Year 5, March 27th-29th, 2020: What Just Happened? Life?

Covid-19 Social Distancing/Isolation Days 8-10

Day 8, Friday

Bwahahaha, I am currently watching a "live" video on Facebook called Together, from For King and Country and they are playing their song "Drummer Boy" because they love drums and it's about playing for the King.  They play it all year long because it's a fan favorite. All their band members are in their separate homes, so Benaiah and I suspect that they recorded all the parts and then played it for us "live" like Indian Creek is doing. But it's pretty cool how they put it together. Lots of artists are doing this "private, up close and personal, live from our living rooms" concerts. It eases the pain of not being out on the road for them and their fans as well. I just got word that the Michael W. Smith concerts were moved to November. My particular concert is still listed as TBA but it's not a good month for me since I will be in Israel, hopefully, maybe. I'm going to ball if they overlap each other. I can't miss this concert and I can't miss the trip, obviously. I'll keep praying, but those are the kinds of prayers that God doesn't typically say yes to my desires. So we'll see.

Phew! I added the pictures and vids of most of the day while I was listening to the music and some vlogs, but forgot to finish typing up here. I think the pictures tell a pretty good story of our day. I was gloomy. I have a rebound headache. Still pain everywhere. But I did finish going through the art supplies that I started last night. I'm glad I took an hour and got the purple box cleaned out then, because what a mess! It didn't have all the little doo dahs I thought it had, which is fine. I threw away a bunch of stuff and organized the rest into types. And then this morning I put some things in the other art drawers in Keturah's room and checked the parts of the art shelf where the actual bits and bobs were. I think I forgot to go through the art book when I did my big sweep of books, so I'll double check that tomorrow. We paint rocks and/or paint the front window as well tomorrow. And watch the "I Still Believe" movie that came out today. Well, sort of came out. You can rent it for $20, or the price of cheap movie theater tickets. It was only in the theaters for 3 days before it shut down. So I am renting it now to give the movie some boost in box office sales. We have 30 days to start watching it and 48 hrs to finish once we start. And then we can actually purchase it later when it officially releases digitally. The rental release was today, so I wanted to make sure to get it done. Anyway, it was a fairly productive week besides my gloom and doom.

I just want to cry all the time. I had a dream about Benaiah going to and from work and being scared he will bring home the disease. I am now actually scared of the disease and one of us getting it. I'm not sure I can handle that kind of illness or caring for someone with that kind of illness or a hospital setting right now. Not when the 10th anniversary of my mom's passing is this April 29th. And he isn't giving us a clear answer as to what his cleaning protocols are. I can't tell if he's lying to us about wiping stuff off at the store or he's really doing it. He spent today prepping raw chicken, so there's that. I just wish he didn't go into Kroger and Meijer 3 times a week for this or that. He says he does it when he first gets paid and then avoids it. And he hasn't eaten out as much. I did get a note from Chad Monahan today about how he appreciated how helpful Benaiah was yesterday. I don't know if he's seen any of my posts or if it was God's prompting, but it was soothing to hear that. I know we can just pray that the virus doesn't come here, pray for protective angels, but in my experience, God's going to allow what He allows and none of my prayers have stopped that. It goes back to my insecurities about being heard.

Which reminds me, yes, yesterday was a hard day for me. I was just on edge. Don't know why specifically. But in the midst of it, my typical rant of "why can't my kids initiate anything? why can't they learn their math? why can't they be nice? I was all of those things and more! I thought homeschooling them would make sure they would (end up like me). Why am I putting all of this effort into raising kids that are no different than the world?" Ok, that's all very insulting of everyone, I know. But I did have a bit of an epiphany about it today. I just don't get it because no, my personality is different than theirs and I grew up in a different era than them. I thought I could overcome a personality with homeschooling.  I was wrong. But here's the thing. My personality and my intelligence are there. I'm smart. And when people go against what I say, whether it be on a Facebook rant, or people telling me I shouldn't yell at my kids (like I don't know that) just because I'm angry at the world on 100's of levels right now, or that essential oils are all fake, it adds up and get even more mad and frustrated. If I have a higher IQ than my kids and can "get" math and teach it to myself and understand accounting and economics and ace the ACT and SAT, and graduate with a 3.85 with a 1 yr old on my hip, don't you think I'm intelligent when it comes to STAY HOME and WIPE ALL THE THINGS DOWN? Do you not think I KNOW what the Bible says and what a Christian is supposed to do and why? And then, after I say all that, I feel stupid because I can't teach my kids how to think intelligently. There's a disconnect. And then I doubt what I'm doing at home and the group I'm a part of. I don't look successful in my eyes when my kid can't remember the steps to a math problem and to show all his work. Or the other one says she looks at the previous lessons right before the test and there's the exact type of problem on the test and she claims she doesn't know how to do it. Did I do something wrong? Is it the TV's fault? Is it the culture? Is it a teenager brain problem? I'm basically relearning math with my kids except I'm not watching the DVD's or reading the teacher's manual. I can figure out the teacher's method by just looking at the problem and the solution sometimes. So, that's where that lands as we go back to school full time next week.

