In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
It feels like there is a lot of darkness in the world right now. Disease, hate, racism, violence, depression, death. All of these dominate our headlines and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Sometimes I want to turn it all off and ignore it. Sometimes I do though I know that to be a gift of my own privilege – that none of these issues are knocking at my door. I’ve been praying, I’ve been reading. I’ve been engaging in conversation where I can, listening where I need to. Both our local library and our bookstore are backlogged with requests for books on anti-racism which is encouraging. Our local anti-racism march the other week attracted over 1,000 people. (Our town’s population is around 8000.) The verse above from the gospel of John brings me a lot of hope. There is darkness but the light will not be overcome.
It’s officially summer now even though the weather hasn’t caught up and this past week has been largely overcast with rainy days. We did have a couple of good enough days that we pulled out our wading pool, filled it with the hose, and let the girls run wild. They loved it.
We’ve set up weekly dinners with our neighbours with whom we’ve expanded our bubble, allowing some much needed social time for both us adults and our kids. It looks likely that our province will enter into the next phase of re-opening soon which means we will hopefully have a chance to visit with some family. (Check out this article in the New York Times on Bonnie Henry, our provincial health officer, who has no doubt saved lives.)
Peter went back to work outside of the home at the beginning of June and that was good but a little nerve-wracking and strange too. Next week he’ll be off for the next two months which we’re all very excited about. The only thing we know for certain about the summer is that we’re going to do a lot of camping.
After watching a few videos about zero gravity and what it’s like to live in space, we introduced what we refer to as “space sandwiches” into our lunchtimes, inspired by this video from Chris Hadfield. Might be my best parenting hack yet to convince my kids that a folded up wrap with peanut butter inside is an exciting, futuristic food.
Speaking of food, I’ve been having fun trying out more homemade items. Sourdough bread is now a regular item in our household. I make it 2-3 times a week and we no longer buy bread. We’ve also tried sourdough pizza crust, sourdough crackers, and I’m currently attempting sourdough bagels. (I’ve made bagels before just not with sourdough.) My next attempt is going to be sourdough tortillas. I did use some of our stash of regular yeast to make cinnamon buns for Fathers Day. Worth it. I also tried my hand at homemade yogurt which was good and not particularly difficult.
On sunny days, the girls and I have walked to town. There isn’t much in the village that I can go to with the kids right now but we’ve picked up orders at the library, walked along the waterfront, and got ice cream.
Outside the library 
We continue to find light where we can. We continue to push back against darkness. We do with gardens and books and ice cream and patience and grace for those around us and grace for ourselves.
Karissa Reads Books 
So long as there’s ice cream things never seem so bad…
It’s a great motivator for the walk home too!
Your backyard is delightful, and your kids always make the funniest faces in their pictures! A fun thing you could try: have a color theme day, such as everyone wears all the blue clothes they have and read books with blue covers and eat blue food, if you have it. A simple challenge that may add some delight to the day.
That’s such a fun idea! Now I’m thinking of a whole rainbow week! I bet the girls would love that.
We always spend lots of time in our yard at this time of year but even more this year. We’ve put more work into it this spring too which has been rewarding and Peter and I have been spending evenings out there after the girls go to bed. We’re really lucky to have the space we do.
Yep! And it’s easy to do a rainbow week because the kids may be mismatched in style, but all one color, and it’s just fun. That is, if you can get Pearl out of her Snow White dress, lol.
Haha, my kids are not too worried about mismatched style!
Ah, I’m glad you’re able to start socializing and going into town again! Where I live a lot of things have been opening back up, but since the US didn’t do a good job of “flattening the curve” it doesn’t feel safe to venture very far from the house yet even though technically it’s allowed. It’s very encouraging to see a bit of normalcy and optimism elsewhere in the world, and I’m sure Rose and Pearl get excited about having a wider range of adventures! Rose’s silly faces are fantastic, by the way. 🙂 I hope you’ll all have some fun camping this summer!
Our province has done really well and our particular region has been COVID-free for almost 2 months, though of course that can change quickly. It’s exciting to be able to open up but feels nerve-wracking too after being so cautious. I still feel nervous at the thought of going into the city but it will be nice to see my family again.