Quarantine Week 2 - March 22 - 28

Sunday March 22
I wasn't happy. I felt panicky this afternoon. It was hard to feel calm. I did go over to the school yard with Fiona on her bike and tried to practice some of the mindfulness that I'd learned listening to a mindful book. I had this beautiful moment. I acknowledged that these times are crazy, that I don't feel okay, and that it is okay to not feel okay, and I felt this flood of the spirit through my body. I felt warmth and love and calm, but then the moment passed and I felt crazy again. But, underneath the crazy, I knew it would all be okay.

Monday March 23
Our neighbour and friend Heidi Stahler has a blog, and a big heart. She wanted to do something to help in the midst of the chaos. She came up with Self-Isolation Spirit Week. Her post was shared and shared and shared! The girls were excited, and here they are, day one, PJ Day!

Last week before I stopped taking the girls to stores, Fiona, Alice and I went to Michael's and bought these cute Easter Kits.

Alice made an Art Studio.

Kate an Egg Ferris Wheel.

Fiona made an Egg Factory.

One of the most exciting things about today, was learning of Brenden's safe return. Missionaries in foreign missions in Africa were the most recent to be evacuated. He told the story in an email. They had to fly to Maputo. Then they took a plane to South Africa, but they didn't have visas to be in South Africa, and the missionaries were not treated well. He missed a first flight out, but caught a different flight out later, saying that he was Canadian. He flew to Amsterdam, and then home to Toronto. He slept in airports for four days. It was crazy, but he's home and he's safe!

I also made quiche for both sets of missionaries tonight. We've now got an online missionary dinner calendar which is great. The Elders came, picked up their quiche and we chatted in the doorway (6 ft apart) for a bit. They seem okay, but one elder seems like he's having a hard time, he seemed sad. The sisters came next and again, we chatted in the doorway 6 ft apart for a bit. I told them about the elders and they said they need someone to teach. I decided this would be the perfect time for the missionaries to teach Kelly. I messaged her and told her that she should have lessons, we chatted on the phone, and set up an appointment!!! Kelly has her first discussion set up for Wednesday. And the sisters are going to teach Fiona a little lesson every day. We're starting tomorrow with prayer. I feel so strongly that I need to help take care of the missionaries!

Tuesday March 24
Today was costume day. It was really cute, the girls were really into deciding who to be from all our costumes.

We did another bike ride over to the school. Fiona is doing really well on her bike! It's awesome.

 And silly fun with Messenger filters.

I started to feel calm again today, which felt good.

Wednesday March 25
Today was crazy hair day.

I wanted to post a funny pic, so I wore one of my fun music sweatshirts today, and had Ken take a pic of me.

After dinner we went over to the girls school. Ken fixed his bike and he rode his bike over, all the girls rode over, and I walked. I did however take Ken's bike for a test spin and it was fun. I thought the bike would be way too tall for me, but it wasn't, it was okay. Fiona and I rode around the school over and over again. I hadn't ridden a bike since 2002 maybe? It was a really long time!

It's weird seeing the signs that schools are closed. I need to take a picture of one of the parks covered in caution tape.

Kelly had her first lesson with the missionaries, and Alice sat in on the whole thing. It was great. Kelly asked lots of great questions, and the missionaries did great! Elder Itaya and Elder Holman taught Kelly about the apostasy and the restoration, about Jesus and the God head. It was a good start! We have another lesson set up for Friday.

Thursday March 26
It was Super Hero Day today, and we took that opportunity to start working on our next cousin superhero girls book. I wanted to make a Covid 19 book. I have a bunch of ideas about the book, but not an ending yet. I messaged the Moms and some of the cousins with all my ideas. It was a little bit gray and misty and kind of perfect for taking pictures.

We did a Messenger Call with all of the cousins. I love these cousins!!!

Kate decided to decorate the fridge tonight and spent a long time arranging pictures and then putting up a cute message.

And Suzanne sent me the cutest pic of Ben at his babysitters. He's doing an "around the world" adventure with her! Today they went to Mexico.

Today was hard for some different non-pandemic reasons. Today I sort of came to terms with some health stuff for me. Last week on the Monday I called my doctor's office to schedule an appointment to get a referral so I could see about getting a diagnosis for celiac. I had a blood test several years ago and my numbers were high. Not as high as my brother's (Jon) but high. My doctor recommended that if I wanted to I could just live gluten free, but at that point I wasn't symptomatic, so I thought I'm not going to worry about it. For the past few months I've begun to notice some symptoms, and I've thought several times that I should make a doctor's appointment, but I never got around to it. The rotating teacher strikes were a major disruption and I didn't know when to make an appointment. Today I kind of decided, that I'm done. I can't get a doctor's appointment right now, and I don't want to suffer through the symptoms anymore, so I'm just going to start living gluten free. I was in mourning today for so many foods that I love that I won't be able to eat anymore. I felt kind of angry. I've always been so thankful that I don't have any food allergies, and that my kids don't have any either.

And then if I wasn't sad enough, I learned tonight that a friend - one of the families from Orangeville Ward went through a terrible tragedy on March 17th. Their sweet little baby boy that was born in January died in his sleep. I watched the video that she posted on Facebook and wept for them and their loss. It put my silly food woes in perspective.

Friday March 27
The Fri-yay feeling... it just isn't there right now, go figure! Today was mis-match day and the girls' outfits were epic!

Fiona and Alice rode their bikes, and Kate and I walked and we went down to the lake. It was so beautiful and sunny today. It's been cloudy for the past couple of days, so it was so nice to see the sun.

