classiness here.  I like that in a blog friend.  I'm planning to start throwing some French phrases into my blog posts so I can be just like her.  She is a must-read.

I must award "You Lift Me Up" to Chrystal at Chrystal's Chronicles.  I'm uplifted by her honesty and courage to tackle issues that are difficult.  She doesn't pretend to have all the answers, but her wisdom and love for the Lord always comes through.  If you really want something to chew on, start reading her current series of posts on women in ministry!

Finally, my sister Katherine at Raising Five, gets the award for consistently lifting me up every time I visit her blog.  She is just as real in person as she is on her blog, and I find that genuine people are the best kind of people to be around.  Even when her wash machine dies and her husband goes out of town and things are going wrong, she is able to look up and point to what God is doing.  I love that about her.

I simply must stop here, but I want you dear readers to know how much each of you uplifts me each time I stop in to your blogs as well.  I could easily give the award to each one listed in my sidebar and a whole bunch more that I need to add to my "Company Girls" but I'm so far behind.  You bless me far more than you could ever know.

Thank you!

Women's Retreats: good for the soul

I'm sure I thought "I really don't have time for this," at least 50 times before the weekend women's retreat.  I mean, two whole days away from my endless list of things-I-need-to-do doesn't make much sense.  But I'd already paid my money and I knew from past experience that it would be a rewarding time.  And it was.

I've been going on women's retreats off and on since the days when I was nursing babies and could hardly make it through a weekend without my boobs exploding.  It seems like each time I've taken the time and scraped together the money, there has been something special that I've taken home.  Maybe it was just the need to laugh with a bunch of girls, or a deep spiritual hunger for a word from God, but retreats have been a great source of encouragement to me over the years.  It's good to have some time out from the everyday responsibilites to enjoy being with other women, and spend time with the Lord.

The theme of the weekend was "Masquerade: Unveiled to Reveal God's Glory." One of our own women, Barbara Jackson, was our teacher, and she led us to think about the masks we wear that prevent us from going deeper in our relationship with God.  And with each other.

I've got some good masks:  the "I'm Fine" mask, the "Everything's Under Control" mask, the "I'm Really Busy" mask and the "I'm Really Spiritual" mask all keep people at arm's length so I can just go about my business.  Masks are useful: they keep others from seeing the real me and protect me from the rejection I fear would happen if they knew what was behind them.

But it's lonely behind a mask.  True, you don't risk getting hurt when you wear one, but you also don't risk finding friendships that go beyond "Hi, how ya doin? Fine, just fine!"  And you miss out on truly reflecting His glory by letting others see who you are and where you've come from. 

It's not always a pretty sight when you let down your guard.  But when we are real with each other and real with our God, well, that's when things get interesting.  It gives Him the chance to work in ways that we never thought possible.  It gives friendships a chance to blossom.  And it gives us a chance to step out in faith to believe that God can take what is behind the mask and make something beautiful out of it.

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. II Cor 3:16-18

That's not my donkey's name, so don't be thinkin he's gonna come when you call him that.

Flash is getting his own category, now that he has become a regular feature in my blog. I simply could not resist using the A-word, and although I worry that it may offend a reader or two, I humbly remind us all that the King James Version uses it all the time.

Our neighbors are very good friends of ours. We literally "share" the pasture where Flash resides. Although I do feel bad about the loud bellowing that takes place at all odd hours, I feel certain that he provides them with just enough entertainment to keep us on good terms.

Not long after Flash came to live with us, our neighbors stopped by to check out our new family member.

"And we thought of the PERFECT name for him!" they exclaimed excitedly. Before we could respond that we had already named our donkey, they blurted out, "HAY-soos! You know, Spanish for Jesus! Isn't that just perfect?"

Hay-soos? HAY-SOOS?

I mumbled something about how we thought "Flash" was kind of a funny name, you know, because he's not that fast and all. But apparently they didn't pay any attention to that part of the conversation, because they continue to use THEIR name for OUR donkey.

Hmph. I don't know why, but it's never occurred to me to re-name any of my friends' pets for them. I always thought that the person who owns the pet gets to name the pet. I mean, you can call my donkey anything you want, but that's not going to be his name. You can call him "Spot," or "Secretariat," or "Mr. Ed," but don't expect him to come running when you call him that, because I've told him he doesn't have to come unless he hears his actual given name. Yeah, that's right. By me. Given, by ME!

Boy, it annoys me when I see him trotting over whenever he hears "YOO-hoo! HAY-soos!"

Flash! You don't have to go over there! Have some self-respect!

And then one day it struck me just how much like Flash I am. I thought of MY owner, my Master. The One who has named me. He calls me:

Redeemed.
Bought with a Price.
Ransomed.
Healed.
Delivered.
Victorious.
Overcomer.
Beloved.
My Child.

Oh, there is a long list of sweet names He has given me. Because He owns me. Because I belong to Him.

Ya'll, I'm about to start preachin.

I SAID! OH YES, I SAID!!

HE'S NAMED ME!
REDEEMDED!
BOUGHT WITH A PRICE!
RANSOMED!
HEALED!
DELIVERED!
VICTORIOUS!
OVERCOMER!
BELOVED!
MY CHILD!

But then what do I do? I hear other names being called out to me and I respond by running toward those false names, like a foolish ass.

Sinner.
Defeated.
Loser.
Weak.
Unloved.
No Good.
Inadequate.
Failure.

What's worse is that I start acting like those names belong to me! Poor me, I'm such a failure. I'm no good. I'm just a loser, yeah that's me.

Like Flash, I need to remember Who I belong to and Who has named me. Those other names aren't MY names! Satan, the accuser, can call me anything he wants, but you know what? HE DON'T OWN ME! And I don't have to come running whenever I hear him call.

THAT'S RIGHT YA'LL!

I. don't. have. to. come. Because Satan's not my owner. I don't belong to him.

So I'm asking you. Who owns YOU? Who do you belong to?

Oh, my friend. Just come to the One who owns you. Because He's got a whole long list of sweet names for you, too. And He's calling YOUR name!

Isaiah 43:1,2 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine."

My donkey's name is Flash. His name is Flash because I own him and I named him.

What names do YOU come running to?