“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” - Sun Tzu The stay at home order brought a new opportunity for a different birthday. Inspired by Molly's birthday, we had the Snowy Churro truck come visit our house and then invited friends to drive by and wish Jaxon a happy birthday. And you know what? It was awesome! Our friends showed up in force and we spread out 10 feet apart to visit and enjoy the first day of summer break! It was fun, it was safe, and most of all, Jaxon felt loved!
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“Home is a shelter from storms-all sorts of storms.”— William J. Bennett This week was a storm as the number of Covid19 cases in the world exceeded 1,000,000 with a third of those being here in the United States. Stories of those in hospitals dying alone, of healthcare workers becoming ill, and uncertainty about the course of the disease filled the airwaves and the internet. Colorado ordered an extension of the stay at home order until April 30th and wearing facemarks in public became an expectation. We began teaching remote learning on Wednesday and by Friday it was announced that his new mode of learning would continue until the end of the school year.
Yet, even as the storm churned outside, our home helped us find solace. We enjoyed three meals together a day. We played games. We learned together. We zoomed with those we love the most and we gave each other hugs and LOTs of grace. We will be home for the foreseeable future, but it is okay. I am sharing my quarantine with those that matter most to my heart. We will weather this storm. Together. Not as easy is my job. Teaching remotely is more challenging that I could ever have anticipated. Our district supported an asynchronous approach so that families could do work in ways that make sense for their unique situations. However, that means that as a teacher, my inbox fills from early morning to late at night with questions. Live office hours are filled not with children looking for help but those looking for connection. Meetings that would have taken 20-30 minutes at school stretch to an hour or more. After the first week, I have not yet found a rhythm or boundaries. What I have found, however, is love from my students and our community. That is enough to keep me going until I figure this out. “There is a season for everything under the sun—even when we can’t see the sun.”-Jared Brock Oh dear, sweet blog and my wonderful life list. How I have missed you! The past six months have taken our family through a hard season--one where there was a lot of darkness, a lot of love, a lot of tears, and a lot of hope. At some point, I will write up the few life list activities that we checked of our list over the past 6 months--hello Elton John! Hello Memphis! But for today, I just need to write about the here and now.
The last week has been a whirlwind as the United States has slowly shut down to encourage social distancing as a preventative measure for the Covid19 virus. Little did I know when I walked out of my classroom last Friday that I was really saying goodbye to life as we knew it. I am not sure where the next few months will lead our lives, but I do want to record them so that someday when my grandchildren ask "Where were you during the great epidemic of 2020?" I will be able to share with them a primary source document to use in their class projects. (ok, I'm always a teacher!) Week one of hunkering down was filled with a lot of resting and reflecting on what was happening. I had been teaching about the virus in my classroom since the beginning of January, so I knew that if it did hit the US we were going to be in for a wild ride. Over the past few weeks, we stocked our freezer and our pantry with food and our medicine chest with the needed relief from this respiratory virus. We cleaned the house so we could live in calmness and I helped both of the boys keep up with thinking doing an hour or two of school work. By Wednesday night, I was ready to lose my business--I was lonely and sad about what we were missing. But then, a small miracle brought out the sun. My friend Christy sent a text asking how zoom or google hangouts worked. And we tried it and shared a digital cup of coffee. Suddenly, I could see three of my favorite humans, hear their voices, and realized that we are not alone. That night, we shared our new trick with Luke's parents and on Friday we had a digital happy hour. Suddenly, the sun started to shine on my soul. Life as we know it might be missing, but I don't have to miss life. Today started week 2 of social distancing, and it was a much better day. Like my usual summer schedule, I am committing to doing 4 things each day--1 for my heart, my head, my health, and my home. Today for heart, I finished an art class that had filled my desk for over a month. Then, for my head, I read a book and started to plan for remote learning coming in another week. For my health, we went for a walk and donated blood. For my home, I watched a movie with Luke and made process on our lego Yoda for the boys. Life is different, but it is good. “Believing that life interruptions—divine interruptions—are a privilege not only causes us to handle them differently but to await them eagerly.” ― Priscilla Shirer, Life Interrupted This fall did not go as planned. It is that simple. This fall has been a messy series of unfortunate events that have rocked our world. There have been mental health struggles for our oldest, an accidental burn for our youngest, a scary mammogram for me, a stomach bug that won't end, challenging new jobs for both Luke and I, and health problems in our extended family have caused a change in our normal. But, you know what? I am choosing to look at them as divine interruptions.
