I’ve start-stop-started posts so many times this week that I feel a bit like a defibrillator.
“Clear.”
A Time of Newness
We’ve slipped rather unceremoniously into a house-less state, and with this came a new home, a new breath, and a new season. Spring has arrived. Our windows are open, and we’re hearing different bird calls. The children aren’t all adjusted yet. Jubilee, in particular, asks multiple times a day “Are we staying here? Are we going back to our old house?” She is comforted when we remind her of the time when she walked through our old house and said “Goodbye house!” to every room, pulling open every drawer and closet and bidding it adieu.
Our temporary lodging (which we termed “our adventure house”) is smack dab in the middle of about four lakes. This new home is also in the middle of a rather breezy wind tunnel. Wind so strong that it blew a clock off the wall when I had the window open.
Nature herself seems a bit of a stranger, and the kids are being reacquainted with tick checks and sticky sap. But there are old, familiar friends. Jubilee brings in about 20 pinecones every day, only for me to sweep them outside when she goes to sleep.
Year of Less Update
This was, if you recall, my year of less. Very happily, we no longer have any debt. We have paid for two very lengthy international adoption processes and all of our college loans, while only one of us has been employed in a full-time manner. It doesn’t mean that we’re suddenly inordinately wealthy. In actuality, we’re in a position where we’ve got to be more frugal than ever before, due to our expensive rental costs and preparation for our international move.
So we’ve been able to handle one of my main goal categories: less debt.
I also vowed for less wasted time this year. Now that we’re firmly planted once again, well, mostly anyway, I have begun to pick up my old hobbies and habits once again. I brought out my crocheting this morning, and I’ve had a moment or two to sit down and read some books about Charlotte Mason and some fiction literature. Since the boys have asked for their school year to begin in September instead of May like it has in the past, I find myself with a couple extra months to pick up the pieces on this last year of school and to prepare in advance for the first and third grades.
Homeschool
Million will be having his first state-required testing with an examiner in a week. We did a trial test of a computer skills assessment, but since he’s had so little time interacting with technology, he was much slower answering than he would be otherwise. So we’ve elected to do an oral skills assessment since that’s how we’ve done all of his testing and exams at home.
We’ve listened to a ton of audiobooks in the last few weeks, first with our road trip and secondly during our moving process. Jubilee is beginning to beg for audiobooks, and Aslan has surprisingly begun listening fairly well to audiobooks as well. Aslan’s preschool has not been happening during the course of the move, and I hope to renew those efforts soon, although he needs to emotionally adjust to all of the changes first. (Ahem, prayers would be appreciated.)
Finding Rhythms (and….schedules)
The other area in which we’ve slipped out of joint is the area of intentional one-on-one time spent with our kids. So we started today with a girly date for Jubilee (her first time in Bath and Body Works to try on lotions….) She came out of the store with a few sample sizes and a full love bucket.
If you follow me on instagram, you’ll note that I’ve been posting a lot lately about struggling to find a rhythm and the balance between a schedule and a rhythm. It’s so difficult for me to buckle down and plan out days. I’d rather have a basic idea in mind of what needs to be accomplished in a day and just wing it.
BUT
the kids clearly need a more scheduled approach. So we’re going to be weaving a bit of a schedule into my life (and theirs) over the next week. God bless it and help me.
What is new with you, reader friend? I’d love to hear from you, as we head into the early dawnings of spring and summer.