As of about a week ago, my degree is done, and I can make a pretty good guess at my degree score although I don’t get it officially until the end of the month. The essays all got written and the exam went well- the last week of Phoebe being in nursery on her normal hours has just ended, which I have spent mostly washing, meal planning, shopping and sorting the house- all things which have needed some catch-up time.
Having time to sit and think about the summer, our weeks in Sheffield with only a few regular commitments in the week is both scary and exciting. We’re fortunate to have great networks of friends around us as well as great libraries, parks, museums, and so I hope our time will be well spent. I have learnt not to make the mistakes I made when on ‘maternity’ leave from uni with Phoebe, of trying to be laid back- and then doing nothing (!). We could all do with some interaction outside of each other!
In a lot of ways things feel the same as a few weeks ago, before uni ended, but I think that’s because the bulk of my time is being spent in the same way- caring for two children! The change is going to be more apparent with whole weeks with two at home full time, rather than Phoebe being at nursery part time. It’s so lovely that she really understands things I say to her now, that she’s making sentences, however short they are, and that she really plays now. Simeon has started chatting chatting, loving his own voice, and Phoebe frequently laughs at what he’s doing, taking real joy in watching him. ‘Kick legs’ she says, and imitates the way he’s wriggling, or mimics the way he’s eating his hands. He is fascinating to her, and I love that the two of them are already finding each other interesting.
A big part of my education, my life has drawn to a close, which does leave me with some sad feelings, but more gratitude at the great time I had, the wonderful friendships made and the great memories made, especially from church family, choir adventures and all the fun of having children at uni and seeing how our friends have been part of our life as a family. Church family who have often been at different ages to us, but with children the same age, have reached out and loved and welcomed us. We were not typical students by any stretch, not in student accommodation, married before we got here, and then having two little ones come along. Our uni friends have been great and some have really stepped up and shared and been involved, not put off by how apparently different our lives are to theirs.
The future is still a little hazy, but I’m looking forward to the adventures it’s going to bring. These small people in my life are growing and changing so quickly, I really don’t want to spend all my time thinking about how small they used to be, or thinking about how one day soon they will be able to do so much more. I’m realising that it’s so important to enjoy now, invest in it with them. Not for the sake of being able to remember it well later, but knowing that it was done well, now. We’re going to keep going one day at a time in our little family of four, striving to remember the gospel, the grace we have been washed clean by, loving as though we remember that, despite the fact I keep forgetting. Somehow these small people who I am moulding and teaching, they will grow into adults, and I want them to know God, more than anything else.
One thing ends and another, new, but familiar stage of our life is beginning. Now I just need some more sleep.
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