Morning Routines

I love my morning routine. I actually love most things about my life right now, which I am so incredibly thankful for. It’s taken work to get here. Hard choices. Sacrafices. Prayer… lots of prayer. A daily commitment to my mental health. 

What that looks like for me is trying to get up before the kids and spend some time with God, listening to worship or the word, mindfulness and yoga, sometimes a walk around the farm, sometimes an early morning soak in the hot tub. I take my vitamins and supplements (curcumin, probiotics, vitamin D in the winter months.) I try to lay out healthy food choices for the kids to grab and go for breakfast, or lunch at school. 

This year, for the time being, Tenley rides the bus and I take Jenica and Kenton to school. I miss having Tenley with us but with her late start time, it's more convenient and economical for her to ride the bus.

Jenica could ride the bus too, but during volleyball when she has two full backpacks of stuff to haul around, I try to be nice and drive her.

Kenton is still going to Skopos Christian in Milwaukie. He is in 3rd grade this year, and has been so excited to get his own new Bible and learn to look up versus. 

One of the things we do on our morning car ride is to say things that we are grateful for, and this morning (and many mornings) I’m just so grateful that Kenton is able to attend a private school, especially one as wonderful as Skopos.

He was diagnosed with ADHD three years ago, during the height of COVID shutdowns, and ended up at Skopos because public school was doing “distance learning” and at 6 years old that just wasn’t going to be an option for us when I needed to go back to work. I do taxes for a living, so January - April are my bread and butter months. I have around 200 clients that depend on me to prepare and file their tax returns on time, and I just couldn’t supervise zoom learning and focus on work responsibilities.

Skopos took him in mid year, and has been such a blessing to our family. Kenton has developed, matured and really just flourished in the small, loving environment that is evident there. He spent the last two years in a combined 1st and 2nd grade class with the most amazing teacher, Ms. K, who was so patient, kind and caring, praying for him and all the students, and going out of her way to provide a fun and safe learning environment for everyone. We will miss her but she’s still there to say hi and wave to, and he has another great teacher this year, and a class size of less than a dozen kids, which will help ensure he gets the attention he needs to succeed.

I just can’t imagine what school would be like for him in a class of 30, which I’m hearing is pretty common in public elementary schools these days. He would be over stimulated, over looked, he would probably end up acting out to try to get attention, and there would be little accountability or incentive to learn. With the “no child left behind” act in place, he would just get passed along from grade to grade regardless of whether certain benchmarks were being met. 

Private school is definitely an investment, but I love being able to see the returns. My 9 year old boy building his self confidence, learning about God, getting excited about sword drills, learning about kindness, respect, manners and generosity. Seeing him happy to go to school, excited to learn and (sometimes) excited to do his homework, knowing that he’s being prayed for and loved on by a wonderful staff of humans, it makes the $400 in gas a month and almost 30 hours in the car driving back and forth worth it. 

And I feel so fortunate that his dad is willing to cover the tuition for the time being. I do not take lightly the privilege of being able to afford this for Kenton, and I thank God everyday for blessing me with a career that I can provide for my family, while still actually being home and present with my kids (most of the year.)