Dear Friends,

It’s the start of a new week, and for some of you the end of May has been busy with activities as you wrap up your school year. You probably do not have any white space on your calendar. You may be feeling overwhelmed by it all. Read below about the power of saying No.

Zone 4 Missions: The Master Bedroom, Bathroom, and Closet

Monday – Clean off the top of your dresser, toss trash, put away things, and detail dust.

Tuesday – Declutter stuff from the top of your closet.

Wednesday – Declutter items from your Master Bathroom.

Thursday – Clear off your bedside tables and dust.

Friday – Wash the bedroom windows.

Set your timers and then take a break when it goes off!

Last week during one of my homeschool talks, I told the members of my audience that they had the power to reduce the stress in their lives by using the word, “No.”

Ladies, we are nurturers. We like to take care of others. We like to say, “Yes.” We like to fix things for others. But by saying, “Yes” to something, we are also saying “No” to something else.

There are only 86,400 seconds in a day or 1,440 minutes in a 24-hour day. When you deduct time for sleeping and eating, you start seeing how much time you really have to do other things. You cannot do everything.

Last week one of the ladies told me that her take-away quote from one of my talks was, “We share the load in taking care of our home. No one has to do it alone.”

Don’t fall into doing everything yourself. Foster teamwork in your home. It might be a different way for your family to do things. You might meet resistance. But you are doing it to teach them life skills, and you are doing it, so you can take care of the things you need to do.

We cannot fill our days with things we said “Yes” to and do all of the things we need to do to take care of ourselves, our families, and our homes.

Think about how many things you are responsible for in just one day. You wear a lot of hats, and you have a mission field right in your own home — your family. You are raising your children to be salt and light in the world. You are pouring into them, so your efforts and your light will be multiplied through them.

As I shared this thought with someone, she told me that her calendar was too full. She starts the month off with all these clear places on her calendar, but by the end of the month, she is drowning in appointments and obligations.

We talked about her home routines, and her quote to me was profound as she was looking around her home.

She said, “I have three hours available to take care of my home two weeks from now.”

That statement is going to hit a lot of you because you are overbooked. It is the end of the school year. Activities abound all around us! Our churches are doing special things to recognize Moms, graduates, and having homecoming services and meals.

We are asked to head up this activity or to volunteer for that activity.

When you are asked to help with something, take a moment. Pray about it. Talk to your husband about it. If it will push you too much to help out, just say, “No.” You do not have to offer an excuse or reason. Simply answer with “No.”

When you do say, “Yes,” remember that you will not be able to do something else in that time slot. You will have to reorganize your day. You may have to ask for help with your children. You may not be able to cook dinner that night. Your Home Blessings will not get done. I know what things get pushed off when you are over-committed.

If you are chronically tired and rushing about all of the time, start taking things off of your schedule. The summer is a great time to re-evaluate what you are doing and pull back. I have resigned from two volunteer positions in the homeschool community because I am very busy with my family and in taking care of myself and in doing what I love with encouraging all of you.

I am going to give you permission to just say No when you need to say it.

Monday – Ham and Salad

Tuesday – Chicken and Salad

Wednesday – Soup/Sandwiches

Thursday – Corn dogs and tots

Friday – Take out

Enjoy your week! Keep your routines simple.

Your Home Blessing for today is to wash the sheets.

Your Zone Mission for Monday is to clear the top of your dresser and detail dust.

My menu plan for Monday is ham and salad.

Have a blessed day!