And then the library emails and says they will close indefinitely. But I need my books! For school! I already looked for digital content! Ugh! Maybe that's God telling us to look at other things we have and hands on materials and maybe internet materials. I just don't like giving my kids more screen time to read a book or watch an educational video. Sigh. We'll have to change our methods for this season. I'll live. But more work for me next week. It's just been rough. And the IG pics down below will tell more of the story. It will take some work to put them in order, but I'll try. My pics and vids from the online "live" concert also didn't load right, so I'll work on those tomorrow as well. Here goes.

My little Bible lesson on Instagram:

 

  

 

Rescheduled tour. But those dates are mostly within the trip dates to Israel. It's making me nervous.

Well, I didn't, but I'm going to buy it right now. We can watch it during the kids' screen time tomorrow. Evenings are just hard for us. Or we can do it as a family on Sunday afternoon. It's just hard when Jared is working remotely.

Manchester, NH was a planned city like Indianapolis was! Cool!

This is happening tomorrow night. My concert was supposed to be on Sunday. This makes me weep.

Woot! Woot! See some pics and vids of it below!

Late night scrolling. Animal ambassadors need sponsored! I want to d this one because I'm dying to see their facilities! I know we have connections, but,.....those animals need to eat even when they aren't doing programs!

These guys are so cute! And yes, they remove the scent glands so no one gets sprayed!

We met this guy years and years ago. So cute!

I saw this post on IG so we tried it today!

Yeah! Our IAHE online conference was featured in the Demme Learning email today!

And in another homeschoool organization's email!

DNR did pick up on Jared's tweet from yesterday and passed it off to another organization.

Here's our attempt! It worked for a bit! And then Benaiah destroyed it when he got home.

Poor doggy couldn't get through.

Jared, I and the dog, removed a couple of the sections so we could walk through and then we taped them back up.

Late lunch and lots of bubbles (farts) and giggles. Abishai is stir crazy!

And Justin plays along and it makes Abishai giggle even more.

Life is so much more joyful with this one. He's always going to be the life of the party and in a family of introverts, God knew we needed it!

Yeah! It's our conference!

Found these as I finished sorting some o the art supplies. They go with my favorite measuring cups and have magnets on the back to attach to the fridge so you don't loose them. They say, smidgen, dish, and pinch!

We found some magnet letters so Abishai got to work spelling out his name. Well, not really, but he pretended to.

Yes, Abishai, the active one, gets around to all the rooms, like the dog, checking in with everyone all day long, seeing if anyone will play (or pet) with him.

This was very timely.

Note my response.

The store ordered the right kind of strawberries but the warehouse messed up. So, after it was offered to all the other employees, we ended up with some free fruit! #blessings

Ah yes! My instant pot mashed potatoes recipe calls for broth, which I've been trying to use more here and there, and at the last second, I remember I had saved broth from the chicken last week. I stopped saving broth because I never get around to using it, but last week I figured that we need to stretch everything again, so yeah, I'm glad I got to use it! I pour out the extra after they are cooked, mash them up, and then you have dairy free mashed potatoes. I did have to add some broth back in though to make them smoother.

This irked me on Wednesday. This edict went out last week. We saw a couple of families and a couple of groups of teens not abiding by this. So, I double check that the park I saw them at was indeed an Indy Park, and it is, and then shared this on the Franklin Township Chat Facebook page. Someone said they did put police tape around the playground at the Wolf Run Park on Thompson Rd. Why can't people simply obey? Why?!

Typical. Boys on electronics with big boy also calling his girl after work.

Screengrab from a message to our text string from the Smallbone brothers. This is Mr. Joel.

