NOTE: Flylady.com offers a system for organizing and managing a home, based on the concept of daily routines and a focus on small, time- and space-limited tasks. Provides resources.
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| Jenna and Kristen at camp |
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| Jenna and Kaeli with scarecrow |
Award winning author, Laura Hilton, her husband, Steve, and three of their children make
their home in Arkansas
Her publishing
credits include three books in the Amish
of Seymour Webster County
A WOMAN WHO DOES IT ALL?
By Laura Hilton
“I’m
a pastor’s wife and I still don’t have all the answers…” (borrowed from a
pastor’s wife’s facebook page)
I
was recently asked to write an article on parenting. How do I balance things I
must do with what I want to do and how that affects me, each child, my husband,
and the people in the church?
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| Laura Hilton |
The
short answer: Be flexible! Life has a way of changing in a heartbeat.
I
start every day with devotions and prayer and I have a “to do list” that I
write every morning of things I want to accomplish. I started it when my mother
had a severe stroke and moved into my home. I had Mom duties as well as being a
mom, wife, pastor’s wife, etc. And I discovered then that nothing would get
done if I didn’t write it down! It was too overwhelming to look at my day and
think I can’t do it all. It was enough to make me want to curl up in a ball and
cry.
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| Lundy Hilton |
I
signed up for Flylady to help me keep my house clean. As a pastor’s wife, that
is mandatory. You never know who will stop by. Flylady says, “You are not
behind. Don’t try to catch up.” And she reminds us to shine our sink every
night. That seems to expand into the whole counter – which makes the kitchen
look nice. And my bed is made every morning. That goes a long way to making the
bedroom presentable.
As
for the rest, it’s one step at a time. If I don’t have time to write
because my
son dived too deep and somehow hit his tooth on the bottom of the pool and
needs an emergency trip to the dentist, then my son comes first.
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| Michael Hilton |
As
some people say, the order is God, family, and then work. Homeschooling my
children is put before any words are written. If someone from church needs to
talk, that comes first. I read at night before I go to bed, when I need to
relax and I always carry reading material with me, just in case I have to wait.
There
are days when only one thing on my to-do list is done. And days when everything
is crossed off (those are rare).
When
I start getting overwhelmed because everything hits at once – a
deadline, book
edits, articles to write, a book launch and a radio interview all the same week
I have to step back, pray, decompress, and remind myself, baby steps. One thing
at a time. Don’t try to do it all at once.
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| Laura and the girls |
God will bless, if you give it all to Him.
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| Steve and Laura |
Proverbs
31:27 “She watches over the affairs of
her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
The Snow Globe
By Laura Hilton
Victor Petersheim has left the
Amish and works on a river boat on the Mississippi River ,
spending three months on the river then having three months off.
During his
off-work months he returns home to his Amish community and helps out on his
grandparents’ farm.
When he returns home after his most recent absence, he
discovers his grossmammi has developed health problems and they’ve hired Esther
Beachy to be a “mother’s helper.”
Victor is unsettled by this woman living in
their home, but has to accept it. Esther loves listening to Victor’s
grandmother’s stories and while puttering around in a store while the
grossmammi’s in the hospital, she discovers a snow globe that depicts an area
where the Petersheims used to live. She buys it as a gift for the grossmammi to
cheer her up during her hospitalization. Victor is touched by Esther’s gift and
her care for his grossmammi, and strives to be friendlier. Will Esther’s gentle
heart draw him back to the community? Or will he return to the river once again?
visit
my blogs: http://lighthouse-academy.blogspot.com/ & http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/
twitter:
@Laura_V_Hilton
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/vernetlh/
Purchase my books:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/laura-hilton?store=allproducts&keyword=laura+hilton
Deeper Shopping http://www.deepershopping.com/index.php?query=laura+hilton&x=0&y=0&module=productsearch&_logmode=Y&querymodule=SPX
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