Apr 27

Apr 27 When You Need a Little Help Keeping It All Together

Several years ago my son Noah had a very full box of hardshell gumballs. At the time we had hardwood floors in our living room and Noah had placed his open box of gumballs right on the edge of the coffee table. Did I mention the box was full and they were hardshell gumballs!? Well, Noah went to pick up the box and accidentally dropped the entire thing on our wood floor. As you can imagine, the gumballs scattered ev.ery.where. The sound was deafening. As this was happening, I responded as any calm, cool, and collected mom would. ;) "Noah get that one!...Oh hurry grab that one! Oh no that one is going to roll under the couch, get it!..." Later that night I thought about that silly event and I couldn't help but think how my life as a mom can feel just. like. that.

Every single day I am chasing gumballs scattering here, there, and everywhere. I am grabbing frantically for all of the things that I need to accomplish and do. We are doing laundry, making meals, helping with homework, playing, driving to lessons, practices, and games, changing diapers, feeding babies, cleaning, and the list goes on and on. And sometimes I can't help but wonder, "God do these things even matter?" It can seem monotonous and impossible all at the same time.

As moms, life can feel overwhelming when we are trying to balance all the plates we're spinning. And sometimes the reality is, all the plates are vital and somehow we must keep going. But how can we manage it all well and have peace and joy at the same time?

I have found that sometimes the best thing to do is take a step back and take a long hard look at the state of our life. {{yikes}} When we make God our priority and seek Him for wisdom and spend time in worship, it's amazing how He can open our eyes to areas that we need to change. God fills us with peace and it changes our entire perspective on how our time is spent. This is foundational.

Next we need to consider what our motivation is for all the plates we're spinning before deciding what to keep and what to purge out. This is again taking a long hard look at how we are spending our time and what is most important.

Once we have spent some time looking back we can then begin to look forward. Looking forward means spending time organizing and planning our days. This really is the best part and sets us up for success throughout the year ahead.

There are so many resources to help with this and I just want to share a few of my new favorites.

A resource like Steady Days offers some excellent, practical help in your homemaking and motherhood. Jamie walks you through getting organized, your motivation, learning flexibility, delegation, habits, and more!! The chapters are short and digestible, especially geared toward busy moms. (I think that pretty much covers all of us! :))

The Sweet Life Planner is a very detailed, dated planner. Right now this is available when you purchase the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle.....you'll receive the 2017 version as well as a way to sign up to receive the 2018 planner FREE. LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

My good friend Kat Lee created The Inspired to Action Day planner which is a wonderful way to map out some long term goals and break them down into small bites in order to reach them. She also includes pages for daily to-do lists and projects. LOVE THIS TOO!

The most important thing when re-organizing and re-assessing your life is keeping it simple. These resources are meant to help us not get overwhelmed by the process!

Also....these are just a few of the excellent resources included in the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle. So if you are thinking that you would LOVE these like I do then you could actually get all three of the resources I mentioned plus over 100 more! This bundle really offers lots of practical, hands-on help and encouragement for moms written and created by moms.

The bundle has 106 products (including 21 eCourses, 50 eBooks, 14 printables and more!) to help you:

Implement a self-care routine
Bring order to your home (even with kids)
Control your temper so you’re more patient with your kids
Rekindle romance with your spouse
And a whole lot more!

In addition to this package of resources, you will also receive awesome bonuses! (my favorite is the $15 store credit to Cultivate What Matters---I got the cutest Bible journal!) Heads up.... The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle disappears on Monday, May 1 at 11:59 PM EST so it is just a temporary offer.

Several years ago, after a particularly exhausting season a friend of mine invited me to take a look at my life with some questions she sent via email. From that day forward I have tried my best to intentionally take a look at my life often and order and plan my days the best I could. All while clinging to Him. I pray these resources help you do just that. We are in this together friend!

Blessings,