This week was busy but nice. My main priority this week was to spend a morning each with two of my kids. Tuesday and Wednesday I took Daniel and then Nomi out for breakfast and then we went around town buying bits and pieces - things they've been needing my help with for a while. We bought things to help them with their current projects, maintentance tasks, clothes, and a few treats! Though we chatted over breakfast, we continued to chat about life, challenges and goals as we did our shopping.

The other big to-do that got started was I managed to sort through one of our bookcases. Joshua came in to help me which I really appreciated as his logical brain helped me sort and value our children's book section. Three more bookcases to go!

Then last night I had about 25 ladies over and a friend taught us how to use a campoven. We had beef stew with bread followed by chocolate cake for dessert. It was a great night of pitching in and cooking dinner together, meeting new ladies and lots of talking!

This week I'm sharing a blog post on 5 Character traits for Busy Women, you can read it below or click over and read on my blog.

Live life with your Kids!

5 Character Traits for Busy Women

Busyness is one of the biggest dangers in our life.  It robs us of our intentionality, our focus, our purpose.  It side tracks us, exhausts us, and changes us.  And yet busyness can be productive, purposeful and proper.  We are to be busy people – we are to work and use our time wisely.  The key is balance – we are to balance the need to work and get things done with all areas of our life.  That is the trick, and when we fall short that is when we see problems in our family.

It is all about how we keep busy.  Here are five character traits that can help us maintain that balance:

• Be intentional
• Be Wise
• Be Dependable
• Be Relational
• Have self control

Be Intentional

• First of all there is our own life – we need to be responsible for our attitudes and our choices.
• Our relationships – our marriage, our children, friends and neighbours
• Our home and all that it contains
• Our tasks – be it the mundane of everyday or the opportunities to help others

Being intentional starts with knowing God’s heart:  What does God want of you?  God has a plan for my life – and that is to glorify Him in all that I do.

Be Wise

• Craftsmanship – when they were building the tabernacle the craftsmen were referred to as wise in their craft.
• Solomon observed nature and drew conclusions
• Solomon was also given insight into the ways of God

We need to grow in all three ways of wisdom – we need to:

• Study and practice our craft; whether it be the craft of homemaking, parenting, frugality, communicating, teaching etc.
• Observe the world around us, and draw ‘heart’ lessons. Parables or stories connecting to real life are one of the strongest teaching methods.
• Know God’s word, learn of his ways by reading His word, the Bible.

James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

To grow in wisdom – to live a life directed by God’s wisdom – we need to ask him for it.  Solomon asked God for wisdom – and he received it.  God will give us wisdom too.

Be Dependable

It seems like such a simple response – be true to your word, let your yes be yes and your no be no – but our desire to be dependable quickly crumbles as we take on too much, as we get too busy, as we lose balance and our priorities.

Three ways to show dependability

• Follow through with our parenting
  • I hear myself say, “in a minute”, “hang on”, “be there in a sec”. I don’t really mean these words – they are a delay tactic and I rarely hold myself accountable to being timely.
  • I hear myself change my mind - when I cave in to big eyes, whining voice, or nagging or when someone’s anger, annoyance or disapproval makes me back down.
  • I hear myself letting it go – I said it, but now I’m just not going to make a scene.

• Reliable with our commitments – I want to be known as a person who is reliable. If a meeting was scheduled I’ll be there – on time.  If I said I’d do something, it will be done – and go the extra mile.  Busyness though stretches our ability to build this reputation – we start over scheduling, forgetting commitments, not doing what I said I would do.
• Consistent with our attitudes – We all have our ups and downs, but overall, I want to be characterised as a person who gives energy, not one who is exhausting to be around. And this all comes down to my attitude – my attitude to my family, the tasks I have to do, my attitude to when things go wrong.    Looking after myself, my whole self – spiritually, morally, physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially – which is hard when we are busy, but it will protect me from letting my attitude slide.

Two things to remember:  If we don’t mean it don’t say it.  If we aren’t prepared for the consequences – don’t say it.

Be Relational

This of course is the very core of what being busy is about – getting things done.  But we must remember the reason why these things are important – and that comes down to people – the people we love.  What is a clean out without time to enjoy it with the people we love.  What is money without people around us.  What is a gift or talent without people to share it with.

Be intentional with your time – a time for everything, and everything in its time.  Set aside time for the tasks, be focused, and then walk away.  Whether it is finished or not.  This is the key – walk away whether it is finished or not.  There will always be time to work again tomorrow, or later in the day.  But if now is the time to be with people – now is the time to be with people.  The same goes for people people – you may have to walk away from social time because it is time to work.  We all need to use our time wisely – know the purpose of this hour and focus.

Be available – people and needs cannot be boxed or scheduled.  We need to be available and sometimes, in some seasons of a mums life that is 24/7.  But that won’t be for always.  Our attitude to be available helps us deal with what can otherwise be seen as interruptions.  They aren’t interruptions when our purpose is to help our family.

Being heart focused means that we think deeper than the actions we see – we look for the cause.  A tantrum can be a frustrating thing – it can be inconvenient.  This is the thinking of a busy woman.  When we turn our thoughts towards the heart we start to see a child who is overwhelmed, a child who lacks self control, a child who has faced injustice, a child who is tired.

Being relational will turn our hearts towards people even though we may have things to do.

Have Self Control

Self control is the basis of maintaining a life balance as a busy woman.  A person with self control will not act impulsively – but rather be intentional.  A person with self control will set limits and walk away when things are not right.

We can get caught up in getting a project or task finished and yet we know we need to be getting dinner on, or our little person has asked us to help them, or we know we should be going to bed.  It takes self control to walk away from something that absorbs us, to focus on what we know is right (right task for the right time).

It is easy for a busy person to get areas of their life out of balance.  We tend to respond to the urgent needs and send all our focus on that.  By living with self control, we can create time for all things in our life – and if we can’t we have to acknowledge we have taken on too much or we need help.

We need to have self control if we are to manage all aspects of our life – and as women we specifically need to manage our time, health, resources and passions along with our responsibilities, relationships and roles in life.

I want to be an influence in my children’s lives – and I’m reminded of this quote:

When you show character, people begin to respect you

After time, that respect grows into trust

After time, that trust builds a relationship

When you have relationship with people

You have influence…

Being busy, too busy, certainly puts that at risk.

The dangers of busyness

Teaching methods that work in a homeschool: overview of some teaching methods that worked in our homeschool.

10 things I want for my kids

and something random from the archives: Is good character at the wrong time still good character?

This e-book is based on a workshop I held for a couple of years to help families see that Christmas can be a significant tradition in our family life. If we are intentional about how our family celebrates we have the opportunity to use this time to teach our children about Jesus, and his love for each one of us.




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Until next week

Belinda Letchford
Living life with her kids in Australia!

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Live life with your Kids newsletter is about being a deliberate parent, about enjoying family life and using the opportunities that happen to teach and train your children in righteousness (right living with God). I hope that you will find regular encouragement as you live life with your kids!