Staying home.

Staying home seems to the be the safest place to be for right now.  It seems crazy to think that we were in Florida just weeks before all of this and we had a really fun time.  Fast forward a few weeks and our whole county and all the surrounding counties are on "stay at home" rules.  Coronavirus sounds terrible and I believe its really a terrible flu like sickness.  I am praying my family does not have any trace of it!!!  At all!!!!  But, I have had some rough days through all of this.  My feelings and precautions don't always know what to do.  I am having many God moments and I'm asking Him for help!!!  

For some, this pandemic is tragic and to others not so much.  I'm blessed to be home with four healthy children.  With a husband that really helps me process all of this better.  A business that can still sell barns.  We are still out of school.  We have not been at church in weeks.  Lapp's was closed for a whole week.  Listening to Kids Cookie Break last Saturday, they were focusing on all the things that have not changed instead of the fierce changes we've had in the past weeks.  Like Spring time, it still happens when it normally always does.  Like the sunrise and sunsets.  We still have healthy minds and bodies and have food on the table every single day.  We even still have toilet paper!!! :)  To set my perspective on God has really helped me to stop panicking and focusing on the virus but instead focusing more on the "now".  I don't know about tomorrow but God does.  I rest in that!!!!!

We've been having camp fires on the warmer days!!!!  I love this and it seems to calm down the unrest around me.  

The past two Saturday night's we opted to order take out and bring it home to eat.  That's the only options of eating out right now.  The first time we ordered from New Holland Coffee.  Last weekend, Mike ordered sushi for him and the kids.  The other ones of us roasted hot dogs and smores.

Ashlyn's been begging to go pick up her bunny and so we did that last week and it really like good to get out of the house and think something else for awhile.  She's been playing with it a lot and we are hoping it will get tamer soon!  It still scratches and kicks a lot when we catch it.

The other day Matthew just needed to get out of the house and do something on the whim.  He fired up the moped and him and Austin were ripping around on my freshly mowed grass.  They had a blast!!!!!

 The kids and I are home every day, all day.  I do go out for groceries once a week and we had to pick up more of Ashlyn's school papers at school.  If the older ones think they "just need to do something", they go for a Latte Luv drink.  The other night, late at night, everyone but Austin and I went out for McDonald fries.  And on another day, Mike went with them to Chickfila and Latte Luv to just get out.

Because of this "stay at home", Bethany didn't come help me clean on Thursday.  I had the little ones help me with some of the work.

One thing that does not stress me out is school work!  Thank the Lord for good teachers and Miss Blain has been amazing through all of this!  I love how she writes with each email, "I am still her teacher.  Let me know if you have any questions."  She gave her personal phone number and email address.  I also love how Miss Blain is doing ZOOM with the class.  They actually did a science project on ZOOM with the moon phases.  They took Oreos apart and scrapped the icing off for each moon phase.  How creative!

School was delayed for two weeks and now again for another couple of weeks.  We are looking at the end of April if we go back into classrooms.  I really do hope they can get back for a few weeks at the end of the school term but for now, we school at home.

This has been happening a lot!  It's such a blessing to have God on our side and to pray over our children through these days of questions, of disappointments, of stay at home day after day, of no school, of not seeing friends and teachers ... we pray for God's help!

Austin has been loving the children home from school!!!!!  Him and Ashlyn play so nice and really have a blast together.  This is also a wonderful blessing!

Meet my tigers of the day!!!!!

This was the spread for a movie night!  We loved "Ferninand"!!!

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Someone just had a birthday!!!!  Ashlyn is now nine years old!  She started planning her birthday party plans right after Christmas and I told her I don't want to think about it until March.  March arrived and she got right to making her lists and planning the friends she wanted to invite and all the girl fun party things!  Now, here we are and I feel like I've said a million times, "no we can not do that right now.  The virus ... the stay at home actually means to stay at home."  She made the best of it and even though we didn't have a party for her friends, we partied with her!!!!  :)

She loves her new Lion King movie and loves, loves her new water bottle!

She only did a small amount of school for her birthday day.

