Harvest in the midst of much of the same

This is the 17th or so week since a state of emergency has been declared, and the pandemic is on the rise in many states. How are you feeling nowadays? From what I've seen and heard from friends, on social media, and in the news, it seems like so many of us are itching to get out, return to a normal life, get the kids out of the house now that school/remote learning is over 😅 Around here, it's more of much of the same daily Silly Bean life with the same routines we've kept since pre-pandemic (minus interacting with people less than 6 feet apart/running errands/going to the library), but we've been getting outdoors a lot more, which has been fun!

visiting baby goats and other animals at a "zoo" in a park

talking to a frog and asking how his day is going

Silly Bean loves "digging" in ponds (and basically anywhere)

storytime in the garden

Rainy weather does not deter us in the least from getting outside! Luckily though we've had more sunny days than rainy lately, and we've been able to have some great family time together as well. 

throwing rocks with Baba on a hike

scooping water at a friend's private pool

Friends from our church graciously opened their backyard pool for members of our community group to sign up to use their pool, so we've been able to "swim" despite our complex's pool being closed due to COVID! Don't let that last picture deceive you though--this moment lasted all but less than 5 minutes and Silly Bean decided he didn't want to swim (even though he talked about how much he loves swimming for the past month or two) so we played in their yard instead! 

In the midst of the uncertainty of the pandemic, not knowing what the "new normal" will look like, not knowing when things will re-open, not knowing if there will be a second wave, not knowing what the summer will look like, it can be tempting to feel discouraged in the summer season about continuing to sow and cultivate (see our post about encouragements about cultivating during COVID here), especially if you've got your own Silly Beans at home and you're going crazy in the house. A while back, I came across this image on a friend's Facebook page that I'd love to share to encourage you with:

In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus says to his disciples, "Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. " In similar ways, it may still feel like sowing/cultivating season, and it is, but where in your life/in your toddler's life is the harvest ripe? 

one tiny carrot!

We inadvertently had an unexpected harvest the other day (a squirrel dug up some of our plants!), but it made me pause and consider the metaphorical harvest in Silly Bean's life. Where am I already seeing some of what we have been working on together? (ie. emotional health, race consciousness, etc.). I definitely need to reflect more on this in this season as I think about the harvest and continue to sow and cultivate.

Where are you seeing the fruit of what you have been sowing into? How have you seen your toddler growing these past few months in quarantine?