Smoky Mountain Getaway

Covid-19 left our family with quite a few cancelled vacation plans. We were definitely bummed to miss out on our yearly trip to Florida, an anniversary trip to Alaska, and a family road trip to Washington DC. Since Tyler still had some time off to use up, and we were all going a bit stir crazy, we decided to do some searching for a safe place to get away. We lucked out BIG time and found a beautiful cabin to rent just outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The cabin had plenty of room and dogs were welcome, so we made it a family getaway with Grandpa, Grandma, and TiTi. It was SO wonderful to have time together after two months of trying to keep some distance. 

The drive down wasn't too bad. We had our cars packed to the brim because we literally brought EVERYTHING with us....we had plans to avoid going out into public as much as possible! We stopped only once and made it down to Tennessee in less than 9 hours. We arrived and were completely in awe of the views. We loved waking up each morning to the views of the Smoky Mountains. A lot of time was spent just hanging out on the porch. Relaxation, good conversations, lots of food, and plenty of fun were the best parts of cabin life. We also loved our daily trips into the park. We went on several amazing hikes, went horseback riding, and even got to see bears on our drive through Cades Cove. By the time the trip was over, we all agreed that we could definitely see ourselves coming back. There was still plenty left to explore and the beauty and majesty of the mountains is surely something worth experiencing again!

 

BLM

There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. Our family has decided that less talk and more action is where real change will happen. Our country is divided and we are choosing to stand on the side that supports justice, equality, and love for the marginalized. Taking part in a peaceful protest on a blazing hot day during the middle of a worldwide pandemic and watching all four of my children raise their voices in support of those who suffer makes me proud to be their mom. Though there is often much doubt in parenting, today I know we have done something right.

Quarantine Survival 2020

Our world came to a screeching halt in mid-March when Covid-19 took over life as we knew it. Everything just stopped. It felt like we were on a fast moving train that slammed on the breaks so fast that we got knocked unconscious and woke back up into a world that looked exactly like we remembered, but felt a thousand times different. Days turned into nights and the sun still came up each morning, but time began to just stand still. Though we had so many plans ahead of us as we looked forward to spring and the end of the school year, so much heartbreak came as we said goodbye to those plans and learned to accept our new reality. A track season that never really got started. Baseball and softball seasons that we hoped to eventually start, but never got to play. An annual trip to Florida that was gone. A once-in-a-lifetime anniversary cruise to Alaska that couldn't happen. A family road trip to Washington DC was a no go. All of those fun end-of-the-school-year moments that everyone works all year to enjoy were not going to happen this year. There was so much we didn't understand and so much that changed in such a short period of time. Stores were picked over like it was the end of the world. We didn't know if it was safe to be around anyone else. People walked around with such stoic faces and it almost felt weird to smile and exchange kind looks with a stranger. It was still winter in Chicago, so it felt okay to just stay inside and avoid the rest of the world. 

And, as we closed the door to the rest of the world, we opened so many new doors within our own home. Time slowed down enough for us to really enjoy the simple blessings that we have.....each other, a warm home, dinner at the table each night with the ones we love, long walks and bike rides, movies, pj days, snuggles, and thousands of memories that we know we will cherish for a lifetime. The simplicity of life during the several months of quarantine was a breath of fresh air for a family who was going so fast through life that we surely were beginning to miss what mattered the most. One day, we will look back on those months as being some of the best months of our lives. What started out as a period of fear and uncertainty and a hope for things to return to normal, ended with a sense of fear that things might actually go back to that normal....and we didn't want that to be our normal anymore!

It would have been really awesome to keep a daily log of our days during quarantine. Undoubtedly, the days just ran right together and we often didn't know one day from the next. We lost all sense of time, but there was definitely some beauty in that. Since I was creative enough to keep a journal or document our days, these pictures will have to do:

Leah started out the quarantine quite sick and leaving us all a little worried. We kept her isolated in her room just in case she had this mysterious virus that nobody really knew much about at the time. There was no testing available at the time, so our game plan was to just keep a close eye on her and pray that nobody else got what she had.

