I don’t know about y’all but I’ve got a case of the Winter blues something fierce. I’ve been anxiously awaiting warmer weather toget outside and be more social...but then COVID-19 decided to happen. I’ve had so many emotions surrounding all the shutdowns: gratitude, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, loneliness, etc. If you have followed me for any amount of time now, it’s probably become quite clear that I am the definition of the term ”Extrovert”. It is so hard for me to feel disconnected from people and even harder for me to stay at home. On top of all this social isolation business, our family only recently began going back to church after almost a 2 month hiatus for avoidance of germs.

Our house has been hit with RSV and Flu B and every other cough and sniffle in between since the birth of our Redding boy and we just weren’t taking any chances. My soul felt a glimmer of hope for the upcoming season after sliding into our church pew last weekend. I’m crushed knowing it will be another two months of church-at-home in isolation. Most things in motherhood I operate on the notion of “Fake it til you make it”. While my heart just wanted to crawl back into bed and press pause on life with the news of the national shutdowns, I knew my babies needed me.

So we pulled out our trusty friend, The Jesus Storybook Bible, and dove into the story of Noah and The Ark. If you don’t have a copy of this Bible for your family, run-don’t walk to my Amazon Page (linked below) and grab one for yourself and your best friend’s kids while you’re at it. Every. Single. Story. points back to Jesus and so preciously depicts the most meaningful lessons in the Bible, often speaking to this Mama’s heart as well as my babies’. We read about how everyone laughed at Noah for his over-preparation for the flood...how he trusted in God’s plan...and how after all was said and done, God sent a rainbow as a way of saying he was laying his weapons down and promising to never destroy the Earth again. Looking back, I think the Spirit knew I needed this reminder after such an ominous week. And while Ada and Redding don’t understand most of the chatter going on about Coronavirus...they DO sense my anxieties. Reminding them of God’s goodness in times like this is my personal mission as their Mama.

But we couldn’t just stop there, because no day at home is kept sane without some sort of “cwaft stang” as Ada June so fondly calls them. So I set up the Baking Soda + Food coloring + Vinegar “Rainbow Reveal”activity that has been going viral on my Mama-centered news feed with the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day celebration. We used another trusty old friend, our Melissa & Doug spray bottle (also linked below in toddler toys on my Amazon page) to make the Vinegar “rain” that would eventually reveal our rainbow of colors. Squirt bottles like this are great for building fine motor strength necessary for cutting with scissors and handwriting. Getting to the various spots on the muffin tin required Ada J to wiggle and squat and change positions enough that we got a little core strengthening in, too. Not-so-pro tip: don’t bury the food coloring 2 inches deep in Baking Soda that’s been in your fridge since ‘Nam—-we had to do a little stirring to find the hidden colors but really this meant more time staying focused, allowing Mama to unload the dishwasher without the house burning down. I swear this activity held her attention for a solid 12 minutes translating to roughly 2 hours in Mom of a two year-old time. A vinyl tablecloth underneath kept “the flood” contained and made for easy cleanup. It’s hard to say who needed this lesson more—Ada or me. Either way, we started our Sunday morning with a renewed spirit and hope for what’s ahead.