Coddiwomple.

It’s an odd word, isn’t it? It’s also slang. But the definition aptly describes my last year: to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination. I feel like I’m being led by God down this path of ‘trust me’ and I just so very much have no idea where that destination is going to end up.

Some people take it upon themselves to select a word for the new year. Last year, I chose the word ‘Gift’. I think it was mostly reflective of the future. It was a gift of a year – a big gift was a trip to Mexico, also a gift of a story, and some great training for a program. It was also a hard year – homeschooling Grade 1 and doing some preschool with Cassia in addition to enrolling Spencer in karate (and already in Beavers) and Cassia in other extra curriculars, and running a children’s program twice a week at the church, shocked my system quite a bit in September/October. And it wasn’t until late November that I felt we were beginning to manage ourselves in a way that was getting things done. Not quite flying by the seat of our pants anymore.

It just so happened that the last day of my children’s program I came down with a flu. It turned into bronchitis and viral-induced asthma (I had no idea such things could happen), and each of the family has gotten sick in their turn. What was meant to be a recoup and rest time from a hectic autumn schedule turned into survival mode, in many ways. I’m so very, very thankful my mom was here over Christmas break, as it gave another set of hands to help and have fun with, even through the misery of sickness. Since she’s been gone, it seems either Andy and I have been sleeping in shifts, hardly seeing each other most days. Spencer gained tonsillitis from the sickness, and now we’re waiting to see if the girls or Andy develop anything further. I suspect both Andy and Felicity might end up with a secondary infection.

So it has been a hard holiday in that while we rested, it was for survival, not revival.  As luck would have it, we’re now about a week behind my school schedule for Spencer, which is completely alterable thanks to homeschooling. It would have been nice to start according to my plan, but it’s definitely more important for us to get better and start well. We did a bit of music appreciation the other day, which was fun, learning a bit about the difference between major and minor chords and its affect on how we perceive the music. We’ll be starting a unit on dogs too, once we’re well enough. And even more thankful that we have access to probiotics to help us get back to full health, and not just eliminating the illness.

I’ve also delayed the start up of my children’s program, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, because I just simply can’t even begin to think about preparing for the sessions yet. It makes me sad, but I really need to limit the stress lest I succumb to sickness again. Isn’t it unfortunate that when we’re stressed our immune system seems to be the first to go? Speaking of which, I’ll be loading up on probiotics once I’m finished my course of antibiotics here. I really hate using antibiotics, but I am eternally thankful we have the medicine when we need it and when it’s used appropriately.

So this year, for 2017, I’m going to continue with this trend of purposefully traveling to a vague destination, and use coddiwomple as my word for the year. I’m curious how my year will end up, and I’m looking forward to this journey, one way or another.

And I used the saint name generator again this year, and St. Josephine Bakhita is my saint for the year. She’s promised to intercede for those who ask her when she’s in heaven, so I’m certain we’ll become the very best of friends. 🙂

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