Easter 2020

Easter was definitely different this year.  We, of course, we're home.  Here are the pics.  The Easter Bunny hid the baskets really well this year.  It took the kids a long time to find them.

Home School and Pass Times

The kids have been Home Schooling for about a month now.  It has gone by pretty smoothly.  We've hit a few bumps,, but overall the kids are doing great.  Still, I can't wait for summer.  I have so many stories and other lessons I want to teach the kids.  But, for now, it works, and we are grateful for all the work the teachers have put in.

 I have been spending about 30 minutes a day practicing piano with Conrad, Brayden, and Caleb.  Jackson gets about that too.  He likes me to sit with him but, I'm not a lot of help.  This has been my favorite part of the day.  They are learning so quickly, and I can't wait to see how far along they get while we're stuck at home.  Hailey has been face-timing with her voice teacher still, so that has been great.  She is making tremendous progress, and I love sneaking in a listen when she has a lesson! :)

When they aren't working at school, the kids have had plenty of fun things to do.  Here are some pics.

We also found a car that Hailey will be driving.  She loves it, and I've actually had a lot of fun driving around in a smaller car. I've been taking it when I run around.

Bo's Silver Lining...

These kids unloaded a huge container.

With all nonessential businesses shut down and Bo trying to protect everyone from the spread of COVID, he had people work from home and not stop by the warehouse.  Those working on building apartments wanted to continue to work and felt pretty safe outdoors most of the time, so they set up a break room at the office there. But an empty warehouse posed a problem for how they would ship things.  Bo and Kris could do it, but it takes a lot of time, and they have other things to work on.

Kris had the idea to have Hailey, Conrad, and Jackson along with two of Kris's kids to help.  The girls work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The boys work Tuesday and Thursday.  Both families are quarantined at home, so it feels safe enough to let this happen.  

He posted this on Facebook, "One of the biggest blessings for me during the pandemic has been getting to work with my kids. Jack and Con shipped out over 5,000 lbs of packages today, by themselves and it filled up two FedEx trucks. Ilzay, Hailey, and Maggie shipped out hundreds of bikes. They are way more hard-working and capable workers than I ever knew."

It has been so good for these kids to get out and work.  I have seen them all build confidence and are much happier.  I think our kids will mature quite a bit through all of this.  

Check out that stack of labels.  These kids organize and sticker each package.

I should also point out another blessing through all of this.  We worried a great deal about how this would affect the business.  The business has had plenty to pay the employees, the renters have been able to pay rent, and the government sent them a stimulus to help out too.  The Lord has watched over us, and things are going well.  We are beyond grateful.  

Silver Linings...

When I think about all of the families that have been affected by COVID-19, it breaks my heart.  We are praying for them and hope they are healed and find peace. Many people have struggled with finances and work. Many are on the front lines of this disease and risking their own lives.  I try to learn from all experiences in life. I've spent time pondering this as we've passed through the uncharted territory these past five and a half weeks.

Church has been canceled, and we've been on our own for our spiritual enlightenment and the Sacrament.  As we tried to figure this out, I'm grateful for church leaders who have prepared us for times like these.  Back in 2015,  we began being told to keep the sabbath day over and over.  At the time, the TV was on most of the day.  Sunday wasn't much different than the rest of the week.  As I heard this repeatedly through General Conference and at church, I decided it was time to make a change.  

We have chosen to make the day more about the Savior and family.  If we watch anything, it is faith-based and right at the end of the day. We play together, go on walks, and visit or talk with family on the phone. We spend time on family history.  It doesn't happen as often as it should, but it's a start. Sunday has felt different for many years.

I noticed a tender mercy a few months back.  When talking with the kids about this, I learned Hailey, who was 10, doesn't remember Sundays any different.  She had no idea I used to let them watch TV most of the day.  I'm grateful for that.  Also, when we first made the change, kids complained often, saying they hated Sundays.  Now, for the most part, they enjoy Sundays and look forward to family time. I'm grateful we heeded these teachings.  I can't imagine trying to do church at home, competing with everything else we do for the rest of the week.

The other big one was about a year and a half ago we went from three-hour church to two.  This had an expectation that we'd spend that time at home teaching our children from the "Come Follow Me" manual.  We set up a plan and decided to introduce the lesson on Sunday at dinner and study in the morning before school.  I teach during the week, and Bo does Sundays.  We've seen the benefits of this in many ways. 

First, our kids have learned much better how to sit still and contribute to a lesson.  I have prayed for help in learning to teach with the Spirit.  I've seen that prayer answered. I don't claim to be great, but I've gotten better.  I think it's a great blessing for the kids to see we have testimonies, and we don't just go to church out of tradition or habit.  

