I grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania surrounded by hayfields and dairy farms. As an adult, I live in the flatlands of Indiana surrounded by corn and soybean fields and hog farms. The one thing both places have in common is that winter is a season of rest. While the cows still need to be milked and the hogs still need to be fed, the fields sit frozen and the plant life dormant. No tractors planting, no combines harvesting, no nervous farmers watching the weather for forecasts that will damage crops.
Rest. The word itself makes me exhale. Something so scarce in today’s fast paced world, yet something so needed. With the addition of two Treefort boys (one in June and one in December) and the birth of their second child in September, our Treefort parents have grown their family significantly in the last year. To say they need rest is an understatement!
Thanks to several Treefort friends giving generously of their time, we have been able to provide our Treefort parents with a night off every week. This year it is our plan to also provide them with a weekend off every other month. Time to rest, time to be renewed, time to exhale…so they can be the best parents they can be. Parents with the patience to help with hours of homework and the strength to provide healthy meals. Parents with the energy to play and the emotion to engage. Parents with the endurance to follow-thru and the perspective to see the growth that is happening even on the hardest days.
As we provide this rest to our Treefort parents consistently, it is our hope that every parent finds a way to experience rest in their routine as well. The work of parenting is demanding, and the children we raise don’t always make it easy on us. May you find rest even as winter begins to turn to spring.
