School? Did somebody say school?

Every August I go through this, and somehow every year I manage to forget.

The last two weeks of August are crunch time for me because not only am I preparing for a new school year to start, I am also preparing for another REAL moms ministry year to start. If you've read my blog for awhile, you may remember that REAL moms is the new name we've given to the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) program, and I am the coordinator for the evening group that meets at our church two Wednesday nights a month.

We almost always have a leadership/training retreat in August (hours and hours of preparation for that), and are looking to fill any holes on our leadership team (hours of work on that too). We are working to develop our theme for the new year, divide the groups into their tables of 8 for the year, buying beginning of the year gifts, and a host of other details necessary before our first REAL moms meeting. Of course I'm not doing all this by myself, but the responsibility to oversee everything is mine.

In the midst of this, God always reminds me that this is HIS ministry. Not mine. He has plans to work through it that I can only guess at, people (leaders) He has in mind to work through and ladies He wants to reach. August provides good opportunities to surrender my role in this ministry to Him. In that mindset, the hours of work on REAL moms truly do not seem like work.

On the other hand, working on REAL moms means I'm NOT working on other things. The house is not ready for school (literally ~ our school room expansion is not nearly finished and it is a huge jumble of stuff right now), my mind is not fully focused on school, and I discovered yesterday that there were 3 books we needed in order to start school TODAY that I had forgotten to order (I paid for 2 day shipping ~ they'll be here Wed!).

BUT.....we're starting school anyway! The beginning of our school year is always a gradual thing, and we are just going to go with the flow. I may never experience an August where I feel totally "ready", books are perfectly lined up, supplies are all purchased, and pencils are all sharpened (which reminds me, I should check and see if we have sharpened pencils!). Our virtual co-op start date dictates that we need to start now. So I will do as I do with REAL moms ~ remind myself that this is GOD'S homeschool, not mine, that we are accomplishing HIS plans, not mine, and that He will provide all we need to accomplish HIS goals for our homeschool, whether I feel ready or not. I *have* spent hours and hours this summer preparing for school too, so I will offer those hours to Him and just START.

New school year, here we come!