 We desperately missed our family and kept our distance from loved ones that fell into a "high risk" category. We enjoyed visits through the window, Facetime and Zoom calls, and text messages as often as possible.

The humans weren't the only ones who felt a bit stir crazy. Chief loved all of the extra walks he got and especially loved when we'd make a stop at the baseball fields to let him run around!

More time on our hands meant more time for a lot of things that we don't often have much time for....

like LOTS of board games

and puzzles

and reading

 and dance parties

and crafts

 Everyone did a fantastic job of adjusting to virtual learning. It wasn't easy to switch to school online, but they all did the best the could. Some days were hard and sometimes technology didn't cooperate, but we all survived!

We loved having the chance to enjoy dinner together as a family every single night. Our favorite night was "fancy night". We got dressed up, finally used our fine china after 15 years of marriage, and had a beautiful candle-lit dinner followed by dancing.

 More time at home meant a LOT more time to learn those valuable life skills that we often forget to make the time for...

cooking

cleaning

  and home maintenance (just to name a few).

 We all loved getting to spend more time together, but perhaps the best gift was more time with our teenager (who, during the school year, was often gone from 7am to 8pm). It was a definite blessing to get to know her even better and she always did a great job of adding joy to each day. Here, she was showing us her idea of how to stay safe in public during a pandemic!

Everything about normal life looked different, but that didn't stop us from trying to take part in those areas of life that we didn't want to miss out on.

Church on Sundays looks a little different when you're still in your PJs and sitting in your family room.

 Basketball awards had to be delivered in a much different format this year...socially distanced and outside.

 Girl Scouts and 4H met with Zoom meetings....and oftentimes, the girls spent hours just chatting and giggling away after their meetings were done.

 As restrictions started to lift, we did our best to ease back into things. We spent the first weekend of freedom taking these two for a very informal college visit to ISU and U of I. It was so fun to get out and enjoy a day with two great kids.

We aren't totally in the clear yet and the future is still so uncertain. The kids may or may not go back to school in the fall. Sports may or may not start back up. We may or may not have to move back to Phase 2 or 3 of our state's reopening plan. What is certain, however, is that we will never forget the gift of countless blessings from these past few months.

Dear Caleb,

It doesn't seem possible that we are celebrating your last birthday before the "teen" years begin! Watching you grow throughout these preteen years has had its share of challenges, but it's also been such a joy to see you turning into a more mature version of your younger self. You're taller, wiser, and less innocent than you were as a little boy, but much of the core of who you are hasn't changed.

You still have a will that is stronger than most, but we always remind ourselves that if channeled in the right direction, it will serve you well as you grow. You have learned to be a bit more respectful about trying to get your way or prove your point, but it's definitely a work in progress. With that strong will, though, comes a strong sense of right and wrong. You view almost everything with a sense of justice in mind. Sometimes that sense of justice and fairness is geared towards yourself, but not always. You care deeply about making sure that things are right and fair for everyone...even the smallest and (seemingly) most insignificant of things. One moment that stands out from this year is when you came home from school SO distraught about the fact that you shed tears over a bee that your teacher killed in class. You didn't want her to kill it and would've rather caught it and let it go through the window or door, but the majority of your classmates were against that idea. You felt that sadness so deeply, and managed to hold back the tears until you could be excused from class to take a breather, but the tears didn't go unnoticed. Despite your embarrassment, we are proud of you for being true to who you are. We hope that your desire to fight for the voiceless leads you to do BIG things for people (and animals) in the future!

