Twice the Speed of Life

Ever feel like life is happening all around you and you are just struggling to hang on and keep up?  That's how I feel right now.  More often than not I am feeling like I am knees buckled, white knuckled, holdin' on tight, traveling at twice the speed of life (Yea, yea, yeah, yeah....)
And to be quite honest, I don't like it.  We've always said we want to be committed to simplicity in our family.  And in one sense our move to Rock Hill has emboidied this goal well.  Our church is less than 1/4 mile from our house (also where Chris has an office), campus is a mile from our house, and my new job is 2 miles from the house.  We work and play primarily within 5 miles of our home- it is wonderful.  However, on the other hand we are learning that in order to protect "family time" we are going to have to be better about saying no as well as give some things up.  We can't do it all.  A lot of things are fun and good, but we have to evaluate each opportunity in relation to our priorities- which are first of all God, second of all our marriage, and third our family and children.

Notice what is not in that list (that easily become priorites for me)- having a clean house, having my cloth diapers washed and stuffed, meal planning, cooking a fresh-from sctrach meal each night (of course with organic vegetables), oh and the blog.  Yep, all things I've had to take a step back from and realize how they are in and of themselves good and fun, but I'm not super mom and I can't do it all.

Last week I found myself getting frustrated with Chris because I was wanting to write a blog post (which by the way I feel like I have tons of good ideas for but just not enough time to execute) after I got the kids down and dinner cleaned up.  He was out with students for the evening, but ended up geting home earlier than anticipated.  I should have been happy to see and spend time with my husband.  Yet, I found myself frustrated (at him) because I was wanting to finish said blog post which I had no chance to do earlier in the day, or the day before, or the day before that- and he was wanting to hangout.  That's when I realized I needed to take a break. Life is busy- probably twice the speed it should be.  I have a 25 month old and a 6 month old- they require A LOT of time and attention.  People say that it gets easier, but honestly right now I feel like we are in the trenches.  AND I am starting a new job this week- so schedules are about to get even crazier.
I'm having to learn to let some things go.  I can't have it all and do it all.  I just can't.  So we are stepping back from several things in order re-prioritize each other and our kids.  That means I won't be blogging as much and I won't be co-hosting this hop.  (Which by the way has some exciting changes coming up!!!)  I would love to when I can, but I feel like it has become more of a burden lately and taking away from my actual relationships that I have made covenantal commitments to.

Do you struggle with time management and finding quality time to spend with your spouse and children?  How do you juggle it all?  Is it just me or does blogging as an outlet sometimes become more of a burden at times?

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BIG NEWS!!

Due to the recent increase in other blogs having Mommy Mondays Hops, we have decided to make a few changes around here!  First of all, we are changing the hop's name to "Time for Mom" with the tag line "Share and Connect Every Tuesday."  We also have a fabulous, awesome new button, which we will share with you guys next week! (If you're on our email list or like us on Facebook you will get a sneak peek at the new button!)

As you can see, the other big change is that we are moving the hop to Tuesdays!

The idea of the hop is staying the same, share anything you want about being a mom, parenting, family, your kids, crafts for kids, recipes for kids etc!

New name, new day, same great hop!