Where, O Where, Does the Time Go?

I seem to have something of a reputation. No, not for that. Apparently, there are some kind, somewhat deluded souls who think that I am a good time manager. Just to burst that little bubble, I'm not. I am a champion time-waster. I can spend the whole day doing a whole lot of nothing, or spend it trying to do so many things that nothing actually gets done. I do have one tool, however, that makes things happen. It's this:

In a word: schedule. In two: time budget. Use whichever works for you. This one is rather specific, as schedules go, because it's specifically designed for homeschoolers, particularly helpful for families with several children, though it can be used for anyone.

Most people look at the schedule on my pantry door and say things like: "Wow, do you really do all this?" or "Wow, do you really get up that early?" Generally the answers are mostly and mostly. The beauty of this is once you break up your day into smaller chunks, you can better see where your time is going, and you often find you have more time to do the things you want to do. Rather than spending an hour and a half killing time on the Internet (facebook, anyone?), you schedule a half hour, check out the stuff you really want to, and learn a little discipline into the bargain. This is how you find the time to do all the hobbies, projects and outings you want to do, and how it affects your family.

A common reaction is "Oh, I'd get so obsessed by it, I don't know how I'd cope with interruptions. And it looks so daunting!" First, it can be daunting, but the book is great in helping you to set it up, slowly and methodically. It's a bit of work, but worth it. Second, it needs to be treated as a tool, not a master. It's designed by you to work for you. At no point should we become slaves to a tool that is meant to help us. There are days that I completely ignore it and we all go off and do something different. And that's fine with me, because even when we do that, I'm aware that we're not drifting aimlessly. There's something in place that we'll come back to tomorrow.

So. The Maxwells do a great job with this book and their others that follow a similar vein. However, you can make your own. It's simply a matter of looking at the time you have, and carefully working in your priorities to fit. But don't forget to pray over what God would want you to have as a priority, and include your children into the schedule. That way you know that the children are resting while you sew, rather than dumping Perler beads all over the house. For example.

Another (Magazine) Recipe

Well, after storing this recipe for almost 3 years, I finally got around to trying it out on my care group. They didn't seem to mind it too much, so here goes:

Maple Pecan Bake

You'll need:

1 pack (about 375g if you can find it, but less is okay) stoned chopped dates

1.5 tsp baking soda

1 tsp instant coffee

75g/3oz soft butter

225g/8oz caster sugar

1 lg egg

1 tsp vanilla

275g/10oz/2 cups plain flour

1.5tsp baking powder

100g shelled pecans, roughly chopped

salt

For the Icing:

275g/10oz icing (confectioner's) sugar

1 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1tbsp boiling water

1 tbsp maple syrup

75g/3oz shelled pecans

1.Grease and line a 9X12 inch baking tin and preheat oven to 190 C/375 F. Put chopped dates into a bowl and pour over 11 fl oz boiling water. Sprinkle over the baking soda and coffee and leave to stand.

2. Put butter, sugar, egg and vanilla into food processor and whiz for a minute until creamy. Drain dates, keeping liquid. Add flour, a pinch of salt, baking powder and liquid from the dates to the processor and whiz until combined. Add dates and pecans and pulse until nuts and fruit are chopped but not pureed. Tip into tin, smooth and bake for 25-30 min, until done.

3. For the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, add the dissolved coffee and maple syrup and mix with 1.5 - 2 tbsp of water to make nice and smooth.

4. Once the cake is cooled, freeze it for later without icing or spread the icing on top and decorate with pecans.

Yum yum. Credit to Sainsbury's Magazine, March 2006.

Abigail Gayner, Astronomer

I think the International Union of Astronomers are going to have their hands full. Abigail has decided that their 2006 decision to change the definition of a planet so that Pluto no longer classifies as a planet was incorrect. In her opinion, Pluto should still be a planet because she "likes it and it's got a nice orbit". Makes sense to me.

Home safe and sound

After 10 days away (almost 4 of which were spent travelling), our Toby is home - with lots of photos! Here are a few...

Traffic in Varanasi

People arriving for one of the clinics

Church (women on right, men on left)

Beautiful children

Crossing the floating bridge

An outdoor evening service

More beauty

A school - seemingly plonked in the middle of nowhere. Also cheerfully repurposed as a clinic. Very kind.

Very organized poop - Cow dung is formed, stacked, dried and used for fuel.

Wouldn't want to be dealing with his fuel, though.

And there you have it. I'm sure Toby'll have more stories to share. I couldn't do it myself - I wouldn't do them justice. Suffice it to say, God is good.

My children are bananas.

And I am rather tired.