You still have an incredible amount of determination. When you were little, you would fixate on things and focus so much on whatever task you were given. The same is still true today. This helps you greatly at school, where you still don't face too many tasks that leave you challenged and frustrated (something we keep trying to remind you will not always be the case). That determination carries over into your favorite hobbies as well. If given the chance, you'd spend ALL day on the xbox playing your sports games. You fixate on creating teams and designing players and winning games. It is slightly obsessive and definitely something we have to keep you in check with. If it's not sports on the screen that you're playing or watching, it's real-life sports that you're participating in. In a casual game of pick-up football or baseball in the front yard, you are often the one who gets so invested in it that you walk away full of tears or frustration when things don't go your way or people don't take it as seriously as you. On the other hand, you can be the one to set a great example of pushing through and having a good attitude when things don't look so good for your team. Your baseball team last summer was pretty horrible and barely won a game, but you kept a great attitude through it all. You also had the unfortunate experience of playing for a really bad basketball team this winter when you participated in your first season on a school team. Sadly, your coach was rather unqualified for the job and it showed. You came home from a lot of practices and relayed to us the fact that the coach mostly yelled and gave punitive tasks for everyone to do. There was very little actual coaching and learning going on. Regardless, you kept with it and didn't develop much of a negative attitude. You were determined to work hard up until the very end and we were so proud of the good character you demonstrated through it all.

When it comes to character, we are extremely proud of the young man you're becoming. We have heard countless times from other people that they are impressed by your politeness and kindness towards others. At parent-teacher conferences this year, one teacher told us that she greatly appreciates your kind words each day when you walk in and ask her how her day has been going. Granted, she's one of your all-time favorite teachers so far, but it's still so heartwarming to know that you are extending kindness to those around you. You've also become much more aware of how you can help those around you. Whether it's by holding a door for a line of people walking into a building or simply asking if there's anything you can do to help at home, we are impressed by your thoughtfulness and thankful for your caring heart.

Without a doubt, you are growing into an amazing young adult. If the teen years are anything like these past few years, we are going to really enjoy watching you develop into the man that God has designed you to be. You know who you are and you know who you're not. Keep following hard after that and know that we are following behind you with all the support in the world. A kid as awesome as you deserves to be celebrated, so we wish you nothing but the best on this 12th birthday. We know that it wasn't exactly the most desirable of birthdays (thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic), but we promise to properly celebrate YOU when this all clears! We love you and hope you always know that.

Love,
Dad and Mom   

February Fun

We had a fun-filled February! When you pack so much into the shortest month of the year, that month REALLY flies by.

Joel celebrated his birthday with lots of friends at a combined party with a couple other great pals. We rented out the field house at Lincolnway Central just like we did last year. It was a perfect mid-winter energy burner!

 Ti-Ti had a great 40th birthday party with friends and family at a local bowling alley. The place is small, quaint, and very old-school...but was perfect for the occasion!

 We pulled off another successful fun fair at church. The team worked hard and pulled off the event despite some last minute changes in plans. The whole Sturm family was involved with helping and we loved getting to serve together.

 For their birthday presents this year, the kids chose to skip getting presents and took an overnight trip to a waterpark instead. They all had a BLAST and it was especially enjoyable because of friends that joined us.

 We haven't had a super snowy winter, and when it did snow, it was usually WAY too cold to enjoy it. Though Joel was sick during one of the best snowfalls, Caleb and Leah got a chance to sled for an entire afternoon with our neighbors.

 Sickness hit the Sturm home in the worst way....a stomach bug! Joel started with it and passed it on to me. Having the mom go down with a stomach bug makes things a little crazy, but we managed. Thankfully it was a less-than-24-hours type of bug. Chief kept me company all day until the kids got home. Unfortunately, the next person to keep me company on the couch was Caleb, who came home from school and immediately claimed that his stomach hurt as well. It didn't take long for him to succumb to the bug, and it was just about the worst mom-moment when I had to muster up the strength to get over my nausea to take care of my sick kid!

We rounded out the fun of the month with a not-so-fun couple of weeks for Chief. It was finally time for him to get neutered and he was pretty miserable for the first couple of days. After those first drowsy and loopy days, he was back to his normal self, but HATED having to sport the cone-of-shame. He constantly ran into things and, worst of all, couldn't chew on his favorite bones and toys. He (and we) was so glad to finally get to the two week mark when he could run and play like normal!