With this tornado of activity swirling under one roof, you might expect that Nadine’s No. 1 objective would be survival—just getting those kids grown and on their own. And she admits that some days she thinks, I just want this day to be over, so I can collapse into bed and start over tomorrow. But Nadine has higher aims for herself and her children than merely getting them through.

“A few years ago, I heard a sermon about raising godly children,” she recalls. “It was challenging to me, because I realized I wasn’t doing much in the spirituality department. But I remember the pastor saying that ‘parents who don’t fill up their children with God’s teaching leave them with a void, and the world will gladly fill this void with destructive values.’ Man, did that hit me. I wasn’t filling my kids up with anything except frozen dinners and Tang.”

Nadine admits that when she left that church service, she felt discouraged. She was trying as hard as possible; what more could she do?

“ Late that night, after the kids were in bed, I thought and meditated and prayed and read my Bible,” she says. “Right then and there, I made a decision: I can’t give my four children everything, but the one thing they will not do without is a spiritual foundation. I will give them a godly heritage.”

The next night at dinner, she announced a new schedule. Every night, Monday through Friday, Nadine would spend 10 minutes sequestered with each child individually. This time would be spent praying together and talking things over.

Then every Saturday, on a rotating basis, she would go out to breakfast or lunch with one of the kids. (No excuses, except in the case of dire emergency.) And one last thing: They would recommit to attending church together each Sunday morning. Nadine admits they had grown lax in their attendance, and she was determined to change that.

So, what did her children say to these new marching orders?

“At first, I got reactions you might expect: ‘Oh, Mom, do we have to?’ ‘Every night? What’ll we talk about?’ ‘What if my 10 minutes come during my favorite TV show?’ But you know, the resistance lasted maybe two weeks. Once the kids saw I was serious, that I was going to follow through, they got into it.

Sometimes one would yell down the hall, ‘Mom, don’t forget our prayer time in two minutes!’ Another one would say on Monday, ‘So, where are we going to breakfast this Saturday?’ And I try to use those precious few minutes to the fullest—getting right to the heart issues, the spiritual issues.”

All of this priority shifting came at a high cost to Nadine. What little leisure time she had got further eaten away. With virtually no time for herself, most of her personal goals and desires were put on hold.

It has been two years since Nadine first implemented her plan, and she is understandably pleased with the results. “I gauge my effectiveness on two things: consistency and progress in my kids’ walk with the Lord,” she said.

“I have been consistent, sticking to that original schedule all this time, with the exception of a couple weeks when I was going crazy from stress. More important, each of my children has grown spiritually. With four kids, of course, they grow at different rates and in different ways. But with each of them, I’ve seen steps forward, and that’s all that matters to me.”