Life in the Fast Lane

Sheesh, I need a seat belt and flying goggles for this time of year, as life seems to take off at a lightning-fast pace. Our new homeschool year officially begins next Thursday. I spent three hours this past Sunday, working on our family schedule. Oy vey, the rough draft is a little intimidating.

As it stands, I'll be up much earlier and we'll adhere to a structured schedule to meet the demands of each new day.
My two oldest need to get to swim practice 3 times per week.
My youngest dd has dance on Thursdays.
My 3 year old will go to preschool 2 days per week.
My husband and I have bible study every other Wednesday night.
We also work out together 3-4 times per week, in addition to taking 2 mile family walks together as often as possible.
And due to the swim schedule, our dinner time will now officially be 4:30pm every day (but we always eat between 4:30pm and 5:15pm anyway).
Yee gads, my head is spinning like a satellite, I tell you.

But you know what? As Christians, we are cautioned about the trap of laziness. Proverbs 19:15, for example, reads, "Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger."
For me, to hunger is to want. A procastinator by nature, I have had to fight hard to bring my family to a place of peaceful organization. As a recovering procrastinator, I must continually work at this, as I know from experience that not being organized and productive will leave me (and those I love) in want.
Wanting peace.
Wanting uncluttered.
Wanting to know, "What next?"
Wanting order.

There are many more verses that admonish laziness while validating hard work. And I have faith that as we begin our year, my Heavenly Father will be faithful to guide us, helping me to alter my course of action when necessary. This assurance He has also given me in His word (Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.) Perhaps, once I've tweaked it, I'll post our working schedule for those who care to see. I'm no expert, but like me, perhaps there would be something in my schedule that you could glean from, for yours.

Let's shift gears, shall we?
So yesterday was our annual send off/kick off. That is, we send off the summer (how it breaks my heart to say that) and kick off our upcoming school year and family schedule. We head up to Indiana Beach, an amusement park built on an island in the middle of Lake Schaeffer (or Lake Freeman if you ask the new owners). You have to cross a long, wide foot bridge to enter the park (how totally cool is that?! Click on the image above and you'll see the bridge on the left.)
It's a small, very retro amusement park that hasn't really been updated since the early 1970's or so and we LOVE it that way. They play music from that era and we feel like we stepped back into our own childhoods. Oh my goodness, how fun!

Because it's small, we can easily walk the park without us or the children getting too exhausted. Three of the five rollercoasters surround Kiddieland, so it's super easy to let 3 year old Brandon ride his little heart out while our bigger kids leave with one parent to ride the rollercoasters. We can easily switch off and everyone is happy.

The kids anticipate this trip weeks in advance (months, really) and scream for me to come into the room if the Indiana Beach commercial airs on TV (How many times must I run in before they determine I've done it enough?) They get so fixated on "all things amusement parks" that they begin to confuse parks, or even ride names, which cracks me up. For example, they heard a commercial for Cedar Point (greatest amusement park in the entire world, hands down) and their park and ride confusion kicked in.
Reece: "Mom, how come we don't have a SHOOT THE RAFFIDS at Indiana Beach?"
Me: "I don't think anyone has a Shoot The RAFFIDS, honey, because that's not the name of the ride."
Reece:"Uh huh, it is."
Me: No, it's not Shoot the Raffids..."
Reece: (cutting me off and a bit frustrated with me too) "Yes it is, Mom."
Brandon: "No, Mommy's wite. It's NOT dat. It's Shoot The RABBITS!"

Uh hem, I assure you no rabbits were harmed in the settling of this debate.

Toni