Jared did use the charcoal with the Pampered Chef electric/charcoal grill tonight. It had stopped raining but was cool outside. Yum! And red potatoes with broth, no dairy in the pototoes and only avocado non dairy (margarine/oil) "butter" on top. You can see the brand at the top right of the picture.

Abishai wanted to eat outside but we wouldn't let him. So he set this up and insisted he eat with his fiends in the living room.

Camping.

This is where I find my kids all...day...long...this one is supposed to be doing homework but he takes frequent breaks to play on his phone.

Reading, reading, reading, screen time, reading.....on her bed, and then complains she is hot.

Video gaming, or asking for it....and big one was also on his video games. Our poor board games are always neglected.

Here we go!

I do NOT own this, but I figured it was easier to link you to the full video by For King and Country than post my little clips. Enjoy!

YouTube For King and Country Live "Together: A Night of Hope"

It sounds too good to be all live at once. Plus, hint, hint, it's still pretty light outside their windows. The sun had set when this started and we are pretty much directly north of them.

Nice social distancing. I'm sure they had to get all the instruments from storage/semi trailer to their homes, so they migh have still seen each other before this. But it works!

Nice!

This lovely couple are some friends of theirs that was going to sing "Burn the Ships" at their wedding, which has now been postponed because of the virus, Covid-19. I think they are over in London.

The advantage of in home concerts is that I can get great close up shots! Lol!

Kathie Lee Gifford, another friend of theirs.

Kirk Franklin, too, who has done a song or two with them.

I wish I had been in this video. I couldn't get my video to load into an email. Oh well. Pretty cool new song.

And then they all disappeared.

Day 9, Saturday, the 28th

Wow. I woke up very depressed this morning. My head was pounding. My other aches and pains weren't as bad as earlier in the week, but I still need to keep my chiropractor appointment on Monday. Small practice, very little touching, lots of hand washing. Jared is still going there anyways. It would do be no good to delay a couple of weeks because we would still be under "stay in place" orders. I whined again on social media about convenience versus essential. In this case, my chiropractor appointment is essential. It is the one treatment that keeps me stable. I already rescheduled Benaiah's wisdom tooth extraction consultation, and any pcp or dermatologist or even gynocologist appointments I would reschedule at this point because I am stable for the most point. Except for this shoulder and neck pain that I literally want to cry over. Certainly it's not as bad as those with Covid-19. I am now hearing first hand horror stories about having the illness. And it makes me so mad when people are still going out to playgrounds and having BBQ's even if it's just with relatives. This doesn't work unless we have 100% compliance. And yesterday and today was supposed to be Jared and I's getaway to the IAHE conference. And tomorrow was supposed to be my front row seats concert with Michael W. Smith. I haven't thought too much about them in the last two weeks, but today, it is weighing on me after my explosive behavior this week. Again, these things are to me what spa days are to other women. I needed this break from my kids. Yes, I know everyone needs breaks from their kids right now, but you don't get it. You've only be with them for 2 weeks. I've been with them for the whole lives. And just because I choose this lifestyle, doesn't mean it's an easy one. I choose my husband but sometime I don't want to be around him, right? Anyway, the morning started out a little rough.

Abishai was up I think around 8:30 but the rest of us snoozed until 10am. I didn't care. I wasn't going to be the mean mom today and stick to a schedule. I just wanted to be left alone and maybe sleep, maybe just chill on my phone, maybe do some things I wanted to do that weren't necessarily on my to do list or were hard for me mentally like cleaning out something. I need a break from my routine of get up as quickly as I can and push everyone along through the day. So, I tried to stay hands off. Benaiah had a morning shift at work and texted me at 10 am asking if we still had water. Well, we have well water so we are only dependent on electricity to run it, why do you ask? Apparently, a water main broke on Emerson near the hospital and most of Franklin Township and part of Perry Township directly west of us didn't have any water for a couple of hours. It sounds like they got part of it fixed pretty quickly. Benaiah stayed at work for his entire shift. Good for him, but I was hoping he'd be sent home and the store would close for a bit. When I searched on the Franklin Township Facebook page to find out what happened, I said that my son at CFA was without water. And a lady said, "Well, tell me when they have water so I can get my sweet tea and chicken nuggets." Oh I was so mad! I wanted to go of on her! My son is working in fast food not for your stomach but for those on the front lines, truckers and hospital staff. Your needs are not essential. Go make your own chicken nuggets and sweat tea! I fear every day he will bring something home to us. They've been close to breaking their drive thru records, which tells me it's not just the essential people getting food and it makes me mad. So I shared, once again, why I think fast food or take out is not essential. And that people need to redefine what is "essential" by reading through Little House on the Prairie or watching current missionary programs in third world countries.  Toilet paper is also NOT an essential item believe it or not. So don't even mention your "needs" for sweat tea. Ugh!

