Birthday during Coronavirus

The Coronavirus is getting beat! We have had Easter! We have had school lessons! We have worshipped! We have had telephone, FaceTime, Google, and Zoom meetings! And yesterday we celebrated Chris’s 47th birthday! The kids made two special desserts and Ashleigh and I made dinner. Dinner was a fave- grilled salmon with a buttery lemon dill sauce Ashleigh concocted, dill potatoes, stewed squash, and a Caesar salad prepared by Dylan. We have used serving platters and bowls and served family style instead of buffet style. Ashleigh played the guitar and we sang Happy Birthday. Lastly, Chris went on a dessert hunt with the kids giving him cold, hot, Arctic, and warm as clues. The kids spent the afternoon making the strawberry cake and chocolate delight. It was like Cake Wars and Sugar Rush (two shows we enjoy watching) in the kitchen. At dinner , we shared stories of birthdays past and family time. Dylan wanted us to hide and surprise Chris and he played along and stayed out of the kitchen and living room while we finished our preparations. We had a fun night celebrating!

Easter 2020

This year Easter services online due to Coronavirus stay at home orders. Our Sunday worship began with Ashleigh, Chris, Dylan, and Austin making resurrection rolls and telling the wonderful story of Easter. 

We worshipped with songs and message from Citadel Square

Later in the afternoon, Chris and I hid eggs and all three kids hunted. We had money on the inside of the eggs to make it even more fun and a little competitive. Although in the end, we made certain they had same amount. For dinner, we ate a dinner with ham, green beans, potato salad, sweet potato casserole, and rolls. We had a joyous,Easter celebration-He is Risen!

Life for Us during this season

It is almost been a month of quarantine- stay at home orders - nationally. While it’s hard, we continue to trust in God for our health, our nation, our world.  The boys and I are on Spring Break this week and we cancelled our plans for a short getaway, but this has not stopped our family from joining together and coming closer. Each week we have had at least one planned family night with fun foods and movies, but we have also had game nights, mad minute fun, strawberry picking, riding bikes, walks, basketball, and singing worships songs, musical songs, pop songs, and various others. Ashleigh is learning to play guitar and this is another sibling bonding time. We enjoy family devotions in the mornings and breakfast. While we have a routine,  we also have some unplanned times too.  During the week, Chris is able to work and come home at lunch. We all worship on Sundays virtually.Austin and Ashleigh are also reading together while Dylan, Chris and I sometimes listened.  We have worshipped online with various venues, but can’t wait to worship with other believers once the stay at order has been lifted. Easter Sunday was quite interesting yet joyful knowing that Christ loves US so much that he gave His Son for us - yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Ashleigh has about two more weeks of classes and online learning before her finals at the end of the month/ beginning of May. She has managed to demonstrate various skills and patient assessments while at home and learning online. The professors are so heartfelt and caring this time- not only in the nursing school, but also a choir class she is taking and a leadership class. Online collaboration and live sessions have also been helpful and provided growth. The boys and I will start back our e learning next week. It’s been nice having a break. I have learned that I am an ambivert - meaning a mix between extrovert and introvert. While I am not sure if we will return to school this year and will more than likely finish the school year online- I pray these next weeks/ month of learning the students know one thing - I love them and miss them dearly. While Austin understands the coronavirus and stay at home order and elearning, Dylan does not. He enjoys being out of school but longs to face time or be online with his classmates. We all miss the connections. One goal we each have- making relationships meaningful and intentional. Pray for our family as we continue to grow our relationship with Christ and one another. Praises for the little things and BIG things- to God give the glory.

Bike Rides

 Each afternoon, Austin has been playing with his friends and riding scooters. One afternoon , he had Bristol, if he could practice/ try out her bike- to his surprise, he rode it! He was sooo excited. Chris and he went out the following afternoon when Chris got off work to buy Austin his own bike that wasn’t too small. He had a challenge for Ashleigh the next day.  In between classes online for Ash and e learning for Austin, Austin, Ashleigh, and myself set off toward the pool where there was open space to ride bikes. We all got on bikes. On the way, Ashleigh has managed to also steady and ride. She found it much easier to ride on the road and sidewalk vs grass. We proceeded to the trails. Austin led explaining to Ashleigh the bumps, humps, thrills as we ride. It was so sweet and cute all at the same time. At the end, we all took a loop around the loop at the pool and rode home. Since this time, Austin has ridden the trails with his friends, Ashleigh, and Chris. He even rode to the gas station with adult supervision. He got chips and a drink. He was thrilled! Ashleigh has ridden to Publix and Smoothie King, the loop around our street, and the trails many times. On one of our rides we saw a curb alert that had put out a bike. She and I picked it up. ( I have been riding Chris’s bike) It needed a tube so I ordered one online  along with some new handle grips, a cup holder and a basket. Now everyone has a bike. (We are on the lookout for Dylan an adult tricycle. He actually walked on evening with Austin and had attempted riding a big wheel (the big wheel is too small). He wants Chris to drive the jeep and follow us on the trail. He uses his hands to show follow. He is content with listening  to songs. We even thought maybe a tandem bike and the pull behind but he is full grown 16 and it would take a lot of force and power to pull. We are so excited about bike rides and enjoying that time together during this time of the Corona virus and even after!