Can you believe it?

 We're coming up on one year in our new house. And what a year that has been. I've been looking back over my last posts here and thinking, wow, we had no idea what was in store for us.

When we moved in, the college kids were away. They came home for a month at Christmas, and that was so much fun. And then they went back to school and much tears were shed in our abode. And then a crisis hit and the world went crazy. 

Having all 5 kids back at home was wonderful, for me. But I know they all struggled. They struggled because they couldn't do what they normally would do at that season. They struggled with the emotions that we as adults were struggling with. They fought loneliness, boredom, anxiety, fear, their siblings, working, homework, sharing a bathroom. 

But in the end, would I do it differently? No. We were so blessed to have 7 of us in our home, so that each day wasn't quite the same as the previous. We had plenty of room to roam. We could walk out the door with a different family member, or dog, each day and head to the farm, and explore acres. We could pick up new hobbies, or rediscover old ones. One daughter made a blanket. One did a lot of baking. We played games, we put together a lot of puzzles with each person contributing. We found some new fun TV shows, and re-watched a lot of old favorites. We made new traditions. We discovered the barn cats and learned about life and death on a farm. 

We're nearing the end of this year, and we're all hoping the crazy is going away. Deep down inside though I have a feeling it's going to be a long ride.