But that was it for the ranting today. I actually stayed off of social media today because Keturah, Abishai and I accomplished a big creative art project: stained glass door painting project! We did it! I took it slow and steady and enjoyed the process without music or a podcast. Abishai painted some and was really careful. Keturah did a lot more and even did her windows in her room. I did the second coat all by myself! I'll show you the process in the pictures below. I don't know how to remove the paint, but I hope it stays for a long time. Jared even liked it! And it was very soothing to me today. I shared pictures with all my family and Dawn, who was the inspiration for it.

Then Jared made an order with Home Depot or Lowe's or both, for wood and water softener salt and other tools. I think he got the wood for the workbench project. Which, technically isn't an essential. But I didn't have the heart to say no because this is a good time to get it done. We also ordered mulch today. Again, I was trying to be a good girl and hold to the "essential" rule and wait, but Jared handled it and I really want it done. I did notice and feel that grass is growing under the black tarp stuff. Jared said I could use the old shingles, so I will do that on the next dry/warmish day before we get the mulch. Jared also purchased tools so he could get a discount. Sigh. Why does he go through so many tools?! We've bought several sets of tools over the years. Aren't those things supposed to last a lifetime? I can see our IRS monies starting to go down and I'm not crazy about it. Sigh. We are definitely not buying frivolous stuff though, so that's good. Jared went to a store 1 hr away to pick up everything because he wanted to be far away from the confirmed cases of Covid-19. For once, I'm glad he's a germaphobe.

Meanwhile, we had leftovers for dinner while listening to a "live from our living  room" worship set by Michael W. Smith. I was able to connect my new bluetooth speaker to the tablet so we could all hear it better. The kids didn't stick around, but I was able to really enjoy the 40 minute set. It made me cry though because I would have seen him tomorrow if we didn't have to stay in place. This time, Stu G went over to Michael's house to play guitar, keeping 6 ft between them of course. Debbie Smith said a great prayer as well. I'm glad I was able to be online live both tonight and last night. It makes me feel like I'm not missing out on as much.

The kid had their screen time, reading time, phone time, and bummed around the rest of the day. I'm not sure what else Jared got up to. He's ending the day with a migraine and hurting because of the way he had to sit in the van after picking up the materials. He's doing a lot better overall though. Yes, I was bummed that I had to take Excedrin Migraine again this morning. I used Tylenol yesterday to try to combat the rebound headaches and was ok with it until it came raging back this morning. Ibuprofen lowers the immune system, so we are trying not to use it right now. It got really warm today, up to 75 in the house, so I had to find some shorter pants or shorts to wear. Well, I barely got my shorts on from last summer. I'm totally bummed about that. I hate my weight. It's awful. I don't know what to do about it. I'll track my food intake again. Not calories necessarily but type of food and portion sizes. I've got to get my body used to less complex carbs and sugar carbs. I just wish I could have a tummy tuck and get rid of it that way. I weight 150% more than I did on our wedding day. It's an awful feeling. So I didn't eat carb at dinner and now I'm hungry, 3 hrs later. Ugh. I'll eat a little snack and then try the overnight 12 hr fasting thing again.

Otherwise, yeah, that's all I did today. Paint, clean up, bummed around. I didn't have to cook or do laundry. I didn't clean out a space. I did nothing "productive." And yet, I feel satisfied in my painting. That feels wonderful. I'll have to do that again. But for now, we have church and then heading into another full week of school. Oh, and I did hear back from the library and they said, no, they aren't thinking of drive thru service at this time. Maybe I'll ask again when the peak of this is over. They are now closed indefinitely instead of setting an actual date. That was wise.

I'm out of time, so I'm not going to mess too much with the chronological order of these. It's better to finish than to be perfect. Here goes.

Just read the IG captions please and thanks.

Yes, I love my little stuffed animal collection. Jared doesn't make comments about it, he just ignores it.

From the quilt above.

Neighbors praised and clapped for this first responder. They are working such long hours with very few supplies. She was crying.

Singing "Waymaker" from the top of a hospital Sweet!