We did leave the frontier for a bit to go pick up her birthday gift I ordered from Target.  We swung by Chickfila for lunch and then refueled with gas at Costco before finally picking up her new bike at Target.  When we got home, she rode her bike!  It does feel good to get out and drive around but I've been saying so many times to the older people in my family that it's all what we tell ourselves.  If we say we can't just stay home ... then we won't.  If we say, "let's try to stay home as much as we can over this time" ... I'm sure it will help!

I looked out the window a while later and chuckled to see this gathering!!!!  Ashlyn was on the four-wheeler.  Matthew rode the moped.  Austin was in his jeep!  :))))  This looks like a fun recess to me!!!!!

 While they rode around outside, I was baking inside.  We've been in the kitchen so much since this virus hit the news.  Ashlyn wanted a LOL cake and so I tried.  Her other request was chocolate cake and food from Red Robin!

We always let the birthday person pick a restaurant to go eat at.  Well, with all of this going on, we could only order take out again.  You know what???  It was actually a real blast to eat at home with a restaurant food!

We ate our dinner, then cut into the yummy chocolate cake and sang happy birthday!  Ashlyn actually had some visitors for the first since the "stay at home" was in place.  Both grandmas dropped in and Lena and the boys stopped in to say happy birthday.

After dinner, we played a few rounds of Phase 10 and then we went to the basement for ping pong competition.  We've started up playing this game also since we are home night after night and it's been so fun!!!!

Ashlyn's birthday was different than other birthdays but she still had a great day!!!!  Thank you everyone who helped make her day special.  She received a card in the mail, a YouTube video from her teacher, gifts from loved ones and phone calls and texts!!!!

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We've been having church at home the past few weeks also and thanks to YouTube, we can watch it online from our pastor Merv Charles.  What a blessing it is to have these gadgets that still let us connect!  Mike and I have been going on walks each Sunday together too.  This is a chance that we discuss our differences and feelings through this whole COVID 19.  I am the one that panics and tries at all costs to not be exposed to the virus.  Mike is the one that remains calm and prays and then moves on as best as he can.  It's really brought the worst and best out of me.  I wrestle some days of how I feel and get frustrated if I feel like I'm the only one making an effort to stay germ free.  The truth is, we are all trying the best we know how.  That may seem like two totally different approaches but we are trying.  Our walks give us a chance to talk these feelings out together.

This is another week to grow!  To grow in Jesus.  To learn something new because suddenly I'm the teacher around here.  It's a new start to not panic and live out faith!

Be encouraged and stay positive!!!!  It may seem long at times but we will not be stuck in this forever!!!!

Jesus loves you very much!!!!!

I've been taking lots of photos in this time in history!!!!

Through such a time of unrest and worries and then peace and content, this Coronavirus has taken affect on us.  All non essential stores are shut down.  All schools are closed.  We've not gone to church in two weeks because of the closed doors.  All of this is to help slow down the Covid 19 virus!!!!!  Meanwhile, I've been taking lots of pictures of what our days are filled with and we are making memories in this moment in history!  If you care to follow along on our journey through all of this, you are welcome to keep checking the blog.

Austin, our Little Man, just loves to pretend to be animals or creatures.  Here he wanted to be a bear and so all I did was print out some bear claws and he loved it!!!!!

Last week I ordered biscotti's from Sari at Our Daily Bread Company and she's just got the best ever!!!!!  I'm in love with these with my morning coffee!!!!!

Austin keeps me busy and I love his presence here at home with me.  We didn't know it then that we were about to get our schedules interrupted with the other kids now at home with us but what a fun time!

Hadassah made it home safe and sound!!!!!!!!  We are thrilled to have her back home with us and out of the airports in this contagious virus moment!  Jeremiah went with Mike and I to pick her up at school last Thursday night and we drove straight to Chickfila for a salad and then to Starbucks for her favorite drink!  Spoiled????  Maybe a little bit?!?!

She stayed home from Intern the next day because of quarantine.  I didn't think it was a good idea for her to be in a large market dealing with food and money right after she gets back from traveling across the globe.  Plus the time difference had her in jet lag.  Instead, she stayed home with me and mowed the lawn for the first time this year!!!!

And then she made these cinnamon rolls that were delicious!

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The Lancaster Golf Club that we are members at held a Father/Daughter Princess Event last Friday night.  Mike had made reservations for him and Ashlyn to go and I really hoped it wouldn't be canceled because our little princess was over the top excited to go do this!!!!!!!

