A Bundle of Myrrh

Living Seasonally

The past couple months have brought several “seasons.” Spring, the final days of waiting for a new baby and now this pandemic season we’ll never forget. It’s made living seasonally very odd. But it’s also exciting to welcome all the changes at once, the familiar and the very unfamiliar.

Giving Thanks

In these seasons I have been so thankful for the many blessings we have even with life such a mess:

We are healthy with extended family that is healthy. We have all our basic needs met and then some, we are not in want. We have enjoyed the outdoors and the indoors as best we can. With our church property our babies can roam in our yard and out of it. We can also use the hiking trail around the lake near our home. In these times this has all been a great and much needed mood boost for everyone. Our new baby is growing and healthy. I have fared pretty well and stayed very healthy during this pregnancy. And Spring has begun to bring it’s unique beauty to our area.

Thinking Deeply

Very wise words from Cardinal Sarah regarding the pandemic:

This virus acted as a warning.  In a matter of weeks, the great illusion of a material world that thought itself all-powerful seems to have collapsed.  A few days ago, politicians were talking about growth, pensions, reducing unemployment.  They were sure of themselves.  And now a virus, a microscopic virus, has brought this world to its knees, a world that looks at itself, that pleases itself, drunk with self-satisfaction because it thought it was invulnerable.  The current crisis is a parable.  It has revealed how all we do and are invited to believe was inconsistent, fragile and empty.  We were told: you can consume without limits! But the economy has collapsed and the stock markets are crashing.  Bankruptcies are everywhere. 

The experience of confinement has allowed many to rediscover that we are really and concretely dependent on each other.  When everything collapses, only the bonds of marriage, family and friendship remain.  We have rediscovered that as members of a nation, we are bound by bonds that are unbreakable but real.  Above all, we have rediscovered that we are dependent on God.”

Turning Pages

This might have been a great time to get tons of reading done but with the kids needing some attention with their school work and being dreamy brained with late pregnancy I haven’t done as much as I’d have liked. I’ve been enjoying these books:

Defending Boyhood
Love Him For Us by Barb Marquart Johnston
Toilet Training Without Tantrums (my favorite subject)
Create A Better Brain Through Neuroplasticity

Establishing Rhythm

It may seem like Summer break is upon us but with the daily schoolwork situation we know better. I like to keep some routine to our days even when the babies are out of school, the need for more structure until the “school year” is over is definitely felt. Our schedule until Summer is:

8:00- Breakfast
8:30 Bible and Morning Time
8:45 All get dressed, Tidy Kitchen
9:00-11:00 School Work M-Th
10:15 Snack
11:00-11:30 Lunch prep
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Tidy Kitchen Quick Zone Pickup (Mondays Deep Zone)
*Music Practice 15mins each
Free Time
1:00 – 1:30 Big Kids optional Lesson time with Mom
1:30-2:00 Blanket Time Big Kids Read Alone
2:00 – ShowTime – 3:30 
3:30 Free Time *Music Practice
5:30/6 Supper
6:30 Tidy Kitchen/Bible Time

Cultivating Simplicity

I have to say it has been jolting to suddenly have to coordinate everyone’s school work and organize it into bits I can manage to oversee each day. Nothing has been simple about it. But our teachers have all been very good at communicating and providing resources and have made it clear that we don’t have to get everything done. This does take pressure off. I can chose a few important skills to maintain in the kids, use some of the work the teachers give and adjust with subjects and materials that I prefer.

We also keep the school work down to about one hour 4 days a week for the younger kids. Lily and Clara might do close to 2 hours a day and have been so good at staying on top of their assignments on their own.

Creating Beauty

Bringing in the Spring flowers makes me so happy. There is a lovely tree on the street side of our house. In the Spring it blooms beautiful pink blossoms. Every year I think how I’d love to clip some branches for inside the house and every year I forget and miss the blooming. This year I finally remembered in time. Mercy and I gathered some clippings and found vases around the house for them. I also always love bringing in the perennials. I did not plant them here at the parsonage but am so glad our predecessor did; the tulips, hyacinth, daffodils and of course those stunning peonies.

Nurturing Senses

Lily has become quite the baker. Every week she has made at least one or two pans of something. She’s also been drawing using the fun Art for Kids Hub tutorials and started “taking orders” from all the kids for something she can draw for them. Clara is happy with a paint brush in her hand. The simplicity and beauty of her watercolors take my breath away.

Nurturing Hands

While the girls paint and cook and stitch the boys are busy these days with Dad in the garage. Gerhardt has been quite the bike mechanic, adding tires and kick stands to bikes all on his own. He also got it into his mind to get the sandbox built. I had been wanting one in the back yard. Phil threw down some sand last week for the kids to play in but Gerhardt was determined to have the job finished. He and Phil went to get some wood and he helped get the frame built. They have all been loving it.

Tending The Earth

Esther and Mercy have taken upon themselves to monitor all the plants and bushes around the yard. It makes me think we should do some kind of garden but then I remember the reality of having a garden and think they might just need to play at being gardeners for a while longer. I would like to plant some herbs in containers once the days are warmer and have Clara maintain those for me. Hopefully we can do that soon. It’s also fun to spruce up the front porch come Spring with some fresh flowers and greenery. Maybe soon we’ll be able to make a trip to the store for some plants.

Capturing Time

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 26th, 2020 at 3:13 pm and is filed under COVID 2020, Daybook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.