Again, I do not own rights to this video. This is a link to Michael W. Smith's main Facebook page. I thought it would be better for you to watch the whole thing rather than just my little clips, although there are a couple of ones I'll post.

Michael W. Smith Night of Worship

Debbie Smith sharing a special thought and prayer. I love how Michael has always looked at her with such adoration.

Little guy wanted his turn on the tablet, but he did sway a little bit with the music.

Just Michael and Stu G this time. Love it!

I spy with my little eye, Michael's Grammy awards! I'm pretty sure they've been there since he won them. Yes, I can recognize parts of his house. I watch way too many "behind the scenes" videos. His Doves, last time I saw them, are in his basement den I think. He's got, what, two dozen of them? He doesn't need to show them off. Anyway, I'm a fangirl, what can I say?

Praying Scripture over everyone.

Keturah did such a great job at picking out colors. She doesn't like it when certain colors are next to each other. I didn't know that. But I LOVE it!

Found out that a friend reposted an e2 IG post. Fun! And yes, this was from last week that he was at the office.

What's more fun that playing video games with Daddy on your motorcycle trike? Lol.

Yup, from earlier this morning.

Daddy had Justin clean up the old dead weeds near the fence line. So Abishai asked to pick up sticks. But then he found his bubble mower and insisted on mowing in his pjs and boots. Then Justin had to dig the post hole for I think the bat box that Benaiah tried to dig for a couple of years ago. I'm glad they got out this morning because we had some severe weather go through today.

Warmest day of the year! I was nearly sweating in the my heavy long sleeve shirt and skinny jeans. The skinny jeans, since they sit tight against the body, actually keep me warmer.

After working in the yard. He was unhappy that he had been sweating so much.

Red feet from not wearing socks in Daddy's rubber boots.

Aww, puppy love.

The red chair is now Dinosaury and his friends' toilet. What?! Who thought of that? Keturah was sitting on it when Abishai said that!

Shauna found these instructions for us, but this is what we did! It was super easy and fun!

First, I used masking tape to mark everything off. I used our friend's window as a guide.

Outside view.

I bought these paints, paint cups, and probably the brushes, too, before we went to Canada from our local teaching shop, so they are school grade equipment. The cups especially are awesome! We didn't use the lids today, but, they are the perfect size to keep the drips at bay.

Abishai surprised me at how well he could stay in the lines. He did a few spots of green.

Keturah did all the yellow areas, which was the cross and three rays of light. And she determined it would look best if we painted in a downward stroke. Great idea!

Aw, we did an art project together!

Getting there. Half way through the first coat. This is when Keturah told me she doesn't like certain colors next to each other.

First coat. I think we did a decent job of choosing which colors to go where. And I also got the mixture just right with the dish soap, water, and paint.  Wahoo!

Then Keturah decided to do her room windows. The lattice work is inside the window, but she did a good job of not going outside the lines.

She used masking tape to mark where her stool goes in her room that she uses to get in her bed.

Same with her Legos.

Since the library is closed, I offered to lend out our collection of puzzles and games. My friend said it's like you are half price books! Well, kind of !

Proof that I did a lot of painting.

That second coat made a huge difference! I really like how it looks from the inside.

The outside looks a little dull but it could be the lighting. Jared wants me to take off the masking tape, but I like the lines.

It looks a little bit better from afar.

Second coat on Keturah's window.

My poor aloe plant is so full! I don't know what to do with it!

The leaf that I broke off did heal itself though by sealing off the end.  Maybe I just need to take one leaf at a time and rub on myself. I just don't know.

When the youngest brother blocks the hallway and you want to walk through but your knock into the bell on one of the toys...poor doggy....

Pitiful.

Benaiah made another one of his Hello Fresh meals. He doesn't like mushrooms, but he ate the chicken and most of the carrots. He left the mashed potatoes. This is two portions, by the way.

I guess Benaiah was hungrier than he thought.

This was so hilarious!

I need to go back and listen to this.

Here's the above storm on radar. It was a doozy!

Marion County is in the red zone and is now categorized as an emerging hot spot. It's definitely time to stay home as we hear about a family friend struggling to breathe.

Marion County, not the state at large.

By day, yes, in 5 days time, confirmed cases of the Covid-19 virus disease had climbed exponentially. We are barely in the woods yet.

Day 10, Isolation, Sunday

I've got nothing much to say. The pictures and videos explain enough. Here they are.

Awww, of course he has to sit near us.

