Covid Chaos

This is the face of COVID 19-

Life on a screen...

It is incredible how quickly life can get turned upside down and now we live on ZOOM calls.  Who even knew what ZOOM was before the middle of March?  No one at our house.  But alas, now it is one school, church, dance, family call after another because we are yearning to stay in touch, but are all supposed to be isolated.  It is hard.  We are not supposed to leave our homes except for essential trips. No social gatherings are to be happening and everything keeps getting cancelled-games, performances, recitals, trips, camps, life...ugh.

We are really trying to keep the rules of social distancing, which means we are home all the time.  We have decided to support small business and eat out twice a week-the kids are loving that.  We are doing puzzle

after puzzle

after puzzle.

Thanks to Shannon for dropping a bunch off and keeping us supplied!!

 I think we are up to 9 at least.  The Avengers one is completely appropriate for our home because we took the Marvel challenge.  We've been watching every Marvel movie in order of when they took place.  So, Captain Marvel, while a newer movie, was watched as one of the beginning shows as it takes place in the 1980's.  What we enjoy the most is how Harrison completely embodies the characters of the movies we just watched. When we finished Spiderman, he's somehow in the door frame of our pantry, if it was Captain America, he's throwing shields across the room.  None have been quite as impactful as Black Panther.

As we were watching Black Panther, the kid was already running up and down the stairs to try and tape jewels to his chest, he was acting out the fight scenes, etc.  When the film wrapped up, Harrison crossed his arms and exclaimed, "Wakanda forever."  He insisted that I perform the ritual where the new leader (Panther) of the Wakandan people had to drink some colored liquid.  I went to the kitchen where he had poured milk into a bowl and colored it with food coloring.  After I served my king his ceremonial beverage, I thought we could start homework.  Well, I had the kindergartener write his sight words that had been assigned for the week.  I took a look at his paper that he told me was completed and I was absolutely confused.  I couldn't read a thing he wrote.  He told me then that the words were in Wakandan, but his homework was done.  He said he could read it.  Of course, I have to completely trust him, he is my supreme ruler, but the question is...can his teacher read Wakandan??  

 Speaking of school- they  are officially shut down FOR THE YEAR.  Heaven help us.  We are finishing out the school year at home and it will conclude middle of May.  We feel so bad for the graduating seniors so there are lots of plans to help them finish off their formal education years on a good note.  It's hard to miss performances, graduations, competitions, dances etc that you've been working on all year.  Katelee had a her first big part in a play that she was supposed to perform.  She was cast as one of the main orphans in Annie and had been doing all her rehearsals.  Those are cancelled for now...maybe they will get to perform in the summer.  She was so excited to have a part. 

We are putting forth a big effort to look for the good and count our blessings.  So far, no one in our family (immediate or extended) has contracted the virus.  Shannon's exposure caused her to be tested and quarantined, luckily she was negative.  We were sooo happy to have General Conference at the beginning of the month which brought so much peace as our prophet gave an apostolic blessing, new temples were announced (including one in Dubai and China! I couldn't help but let out a little sob for that news), a new proclamation to the world was read, the saints around the world gathered to declare a Hosanna Shout from across the globe-but the unifying spirit was INCREDIBLE.  I could feel the millions of people in unison praising God and pleading to be saved.  There was a rush of the spirit to our home and heart which was so needed.  The Hosanna shout was memorable not only for me, but Harrison too.  I heard him chanting it as he marched around the room.  It may be sacrilegious but he is 6 so he gets a pass.  

And so, we look for the SUN and to the SON in our days right now.  We made the most of our spring break...

no fruity beverages in a tropical location, but hey, why not some apple juice and bread?!  It's pretty much just as good. 

That boy's skin nearly glows in the dark.  It's remarkable.  hahaha

The middle school principal (in the Tiger suit) along with one of the VP's came to our house to visit Katelee because she had just been awarded student of the month before we were shut down.  

We loved how much they went the extra mile and are reaching out to students and our family in particular.  We are all trying to see what we can do to lift spirits.  Harrison's cute kindergarten teacher celebrated a birthday and so many people showed up to drive by her house in a parade fashion.  It was adorable.  I love seeing things like this.  Everyone is trying to be creative to create unity and bring some joy.  We can't technically do YW/YM activities together yet, so we decided to have the youth make cards that we could mail to a care center.  Care centers aren't allowing any visitors, so their poor residents must be so lonely.  We had the kids put the cards on their porches and we told them we'd come by to pick them up.  But of course, we had to make it exciting...hence the 80s clothes, songs and sites coming at them from the street...

I am so glad these ladies are good sports and made it fun!  We broke the rules in this picture by standing by each other, so we had to post one that was socially distant and acceptable on the ward page!  shhh...

And so, we are hanging on.  Coping with food...

movies, puzzles, walks-we've discovered we like to walk to Sodalicious-it takes some time and it results in a delicious treat! We are hanging on to the uplifting messages from conference.  I particularly liked a bit from our prophet when he said, "Why do we need such resilient faith?  Because difficult days are ahead...how you deal with life's trials is part of the development of your faith.  Strength comes when you remember that you have a divine nature, an inheritance of infinite worth."  He also said "You will have days when you will be discouraged.  So pray for courage to not give up!!  I promise as you follow Jesus Christ, you will find sustained peace and true joy."

So, the days that we just keep feeling knocked down or beat up...

(Black eye, courtesy of the wrestling match of the day)...

we are going to keep our heads up and develop that resilient faith and have courage! When we can't go to the movies, we will rent them, when we can't see our friends, we will facetime We will make our fun!  When we can't swim at pools, hey, we have bathtubs...

when we can't dance at the studio, we zoom call in and let everyone see your moves.

Life is anything but "normal" right now, but we have been healthy and for that I am grateful.  Now, back to a zoom call....