Juggling Act

Man Juggling His Life
I often feel like I'm a circus performer, juggling on the stage. I am trying my best to keep all of the pins up in the air, but they all seem to hit the ground - sometimes one by one and other times they all crash down at once :)

I have so many things that I am trying to juggle:

1.Mom -keeping all 5 children clothed, fed, clean and happy :)

2. Housekeeper -keeping the house clean, errands done, and groceries in the cupboards

3. Teacher - Teaching them and all that entails - preparation, grading, and the actual time with them

4. FRG leader (I have a LOT of help from my friend, but it is still a time consuming job) Keeping rosters up-to-date, doing newsletters, emails, taking phone calls, going to meetings, planning social events and care packages etc.

5. Wife - Being a good wife and trying to write to Andy and send him packages

6. Andy - Doing all of the household chores that Andy usually does - trash, water filters, snow shoveling, yardwork, fixing things, changing lightbulbs, cooking, and putting Nick to bed.

7. Exercise. Trying to get on my treadmill every day. I always seem to be interrupted by something.

8. Genealogy - my favorite hobby. I haven't been able to do this AT ALL in the past year :( It is last on the list of priorities, so there is no time...

9. Chauffer - I spend a huge amount of time shuttling the kids around to dance, gymnastics, Girl Scouts, AWANA, art class, etc.

10. Bible Study - I am skimming the whole week's worth of reading the night before PWOC.

11. Sleep - little by little, I am falling way behind in the sleep department. Exhaustion is starting to set in :)

It seems that if I am doing well in one aspect of my life, then I'm falling behind with the rest. I feel constantly a few steps behind where I want to be. I'm always catching up.

I want to be on the ball, on top of things, ahead of the game. It just isn't happening.

Maybe I'm expecting too much right now. It's hard - physically and emotionally - being a single parent. I don't have a lot of time to myself. Actually, I don't have ANY time to myself. :) I don't mind having the kids around, but it's hard getting things done when I'm not free to focus on any one thing. Someone always needs something. :)

After Christmas, we will be scaling back on some of our activities, and I am hoping that taking a couple of weeks off from school will give me a chance to rest, plan, and prepare myself for the next semester.

We were thrown into this school year haphazardly. We spent August and September spending time with Andy before he left (very important!!) Had he not been deploying, we probably would have started school in August. Maybe that is why I am feeling behind. I lost my prep time and we started before I was fully prepared for the year.

All is well :) I don't want anyone to thing that I'm falling apart or anything. I'm not depressed or completely overwhelmed. We're doing fine, I'm just frustrated that I don't have a few more hands and a few more hours in the day :) I will just have to set my expectations a little lower to get through this year.