Do you plan?

I think I might be a compulsive planner.

Sucks the fun out of life sometimes for me...but I hate procrastinating and having last minute emergencies of unpreparedness.

So in looking ahead....my goal is to graduate from Summit by June 2013. This is when my Master's Thesis is due. This is a 100+ pg. research paper on 'a ministry need in my community'.

Trust me, God has given me some serious downloads on what it is. Why do I have to plan??? I will have to work on this paper, while I am taking classes. I'm in my 3rd class, so in March, I will have 3 down and 7 to go (with 15 mos. to handle them in).

I have to plan.

And soon I will have to start protecting my time. Come summer, I have to really scale back on 'activity'.

See, God, my husband, my kids, my home, school, and ministry are the big rocks in my jar. All the extra stuff I do are the little rocks and sand that fill the jar.

Now, I don't think I will isolate myself to my home for 1 full year...however, I will have to say 'no' to commitments and tasks that do not keep my ship on this course.

I am already mentally preparing myself for what this is going to look like. And what I will have to say is..."I am so sorry, I'm in the midst of a huge assignment for school, and I really have no time to have a life right now...but can I take a raincheck for July 2013?"

I will have to say no at times.

....just because my time will be so limited and so devoted to my family and school.

But it's only for 1 year - 1 year of strict adherence to time-management. But it will be worth it. When I graduate, Jacob will be 3 1/2 and Daniel will soon be going into first grade (crazy I know)...and I will get to work a little bit that following year.

Hopefully do some church, on-staff counseling and stuff...and then once Jacob is in Kindergarten - I'm going to officially, hopefully work as much as I can...without taking from my fam...again.

My goal:

To drop my kids off at school, go to work @ 9 a.m....get off at 1 p.m. (in time to run an errand, kid-free), and then pick up my boys from school on time, come home, eat a snack, do homework, and cook my family dinner....handle bathtime and bedtime.

It's sounds so ideal to me...will it happen exactly like that? I don't know, but it'd be great if it did.

I really love working in an actual workplace.

I'm now in self-training mode of learning to love to be a 'worker of my home' (Titus 2:3-5). God has plainly shown me through various things and people, here is where I need to be.

It's all about: what's the priority? And right now, for me, my kids and husband (after God) are to be number 1...and I need to make sure that it stays that way, even when school gets demanding.

So in a few months...I may seem a bit MIA. I will still blog (as I am a writer and it's my outlet)...but my fb-time is going to go on the chopping block. A lot of my emailing/texting/talking/catching up...is going to have to be very limited.

Hopefully I'll be in such great shape too by that time, I'll only have to work out 3-4X/week, instead of 5-6. My time will be less flexible then...so I better get all the flexin' in now!

See the beauty of planning?

It's like customizing your future...setting plans in motion...however, I am always putting my plans at the feet of Jesus so that He can make them what He wants. That's actually how I ended up at Summit...by putting my life and time on the altar. It's so good to do from time to time to really see how much of life you are making for yourself, versus letting God make the life He intended for YOU!

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Side note: I think I share this stuff for accountability purposes and because I love sharing my life w/ you. So we shall see in a couple years if all this micro-planning actually works!!! I hope it does...sounds pretty ideal for me!

Gnight!