Faster than a speeding bullet

Sometimes I am completely and utterly perplexed as to where the time goes.  I am amazed to get to the end of a week and not remember how on earth I got there.  The last few months have been a whirl of activity for me and I am learning yet again how to balance my time.  About two months or so ago I started working part-time as an administrative assistant for my church.  Now I am know that some of you are wondering why on earth  I would do this when I have a perfectly good 4 year degree in Nursing.  I wondered it myself.  But since I hadn't found a Nursing job that I even remotely liked, it seemed like a good option at the time.  And in reflecting on this choice, I am so thankful I took it.  I LOVE my job.  I do things that fit with my personality and my gifting and it is fun.  I never have been able to say that about Nursing.  Though I would love to find SOMETHING in nursing that I like, for now I am content and even happy not to be in the field:) Which leads me to this post.  Though I love my job, learning how to balance working part-time with all the others things that I do has been rough for me.  I only technically work 10 hours a week.  But since our church office building is 30 minutes away on the days that I work I have to an hour for travel.  I also swap child care to be able to work because even though I think I am fairly paid, I am not raking in the dough by any stretch and can't afford any kind of traditional childcare and actually bring home money.  So I swap child care with a good friend of mine.  She watches my two youngest on Friday and I watch her two youngest on Wed..for 6 hours.  So that knocks off some time that I can accomplish much.  Her youngest son is a gem when he is a asleep but when he is awake, he is a gem that is a hurricane of activity.  I am pretty sure he will have something to do with engineering in his future...and he is also very cute.  I am certain that is what saves him a majority of the time.  Her daughter and Ainsley are close to the same age and usually do great together.  They are like two peas in a pod, which causes conflict some of the time but most of the time they go off and I don't hear much from them accept when can we eat:)  So learning how to use my time more effectively has become my goal.  What I have found out for me is that I truly do need to let some things slide.  I can't do it all and still function properly.  I can't have the perfectly clean house, with every one's stuff in the perfect spot, time with the kids, dinner on the table, devotions and exercising done...you get the drift.  I just can't and trying to makes me frustrated, snappy and crazy.  So the cleaning is not going to happen as often, and I will have to learn some other concessions so that I don't give up one of the things that really matters to me...my family.  Spending time with my kids and watching them grow up.  Not missing the day to day fun time of playing hide-and-seek with them.  Playing Memory and Go Fish as often as they want without feeling like I have millions of other things I could be doing.  Just hanging out on the couch and cuddling with them.  Not acting like a drill sergeant in the morning because we always are on the go means that I have given up going to the gym as much as I would like for right now.  But it is only temporary.  Someday my kids will be in school all day and I won't have the same opportunities that I do now.  And so for now I want to be able to enjoy just hanging out with my girls and Jeff without the constant stress of something else I need to do.  Taking more time to just enjoy life, reaching out to those in need around me and being sensitive to what God has for me each and every day are some of my goals for 2009.