The New Normal

First of all, doesn't the blog look soooo much better?  You can tell Steve's doing better when he gets annoyed with how ugly the blog is and sets out to fix it!

Some of the funny things about our new normal:

• "Your father's walker is not a toy!" 
• "Jenny, would you mind sweeping the backyard before I take my walk?  I hate it when I get little rocks stuck in my tennis balls!"  
• Steve has 4 "days-of-the-week" medicine holders:  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Bedtime.
• Turns out it's really hard to find handicap parking!  It feels really, really weird to stalk old people in parking lots.
• Our carpet has little walker trails marked into it, showing the Steve Paths.  

Some of the other just simply great things about our new normal (just a FEW):

• We get to have Dad home all the time!  
• I don't feel guilty running the air conditioning.  Partial paralytic here!  
• We are regularly hearing from/seeing some wonderful, wonderful people.  
• People who have suffered greatly have ministered acutely to us.
• Lots and lots of awesome pool time for the kids!

Now that we are a week plus into Steve being home, I've been thinking about what life needs to look like moving forward from here.  I don't want to spend our life waiting for something--I'm not sure exactly what I'd be waiting for.  Crisis forces you to go back to basics, and now that we're past the crisis, we're forced to keep things very simple.  

As I've looked at what I need as the primary manager of our lives right now, it's been helpful to really think through what will keep me balanced.  Be intentional about getting rest.  Read my Bible daily (reading the Psalm plan from Grace).  Stay on top of keeping the house clean.  Hire a cleaning service.  Stay ahead of appointments and childcare.  Keep in prayer for some people on my heart.  Blog.  Find a way to make a little time alone, sans kids.  Find moments to really check in with the kids, eye to eye.  

For the kids, I'm trying to bring some order back to our lives--kids to bed on time, limit screen time, work a little on iReady and piano, stay on top of attitude/obedience breaches, work a little on phonics, make special time with Daddy.  I am also trying to find a way to plan an outing or something special once a week.  I am trying to figure out how to get the kids out to Campus By the Sea for a day.  

For Steve, he also needs to get plenty of rest, and to make allowances for himself.  He's rigidly adhering to his stretches, exercises and walking.  (Every PT I know is drooling right now, by the way--he's a PT's dream patient.)  He's also taking a break from his regular Bible reading and reading the Psalms with church.  He's planning intentional time with the kids, especially Søren, who seems to really need time with him.  He's planning to hire some people to finish some of the home projects he won't be able to do this summer.  And he's staying on top of organizing his care.

It sort of looks like a lot when I write it out like that, but at the same time I'm shedding a lot of things that were acting as clutter--a bit of a palate cleanser.  And I'm putting off a lot of things until Steve is back at work and the kids are back at school.  

Yesterday Steve got up and said, "I don't feel like being partially paralyzed today."  I gave him a wry nod.  I think the closer he gets to normal, the bigger the gap seems between Old Normal and New Normal.  But between then and now, we have had some wonderful, lovely times with a variety of incredible people (we are ridiculously spoiled by amazing friends here), eaten together in the back as the marine layer crept over our house, read our chapter book out loud to the kids (a heretofore unwelcome idea to them), and laughed until we cried at the Lego movie.  Our days are known to God, each in their own time, and God has called us to live this day.  So we take a deep breath each day and plunge in with thankful hearts.