The world is changing, right before my eyes, the world is becoming a different place. I'm seeing things I've never seen before. Schools shutting down, stores, bars, theaters all closing down. The shelves are empty, there isn't toilet paper or water, lots of stores are running low on food. Thankfully where I am we are still good on food. I've read about times like this in history but I never really expected to see it.

My sister took her grandbaby to the doctor yesterday and was made to wait in the car until they called her in, her and the baby had to have their temperatures checked before they could even go in. People are wearing masks and gloves everywhere, restaurants are take out or drive thru only. It's unreal.

Then I hear of other worse things, Italy is collapsing under the weight of this virus, 1000 new cases a day, over 400 new deaths a day. and its spreading fast in other countries too. Here in America we are trying to stop it, to slow it down. We are using terms I've never heard before, things like flattening the curve, social distancing and slowing the spread. I wish I could say that everyone is taking it seriously. That our country, our world is working together to stop or at least slow down this pandemic but I can't. I can say SOME people are practicing social distancing, some are isolating but many aren't. I can only pray that enough of us are that maybe we can slow it enough to matter.

There is division in my home and I'm reminded of the Bible verse where Jesus tells us that he will bring division.

(Luke 12:51-53Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.)

That's how it is in my family and even in my home right now. My parent refuse to isolate, even though they are at a higher risk, both older and with health conditions. My sister is doing a light quarantine, my sick aunt that is on dialysis isn't stopping her activities. I had a fight with my son when I told him I didn't want him around any of them for the next couple of weeks. I can't get my husband to agree to stop going to church services for the time being. So many still think it's a hoax or an over exaggeration. I've always heard that history repeats itself and I guess that's true because I read in Hitler's day people heard the rumors and reports of what was going on with the Jews and the gas chambers but so many didn't believe it. They thought it was a lie or an exaggeration. Well here we are less than 100 years later and saying the same things, there aren't that many people dying, it's only a small group that is affected (the elderly), it won't affect me personally. Wake up people, it's here, it's real. Life is changing, but we, America and other countries are fortunate we can learn from Italy and China and hopefully Be better prepared. Everyday we slow it down new treatments are being tested, better preparations are being made, vaccines are being tested. A week or two can make all the difference. This is a new world but it could be a stronger, healthier world, pollution is clearing up, streams and waterways are clean again, families are home all together, children aren't shut up away from their families in school but home with their parents, the church is learning new innovative ways to reach their community. People are learning to rest, be still, to pause. We are all reminded what is important, people are praying again.

Day 1 of our semi strict quarantine.

This feels so weird to me, in some ways I feel like I've prepared for this my whole life and it almost feels like I expected it. In other ways I kinda feel like I'm in total shock and just completely unprepared for this situation.

We have food to last several days so I dont have any plans to leave until at least Friday. When Friday comes I'll have to make some decisions.  Will I go buy groceries or order them online and just pick them up or maybe have Kris get them when she gets off work since she works at Walmart and is already there. I've never ordered groceries online and not sure if I want to do that or just go in and get them myself.

I also have a couple of bills that need paid, most of our bills can be paid online or over the phone but there are a few that don't offer that option. So by Friday I've gotta make some decisions about that.

We started teaching the two youngest girls at home, again I should be prepared for this I've homeschooled 4 kids for over 20 years but I dont feel at all prepared, I dont have curriculum or a solid plan so we are just kind of winging it.

I'm scared. I have to admit that. I'm 44 years old, almost 45 and I've never seen the government shut down schools and budinesses, I've never been told to quarantine, I've never experienced this kind of thing and there is SO much information! It's hard to know who to believe, some are saying it's very serious, there is talk of massive deaths and complete economic collapse. But there are just as many reports saying it's all a hoax or at least very exaggerated. We are told it's basically a flu, only the elderly or those already sick are really at risk.