I love going to church with other people, but for now, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be able to have the Sacrament in our home and having our spiritual upliftment in our home.  We have had many tender moments during talks and testimonies.  The Spirit is strong in our little meetings.  I also get to play prelude each week, which I love (so grateful for my organ).

Here's how our little meetings go.  We open with a prayer and Sacrament Hymn.  We move to the table to have the Sacrament.  We then have a talk, musical number, and another talk by Mom or Dad.  Then a closing song.  Come Follow Me is at dinner.  It's short but truly sweet, and the Spirit stays in our home much better throughout the week.  I can tell because the kids are getting along better.  Life is just more peaceful:)

General Conference was a couple of weeks ago.  It was indeed a breath of fresh air. I've been trying my best to have faith and not fear as this pandemic creeps in and then attacks cities. It has been hard at times.  I've worried about food, the business, our health, and others who are struggling.  I have felt strengthened and been able to worry less.  I instead look for blessings.  We had fasted the week prior, and the prophet asked us to fast again.  This time those of different faiths all over the world joined in.  We have seen things begin to turn around.  The gospel brings so many blessings.  The knowledge we have brings comfort, and I can understand better why we must endure hardships.  

Finally, I've felt I needed to study the book of Revelation the past few months.  I started a little before all of this began.  It has been an invigorating study, and I've seen plagues in the world that were prophesied in that book.  It isn't anything any of us want to live through.  One of the most significant insights I've had through all of this is that we shall not fear if we are prepared.  As we listen to our leaders, follow their counsel and teachings, hard times still come, but we will be prepared for them.  We will be strengthened and able to endure what comes.

Sweet is the peace the gospel brings! This phrase goes through my mind often. Because of the Savior and His teachings, and because I have tried my best to study His words and follow them, I have been able to have peace in my life through all of this turmoil.  Scripture study is one of the most important things I can do.  It grounds me.

This is more the spiritual part of the silver lining.  Once again, this post has gotten a little long and was more than I planned on writing.  So, I'll do another post about what we've been doing in our daily life.  

Who Would Have Thought? A Pandemic!?

In January, we started hearing about this new virus circulating in China.  It's called COVID-19 or Corona Virus.  This disease is crazy!  For some reason, it has a very high mortality rate in the elderly, and kids are mostly unaffected.  People can have it and not even know.  But, others get it, and it kills them reasonably quickly.  Some end up on ventilators and have a 40% chance of living, while many just get a small cold.  It's VERY contagious and has a 2 weeks incubation period.  It spreads rapidly without any sign.  Until it's too late...

But, I wasn't too worried about this disease because it was in China.  We'd had a few scares over the last 15 years or so, but they have always managed to stop the illnesses from getting into the US population.  But, this time, mistakes were made, and it is here.  In Fact, it's everywhere.

So much has happened in the last 6 weeks, and I want to put some of it here for a record.  COVID popped up in Washington in a nursing home.  Then it spread to New York and California.  Once we had heard that, we knew there was no avoiding it.  It had to be everywhere.

I will never forget Thursday, March 12, and the entire week after.  Things got very real, very fast.  First, President Nelson canceled church and gathering for General Conference.  Nobody would gather at the conference center.  Every national Athletic Association and then college athletics canceled events until further notice.  Schools all over the nation began to get canceled and announced that online school would begin until further notice.  Eventually, the governor ordered us to shelter in place, which means we need to stay home unless we had an essential job.

I made three trips to different stores to be sure I'd have what we needed and some extra to get through this.  I think I spent around $1000 on food.  Thankfully, I had saved some money because we were supposed to be going to Palmyra, New York, on March 25.  Everyone seemed to have the same idea as me. Only they bought toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and every cleaning supply you could find, and I didn't think of that, so we don't have much of that.  But we've been ok.  The stores are finally starting to catch up with the demand.  All stores, pretty much are taking online or phone orders and bringing them to your car.  Life is just so strange right now.

It's hard to explain all of the emotions I felt.  Fear, uncertainty, unease, shock, and I just kept asking myself if this was really happening.  This doesn't happen in the US in our day.  For many mornings I'd wake up, and a few minutes later, it would dawn on me that we were in this crazy situation.  I am now my children's teacher with the help of the online school, and we are stuck at home.

Almost 6 weeks later, it's almost hard to remember what life was like before.  We don't really see anyone, and if we do, we are supposed to stand 6 feet from each other.  It feels weird.  If I see someone who isn't following the rules, I instantly judge them.  I know this is horrible, but it's just so odd to have these kinds of feelings.

I found this post on Facebook and took a screenshot because it perfectly described how things have gone.

I love the end of it because it says, we have so much!  Be Thankful, Be grateful.  Be kind to each other-love one another-support everyone.  We are all one.

It begins to talk about the silver linings I've seen.  This post is getting long, so I'll post next about the blessings we've seen through all of this.

March 29, 2020

April 19, 2020