Life gets messy

February felt like we were operating from a base of jelly. We struggled to get our balance and figure out a schedule that would work for everyone. I think it took us all by surprise a little. The weekly schedule isn't the same as last year, for a few reasons.

David's part-time job
Last week David started lecturing at a tertiary education level. He's working with 2nd year primary education students teaching them about teaching maths. He's does this from Tuesday to Thursday, during the mornings and early afternoons.

He takes our only car and leaves before we're allowed to take our youngest to school. So that's put some pressure on us to do the best we can to make sure we don't need the car.

Music lessons
Two of our boys have musical instruments that need to go to school, on different days. One doesn't work well on a bike and the other we've spent the whole month trying to find a way for it to work (it's not easy to get racks to fit bikes here in Australia). Thankfully the third instrument doesn't need to go to and from school (percussion).

Sport
A variety of sporting opportunities have opened up for the boys (starting school at the beginning of the school year is to be recommended). Our middle son has enjoyed trying out futsal and touch footie. Both of which are after school. Our youngest son is doing AFL after school one day a week too. And they're all still doing wrestling training on Monday or Wednesday nights plus Saturday mornings. Our oldest has been attending cross country training before school one or two mornings a week and this morning they all went.

It's thoroughly confusing. Especially when you realise that sometimes we don't have a car available to do this, so bikes and good weather are necessary. Thankfully the two older boys are able to ride to and from school without us accompanying them.

School Meetings
Yep, each of our boys' classes had an information meeting, either on Monday or Wednesday nights, messing up our wrestling schedule.

Church meetings
The meetings that have remained the same are the church meetings. Bible study that David goes to on Tuesday nights, Youth bible study on Thursday nights, Ladies bible study on Friday mornings, and Youth Group/Kids Club on Friday nights. Not to mention Sunday morning worship, which we've actually been able to attend at our home church on most Sundays in the last couple of months.

Add all that together and you've got a bit of confusion. I don't think we've missed anything yet, although I did nearly miss one of the class meetings.

What we do have are boys (and a mum) who crave a more routine schedule than this and aren't getting it. 

Weekends are all different too. This weekend we're going to Canberra to visit a supporting church and missing: youth bible study, youth group/kids club, free dress day at school, cross country training, symphonic band practise, guitar and percussion lessons, wrestling, and going to church at our home church.

These are all things our boys enjoy and aren't that happy about missing.

There is definitely a part of me that wants to curl up in a ball. I know that being part of a family is about sacrifice. It's about everyone compromising so that we can function as a group. It just sometimes feels like there's too much to manage and that the young men in our family aren't flexible enough.

So today I'm thankful that I've been able to have a quiet day at home all by myself. They all left the house at 7.15. David drove them to school for the cross-country practise on his way to lecturing and will pick most of them up on his way home. It's dove-tailed fairly nicely today, even if one of them wasn't so keen to leave.

Tomorrow we're back to bikes and praying that it doesn't rain before or after school for the next two months on Wednesdays and Thursdays! And that my people management or calendar coordinating skills don't collapse either.