Saturday, March 14, 2020

Time for a Break

The world has been shut down. Think of that! We've been fighting, forever, to shut down the world, or at least the distractions and negative influences in it. And now we're here--realizing what things are really important and what things are really necessary. Some people are finding that there really wasn't much of our daily lives that was necessary. We're left with home, family, and we have a home-centered gospel study program that will still be going full-force at home...maybe even better now. Just a few weeks ago I was saying that I wished we weren't so tied to a schedule in society. It's hard to force the kids to get up and ready in the morning, and it's hard to drop your mid-day activities for school pick-up. It's hard for my 7-year old kid to have so little time at home. He's still so little! It's weird that he has so much expected of him already! But life doesn't usually slow down so you learn ways to cope and you keep moving forward...

Until this week. We are finally getting a much-needed breath.

My husband is going to be home a whole lot more. We're all so grateful for that! We get to wake up on our own schedules and stay in our pajamas if we want. It's going to be so much easier to make time for gospel study, family bonding, home projects/organization, self-driven learning, intentionality. I, for one, am looking forward to this break.

I totally get that there are complications and fear, including health, financial, and resource concerns. Our family is ready to help with meals, babysitting, a listening ear for those in need. I'm grateful we haven't yet been hit by covid-19 in my circle of friends/family. I'm grateful to have prophetic guidance that prepared us for this day in a thousand ways. I'm grateful Evan is only in 1st grade so a break from school isn't THAT big of a deal. I see a lot of fear and stress about the children at home but I feel grateful for this time to stop the busy-ness of our lives and "just be a mom." I don't have to be a teacher and "home school" my kids if I don't want to. I don't have to be an entertainment center with a schedule and planned entertainment if I don't want to. I don't have to check everything off the 10,001 Things to Do at Home with your Kids list in the few weeks we're on break if I don't want to.

I get to choose how we spend our time without the MANY, MANY distractions of the world. I'm looking forward to that.