Year 5, March 20th-22nd, 2020: COVID-19, And So It Begins

I am counting to start our own "lockdown" count starting today since this was the first day Jared was at home all day. And after having birthday dinner with Gary and Leah, we are no longer going to meet up with anyone. That means no morning men's groups, no Bible Studies, no neighborhood church, not even visits with individuals. If you haven't read my previous blog posts, or I haven't fully explained it, I will try to do that here. COVID-19, coronavirus is, as explained on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).^[8] The disease was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally, resulting in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.^[9][10] Common symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Muscle pain, sputum production and sore throat are less common.^[5][11] While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms,^[12] some progress to severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure.^[9][13] As of 20 March 2020, the rate of deaths per number of diagnosed cases is 4.1%; however, it ranges from 0.2% to 15% depending on age and other health problems.^[14]
The infection is typically spread from one person to another via respiratory droplets produced during coughing.^[15][16] It may also be spread from touching contaminated surfaces and then touching ones face.^[15] Time from exposure to onset of symptoms is generally between 2 and 14 days, with an average of 5 days.^[17][18] The standard method of diagnosis is by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal swab. The infection can also be diagnosed from a combination of symptoms, risk factors and a chest CT scan showing features of pneumonia.^[19][20]
Recommended measures to prevent infection include frequent hand washing, social distancing (maintaining distance from others), and keeping hands away from the face.^[21] The use of masks is recommended for those who suspect they have the virus and their caregivers, but not the general public.^[22][23] There is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Management involves treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.^[24]
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak a pandemic^[10] and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).^[25][26] Evidence of local transmission of the disease has been found in many countries across all six WHO regions.^[27]

As far as what Jared and I are doing is that we have decided to do, in order to flatten the curve, we are doing our part and staying home except for grocercies. I think in black and white and don't do well when I have to make decisions, so for us, we have decided that means, despite the current allowances still of being with groups of less than 10 people, buying take out food/using drive thrus, and only going to work if your job is an essential one, we aren't doing any of those things. Jared feels more anxious than I do about our personal immune systems, but we don't feel we are in the high risk category and we don't typically have friends that are compromised on a regular basis. And our kids do not have any health issues. But instead, we stay home so we don't become carriers of the virus without knowing it. That's how I feel it's best to do our part. Some in our family think otherwise, and to be honest, it annoys me a lot. Like annoys me a TON. But, I'm trying to remember my counselor's words about thinking about what my gray area is for myself and that might not be the gray area for others and I have to not get snippy about it. And as always, just as long as Jared and I are 99% on the same page, I try to accept what everybody else thinks and does. That's been a huge struggle for me and always will be and I've talked about that alot. No, it's not ok for others to behave like they do. But can I call out everyone in my family or on social media. No, that wouldn't be right either. So, during my more emotionally fragile state, I have to distance myself not only physically but online social media as well. The less I see, the less mad a I get.

To be clear, we are not "stay in place" or on "lockdown" yet, here in Indiana. But Jared and I are not willing to push the boundaries. Lol, it might be our introverted personalities, or our way of sometimes wanting to be obedient and overly so, I don't know. I just want everything to be on lockdown so we can quite hemming and hawing about every decision. We live in a culture of stupid people. They don't think recommendations apply to them (or they go to the other extreme). Mob mentality either way. I almost joined them. But, my introverted self who procrastinates and wavers on a decision because she wants to make sure it's the perfect one, gave me just enough time to think rationally. Actually, it was Jared's refusal to see the movie on Sunday that made me think a lot more about it. And because I believe the husband is the head of the household and because I might have been looking for an excuse not to go or for him to make the final decision, I listened. Sometimes I have to make the decisions if he doesn't care or it's not a major issue. So don't you be putting up your "she's too submissive" antennas. I prefer to be submissive BECAUSE I hate making decisions and I don't want to be the one who's wrong. I need to blame someone else, lol. Anyway, you should know what I mean and that I don't blindly follow my man or anything else. I question A LOT of things. But, yes, having Jared to fall back on and make sure I'm not thinking too crazily helps.

