Hey there! This has been a great week for me, including two evenings I got to spend with women in which I share a lot in common in two separate areas. The first one was an evening with my group of moms whose children also have biliary atresia like my son Landon. We had a great evening together enjoying a delicious meal and chatting.
Then last night, I was able to spend an evening with several other church planters’ wives from all over Houston. Christine Hoover, the blogger behind Grace Covers Me and the author of The Church Planting Wife, gave us words of encouragement about conversations we need to be having with our church-planter husbands.
With Christine!
It’s been a busy week, too, as I prepare to go to Ecuador– in ONE WEEK! I am so excited! (I’m going with one of favorite church planter wives, Jeanie!)
Anyway, as I’ve been preparing to go while still getting stuff done here, I was thinking about the people who ask me, “How do you do it all?” At least once a week or so, someone either on the blog or in real life will say they don’t know how I do everything.
And here’s my answer: I don’t. Seriously. I do a lot, and I’m blessed to have a husband that helps make that possible, but I don’t do everything! I promise!
For example, when I was spending time with the other women this week, I wasn’t cooking dinner. (I do cook dinner most nights, but this week I was “off” two nights. One night they ate leftovers from the night before; another night, it was up to Ben!) I wasn’t putting the kids to bed those nights or bathing them. I can’t be two places at once!
Since we choose to homeschool our kids, I don’t do a whole lot of coffee and lunch dates with other women. I do lead a women’s Bible study on Wednesdays, so I’m able to hang out with peers during that time. But a huge chunk of my time is spent with people shorter than me. 🙂
One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot the last few months is prioritizing my time, and using my time the way God wants me to, and not what I feel like others expect of me. Make sense? As a pastor’s wife there’s a lot of internal pressure to be and do certain things. (And notice I said internal pressure; neither my church or my husband makes me feel this way at all– such a blessing!) When I read Crystal Paine’s new book, I loved her idea of making a “best things” list. There are thousands upon thousands of good things I can do with my time, but what are the best things? Those are what should take my time the most.
I know I’m off on a rabbit trail here, but hear me on this: We all have the same 24 hours. We just have to choose what we do with each of those hours- or minutes even! As I’m sitting here writing this post, I’m not mopping my floors. When I’m mopping my floors, I’m not reading to my kids. When I’m reading to my kids, I’m not out grocery shopping.
I think the reason so many bloggers get the “How do you do it all?” question is because we plaster the things we do on our blogs and all over social media. You’re probably doing just as much- if not more- as me! I’m so pleased to have several interviews with other bloggers coming up in the next few months. They’ll share with you how they allot their time, and how the decide what is the best way to spend their time.
I hope you’ll join me! Follow along by e-mail and you’ll also receive 3 free scripture printables to download and print!
About Kelli Hays
That’s a really good topic idea. Yea there is only so much time in the day and we have to just prioritize and do the best we can with the time we have.