Annual Post Mortem

I actually haven't done much with US History besides collect great books from the library. The fact is, my brain stuck in relax mode. I think I kinda maxed out last year with too many evening commitments.

Everything was good and important: teaching CCD, Dominicans, DJM, another DJM group, Scouts/Girls' Nights, and working every co-op Wednesday. The thing is, I'm an introvert and it was all energy being expended. Add to that some family health crises and I overloaded the system a bit. As in, gee, we have TWO free evenings this month, isn't that great?

I did some great stuff with the kids last year, but I didn't have the energy and creativity I wanted to have. And I had very little social life!

We also went more places and did more stuff than we ever have (field trips and stuff) and I think that was great. There have been a lot of years where I wasn't able to do that because of pregnancy or tiny ones, so I think it was the right year for that.

Still...

I've cut back a bit: cut out teaching CCD, cut back on co-op (only 20 weeks this year), cut back on DJM, cut back on teaching Dominican Novitiate, and my term as moderator of my Dominican chapter ends this year. And no one in my entire family will have any health crises. (Hope that works!) And I'm going to vegetate this summer and not feel guilty.

So far this summer, we haven't done too much relaxing. The first two weeks were the obligatory doctor and dentist appointments plus the camping extravaganza and the retreat and house guest.

I noticed that when that was over, I did not spring into action and clean the back basement. Or teach the kids Spanish. Or whip myself into shape with a fabulous exercise routine. In fact, I wasn't really in the mood to do anything I had planned to get done this summer.

I took it to prayer and felt God was telling me to rest and recover. It was like He took me back through the year. I suddenly remembered that last Fall, I thought my Dad wouldn't be here for Christmas. I saw all the meetings and teachings and all the great stuff that came out of that. I saw all the medical stuff with my kids, and all the trips we took and things we did. All the birthdays and anniversaries. All the swim lessons (we got a membership to an indoor pool and did 3 sets of swim lessons back to back September through March) and the oldest three finally swimming independently.

You know, it's a lot. It's enough. I think the back basement will still be there in September when I am ready for action again.

This summer I'm going to focus on resting in the Lord and enjoying my family.