Background
- We live in Texas now. Yes, TEXAS the place I said we would never move too.
- I have worked at 3 different school in 3 years. (Long story).
- Brent was severely injured at work a little over a year ago. He has 5 bulging discs and two pinched nerves. We went through workman's comp and they were awful. All they did was prescribe meds, found out the exact problem through MRI, then decided they didn't want to pay for his injuries and dropped him. He has received zero regular care, is in immense pain most of the day, and will need to change careers again because he cannot return to his old job. He may even need surgery, but as we are still fighting with long-term disability we have no idea how or when that will happen.
- Our adopted daughter Charlotte has special needs and we have been dealing with that as a family.
Back to right now.
We have been asked to shelter in place by our Governor. He has cancelled school through May 4th. As an educator this SUCKS. I miss my students. I worry about their well being. We have started Zoom meetings (a video conference calling program) for them to get help, but I miss being in my class everyday. Teachers are social creatures and being stuck has been hard professionally.
Personally though, besides wanting to strangle the thirteen year old boy on an hourly basis, the pace of this life has been really nice. My kids seem calmer. We are definitely talking more to each other and getting outside more together. The kids are spending more one on one time together; Dani is helping Bree workout and practice softball, Hannah does art with Charlie, Ben and Brent do whatever boys do, etc. I'm personally the mean mom, putting kids on a schedule, making them do school work for 2 hours a day, making them R-E-A-D, do chores; you know MEAN mom stuff.
I love these kids. I feel like this is such a blessing, before Danielle leaves for college for us to have together. We do Come Follow Me, a program through our church (The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints), where we study the scriptures together daily. We have always struggled at this, but now there is no reason not to. The spirit we have felt in our home has grown stronger as we discuss the teachings and testimony of our savior.
I also love the one on one time I get to spend with them. Each of my kids are dealing with different heart aches and burdens. Danielle is missing the end of her Senior year, Hannah's band director and mentor passed away from the virus, Ben needs more testosterone in the house as he continues to try to wrestle with someone everyday, Bree still has anxiety and some health issues, and Charlie has her day to day troubles. Even with being stuck at home I have seen many moments of kindness, strength, service, and laughter. I have been able to sit with each of them at different times and talk about what is going on, how to overcome hard things, and how to learn and be grateful for the time we had with loved ones and friends. We will get to see most of them again soon, and the ones that have left us we are grateful just to be apart of our lives.
