Where I've been all these months...

It has been almost 8 months since I posted anything here. And it is the first time since beginning this blog in 2018 that I did not get around to posting our school plans which is one of my favorite posts because I get to share all the excitement of the wonderful books and resources I hope to use.

After my last post in May, we went full speed into fun spring/summer mode. We all went to visit my sister in Columbus, OH, and had a great time spending time with her and her friends and visiting the Columbus Zoo. We came home and hosted our first tie-dye party in several years which was so much fun after missing so much friend time over the previous 2 years. We spent a day at our much-loved local amusement park. And we were getting ready to go camping at a beach park in Deleware when we finally got COVID for the first time and had to cancel our plans. 

We recovered from COVID in just enough time to take our annual family camping trip to a state park about 90 minutes away. While we were there, my mother-in-law had herself admitted to the hospital for abdominal pain. She sat us down the afternoon we got back to tell us that she had suspected pancreatic cancer. We would soon learn that the cancer was terminal and that without treatment, they estimated that she would have four months to live.

Obviously, our entire world changed overnight. My mother-in-law moved from VA to a few blocks away from us about 5 years ago. Her diagnosis rocked our world. The entire summer was a blur of doctor's visits, treatments, and hospital stays, and my husband was the primary care person for her throughout. By the end of September, my husband took her home from the hospital to begin home hospice care and she passed away at the end of October. 

I don't want to write about how terribly difficult it all was in so many different ways. But I can say that I had close to zero creative energy during that time, at least no extra for writing or blogging. What little energy I had went into supporting my husband as he supported his mother during her final days, homeschooling, and investing in the children's emotional and mental well-being. Anyhing leftover from that went into helping Peter plan his trip to Ireland which he took with his father in November. 

I did take some joy in cooking from my garden and fermenting veggies to eat all winter as well as in the knowledge that I was working and suffering right where I was needed most with the people I love.

The creative energy is only slowly coming back. But I've been reading lots of good books and I've been trying to pick up the pieces of a social life that has been badly neglected for too long. My husband and I took a lovely and restorative 2-night getaway without kids to a "nature inn" at a state park. I visited my sister alone for a long weekend. 

I had it on my heart to move more in the direction of unschooling before my mother-in-law's diagnosis so we have been leaning hard on our morning time practice and lots of good books and self-directed learning, which was the perfect thing for this season. 

It is nice to feel able to write here again. I have about 100 pages left to read to complete my reading goals for 2022 with a couple of days left. Fingers crossed that I pull out another completed list! I plan to be back soon to tell you all about it and share some new goals for 2023. I recently joined Reddit and my desire to read ALL THE BOOKS!!!!! has exploded from hearing everyone's recommendations on the book-related subreddits I follow.

Happy new year to all and hopefully more book-related posts coming in 2023 ;-) There are just so many I want to share with you if I can make time for it.