Sweet Refreshment and Other Stuff

Who doesn't experience burn-out? During the season of motherhood the "cliffs" of weariness and discouragement seem to ever loom in the not-too-distant future for me to plunge over. And I only have one child! (At least for the next two months!)

This past spring, Matt and I initiated a new Mom's Time-Out on Saturday mornings. What refreshment I've found during that time! He graciously takes Morenna and I escape to the local coffeeshop for a few hours of alone time, followed by any necessary errands I need to run.

Are you feeling ready for a break? Let me encourage you to see if your spouse would be willing to give you some time away.

A couple of my friends have inquired as to what I do with my morning out. Here's a basic overview, in preferential order:

- Eat a slow-paced breakfast someone else prepared;

- Study God's word and prepare my heart for any foreseen challenges in the coming week;

- Evaluate my calendar and think through the events of the coming week;

- Menu plan: I usually do one week at a time and establish my meals based on a day's events. I can always switch it up if my day changes;

- Clip and organize my coupons and shopping list for the upcoming week;

- Balance my share of our budget

- Update my blog: yes, I admit, I only blog once a week. :-) I typically set my posts to run on future dates so that the fresh content pops up all week long; and

- Browse the internet :-)

It's amazed me just how refreshed I feel after being away just for a few hours each Saturday. Mentally I'm refreshed and ready to return to serve my family and my weeks run much more smoothly since I feel on top of things. Many thanks to my hubby for his support of such an outing! :-)

Do any of you do something similar?