2020 :: week 12

March 15

Our first Sunday with "home church." Anthony ended up having about 8 hours of phone meetings, which was about four hours more than I expected. Our stake has not yet been authorized to perform the Sacrament in our homes (much of the time Anthony was on the phone was discussing with stake and ward leaders how to ensure everyone has access to the Sacrament). I did teach a lesson about having faith during adversity. It was based on the Come Follow Me curriculum for this week, and it felt especially timely. I made everyone gather for a picture (taken with the timer on my phone) to mark the commencement of our "social distancing" time.

March 16

I was feeling all kinds of negative feelings on Monday--stress, uncertainty, anxiety, etc. It was the first "official" day of Spring Break, so our kids were already out of school, but schools across the country were announcing closings and I was feeling wary, knowing it wasn't a matter of "if" our school would be cancelled for awhile, but "when" and "for how long."  Anthony and I took Miles for a walk after dinner while the older kids watched Lego Masters. We are leaving the kids home alone for short periods of time now while Anthony and I go for walks. If Miles is awake he comes with us. We saw a bunch of dog poop an irresponsible person left on a driveway and it made me laugh out loud. Some of the Corona Virus-related memes have been so funny, and the poop reminded me of a meme my sister Melanie sent about people pooping in the yard because they were out of TP. It was so refreshing to get outside of the house, feel the fresh air and laugh about something so ridiculous.

March 17

The John kids are big fans of the show Lego Masters and got started on their own Lego projects Tuesday. Will and Lauren spent most of the day holed up in Lauren's room working on their builds, with Elliott popping in from time to time. Will made a food court and Lauren made a school. While I was making dinner and listening to the news I heard the announcement that the Governor cancelled schools in Kansas for the rest of the year. Even though I knew it was coming, I still felt a bit shocked that it was over for the year. I figured they would cancel it for a few weeks and then see. Lauren cried when she found out and Will and Elliott were sad, but weren't as upset. I felt a real sense of loss myself. All three of my kids have had exceptional teachers this year. They were engaging and nurturing and all three kids were really thriving. The school district sent out an email saying that the district will be working on putting together an online curriculum in the coming days, so we will wait and see how the rest of the year plays out.

March 18

Miles and I had a rough week. His nose has been running like crazy, and I'm not sure it was allergies, a cold, teething or all of the above. Whatever the cause, it has made life less pleasant. I have had a headache for the past few days, so I was sympathetic to his pains, but not feeling especially indulgent. It was very frustrating trying to find a way to soothe him, because nothing really helped. On top of the headaches and general grumpiness, it was cold and gray most of the week. The gray weather and increasing bad news making for a fairly gloomy week.

March 19

Lauren and Will take turns emptying our dishwasher and putting the flatware away. When Lauren puts our IKEA plates, bowls and cups away she stacks them in a rainbow. I love that she does this and it makes me smile when I open the cupboard and see them organized this way.

March 20

When I am on the go I tend to snack less and eat better. Now that we are home all day every day for the foreseeable future, I am trying to eat a healthy lunch. With all this extra home time on our hands I am tempted to bake and snack! Lauren is our salad lover and she helped me prepare our salads for lunch on Friday.

March 21

Our friend JC mentioned on facebook that the arboretum was free for the weekend, so we did our morning chores and headed down south. It felt so good to get out in the wide open expanse, walk the trails and explore. There were a fair amount of people there, but not as busy as the free weekends we have gone to in the past. Since Lauren started gymnastics in January she has been cartwheeling all over the place. She cartwheels in our kitchen, family room and wherever she can fit one in. It made me happy to see her cartwheeling out in the open. After a week indoors with lots of ominous news, it felt great to be outside in the sunshine.