And yes, it helped tremendously that he was home today. It felt like a Saturday. I made sure to tell him to close and lock the door and work. He has to figure out his boundaries. And Monday through Friday, I'm still on duty. Now, if he decides to play with Abishai during a "break," that's up to him. He does struggle on a whole with time management. Ok, that sounds bad. He's not his Dad. And he's not me either when it comes to being efficient. My efficiency has taken a nose dive (in my opinion) so I keep working on bringing it back up to my standards. We've discussed some things that he could work on around the house, or maybe he wants to take 5 minutes to go water the trees or something. But we'll keep our normal routines as much as possible and he's not completely on Dad duty until the weekend. But you should have seen Abishai running from one end of the house to the other looking for a playmate, or "Hey, Dad, look at this! Hey, Dad, come build with me. Hey, DAAADDDDDD!" He was even questioning when Jared goes to work, or why he's working at home. I think he's trying to figure out where he kind of fits into the picture. Poor extroverted guy needs attention and he's in a house full of introverts! Benaiah is an extrovert, but he is still working at CFA. He did get 31 hrs to work next week. It takes all of us to entertain Abishai if he's not on a screen. Ok, there are times where he plays quietly next to us. And I told him he can do that while Daddy is working, too. He can bring his toys into the bedroom and zip his cars around and read his books, etc. I think that will help overall, especially during read aloud time.

As I mentioned before, I'm taking a break from school next week, but the kids are still going to do math and reading and it's counting towards our 180 days. We finished day 165 today. I'm sure I will go until the end of May, but 35 more days, or 5 weeks, brings us to the full first week of May. I'm good with that. I told the kids I will stop when I feel there's a good stopping point, but by the end of May for sure as normal. It's probably good that we stop early so we can focus on Benaiah's things IF they are still going to happen. As of right now, the governor said that schools are closed until May 1st. So after 1-2 weeks of spring breaks starting this week, it's back to e-learning until then. Some experts say we will be on "lockdown" for 8-10 weeks more, and that would basically mean that kids won't go back to school at all. Weird times for all. Except homeschoolers. We homeschoolers, we got this. Well, not all homeschoolers, especially those that depend on co ops and extra curricular activities and sports. But for us, it doesn't matter. We had a shortened day today because it's Friday, and we put in a LOT  of read aloud and solid homeschooling this week. I have one more act of Macbeth to finish with Justin on Saturday, and then he has some writing to do that I would like done by Monday. Keturah and I pushed through and finished one read aloud book today for history, but I didn't read anything out of her read aloud science book. I'd love it if they would finish up a lot of the library books in the next week but then I backtracked and thought, uh, we can't get to the library for the next set, so,....hold on and don't push too hard. I did look to see if any of the books I ordered come as e-books, at the library, but no such luck. And I'm sure most of them I wouldn't want to purchase either. I didn't check to see if the DVD's might be on YouTube. Of course I could try to purchase some things on Audible or Amazon. We'll see if I can get that going. I know that Amazon and Audible are offering more free content, especially for kids. It's all supplemental books on the 1600's, and I have just enough here to be fine with not having library books. Oh well.

Math they both need to continue with since they are both "behind." And they both totally agreed with me. I talk about it often. Justin needs to finish his book, and he has 7 more week's worth of lessons to do. Keturah is still a bit behind, but she's flying through fractions, so that's encouraging. I told her we might do a little bit over the summer and see if we can "catch up" before the fall. And then I'm also taking a break for my own brain (hello, try reading MacBeth when you aren't a literature teacher, yikes!) and for my own projects and to be present for our online convention on Friday/Saturday or however they are doing it. The IAHE is offering it for free for a year if you sign up in he next two weeks. They've worked hard at recording 130 sessions of content and offering a virtual type of exhibit hall. Now, I doubt it's going to be a special 3-D version of the exhibit hall, but rather coupon codes and maybe some special videos by the vendors and links to their websites. Not exactly helpful to me, but I'll see what I can do. I had an inkling anyways of what I wanted. I just have to do some more digging and asking the vendor's directly. So, that should be fun.

As far today went, we played a bit outside between the time it was drying out from the last two days of big storms and when the temperatures plummeted from 67 degrees to 37 degrees in a matter of hours. We saw several of our neighborhood friends taking their walks, too. It's good to know that our neighbors value health and being outside. I walked one lap with Socks, but he petered out 1//3 of the way through, so I left him home and did another lap. I sprayed the grass and weeds in the garden, because I saw some growth. Justin did a "shop" project with Jared to fix Keturah's bed. I only got one picture of it, but I should have taken more because Jared was taking the time to explain it to Justin carefully. He didn't do that much with Benaiah and I know he regrets it. I'm proud of him for always trying to parent better. Keturah had fun rearranging her room, again. She thinks it's picked up but it's cluttered and messy still. Sigh. Crazy things. Like I said, Abishai was all over the place.  Benaiah worked until 3 and then had Grandpa class.

