Hi, folks! Another decent day over here! Temperature was in the 60's, which I should have shoved us out the door to enjoy this morning, but focused too much on school and my laziness instead. The kids were a little antsy during school, but there was no big "I don't want to!" moments. We are reading this very interesting book of Jewish stories that are like stories Rudyard Kipling would have wrote or where the fox tricks the bird, and they stop and ask you what would you do. They are short and sweet and interesting! The kids actually like that read aloud. History was about the beginning of Exodus with how the Israelites came to be in slavery and also about the first two major dynasties in China, the Xia and Shang. Then it was off to Bible Bowl and.....drumroll please.....Zumba!
Zumba! Yes, I finally tried it! They meet at church on Wednesday evenings at a smiliar time as Bible Bowl, in the same wing of the church, so I have no excuse. Jared is already at church from his workday, and Benaiah is usually around before Bible Bowl hanging out or doing whatever. So, I just bring the other 3 kids down and bam, I have a babysitter and I can work out for an hour! It was VERY fast paced but there were several people who kind of did their own dance moves or just kind of swayed and moved in place a bit and didn't even try to keep up. It made me smile to think that they were at least trying! I knew I couldn't do it all, so sometimes I made up my own dance and sometimes I just marched in place. Basically, it's an aerobic workout that contains some basic dance moves, LOTS of squats, and the idea is to just keep moving and getting your heart rate up. There wer some quick twisting on your foot moves that I just couldn't figure out, and I could tell my ankles and knees weren't happy, so I didn't really do those. But it was fun! I didn't feel embarrassed at all. And this is why.
Lately, I've been following three Christian vlogging families. A vlog is a video blog and they all do it on YouTube. One family is from Toronto, who are friends with the other two families, who are in Albama. They are all younger families with kids under 3. And they are all very different. But they all inspire me in different ways. The Toronto family has inspired me to dance and to really play with the kids and change some of my interactions. One of the Alabama families that have 2 kids share all kinds of things and not always about what they did that day, so they inspire me to not become stale in what I talk about on here or how I talk about it. The third family, is just a couple who is really struggling right now with infertility and had a miscarriage this week. This family inspires me to be grateful for my kids, but in a vlog a few weeks ago, they were talking about visiting a new small group and finding out that it wasn't a good match for them. Their comments about it keeps repeating themselves in my head and has inspired me to just go and try new things. Last night I went to a mom's night out with other homeschoolers and I didn't know anyone. It wasn't awkward because some knew a little bit about the others and they were all good at asking "get to know you" questions. But before I went into the restaurant I thought, "I'm just meeting new people. I'm not committing to come again next month. Maybe I'll find someone to really connect with, or I won't and that would be ok." They were all very friendly, so I will probably go back again.
But I was also reminding myself of what some of my PEI friends have told me over the years, that I am very bold and that we attended a lot of events, and basically inserted ourselves into church and homeschool group stuff and explored the Island, although we are mostly introverts. I poured myself into getting to know the people and the culture of this strange new place called Prince Edward Island in Canada. I put myself out there, and got a huge return on my investment. So, why am I holding back here? So what if I already have a church home and some friends? It doesn't mean I can't continue to meet new people and explore new places. So, I tried Zumba! I know the lady that runs it, and I've known about it since she started it 6 or so years ago. Why not try? We'll see how sore I am tomorrow, because with fibromyalgia, it can feel great in the moment, or you can overexert yourself during the event, and then suffer with loads of pain for a few days, above and beyond the normal stiffness and soreness from working out. Plus, now I can say I tried! One of my big issues is I have the "fear of the unknown" syndrome, so I need to push myself to just try it and be ok if it doesn't work out.
And the kids need to see that as well. Keturah and Justin still don't have any real close friends. Justin said just this week that he misses his PEI friends because they are just closer to him than anyone here. So, I have to keep encouraging him to look around at youth group, sit by someone new, ask them their name and go on from there. They may or may not become your next best friend. But you have to try. Both choir and Bible Bowl were new experiences for Keturah and Justin and they are excelling in both of them. Benaiah is excelling at a brick and mortar school. Trying doesn't mean committing to something forever. Although, we always finish the semester or season. So, hopefully, I am setting the example, at least some of the time. Just keep trying.
Meanwhile, I will try to get a video of Abishai dancing tomorrow. He's an incredible dancer and singer. He even used his fist as a pretend microphone today! None of the others figured that out! You say "dance" and he goes for it! He also says, "Wa-wee" (sounds almost like worry) for water instead of what Benaiah called it at his age, which was, "wa-Dee." Very interesting how different they all can be.
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| Abishai wanted to hang out with us when I was going over the kids' math pages, so we pulled out the play dough. I think Justin had more fun than Abishai. He made this really long snake by pushing play dough through a Mrs. Potts (Beauty and the Beast) teapot spout. |
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| Abishai worked on stacking the play dough containers. Lol, always organizing he is! |
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| Never too old for creative fun! |
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| Ta da! |
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| Hair in a tight flexi before Zumba! |
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| Hair in a tight flexi after Zumba! Ta da! I made it through 1 hr of Zumba and my hair is still nearly perfect. Go Flexi Clips! No adjusting needed! (Shameless plug as I'm wearing my Lilla Rose shirt, too! Lol!) |
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