"The Pause that Refreshes"

I started a post back on February first...seriously, I did.  It was called "February Goals and Habits" and it was about 2 sentences long before I got distracted and never got back to it.  Arrrgggghhh!  WHY do I have such a hard time prioritizing blogging, which is something I enjoy?  Anyway, here's me, being determined to write at least one post this month, and since it's the last day of the month, this will be it. ;)

Years ago I read through the Mitford series and one line stayed with me... the mayor, in talking about the town of Mitford, commented that "Mitford would like to be the pause that refreshes."  I love that.  And I've been thinking I don't have enough of my own "pauses" in life!  This week, though, has been a bit of a pause, and I'm enjoying it.  Our schedule since last summer has been pretty jam-packed.  As the kids get older we have more activities than we used to...although we still have very few activities compared to most of our public school friends!  But one thing we have prioritized over the past year and a half is swim lessons for the three older kids.  Because they are in two different levels, we have lessons on both Mondays and Tuesdays.  This means a trip into town (15 minutes each way) twice a week, plus usually another trip at some point to do a full grocery shopping for the week.  Then every couple weeks or so I've been trying to take Ari to preschool storytime at the library, and/or moms' group which meets at a local church.  I feel like it's good to give her some social time with kids her own age, since she's the "caboose" in our family.  :)  These events fall in the middle or end of the week, plus we have prayer meeting/kids' club at church on Thursdays.  So, all that to say that most weeks, we are out of the house for something almost every day.  Again, not a busy schedule compared to many families...but busy, for us!  But it's a season, especially with the swim lessons, and we have wanted to keep them going with that as long as possible, since once you take a break it's really hard to get back in...they have a long waiting list.   Anyway, this week is school vacation here in NH, and this week (and last) have also been a break between swim sessions, so I've been thoroughly enjoying the extra staying-home time and it feels good to catch my breath a bit in this "pause."  I even menu-planned on paper for the first time in months!!  While we are still doing most of our schoolwork, we are taking a spontaneous break from our together read-aloud time in the mornings, which has actually felt really good.  It's everyone's favorite part of school (mine, too!), but sometimes it's nice to change things up and this has been the right week for that.  Jim's been home, we've been sugaring, and the weather has been so beautiful that we've wanted the kids to be outside playing and helping as much as possible.  Taking time off from a little bit of school has allowed for that, and it's been nice.

And now...off to bed for another pause that refreshes.  I hope to put up another post before the end of the week, about my goals/plans for March...let's see if this one actually happens!