(#7)

Communication

With Your Family

is a MUST!

Before embarking on your journey, be sure to communicate about all this with your spouse and any children who are old enough to understand! (By that, I don't necessarily mean "understand everything you are doing, but at least understand about your lifestyle in general.)  You will need to be in harmony with your spouse about this, with him (or her) being aware of what's going on so they'll know what to expect and how to agree upon operating during this season.

For instance, would your spouse and/or an older child consider taking over making dinner at least one or two (maybe even a few nights) a week, or getting the kids to bed in order to give you more time? My husband has seen so much awesome fruit in our marriage and our children that he is quite happy to help "unusually much"!  Your spouse doesn't see this now -- yet -- but if he could take the recommendation of someone who's "been there," he will reap marvelous fruit down the road!!!  I guarantee it!

(Quick Side Note:  People ask me how I have accomplished what I have, and I can only say that "my husband" is most of my answer!  But we have had to be in agreement!  And this has meant getting him on board, which has required much open and honest discussion between the two of us; him to me and me to him.)

You may need to lower some of your housework standards (unless they're already "substandard"), or delegate a bit more to older children. If you have a favorite show, pastime, or hobby, would it be worth it to you to sacrifice that to "redeem" more time for this season? I happen to know it will indeed be "worth it," but whether it will be worth it to you is a question that only you can answer – or surrender to God on.

The "Real-life Homeschool Record-Keeping (and Organizing)" seminar has many practical tools that will help with getting your children and their lives in order, and you better connected to them – to further free you up for your season.

Let's go back to that word: redeem. It means "to give or surrender something of little or lesser value in exchange for something of great or excellent value." Redeeming has become the theme and "norm" for my life! It doesn't usually feel good at the beginning of the process (or often along the way!), but I assure you this will be worth every little (and big!) sacrifice you make! You can't surrender more to God than He will give to you. But it takes faith to believe this! If you are short on faith, just ask!  He gives freely and abundantly!

So to redeem the time in your home, you're going to need to communicate with your family, or it will be easy for misunderstanding and resentment and tension to develop.  This is entirely unnecessary and completely avoidable.

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