Weeks ago a friend in the UK told me I should start buying extra food and preparing. I did listen and I believed him but our family lives pay check to pay check just paying the bills and buying groceries week to week is difficult so going out and spending a lot of extra money on groceries was hard. But I did, I bought a little bit extra and my plan was that I would just buy 20 or 30 dollars extra each pay. I did go ahead and buy everyone immune boosters and vitamin c pills, we are already taking a multivitamin. But things moved so fast that by our next pay I was faced with the decision of whether or not I should buy enough to hopefully last for two weeks in case we are quarantined or just buy our normal groceries, I bought about 100 dollars in extra beans, rice, pasta, peanut butter and soup. I'll write a separate post about that.

So now we are in a semi quarantine which basically means we have stopped any unnecessary shopping, no more going to restaurants, our church is shut down so we can't attend church any more. We are still doing some things, My son Kyle is still going next door to help my dad feed and tend his animals, My grandson Joshy is at his dads house this week and it stresses me not knowing where they are going and what they are doing. So we haven't completely shut ourselves in but we are limiting our contact with the outside world.

So back to our school day, today we did a math worksheet, I had the girls write in their journal for penmanship. I found a great program online that I thought they might like where they can write a book. I thought that would be fun for language. We watched videos for Science and History. I hope to get ahold of the girls school and get their books so we can do that next week.


 

Living Happy Update

I want to start today just acknowledging how happy and at peace I feel! The rain has finally stopped, I have fat, lazy dogs strewn all over my house (shedding hair and fur everywhere 😂). The house is clean and smells like lemon and vanilla, cartoons are on the television and my granddaughter is cuddled up beside my holding her doll.

Money is still tight, things still need to be done but my ice box is full of groceries and my heart is at peace and I'm thankful for all the blessings in my life.

Community Service Ideas

Good morning blog world! 

So I have been thinking about starting a group at my church. Our church has been pushing small groups for the past year or so and I've been kicking around the idea of starting one off and on but I couldn't think of one that felt right. Years ago I led a girls group and I've thought about starting up a girl's group here but we already have a girl's group for the older girls and there aren't really enough little girls in our church to start one. Then I thought about maybe leading a health or fitness group but that didn't really grab me either so I just keep shelfing the idea. I don't want to commit to something to just do it, I want it to feel right and so far nothing felt right. 

Then I had an idea and it feels right! I want to start a group that will minister and reach out to the community. Part community service, part random acts of kindness type of group. Something similar (or exactly like lol) to what I'm doing with my family. The more I think about it the stronger I feel that the church just isn't fulfilling our purpose anymore, that Christians have lost sight of what we are called to do and be. I know that I've lost sight of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. As a church whole, we have gotten so caught up in just attending services, we spend so much time and energy keeping ourselves prayed up and saved, and I'm just going to say it, entertained that we don't have the time or energy for anything else. 

I know this isn't true of every church and every Christian but most churches that I see don't have any real outreach or ministry programs in place other than things like Wednesday night Bible studies, Sunday school, Sunday evening service, maybe a youth night on Friday nights and a prayer service once a week. But there isn't any focus on feeding the hungry or visiting shut ins, even things like nursing home ministries seem to a thing of the past. Everything seems to be believer based, believer focused and while I agree we do need those things, we need prayer, preaching ad Bible study we can't neglect reaching out to the hurt, sick and hungry. I worry that we have become too self centered. 

Anyway that is the reason behind why I want to start this group. My idea is to have a group of people within the church that will sign up to volunteer at food pantries, nursing home visitations, to go visit shut ins or volunteer at animal shelters or environmental groups. I know our town has a community group that focuses on keeping our city beautiful. They pick up litter and plant flowers, I'd love for our church to be involved in that!

I think that this would be a great outreach too, it will help us to get to know people in our town and neighborhoods, make some new friends and maybe God will lead us to people that we can touch?

My idea is that once I have a group of interested volunteers I can find opportunities within our community and make them known to the group. I thought I'd come up with a sign up sheet and people could sign up for the events/opportunities they are interested in. At first I'd keep it to just 2 or 3 activities a month. 

I need ideas and suggestions! I'm thinking of naming the group In Action Ministries- I think it's kind of what I have in mind-the church in action, love in action that sort of thing. I'd really like to hear any opinions or suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Focus on Service- February

Hi! Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoy your visit. 😃

I've been putting a lot of thought and prayer into ways that I can serve my community. I think this has really weighed on my heart ever since Christmas. The problem is I don't really know how I can help or anything that I can do. So I've just been praying for God to open my eyes to the needs around me. I made a few phone calls over the last week and I found a food pantry that needs volunteers so I signed me and the kids up.

