...of a place, far-far away. There are no signs of modern communication....no babies crying.....no dirty diapers.....no Elmo......no homework.....no medicines or pumps.....no laundry......no piles of dirty dishes. The only sound I hear is the rush of the waves beating against the shore. (and maybe even the squawk of an occasional sea gull). To sit in complete peace admiring God's amazing handiwork....that's what I'm dreaming about these days.
The bad part of going on vacation.....is you are soon thrust back into the whole reason you needed one to begin with! Todd and I have joked (although we are quite serious) that we need a vacation now to recoup from our vacation. Our trip to Florida was wonderful....but extremely busy. Getting up at 6:30-7am......and then finally hitting the sack at midnight (or later) for 7 days! And go, go, go.....trying to hit 6 different parks in 5 days.....was exhausting! I took this picture while we had an afternoon with Stan and Megan at the Polynesian Resort. These fleeting 2 hrs. were the ONLY time we had of rest and relaxation, and the tranquility of the picture is something I am desperately trying to hold onto!
This week has been.....well,.....how can I say it nicely......VERY, VERY "stressful!" The kids have been coming home from school, doing their normal daily homework, and then sitting another 2,3,4....hours doing make-up work. Caed finished his a few nights ago.....but poor Reagan has worked now for the past 5 nights for almost 5 hrs at a time!!!! (and no...she's not in high school...but 3rd grade) She is beat. I am beat! I know most people would argue and say, "Well, that's what you get for going on a week long trip during school." I agree. However....this trip was planned many, many moons ago when we were still homeschooling. This time of year seemed perfect to us. Then, when everything changed, it was too late to alter the dates of the trip too. I even asked the kids' teachers for all their makeup work before we left for the trip.....just by any chance we had a few hours in the evenings. Well, we soon realized that homework was not going to fit into the equation. We were ok with that, and knew this week would be a very long, hard one trying to get all caught up. It HAS!!!! Reagan is still not finished.....but hopefully we can work hard again this weekend and be done by Monday. If you forgot....she missed the 2 days before we left for Florida because of Impetigo all over her face. So, that makes 7 consecutive days total! ugghhhh! I asked for all her work those 2 days so she could at least be done with those before we left, but only received a fraction of it. More and more "make-up work" seems to be coming home everyday. She is getting very overwhelmed (as am I), but hopefully things can soon settle down and return to "normal." Ah! What is that? I'm not sure I like "normal" anymore. ha! (even that seems to be stressful)
However...I am fully reminded that if homework woes are the worst of our problems right now....we are indeed BLESSED!!!!
