If I am being totally transparent, we often feel like our lives are so so chaotic that I can not imagine what things would look like if we did not do a weekly sync meeting.
Our church just had it’s seventh birthday and it’s really crazy to think about that because we have been going there since the beginning. When we started going there Jack was about one years old and I was pregnant with Eva. I have always felt that we have been able to see our own family grow at the same time our church family has grown. We have had all four kids dedicated there and the two older kids have been baptized there. It is a place that holds a very special place in our hearts for many reasons.
God has placed women in my life to be a support system through motherhood, marriage, loss, and difficult seasons we all have to navigate. He has used this church and the sermons to push me to go deeper into His word and learn the Bible more. He’s provided families where our kids are growing up with friends and just creating relationships we love so much. I would say one of the most impactful things from our church though has always been our pastor’s focus on marriage first and then parenthood. Our pastor and his wife have five children and have always given very practical reasons why we should be placing our relationship with God first, then our marriage and then our kids. And now looking back on being there over these seven years, which is also most of our marriage I can see how it was been a consistent theme he has preached. Sometimes it has been through a whole sermon series and is more direct but it’s also just a belief they teach and has seeped into other sermon series, conversations and podcast episodes you can listen to from them.
So you may wonder, “Okay, great, but what does this have to do with the title of this post?” Well that title “A Weekly Sync Meeting” is one of the very practical things they have recommended couples do and it’s changed a lot for us. We have been doing a weekly planning on Sundays for at least a couple years now. They have not always looked the same, and I know that with kids it can be very hard to make this happen. But I also feel like with a busy schedule and many kids it’s a necessity to make a weekly sync meeting happen. If I am being totally transparent, we often feel like our lives are so so chaotic that I can not imagine what things would look like if we did not do a weekly sync meeting.
We have also found that these conversations need to happen anyways so if we aren’t making an intentional time to have them here they will seep into date nights, before bed conversations, car rides, dinner, pretty much whenever it pops into your mind. Our pastor put it to us this way, have your weekly sync meeting so you can have enjoyable dates! Which is HUGE! Yes, we still talk about our kids or our home on a date night but it’s fun conversations, maybe a story about something funny one of the kids did. Or a school story that they told us on the car ride home. They aren’t “business” related conversations but joyful ones.
I’m going to point out the main areas that we talk about in our meetings and however that looks for you and your husband is great. We have tried using computer calendars, a huge white board that was supposed to hang on the wall (but never made it 🤪), written calendars and anything in between. Each season in life looks different and some worked for a bit before we tried something new. Lately we are using a blank sheet of computer paper and sticky notes on it. I have a small photo of it in this post. But just know that the biggest thing is being open and flexible to trying things out. What works for a period of time will need to change and being open to that has helped me immensely. Eventually we would like to order this family calendar from Family Teams but for now we are using paper and sticky notes.
Here is what we go over in our sync meetings:
- CALENDAR: We look at school events like half days, class projects, church things such as volunteering or Bible study. Really we look at anything that is out of the ordinary school or work schedule. Even though my husband is not involved in play dates, I usually tell him when we have them just so he knows what our days look like. This is also where we plan out date nights.
- BUDGET: Sometimes this is a longer conversation depending on when it is in the month but here is where we talk about how we are doing with our budget and if anything needs to be adjusted. We have also found that with school and kids, things tend to pop up unexpectedly so this is a good opportunity to talk about those and figure it out together.
- MEALS: I used to take care of all the meal planning, and I would say that I still mostly do. But I will write out what I have planned for the week and then we look at it together and can make changes. This also helps us with the grocery list because when we are both actively involved in the whole process it’s easier for either one of us to do the grocery trip.
- PRAYER: We always wrap it up with sharing praises and prayer requests to know how we can be praying for each other throughout the week. My husband has consistently be asking me for specific prayer requests so he knows how he can be supporting me with prayer for the last few years and it has been so life changing. As moms, we experience a lot through out the day and unless we share that, our husbands could be none the wiser. Him asking me for specific ways to pray allows me a chance to share areas I have been struggling in and invites my husband and the Holy Spirit into sharing that burden.
Meetings don’t have to be legalistic or intense, which is how I used to feel about them. But I really have learned that they are so helpful and life giving. I don’t enjoy talking budget or schedules in our dates and I have come to enjoy these sync meetings. It always feels good to be setting our home up for success and doing whatever we can possible to make it feel less chaotic. I pray for that over you and your home as well.