It should have been a peaceful night, sleeping to the sound of freezing rain. For some reason, it stirred the latent madness of my young children. At 2.30am, I found I had a bed buddy - Noah. I discovered that he was there when he rolled over and whacked me in the face. Hmph. Pack him off to bed. Next up is Abigail, a couple of minutes later, stumbling down the hall to the bathroom. Everyone back in bed, just drifting off to sleep, when Noah comes out of his bed again, looking for a party, apparently. More firm this time, "Back to bed!". A couple minutes later, Anna, doing her best to seriously creep me out. I hear the door open; I know it's Anna by the intermittent whimpering. I expect her to patter to the bathroom, but no - she just stands in the doorway to my room, shivering. "You okay, darling?" "I need the bathroom." "You need some help?" "No." Ooookaaaay... "Are you going to go to the bathroom, then?" "Oh, yeah!"

Finally, after getting up one more time to shut the light off, everyone is in bed and quiet again.

In what seems like a couple more minutes, the alarm clock sounds (at 5am), a protracted tussle ensues, and I am shovelling snow at 7am.

I don't know, man. Toby better get himself home soon. I think they should do these India visits in the spring...

A reading plan

So, after picking up on Jess' grand idea, I've listed some of the books that I plan on tackling this year. I'm already reading Heaven and Marriage to a Difficult Man (highly recommend both), and we're working through When Sinners... in our church care groups. Toby and I are also reading through Worldliness, since it's what the singles group that'll be meeting here is reading. I know, though, that there are excellent titles I've not included. So, I call upon ye all - suggestions? Something glaringly obvious that you're embarassed I missed? Some secret gem you've uncovered? Please, enlighten the group!

Puritan Shenanigans

I'm currently reading Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards, by Elisabeth Dodds. It's definitely worth working into your year's reading list, though you won't find it in the 'self-help section', as the kind Barnes & Noble tried to direct me. Have a look on Amazon or Vision Forum instead.

One amusing point I have to share:

"One church record of June 1725, repoted: 'Some evil-minded persons placed a sturgeon of about 8 ft in length on the pulpit floor where it lay undiscovered until the Lord's Day following...which occasioned them to perform their exercise in the orchard.'"

Neat trick. I'm rather impressed at the fishing capabilities of our Puritan ancestors - most of my family wouldn't even consider wasting an 8ft sturgeon!

An update

Received an update from Toby this morning...

"Well, our first clinic is complete, and what a great, hard day. We drove to a village and saw maybe 400-500 people. Most had simple ailments requiring only pain releif or vitamins, but shows what they can't get that we take for granted. The men and women all line up separately, the men in drab clothes, the women in bright and varied saris. Lots of beautiful children, mainly pre-schoolers cos there was school today. I helped with crowd control (lots of pushing and shoving to get to be seen first - esp the ladies) and directing people traffic from nurse station to drs. The drs are awesome, doing a v professional job in conditions totally different to what they're used too (today, we were all in a small marquee). Pray for tomorrow - we can greatly improve the people flow and see more people or quicker with some improved logisitics -right up my street - pray I'd be wise and humble in making suggestions."

Looks like we have our marching orders!

Another update: the ballet recital dresses are finished! The girls have a ballet recital next week, and I offered to help make the costumes. "Help make" became "make all". 6 in total. It worked out very well, though, having finished them all this morning. I learned a new trick in the making, too - flat felled seams. A great trick for making something reversable. I also had the opportunity to try out my new serger/overlocker, which was very exciting. I forsee many overlocked projects in the future...

Will post pictures soon...

Safe arrivals

Well, Toby and the team have arrived safely in Varanasi. Getting through customs was a breeze apparently, and only one case was lost (a personal case), so do pray that it reaches it's owner.

Teams will be preparing for clinics this afternoon, splitting up into two teams to serve more people, so pray for the team, many of whom don't know each other well, as well as the people they're ministering to.

It was great to hear that Toby arrived safely, and reminded me of Anna's prayer for him before he left, "God, please keep Daddy safe when he goes to the toilet so that he doesn't fall off the plane." Good to know the Lord answered that one...

What happens at the Gayners'...

...is supposed to stay at the Gayners'. However, this must be shared. Zoanna and Paul are some of the best people I know, and their willingness to be transparent is an example to me. Sometimes, though, they're downright funny. Zoanna gives an excellent portrayal of our evening last night, but my favorite part was during the discussion of children's books. Mitzy has a great love of Laura Numeroff's "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" and others, so Zoanna came up with her own: "If You Give a Wife a Credit Card". Giggle, giggle. Paul shakes his head, "Now that's a real tear-jerker." Guffaw, guffaw.
Maybe you just had to be there...