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March 16, 2006
Less Stress Mornings
Since I've had a few comments on my "Less-Stress" post concerning the outline from my workshop from last year's Smoky Mountain Women's Retreat, I thought I'd take each topic and make it a separate post. Might take me MONTHS to get them all up here, but you'll hang with me won't you? Okay, let's go:
Less Stress Mornings:
Begin your day with prayer: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Phil 4:6) How else could you even start a day without giving thanks to God for giving you this day and asking Him to guide you through it? Just makes sense.
Devotions for all: The boys will do their personal devotions first too. That way THEY start their day on the right foot too! Now I have to tell this 'gotta do your devotions" story:
We used to be missionaries in Honduras (another long story for another post), but we were used to having visiting work teams come and that would require us to be up before dawn to get the coffee and breakfast started so that the teams could begin their work before the heat of the day. And if you know anything about a Central American country....heat means 100+ degree days. Anyway, as I groggily got up one morning at 4am to get the breakfast ready, my dh jumped up from bed and said "you stay here and get your personal time with God....WE all have a much better day when you do." YIKES! Does that mean when I don't spend a few minutes with God each morning everyone around me suffers? Gotta spend time with our Lord!
First subject: RECESS: I have learned after several years of homeschooling, that the boys don't want to get up in the morning and get right down to the business of school work. Isn't that one of the reasons we don't get them up early and onto the school bus before dawn? So they can sleep and just be themselves without the rush of a schedule? Okay, so we always make sure they are up at a decent time and that they will have at least one hour before we start the lessons. That also gives me at least an hour to check the blogs! More fun for us all!
Laundry/dishes: If it's a laundry day, then I will start the laundry early before we begin any school work. I will have done my dishes and all the house straightening the night before so that when I get up in the morning, the house is ready for the day. I love to wake up to a tidy house. (notice I said 'tidy' not CLEAN! ha)
Meals: This is one I try to always do, but I fail sometimes. In the morning, before our school day, I figure out what I am going to prepare for the noon and evening meal. I will thaw out food, if needed, or start the crock-pot or bake the bread. I find that if I know what meals I am to prepare, I am less stressed when I look at the clock and realize that I only have 15 minutes until dh comes home for lunch! We'll talk more about less-stress meal planning in a later post.
Now to get THIS morning back on schedule, I need to plan today's meals. See you next time!
~Betsy
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March 16, 2006 - Great Suggestions!