Summer Break...2 of the scariest words put together!

6 days, 134 hours , 8050 minutes, and 482987 seconds....until summer break starts!!! Ahhhhh! Insert Mom freak out here!!  Last summer was my first summer of having a school aged child at home. I had no plan but swimming, park dates and lots of lounging around on my calendar. In my mind, it was going to be heavenly. Well, as you can imagine, the first few days were good. But after the 1st of 3 Vacation Bible Schools (you know, I was trying to give them some "structure"), it became clear that I was counting down the days to school starting again. I believe I even bought all of my son's school supplies around the 4th of July. Ya, it was that bad. So this summer, is going to be different.

My family recently moved to Texas. Between our spring break back in California, moving halfway across country and temporary housing, my oldest had been out of school for nearly a month. I was DESPERATE to get him back in school! The lack of structure, schedule and all of the unknowns were making his behavior was unbearable. I called my dear mommy mentor back in my hometown and she gave a great thought.  She said that "Our children are not blocking our goal, they ARE our goal." She has said this to me so many times before and for some reason, this time was different. I started asking myself what my goals were. Well, for now, my goal is raising my children. Raising them to love the Lord, to have a relationship with Him, to be responsible adults, and to hopefully be wonderful husbands and wives to their future spouses. So why am I trying to push my oldest away from me?? My mentor challenged me to take the opportunity of the summer to really hone in on training the team. She told me to get on a schedule with established cleaning routines and to build in some fun for the kids to look forward to every week.

Now, for those of you who don't know me, I am anything but scheduled. My mother-in-law refers to me as being on "Reese Time." My dear friend Teresa never tells me the time something actually starts. She always tells me 15 minutes before, so I end up thinking I'm late, but I actually show up on time. (I know, right? She loves me for me!) So, the thought of actually making a schedule for my summer break literally kept me up at night. I was terrified of figuring out how to structure my summer!! AHHH!! Thankfully, we in the modern era have PINTEREST!!

Seriously, I don't know how I planned my wedding without Pinterest. Like, what did we actually do? Just magazines? You young brides have no idea how lucky you are to have this resource!! Sorry, I'm off the subject. Ok, so I turned to Pinterest and searched summer schedules. I HAD NO IDEA these even existed!! Apparently, there are some AMAZING mommies out there that just have a natural bent towards scheduling, homemade everything, homeschool and organic awesomeness!! As much as I try, I am not one of these moms. But I really appreciate all that you ladies have given to the world wide web to help us crazy moms survive. (Here's a link to my board of their awesomeness).

So my countdown is now down to 6 days, 133 hours, 8002 mins and 480115 seconds until summer break starts. (Btw- that app is called the Legacy App, it's pretty cool). And I officially have my first week scheduled out and on paper. I used a template from Microsoft and made myself a spreadsheet for our week. I'll have to figure out how to post that on here so you all can see. I'm actually pretty proud of myself....(side note, I keep 3 calendars because I usually forget something or don't show up to appointments etc...I mean really, writing a schedule for myself is like winning a gold medal....a lot of hard work, training and dedication!) OK, I figured it out. Here is the link to my summer schedule!

This blog is intended to keep me accountable with my goals this summer. Summer break shouldn't be the two scariest words put together. It should be a cherished time where we can make every one of those seconds count. My kids aren't blocking my goal, they are my goal. My heart's prayer for myself is Proverbs 31:26-27 (ESV) "She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." May I not grow complacent in the job of raising my children. May I not let the fear of change and challenge rule in my life. May I take every one of those precious seconds that God has given me with my kids and use them to help mold my kids to be more like Jesus. That is my prayer this summer. What's yours??

Love, Reese