God has a plan for our lives that we do not know and must learn to trust. That is the life list item I am getting to learn right now. It wasn't planned, but it is deeply present in our daily lives. Our current reality is too big to be a little moment. Rather, it is a season to reflect on the blessings and challenges that we have been given in a new light. It is opportunity to reassess how time and energy are being spent. The life list is still here, but for right now, it is on hold so that my heart can grow and my faith can too. One of the greatest lessons that I have learned this fall is the idea of Sabbath. Our church ran a series on the importance of taking a day off each week to do fill our souls. (Check it out here: Link). This past month and a half, taking a sabbath has been the saving grace in my life. It provides rest for the weary, fills my bucket when I make art, preserves my relationships with my kids, husband, family and friends. I have made a ton of small art pieces on these days, taken naps, and watched movies. Tomorrow we head out of town to go to Disneyland as a family and spend quality time in each others company. Rather than having expectations about what this trip will include, I am looking forward to practicing being present and enjoying each of the moments we are together. There may not be a million rollercoaster rides (I'm sure there will be plenty) but there will be authentic moments to connect over ice cream, rented movies, swimming, and hugs. May your fall be filled with God's blessings. I know ours has. "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." -John Lennon This summer was hard. There is simply no other way to say it. We struggled with balancing family, work, and unexpected challenges. I fell off of the blogging train and, to be quite honest, didn't do much from my list. Throughout the summer I made "posts" to fill out later, but later kept getting pushed off. Today I deleted them all and decided to do one big "update" post so I can move into September with a clean slate and a commitment to taking care of myself by starting to focus on living my list once again. So here is what I "did" on my list this summer. Life List ItemsI drove a tractor. I love being from a small town and from "farm" families. But ironically, I had never actually driven a tractor. My boys have done it a million times with Papa Ben's Ford and Papa Jo's John Deere. So in June I took my turn on the Ford. It was funny that my 14 (soon to be 15) year old son was the person to teach me how! It was harder to control than I had anticipated, but it was fun none the less. Another Item off my list this summer was I finally learned to make tamales. For years I thought that this process would be "too hard" but a better descriptor would be "really long and lots of dishes." It took us three days to make our tamales because I didn't realize the importance of sequencing and timing. (Cook roast, mix masa, wait, soak husks, stuff, steam--there are lots and lots of steps). The only really challenge I hit was that I tried to steam them in my instant pot but they kept coming out sticky. When I sucked it up and went to buy a real steamer, it got SO much better. I can't wait for it to cool down a bit so we can do it again. I went on a 40th birthday girls trip to Puerto Vallerta with my high school friends. It was a blast to travel without any responsibility and reconnect with these women who where the constant companions of my childhood. We swam, shopped, went to mass in a beautiful church, ate great food, and simply enjoyed one another company. For the second time, I am putting this item back on my list--it was too fun to not do again. We went white water rafting in Idaho Springs. I had great memories of doing this in college and I wanted to share this adventure with my three boys. This summer there was epic water because of record snowpack. The water was freezing but it was a blast to take on the rapids. Luke nearly feel out of the boat, but was hilarious to watch as 3 people had to pull him back in. Going to a Craft and sip adventure that wasn't paining also came off the list. I went with Kirsten to Upstairs circus where I made a cool string art project. It was fun to pick your own project but there was a WHOLE lot of estrogen in the place. (Only one guy in the whole place!) |
AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
May 2020
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