I was a little apprehensive going into this Spring Break because I knew that my Mom had gone to the small town in California we lived in for eight years during her Spring Break and that my sister and her family were visiting my brother and his wife down in California for theirs...and I felt very left out. Not because I wasn't invited to get down there, but because I just couldn't...not with the new (to us) van we just got with our tax money, and the fuel pump we just replaced in our other car.
So instead, when people would ask me what I was doing for Spring Break, I would just witheringly tell them that I was staying at home. They would then inquire whether or not my kids and my husband had the same Spring Break as me...which they did, and I would reply as such. Then they would say some comforting thing like, "Oh, well that'll be nice!" I would reply something polite back, but would continue pining for a vacation I knew wasn't coming.
Silly me.
The first day of Spring Break started with coffee with my pastor's wife. This may sound odd, but in the 6 1/2 years we've been members at that church, we've never gone out to coffee, even though we are both coffee people and both of our husbands are in pastoral positions at the church. And I'd have to say that it was a WONDERFUL way to start out the week. We did talk about stuff for our upcoming Women's Retreat that she organizes and I am leading worship for this year, but mostly it was just talking. I'd been feeling very disconnected from our church, especially from the women in our church because Chris and I are primarily with the Senior High Youth. I'm not available for any of the bible studies because I work full time, and the list goes on. So it was just nice.
That same night we had a senior high overnighter. I really like spending time with our group, but "the old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be." I was exhausted after it. It took me a full three days to recover.
On Monday, I started out with a little shopping, mostly cooking ware that I've wanted since cooking out of Julia Child's cookbook. After that I came home and completed three out of the four tasks Chris had asked me to accomplish on our week off, the two main ones being the cleaning out and reorganizing of our kids rooms. They were quite the tasks but their rooms are now easy to play in, easy to keep clean, and are blessedly hygienic.
Chris and I have been able to get many great conversations in as well, which always seems to be difficult during the regular work weeks. Our marriage has been really growing lately, and I've been very, very content.
My kids LOVE being at home. Kadee Joy especially loves it. Sometimes I wonder if the amount of concentrated time she is at school is more exhausting than it should be....but either way, we only have eight more weeks and then she'll have a bigger break.
Andrew has his transition into kindergarten meeting coming up in the next couple of weeks. I was given the opportunity to go in and observe the two classrooms he was being recommended for: Moderate Extended Resource, and Severe and Profound. I really liked the Moderate Extended Resource room, even though it was not at the school he's been at for the past three years. I was SHOCKED however when I entered the Severe and Profound classroom. Most of the kids in the room were non-verbal and physically almost completely incapacitated. Both of those things are just not Andrew. Andrew would far and away being the highest child in the classroom. I believe that the teacher in the severe and profound classroom is doing amazing things...I just don't think Andrew in any possible way belongs there. So I went right over to our wonderful preschool teacher and let her know that I definitely wanted him in the other classroom. So we're excited to see what next year holds for our dear boy.
The rest of the week has been filled with laundry, laundry, laundry...and also a few more meetings with people from my church. I especially enjoyed meeting with one of our youth yesterday at Starbucks. It was so nice to be able to hear from her heart uninterrupted. I actually got to go to Starbucks TWICE yesterday, so obviously it was a good day.
Well, Jeffrey has patiently(?) been waiting for a turn on the computer so that he can do his multiplication numbers and learn about decomposition, so I should probably wrap up. It has been a very refreshing Spring Break, too short of course, and although I do love my job, this break has made me much more excited for the summer that will come sooner that I expect. May you find rest and peace as well.
