Every Year Is Busier...And The Cracks Get Bigger

I keep remembering the first year we were here.  No one new us yet, we hadn't committed to many activities, and life was quiet.  We had time to invite people over, to head to the pool two or three times a week, and my (Gwen's) office duties didn't seem to present much of a problem.

Two years later, it's a different story.  We've been to the pool a total of four times, haven't done much entertaining at all, and it seems like it is all I can do to get the bare minimum done at the office and still keep our own home from the brink of chaos.

It's always been a family goal to be involved with the community, so we attend many community events.  This year the kids participated in 4-H and the county fair for the first time, and that was quite the experience!  We also now work almost year-round on the Christian Workers Conference, so that's back on our plates.  I'm also going to be teaching piano lessons one evening a week in Colby.

And all of these are good activities...but I've been feeling pretty full lately.  As I look to the beginning of the school year, I keep trying to figure out how to juggle things so that everything will fit.  I know that the "big" things need to be prioritized:  things like school and meaningful time with the kids, and that the smaller things should be fitted in around the big things (instead of letting myself fill up my life with less important things and then trying to figure out how to do the big things)...but how does that really work in a practical manner?

How do we find the balance between family and work, structure and not-so-structured, me-time and family-time?  And what about the things that are sure to fall through the cracks?  Some of those things will have my name on them, and I don't want to be associated with missed deadlines or poor workmanship.  But the truth is, there's too much work here for Tim and me to handle even if we work 24/7.  So how do we figure out which things to let slide and which ones to concentrate on?

So...keep us in your prayers:

• There's a big need for more missionary-supported staff to join the team at Shepherd's Staff.  Pray that God will lead these people to us in His perfect timing.
• Pray for strength, encouragement, endurance.  Pray that we will give our best to whatever we do.
• Pray for wisdom as we strive to make the right choices, give the right things priority.