COVID-19, Stay Home KC, Week 5

This is almost a week late. Time does fly even if it’s only within a few walls or a neighborhood block or two. Of course virtual meetings and gatherings take us through the screen and into different states or countries. How special to celebrate Andi’s 12th birthday and her second cousin’s 35th on a zoom on Sunday since they share the April 29th birthdate! Did we mention this special second cousin lives in England?!

Week 5 made me think… (no quotes from experts or cheeky comments…no time for research or extra reading- just real life)

1. My kids can throw a wicked fit when they don’t want to do something. And if they are being more teenager-ery, they just say, “I refuse” or silently walk-away. Ugh.
2. My kids can get over said fits and rise to extremely challenging challenges.

I asked them to give up candy, desserts, and sweets for the 10 days before Andi’s birthday. They did so without so much as a question about whether cinnamon graham crackers counted. (They don’t.)

I asked them to memorize Philippians 2:5-11 one verse at a time and they are doing it well and helping each other learn. Oaks asked me one night what it means to “cling” to something. As in, “Jesus, though he was God, did not demand or “cling” to his rights as God.” I cling-ed to Oaks for a minute and kissed him goodnight.

I asked my kids to run sprints, copy sentences in neat handwriting, write in a journal weekly, and send notes to people on each Monday morning.

In all the ways we’ve had to mix our emotions of frustration, disappointment, sadness, joy, gratitude, overwhelm, and fatigue together, we’ve said a lot of “Yes”s to each other and grown in our capacity for challenge.

We have what we need.

I’m proud of these small people.