Sunshine through Keturah's "stained glass window."

The sun was in and out because of the clouds, so I'll try to get up earlier and take better pictures on another day. But oooooo, pretty!

A bit cloudy out, but pretty. And next time, I'll leave the other door open because you can see the black outline that is around the window of that door.

I don't see much difference. Tape on or tape off? I think this tape off above and below the red block on the right.

An this is tape on? I don't want to take the tape off, but Jared does.

Storm clouds. But really, they were just rolling through. No storm but tons and tons of wind today.

It was a little brighter but then the sun went behind the clouds again.

Jared's answer to this tweet was interesting.

This is my answer.

That's not chalk on the floor, that's a reflection of our stained glass door!

"Don't blink!" has been upgraded! (See the Cybermen for that reference).

Bwahaha

And why can't we do this every day anyway?

Little guy had to have his usual Sunday School snack, goldfish and water to dunk them in.

Communion, which they put at the end of service this time, I think because people didn't feel they had enough time to pray the last couple of weeks.

Music, with social distancing spacing, pretty good as usual.

Abishai LOVES to try to sing the adult songs.  I don't know if he remembers us holding him during the singing at the Cornwall Christian Church since he was an infant, but it warms my heart to see this. Especially since Keturah refuses to sing and Justin barely sings. Benaiah was in bed for church this morning. I told him that if doesn't watch the 4:30 service, I will make him join us next week. He watched the 4:30 service, we think. He went to his room at least and closed the door.

"No devil's" cracks me up. Well, it did until she was indicting that Abishai was a devil because he destroys her things. Um, not funny anymore.  That's white tape is like a wipeboard so she can wipe it off.

Gary and Leah found this toad hopping out from under their couch in the family room as they were watching the sermon this morning. Eew! Gary got it outside. And then Leah made a comment about a huge opossum making it's way over to Beavers house. Ali said that her Justin saw it yesterday morning! Lots of critters out here in our neighborhood!

He's finally upright! We woke him up at noon. It's now 1:30pm. Good grief!

Abishai loves to help Daddy. Jared tried using his "snake" to clear our clogged tub drain, but it was too big. Benaiah had used the toilet plunger on it yesterday which helped a ton. Instead of standing in 4 inches of nasty water, I only had to stand in 1 inch today. Jared plunged it again for good measure, but unless he goes into the crawlspace to get at the pipes, he can't do anything else right now. And going in the crawlspace would tweak his back. We'll live with the clog.

A little video Jared posted about Abishai jumping on Justin's back. Oh wait, this is everyday life, not just quaratine.

Abishai is obsessed with Star Wars storm troopers thanks to the animated show Clone Wars. And I'm obsessed with the Mandalorian! Baby Yoda is my new Jar Jar Binks. He's so adorable!

Abishai put the orange cones here to indicate it was a work site. Quick thinking!

Benaiah loves making his own foo at home!

Bwahaha, I hope this isn't who I think it is. President "Spray tan" as Jared likes to call him.

This is a little contest I think I showed you the other day. Well, here's the entries.

Abishai begged for me to come outside and play baseball, so I did. I was procrastinating fixing this blog post!

Justin helping Jared fix a planter for some trees.

Ew! This is the hole for the post Jared wanted. I think it's the bat box pole finally.

Lots of rain with these bad storms. Back yard is flooded again. Lots of muddy dog feet to wash off.

This is what they call "turtle crash." They do a side safety fall and then roll on top of each other.  The giggles that come out of Abishai are so precious. Justin is 3 times Abishai's size and 3 times his age and it doesn't matter. These two are best buds.

Here's the cooper hawk that Jared saw eat a songbird the other day. It kept swooping with the wind above our property.

Abishai saw Daddy digging out weeds so he got a shovel to help. He picked the biggest one he could find of course.

And they dug out 3 weeds! And then he was done, of course, and left Daddy to finish. My little pj loving bare foot little guy. Always busy. We wore him out today, that's for sure.

From the bed, to the kitchen, to the couch. To his chair, to his girlfriend's front porch, 6 feet away, and no touching, back to this chair, kitchen, and chair. That's Benaiah's new Sunday normal routine. Quite different than being at church all day, isn't it? And he's so big! Taller and weighs more than his papa. How did he grow so much? What a way to finish out your senior year, too. It makes me cry if I even mention it. Sigh.

