I have a friend who lives in another state and every few months we share a text update on life - full of all the highlights, struggles, and a few photos of life lately. She is not on social media so it feels like an old way of corresponding and I really love it.
Our latest update was post stay at home order and it was really interesting to see how we both felt coming out of months of isolation and entering into a changed world. I thought I would share a bit of what I shared with her as it seemed to sum up how we have been doing the past few months.
Besides photos of our garden and projects I have been doing with my kids, this is how we are really doing.
+ + +
Overall we have been doing good. While we are limited to going out and who we see, for the most part our day to day has become rather normal. Having young children at home continues to be the same.
The summers here are so mild that it makes being outside so enjoyable! We are spending most of our time outside - playing, eating, picnics in the park. There are also quite a few lakes or rivers nearby that we go to and splash in the water with the kids.
I still cannot believe that this pandemic controls so much of our lives, but we truly are trying to make the most of it.
My husband is still working at home out of our bedroom. So we are enjoying a little extra time with him. There is no plan at this point for him to go back into work and so we have settled in to this being our regular routine. Besides the small office space and occasional interruption by one of our children, we have all enjoyed having him home allowing for more family time and no commute.
We are holding off on preschool for our son because of covid but also because we weren't ready to be tied to the financial investment and I was unsure I wanted to be on a schedule. He just turned four this summer so we still have time for that in the future if we want to go that route. But because of that there is not a lot of school stress on our end.
My husband and I have been working on some marital stuff. I think it is our first time of really hashing things out since our transition to parenting. It has been hard but good and we see God moving through it. But we are trying to communicate better and be more intentional about how we spend our time together. We are spending much less time watching TV and looking at our phones which surprisingly has been very freeing.
Things are still pretty strict here in Seattle due to covid. Things like restaurants and retail have opened. But not a lot else. Masks are mandatory in public indoor places and people are even wearing masks outside at parks and whatever else. It is truly strange and hard but we are trying to be respectful and understanding of people's comfort levels while still trying to get out and live a little.
For now all public schools are also starting the year with distant learning. And some churches have opened but ours has not and will not until 2021 so we continue to stream our old church from Virginia at home (and are quite envious to see them gathering safely again!).
So overall we are good. Thankful for our family and God's goodness daily. It is such a strange time and it is hard to imagine what the future holds. But we are making the most of each day, enjoying each other, the beautiful weather while it lasts, and soaking in these sweet children as they grow so quickly.
