#KidsMin from A to Z: Juggling

Is it seriously February 4th?  Wedding planning is taking over my life!  I am 60 days away from my happily ever after and I am a busy bee.  Between my usual work and #KidsMin responsibilities and planning a wedding in three months I have wavered between extreme excitement and extreme feelings of being overwhelmed.  I'm thankful for a loving fiance' who helps calm me down when I get too worked up, and for loving friends and family who are pitching in to make our wedding a special day.  The fiance' and I have been together for one year (Officially!).  I'm so thankful for God's perfect timing in bringing us together. 

On a completely unrelated note I have met 8% of my blog goal for 2014 with having published 15 out of 182 posts in January!  Only 167 to go!  

Now, back to #KidsMin from A to Z!  I hope that you all have enjoyed this series as much as I have enjoyed writing it!  Here is what we have looked at already!  It's so fun to see this list getting longer and longer! 

 A is for Attendance and Awana

B is for Butcher Paper and Bibles 
C is for Curriculum and Communication
D is for Do It Yourself

E is for Expectations

F is for Flexibility & Follow-Up

G is for Games

H is for Holidays

I is for Ice Cream

I may only be one person, but I can be one person who makes a difference.  

I wrote a post back in November about ways that i keep the balance in my life.  (Visit here to see the entire post)  At the time that I write it I was juggling so many things that I felt like a circus performer, and to keep it totally real I was struggling to keep all of those balls in the air.  For a period of almost a month I crawled into bed every night at midnight or later and woke up at 6:30 AM exhausted physically and emotionally!  It was tough!

The question that I get asked most often in life is, "How do you do it?"  
While I don't have all the answers, I do have things that help me.  

And let's face it, there is a lot of juggling that comes with #KidsMin.  In my opinion it is the biggest and most diverse ministry in any church.  

Here are my areas of responsibility as it relates to kids: 
Nursery
Sunday School
K-3rd Kids Church
Preschool Kids Church
AWANA
Transit
VBS
Summer Outreach
Summer Events

That is a big list (and I'm sure there are other things that I'm not thinking about)!  Kids are different in that you can't just stick babies-6th graders in one big room and preach one big sermon.  But, we are just one person so how do we juggle all of these different ministries without something winding up on the floor.  Let's face it, we never want to be the person who "drops the ball" in ministry.  We want to be the person who has it all together.  

One way I do this is by delegating.  While I am in charge of every ministry I don't have to be in control of it.  For example, I have a nursery coordinator who coordinates our nursery.  I am available to help with various issues, and to problem solve as needed, but for the most part I just peek my head in every morning to thank my volunteers for serving and move along.  I have people who help coordinate VBS.  I am not the lead teacher for our Children's Church.  Why?  Simply because I cannot be everywhere at once.  Do I teach?  Absolutely, but I don't lead teach every week simply because I can't.  

I've learned to let my volunteers take ownership of their classes.  They know that i am always available should they need me, but I give them opportunities to serve.  I want them to experience the same joy and excitement that I do from #KidsMin.  I try to be as aware as possible what is going on and what my kids are learning by having my teachers submit their lessons to me via e-mail.  

If I sense that one area of ministry is in trouble or is struggling then I will take a couple of days and focus all of my energy on that one ministry.  I'll get it built back up, and then just help maintain it.  When it's time for VBS most of my other ministries get put on the back burner so to speak and I give a lot of time to VBS.  The biggest thing that I've had to learn is that it's about priorities!  

I am but one person with two arms and two legs.  I can only be one place at a time, but I can be one person who does everything that I can to make a difference.  

This is a topic that I want to hear from you on!

How do you juggle all of your ministries?  Do you have any tips for us? 
Leave them in the comments!