Monday, day 1 of our third week at home. Our kids should have been going back to school today I think, at least at first. And now  we are settling in to at least another month at home. It all still seems so surreal. But this morning as I dragged my butt out of bed(which I struggle with, because sometimes, it’s like why hurry, just 10 more minutes) and into the shower to give myself some time with the Lord before my kids are up, I thought, I need to change things up a bit this week. I need to do it for my kids and I need to do it for me. My kids have been fine, like total rock stars at this, in fact I worry some days that they will never want to leave the house again(and I pray against a spirit of laziness for them). So my thought here, is that I don’t want the routine to become mundane, they are just supposed to be staying up to par with what they have learned thus far in the year-but I don’t want it to become boring and I want so much more for them! So before everyone rose for the day I made a list of a few ideas with some incentives attached. 1-Bible memory verse(memorize your verse, get a prize, just like Sunday School), 2- Extra Credit-read a book and write a 1 page report, watch a science or history documentary and write a 1 page report, write a story, find a recipe and cook or bake it. If they do any of these things they get to pick a slip of paper from a jar with a prize on it. Prizes are things like: free chore pass, pack of gum, ice cream sundae, movie with popcorn… And last but not least, 3- Exercise Challenge(because if they exercise, I will join them and not be 1 billion pounds when we can leave our houses again!) So if they complete at least 5 of the exercises then they earn 10 extra minutes of screen time. Can you guess which idea got the best results? Of course it was the one where you can earn screen time. But I can’t complain because I did 5 laps around the block, jumping jacks, squats, and abs-now I just need to stay away from that darn Nutella!

I did something else for me also. I was so quick to jump on making the boys schedules to keep them on track, but I realized by the time homeschool finished on Friday that I needed a schedule too. While I am getting a crazy amount of stuff done and there are FINALLY enough hours in the day, I have neglected some stuff for myself. So last week I picked up my bible study and started to do that again. This weekend I picked up a book to read, for myself. And most importantly, for me, I put down my phone, because it is a huge time suck. I am having way more fun with my kids than I am scrolling social media. I am enjoying my time in the dirt(not yesterday or today). I am loving my time to craft. I am rocking it in the kitchen(and made my own Nutella tonight-dairy free). And so much more.

So on this day 1 of week 3, we will just continue to do one day at a time, one week at a time. We still don’t know when all of this will end. But I will sleep in peace tonight because God knows when it will end, and He is taking care of it all.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

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