Then we went over to Gary and Leah's for Gary's birthday. I was happy not to cook and to let the kids hang out for a bit. Aaron's family joined in on Facetime, which took away from our game playing, but it was good to see them, too. My kids don't understand what it means to talk on the phone for hrs. Gary said they talked to Bob and Shiela Crockett for 2 hrs the other night. 2 hrs? On the phone? He even said that one of the biggest annoyances of being home is the lack of face to face. He even went into the office today to meet with a person to do a podcast. Jared tried to tell him that he could do it with cell phones or webcams, but Gary insisted on doing it his way. It's a generational thing, so we all roll our eyes at each other and try not to get too annoyed. I'm sure Gary will find a way to go out to a store every other day for something "essential." While Jared and I aren't looking for ways to leave, but ways we could make do at home. It's just the way we all work. And it's fine. Mostly. Probably. I'll just turn my head and tell myself it's not happening. Yeah. Denial. That's the way to go. Just kidding. I do know that Jared will be reluctant to go package up orders. To each their own will we practice social distancing.

So thus ends Day 1 of our Covid-19 confinement. I think secretly we are going to enjoy it. The two introverted kids were ready to head home 30 minutes prior to the rest of us and the extroverted kid wanted to party all night. And I get my wish to have more time with Jared. We can't go out on dates, but we'll be able to interact more and say more than two words to each other every day. Sigh. I'm a happier woman than I was earlier in the week. Let the fun begin!

P.S. Ava is now under "quarantine," which is basically her mom saying she can't leave the house. I guess snail mail, Facetime chats, little gifts left on doorstops, will be the two lovers ways of communicating. Poor things. I'm glad they had some great days together in the last couple of weeks. And now they've become us, once again, long distance relationship, sort of, not really, but I would like to think that way, thank you very much. This should prove interesting. I'm not worried that the distance will come to an end to things. Nope, in this case, absence will make the love grow stronger. They will be fine. Many young couples are facing this. Long distance relationships are hard, but not impossible. You can ask us how we managed it for the better of 2 1/2 years. Yup, been there, done that. Sigh.

Flatten the curve! But instead of going out 75% less, make it 99%!

(Instagram makes it easy to caption my photos and thoughts, lol. Every post I write on Instagram stories is stored on my phone via a setting. Yes, that means I have duplicates but all the better for me!)

Oh boy, change in weather pattern.

Homeschooling shop class. "This angle is a problem, and we need to reinforce here, but this is in the way...." Geometry/problem solving/physics.

They finally finished all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Legos! I then carefully discretely put away all the real Legos because I hate mixing real Legos in with Megablocks.

We NEED to do this since our neighborhood loves to go for walks!

Me most days. And since I didn't push terribly hard today, I'll push harder tomorrow. Then I'll rest.

Benaiah followed us to Grandpa's house because he wanted to go home early. Well, he and Jared kept playing cat and mouse the whole way there. Then, Benaiah decided to be funny and be "Mater" and drive backwards from the stop sign down the street to Grandpa's house. A car drove onto the street, so they were staring each other down!  And then later, when he went home, he was swinging his keys on his fingers and they flew up and onto the roof! What a goof!

He loves Daddy's hat!

Time for a little birthday celebration. He's now well into his 60's.

He put his own candles in his cake, so he didn't count. Abishai loves his Grandpa.

Lots of Johnson men around.

Cousin Charles made this replica of the Titantic for Gary out of balsa wood and paper! You can see some of the photos on Instagram @modelsbycharles or at his etsy shop: www.etsy.com/people/0wfeviut?ref=hdr_user_menu

Cards.

The "essentials" dropped off by a friend.

Abishai had no clue what he was laughing at, but he laughed big laughs with Grandpa!

Sweet!

Then "Jared" and "Aaron" started in. I guess they needed to blow off steam. And, Leah actually called Benaiah "Jared" a few minutes after I took this picture. And yes, they did push the furniture around a bit.

