Monday, November 17, 2014

A MOM WHO HITS THE FLOOR RUNNING CAN FLY

NOTE: Flylady.com offers a system for organizing and managing a home, based on the concept of daily routines and a focus on small, time- and space-limited tasks. Provides resources.

Jenna and Kristen at camp

Jenna and Kaeli with scarecrow
MEET LAURA HILTON

Award winning author, Laura Hilton, her husband, Steve, and three of their children make their home in Arkansas. She is a pastor’s wife, a stay-at-home mom and home-schools. Laura is also a breast cancer survivor. Laura also  has two adult children.

Her publishing credits include three books in the Amish of Seymour series from Whitaker House: Patchwork Dreams, A Harvest of Hearts (winner of the 2012 Clash of the Titles Award in two categories), and Promised to Another. The Amish of Webster County series, Healing Love (finalist for the 2013 Christian Retail Awards). Surrendered Love and Awakened Love followed by her first Christmas novel, A White Christmas in Webster County, as well as a three book Amish series with Whitaker House, The Amish of Jamesport series, The Snow Globe, The Postcard in April 2015, and The Bird House in September 2015. Other credits include Swept Away from Abingdon Press. Laura is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and a professional book reviewer.


A WOMAN WHO DOES IT ALL?

By Laura Hilton

“I’m a pastor’s wife and I still don’t have all the answers…” (borrowed from a pastor’s wife’s facebook page)

I was recently asked to write an article on parenting. How do I balance things I must do with what I want to do and how that affects me, each child, my husband, and the people in the church?

Laura Hilton

The short answer:  Be flexible!  Life has a way of changing in a heartbeat.

I start every day with devotions and prayer and I have a “to do list” that I write every morning of things I want to accomplish. I started it when my mother had a severe stroke and moved into my home. I had Mom duties as well as being a mom, wife, pastor’s wife, etc. And I discovered then that nothing would get done if I didn’t write it down! It was too overwhelming to look at my day and think I can’t do it all. It was enough to make me want to curl up in a ball and cry.  

Lundy Hilton
I signed up for Flylady to help me keep my house clean. As a pastor’s wife, that is mandatory. You never know who will stop by. Flylady says, “You are not behind. Don’t try to catch up.” And she reminds us to shine our sink every night. That seems to expand into the whole counter – which makes the kitchen look nice. And my bed is made every morning. That goes a long way to making the bedroom presentable.

As for the rest, it’s one step at a time. If I don’t have time to write
Michael Hilton
because my son dived too deep and somehow hit his tooth on the bottom of the pool and needs an emergency trip to the dentist, then my son comes first.

As some people say, the order is God, family, and then work. Homeschooling my children is put before any words are written. If someone from church needs to talk, that comes first. I read at night before I go to bed, when I need to relax and I always carry reading material with me, just in case I have to wait.

There are days when only one thing on my to-do list is done. And days when everything is crossed off (those are rare).

When I start getting overwhelmed because everything hits at once – a
Laura and the girls
deadline, book edits, articles to write, a book launch and a radio interview all the same week I have to step back, pray, decompress, and remind myself, baby steps. One thing at a time. Don’t try to do it all at once.

God will bless, if you give it all to Him.
 
Steve and Laura

Proverbs 31:27  “She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

The Snow Globe
By Laura Hilton

Victor Petersheim has left the Amish and works on a river boat on the Mississippi River, spending three months on the river then having three months off.

 During his off-work months he returns home to his Amish community and helps out on his grandparents’ farm.

When he returns home after his most recent absence, he discovers his grossmammi has developed health problems and they’ve hired Esther Beachy to be a “mother’s helper.”

Victor is unsettled by this woman living in their home, but has to accept it. Esther loves listening to Victor’s grandmother’s stories and while puttering around in a store while the grossmammi’s in the hospital, she discovers a snow globe that depicts an area where the Petersheims used to live. She buys it as a gift for the grossmammi to cheer her up during her hospitalization. Victor is touched by Esther’s gift and her care for his grossmammi, and strives to be friendlier. Will Esther’s gentle heart draw him back to the community? Or will he return to the river once again?

twitter: @Laura_V_Hilton

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