My heart was heavy yesterday. I'm still sad for those who are directly impacted by the virus. I wish this fallen world would not have pandemics but does it help to let myself get down hearted? Does it help to let anxiety build up inside of me and make my neck muscles get all tightened up? I hate when the devil brings thoughts in the "what if's"!!! NO!!!! Fear does not have to rise within me! I rise above it! We are incredibly blessed to have a beautiful home that lets tons of sunlight in even on these rainy days! I read this morning in a email that it's time for Christians to set our eyes looking upward. When all we do is look down at our phones or towards the news day in and day out, it's easy to get down hearted. To change our view and look up at the vast skies and notice the sun or stars really helps take the focus off of the now and realize that God is creator and is still looking out for us! I could not agree more! To move my heavy feelings and thoughts into praise and joy is my goal!!!!
I know feeling down is normal. And maybe it's even OK now and then. But it's not OK to stay there! Mike and I prayed through my feelings last night and I just love it when we get real together! We all have downer days! We all need a pick me up now and then! I'm ready to move forward but not without learning from it! I love the quote I heard from our minister last week. It goes like this, "Don't waist the pain. Don't just seek to get to the other side! What does God want to do inside of me though this COVID-19?" We can look at it as anxiety or opportunity! I love mountain top experiences but we don't usually live in them all year long. Normally, we go through valleys and I think that it's in those moments that we learn the most through a Christian walk. We also talked about this in our ZOOM meeting with small group on Wednesday night. Christians should not be caught surprised when things don't always go our way. Adversity is part of the pruning process that God wants for a growing Christian. God wants to strip away my worries and fears! He wants to bring peace and HE DOES!!!! I used to pray through tough life lessons to just get me through and move on. I was taught to not just push things "under the rug" but I wasn't always looking for a lesson to learn either. Through this whole coronavirus, the bad and the good come to the surface!
We are really treasuring the family memories that we are making!!! We eat supper together (this is how I grew up doing and we've always tried to make this a priority in our own family)! We help each other with the dishes. Last night, we played game after game of ping pong. Ashlyn is even learning the game. I played using my left hand while she played her best. The score was actually close. :) Matthew loves to play this and it's fun to laugh and try to beat his score! Mike was doing some home projects and hung a nice shelf for his 'must read' books! He was also getting ready for the flooring guys that showed up today to finish up the back basement room! Ashlyn was begging to do a work out so we looked up a 7 minute work out plan on the TV and it had us all huffing and puffing. Hadassah and I were laughing! Then we moved to a family/kid friendly work out. It was cute to see Ashlyn write down all her favorite moves! :) Then Hadassah popped some popcorn and her and Austin snuggled together to watch a movie. Meanwhile, Mike and I sat down by the dining room table and worked on our really difficult puzzle together! It was a great time to chat. As we tucked the tired children into bed, we prayed together and thanked God for his love. For each other!!!
We've been having cooler weather the past week but when the sun shines, the kids are outside! Austin has his eyes are the cherry blossoms out front! They are beautiful and just ready to burst to their fullest!!!! Ashlyn and Austin picked some petals from the trees and threw them on the trampoline. Then they jumped in the petals.
This is how small group zoom meetings look these days!
We have more kitties. I'm sure this is no surprise to most of you because we still didn't get the cat fixed but maybe after this litter we will??? I love a cat around but all the kittens! They make a mess and it's just too many cats. Let us know if you want a new pet! This is the tame momma cat that Ashlyn named Sprinkles. She has four kittens in the garage. We have another momma cat that is wild and she also had three kittens in the barn ... all happening last week! ://///
I did it. I wore the mask Jody made for me. Hadassah has been going with me grocery shopping each week ever school is now happening at home. We like this outing together. I've stuck to Centerville mostly but I just had a itch to go to Strasburg Market to buy their yummy chicken croquettes once again. I put on this mask and it just felt so weird. I know it's a matter of getting used to it. Hadassah on the other hand refuses to wear one so far. She just walked around the entire store with her mouth and nose in her sweatshirt.
The kids had camping in their minds yesterday. I was not feeling it!!! They begged to set up the tent and I thought they meant in the basement. I told them that when Matthew comes home from the shop, maybe he can help them. I don't know how to set up tents and was not interested! Matthew came home and the next thing I knew, the kids had the tent laying in the back yard. I had to say no to this because there is rain in the forecast and it's still cold outside. I was imagining that all the work it takes to set up the tent would only bring minutes of play time. They even had a huge pile of things they wanted to put in their tent.
I told them to set it up in the basement but that just wasn't what Ashlyn had in mind. I never know what's next on their minds.
These are new to us! Lena gave Hadassah two macaroons the other day to taste and she loved them! We ordered some for our family and they are already all eaten. Good job Krissy! They were delicious!
Here's an encouraging note for today!!!! Even though we have off, downer days, God is still there! He is my help on the bad and good days! This is Friday afternoon and the weekend is about to begin!!!! Look up my friends! Shift those negative thoughts into joy!!! Read the bible! Jam on worship music! Pray for God's peace and healing to come over our whole nation!!!!!