He was ready for Grandpa to come get him. After bringing toy guys over to the house last week, Abishai wanted to do it again. And he wanted to use the same bag, too!

Time to go chasing!

A little game play before Justin had to brings to Benaiah and then Grandpa and I did a round with Keturah.

Grandma thought Keturah especially needed more pickles. It's actually Jared and Abishai, but ok. Not sure how we will fit this big jar in the fridge. It's times like these that the garage fridge would be handy for.

Facetiming with Aaron's family.

Mexican Train dominoes. I was doing pretty well and then Keturah won.

He decided he was going to brush his own teeth tonight. And he did get his own toothpaste on his brush, too!

Oo, I love this one!

Just got this text. I hesitated for a moment and then felt bold. So I sent a picture per their request since the lighting was good.

Saw a friend post this. Maybe the Johnsons could try it! Playing games through zoom!  Again, I think 4 out of 6 are us are happy NOT to interact with people for awhile. And we haven't gotten to the bored stage yet.

Self-Quarantine Day 2, Saturday

It was a pretty normal Saturday. Keturah and Benaiah slept in until noon. Justin was up by 10. Abishai ended up at the end of our bed using Jared's legs as a pillow and my legs for propping up his legs. So, I finally went to the couch because my left shoulder is locked up again. I've had to take medication and use my essential oils all day. So, I didn't do any huge physical type projects, but I do some things like showered, finished reading MacBeth with Justin, switch out the St. Patrick's day decor with the Easter decor, read my book a little bit, tried to see if using chalk on the road would show up (it didn't because we have a very well worn road, I'll try pain next time) to write encouraging messages, and I finished counting all our books! (see the posts below) Jared has finished up the "Legos" of the TMNT guys for Abishai, watched parts of movies and TV shows with the kids, talked about various projects he could work on around the house, ate too much lunch (his words not mine), played around on Google earth while listening to something, and stretched his back. Keturah finished cleaning up her room and read, read, read. She's blasted her way through our library history books. She doesn't have to read those on the weekend, but I'm glad she's working on them. I try to just use books under her reading level with lots of pictures because it's so much information that we get through. But she's read a few novels, too, and longer audiobooks. She's just in a reading phase like I was at her age. She's read most of the books in her room that were mine as a kid as well. We did forget to remind the kids to take their regular Saturday showers. Whoops

Benaiah got up pretty much in time to walk out the door to work without saying much to us.  I think he's mad about not seeing Ava and about me saying that he didn't do all the work of growing up. Yes, he did a lot more in the last 4 years, but we also have put forth a ton of effort over the years and want to celebrate our accomplishments of raising him as well as his accomplishments academically and socially in the last four years when we have his open house and graduation. He wasn't too pleased with what I said. Justin played Risk by himself again and worked on his MacBeth summaries. They all had some screen time as normal. I'm not sure what else Justin got up to. However, I'm having him set up an Instagram account because the Student ministries at church are doing most of their connecting through there and he's missing out on a lot of content like daily Bible studies, competitions, movie watching parties, messages from Chad Monahan and the like. I'm sure he'll be fine on using it. He was like, "Ok, cool, and I can promote my YouTube channel, too." So there's that. Benaiah hasn't used much of any social media, although I know he scrolls through Instagram often. He just doesn't post much. Maybe he has a secret account I don't know about, but he's been taught about the internet. He has to make the right decisions about it. Anyways, there's that.

It was very cold day, 35 degrees, so no one went outside. Gary and Leah went for a walk and took Abishai down the road a little bit. No one was out walking today. But I hope to get out the washable paint and either paint our driveway or right in front of the house for encouragement to others. Our road is public property, so I don't know if it's ok or not. I could always try and then see if it gets noticed. We'll see. It's just washable kids' paint that we hardly ever use. Everybody is using chalk on their sidewalks, too. Lots of love going around. Even the NextDoor app has added some features so that vulnerable neighbors that need help getting groceries and things can connect to other neighbors that have offered help.  It's even better than what the nation was like after 9/11. We do have a lot more social media platforms, so we see more of the good stories, but there's a lot of good happening out of all of this. Like churches quickly figuring out how to use technology they've been under utilizing for years. Our church definitely hadn't been using the social media platforms to their advantage until about a year ago. So, there's that.