I still feel a little off today. I'm still so sad for Meg and her husband, their two girls, their extended family. The grief of losing a child, it is so much.

I also found out that we're having our first staff meeting on Monday at 2 p.m. I feel nervous and confused, well, mostly nervous about what this next phase of life will bring. There have been daily press conferences and today Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario announced that schools will now be closed until May 4th. We were supposed to be off for two extra weeks after March Break, meaning that we would go back to school on April 6th. I didn't think that would happen, and I'm not sure that we'll actually go back in May, so it's weird, and real, and right now, un-ending.

Kelly had a second lesson with the missionaries tonight. Alice and Kate sat in for part of it. The missionaries continued from where we'd left off. We talked more about the Book of Mormon. I feel like the discussion went better. The missionaries know where Kelly's at now and we able to teach her. I was able to bear testimony when I could, and that feels good. Having a missionary discussion tonight with Kelly was really uplifting, and I was grateful for that tonight!

Saturday March 28
Ken went shopping today. He was out for a long time. He did groceries, and after some deliberation and online research, he picked me up a bike at Canadian Tire. Now that all the girls ride bikes, and Ken has a bike, we can go on bike rides as a family! It's pretty cool.

I didn't take any pictures today. Not one. My emotions are really up and down and all over the place. I'm not really sure what I'll feel from one day to the next. I know that God loves me, He loves all of us, I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and of His gospel. Trying to hold onto hope is easier some days than it is others.

Quarantine Week 1 - March 16 - 22

This is the end of week one, the beginning of week two. How well did we do in the first week? I don't know. Do we need to continue to change our habits - yes. I blogged on Monday and on Tuesday. We were out and about doing a few things - shopping and going to the food bank. Wednesday we met someone from church and her baby at the park. The girls played at the park. Thursday friends came to us and we went for a walk and played at a park.

All of the above, is now off limits. I will no longer be taking the girls to any stores. I will no longer be taking the girls to any parks. I will no longer be going on walks with friends. All of that is done for now, and shouldn't have be done this week. Slowly but surely things are tightening down so that the humans win and the virus loses. The information and warnings from government officials has gotten more and more extreme and serious, and we need to be serious, and follow their direction!

Monday - Alice, Fiona and I went out and bought crafts and frames at Michael's, work books from Scholar's Choice, maple syrup, honey and frozen yogurt from MacMillan's. The girls coloured and played. Fiona barfed.

Tuesday - Fiona was feeling better, Alice and I went to the food bank, Ken and I went to the tile store, the girls played, made stuff, we went to walk around the beach at twilight.

Wednesday - The girls played, made stuff, I sorted through a box of school stuff. We went for a bike ride in the afternoon to meet up with a friend from church and her baby. The girls played at the park. There was an earthquake in Utah. (5.7 magnitude - just outside SLC in Magna - caused some damage to the temple which is already closed for upgrades, and some damage to some buildings in Magna - but nothing terribly serious.) Social media became all about memes.

 

Thursday - Ken and the girls started the 1000 piece puzzle that we bought on Monday. Some friends came over and we went for a walk - they didn't come inside but the kids weren't great at social distancing, and then we all went to the park. We got really close with the puzzle, and Suzanne sent me a cute Leprechaun pic of Ben. (Kate lost a tooth, and Agatha came and we learned that tooth fairies don't get sick, but they can get injured.)

Friday - We finished the puzzle in the morning. The forecast was calling for rain so the girls and I went out in the morning. Kate and I walked, Fiona and Alice rode bikes. Ken had started working with Fiona on her bike riding a week ago, on the girls' P.A. Day. This was our third time on bikes with Fiona. Fiona rode across the tarmac at the school over and over and over again. She rode home in stretches. I needed to restart her when she stopped, but she's doing amazing. I took a little bit of video of her, but sadly no photos. When we came home we wrote letters and cards to friends and family.

Saturday - we hung about for most of the day, but finally all got ready, piled the bikes into the van and drove over to the church parking lot so the girls could ride bikes. Fiona rode all the way around the chapel over and over again. By the end of it, she could start and stop herself. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of Fiona because my phone/camera was being a total pain and it shut down when I tried to take pictures. The missionaries were inside the church and we had a long chat in the parking lot, when they were leaving. We dropped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up a couple of things - only Ken went in, he had done a bigger shop yesterday, but we had missed somethings. We got home and Ken bbq'd.

Which brings us to today, Sunday. I'm feeling a little sad today. Sad that I went to parks, sad that we saw friends, but also sad that I feel sad. The next little while is going to be interesting. How will we fair emotionally? Will it get harder and harder, or will it just be? I suppose it depends how long this stretches on for and what we do with our time.

It's time for lunch. We had church this morning. Alice had planned it on Friday I think? Alice spoke about the Holy Ghost, Ken blessed and passed the sacrament. Alice and Kate did a musical number - Gethsemane. Ken taught primary with a fun object lesson. I felt the spirit. It was lovely. (Before church Fiona lost a tooth and the girls played on phones!)

 The girls even all put dresses on! (So I did too!)

We have so many blessings. SO MANY! I am off work with pay so I can look after the girls. Ken is working from home and still has work and pay. We have access to food. We live in a beautiful place - there are many, many places to walk  and ride bikes and standing by the lake is so healing and calming. I just hope that the relative calm that I feel now will continue over the coming weeks. I hope that we can keep drawing near unto God and feeling of his spirit and love in our home! AND we will do better to do our part to stay home and keep others safe!