I’m just glad that my busy time was a short season of a couple weeks when I could not be the Dad I wanted to be. For some Fathers this season is a lot longer, or dosn’t relent at all.

My busy time started on Friday 24^th when I led a Youth Social at our Church for 37 male young people, a night of Xbox gaming, pizza and trying to stay awake all night, while my wife led a sleepover for girls at our house, needless to say the following day we were tired!

The following Monday and Tuesday at work I was doing a lot of last minute prep for our annual conference which started on the Wednesday 29^th Oct which lasted till Sunday 2^nd Nov, this saw me busy night and day solidly for 5 days, Monday 3^rd Nov was again a busy day at work in the evening I played football that took away time with the kids again, on Tuesday from work I went to a service in Coventry (2hrs away) and got home at 12.30am. Wednesday was the same, except I went to Wolverhampton and got back closer to 1am.

Each day at work this week has been busy trying to fit too much in after such a big Conference and surviving on a lot less time to myself than normal (i.e no morning routines which I have really not enjoyed!)

Friday evening after work saw another Youth event at Church this time helping to put on a fireworks display. Saturday (today) I slept in then we went to a Baby Welcome Party for close friends and tomorrow we have a meeting before Church services so the issue is in the 2 and a bit weeks there has been virtually no time for our own family time.

I am a Dad who tries to keep at least one day/evening a week as a special family time, where we do something memorable for the little lives we are stewarding, however I knew that during this time it would not be possible so I made sure the week before was even better than normal, you may recall we went to the beach to check out the stormy waves.

Then late in the Saturday afternoon once I had woken up from the all night games night, we took the kids to their favourite park, so this double fun helped soften the blow to them of such a busy time to come and I am determined to make some fun this coming week!

What really helped me enjoy the busy time was that I was doing a job I love and serving my Church, plus Tuesday and Wednesday night when I went to the services in other cities I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot from a phenomenal Bible teacher – Mark Hankins, and on the Wednesday night I took my wife along with me, we travelled up with an older couple and another friend which was a lot of fun, and my wife in particular enjoyed going somewhere new and felt very refreshed by it.

This fun with my wife through the busy time really helped and was something to look forward to. Also we have a couple special family occasions planned for the next couple weeks to look forward to as well! This always helps when life gets draining and long.

So I’m thankful that we

1. Scheduled quality family time before.
2. Had a decent encounter with my wife during the busy time.
3. Have a lot of good times to look forward to after.

This has served my family well, and I think it has affected my wife and kids very little…….this wouldn’t have been the case in years gone by……what is family life like for you, when life gets busy? Be honest!……can you plan better so there is no stress in the home? I will be using the 3 step plan again, I hope you can benefit too.