We are still good on food for a few more days. We are out of regular milk and bananas. But we have yogurt if the boys need some dairy. We are getting low on eggs, which always happens when Jared is home. He has been rationing himself though. We are being creative with carbs. We are low on fresh vegetables, but have plenty of frozen. I think we might still have some ground beef and lots of alternative proteins like chicken nuggets, hamburger patties, salmon in a can, etc. There's no reason we can't eat up everything, and I mean everything and then go to the store. I'm adamant about not having expired canned food in the pantry and had just donated some things we weren't going to eat. I have plenty of gluten free stuff, which, I'll get back to eating on Monday. I want to enjoy a few more pieces of regular rye bread first. My body is feeling the same as it did without gluten so I don't know. But it's an inflammatory food, so I don't know. I'll probably eat gluten a couple of weeks before the trip so my body gets over the initial shock and then keep it to a minimum when we are in Israel, if we even get to go that is. We'll see. I did find my favorite novel about Masada though and put it on Benaiah's desk. He and I read it when we went through that time period in history years ago, and the middle kids and I read it aloud again this time around. I never knew the story because we kind of gloss over Jewish history when talking about the Bible in Jesus' time or the Romans. It's a sad story, but fascinating and we are going to get to see it!  Some might climb it, but I will take the tram or whatever. I'm excited!

And that's pretty much our day. We will do home church again tomorrow, just the 6 of us. Hopefully 11 am or Benaiah, Justin, and Keturah can watch with their youth group friends at 4:30. Their youth leaders will be online administering the chat portion. Should be fun! Oh, and yes the kids will be dressed. Maybe not showered, but dressed.  Can't wait!

Instagram again....

I love these things!

I haven't watched Doctor Who since the Doctor became a woman. I think I need to add it to my Convid-19 playlsit.

Can't wait to see how this all plays out. Yeah for technology!

Sounds good!

Yuppers! I'm Wonder Woman by the way, lol.

He's getting too bgi for the box! But he and Daddy put Dinosoury into the box with the other box on top and made a gift!

The neighborhood ducks have returned! They are looking for a nest for sure. Poor Socks is going nuts! They look so healthy and fat, too. Beautiful animals!

Abishai wanted to go outside and make friends with them. Bye Daddy Duck!

Bye Mommy Duck!

Yeah, the daffodils are open! First flowers of the season!

I love this graphic!

We will probably forget again, but that's ok. There's always some big thing around the corner to make us remember agian.

Trying a braid to see what kind of curls I get per Mary Graham's suggestion on Instagram. Yes, it would be better on not freshly washed hair. I used hairspray only. And I remember why I don't braid that much. I have no stamina to hold up my arms. And YouTubers make doing hair look so easy!

Waiting on Grandpa and Grandma to walk by.

It's supposed to be Dory saying Keep On Walking. Probably not a clear message. Hm,...I'll try paints next time.

Abishai had to patiently wait for the kids to hide the eggs. He kept asking if they were ready and then "Aww, come on!"

He was so excited to look for eggs!

I had the kids count the eggs as they put them out so we could make sure to find them all. Well, Justin couldn't remember if he put out 25 or 35. SMH. We found 25 plus Keturah's 26 for a total of 51 or so. Good enough. We put 2 old jellybeans in each of them, so if the egg gets lost, no big deal.

The kids hid the eggs pretty well. I think we'll try this again tomorrow.  That basket is the only Easter basket I've ever bought. It's held up pretty well.

Even one in his bed!

I wish my kids were more into these challenges. I have one about Easter that was in the Easter decor box. I think Abishai wants to try it. You build things to represent parts of the Easter story.

Easter transformation complete.

Yesterday he had Dinosaury watch his Bible stories on Daddy's phone with him. Abishai absolutely loves having Daddy home all the time. He insisted Jared watch a movie with him.

What can I say? He's weird. So weird. And he was listening to something, too.

That's pretty cool of Google! Handwashing and such! And Instagram has a new tag for "Stay Home."

Seclusion Day 3.

