by vyckie bennett

Our oldest daughter, Angel - age 19 - recently left home to join Nancy Campbell and her daughters at Above Rubies magazine in Tennessee. While we do miss Angel terribly, we are also very excited about the many opportunities for ministry that have become available to her.

Several people have asked how our family is handling life without Angel since the next two oldest children are only 13 and 12. "Are you finding that Berea and Chassé are becoming more responsible now that you don't have Angel to fall back on?" inquired one of our friends. In one sense, yes - Berea and Chassé have taken on a new sense of responsibility now that they are "the older girls." But our friend seemed a bit surprised to learn that our chore schedule had not changed much since Angel left - the younger children were already doing the majority of the chores even while big sister was living at home.

As a homeschooling mother of seven, and editor and publisher of the monthly pro-life, pro-family newspaper, Nebraska Family Times, which is my husband's means of supporting our family - I have learned many tricks which help our family to work more efficiently. I do not often offer unsolicited advice on household management because I realize that what may be helpful for our family may not necessarily be suitable for another family. I believe that most Moms of Many have their husband's and children's best interests at heart and these supermoms are incredibly creative when it comes to figuring out the best systems for their own households.

I do want to pass along one very helpful recommendation based on an example from Early Church history as recorded in Acts 6:1-7.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

"When the number of disciples multiplied" - does this situation sound familiar? As the arrows in our quiver multiply, it is imperative that we learn to delegate. But notice a very important principle expressed by The Twelve: "It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables." There was much work to be done and only The Twelve were equipped for the very unique "ministry of the word." Caring for widows was a very important job, indeed - but there were many who could serve in this capacity, thus freeing the apostles to do the work that only they could do.

So how does this principle play out in our home? We make every effort to always identify the youngest child capable of doing a task. When I see a job that needs to be done, rather than instructing an older child to do it, I try to make a habit of asking myself, "Can Lydia Jean (4), Andrew (6), or Hazelle (9) do this job?" If so, guess who gets called upon? The beauty here is that little ones love to be helpers - they feel so important and proud when Mom recognizes that they are "big enough" to do the work.

Before we began implementing this principle, our older children often "murmured" that they did all the work while the younger ones played all day. (Sorry, Angel, for not figuring this out sooner!) Now, we reserve the help of the older children for those assignments that only they can perform. Since we have plenty of dish washers, while Angel was at home, we relied on her to run errands in town - a job only she could do because none of her younger siblings have a driver's license.

Another benefit to this plan is that by relying on the younger ones to do more of the everyday chores, the older children have more time to work on their studies. They also help their younger siblings with any school work that they already understand - this frees me up to teach new concepts to the older ones while giving them the opportunity to teach which is a very effective way to reinforce the knowledge and skills they've already learned.