Sending Love…and a Little Faith

Oh my dear friends, how long it’s been! It seems like I blinked and 3 months have gone by.

So very much has happened since the first of the year, and now here we are, in the midst of something many of us have never experienced in our lifetimes. My heart is breaking for the world right now. For those experiencing such great sadness and loss. And for those who are experiencing fear, anxiety or pain and suffering.

My prayer is that you would have peace and love wash over you. It is a time for those of us in the faith to cling to the promises we know to be true. Our Father, Lord and Protector will never leave our side. Even in the darkest of valleys, there is always the light of hope.

Our family has been in quarantine in our home for almost a month now.

The pandemic hit our state at the time our kids had their spring break. But, instead of returning to school a week later, we found ourselves scrambling to get set up for continuing our education online.

Virtual homeschooling is now our new normal.

I will fully admit, that this was a hard adjustment because of the length of screen time required daily for each child. My kids are not used to this as we have pretty strict limits in our home for screens, so this was a difficult challenge for us all to suddenly bend this rule.

While we have had several bumps along this new road of learning at home, we have also found joy in the moments we are together. We’ve enjoyed doing puzzles, building Lego sets, playing card games and reading.

I’m a huge advocate for read aloud time in our home. We try to tackle a few chapters a day, right after lunch. It’s good down time (away from screens) for my kids and I’ll admit, I secretly love doing all the character voices! We’re reading through a good one right now called The Train to Impossible Places by P.G. Bell.

We’ve also enjoyed some time outside (and inside) with nature. We got a start on growing some seeds for our garden, to be planted when it warms up next month.

And discovered a surprise in our outside garden while prepping our strawberry plants for the season…baby bunnies!

We’ll have to patch the hole where momma rabbit got in to make this little nest, but for now, these babies will be safe in their home.

Safe at home.

A new phrase that has suddenly so much more meaning than it ever did before.

Being such a homebody myself, I have found that I am adjusting better than others to the quarantine order. I feel grateful that we can stay connected with the outside world virtually, yet I cherish the moments of pure uninterrupted family time just as much.

Our family has also been fortunate in the sense that my husband’s job has security right now. He’s a manager for a large nationwide grocery chain and while his workload has been extremely elevated during this pandemic, we’re counting our blessings that he is still able to provide for our family. I’m also thankful that his employer has taken the health and safety of their workers into consideration and provided face masks, gloves and plastic shield guards at every checkout lane, along with hiring more temporary support staff to lessen the burden of the high consumer demand. This week, they will be implementing further procedures like limiting the number of people allowed to shop inside their store at one time, creating single lane aisles to ensure people are following safe distance requirements, and taking temperatures of all employees as they begin their work day.

My husband has always been a hard worker, averaging 60 hours on a typical week, but during this pandemic, I have been astounded at his tenacity to endure even more. He and all the other grocery and retail workers out there deserve more than a pat on the back for putting themselves out on the front lines for the greater good of the community during this uncertain time. I’m so proud of him and thankful for his unselfish ethic.

There are so many things that we can choose to focus on right now. If we remain negative and fearful, we undoubtedly will suffer. If we shift our gaze above, and remain hopeful, faithful, and thankful (that’s right, I said thankful) then it’s amazing how our attitude can change for the better.

It was Corrie ten Boom who said:

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”

If you don’t know who this remarkable woman was, I’d highly recommend reading her biography, The Hiding Place, where she recounts the story of her family’s efforts to help Jews escape the Nazis during the Holocaust and how she found hope while she was imprisoned at a concentration camp.

I pray you may find the same expectant hope during this dark time, and that you may see the light shining bright at the end of the tunnel.

To each one of you I’m sending all my love, and a little faith.