potent tates: April 2020

     I've never been as thankful for my houseload of kids as I have been this last month. I also have never been as thankful for our giant house- the Plywood Palace, we call it. If we have to stay home, it's so nice to stay home with this group of people we love, in a place with space enough for all of us.

     For us, social distancing in Northern Maine means that we don't go outside very often. It's been cold and snowy for most of this time, as although we can feel and see Spring coming, she comes slowly, and in fits and starts, and then seems to abandon us altogether for days.

     So- here is what we have done at home this frigid March and fickle April.

     We have played games, done crafts, done homework- the kids are all enrolled in public school right now, and this semi-return to homeschooling is uncomfortable. It's all of the worst parts of homeschooling- the worksheets, the confusing assignments, the differing schedules for different kids- and none of the best parts. I miss the freedom and fun of homeschooling, the curriculum picked because it fits us well, the parts that stretch our minds and understanding in ways that are good. I do think that I'm comfortable with pushing aside the things that don't work or cause unnecessary stress on everyone because we homeschooled. The kids school, principal, teachers and lunch ladies have all been very accommodating and wonderful in the midst of all of this, too.

     We have tried to go outside as much as we can, but the weather in unfriendly and I'm a wimp about snow and cold. So are most of my kids- California's mild winters and Florida's lack of real cold made us a little tender- but maybe we just need time?

I have no pictures of the ENORMOUS amounts of television that my kids and I have watched. We have been watching through the Star Trek shows, starting with The Next Generation, since we moved up here to Northern Maine, and by the time we started all of this, we had worked our way up to Voyager- maybe my favorite. So- we watch that, and sometimes Psych, sometimes Merlin. The kids watched through Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall again. Lucy and Josh and I watched Mean Girls and Clueless. Bowden has his own tv and PS4 and phone and has spent a lot of time connecting with his friends that way. He bought all of it with his own money, and while we try to limit time on wi-fi, its definitely what he has spent the majority of his time on.

     We have also read a ton of books- I had a stack out from the library and have been able to take my time reading through it all. Bowden got some Bill Bryson books for his birthday, and Lucy has been rereading some of her favorites. We have really enjoyed the amount of authors reading their book on livestreams- our favorites are Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga, and Glenn McCarty's The Misadventured Summer of Tumbleweed Thompson. Both authors employ strange and wonderful accents and treats in the midst of all of this.

    Our house- have I talked about our house? Our house is a giant- 4600 square feet, 2400 of that unfinished. It used to be a supermarket, so the downstairs is open. The top two stories were the living space for the former owners, but we use it all- downstairs is our pool table, ping-pong table, foos ball game, two arcade games, and our couch and tv. Its a luxury, and we are very thankful to have it. Although, like anything that people of means have, lots of it goes unused. We have a room that we have been fixing up for Bowden to move into, but for this season, I moved the bed out of the room and we brought all of our legos down so that they can stay out and all over in that room. None of this is even the house's best feature!

    The house stands on the bank of Salmon Brook in the middle of our town. It is located where the old mill used to be, and because of this, has the most wonderful view and access to the Brook in all of its changing beauty. We are in town, but its a small town, so we see stars at night, and listen to the brook become a freshet in the Spring. We moved into the house before we could visit it,not knowing what to expect, and Salmon Brook feels like a specific gift from God. An small bit of the good Grace that has been given to us in abundance.

     We are wishing that we could be closer to our friends, but we are thankful in this season, and grateful to be well and together.