As my family and I are moving on through 2014 (Can you guys believe that the year is almost halfway over?), it seems be getting busier and busier. I feel like we are moving into a new season in our lives, and if I think too much about it i feel a bit panicky.
Ove the past 5 years, I have protected our schedule fiercely. We are homebodies, for sure, and enjoy just being home together, working in the garden and playing with Legos and Play-doh, reading books, and watching cartoons. Jason loves coming home in the afternoons and having dinner on the deck and just working around the house on Saturdays. If you come over on a Sunday, there is a good chance you will have to wake the entire family up from a nap.
I have become really good at saying no to people. We didn’t sign Charlie up for tee ball this year (at Jason’s insistence) even when it seemed like all of his friends were playing, instead opting to enjoy a summer free of weeknight practices and Saturdays spent at the ball field. Maddie isn’t taking any dance or gymnastics classes, and we practice kicking the soccer ball out in the yard instead of at 5:30 every Saturday morning (Soccer practice isn’t really that early, but it is at a ridiculously early hour.).
We really enjoy our life, and these years have been good.
But I can feel it changing…
Charlie is starting Kindergarten this year. We have decided to homeschool the kids, and I am really excited about that. This is, however, requiring a change in our schedule. I am signing up for field trips and co-ops, scheduling weekly activities that we will HAVE to be at. Our mornings are now going to be set aside for school, not hanging around the house in our pajamas, or doing housework, or going to the park with friends.
My church is chartering a MOPS, and a friend and I are the co-coordinators. This is a huge responsibility, but something I feel is really important for our community and definitely feel called by God to do. Every Wednesday morning will be set aside for this, plus planning and preparation throughout the week.
Then there are our regular activities: Bible Study on Tuesdays and Story Time on Thursdays.
Also, I am considering signing Maddie up for ballet on Monday afternoons in the fall, just so she can have something for herself when I know I will be focusing so much on Charlie.
Then there’s me. I am still writing for a local magazine and teaching Sunday School off and on. I am directing VBS, and am in the middle of the planning crush for that. Plus, I want to love and support my husband in all of his endeavors, and just make sure he still gets the best of me and not the leftovers at the end of the day.
Can we do all of this? Are some things going to have to fall by the wayside? Of course.
My devotion this morning dealt with the fact that God puts every thing in our life for a reason. It is all for a purpose: to prepare us for His greater plan for our lives.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17
This is my prayer for my family: that every single thing we do and every moment of our calendar is established by God, that it is meaningful for something.
If there is anything that I don’t need to be doing, I want to release it and leave it to someone else and not feel badly about it. It could be someone else’s mission, after all.
There is one thing I know for sure-I am going to soak up every minute of this summer! We are going to go to the pool and read books and be lazy when we can. And I am really going to appreciate it.
Congrats on guarding your family’s schedule so successfully! You won’t regret spending those formative years with your children, making wonderful memories. And even though scheduled activities are beginning to infiltrate your schedule, it sounds like you’ve gotten off on the right foot & will keep those obligations to a minimum, allowing your family to take first priority. Kudos!
Thanks, Karen! I guess I am just like every mother, trying to find the right balance.