Monday I went to the doctor for a UTI and stayed in bed the rest of the day.
Tuesday my 6 y.o. and I stayed home all day (his class was closed due to too many students sick).
Thursday was the first day in about two weeks that I had nothing "on". No meetings, no kids at home, no grocery shopping required, and no illness or pain. Just my long To-do list to work on. I did get back to the gym, though. And for the first time in about two months I was well enough/injury-free and able to do a 100% workout.
Friday was not the Frantic Friday that I've had the last couple of weeks. One prayer meeting, the gym, and lots of editing. Lovely . . . until a bit after lunch when my head started to ache, feel stuffy, and I began to feel a bit dizzy. I ended up going to bed a bit after 3pm and stayed there until dinner (which, thankfully, was a slow cooker one I'd "prepared earlier"). I did rally enough to eat dinner, help put children to bed, and watch the first part of the Sherlock Holmes DVD we received for Christmas with David. But my head did ache.
And today. The first all-family-at-home Saturday we've had for a month. Yay. My head still aches a little, but not debilitatingly so. We wandered down to school because there are basketball matches on today and that means, not only free entertainment, but lunch which is a big treat for the boys (and no washing up for us). They run "concessions stands" for interschool sports matches like this, which includes Japanese curry rice or hot dogs or clam chowder (three main choices of main meals, plus heaps of American and Japanese junk food). I try not to think of sausage rolls and pies . . .
My to-do list still looms large. Mainly due to last Wednesday being the due date for the major articles in the spring edition of Japan Harvest, so I have a whole lot of articles waiting for my editing attention. But it will have to wait until Monday. I try to work while the kids are at school, not at nights and weekends, unless it is urgent. It is hard to draw boundaries like that when my office is our dining room and the computer is here, easily accessed whenever. But I've seen too many workaholic missionaries, too many leaders who just over do it and don't take the time they need for rest.
I'm told I work hard, that I seem to run at 120%, but I don't run at that rate all the time. I take most evenings and weekends "off". The "off" is in inverted commas because, well, until the boys are in bed (8/8.30), I'm not really in "time off". I counted up the hours I spend looking after them, during the week it is about 5-6 hours a day and of course all weekend. That doesn't include grocery shopping and cooking that I do while they're at school. It really is a decent part-time job, no matter how much I fool myself into thinking that now they're at school I have heaps of extra time. I still have to be mindful that I shouldn't overdo it, because they pay when I'm not well. Of course my part-time job is much, much easier because my husband takes such an active role in our family when he's home. Making breakfast, lunches, putting the clothes in the washing machine, supervising showers, washing up after dinner etc. I am so blessed!
Well, I need to go and bake some lunch-box snacks for the week to come and I thought that an Apple Pie might make a nice treat too. It will be a warm place in the kitchen, next to my monster oven baking! That's a lovely thought.
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