Preparing For The Sabbath

Each week is a new struggle as our family faces different and new strategies. One of them is learning to put in practice the Shabbat as my husband chooses and leads. We have really gotten consistent in the past 6 months with honoring the Sabbath. So each week it does get easier.

The first week was so hard. I mean I was confused, and I ended up cleaning and ran out of our "snacks".  It was horrible at first. I kept praying and asking for help because I needed it. Little by little my creativity came into play. I got more creative as time went on. I am still no pro but I am a lot more organized and the Sabbath runs so much more smoothly.

I have narrowed down 7 things I do before the start of the Sabbath.

1. Buy fruit, vegetables, greek yogurt to eat for the morning and snack on. 
2. We buy paper plates plastic spoons and forks. I know this isn't the best option, but until I can come up with something a little better this is what we have chosen that fits with our family. 
3. I print out the scriptures on a Word Document the Sunday before the Sabbath. This so that way the material that my husband was teaching our kids is fresh in our mind. I would like to point out my husband does lead the teachings and is head of our home. He tells me what we are going to study and asks me to find scriptures ahead of time so he can teach me and the kids. 
4. We do a crock pot meal or prep a casserole the week of sometime so that way Saturday evening we just pop it in the oven. If we decide to cook something else we will prep the food still and put it in the fridge or freezer. We have done this with hamburgers, steaks, and pies. 
5. We do all of our deep cleaning on Sunday and extra loads of laundry on this day. The only difference we have made is that instead of our family day on Sunday it is now on the actual Sabbath. Thursday and Friday morning I may have the kids do dishes, while I vacuum. Basically just little things to be sure to keep the house tidy during the Sabbath. 
6. I do all my shopping by Thursday because chances are I forgot something and it gives me Friday still to go and get what I forgot. 
7. The last thing I do is on Friday early afternoon. I set up movies, coloring sheets and activities for the younger kids to do while we study The Scriptures with the older kids. I try to refrain from using cutting, glitter or really small gems and stones. I will usually have one of the older kids cut out the shapes before hand so it's cleaned up before the Sabbath. 

This is what I have found to be the most successful in preparing for the Sabbath. It might not go as smooth as I would like all the time but this has eliminated me stressing out over it. These simple steps are things I do through out the week and I don't cram them all into one day. 

It has also helped me and our family to rest and enjoy the Sabbath.