Today I'm writing about something that always brings me JOY, and that is planning. I love to watch a blank page in my daily TO DO notebook fill up with things to do, people to see and places to go. It keeps me on track when I would sometimes rather spend the day playing online, chatting on the phone or laying around reading a new book. I love to plan our meals so that I always know the answer to that dreaded question, "Mom, what's for dinner?" That also saves me money, and while that brings me joy, it is a WHOLE other post : ) I LOVE to fill up our homeschooling planner with interesting books to read, field trips to take, projects to try, and links to follow on the computer. I used to say that planning made me feel more in control and as a good portion of you know, I'm a bit of a control freak (that's a whole other post, too) so that made me feel good. As I aged and *hopefully* matured, I've learned that no matter what, we are never really in control anyway, so I've had to deal with that concept and then see if/where planning fit into my life. For a while, I just gave up planning and went with the whole 'fly by the seat of my pants' idea because I was so frustrated with all my careful planning was going out the window on a daily basis. And I can honestly say that it brought more stress into my life than having plans and then having upset plans, so here I am back to planning. Not because it makes me feel in control of the situation, but because it makes me feel more prepared to handle whatever the day brings my way. Let's be honest, some people live perfectly manicured little lives where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens. I'm NOT one of them, so I need to be ready, whether that means dealing with a sick/naughty child while I'm trying to teach the rest, fixing dinner for a crowd on 20 minutes notice, cleaning the house while the littles are messing it up faster than I can clean, being able to rearrange the school day so that we can leave the house on a moment's notice to help a friend or even take an impromptu field trip, or having/making the time to spend a few quiet minutes each day with Dan somewhere in the midst of all this chaos that we call home. Or finding cats in the wall, LOL! Anywho, all of that to say that I love to plan so that I'm ready no matter what the day throws at me, what the kiddos are up to, or where the Lord leads that day. It's GOOD to be prepared. As my sister Kelly's husband always says, "Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance." And he's right : )
Blessings, ~K~
No comments:
Post a Comment