We got 5 out of 6 of us up and ready for home church, complete with getting regular clothes on and I "styled" my hair. Or rather I took it out of my 24 hr old braid and it came out perfectly! Thanks, Mary Graham, for the suggestion of practicing new hair styles! Jared doesn't like it when I have curly hair, but I do! Anyway, there's that. Abishai tried to sing along again despite not knowing the songs. He later did some "oo's" while he was playing. Too cute! I was still in pain with my left shoulder and neck, so it was a bit hard to concentrate and when it's just our family, it's not as exciting. I did my best to write my normal amount of notes on "Identity" in Christ. Similar to what I've heard before. I did notice that most of the band was Creek staff this time. I'm sure they stuck to the "10 people and under" rule for "meetings." It was a bit more obvious to me that they were transitioning between prerecorded videos. But anyway, it was alright. Then we had our lunch of spicy Chick Fil A sandwhiches that Benaiah brought home last night. I had to put a ton of ranch dressing on it and had to swallow quickly because it was too spicy for me. I then had a huge stomachache. So between that and my shoulder, I was done. I needed a nap. So, I did, in front of the fire that Jared got going, on the floor. And I survived. I woke up and talked myself out of looking at my to do list. Well, that's not true. I ended up doing a couple of things while listening to the worship service that Michael W. Smith did from his living room. But I didn't feel pressured by it.

I hope to be back at my to do lists and hit up some of the extra decluttering things I've had on my list for awhile. And work on Benaiah's photos for graduation. And be ready for our online conference this weekend? I'm not sure. I need to go back and watch the video they put up today. My nap was helpful and not putting pressure on myself to perform was a very good thing. I mean, we did do a load of dishes and a load of laundry. I let the kids have extra screen time. I told them that fine, Sundays can be unlimited screen time because I don't want to do the nit picking monitoring, but the rest of the week, we will limit it.  It was sleeting today so we couldn't go outside. Hopefully it will warm up again. I spent a lot of time on social media today, but since everyone was posting about church and such, it felt a little better than watching others declutter. Remember, declutter isn't just about throwing away things, it's sometimes just organizing what you have. But my next projects actually do have a throwing away piece to them, so that's why I've been avoiding them. Sigh. I do want to do a couple of hands on activities with the kids and perhaps finish that lighthouse crossstich piece I've been working on for years. I'm trying to work in 10-20 of me stuff like reading, crossstitch, counting the books, typing up what DVD's we have, etc. stuff that doesn't have a deadline and in the big picture of life, don't really matter that much. I want to catalogue our DVD's, right down who watched them, and then get rid of most of them. So, there is an end goal there. It would be nice to use those upper shelves for photos or other knick knacks or something like Lego creations. Oh, I know, those extra piano books! BTW, I just found a couple more books of mine on the keyboard pull out shelf below my computer. Good grief! If it isn't Legos in every corner, it's books! Both are great things to have! Keturah is reading an abridged version of Pilgrim's Progress I found in my Abeka readers because a) we watched the movie and b) Justin and I will read the real version in his worldview book soon. I bet Keturah could handle the real one, too. I have a great guide for it for when my mom and I did it. Anyway, she's reading a lot!

It was a very chill day. And that's great! Benaiah didn't get up until 3 pm or later. He ended up just talking to Ava and not listening in on the 4:30 church service. He did stop by her house when he went to Kroger to pick up a few things for something he wanted to make for her, but they weren't allowed to touch per her mom. I want to keep my black and white rule, too, however, love is an exception, right? I told him he couldn't have Ethan over because there's more people in their house, and I don't know who's all going in and out. I know Ava's mom is much more strict with these things. But, absence makes the heart grow fonder. And yes, having a teenage drive is awesome! I had him take my debit card to get milk and eggs, which our Kroger on Southport had plenty of. No bananas though and I forgot to ask him for avocados. We are running lower on meat, so I will try to do a full grocery run on Tuesday. Oh, and chocolate. I asked him to pick up a bag of chocolate. I ordered some from Amazon, too, the non dairy kind, when I ordered ink for the printer and tape for the label maker. I'm so excited! I bought colored tape for the label maker! Keturah is going to flip out! And it was only $18 for 6 tape disepnsers, which seems odd. I thought they were more expensive. I didn't check the length of them, but that's ok. I can't wait to label all my shelves! I was thinking of doing it up on paper, too, but I think the label maker will be nicer.  So, I guess I'm making some long term goals happen while we are stuck home. Non essential goals, but these things are my version of "fun" because I love to organize. AND my homeschool friends shared a couple of websites and apps where I can just scan the books' barcodes in and save it! How cool is that?! As I explained in the Facebook thread, most of these books came from my parents and they are part of their legacy. My mom took a lot of time to pick them out and then again, to choose which ones to save for her grandchildren. They are super important to me.

