COVID and Quarantine and Easter

Well, the world has been changed, and has maybe gone a bit mad. I had my Leadership Program at work March 9-13 and things degraded throughout the week. Grant and the kids and I were scheduled to go to Cozumel for Spring Break March 16-20, but we cancelled the trip on March 12 because we decided it wasn't the best decision to be outside the country. We made the right call. Things deteriorated at an alarming rate with Dallas ordering Shelter-in-Place on March 22. International travel was essentially stopped, crazy people were hording the strangest things (toilet paper) that caused additional anxiety and shortages, the kids did not go back to school after Spring Break, and people essentially haven't left their houses. It is hard to keep track of the daily changing information, guidelines, and regulations.

The kids started homeschool on March 30. It has been a bit of a joke. We scrambled and bought Colton a laptop from a friend of mine at work (Thank you Paul!). Jack Ranger is using the kids computer, and I move my computer every week up to Cadie's room so she can use it during the week. The beginning of homeschool was really stressful because we were trying to figure out all the sites and logins for the kids, our Wi-Fi at home kept getting maxed out, Joy had moved in to my parents house and she was trying to figure out her school, and I was getting adjusted to working at home too. After the first week of stress, we decided to take it less seriously and make it a "best effort." Cadie is diligent, not sure if Ranger really does much, and Colton only does what Joy sits down beside him and makes him do. Colton has gotten better at reading and Grant has taught the kids some good life skills like jump-starting a car, changing a car tire, and assembling furniture. Besides what Grant and life are teaching the kids, I am not sure they are learning much, but I am ok with that for now.

The kids are being SUPER creative and they have been amazing at entertaining themselves. Painting, crafts, catching critters, building forts, so many legos, Cadie's new bookmark line, letters to friends, dressing up, climbing up things - including our house, having picnics, reading the funnies, staying up late watching movies in the backyard, sleeping in... One evening I called upstairs and asked them to come get in the car so we could go through a drivethrough and get some hamburgers. They called down that they were "busy"! What the heck?! There is literally NOTHING going on. But, they were busy with string and balloons and straws and duct tape making some type of rocket designed to fly across the playroom. They are pretty much busy most of the time.

I love working from home and being with the family more. I have had 2-3 days that just went wrong. Those days I was anxious from all the unknowns, not feeling equipping to set expectations with the kids, tired, and fearful. Grant has had 2-3 days of the same. But, other than that we are so thankful that this is all in God's control and we are trying to make the most of more time together. My family really is AMAZING and this time with them has made me even more thankful for Grant and each of the little people we have the privilege of raising and loving.

Besides my family, things I am thankful for right now are the Spring weather, creativity of my kids, my sunroom office, our backyard, Joy living so close, Hello Fresh, online church, additional sleep, sweet neighbors looking after each other, everyone walking outside and biking, patient teachers, my job and the Leadership at Southwest, restaurants that have stayed open for to-go orders (we typically have Dive and Sonny Bryan's once a week), and Disney+.