A very normal day

I wanted to share what a "normal" day for me in Japan looks like.  I have noticed that I am slower at posting on the blog.  I have also noticed that I am worn out by 8 pm every night.  I often want to write something but then I think about the warm bed and how tired I am.  The warm bed wins!!  So here is a very normal day for me.

5:45 am - first alarm goes off.  (notice I said first.  It take me a while to get up!)

6:00  - out of bed to go turn on the heater in the living room.  It's usually 12c (53F) in the morning.  So I hurry back under the covers.  I read emails, check facebook and read the Bible.  Finally getting out of bed around 6:45ish.

7:00  - I start cooking breakfast, start the coffee, start the laundry and start making lunch for Noah and Rachal. 

7:15  - Last call for getting out of bed.  At this point, if you are not physically up and moving around you are free game!!  This could be anything from me singing off key to take your covers away or even a spray bottle of nice cold water!! 

7:20 - 8:15 - Eat breakfast, get dressed, clean the table and dishes, make beds and get school stuff ready.  All this done by the kids.  I finish lunches, hang the laundry out to dry, get Mikes breakfast and lunch ready and try to drink a cup of coffee before it gets too cold.

8:15  - Noah and Rachal head to the church for school. 

8:30 - Jonah and Eli at the table for school.  I help them get started on the day with Bible, Spelling, and Writing in their journal.

8:45 - I leave the house.  Monday is food shopping day and Mike stays home with the boys. I am home by 11:00 am.     Tuesday - Thursday I go walking with some mommy friends for about 40 mins.  From 9:30 - 11:30 I teach Jonah and Eli math, grammar, science and history.

11:30 - Reading time/ make lunch time.  Eli sits on the kitchen floor and reads aloud to me and Jonah reads in his room.

12:00 - LUNCH! 

12:45 - Back to work.  The boys finish up any lessons from the morning.  After all work has been completed, they work on Math Centers or Language Centers.  These are games that I have made to reinforce concepts they have learned in Math, Grammar, Spelling and Science.  This also gives me a chance to have some quite time to work on my school work.  I am currently finishing my degree in Missions, learning Japanese, doing a weekly Bible study with a Japanese friend, doing a Bible study with a Missionary friend and working on a scripture memory challenge for the year!!  Wednesday I have Japanese class.  I have to take the train into the city.  I leave around 1:00 and don't get home until 5:00. 

3:00 - School is out!! 

3:15 - Noah and Rachal are home!  We now have 15 mins for snack and talking about their day.

3:30ish - Math Time with Noah and Rachal.  I sit down and go over their lesson for tomorrow with them.  While they work on the practice problems I grade the school work they did from today.  Then we review anything they are not getting and fix the mistakes.

5:00 - I start dinner.  Most nights I have at least one child sitting on the kitchen floor while I continue to teach or make corrections from the days work.

6:00  - We sit down for supper! 

6:30 - 8:00  - Family time, baths and showers, kitchen clean up.

8:00 - Jonah and Eli go to bed

9:30ish - Noah and Rachal go to bed.

10:00 - I am drifting off to sleep!!  Thank you Lord for another amazing day with my family!!

As I look at everything written out, it sure looks like a lot of work. 

But I don't see it as work.  I see this as ministry. 

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

1 Timothy 1:12