HAPPY FRIDAY! Here in the mountain valley where I live in Pennsylvania, it’s raining. That means no outside classroom today. Rain makes the day feel cold, dark and dreary. Cats typically have the right idea on these drab days, sleep; as in all day! I could never do that because I have so much to do! Do you ever feel like that? I’m sure you do. You may think, “I’d really like to sleep in today”, or maybe consider a nap, but than you think of your to-do list and completely scrap that idea. Our lives can get so busy and so hurried that we forget sometimes to breathe, or in actuality, we as Moms often forget to eat. When you add the daily homeschool list of things to do, to an already long list of chores, it can easily become so over-whelming that the idea of just napping or sleeping all day is very appealing. Maybe we hope when we wake up that those chores magically go away. Of course, they do not. Kids need their homeschool supervisor to direct them and guide them and kids need their moms to feed them and care for them. If you have pets, they need your attention too. Kids, school, food, laundry, dishes, house, pets, husbands, jobs…..on and on the list goes. Sometimes it can feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions, doesn’t it?

Hiding from it all doesn’t make it go away. Here’s the good news of it all, you don’t have to do it alone! Yes the kids and husbands can help you manage your home, but the best help ever is God. Don’t get so busy that you forget about Him! Without him you wouldn’t have all that stuff to make you so busy. Stop, breathe, pray and don’t forget to feed yourself – not just food for your body, but food for your soul. Spiritual food is probably more important to your life than any amount of calories you consume. Get out your Bible, your devotional, your journal, and spend some time with God. Be the best example you can be to your children. We homeschool and we do a Bible lesson or devotional or reading every morning before we begin our academic subjects. We pray before we begin. Don’t get so wrapped up in your to-do list that you forget to make that part of your day.

So my image today pretty much sums up what my weekend will consist of. It’s going to be a time for me to just have fun. Spending a weekend with the husband and leaving the kids with family members. No school work to grade, no laundry, no dishes, no planning dinner meals – just time to enjoy a new experience. I’m going to my first comic-con. Yes, this Mom is a pretty huge geek. I think this trip is going to be very interesting to say the least. Looking forward to leaving the lesson planner at home, leaving the laptop at home and just walking around the convention and experience all the geekiness. This is not something the husband and I get to do very often – that is, go away without children. My kids will be in good hands. My cat will no doubt be 100% miserable while we are gone. She loves her family deeply and is enormously attached to us. As most animals do, she depends on us for everything and that includes entertaining her. Normally when we return from vacations she is sure to let us know how upset she is that we left her. She will be fine, of course. We never leave her without having someone come and feed and check on her. But her life as she knows it and expects it,  to her, will be over. This is because she will not get the attention that the “queen” expects! 

Whatever your weekend brings, may you see the gloriousness of what our Lord has done for us and the beauty of what God has created. Take time to breathe and feed your body and your soul.

John 6:47-51

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died.  Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”