Important vs. Urgent...

We were talking about time management last night at our homeschool meeting, and talked about how we often do the urgent (many times meaningless) things and leave the truly important things left undone. Several of the moms said things that have me thinking this morning, so I thought I would try and work it out "on paper".

I know that I am one who often gets swept up in the urgent. My dear hubby say it's lack of margin, and I am sure he is right, but how do you get there, to the place where you have margin?

A few years ago, I really was praying about what to "do", what activities were worthy of the time I would spend on them. I wanted to use the gifts God has given me (feeding people, teaching, compassion) to do what I am passionate about. So I decided that because I am passionate about children, and their moms, and feeding people, that I would do things that have those two things at their center. So, I work with MOPS (two birds with one stone - I get to feed them and minister to the moms and their kids), I keep my ears open for people who will be helped by receiving a meal, I make myself available to watch other people's kids on occasion, to give them a break, or let them get something done. The rub is that I still have to maintain margins. I can't always be doing for others, or my own family starts to suffer - and I can't allow that to happen.

What I have found is that when I keep my priorities lined up, then even though I am busy, I am not overwhelmed!! It really is amazing! The other key, and this probably comes before the first, is that I have to, have to, did I say have to, make time for God every day. If I start my day spending time with him in prayer and study, then all the rest just falls into place. Sometimes it is really hard to do - but is it really? How about I give up on 30 minutes of the time I spend aimlessly wandering around the web, to go and spend it with the Creator of my soul? When you put it that way, how can I ever say that "I don't have time?!" Wow! I am glad I did my quiet time this am, or I would have to get off here now and go do it!!

Part of what we did last night was determine where we were wasting time, and I for one know that I have a real problem of wasting precious time doing worthless "surfing" on the web. I am working on that, and plan to sit down and get together a list of what is important in my life, and start working on those things.

Rebecca said that someone told her that she should stop spending time looking for "new ways to do things" and just do the things she already knew, and was not putting in to practice - ouch!!! That really smacked me in the face.

And Suzanne followed that up with the one-two punch of "Why am I homeschooling?" Is it so that I can check things off on a list, just to say they are "done"? Or is it because that is what God has called us to do? And if God called us to it, do you think He is sitting 'up there' with a checklist, wanting to know if all the worksheets are done, or is He more pleased with us taking the time with our kids to build their character and teach them about relationship with Him? Yes, they need to learn to read, and do math, and all that good stuff, but I really think that if we care for their needs and build good realtionships with them, then teaching them will be so much easier! Their minds will be open to learning because their hearts are full of our love for them.

So, I think that is all for now. Please pray for me as I try and work this out and do the important things in the amazing life that God has given me!

t

yawn... :-0

Did you know it is possible to sit for eight hours in one spot and have a finished baby blanket to show for it? Well, it is! Only problem is that the eight hours went from 7:30 pm to 3:30 am and as you mothers know, the kids still get up at the same time, no matter what time you go to bed! Thankfully, I have an amazing husband, who got up and got the morning started while I got my shower, but I must say I am feeling that late night right now - I can't even type I am so sleepy!

Anyway, a story about the children: A certain sweet child (whom I love and who, coincidentally, is 'betrothed' to my daughter) told my Jalapeño that "Monsters live in his closet at night". Since then, it has been a real struggle to get said Jalapeño into bed at night without locking the closet (to keep the monster inside, you know?). A side question, what is the logic that a little flip lock will keep a monster in the closet? But I digress...

The closet in the boys room is a walk in, and until a year ago, it stored all of my craft supplies - hence the flip lock on the outside of the door to keep the little ones out. When I set up my studio, all of that stuff got moved downstairs and I put a shelf and toys in the closet for the boys. They love to go in the closet, turn off the light and play in there - with the door closed! I am guessing by now that little boys do not employ much logic in their day to day lives, because, I mean, what about that monster that kept us all up for two hours last night?!? Where does he go during the day?!

Anyway, on the weekends, to garner a little Mommy and Daddy talk time, we often let Sweet Potato go in the boy's room when they are all awake, to play before breakfast. We can usually stretch it out for at least an hour, except when Sweet Potato gets the lock open on the closet door and they all go in there to play. You see, the closet backs right up to our bathroom/bedroom, so all noises are magnified greatly!

So, Steve (as I said, an amazing husband and father) went in this am, to quiet the raging beasts, to find one little Pineapple, standing on a Fisher Price firehouse outside the closet door, trying desperately to reach the flip lock, and thus lock his siblings in the closet! I am guessing that his next move would have been to move the firehouse over to the light switch and begin madly flipping the light on and off, while his siblings wail and pound on the door - but that's just me knowing my little cherub's odd sense of "what is funny". Steve came and told me what was going on, and I told him that I guessed that Pineapple had just seen his sister use the firehouse to unlock the door, and Steve said that "Yes, there was definitely information sharing going on!"

Which brings me to a confession (I have already asked for forgiveness for this, by the way). When I was about 12, I decided to "have a little fun" at my little sister's expense. We had a hook and eye lock on the outside of our bedroom door, to keep out a new little brother who liked to crawl into our room and destroy anything within reach. Again, not a super sturdy lock system, but enough to keep that little booger out (sorry Mike ;-)).

