Friendship

 My hubby and I are homebodies and content to be that way.  We are both introverts.  Friends are fairly non-existent because we have each other and our family.  We are both wholly devoted to our family, and don't really have the time or energy anyway for socializing.

I don't really have to say it, but we haven't minded the social distancing part of the Covid Pandemic.

I frequently have heard on Christian radio and in some bible studies how important friendships are.  I've never been concerned with it and told God so.  I told Him that if friendships were truly important, He would have to bring them to me because I was content with where I was and not sure if it was something necessary for me.

He put a friend in my life, just before my youngest was born.  We are both homeschooling moms.  Our kids hit it off at a Homeschool Park Day and begged for more time together.  I offered my phone number first, and we set up a play date at another park without all the other homeschooling families.  Safe, simple, and fun for the kiddos.  I wasn't looking for a friend.  In fact, because I had a preschooler, I spent a lot of the time with him rather than chatting with her.  I was pregnant and she had just had a baby earlier that year.  Both of us had a large gap between the ages of our older children and younger children.

Our kids begged for more and more time together.  I offered some play dates where the kids could meet up without me because it was difficult for me to get around being hugely pregnant, but she turned them down saying she'd rather get together when we would have time to chat.

The first time we had a play date at her home, I was petrified of having to spend a couple hours alone with her in her home, not knowing what we would talk about.  We still barely knew each other and if you can imagine it, she is less talkative than I am.  We still have awkward moments, but neither of us has given up and have had many play dates at both of our homes and nearby parks.

With Covid, we are nearing 6 months of no play dates.  The kids have done some zoom-type conversations together and she and I text each other now and again.  Still awkward, but for some reason God has put her and her family into our lives.

School Chaos

This school year didn't get started off well, but we are finding our footing.  Last year we started slowly, doing one subject the first week and adding another subject each subsequent week until we had our full load up and running.  It worked great.  

This year, the pressure of wanting to do high school well got to me.  We tried doing it all and it was too much too fast.  Just plain overwhelming.

Too many new curriculums to learn and self-imposed perfectionism caused some tears and frustration for the kiddos.  So we took a step back and are taking things more slowly, but not quite as slowly as last year.

It's only been 3 days of school, but if today reflects future school days, I think this will be a good year. 

Our first theme for our "Together Time" is Worship.  We've been doing morning clean up together and as we work, we use YouTube playlists to worship.  It's been a wonderful start to our mornings!  It's a priority this year to try and place God at the center of our lives, to bring our mundane routines into His presence and live our lives with Him.