Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

For a mom with school aged kids a new school year often times brings on stress, anxieties and a to-do list crammed with appointments, meetings, and lots of shopping trips. As that mom with school aged kids, I often found myself overwhelmed and exhausted from many of the responsibilities.

My typical school year checklist:

· Drop off/pick up for baseball, basketball, cheer-leading, soccer, and band practice

· Shop for school supplies/clothes, uniforms

· Appointments- sport physicals, dentist and eye appointments

· Attend kids sporting events, band concerts

· Fundraise for various school activities

· PTA meetings, parent teacher conferences

Being an empty nester does mean more ‘time’, but if that time isn’t directed positively it can have negative consequences on me and possibly my marriage. An idle mind is the playground for the devil. Instead of me wallowing in tears since all of my kids have flown the coup, the Lord impressed on me to use my time wisely, be a good steward with the ‘new’ time given me.

Here’s an example of my new school year checklist:

· Daily devotions

· Meaningful prayer time

· Time for hobbies, exercising and me-time—I started taking a Barre class, love it!

· More date nights and quality time with my honey

· More social outing with friends and family

· Regular home cooked meals

I was blessed to spend about 8 years as a stay at home mom, I thought that I had all day to do what I wanted and needed. The days quickly got away from me and most times my husband would come home to chaos, disarray and no dinner. I had to regroup and reset and get myself and the kids on a schedule. Once I did that the Hooper house looked and operated differently, more productive. I wasn’t going to misuse the blessing of being able to stay home by not being a good steward of time.

I won’t misuse the blessing of the extra ‘time’ that this new season in my life brings. God is holding me accountable and f I am a good steward with few, he will bless me with more.

- Be Blessed and Be a Blessing! - Patricia