I could write about so many things that were happening in the world. But instead, I want to write about all of the things that were happening in our home, in our neighborhood, in our hearts.
I'm not going to lie. It was really hard at first, with Dave and I both working from home, trying to manage the kids' zoom calls and assignments. There were lots of tears and lots of fights. Everyone was worn out, discouraged, trying to face reality. For us, that took about a week. Then we started to see the silver linings. All the silver linings.
We had a big talk about grace. How we needed to show each other more grace. How we needed to show ourselves more grace.
We spent a weekend at the cabin with Gammy and Paw Paw. Then we came back ready to tackle our new normal. Or at least to try and make the best of it.
We went for walks every day. We read our Bibles everyday. We made our beds everyday. We got on a schedule, making sure the kids were getting plenty of physical activity.
We set up tents in the garage for campouts. We got to know our neighbors really well, meeting in our driveways in the afternoons, playing in sprinklers, having street baseball games, having driveway dinners together. We played a lot of family games, drank lots of hot chocolate, baked way too many treats. We watched movies. We snuggled.
We bickered. We worked things out on the "problem solving step". We got on each other's nerves. We had to forgive and move on. Love is hard sometimes, especially when you are together all the time.
We had to change our expectations to meet our situation. We started to realize that this was probably not going to go away any time soon. We were sad. We missed our friends. We missed people. We missed the little things that we couldn't do anymore. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. We were thankful to be healthy and safe. But some days were hard. Some days we struggled.
Brooks was really sad that he was not going to be able to celebrate his birthday with friends. So we made it absolute best day that we could for the four of us. Our sweet neighbor made a balloon arch to surprise Brooks when he woke up. We ate ice cream cake for breakfast. We had a drive by birthday parade, where many friends and family came to honk and say hello and make Brooks feel loved! We played Minute to Win It games and laughed our heads off. Grandma and Grandpa sent hoverboards for Brooks and Presley's birthdays. I somehow managed to score the very last Nintendo Switch at Best Buy in Frisco right when I realized that we were about to get shutdown. Brooks ended the day by telling me that it was his favorite birthday and he felt very special.
All through April and into May, we continued to stay at home, and away from most people.
We played dress up. We played restaurant. The kids played Just Dance a lot! We bought a plastic pool, but it didn't last long, and we took it back. But we got a slip and slide! Dave used dish soap to make lots of bubbles.
We dyed Brooks' hair blue and Presley's hair pink. We dyed Easter Eggs and threw confetti eggs and had an Easter Egg Hunt in the yard.
We watched online church together every week. We took communion with gluten free crackers and juice in medicine cups and shot glasses. Our children's director had fun Bible challenges that we participated in online.
We set up zooms to talk to friends and family.
We went for drives to get fresh air. One day we found a little beach area. We stopped and played in the sand and water. Something that would have seemed so small before, now seemed so big.
We started to really appreciate the little things. We started to really appreciate each other.
We celebrated Dave's birthday. We rented a pontoon boat and went fishing on Lake Texoma with our friends, Jenny and Trey. As long as we were outside, with people that we knew were also being cautious, we were comfortable.
Our neighbors offered to watch the kids so we could go on a date. We opted for socially distanced pedicures and dinner on a patio. Although, we didn't realize they would make us social distance from each other. We were made to have a chair and plexiglass in between us.
Brooks and his friend, Che, rode their bikes back and forth to each other's houses every day to play.
Our old neighbor from Frisco made the kids some new masks and asked them to model them for her Etsy shop. Presley loved telling people that she a was a model!
Many people started losing jobs. And we knew it was possible for Dave. We were thankful everyday that I had a stable job, and that he still had a job. And then he didn't.
May 15th, Dave was laid off. And even though it was scary, we had peace. We knew God had a purpose in this. We had been through this before, and we knew God's plan is so much greater than ours.
The same day that he lost his job, we went to Broken Bow with some friends from church. It was a great get away. It was a change of scenery. It was laughter during hard times.
Our school had a virtual field day and the whole family participated.
Our neighborhood pool opened up, with limits to the amount of people that could be there. We went in the evenings, when most people were home eating dinner to avoid being near too many people. We kept our distance, but we had fun. Lots of times our neighbors would go with us. It's amazing how well we got to know so many people in our community.
Everything just seemed so much more intentional. Our relationships. Our priorities. They have new meaning now.
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