{ Miss Lady K, 3 y.o., enjoying some down time}
Our lives as homeschooling mamas can be quite full. In fact, they can very easily become too full. When the world seems to be running and running, we may feel that we should be doing this as well.
There was a time when we had an event each night of some sort to attend to. It might be sports on Monday and Tuesday, church on Wednesday evening, Shopping Thursday, and then a night out to dinner on Friday evening. Now, don't forget games and tournaments on Saturday, and I hoped they were both in the same place!
One night my weary husband looked at me and said, "Do we really need to be going somewhere every night? My poor husband! When we had decided to enroll the children in their activities, we hadn't really thought it through. Many times we were home during the day, and had events in the evening. We had been home during the day, but my husband had been working all those hours. He would come home, just to eat supper and have to leave again. The poor man never had any down time at all.
We did finish out the season, not wanting to back out of comittments; however, we now are much more careful about saying "yes" to things.
How do we go about this?
1. Prayerfully! We take time to put our schedule before the Lord. And, then listen! 'Nuff said.
2. Communicate with your husband. Tell him what you're thinking and feeling. He may have some insight, that you haven't thought of. As the leader of the home, I believe that God will show him things he may not reveal to us. However,some husbands won't share unless they are asked. Too many times in our early marriage I would get emotional when he gave opinions on things. I've learned to listen to his advice without emotion. (At least most of the time!) God gave my husband to me, and his opinion is very important to me. I want him to be able to talk to me without fear of tears, anger or me having a "pity party", if I don't like what he had to say.
3. Be aware of the "red flags", that have a way of showing up when we are too busy. Even if we have prayerfully come to a schedule, and discussed it with our husbands, we can end up over our heads at times. I have noticed some "red flags" in my life, and I have a feeling I'm not alone in this: finding myself very stressed throughout my day; raising my voice at the children much more frequently and unnecesarrily; not having the time to make homemade meals, and finding us spending alot more money on food away from home; my children's behavior worsens as I have less time for relaxing and truly enjoying them; our savings account seemed to be at a consistently lower number every month, due to spending from being out of the house much more.
I encourage you to not let your familes' schedule control you or your finances, and embrace a life of peace, joy and balance!
Blessings,
Joy~
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