What I want to do

Monday-Friday




6:30am- boys wake us up



7:15am- go walking around neighborhood



get dressed, eat breakfast



8:30am- leave the house (Greg stays with boys on Mondays, I stay with the boys on Thursdays. On Fridays, we are both home)



9:00am- Church office work (We are together in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays)



2:00pm- return home for chores, catching up with Greg, Hyaets administrative work, work in garden, rest for a minute  Sometimes I wish I could run some errands in the afternoon, but due to babysitters and feeling like I am "supposed to be home", I come straight home.  I like this time for chores and so forth, but sometimes I feel bad if I'm not "working" at this time.  And sometimes when I feel like resting, I don't because I feel bad about it....or if I am resting, I feel bad about that.  I'm almost always exhausted during this time, so I have to force myself to get moving.  This is not my most productive time of day.  If the boys are not napping well, they may be awake at this time, making it difficult to "get things done."



4:20pm- Neighborhood kids show up for afterschool hang out (this amount of kids may vary between 2-10). We provide an afterschool snack, supervision, help with home work, entertainment, and conversation. Work in garden, play outside if nice. Dinner prep  I don't mind being here every afternoon, but sometimes I wish I could be gone without feeling guilty about leaving the kids high and dry.  Kids just come by, they haven't signed up and they are not required to be here.  So, it varies as to who comes and how many.  I am terrible at homework help, especially with the kids who are terrible at reading and math.  I think that the afterschool program across the street would provide better help with home work than we can.  I'd like to use this time for various things: neighborhood walk about, maybe volunteering with the neighborhood afterschool program, visiting with parents in the neighborhood, in depth relationship building with the teenagers.



5:30pm- Dinner: Either the Tuck house or the Parkway house provides and prepares the meal. We switch off. Usually, our house provides the meal on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and half the meal on Thursdays. On Wednesdays, more kids come over and we provide Dinner and Devos. We have a couple of volunteers that help us so that we can split the kids between age groups. We do games and then a "lesson" and prayer time. Kids leave on Wednesday between 7:00-7:30pm. Neighbors eat with us on M, T, and W. On Thursdays, neighbors do not eat with us. We often bring food to Thursday night meals, potluck style. We commit to eating dinner with our Community. On occasion, we have to miss dinner due to other obligations.  I really like Dinner and Devos.  I don't like that I'm so committed to dinners that I don't feel like I can meet with friends on occasion or go out with Greg on occasion.  The imbalance of food provision is not really that bad, but sometimes the Thursday night meals are not very appetizing or healthy since it is a modge podge.



6:15pm- Community prayers, if we aren't too hectic and we remember. Thursday prayers for sure.  If this was done one way and one way only, that'd be a bit easier.  The fact that it is always switching around makes for unsettling feelings.



Kids usually leave the house no later than 6:45pm on M and T.  I don't like the eat and run mentality, but I also go batty when the kids stay around because they tear up the house and need total supervision.



Evening Stroll around the neighborhood or visit to the rec center, entertain children, work in garden  I love the evening stroll and wish our neighborhood were more visually interesting.



8pm- boys in bed



yoga, chores, screen time, Hyaets administrative stuff, book time  At the end of the day, it feels like I have to squeeze a lot of stuff into 2 hours.  I feel like I HAVE TO exercise as much as possible, at least 30 minutes.  These two short hours make me feel so frustrated because I so many more things to do than I have time for.



10:30-11:30pm- Bed









Variations: First and Third Fridays of the month are reserved for Community Meals. We coordinate with churches and provide food for 30+ people. We try our best to introduce ourselves to everyone at the meal and keep all the children safe and entertained.  I have absolutely no capacity to have in depth conversations during Community meals.  I'm so concerned with logistics and kids, I end up running around the whole time.  I don't mind this, so much as other people don't expect me to be working on in depth relationships during Community Meals.



If CMS is out of school, M-F, we provide lunch and an activity to neighborhood children (avg 15 during school year. Grows in number to more than 30 in the summer)  This often interferes with our work schedules.  We have some helpful volunteers, but inconsistently so.



Saturdays: farmer's market, yard work, errands, interact with neighbors, church related activities, and more.  Saturdays feel like, "productivity day".  If we don't get everything done on our "to do" list, then we worry that we won't get them done at all until the next Saturday.



Add to this: weekend retreats with neighbors or church folks, Sunday evening meetings with church folks. Greg might play a gig sometimes in the evenings.

Possibilities that may "help" some situations: better childcare options, partner with the afterschool program, appoint an "off day" from meals every so often so that we can go out or do something outside of the norm.  Note other ideas in previous posts.