When we first arrived we were later than I wanted to be. I had hoped to get there around 8:45 but it was closer to 9 and there was already people lined up and filling the parking lot. I was a little bit concerned because no one seemed to know that we were coming or what we should do. It took some time and honestly my anxiety and awkwardness was making me regret a little bit that I had even signed up. Add to that the fact that Kyle, Renee and Lily also felt shy and out of place I was tempted to just quietly slip away and never show my face around there again. But I stuck it out and finally someone found jobs for us to do. Renee was assigned to pass out little boxes by the door and Kyle and Lily were given carts to help carry peoples groceries to their cars. I didn't want Lily to go to stranger's cars alone so I worked with her. She didn't really like that I wouldn't let her work alone and I'll admit that the chances of anything happening to her in daylight in a crowded parking lot is pretty slim, but I'm just over protective like that.

The work wasn't hard and it really felt like we were apart of something good. Over 100 people got food that day and that feels important. All the workers were very friendly. I was excited when it was over to sign up for another day. Unfortunately, I found out that Lily and Renee can't volunteer there any more, they have a minimum age limit of 18. And Kyle said that he didn't really want to go back, he found it very awkward trying to make small talk with strangers. I'm hoping that I'll be able to change his mind but even if he can't I'm going to go back! I'd like to volunteer there at least once a month.

I'm looking for ideas and ways for our family to get more involved, if any one has tips, ideas or blogs involving random acts of kindness or service I'd love to hear about it. If you have a blog or blog post about volunteering or ways that you or your family serves the community please leave the link in the comments so I can check them out. Thank you!

Focus on Service

I have put some thought into how my family can more actively serve our community and after some discussions in our family therapy time (to read more about that click here) this is what we came up with, every month we will focus on doing 1 act of service or volunteer or in some way reach out to our  community. We don't know what we will do each month but this month we are going to focus on wounded soldiers. I found a website where you can send care packages and cards to soldiers. We agreed that this month we are just going to send cards but plan to try to do a care package later on down the road. It looks like a great program if anyone is interested in doing something like this I'll leave the link below.

I went to our Dollar Tree and bought 5 packages of cards, the website offers some good tips and advice if you haven't ever done anything like this. We had a good time with this. My oldest daughter Kristin, who is 26, joined us and the 5 of us spent an evening writing out cards to wounded soldiers. Renee drew pictures on many of her cards and Kris wrote out funny poems.

This was a fun thing to do. It didn't cost much and we all enjoyed it. I haven't mailed the package off yet and I'm not sure if anyone will write back. I did include my post office box number and I hope we get  a couple of responses back, I think the kids would really get a kick out of that, if not though I'm glad we did this, I hope it cheers up a soldier that is maybe down or lonely.

Here is the link if anyone would like to send a soldier a card.
https://www.operationgratitude.com/

Van Living

 

                

   

I have become completely OBSESSED with the idea of this ever since I saw it a few months ago! One of my main life goals is to travel and I love the simplicity behind this idea! I can imagine throwing a mattress in the back of my van, loading it up with pillows, blankets, and some good books and just hitting the road! 

One of my favorite memories from my childhood was doing something similar, we had one of those old station wagons and we would lay the seats down and cover the backend with blankets and pillows and sleeping bags and go on long trips. I loved it! My sister and I would spend hours back there reading, playing games and listening to music, it was an amazing experience.

There is a part of me that longs for this type of life, heck right now I'd settle for a 1-week vacation like this! There is something so simple and appealing about the idea of life on the road, living out of the back of your van, stopping whenever the mood strikes. driving to beaches, deserts, mountains, maybe visiting some national or state parks. Someday I WILL absolutely do this!

If anyone else has this gypsy/ hobo/ wandering bug and you are ACTUALLY living this life, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE comment below or message me, get in touch, I want to hear your stories and live vicariously through your experiences until I can hit the road myself! If you have a blog recording your travels leave the link in the comments I'd love to follow you.