Its been awhile since I've blogged again. There are 2 major reasons for that.
1. Jadon got Minecraft on my computer that he likes to play with his friends. He also got a flight simulator game that he plays on my computer.
2. The Chromebook that the school supplied us with, is not the greatest, so for Carters class meetings, he has to use my computer otherwise his teacher lags so badly that he is 10 seconds behind on everything. So, to conclude, Jadon has my computer in the evening's and on weekends. And Carter has it during the day.
So 2020 really stunk. As we all know.
For me, it wasn't because of the virus. Yes, Covid really threw a wrench in all our plans, but the virus was actually a blessing. I didn't realize how tired and stressed I was with life until the world shut down and suddenly I had so much time to be in my house, with my kids and husband. Before that, I was crabby and stressed because we were always busy. Between kids events, school, and church taking up all my mental energy.
Covid gave me a chance to get to know my kids again, and I'm so grateful in that aspect because Jadon is nearly 14 now, he won't be home for too many more years. And once he starts driving, I'm sure we will see him less and less. :( So I'm not in any big hurry to get back to normal.
The problem is people's responses to Covid. I heard some of the most idiotic and heartless comments about the virus. How can people think its all political??? How can people not think of protecting others even if they don't care about it effecting them?? Some comments I heard: "Why don't they just wait until the hospitals are overrun before they shut things down?" "Its just a cold, they are overreacting." "The only people that die from it are elderly people, and they don't care anyways, they've lived their lives."
On top of all the stupid comments like that, people griping about wearing masks, or social distancing, or having to cancel activities. People refusing to cooperate with contact tracing in order to warn others. This is just some of the stupidity I heard/saw.
Then of course there's politics which I'm not getting into. But everyone fighting about politics. Losing friends because they can't agree to disagree.
And the racism and BLM stuff. Which I refuse to discuss.
And the rioting.
But because of all this, and because people refuse to put themselves in someone else shoes to see the world the way they do, they have to fight about it. All I saw every day when I got on Facebook was people arguing about something. People posting garbage news they heard and fighting over it. People complaining about everything. People whining about having to do online school and complaining that the school did a terrible job of preparing.
What happened to kindness? Grace?? Treating others as better than yourself???
What I'm getting at here is that 2020 left me feeling very angry and bitter. I can hardly stand people other than my own family. Even people in our church I'm disgusted with because of their dumb comments and lack of grace and kindness. I've been snippy with people. I've been avoiding people. Because I just can't take it anymore.
I understand that we all have our own differences and opinions. That is totally ok! But when people lose friendships or family relationships over things, or don't think about how their words or actions affect others, it really has gotten to me.
My goal for 2021 is to somehow not let anger and bitterness take hold of me. I never engage in arguments with people over things, and I will continue with that. But somehow I have to figure out how to not let all these comments harden my heart for people. I think the only way to accomplish that is to get on a regular prayer and quiet time schedule. God needs to be front and center in my thoughts.
My next goal is get get myself healthy. Last year, I think we all let ourselves go a little. But, I'm 40 now, its time to start taking better care of myself. So my goal is to lose 20 lbs., but more importantly to get into a regular exercise routine.
In other news, the kids are doing great! Jadon's school has been in person since fall and its going surprisingly well. So far. He's doing good as usual with his grades. He's obsessed with planes and flying still, which is not a bad thing. He's a good kid. He's responsible and he does what he's asked without a fight, sometimes before we even have to ask him. Never in a million years thought that we'd be talking about what a good kid he is since he was a handful when he was younger, but I'm quite proud of him now. He is about an inch shorter than me, and that gap is closing FAST! I'm so thankful for that. As you may remember, he had premature adrenarche, and his bone age was was several years ahead of his age, so the endocrinologist expected his full grown height to be, if I remember correctly, around 5'8", potentially shorter. I was sad for this because he comes from a family of tall people. I didn't want him to be shorter than his own mom. I was praying he would be at least as tall as me. 5'9" (although I now regularly measure 5'8.5") The last 2 years, his bone age scan has shown no change, and so its now closer to where it is supposed to be for his age, which increases his potential adult height.
Avery is good, she is happy to be in school , even though she has been completely online since fall. She just loves school. She's in her 3rd year doing viola and she likes that too. Swim team has been put on hold now as the pool is shut down, so unfortunately she isn't getting any swimming in. She's 11, but she informs us nearly daily that she's "practically 13" now. ;) Slow down girl, enjoy being a kid. Someday you'll wish you were 11 again! Adulting isn't all its cracked up to be! Next weekend she starts doing a couple extracurricular classes for a couple months. She is a TAG student (Talented And Gifted) which basically means she's super smart and so the college offers classes to give these TAG students some extra things to help keep them learning at their level and give them something to do. She's taking a drawing class and a travel type class. Now that I think of it, that might start today......
Carter is... well... Carter. Active, loud, talks or makes noise completely. School for him has also been online since the fall, and he does not like it. In fact, he tells us daily that he hates school. It has been a big struggle for us all. He is a very SMART kid, I never realized he was smart, but I think in the spring/summer when I was trying to home school him a little, I think he was acting like he didn't know anything just to get out of doing it. He has 4 class meetings online a day, each a half hour long. He gets bored during these. Two of the meetings are broken down into small groups, and his group is him and about 5 other kids who are at the same level of learning as him, so his group moves faster than other groups, but he just doesn't like it. He has behavioral issues because of this and we have been working with the teacher to help him with these issues. But man, its exhausting on so many levels.
There is the potential for Carter and Avery's school to open up in February. I am PRAYING they can go back. Carter needs to be in person for school, he'll do much better. And this is Avery's last year of elementary and she really wants to be at the school. Please pray too!!!!
Derek is great. He got his 1st covid shot last week since he is high risk with his asthma. He's been working from home since march, and at this point it looks like he will be working from home forever.
Well that's it for now.
