I am dropping in for a quick Five Minute Friday post with my positive, uplifting community of Christian writers. Each week we participate in a linkup where we spend five minutes writing in response to a common prompt. This week our prompt is: Quiet.

One of the best things to come out of our Covid “stay at home order” experience as a family is the daily Quiet Time that we implemented. After being sequestered inside for so many days together, we easily could’ve unraveled. Without individual space and peace we so easily found ourselves at odds with one another. Between the Zoom calls with students, cooking every single meal at home, and trying to wrangle a toddler in the midst of all this we found ourselves worn out and desiring a little time away from each other. And I know we weren’t the only ones. All across the world, family bonds were being tested and routines that had long kept things running smoothly were destroyed.

But, a week into the forced quarantine, my family began to observe daily Quiet Time.

For two hours every day each of us gets a chance to be alone. We can nap, watch a movie, write, exercise, or work on a personal project. This became a daily staple to our family that has carried on long past the days of being forced indoors. It became a healthy time for each of us to develop hobbies and interests as well as catch up on sleep that may be necessary.

In the beginning, I used the time for working on grad school work, but have since decided that time needs to be used as creative time for myself. Now, I like to use that time to blog or work on my bullet journal. Occassionally, I will read, but while in grad school I haven’t had a lot of desire to read for pleasure–however, I know that will come back once I finish my courses.

So, here I am in the UK–visiting family, but observing my daily Quiet Time. The windows are open, the birds are lively and awake. In the next room I hear the snores of my youngest daughter and down the hall the movements of my little gymnast working on stunts. I’m sitting on a bed littered with stationery that I acquired on the trip and I’m in my element with words, blogging, and warm cup of coffee on the table beside me.

I know it is such a basic thing, but Quiet Time has really given my family a chance to be a unit while also being individuals. It has provided relaxation and refreshing during a time in our world where those terms are hard to come by. Some days I survive on these quiet moments and I gather my wits and strength because I have two hours of self care daily.

The Ameri Brit Mom

After two years, we have finally been able to journey back to England. For the next five days we will be quarantining with my in-laws. The journey was long, but both girls did a great job en route. Meeting my nephew for the first time was a much anticipated event, but luckily he is getting on well with my girls and seems to have bonded quickly with my husband and I.

While we are in quarantine in the UK we have to…

-Self-test on day 2 and day 5 after arrival and send our tests in the post

-Receive a phone call daily from the UK Track and Trace Dept

-Stay at the residence we registered for on our Track and Trace forms.

If our day 5 test is negative we will be able to break the quarantine and move about the country freely. Until then, I will be sharing lots of photos of the family in the back garden and around the house enjoying the reunion and extra time together.

The Ameri Brit Mom

(This is a non affiliate post and based solely on my personal experience using the Beachbody PiYo program developed by Chalene Johnson. Results may vary.)

As a gift for my birthday, my husband ordered me the DVD set of PiYo, a full body workout combining Pilates and yoga. I first heard about PiYo from an acquaintance who leads group exercise sessions. But it wasn’t until I was sitting at the beach over Spring break (unhappy with the way I looked in a swimsuit) that I really started looking into the program.

I was a runner in high school so my joints have taken a beating over the years. My draw to PiYo was its low impact, but high intensity as well as its following of people boasting in the results of the program. But PiYo is so much more than a daily body weight workout, it is also a diet consciousness program as well.

My DVD set came with a book that outlined a diet for my body goals and target calories.

One week into my PiYo plan I have already noticed:

-I am more flexible and able to complete the workout than when I began

-My cravings for sweet/junk foods has severely diminished

-Tracking my meals has made me more aware of the foods I am having too much or too little of

-My abs are getting stronger and more toned

-Each morning I wake up a little sore from the day before, but it isn’t too intense

Each week I plan to log a few details regarding my plan and how my particular results are progressing. I want to have a place to share the hard work I am putting in and I hope to celebrate the milestones along the journey. For me, the biggest goals I have set for myself are not numbers, but a healthier lifestyle. I’m a busy, working mom and my eating-on-the-go was getting out of hand. Through PiYo, I hope to develop meal planning habits that focus on nutritious choices and I also want to give my body the exercise it needs without the joint pain that often comes with strength workouts.

The coming weeks will prove challenging as I leave for a month in the UK tomorrow. Being outside of my own kitchen and surrounded by local foods to the UK will definitely cause a shift in my habits, but hopefully not in my progress. I am taking my PiYo DVDs and have ordered a multi-region player to arrive at my in-laws’ where I will be staying so that I won’t miss a beat. I’ll be starting my second week of PiYo with an early session before the flight and although airport food is less than ideal I feel that the program has equipped me to make the best choices possible no matter my environment.

If you have ever done PiYo or a similar program please let me know!

The Ameri Brit Mom

I’m joining writers all over the globe in a weekly link-up where we focus on a common prompt and share our stories with one another. While crafting each post, writers must stick to five minutes ONLY and writers may not edit/revise their original writing. Five Minute Friday is such an encouraging community of writers and together we are launching positive, authentic content into the world. This week our prompt is: Disagree.

A glass of wine. A good friend. And two helpings of good intention.

That is the recipe to a healthy dialogue between two people with contrasting views. Although, you could always substitute the wine for your beverage of choice (iced tea, coffee, water, beer). Whatever your environment might be it is imperative that each of us have settings and people in our lives that we can run to for challenging ourselves–people we can disagree with, yet still respect enough to call them ‘friend.’

We are living in a divisive time. The powers that be are telling us there are ONLY two sides. You are either ‘x’ or you are ‘y’. Is there no room for space between these letters? Labels are not written in cursive and the space between ‘x’ and ‘y’ albeit minute, is the space where we grow and learn and lean into each other.

Between ‘x’ and ‘y’ is where most truth lies.

If we come to a disagreement holding tight to our stance or beliefs and unwilling to hear from others and consider their perspective we really are not participating in a dialogue. We turn a deaf ear to their thoughts and we discredit their words before we even get a chance to process.

I want to challenge you today.

I’ve been going through a deconstruction of sorts with my faith. It isn’t a faith crisis and I’m not losing my faith in God. On the contrary, this deconstruction is leading me to challenge my own beliefs and to plant my roots deeper in faith. I’m challenging things I’ve been told and weighing them against what the Bible and more specifically Jesus says about these things. And as I’ve continued in this journey, I’ve come against disagreement. Some of those disagreements have been healthy like what I described above while others have been futile as a result of both parties.

All this to say–it is okay if we challenge each other. It’s benefical when we ask those hard questions to the people we are closest to. And it is important than when we disagree that we hear one another out and continue to dialogue in a way that is both respectful and uplifting and leaves both parties feeling heard.

The Ameri Brit Mom

The past month and a half has been pretty insane. I will try to catch you up to speed…

1. I finished the hardest school year of my career

2. One semester ended and another began of grad school.

3. We spent a week at Cherry Grove beach (AGAIN) this time with family.

4. June 4th was my tenth wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a date night at the beach

5. Today I turned 31

I would love to catch up with you! What have you been up to these last few months?

The Ameri Brit Mom