The Upside of Quarantine

Having a large family during this time is actually turning out to be a pretty great advantage.  Everyone has someone to do something with.  I'm actually, oddly enough, finding the house quieter than usual.  My husband has to do some work from home as he hasn't been allowed to go into the college as often so we all have to be a lot quieter as the wi-fi works the best in the kitchen, which happens to also be the most central place in the home!  I'm grateful for a barn as the younger ones have been finding things to do out there and rediscover it as a play place.

We also have to be a lot quieter while my daughter teaches piano virtually from home, too.  This has been great for her as she doesn't have to leave the house and pay all that extra money on gas.  This also relieves me a lot as she is on the roads a lot less.  I cannot say how many times she has come home saying she just missed a major accident on the highway, so this is great for me.  I'm thinking she'll get more and more signing up for classes this way as it becomes more popular with parents.  I'm happy for her.

My older kids have all become gym snobs recently and now that the gym is closed down they are all working out together....at home....love this!  They are also taking my younger ones on hikes that aren't as busy which is great.  Being rural is a bonus.  I think this is really helping their potential "cooped up" feeling subside as any exercise is a good thing.  We'll get a couple of them out in the vines possibly even today as it is supposed to be nice.  Definitely pruning time as we inspected yesterday......

Assignments are keeping my oldest son busy, too, so I'm grateful he's not losing his school year.  But again, he works downstairs where the wi-fi works the best, so we also have to be quieter for him.  We still don't have a TV so that means if they want to watch something on-line they use a laptop which is never quite as good as a big screen, which I'm also happy about, thus less screen time.  My 7 and 9 year olds weren't as quick at reading as the older ones were, but because of this strange time, they are now reading better than they ever did.  My 7 year old has discovered books in a whole new way, thank you coronavirus, and sits and reads and reads.

My 13 year old was always doing flips on the trampoline and even on the ground, teaching himself all last summer and then into the Fall and Winter, as it was so mild all season.  This has taken off this past week and he is out there most days, filming himself and putting it on his youtube channel where he is accumulating followers, to my shock.  He showed me his abs yesterday from all this exercise and it's nuts!  I was quite against this before as I was sure he was going to get hurt, but again, I'm thinking exercise during this time can only benefit him.  His flipping is inspiring the 9 year old who is naturally athletic already.  He is already doing crazy stuff.  My 20 year old saw this through the window and decided, "I can do that."  Out he went and got taught by the 9 YEAR OLD and he is now doing some of the flips, too.  I just always pray for safety.

I'm almost 100% sure the next quiz meet for Bible Quizzing will get cancelled like everything else, but I'm trying to get the kids to memorize anyway.  How can that hurt?

We still make an attempt at getting our school work done.  I get a lot of resistance as they think we're on permanent holiday.

I'm organizing every book on my shelf.  I have baby board books I've had for years that are mostly destroyed.  I'm getting rid of lots of stuff and just making it easier to find the books they want and make things tidier.  It's been on my to-do list for months.

My oldest daughter is never home at night as she taught most evenings pre-virus.  This week she made dinner for the first time in who-knows-how-long.  She did a great job and everyone was so impressed.  I realized that was another side benefit to having everyone home, cooking together, eating together....it just hasn't happened in so long.

When my son lost his job at the restaurant, they had to do something with all the fresh produce, so that first week we had 4 full bags of groceries donated to us.  During a time of what seemed like scarcity we were eating like kings! 

I know this is a hard season, yet I just keep seeing so many side benefits.  My older kids keep saying, "This is so great!"  I think we all know it won't last forever and that being together as a family like this is work, but is also so wonderful.

Normally I don't love the kids being on the phone all the time, but lately I've seen it as a great way to stay in touch with their cousins and friends.  My daughter was able to have a virtual Bible study with her class through all the neat different ways to connect.  She was even able to break out into "small groups" online!  How amazing!  Conference calls, microsoft meets, zoom....all sorts of different ways people connect virtually...it's going on all around me and I can hardly believe how the virus has brought all this to life in a whole new way.  People used these platforms before but never this often I'm sure.  I may even do something like that with a few moms...we'll see!

Life is not the same at all.  And, as before, I don't like the reason behind all of this change, but what is coming out of it is kind of exciting.  Of course we still pray for our leaders and for an end to the crisis, but I will be sad when life goes back to how it was before. going on.   I hope we can maintain a few of the changes that have happened since this all began. 

I'm grateful that is occurring when it is seasonally, too.  If it were just heading into the winter season I think we would all be more depressed.  It is so great that the world is coming back to life.  The weather is getting warmer.  There are more things to do outside.  It's getting greener day by day.  Buds are appearing.  Flowers are popping up.  Birds are singing.  I just love that.

Today my husband is heading into work "trying to save the world", we joke.  If they can, they're going to try to get the materials they need to help in the production of medical equipment.  His work is suddenly very exciting and meaningful and he's so grateful for the contacts he's made over the years so that he even knows where to source out that kind of material.  It's neat to look back and see how God has used everything in his career to be used even now.

How long will this go on?  No one knows.  I can't look too far ahead.  Taking each day, each moment and being grateful for what happens throughout the day is helping us get through it.