I’m not sure about you, but my Facebook feed has been inundated with back to school and off to college photos for the past two weeks. I have a love hate relationship with FB at times like these. On one hand I adore seeing all the growing kids, happy faces and transitions through life of my loved ones. On the other hand, I grimace at the seeming ease of back to school for the “normals”. All the homes where all they have to do is fulfill the back to school supply list and buy new shoes for growing feet. I see traditions and celebrations and cute little chalkboards denoting grade level that are reused each year.
Yuck. Sometimes its just too much.
What does my back to school entail? What does back to school entail for you?
I just have to be real for a moment and try not to slip down the slope of martyrdom. My back to school has never been like this. Although, I can happily say that this is the first year that I haven’t doubted our health enough to actually make it to school. This is the first year I haven’t doubted my health to get them there. It is the first year that I got stuff done ahead of time and didn’t have to scramble too much.
But have time for Pintrest and cute little chalk boards? No.
No offense to the cute little chalkboards (and not to pick on them alone), because I long to be that kind of normal mom. The kind of normal mom who can plan back to school breakfast (I totally forgot to even have anything for breakfast the first day and out of guilt cooked cinnamon rolls the second day).
My back to school routine begins in the summer where we do a vigorous job making sure we have caught up on therapies and doctors appointments that are harder to do during school. I spend time investigating the eggshell health problems that are still hanging on and need to be fixed. I spend time trying to normalize all I can for my kids since they don’t get normal too often.
Then I start 2 weeks early and begin to shift sleep and wake times. Does anyone else have kids who adjust slowly? I despise daylight savings time for this exact reason. My kids adjust to external stimuli so slowly!
Next, I gather up extra snacks for the classroom for each kid and bargain shop all over town for school snacks that they can eat, aren’t GMO and I can afford. This year, I also spent time making homemade granola bars and freezing them so I had more healthy snacks ready.
Then I make sure I’m not going to run out of any supplements that are critical to our existence. Repeat the running all over town for budget and ordering the rest from Amazon.
Finally, I spend weeks after school starts to acclimate them to the new routine. (Ahhh, and we are only on day 3) Over-stimulation and over-excitement can throw off the adrenals in our house. Teachers with perfume and smelly plug ins in the classroom have to be monitored. Extra curricular activities have to be re-evaluated based on how fast I can get the adrenal function balanced out.
Some school days I spend my morning in the supplement and essential oil closet – testing, applying, testing and applying over and over just to get them out the door…..and we are only at day 3, did I say that already?
Why make the effort? Why keep paddeling upstream? Some say homeschooling is the answer. Some say pharmaceuticals are the answer. Some say you have a right to give up.
I was given a cross to bear and my kids deserve that I bear it. Some moms have been given a Down’s Syndrome child, some mom’s have been given cancer, some mom’s have had their child taken by early death – stolen right out of their hearts. Other mom’s have been deserted by their spouses who couldn’t take bearing the cross, so they abandoned it all. Some mom’s are counting pennies from the floorboard today or begging for food.
My cross to bear is nothing like those. My cross to bear is a picnic compared to what I see around me and what I know this broken world is capable of. My cross was chosen for me, so I am designed to handle it, even if I feel ill equipped. Even if I feel inept, even if I am exhausted, even if I am resigned to a pile of jello. Someone upstairs thinks this is the cross I should be qualified to carry.
So, where do we go from here? How do we take one step forward and keep going?
The word of God is alive and active – sharper than a double edged sword.
Today it was reciting the word of God on my knees and not the remedies or the oils that got us to school on time. It is the biggest and most applicable tool in my closet. I could not fight this battle or bear this cross without its power, wisdom and strength.
I will remember that my kids are growing character like other kids grow holes in their socks. I remember that I am doing this for them to have a shred of normal but not to be normal. They have been made unique and they have been made special and they have been made “fearfully and wonderfully” made.
I pray for you and for our family that we just can continue onward and upward. Healing is a process and our lifestyle is a choice. I think I can, I think I can – I chant over and again. Before you know it and in the blink of an eye, my job will be complete and they will be grown and gone and not need me to dot every “i” and cross every “t”. The 100 small little things I do to and for our health each day will pay off in dividends one day – that I am sure of.
Blessings and healing,
Janice Fairbairn – The Lyme Evangelist
softcover book – http://www.amazon.com/author/janicefairbairn
eBook – http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/JustLivingLikeThisWithLyme
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/justlivinglikethiswithLYME
Blog – https://justlivinglikethiswithlyme.com/my-blog/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/janicewithlyme
Pintrest – http://www.pinterest.com/jpfairbairn/just-living-like-this-with-lyme/
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