Just 10 minutes......

My friend, Kristi, blogs over at Homeschooling and Other Adventures......she often encourages my heart both in words and in person!  I hope that she encourages yours today......

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I am a project person.  I love the sense of

completing monumental tasks of cleaning and

organization and the subsequent chaos control that

they bring to our home.

Reality check...

I have three children who are messy little

creatures and a husband that places his

shoes beside the shoe basket in the entry way (I

love you hunny!)...

...add in some

homeschooling....cooking...laundry...dance

class...baseball practice...gardening...

Projects NEVER get done around here.

As I prayed I asked God to help me with my To-Do

list according to His purpose each day.  When I

actually take time to pray as I'm preparing my

list of things to do, things always go better and

those tasks that remain feel less like failures.

Honestly, I should really add "pray" to the top of

my to-do list for each day...

The overwhelming sense of disorder in my home was

getting to me last May when we finished our school

year.  And I promptly sat down and started making a

list of things that I would accomplish before I

started the new school year....

Then I had an epiphany....(thanks, God!)

I don't have hours of interrupted time to

accomplish Hercules-sized labors...

...but I do have 10 minutes.

Even little one can sit beside me and play quietly

for 10 minutes while I work.

So, I've begun to set the timer and work on a

small task for 10 minutes.  When the time is up, I

am finished (even if my project is undone).  Those

of you who know my first-born, perfection driven

personality probably doubt that I actually left a

project undone...and you were right the first few

times.

Then I learned...

I cannot organize my bedroom closet in ten

minutes...but I can put all the clothing I no

longer wear into a bin for donations...

...in another ten minute segment later that day I

organized my shoes and purses...

...another ten minutes and my hubby's clothes were

re-organized more neatly...

I have followed my 10 minutes rule and have

accomplished quite a lot.

But most importantly, I have learned to cut

projects into manageable chunks so that my

children are a blessing to me instead of

interruptions in my projects.  After all, aren't my

children's tender hearts why I'm home anyway??

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Thanks for sharing today, Kristi!