The holidays are over and we have been back at school for a week now. Time getting back into a routine has taken over and I am only now finding time to sit and type whilst Andrew is at a meeting. The holidays were amazing and we did so much walking! We walked in the Lakes (Catbells) and also in Middle In Teesdale (High and Low force). There are hundreds of photos on Andrew’s phone and when I put them on I will tell the stories and explain a little about how we got completely lost trying to do a round signposted walk! Actually it was a good learning opportunity and I am sure I will use the story in a church talk someday….probably about keeping to the path and reading maps, but also having the confidence to go back, start again and ask for help. I like walking and I particularly enjoy finding ways to relate our travels to our lives.
During the holidays there was a tough mothering moment, which is recorded on a memo on my phone as I needed to get my feelings out of my head so that they couldn’t fester. At the time it was real, but as always, all is calm again and it feels like those difficult thoughts couldn’t really have been in my head. I think it is important that the kids learn that mothering is not easy, for the girls so they can feel normal when they have tough times and for the boys so they can understand their wives are normal! it was nothing major…really a down time that coincided with the kids being off school. I needed more energy to keep them busy, more patience to understand they are kids and more love to get us through being stuck in the house whilst Rebekah was ill, or ‘faking it’ as Seth keeps telling everyone. However my levels were too low just for a little bit and so it felt that they were actually in a never ending war rather than a sibling argument! As always, just as quickly as it comes it also disappears, the levels rise again and we become a family again who can see the light in our lives rather than living in the shadows….or maybe that was just me and the kids are exactly the same as before! Just to clarify…the tough mothering moment was hearing them arguing and feeling helpless in changing the way they see each other…seems so small now, but was real at the time!
And so it seems our family are good at outdoors, good at long journeys and good at nature! We are not good at being in the house too long!
Rebekah has set herself the challenge of reading the Book of Mormon before her next birthday, when she will be 12. She is doing really well at the minute and has now finished 1 Nephi.
So running….the challenge of running….the never ending challenge of running ha ha. Grandma, Jessica and I went out with Rebekah who cried genuine tears that she didn’t want to do it! However when she had she felt much better and I think she was scared because it was something she used to be able to do and now struggles. I know that feeling. Next week will be better…I keep telling myself this.
Right it is 9 o clock…time to wind down so I can enjoy that lovely feeling of being curled up in bed later.