Let's see. We made some cards for a couple in our church who lost a baby right after church and I packaged up some goodies that had been waiting on my desk for the right moment to send to my sister. I need to have the kids make cards for that package. It might not go out for awhile, but if one of the guys is going to the post office for e2, they can take it for me. I still need to go through my "I don't know what to do with it because it's broken but I can't bring myself to throw it away" piles on my desk. "Mom's Repair Shop" is what it's really like. I'm sure there are other things I can do as well. I'm liking Jared's set up in our bedroom though. It's very cozy because it's tiny, but at least we had somewhere that he could just leave things plugged in. I just hope sitting on a hard chair doesn't hurt him in the long run. We are ready to dig into another week. Benaiah has work, Jared will be on his computer, the kid will do math and reading, and I'll do my projects. Abishai can bounce between all of us.

FYI, I don't like how "Blogger" rearranges the pictures when I upload them because they aren't always chronological, but here goes. I took a lot of pictures today. You can tell when I'm taking a rest day or I'm bored, I end up taking a lot more photos and videos. And I'm ok with that. And I'm ok with days that I barely take any footage. It's usually just normal life so I catch what I catch.  Enjoy.

Side note, while typing this up, I felt a cooling sensation going down one of my nerves from my neck. I hope that means that the kink undid itself. It kind of feels different, better, and more equal to my normal pain in both shoulders. Let's hope it's healed!

Sorry, there's just a lot of great stuff going around on social media and social media is where we can make and break our attitudes. This one is just so funny!

And for the next few weeks....

I'm so sad for them. Touch is an important thing in a relationship and these two are very good about keeping their boundaries. But how sad is this!? Ava's sitting on her front porch and Benaiah can't go over there and hug her. But I'm glad her family is on the same page as ours. But so sad!

Yup, I watched it! It was all his typical songs I will probably hear in the next concert, but they did well on setting it up and producing decent enough sound for everyone. It was a sweet time! (see more pics below)

Someone posted this clip from the first Madagascar movie where Marty is talking about how small and uninteresting his enclosure is and wanting to get out in the wild. Totally appropriate since we basically are going back and forth in the same 1800 sq ft. I've seen other posts of a generic house schematic and people saying, "Planning our travels for the weekend" or something like that. Lol. You could make each room a theme or something if you were very creative. I probably won't.

When your son works at CFA, and closes, you sometimes get some leftovers. Spicy chicken sandwhiches.

"I get up when I does." equals 4pm. SMH

For all my complaining about this school, it really isn't that bad. I never have doubted their love for the kids. They put up with so much shenanigans for this class of students alone.  We are all sad their senior year is ending this way and I'm sure they will all talk to their counselors some day about it (everyone should see a counselor at least once in their lifetime).

She is by far the best teacher I've known. She's a friend of ours, too. And the kids absolutely adore her. She knows how to be kind yet strict. She knows how to be fun, and serious. And she's making a great vice principal. She was the one who eased all my fears when Benaiah started going to Southside. Mrs. McCollum is the the best!

Curls happened overnight and they went up pretty far! I'm not great at french braids, especially at the top, but the front pieces had just enough to make it ok!

Tada! I didn't brush it out. I did use a ton of hairspray. And sometimes it's nice to see my face without glasses. I like my face as it is. Bushy eyebrows and all. No makeup. Freckles, etc.

Last minute snack of apples before church. And yes, Justin played with Legos during the sermon and Keturah was playing with beads. Abishai was allowed to do some Bible stories on the app.

The website bounced us over to YouTube! Yeah for another addition!

When you're at home, you can craft and listen to a sermon.

Hello, Pastor Dan.

Curls on the couch.

Communion bread and water for juice.

Jared and I crossover between Gen X and Millennial. He's technically a Gen X and I'm the Millenial. It's quite interesting.

Splitting food for a fire.

Hey look! It's Fortnite in real life!

Abishai was trying to pull the strings off of a piece of celery.

Mmmmm, yummy fire.

