I'm so thankful to see Spring returning to Kansas City. A snowstorm came in the day after the official start of Spring and that was so hard for my heart. I love feeling the earth warm up, the plants come alive, and being able to escape from the confines of our home without bundling everyone up against the elements.
In the midst of the coldness of winter while struggling with my usual winter blues, I attended a meeting with a group of people from our church about how we could be making a positive, concerted effort to improve the current state of our school system. Having a background in education (I used to be an inner city 8th grade school teacher), this sort of thing gets me charged up. The combination of that energy and my usual struggles with having a high needs child who doesn't allow me much of a break, led me to feel a strong desire to sign Evelyn up for school. I came home and talked to Scott about it. He talked me down, but also truly listened to what I was saying. What I was really desiring was two-fold. I have a strong desire to see the schools around us improve for the sake of our neighbors and friends. Also, I just feel burned out.
The answer to these things, for us, does not involve putting Evelyn in school. I'm not sure what the answer to the first part of my desire is, but I hope that as our children grow I will be able to more fully look into that. But the answer to the second part was really quite simple. I need a break.
So, Spring is bringing a change to our family. Our lovely next door neighbors are going to live abroad for a year and are taking their 5 children with them. Their oldest two daughters have been the girls' babysitters for a while now and both Evelyn and Annie ADORE them. They watch the kids every Tuesday night while we lead a small group of people from church. I needed to find someone new to fill that role, and while I was filling it, we decided that whomever we had come at that time would also come one other day during the week to give me some respite.
Ahhhhh.
My soul said that, I'm pretty sure.
I found someone who feels really good for our family. She starts this week and I'm pumped. While interviewing her she asked about my expectations, and it was all I could do to not just say, "If you could keep them alive while I disappear for a bit that would be lovely."
Some how I missed this post! Love it! How did the extra help work out so far? From her point of view it's always helpful to keep updating on expectations. Don't wait for her to bring things up (that was always the weird part of being a nanny). Just a little bit of info from the "other side" but I know you've been that person. :)
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