So Claudia, What Are You Doing with your Free Time?

For over a decade life was pretty much a blur for me.   There wasn't a lot of time for me to think when I had 10 kids under 15 or 9 teenagers at once.  But things have calmed down now.  Family responsibilities include about six hours a week of taking care of the most adorable 3 month old and her older siblings.  Really great kids and that is fun, but other than that I am free.

Suddenly I have found myself with something I never realized I would have .... free time.  Bart has less than I do, but he has some too.  And you may wonder what we are doing with it.
Well, I must confess that I now watch some TV.  I know, crazy.  But it's become part of my world.  Bart is working on his Doctorate (Dmin) so he has a lot of reading to do, so while he reads I watch TV.  

But I also have found some time to do other stuff, because while my physical energy is waning my passion for doing what I believe God has called us all to do isn't.  And since we can no longer do Foster Care in our home (if you don't know why, ask me privately) we are having to figure out ways to do things outside of work to further my passion.

Bart how is a CASA volunteer  It was a lot of work to get trained and it can be emotionally draining... but it's a great opportunity for him to use all of years of our experience to help other children.

I am also serving on an Open Table.  Know what that is?  If not you should check it out and see if there is one near you.  The organization Community Connected in Lynchburg uses the model and I am having a great time being part of a table.

In addition, Bart and I are mentoring from afar a kid who is going to be aging out of foster care in December.  He is in a facility much like our sons were in and has no connection with anyone.  He reminds me a lot of one of our sons at that age.

I'm also the point person for our church for the Care Portal which I'm super excited about.

Finally, I do PowerPoints and upkeep the website for our new church.  That's fun for me and uses a different part of my brain than work.  So it's like a hobby.

I guess I am sharing this because I think that people would say "Bart and Claudia did their part."  But that's not how we feel.  Still so much more to do.

Did I sufficiently answer your question?