Puppy joined me after my nap. Trying to love on him as much as possible. I know he enjoys having us all at home. He'll be turning 10 yrs old in a couple of weeks. And we are all very well aware that our days with him are numbered. He's such a well mannered dog and it will be hard to replace him someday. But for now, he's in perfect health. And I'm grateful.

After sleeping on it and after 5 hrs. Not bad.

Definitely more relaxed.

I still didn't brush it out, but I was done with having it down. I loosely put it up in it's normal style. Ah....

Abishai brought Peeper in our room today. I guess Jared didn't move him. Imagine waking up to a Peep in your face. Sunday afternoon naptime!

Somebody has chores now. He has to do all the trashes! And sometimes helps with feeding the dog. Right now I'm the one feeding the dog because Socks really likes the new food (it has bison in it!) and I don't want him overfed.

Sleet!

Benaiah did do one thing he had said he would do today which was move some of his Legos and cubes to the shelves in his room. I didn't take a picture of the shelves full of stuff though. I told him to also condense whatever is left on these shelves. He has stuff stashed in between the CD's, Dvd's, and board games.

Abishai had Dinosaury sitting next to him at the table so he wouldn't be lonely. But then he realized that Dinosaury would be lonely when Abishai got up from the table. So he ran and got Mr. Fox so Dinosary would have a friend. Aw....

Blurry, but that's Abishai anyway. He was the neighborhood protector. Each room was a different house in the neighborhood! He wanted to protect us from the sucky thing (the vacuum cleaner Keturah was running). He had all his weapons ready!

Best seats in the house! On Facebook and Instagram!

Mrs. Debbie Smith reading some Scripture. I bet it's weird to have Michael home for weeks on end.

It's Don Finto! Michael's long term confidant, mentor, pastor and friend!

It actually got up a little higher to about 25K. That's alot of fans/friends! We had about 400 households watching our church service this morning.

I made this schedule list 2 weeks ago. And most of these things were scratched off because they were canceled. The third column is this week ending with the IAHE conference and the Michael W. Smith concert. Sigh. So sad we can't attend them.

Benaiah cooked up one of his Hello Fresh meals. It made a lot of food and he loved it!

Writing a big A for his name on his card for Mrs. Alison and Mr. Justin at church.

Coloring up a storm on a card for Mrs. Alison and Mr. Justin (see below!).

Justin, you are 14 years old, why do you still have a Cars movie blanket? Because why get a new comforter when the old ones works just fine!? We don't care. What works, works.

Cheese!

Cooking with his lady friend on video chat. He loved cooking he said!

I love how our staff is sharing with all their groups.

I'll probably be more upset on the actual date next week. The excitement of being the first one to pick out tickets and picking out the exact seat was so huge and now it's so sad.

When you send your debit card with the teen and tell him to get some kind of individually wrapped, this is what he comes home with. I'm happy.

I love Abishai's big A! It's all he can write right now, but it's a start.  I did the coloring. I found the graphics online.

Aw, so sweet from Justin!  Complete with lowercase letters at the beginning of the sentences. Justin! You know better!

Abishai's arsenal to keep us all safe from the bad guys.

Benaiah cooked this all by himself with no help from me! I call that a parenting win!

What a sweet note from Keturah! I loved how she explained the sparkles!

What an excellent job coloring and I love the coors and all the sparkles! They always hesitate and growl when I ask them to do this, but they can come up with the sweetest words. I hope by procrastinating doing this after they lost their baby soon after birth, it will help them remember that we care, even several weeks and months and years down the road.

Jared just brought this to me. Apparently, Abishai has been playing it in the middle of the night or right after Jared leaves the room, so he can fall asleep. The batteries are dead and I don't have that kind! This went with his baby mobile ever since he had a crib from 4 months on. When we moved to this house and got the toddler bed, he still wanted it, so I left it up on the shelf of the bed. I forgot to put in the box with the other pieces and now that boxes is wrapped in plastic wrap. Whoops. I think Abishai realizes that he's growing up, but he still wants to be the baby. When he was playing and I asked for a hug from my baby he said, "This baby is busy." Silly guy. But yes, the fact that he still wants these songs makes our hearts melt. So sweet!

This took forever to cook! Like twice the time it said it would. But it smells heavenly! Benaiah made it from a recipe he found online. Then he got the ingredients and put it together. Way to go!

This is amazing!

The End