Confessions of a Seminary Wife-I

I mentioned before that Jesse has been taking a seminary class from our local church ever since we returned from Spain. This will go towards his degree in counseling and getting his feet wet now will help the big transition to fulltime school. Currently, he's a fulltime employee at my uncle's business and a very parttime seminary student. Let's not forget he's also a fulltime husband and Dad. That's right. I'm married to Superman.

So as Jesse is getting used to his new life as a student, I'm also starting to prepare for my new role as a seminary student's wife. We've decided that at the end of each day, we want to have a healthy marriage and family. If that goal is met each day than we've done our job. However the reality of how that works is going to take some hard work and organization. I'll have to do some things that are typically "Jesse's duties." I would rather do those things so that I can spend some down time with Jesse.

The biggest thing that is going to change for me is my schedule. I'm a person that really prefers functioning without schedules. As a teacher, I absolutely LOVED when I had a schedule disruption which is not typical. But while living in Spain I learned that I function much better when I create a schedule to follow for my day. I get more things done, and I’m more intentional with my time too.

Since we are finally settled down in one place, this was my first full week to test out a consistent daily routine for me and the kids. The kids are now taking naps at the same time in the afternoon so I have about 2 hours each day when I can work uninterrupted on various tasks, like creative income opportunities! Yep, being in seminary is also not the easiest thing to do, financially speaking. Later, I’ll have to write about some of our plans and ideas for making that work too.

Overall, this has been a really great week. I’ve been able to spend good time with my kids, while also getting things done on my lists. Here are some tricks that really helped:

• Skype-Yes you read that right. In the mornings while Sammy is sleeping I put Jesse’s computer in Sammy’s room and then call my iPod touch so I can listen to hear if he wakes up early. I can work out with Renae in the room and Sammy is just a Skype call away. Currently, both Renae and Sammy are sleeping and the computer is in Renae’s room. I’ve seen her pick her nose, and practice summersaults on the bed. The things people do to get settled into sleep . . .

• Lists-Each night, I make a list of things that need to get done. I divide the list into afternoon and morning chunks. This may sound weird but I even included things that aren’t really ‘To Do’ list items but I liked being able to mentally see what I needed to get done.

• Getting Out-I love being out of the house in the community. This was nice for me to know that I had certain mornings planned away from the house. I think Tuesdays will be our library day as there is a story time Renae can go to. And besides, all of the international Moms congregate together at the library so I’m going to try and weasel my way into that group. I guess I forget that I’m not the foreigner anymore!

• Being flexible-I sometimes feel like an expert on this (usually in an annoying sort of way when working with others). There were a few afternoons when Sammy woke up from his nap way early and it meant I couldn’t get all of the stuff done I’d needed to do during nap time. Oh well. I made up for it when Jesse was studying and didn’t want me hanging around him anyways. There was also another time this week when I purposefully decided to throw my schedule out the window because God brought something my way and I knew it was time to just sit and listen.

When we move into our own place and Jesse starts seminary fulltime we will have to be even more organized. But for now, I’m enjoying having a husband that only takes 1 class at a time.