Quarantine Week 2

3/27/2020

Our second week of quarantine, due to COVID-19, is done. This week we saw an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in our state and county, though it still seems like something that is "out there" and not very real to us yet. 


We countinued to make the best of the time spent inside. 
We played Jenga and War this week. My 6 year old daughter had never played War, but dominated this game! Since she'd recently learned about greater than / less than, this was a great educational math game! 

A few days this week, we picked up lunch for the kids from a nearby school offering free sack lunches. This at least gave us something to do each day and as a food-run is still "essential travel." 


We have a lot of Preschool activities to keep our littlest people busy. Here my 4 year old is doing a counting activity that he enjoys. We are still plugging away on homeschooling as usual, doing age-appropriate things with all of the kids.


More time on our hands means more baking from scratch. Per the kids' request, I made colorful pancakes one morning with an assortment of flavors - chocolate chip, sprinkles, plain and apple w/ cinnamon. Yum. We also made some homemade bread, applesauce in the crockpot, and french toast casserole for breakfast. 


My oldest daughter made an Instant Pot cheesecake. Mmm.


She also created her own recipe for a raspberry chocolate ice crem dessert. Very pretty!


My little girl wanted to make "fairy sandwiches" one morning for breakfast. Very easy with bread, cookie cutters and jelly. She liked that they looked so fancy!


Some very kind friends blessed us with a Family Pizza and Movie night. They bought pizza for us, had it delivered, and encouraged us to watch a faith-building movie together. We watched an animated film about the life of George Mueller. What fun! 


We took a family walk at least once this week as we saw some higher temps. So good to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air. We actually had 3 inches of snow fall on Monday morning, so a few of us had a "snow day" and played in what was likely the last snow of this season. 


We worked on another 1,000 piece Charles Wysocki puzzle this week. Done!


We put out a bird feeder early in the week, to provide us with some entertainment. We have had a few birds eat at the feeder, but we have had one particularly persistent squirrel that has provided much laughter as he climbs the metal pole and does gymnastic moves to reach the seeds. We've named the squirrel (Ignatz) and look for him many times a day now. Anyone who sees him calls the alarm and we come running to observe what antics he'll be up to next.


My husband decided that quarantine was a good time to clean out the birdhouse we've had for 7 years in the back yard. We have time, so why not. My daughter helped him with this project. However, they discovered that not only was there 7 years of nests contained inside, but also a living mama flying squirrel and her two newborns. The mama scurried off up the tree but stayed close enough to keep an eye on what was happening to her babies. They put everything back as best they could, mama returned and we hope they live happily ever after. Note to self: don't clean out the birdhouse in the spring :-)


My oldest daughter felt better this week, after a second round of antibiotics for a double ear infection and sinus infection. She's back to enjoying music and her pet bird.

I had strep throat this week, so I was miserable for 2-3 days. Then I had my first ever virtual doctor's appointment and was prescribed antibiotics which helped immediately with my throat pain. I'm feeling nearly 100% back to normal now.

My husband worked from home most of the week, after a "non-essential travel ban" was put in place and the closing of all non-essential businesses meant that he could no longer go in to work (even with staggered employees, with no more than 10 in the building at once). 

We participated in many virtual conference-calls this week for church/small group gatherings. Sunday worship remains live-streamed only for the next number of weeks. We are very thankful that we have the technology to stay in touch in these ways - to at least see other people virtually and converse more than you could with just a phone call. 

This week most closures were extended through the end of April. So one more full month of quarantine / lockdown is before us. All Easter activities are cancelled, including a trip we had planned to take to Indianapolis. The government passed an economic stimulus package to provide for families and small businesses that are taking an economic hit during this time. We are checking in with extended family and friends more often, to see how people are handling the anxiety of these disruptions and also to see who is affected financially by it. But for us personally, life continues as usual. 

We'll see what next week holds!

Quarantine Week 2 Scripture

3/26/2020

It's week 2 of quaratine from COVID-19. 
This verse has been on my brain. 

Psalm 20:7 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."

Then I also came across Psalm 44:6 and following that says the same thing in other words. "I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory, but you (God) give us victory over our enemies... In God we make our boast all day long and we will praise Your name forever."

As the world has gone crazy, revealing heards that are anxious and in a panic, people are hoarding resources and stockpiling toilet paper. People are clearly putting their trust in stockpiled supplies, in their hand sanitizer, in healthcare, in their own ability to keep germs at bay, in the government to stimulate the economy, etc. 

But as followers of Christ, we do not trust in these things ultimately. We trust in God alone. We trust in the name of the Lord our God. He alone gives us victory. He alone provides life and breath. 

And so we do not need to run after all the things the world does, in its panic and confused state. 

Matthew 6:32 "For the Gentiles (the unsaved world) chase after all these things (clothes, food, stockpiles, etc) and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and all these things will be added to you." 

We trust in the name of the Lord our God. 

Quarantine Week 1

3/20/2020

Well, it's been a week now since everything started being cancelled due to the Coronavirus / COVID-19. 

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, life was still chugging as usual with lots of chatter about Corona. There were a couple cases in Indiana but none nearby. But by Friday (March 13), the government was calling for no large group gatherings (of 250+ people). Local schools were closing for a few days to access the situation and most churches were cancelling Sunday servies. 

