Testing 1, 2, 3

^{Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash}

Hello world! Boy oh boy has it been a terribly long time since I’ve been here. I’ve missed you, dear blog. So what have I been up to in the last three years? Let’s see, for starters, I had a baby! Sweet baby #5 was born right smack in the middle of lockdown, and she’s turned out to be the greatest joy during a challenging time. She’s now a crazy toddler who gets into all kinds of trouble, including fishing out used Covid tests out of the garbage and drinking their contents (yup, that happened). I always said that I would love to have a baby while having teenagers in the house, and God being so good has made all my dreams come true.

Speaking of teenagers, our oldest son is now 16, the first to graduate from our homeschool! We hemmed and hawed for a long, long time about whether to continue to homeschool through high school or send him to school, and in the end we decided that it was time for #1 to spread his wings and fly a bit. And now his younger brother has joined in the ranks of AtLee kids who go to normal school. The transition from homeschool to high school has been enlightening. I should write a post about that.

In other news, the hubby changed jobs shortly after baby’s birth and transitioned to a 100% work-from-home scenario. And because life inside our smallish home became a bit too loud with the baby and the other offspring, we decided to build hubby his very own office shed in the backyard, winterized and summerized and all. I may have seen tears (of joy) running down his cheeks on his first day of work in the man shed. It’s just me and the crazies now at home (or am I the crazy one?). So happy for him. So, so happy.

While life has been full of blessings, it’s also come with some challenges. The social isolation/high-risk pregnancy/new job/keeping kids alive and well/more social isolation took their toll on our marriage. A few months after the baby’s birth, hubby and I decided to go to marital counselling. While hesitant at first, it was, hands down, one of the best decisions that we have made in our marriage so far. We were so fortunate to find an excellent therapist who shares our values and our vision, and it’s been nothing but goodness. I’ll definitely be writing more about that.

I haven’t written much (or at all) because for some reason, pregnancies, babies and toddlers take it all out of me. I basically go into a dark cave for years before I reappear in search of vitamin D. But lately the siren’s call has been getting louder and louder and my fingers have been itching to start typing again. I’ve been thinking of many things to write about, such as book suggestions (the reading never stopped), podcast suggestions (the laundry folding never stopped), and how getting along with your spouse may ultimately save the world. So, I’m going to start writing and see where it takes me.

Until next time (ideally not in 3 years…)!