For anyone out there who's thinking that all you have to do is get the kids raised/not have to go to work and then you'll have plenty of time to get all those things done that you can't get to now, guess what? It ain't happening. At least if my life is anything like typical.
I'm not working this week, the patient load is at an all time low, which is not unexpected for this time of year, and of course having one 20 year old at home is not much impact compared to all those years with all those kids in the house. That easier schedule has been in place much of the past year, and I find myself still with plenty to do and then some. It's actually a pretty cool dilemma, one I have longed for for years and years, and I'm loving being able to add some things to the old to do list that could never fit there before. Still, prioritizing is more difficult thatn when I only had time for the essential necessities. It's pretty easy to prioritize when you only have time to work, eat and sleep, more difficult when there is extra time to use.
I try to plan out these suddenly emptier days to be productive and balanced, and maintain an ability to switch in a moment to other things that crop up. Today I had a great experience teaching. I was so grateful for the help I got from the spirit in teaching the lesson. I had only just had time to read it a couple of times earlier in the week. I got serious after nine last night to sit down and get it nailed down to specifics. As I read through the chapters again, (Alma 17-19, some of the best Book of Mormon stories), I realized that the way I'd planned to blend two lessons together weren't going to be adequate to cover the material. So I read and marked the chapters, formulated some ideas,and went to bed still not firm about what I was teaching beyond the historical account. I ended up with a principle to focus on that wasn't mentioned in the lesson manual at all. So I was looking for extra help from the spirit.
It ended up that I wasn't able to do the scripture chase game I planned, and my summary and application were more hurried than I hoped, but half the class passed of their scripture memorization for the week, and in the teaching of the lesson, I found the flow was spontaneously going from one scripture to another, back and forth in the chapters in a way I hadn't planned out, but was unified, engaging, and covered all that needed to be covered with some important insights coming out. I was definitely teaching beyond either my ability or my prepartaion. I was relieved that the material was all covered and the foundation laid for Kim to continue on with Chapter 20.
So back home with a rough plan for the day. Breakfast, finishing up the pictures I uploaded here last night, a needed half hour snooze, (five hours sleep last night) and then finishing up visiting teaching filled up my morning. I got home hungry, and got a call from Harry asking me to go into Tacoma with Chris's tire and to get all the tires on my car replaced. Whoops! There's the monkey wrench. A quick lunch-today's the first day of my New Year's eating plan, so no burger at the drive through...cleaned up the kitchen, and then off to Tacoma.
I was home by two thirty with new tires all around, which was pretty good time-wise, and even with all the other things I want to do, I decided that my resolution to blog more consistently needed to be honored. The only way to blog consistently is to sit down and do it. I'm trying to figure out exactly where and how much blogging I want to committ to, and not get spread too thin, but see what fits in with what I want to create in this medium. This is my experiment. This entry is too long, but it maybe lays a foundation for future entries...
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