Keep the Routine

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Day Eleven

Just because the military is moving us in a month doesn’t mean the rest of our lives stop! 

Even during a crazy, whirlwind PCS like this one, we still have to maintain some semblance of order and our schedule. Anyone who has moved with small children can tell you that all of this chaos wreaks havoc in their little lives. Small children need structure to feel safe. They are already feeling the tension of moving, and even though everyone else seems excited, they only know that their simple lives will be changing. A routine, even during a month like this, is necessary!

So we still get the kids up for school at the normal time. We still do snacks at 10am, we still run off to swim lessons after lunch, we still have our playdates or dinner parties. We try to maintain a little bit of normal while we are moving. It is hard? Yes, yes it is very hard to keep a sense of normal when you are moving across the country in 4 more weeks. I am still looking for a house to rent, I am still trying to figure out what appointments need to be made, I am praying that hubby remembers to make some phone calls even while his work schedule ramps up. He still has to preach at the chapel, he still has to attend meetings at the same time that he is making sure that his PCS award is processed and his final evaluation gets submitted.

[image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”2335″ align=”right” size=”medium”]Evening rolls around every night, so that mean dinner prep, make, and clean up. We do our nightly devotions. We kiss boo-boos and snuggle kids. Then we fall into bed exhausted knowing we have to do it all again tomorrow. But this is our life, we volunteered for it, and we always remember that we have a huge God that has more strength for such days than we ever could!!

Now, while we try to keep the routine to help the kids feel safe and somewhat normal, we also take a few spontaneous trips around town. I tend to be more this way and keeping a schedule can just be hard, so part of our normal is doing sudden little things to break up the monotony. 

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Whatever your style is, whatever your ‘normal’ is, try to keep it. It is important, especially at these very crazy, unbalanced times.

What is your trick for keeping calm during the moving cycle?

This is part of a blogging series Planning a Military Move.