The Screen-Free Quarantine – Day 22
Ever have a day where you’re just spent?
That’s my day today. The school has been officially notified of my intent to withdraw the children and begin homeschooling. And even though I reached out to all the teachers I’ve had contact with, one of Daniel’s teachers called me today.
The phone call was almost comical, because our connection was so poor, I had to keep moving to different spots, “Can you hear me now?” I finally found a spot outside, by the garden, but I was cooking hashbrowns for son #1 that almost burned.
And that’s how my day began.
I could hear the stress in my son’s teachers voice. My heart breaks for her and she doesn’t even have to tell me that she’s working nonstop to keep in touch with kids. Not simply to take attendance. But because she cares. I realized then that it’s not just about schoolwork. There are some homes where they take attendance because they’re worried about the kids.
Then I let that sink in for a bit. My kids are worried that I didn’t serve them dessert today. There are kids who get the school lunches and hope to receive no attention from an abusive parent. Or maybe Mom and Dad are working, and the kids are alone all day. It doesn’t matter, the moral of the story is, we are lucky.
Mike was on his call with his friends in India and Kenya on Sunday. Our friend in Kenya is at home, the government there has ordered a lockdown. And now there is a food shortage. He said that the children are crying because they are hungry. Not his children. But the many orphans that he and his wife work to support.
I shake my head and realize, as bad as I think I have it, there are so many who have it worse.
It was when Mike’s friend mentioned the hungry kids that I decided I needed to stop buying wine. I had started buying it again when this Coronavirus thing happened. I thought it was a nice evening treat for a harried Mom. But at $10 a bottle, or sometimes more if you have to pay to have it delivered, I could be putting that money to better use.
Today it’s the kids in Kenya. Tomorrow, it could be the kids around the corner. Either way, I don’t need wine if they’re going hungry.
So, I didn’t order wine. And today was a long day. Because after I made the decision to home school my children, I resigned from my job. I felt terrible doing it, but something had to give. There just weren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve been getting up at 5:30 every morning to work on work, schoolwork this blog, our budget, unload the dishwasher, flip a load of laundry, and then the kids wake up. And the day begins with me already behind. It ends with me behind as well, and I’m stumbling into bed with my husband already asleep. And that’s not how we like to live. We still like each other and we want to be able to spend time together before we pass out from exhaustion. Realizing that this may go on for more than another month (but definitely not forever, right?), I needed to make a change.
After delivering the news, I wanted a glass of wine to relax for the evening. But I didn’t order any from Shipt or Walmart Curbside Delivery, because I had the crazy idea to save my wine money for the hungry kids in Kenya, or Golden Gate Estates or wherever. And now I’m thinking that wasn’t such a great idea.
Fortunately for me, there is still ice cream.
For those of you who pray, please pray for Kasie. She has a Precalculus test that means the world to her tomorrow at 8am. She desperately needs a good grade (for those of you who prayed for her other tests, the scores were not good, but the professor has agreed to give her an oral exam, and she has a good chance of doing well) to pass the class. Please pray that God covers her, and that she hears her tutors voice and scores an excellent score. I know she can do it, and I know that God won’t let her down. She’s doing very well in her other courses, so this is the only one that she is sweating right now.
As always, I am sharing pictures. Some days are better than others for pictures. More often than not, I forget my phone at my desk when the fun moments happen. I will try to continue posting them. (To my children’s dismay)
