This morning is an especially different day. I woke up refreshed after going to bed literally at 7 p.m. last night. I so needed the rest after our trip. Today is an important day in our home, it is my second son’s first day as a tenth grader in a big city school. It is the first of year three as a homeschooling mom for our second daughter, and it is the first day I am officially a business owner of a writing business as well as a homeschooling mom. wife, and homekeeper. I have been a Mary Kay consultant for years, and while that is a business, it is more or less an “easy” one for me. This time I am using my degrees and experience to further develop something I had done for years….writing, facilitating, grant writing, training, and developing people professionally.
How funny this new world is, for the last many months I have worn many hats while at home. Momtrepeneurs they call us. I call us plain busy! My husband and I went through many waltzes to decide who, how much, and when I would accept clients. We have alot of boundaries in our blended family and it works best for us that way. As a pleaser, I need all the boundry help I can get from Dh! Finally, after this past four months, it became evident that if I were to do this the way that works for our family, I would be in business for myself and enjoy working with other businesses I enjoy and admire…..not a partner or co owner in theirs, but their virtual staff writer, or something of the like.
So the morning starts like this: wake up and kiss Dh awake (I know, tmi) and then we share devotional time in our room privately. Then find some form of caffeine or liquid to take morning vitamins and bp medicene….then wander in my comfy shoes into my office and check email by 5:45. by 6:30 a conference call was today’s schedule. While taking notes for writing to be done later in the day and week, I then got the breakfast out of the oven (breakfast casserole from the fridge) and sat down for fruit, yogurt and casserole with my son who always wants to spend breakfast together. The other two at home slept since they didn’t have to be anywhere at 7:45a.m. . I was chauffered to the high school by the newly licensed driver, then horror of horrors to him, kissed him goodbye on the cheek in the car…which he allowed not realizing others were watching. He was off for his first full day and I drove home thankful I wasn’t in a classroom this morning missing my time at home.
Once home it was time to go over notes from the tele conference, right after unloading the dishwasher while it was still before 8. A quick survey of the kitchen says Flylady hasn’t sunk in on cleaning it at night!
Almost an hour later, updates to a website have begun and I’m off for a few minutes while the copier runs what I need printed.
The joy of this is by 11 I will be done in the office two to three days a week another 2 hours will be found a couple of afternoons when dear daughter is doing her independent work/research time. I will then join Miss Madison on her last few days of summer break, for she schools year round, but we have had 2 weeks off at the end of the heat. Her focus today is building a rabbit hutch, for she greatly desires a rabbit of her own and her stepfather and I are challenging her to prepare the space.
I won’t work daily on this schedule, but we have found that we think we can handle me working 10-15 or so hours a week. This isn’t necessary to survive money (well depending on who’s view you ask….no budget for shopping is survival money for me!)….but we’ve decided the goals are in line with our family goals, to allow more ease in curriculum money, family time money, and more in the emergency fund, so a hard made decision is now being tried out in reality. With two in college, and two who will soon be there, we’d like to keep their educations debt free too. A stepfamily often starts “in the hole” from divorces, ours was no different, it was like starting over after college in housing, debt levels, etc but we were 37 with four children doing it! God is God and He has so shown us the way and kept us moving forward, but we feel at this time, its best for all of us if I can do this without total disruption to our family day, that I work again part time.
The joy of it is, I love writing and creating for other’s businesses. Its like being paid to learn about many different areas of life and careers. God is good, all from home, He is allowing me to have a career that keeps me in touch with the professional world, while enjoying the advantages of homekeeping.

Its a mad hatter existence and at times I feel a little more like Alice in Wonderland and the rabbit is holding up a clock at me going silly in real life between the errands, the schooling, the laundry and the new work schedules, but I like this new tea party and its land of unknowns…..and plan to wear my favorite hat to the table….the one that says “God’s Girl” and keep searching for His peace in all of it…..even if it means choosing to let some of it go.