One day, my little sister was playing with a friend in our room and I thought it would be hysterically funny to lock the door and set off the fire alarm. So I did. And totally did not expect the reaction that I got! When the girls found that the door was locked, they did what any public school trained child would do - they headed for the window! Now, I must say that the window is only about five feet off the ground - but they were seven! So, quickly discerning that I would not be able to sit down for a month (at best) if my sister fell out of a bedroom window, I opened the door and turned off the alarm. And felt horrible about it for years, until I finally asked her to forgive me for being so mean. Which she did - because she is kind and gracious, despite living with me for 18 years!

All that to say - like mother, like son - it must be true!

Happy Sunday!

t

"I know who I am!"

This week, we are learning about large sea animals...dolphins, whales, etc. We are talking about mammals and the sort. Eric turns to Austin and says "Austin, you are a mammal". To which Austin replied - "No - I'm Austin". Period, end of sentence.

MOPS Convention - in a word...

We just got back from the MOPS Convention, in Texas - and it was a blast!! I thought I would "sum it up" for you:

Suitcases & coolers and little room to move; Large yarn balls and crochet hooks; Many, many hours in a mini-van; The DDD bill boards (don't ask - I'm not tellin'); Rockin' out to songs best left in the 80's; Avocado dip and rice chips; Steak, steak and more steak!! Too few hours in small beds; Rockin' out to "Go Fish" (who knew?!) with 4,500 other moms; Did I mention many, many hours in a mini-van? Enough Kleenex to fill said mini-van; Lunch with Leslie; Stir crazy in the middle of nowhere - literally!! Sisters all: big sister, little sister, tall sister and middle sister; Talkin' 'bout our young'uns - and laughing till we thought we would split; True southern hospitality, Texas style; Sweet tea - the real deal; Pronghorns (not antelope); Mosquitoes so big that... well let's just say they were Texas big! Smarties and snickers and butterfingers - no more!!! T-shirt ideas that will one day put our kids through college; BBQ with no sauce - yuck!! Did I happen to mention that we drove to Texas?!? And back? Plumb and Jaci Velasquez and Kim Hill and Nic Gonzales and Avalon; Julie Barnhill and our ordinary children; Except for Abigail, who is learning calculus while riding a unicycle, blindfolded...; tennis shoes from Heaven for a little Bosnian girl; More Kleenex!! SDWSC - not "South Denver West Super Cool, like we thought! And God's gracious protection all the long, long way, there and back.

Nashville, here we come!!

Wish you could have been there!!

t

'water' fun day!!

So, we are studying rivers right now, and in several of our books, we have seen the process of river water being purified so that we can drink it and not get sick. So, today, we made water filters, and boy did we have fun!

First, we got to use power tools - yehaaa! when we drilled tiny holes in the bottom of milk bottles. Then we put sand and then pea gravel in the jugs and then some really nasty water from the sand table, and let 'em rip!

Then, we had a lesson on perseverance (doing things even though they are hard) because those little bottles were amazingly heavy and everyone got really whiney on me!! I took a break, and had the bright idea that we should hang the bottles, so that the kids could keep pouring the water through the bottles, without having to hold them. So, lots of bright pink nylon string and a box of matches later (oh, yeah, and a lesson on fire safety and why matches are not toys and why box knives are not toys...) we had some pretty nifty hanging water purification centers going on.

Then Pineapple finished speech and we had to have another lesson on water pollutants (he decided to put nasty water in Sweet Potato's almost clear purifier), but all in all, it was a great way to spend a nice fall day outside!!

Hope yours was as nice!

t

the wisdom of the little ones

My darling daughter, "Sweet Potato", said to me yesterday, "Mommy, I remember that you used to write in a book for me, when I was sad about my birth parents". I agreed that we had done that, and told her that we could still write in her journal, if she needed too. She responded, "That's okay Mommy. I don't get sad anymore, since I forgave them." Wow. Wow! If only I could forgive the way she is showing me she has forgiven!

What is the verse that says "Unless you come to me as a little child..."

We started writing in her journal shortly after she came, when she was so overcome with sadness and longing for her birth parents. She would verbally "write" a letter to them, and I would put it in the journal for her. The letters she wrote were very telling, about a little girl who missed her Mommy, and despite all that had gone on, needed to know that they loved her, even if they did not show it very well.

Fast forward a few months, and she and I had a half-day conversation about that very topic and forgiveness. That we all need to forgive the wrongs done to us, so that we can receive healing ourselves. Apparently, she got it.

God is good - that's all I have to say.

t

What a difference a year makes!

Wow! Last year about this time, I drove with the kids to see my brother in Telluride. My little Pineapple, whose vocabulary was limited to "wawa" (water) and "NO!", nearly drove me over a cliff with his insistence on pointing out every, and I do mean every, drop of water that he saw on the way there and back. I began to believe that this was my lot in life, and that I was going to just have to get used to it.

Fast forward one year, to a car ride in the rain last night. Still fascinated with water, my Pineapple pointed out that "the road is wet Mommy", yes, I agreed, it is wet. "It is probably raining" he said. Probably raining?!?! How in the world did we go from "wawa, wawa! WAWA!!!" to probably raining?? Oh, yeah - that would be God - doing miracles in the life a little boy (and his thankful mommy).

Have a happy, rainy day!!

t