"Come What May, and Love It"

 I was reading an article today and was reminded of a talk I heard many years ago.  It changed my perspective on our latest goings on a little bit.  The many blessings that we've experienced came to mind and made me realize that we're not near as bad as others throughout the world.

Our attitudes are everything when trials come up - I wasn't looking on the bright side very well and was feeling pretty down.  I'll try harder to look on the positive side.

        Day 4 - We let everyone sleep in on this beautiful Sabbath day.  Sleep is definitely needed these days, just so we can feel well rested (aside from Covid making you extra tired, being the care-taker of a Covid patient makes one tired as well). We've found ways to cope with this quarantine business.  Chris will sit on the porch and listen to us read scriptures and say prayer through a cracked open window (or through the phone, if its too noisy outside).  Aralynn hasn't had much change in symptoms, thank goodness. We can deal with loss of taste/smell and a slight bought of diarrhea (that lasted one afternoon and was done). 

        Day 5 - Benjamin is always my early riser.  He's up with the sun and never wants to go to bed.  This morning was no different - up he jumped at the early hour of just-before-6 am.  He came to make sure I was ok (since I'm normally the one to go get everyone else up and hadn't gotten out of bed yet), and then went outside to play with the kitties while watching the sunrise.  After a bit, he came rushing inside, telling me the bus was on our road, and then watched forlornly out the window as it drove past our house.  Quarantine has been hardest on my kiddos, but they don't stay sad for long!  

        Aralynn gained most of her sense of taste back sometime during the day and was super excited about that, although, its still a bit weird not being able to smell things.  She started feeling lonely in the fact that she's the only one sick.  I keep trying to tell her that's a good thing, but try as I might, she wasn't convinced. That is, until I told her that she was the only one with the super power of not being able to smell her brother's toxic farts. 😂 The things we do to cheer our Littles up haha

        If I'm telling the truth, even as difficult as some of this mess has been, it's been just as nice, if not more, to spend more time with my kids.  I'm one of those parents that is sad when the school year rolls around again because they all leave and then I'm terribly bored!  I do, however, like the more scheduled life, but that comes with it's downfalls too. So, having them home during this quarantine period really is great.  

**small disclaimer asking for prayers for my extended family and those that attended my Grandma's 100th b-day bash - news is coming forth that some that attended (my gma included) have tested positive.  Pray that their symptoms stay minimal and it passes quickly, please!

Quarantine Life #StupidCovid

 We got an email that a child in Aralynn's grade tested positive so I tested my Littles when they got off the bus.  One negative, the other positive. Put a message in to my Pediatrician (an amazing woman, if you've ever met her, you'd agree), and she stated the obvious for me "you're in quarantine, my friend". *sigh* 🤦🏻‍♀️  Here we go...

    Day 1 (or zero - whichever way you want to start counting - the same day we discovered everything) was a complete and utter disaster!  My husband has been out of town on a business trip and we haven't seen him in AGES.  He was supposed to come home that night, but we didn't want him to have the possibility of getting sick, so I halfway "woke up" the camper (we haven't taken it out camping this year, sadly) so he'd have a place to sleep, at least.  I hooked up the electricity, aired up the mattress, turned the fridge/freezer on so he could have food out there, and placed his freshly laundered clothing out there so he'd have stuff to wear.  I sprayed things down with disinfectant and then left it alone.  

        I came back inside to start making phonecalls to let those we've interacted with know they've been exposed and found Aralynn panicking and crying about the fact that she has Covid.  "I have Covid! Am I gonna die?!" We only hear bad things about it from news sources, which makes everyone panic greatly. 🙄 I understand that this virus should be taken seriously, but forcing mass panic isn't helping anyone or anything, especially my poor little girl's worried heart. 💔 I explained that she was just fine.  She didn't even have any symptoms, so this would probably be a breeze of a quarantine. She explained to an uncle that she talked to almost directly following that conversation, when he said he thought she was sick, that "its only Covid, uncle, I'm fine." 😅

        Made phone calls, emails, texts and answered the replies back, and then had to calm down A's anxieties again and suggested she make one of her favorite snacks - Salsa blended with cheese (alternative "cheese" now that she can't have dairy).  Her and Benjamin went to work on making their masterpiece and BAM - a poof of smoke and the smell of a burnt out motor!  The Magic Bullet was shot (ha, see what I did there?!)! Never to fear, I've got a back up blender on my Bosch!  I got that out and solved that problem.  I decided on comfort food for the kids for dinner - corndogs and fries to the rescue!  I started warming up the oven and BAM - a poof of smoke and a dead range/oven. I checked all the breakers (inside the house and out) to no avail.  It was irretrievably dead. *queue sob fest* 😭 I had to go for a walk outside to calm myself down. Thank goodness for microwaves, however, we had to ditch the idea of fries - they're just not the same in a microwave. I had the boys take the oven/range outside - my kitchen looks so odd with that gaping hole where it once sat.

        Day 2 went MUCH better than the first day. A lost her sense of smell completely and most of her sense of taste (she can still taste salt and stronger flavors, but most things, she can't taste at all). I put in a SOS to a friend and she lined up a couple meals for me and brought snacks and activities over (contactless drop-off both times). My kids aren't convinced that they should still have a bedtime since we're just going to be home all the time. Sometimes I think I'll be fine, others...I look for directions to the funny farm, only to realize I'm pretty sure I already LIVE on the funny farm. 🤪

        Day 3 has been ok.  Chris got home about 4 am, so its been torture not being able to see him and spend time with him like we normally would.  I just need to keep reminding myself that this won't last forever. Its been a fairly lazy day and much laughter has happened, along with much needed relaxation on my part. Chris "took me shopping" for a new oven/range (yay for technology so I could see what he was looking at too) - and I didn't even have to get dressed for this shopping trip! 🙌🏼🥳🎉

    I'm hoping that A's symptoms stay minimal and that no one else gets it so we can rejoin the land of the living sooner rather than later. Prayers are always welcome! 🙏🏼 ♥️