We worshipped at home as a family on Sunday, thankful for our church's livestream service. 

On Monday, the government began to limit group gatherings down to fewer than 100 people and shortly after down to 10 people. My husband worked the full day but brought home his computer, as he was told to work from home the rest of the week. 

Our Tuesday Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group was cancelled for the indefinite future. Our Wednesday morning homeschool co-op was cancelled at least for this week, but shortly after was cancelled indefinitely. All church activities that take place at the church building have been cancelled. Suddenly our calendar became very, very cleared.

By Wednesday, our local mayor had issued orders for citizens to stay home as much as possible and now no group gatherings of even less than 10 people were being encouraged. And if you must be in public, "social distancing" became the theme, encouraging at least 6 feet of distance between yourself and the general public. All schools closed for the next 3-5 weeks, moving to e-learning.

So as a family we have had more together time than normal. What did we do with that time? 


We popped popcorn for a snack.



We did a 1,000 piece puzzle in around 24 hours!


We cooked more from scratch, including these yummy cinnamon sugar muffins.


We decided that during this Quarantine of 2020, we would accept the Bored Game Challenge. We got out every board/card game that we own and put in a visible spot, on top of our hutch. Over the next few weeks, our goal is to play every game at least once.


Rubiks Race was played this week. It was a Christmas gift that had remained unopened until now. 


Cootie was a hit with our younger set.
We also played Memory, Scrabble and Exploding Kittens but didn't get any pictures.




We had silly fun with fruits and veggies. 


We did drive to the grocery store one day and found these two geese on a neighbor's rootfop to be entertaining, as even they practiced social distancing. :-)


And Dad worked from home, thankful he still has a job and is able to telecommute.

We also tackled more cleaning around the house than we normally do. Spring cleaning 2020 should be phenomenal, as nobody can use the excuse that they didn't have time to get to it! 

Also during this time, my oldest daughter was sick with what turned out to be a double ear infection and a sinus infection. So we took her to urgent care last weekend for the initial diagnosis and round one of antibiotics. When she didn't see improvement by mid-week, we then took her to her regular doctor to follow up. She received a second antibiotic and thankfully is getting better now. 

A lot of lives are very disrupted right now. Ours, not so much. Since we homeschool regularly, our days remain generally the same, with the exception of extra things like church activities and co-op being cancelled. We've still gone out to the doctor, the gas station, the pharmacy, the grocery store. Church and small group are now done virtually, but we are able to stay somewhat connected.

In our home, we feel a very low level of anxiety, however, there's a lot of fodder for conversation with the oldest kids about how the world is in a panic (losing their collective minds, as we say) going into hoarding mode and hunkering down out of a fear. 

Everything seems to be changing very rapidly. 
We'll see what another week brings.

Quarantine Week 1 Scripture

3/18/2020 

I've been meditating this week on this Scripture - Philippians 4:4-7

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness (or reasonableness) be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I enjoy some Bible study videos put out by John Piper that can be found here: https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/philippians/4/labs   Through these Look-at-the-Book sessions, I've seen new aspects of the Scriptures come to life. The Philippians 4 studies had been ruminating in my mind for a few weeks now when COVID-19 came in to focus in the news headlines. 

A few thoughts: 
* Let your reasonableness be evident to all. It does seem to me that we are witnessing the pagan world collectively lose its mind these days. Only through Jesus can Christians exhibit a reasonableness, a sound mind, that is evident to the watching world. 
* The Lord is near. Whether I live to be 100 or not even life to see tomorrow, the Lord is near. He is at hand. My being with Him is at hand. That should affect how I live whatever hours/days/years I have left on this earth and I should be preparing for what comes next. 
* While reasonableness is what the world should see, what is evident to God is my prayers and my thankfulness. That's a challenge! 
* Only the peace of God (given from the God of peace) can guard my heart (my emotions) and my mind (my thoughts) from all of the crazy ways this world wants to sway them. I need guarding! I need that peace! 

I am so thankful that God's Word is living and active, speaking into our very lives!

Sillies

3/13/2020



My three little people can be so silly at times. 
Here's some photographic evidence. 


4 year old silly face


6 year old silly face


And all 3 just laughing together on the couch.
Stairsteps at age 6, 4, and 2. 
It is fun to watch their sibling relationships develop.

Daddy Daughter Dance

3/9/2020


My husband and 6-year-old daughter enjoyed our church's Daddy Daughter Dance last week. 


My girl chose a new dress, wore pantyhose for the first time (her reaction was humerous), got her nails painted and chose one of my pearl necklaces to complete the look.


Relaxing on a couch at the dance.



Some of the desserts at the dance. Yum.

My daughter's overall impression was: the music was a bit loud, the disco ball was cool to watch, and the desserts were delicious! :-)

Daughter to WinterFest

3/2/2020 


Recently my oldest daughter attended Winterfest - a youth weekend retreat our church participates in. Here's a picture of the whole group from our church that attended - youth and chaperones included. The theme of the teaching time was Rest. 


This is just the 11th grade girls group from our church (plus chaperones/small group leaders). 

My daughter loves youth group and hates to miss any youth event, whether regular Wednesday night meetings or special parties or retreats. I am thankful that she's leaning in to relationships with her peers and with Jesus.