Embrace Adventure Together

About 6 years ago, Dave and I welcomed twin boys into our family. They joined the three boys we already had, bringing our grand total to FIVE BOYS! Needless to say, we were unprepared for the chaos that would become our lives.

There is almost nothing that I remember about that first year. It was a blur of diapers and laundry and baby formula and school lunches. This for young and old all crammed together. Feeding twins while listening to one kid read, reading to another kid while listening to twins cry... you get the picture... it was busy.

A year after the twins were born, I had a hysterectomy which put me out of commission for 6 weeks. Because my body was already so exhausted, my recovery was slow and discouraging.

So of course, in this state of highly charged emotion and exhaustion, our marriage decides to take a nose dive. Because why not add one more thing to the plate?

At this point in time, Dave and I had to take a serious look at what we were going to do with ourselves and those were some devastating conversations.

We decided to hold on to each other; despite all of the "stuff", there was much love. But believe me, if you think dating is hard when you don't have kids, it was 5 times as hard the second time around. While we'd always done date nights and made a point of getting out without the kids, this was a whole different scenario. It was a time of re-connection but coming together as different people than who we'd been 20 years before.

It was in this time of re-connection and trust building that we came up with what would become our family motto. Embrace Adventure Together. EAT

Embrace Adventure Together gave us a lens to look through. When we'd come up against a problem, we'd discuss how we would embrace this part of the adventure together. When life was positive, we'd give thanks that the adventure was easy to embrace. Life became the adventure and we became more cognizant in how we responded to it's ups and downs. Over time, we realized that all parts needed to be embraced. The hard parts made us stronger and more resilient. Humbled us and taught us. The easy parts were gifts that encouraged us to give to others and hone our creativity.

I am grateful for all the parts of our adventure. Some points were really, really dark. Some parts were frustrating, some tiring and other times quiet. Some were just really fun and full of life. But I am finding now, that I am most grateful for the lens that I have to look through. My adventure lens.

Right now, our adventure means that we're in our home 90% of the time... with 5 kids... and homeschooling... and being bored...and empty grocery store shelves... and making food, so, so much food. But it also means being creative... planting a garden... building a playhouse... video chatting with old friends... being cozy... playing games.... introducing the teenagers to movies that Dave and I watched as teenagers....

I don't know what will come in the next week or month. I don't know if I will lose a loved one to a virus or if I'll get it. I don't know how long we have to hunker down like this and live this weird half-life. But my motto dictates that I will not let life pass me by. I won't sit quietly by and give into fear and dread. I will embrace whatever this part of the adventure has in store for us. And trust me, it's gonna have some brutal moments. Maybe even sad or scary ones. (there's enough of a pessimist inside me to not see only rainbows). But, I am making a choice, as I have in the past to embrace whatever lies ahead.

EAT with me!