“Spare Time”

There are affiliate links in this post. I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

So I was looking for something to fill my spare time, you know the time I had when all the kids were in school. Wait, where did that time go? It’s sort of ironic that same month I finally find something to fill my days, bring me some joy in my spare time & allow me to fuel my creative outlet, the world has a pandemic and shuts down. In the words of my 4 year old copying me, seriously?!?

Well for our family this nation’s shutdown was totally welcome. I hesitate to say this, because I see the seriousness of the situation and how it affects people in the community around me, and our family members & friends in the medical field along with all the essential necessity providers. We are taking the necessary precautions, and we are in prayer daily for all of those this is taking a toll on, but for us we took this quarantine as a much needed dose of downtime.

We were at running at full speed. We had our first school sport, like first in 14 years, we held out a good long time! I was encouraging and supportive, but the driving and time commitment – yikes! Don’t get me wrong, I love that my daughter found her sport. I was as supportive as I could have been with 4 other kids at home. But the strain on our family’s time was brutal. When they started canceling practice I’ll admit I was relieved.

For us the quarantine looks like at-home school and work, my husband planting himself in the middle of our noise (we are really loud) reminding the kids if they don’t sing in school they shouldn’t be singing (at the top of their lungs!) now, reduced trips out, staying home when possible, pleading with my mother-in-law to stay home, entertaining the preschooler with all the tricks in the book, and defending the food in the house like it was my job. How can they go through so much food? But it also looks like family time – we play games again, we work together to complete tasks, we eat dinner together, and we are not tag teaming shuttling kids and constantly going in opposite directions. We are working our way through a new book in our gifted evening family time without the competition of homework. Your family might enjoy it as well, it’s called Castaway Kid and gives the life story of Rob Mitchell a “lifer” in an American orphanage and his emotional story of overcoming the odds. There is even a file online with talking topics to unpack some of his hard life moments. We have more discussion time after we read the Bible together and a richer prayer life with so much more to pray for around us. It only took a pandemic, but I see that my kids are friends again. They created a softball-like game and played in the field together. I almost fainted!

We had our first quarantine birthday, and another one coming next week! It was certainly a different way to celebrate without friends, and gifts were slim as she wanted clothes and she’s not that big of an online shopper. We thought we would be at the DMV obtaining her driver’s permit, but that doesn’t seem so “essential” at this time. A facetime call from a friend made her day a little more special, we made it work. I also made a fantastic discovery – gluten free folks this is the best “box” cake mix. We made a layered cake with the Magnolia Mixes orange & lemon pound cakes with an orange cream cheese frosting, it was amazing! You really could not tell it was gluten free, and that’s saying something. We’ve been through many doozies, so I like to recommend the good stuff when I stumble upon it. My daughter also convinced her brothers to get a “corona cut” and recreate a childhood photo, that was entertaining! We will not soon forget the memories made.

My church has made every possible opportunity to engage with us, providing so many ways to stay in touch and stay in the Word. Even the ladies bible study and youth group still “meet” weekly. If you need some encouragement check them out! Horizon Church

I hope you are able to find joy in this stay home timeout, and if you are in one of the essential jobs we thank you for working so that we can stay at home comfortably.