I recently received an email and was a bit "blown away" by one of the paragraphs in it. This person has met me (& my children) in person but we are now confined to a cyber-space friendship. I’ll include part of her email (anonymously so as not to embarrass her):
I have long admired your homeschooling journey and the many things you are able to achieve(writing and being published+more). Recently I was on CM and Friends (email loop) when they were discussing devotionals etc and once again I was amazed by what you are able to accomplish. Upon much pondering I realized that as individuals we work out what we want to do and when we see how long our lists are, we prioritize. And I guess what I was wondering is what are some of the things that you choose to prioritize and what are some of the things you let slip to accomplish what you do.
I was touched to read this but also shocked. I think I stopped and realised that it is not very often that I sit down and chronicle the "bad" days or when things aren’t working or when I have had to coax a child to do things. My days are far from perfect and I am a wife, mother, home educator and then, at the end of the day, a writer.
It can be hard to put all of these things down, as I do want to show what is working and how we have benefited from various programs or routines or influences in our lives. I will try and put a few of those moments in where things didn’t quite work just for a bit of balance. Our life is not always rosy!
I will start with an obvious example with priorities. I think we all have our weaknesses and mine is definitely cleaning. Our house looks loved and lived in most of the time but often, it isn’t tidy. It’s an area I struggle with. If I have to choose between the computer and the vacuuming, I can tell you what will win!
Prioritizing is never easy and is something that needs to be constantly reviewed with my husband and with prayer. It’s hard to get the balance right and I often wonder if I ever will. I know I take on far more than I should and my dear husband has to call me back sometimes when I am on the verge of exhaustion to take stock of what I am doing. Last year was very much like that and as much as I enjoyed writing for the Knowledge Quest biographies, it was sapping. It’s hard to live in another world with some characters when the real world is constantly knocking at the door and those diapers still need to be changed.
This year will be much more low-key as a result and if anything, finding motivation has been harder!
I’ll answer you personally, my friend, but just wanted to share some of my rambling thoughts on the blog.
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