She loved every minute of it!!!!  Real Disney princesses were there and she got to dance with them!!!!!  What a fun night for these two!!!!!

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Mike's response to this whole coronavirus goes like this ... go outside and air out the house.  He went around the entire house opening up windows and doors and ordered his employees and offices to do the same!  We decided to go to the local park just a few miles away from home on Sunday afternoon.  Church was canceled and the kids got some exercise by riding their bikes.  There are fish in the pond and they fed them some animals crackers.

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On Monday, Ashlyn had no school because of teachers in service and because she loves to garden, I decided to go visit a local greenhouse and grab some fresh spring plants!!!!!

Such good helpers!!!!!

We got home and went right to work!!!!  I love this kind of work!!!!!

We planted Spinach, Kale, Candy onions, Buttercrunch lettuce, Radishes, Red beets, carrots and Black Simpson Cut Lettuce.

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I bought two new cookbooks from Amazon that many ladies are raving about on Instagram!!!!  I can't wait to try this recipes and these Chicken Tenders were very tasty!!!!  We loved them!!!!!

And for dessert, I made a chocolate cake that the family raved about too!!!!!!

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On Tuesday, I went to school to pick up Ashlyn's school books and papers for the next two weeks.  We are now homeschooling until this Coronavirus gets better.  Meanwhile, projects are going on at home.

The living room was getting a new paint color.

Before:

You could have never convinced me that the four children would all be home in March of 2020 because of a world wide virus going on and spreading at rapid speed.  But reality is, it's happening and because Jeremiah is here working in the basement and painting, we have hungry kids wanting food around the dining room table for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Lord, help me have much patience and grace!!!!!

Matthew loves to tease the little ones but they can have such a wonderful time together!!!!  Basketball is still going strong around here even though we have no more games and practices to attend!

Here's the little homeschool girl!  She's doing great with this!

And this stinker has no real idea what's going on but he's loving having the others at home!

The painters moved into the dining room to paint the ceiling tray.

And then they finished up with Hadassah's bathroom.

And here it is .... freshly painted and complete!!!!!

Dove White.

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Matthew went to the shop one day and built this blue bird house.  Ashlyn painted it while the older kids painted my inside walls.

Wrapping up the basement project.  There was a wall separating the basement that Jeremiah took out.  Hadassah and Jer painted the yellow "toy room" now like the rest of the basement.

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Austin woke up one morning last week wanting to make a rocket ship.

Here it is.

Then they did school.  Ashlyn was all about showing Austin how school goes.

They then went outside and picked me some weeds and chives.

And played hospital.

Ashlyn's class is watching Eagles on a nest of three eggs online.  We looked it up and how amazing.  It's fun to do activities like this even if Ashlyn has to do school from home!

And of course, Austin asked to make eagle masks.  We printed some out and then they colored them!

One good thing about having a teenage boy around the house is that he can help with some projects too!!!!  He edged for me around the house!

With the children home and in the kitchen much more the past week, I went to get a dish rag out of the drawer and there were no clean clothes.  I wash my clothes all the time and it looks like we need to restock!

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Friday was such a beautiful, warmer day.  70's actually.  We decided to have a family camp fire.  Hadassah was already off to be some friends (small crowds of course) and we missed her not with us.  We roasted hot dogs and s'mores and ate yummy mac and cheese from one of my new cookbooks!!!!

The kids found four sparkers in the kitchen cabinet and begged to light them up.

Why not!?!

Here are the two new cookbooks that I've been enjoying!!!!

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This is what the house looked like a few days ago.  I was about to scream with everything being dirty and messy but we fueled up with Latte Luv's Blackberry Tea and the house is in much better shape now!!!!!!

So many things have happened the past week.  So much of our lives have suddenly changed but God's been good!!!!!  He's keeping us healthy!  We have sound minds and we live in peace even when so much unknown is happening in the world around us!!!!!

If you are feeling stressed from all of this, cry out to God for help!!!!  Play some worship music!  Listen to a sermon.  Dig into God's word and listen for his voice!

America is going to make it through this!!!!  Pray for God's help!!!!

God is good all the time and all the time, God is good!!!!