Saturday, August 20, 2011

Bumps in the road (literally)

So funny how things can change in an instant! Laughing at my last post today. Thursday the week took a bit of a sour turn. We were rushed through school work in order to run to a meeting for our cover school. After the long drive to and from the meeting and the meeting itself, we arrived home four and a half hours later!!

That enormous task on Thursday put us behind on school for Friday. Understandably, the kids were in no mood to finish school when we got home, and I was rushing along fixing dinner so I could have my first "girls night out" since we moved here in March. I saw "The Help" with some friends. Unfortunately, the nearest movie theatre is an hour away! (Total of four and a half hours in the car that day!). The movie was incredible! But I am not sure how many more times I will agree to a day like that one!

I woke up Friday not wanting to get out of bed. I was so discouraged with how incredibly long it takes me to drive to get any where. I told Andy I was overwhelmed already and had a little pity party first thing in the morning. Not good. Then we crunched in school and drove an hour to my doctor's appointment. Lovely.

There is a constant struggle between doing without vs. being in the car. For example, play a team sport and commit to driving 45 minutes each way to practice and games or just not let the kids play. The doctor's appointment for me was to see a nutritionist. I am on a crazy, but effective diet, that requires weekly trips to Birmingham. Drive or not? The kids will continue to go to their hybrid school because it has been the first place that I have found like-minded parents/educators since we moved here. And I feel like the kids need those iron-sharpens-iron friendships. But the two days of school requires Andy to drive 2 hours, and I drive 4 hours each week.

I predicted when we moved here that the toughest challenge would be making connections in this new community. But the time we spend in the car in order to give the children valuable opportunities is BY FAR the most difficult adjustment. Trying to speak truth to myself...but where to begin?

1 comment:

Jackie said...

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus!"

When we lived in California, we could only afford a home in a not-so-great area. It took 45 minutes to an hour to get anywhere -- homeschool co-op, Sunday church, Wednesday morning Bible study, AWANA, YMCA, etc. We were in the car a lot. We learned to use that time to sing, do a little school work as possible. I also had my Bible memory work at the dashboard and we went over it together.

Sometimes, it's just nice to drive and relax. Make it a time to "smell the roses"!