There are so many things about that statement that amaze me. First of all, in order for my heart to be overflowing, I realized that it must be healed and I realized this morning that it is healed. My heart that once was shattered into so many pieces that I honestly believed it would never be whole again is healed. I'm sure it looks different and I am sure there is some scar tissue, but I am healed and not only am I able to hold love and joy, but I am overflowing with both. I am whole and complete and full to the point of overflow.
And secondly, this quarantine, our "coronacation" has been a dream come true for me! Why? So many reasons!!!!
I have been sheltered in place for nearly a month with my family. I have all five kids with me and that, in itself, is a dream come true, but it gets better than that!
- Hays has had his girlfriend, Blakely, here and it has been so great getting to know her and for them to be spending quality time together. He thinks she's "the one" and it has been so much fun to see our family getting to fall in love with her, too.
- Maggie also has her boyfriend here and I feel so blessed to be getting the chance to know him because, without the quarantine, I would never get to know her college guy and he's great!
- Another amazing blessing about quarantine is that we are with my parents. We came here to be with them for Spring Break and we've been "sheltered in place" with them ever since. I cannot even being to list all of the reasons why this makes my cup overflow. When would I ever get the chance to spend a month with my parents as an adult? It hasn't happened since I was in high school. And when would my five kids get the opportunity to live with their grandparents for a month? Never without this pandemic. I cannot even describe what a blessing this part of the quarantine has been.
- I woke up this morning with Gabby snuggled up next to me. Gabby isn't a physical touch person and she doesn't give out hugs or snuggles freely, but she and I are sharing a bed and every morning she is 100% on my side of the bed with arms and legs flopped over me, but this morning it was a full on snuggle and I soaked it up.
This quarantine has truly been a vacation ("coronacation") for me and I have loved the pace and the new set of life expectations!
- When, as a mother of five, have I ever gotten to just sit at home without a million places to be? My typical day involves putting a minimum of 70 miles on my car just taking the kids to school and to all of their activities. Being an Uber driver for my crew is exhausting and I am loving just staying put.
- Dinner time has been such a treat! Every night a different kid has been cooking a meal (and cleaning up for the most part) and we have sat down as a family (of 10) and we've eaten and laughed and told stories and I have loved family dinners at the pace of a true dinner.
- Every night we have stayed around the table to draw or to play games or to just talk and it has been such a treat not having homework or activities or the hustle of somewhere to be the next morning.
- School has been fairly easy and laid back and the kids have all been so great about their own schedule and getting their work done and their Zoom meetings taken care of during the first part of the day.
- I have found myself walking the dogs one to two times a day down by the lake and just soaking up me-time every single day. Not only is "me-time" a foreign concept for a single mom of five, but it also has involved being outside, in nature, with my dogs and exercise. It seems surreal almost!
- I have gotten to have so much fun with each kid individually as well as with them as a whole and being "sheltered in place" at Kanakuk is the best! I've gotten to go fishing with Dax and barn swinging with Gabby and we have a basketball gym and a trampoline in the house and pickle ball courts and everything. It's like we're on our own private cruise ship or something.
- Time has seemed to stop like it does on vacation in a way. There are just a few online meetings and just a few deadlines and no appointments or places to be. It feels like we are suspended by the rhythm of our body clocks and the schedule of the sun and I love that!
I'm writing all of these things so that I can remember what a personal blessing this time has been for me. I don't want to ever forget this feeling of overflowing love that I am getting right now. I don't want to forget this special time with my parents. I don't want to forget being "sheltered in place" with my kids. This is likely the last time I will ever be living with all five of them under the same roof for this amount of time (and then we have the added bonus of having more than just my five). I am so blessed to get to have Hays and Maggie back "in the nest" for a bit. I keep saying it, but I just keep being overwhelmed by it and I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet!
And I am writing this down to remind myself that my cup is overflowing again--for the first time in more than a decade, I am overflowing out of an abundance of joy and love that isn't escaping from brokenness and cracks, but is overflowing out of the top of a heart that is whole.
I am so thankful. I am so blessed. I am so happy. I am so content. I could not imagine a better month than the month of forced quarantine I have had the privilege to have with my family. The pace. The people. The laughter. The love.
The feeling of timelessness has been such an unexpected gift.
My heart is overflowing for more reasons than I could count or write about. . . .
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Prayers and hugs.