Dear friends,
People sometimes ask my how I manage to do what I do, how I juggle it all as a single mother of several children. That's a good question. I don't always do it well. Other times, I do well enough, but not as well as I'd like.
I am a seminary student (usually full-time with 9 hours a semester in fall and spring, but only 3 in summer), a part-time crisis hotline specialist (15 hours a week), I am resuming home school with my youngest teen in about a month, I have four other teen/adult kids still living at home, and then there is plenty of housework. Add in paperwork, personal care, downtime, and myriad other stuff that needs to be done. Plus, I love to spend time with my five other adult kids and my six grandchildren. One of my daughters is getting married in about two months, too.
Let's just say the house is the thing that suffers most. As I say, if the kids want a cleaner house, they know what they can do... And they do all know how to cook, or at least heat up corn dogs and pizza rolls. I occasionally take a stab at something a little fancier than chili and spaghetti for dinner.
So yeah, it's kind of crazy here. I'm still wondering how I'll manage when school ramps back up for me, my home schooled daughter, and my teenage son in public school. Should be fun, right?
I think the trick for me now is just trying to layer in what I need to do and make it fit.
This morning I woke up before 7, but lay in bed and scrolled through my FB feed and memories to find good stuff to repost to my new page Empowering Christian Women. Then I ate a quick breakfast and headed to my study table to do my seminary homework for two hours. I had a five page paper due tonight, but I worked ahead and wrote most of it last week. I still had to finish the final edits and format my footnotes before submitting it this morning. I posted my responses to assigned topics on the class discussion forums. I updated my list of assignments on Trello (project management app and online program) and checked off what I'd finished.
Next I cleaned out old food from the refrigerator, attempted to tidy up the kitchen, and packed my snack bag for work. I took a shower while listening to a friend's Facebook Live video on self-care for advocates of abuse survivors. I ate leftovers for lunch while reading a theology textbook on Kindle. I dabbed on a little concealer and blush.
I left for work in the early afternoon, spending five hours talking to people in crisis. I was on a call deescalating a very depressed and anxious client when I accidentally knocked over my drink onto the carpeted floor. My supervisor quietly came over and wiped it up for me. Bless her.
As soon as I arrived home in the evening, my youngest climbed in the van and we headed to a youth event at church. I've been chilling in my room since we got home, talking with some of my other teens. I don't even want to look at my cumulative to-do list. Oh eek, I just did, and I apparently forgot to make sure the trash went down to the curb this morning. Oops. At least my daughter watered my flower garden for me!
Now it's almost midnight, and I'm off to bed after my evening routine of flossing teeth and moisturizing skin.
Tomorrow (Saturday) I will try to sort all of the clean laundry that has been piling up in my dining room so the kids can put it away, tame the dishes in the sink, run a few errands, and finish the last several chapters of reading assignments for the week. I also need to finish up some of the arrangements for an upcoming out-of-state family reunion that I'm organizing. I'm sure I'll squeeze in a nap too.
I don't think I'll ever get the house the way I want it until I have an empty nest in several years. That's just something I have to accept for now, but I still keep plugging away at it with the help of my kids. I can at least keep my own bedroom mostly tidy most of the time.
So how do I get it all done? I don't. But I do what I can and call it good enough. And when it's not, I take a rest and give it another try later.
How about you?
Related blog posts? Sure thing!
Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles
