Seasons of Joy Weekly Journal

Thursday night L woke me at 3.  Inwardly I groaned.  It had taken me a while to switch off that night and I felt like I’d only just got to sleep.  But she had just had a nose bleed.  As she had been asleep when it happened, she hadn’t been able to stem the bleeding so she had woken up with her head lying in a pool of blood.  As she sat up and put the light on she saw it had spread everywhere, all over her new duvet, new pillow case, bottom sheet, pajamas.  Everywhere.  So she woke me up (as well as poor C).  Between us we did the best job we could of cleaning it all up, and she spent the rest of the night snuggled in my huge thick blanket, whilst the rest of her bedding was being washed.  She woke up the next morning white as a sheet and very tired.  She is currently being treated for nose-bleeds by our GP with a special cream as she had started getting them 3 or 4 times a day.  If they don’t settle she is going in for cauterisation.

C was also in bad form being very tearful (‘….but I don’t know why, Mummy.  Please tell me why?  Boo hoo hoo…’) and T has been tired all this week whilst trying to work four different jobs as well as school work.  The day began with tears.  A lot of them.  I was tired and frankly felt like joining in.  We were due to see friends, but honestly the more I thought about it, the more I realised that none of us would be great company.  So I cancelled.  And then began to take control of the day.  I was determined to turn this tricky day into something special.  We did not need to be ruled by our hormones, energy levels or nose bleeds.  Warm baths were run in for both girls with some of my special bubble bath.  I sent T to his room with a very special new series called Itch (it’s a chemistry based set of novels!).  The little ones were happily playing outside, none of them affected by lack of sleep, hormones or in deed nose bleeds.  I phoned Gary, told him what was going on and asked if he would stop off on his way home to pick up baguettes, brie and grapes, our version of comfort food for tea, making the suggestion we all hunker down and watch Paddington on his return in a few hours time.

And me?  Well I made myself a cup of tea and settled down to prepare for next week.  I wasn’t in the mood to be honest, but I quickly got into it.  In fact, as next week is all about us making a change of routine for a week before going back to school, I had a huge amount of fun and can’t wait to share what we will be doing!

Scripture Around the House

During this week, I have been reminded how important it is to be surrounded by positive words and intentions.  This week has been fraught with two teens full of hormones at exactly. the. same. time.

Sigh.  But there have been moments where the words we have had hanging on the wall have been read out to encourage someone struggling; times when L chose to include scripture in her works of art instead of the suggested poem because she felt those words would be far more powerful.  T already has scripture surrounding him in his bedroom, and it has inspired me to do more.  As parents of teens we need all the help we can get, and nothing is more powerful than God’s word.

You will see, when I post about the children’s learning goals next week, that I have made it a priority for each child to create at least one art scripture print for their rooms.  I will also be making some just for me, to help me with my very wobbly wibbly wobbly weightloss 🙂

A Change is as Good as a Rest 

Each seven week term is being broken up into two three week sessions of normal learning and one week, bang in the middle, of something different.  Do you ever have books, or curriculum hanging around the house, that you know you want to use, but as of yet you have never found a way to use it?  Maybe it’s just me 😉  I have some home making and Bible study books which I have attempted to use before but each time they have felt off somehow.  I knew it was me and not the books, because they are excellent.  Yesterday, I gathered them all together into my school planning basket, and something, I’m not sure what, happened to make all these different books and curricula come together to create an incredibly fun week of learning.  I am so excited (yes, I do realise it doesn’t take much), I even shared the plans with my son and daughters and they were equally excited.

I think this complete change of pace will be a bit like having a holiday.  I will be sharing more on Monday, but I am giving the children (and myself) five goals each day.  The rest of the time is free, but wifi is being turned off in the afternoons so no screen time until evenings after baths and showers.  I am looking forward to a week of relationship building and creating together 🙂 and maybe, if the weather is as glorious as it has been the last week, we might get outside and smell the roses……or at the very least all the lovely flowers which are appearing in our garden:

Aren’t they gorgeous?

What do you do to change a potentially difficult day around?  I’d love some ideas.  Thank you all so much for commenting on last week’s post.  One my enjoyments of blogging is the help we can all be to each other, sharing our ideas, hopes and dreams.  You girls are all so wise and such a blessing to me 🙂