I realized this just as I sat down to type out today's blog post. I could cry, a lot. For days. A minor dream in the grand scheme of things. And I have been front row before. But, I needed this break. I miss my Smitty family, too.

I'm so grateful for these living room concerts. I love how artists quickly adapt and utilize social media for good.

"Hulk, smash!" Keturah LOVED that phrase when she was little!

These guys are the best people my kids could have as their "other parents." Although my introverted middle kids don't always feel the need to connect to the outside world and my oldest has his two best freinds, it's important that all three be there to share something in common with their peers. Same goes for Jared and I. We are happy to be home. We don't need a lot of outside connection. But it's good for everyone involved. 3 kids, 3 devices. Justin had the live stream of the "after (the 4:30 church service where Chad and Luke moderated the chat) party" on YouTube on his phone while he was on his bed. It says there is 267 views of the video as of 11:10pm, 5 hrs after the life stream. They created a brand new channel for this, so it's under 100 subscribers at the moment. So, here's to a fun YouTube channel, ready or not, here we come!

 CSM After Party 3/29/2020

Keturah got to watch the livestream on my computer, logged on as me. I'm not sure if Benaiah logged in or not. He was with Ava and they both should have been on but I don't know. Benaiah DID get a shout out for helping put the tech and set up or this after party together. I LOVE it!

This is Chad, our high school youth minister. I don't know how he keeps with the young ones, especially their lingo like "crib" and I don't know what else right now.

Oo, look, I have the Known, Valued, and Loved and the MSM stickers on my desk! This is Keturah tuning in!  When they asked what the kids were learning during quarantine, Keturah typed in, "Courage and patience." Alrighty then.

And this is our middle school minister, Luke. We love Luke a ton! Justin got pretty close to him and they often play video games when they can.

And here's Justin on his bed streaming the after party.

What the what?!

Explaining it to Family

So,.......my kids.....oh my goodness! One kid gets a shout out for being helpful and the other one......gets a shout out because he didn't silence his phone at CIY Move! So, about 50 people around him hear his ringtone say, "Oh baby, a triple! Oh yeah!" right when the speaker was about to pray! And Benaiah just said that he had called Justin on Thursday asking if they could use that story as a joke. Ok, then. Well, then they actually played the clip of the ringtone during the storytime AND as they signed off! Bwahaha! Both call outs so reflect those boys' personalities. Benaiah, the wise helper, and Justin the naive, head in the clouds but still trying goof. By the way, That Blanabs Guy is Justin. It's a twist on one of Benaiah's names "Blanaba" that Justin used on the PS4 for a very long time. And then it looks like I chimed in, but that was Keturah. And under my name is is Ron Hittel, one of Justin's small group leaders, and the "juice stain" is a nickname that Benaiah gave him.  There didn't seem to be many on the livestream, so I'm glad my kids were part of it. Both Justin and Ketuarh will use Zoom to meet with their small group this week. It's a good thing we have a few devices ready to go. But the way this whole scecnario played out with me walking back and forth from the sunroom to the bedroom not knowing what to expect had me cracking up! And it was also incredibly weird to hear people I know in real life during a livestream on YouTube. Really weird. I'm used to them on Instagram. But to hear the podcasting type of microphone livestream, wow, crazy cool! I'm grateful that we can bring the church finally up to speed with the rest of the world. Sometimes I feel we haven't embraced social media likes we should have been doing. I mean, I'm glad that they have focused on the kids in real life, but, to be honest, kids are on their phone more than they are present in real life. I think the good out of this that will come for ministries worldwide will be the ability to use technology better. It's been a crash course for many, but one that is necessary. And that's just from me as a consumer following all the social media personalities that I do on the various platforms. Anyway, great story, great laughs, what fun to have the kids talk back and forth from one end of the house to the other on the same live stream. I'm grateful for our student ministry team and will keep cheering them on forever because we parents couldn't do this without their help. I know that when I fail, there are other adults in my kids' lives to pick up the pieces. That's so comforting.

Then I got this. Kristina is a friend from co op. And this person is a friend of hers. Some people on the posts I put on Facebook say it's not true at the hospitals they've been to. I say, it doesn't matter because even if it's exaggerated, it's going to come true soon. Just stay home.

And that's why I can't stand when my friends and family keep going out to see relatives or make unnecessary trips to the grocery store for just a handful of items. Stock up and stay home. If you forgot something, too bad.

After party vibes, like the real deal!

Everly sent this to us via text. Very appropriate.

The End