The boys are coping pretty well. They spend a lot of time outside playing basketball or riding bikes. Kyle has started to color pictures for his friends and then runs around the neighborhood to deliver them. Beckett liked that idea and took it a step further. He made a box of paper airplanes and handed them out to all the kids here. We take our friends treats when we can and wave from the sidewalk. I try to enforce a daily family walk. Sidewalk chalk has also been a fun outlet. We've also been doing daily PE on YouTube and the kids actually really like it. I also made Tayden help me peel bananas solely for the entertainment factor. He really hates the fruit. There is more TV and video games then I'd like to admit, but this is unprecedented territory, so I'm trying to give myself some guilt free slack.
We needed an adventure yesterday, so we went to McDonalds (only the drive through is open) and got some lunch. Then we drove up to the windmills in the foothills and had a picnic. It was too cold to go outside to eat so we ate in the van. It was good to have a change of scenery, get some fresh air and do something out of our new normal. Its funny how something so simple can bring so much joy.
Church went better this week than last. Our Stake is allowing families to partake of the Sacrament inside the home. Its been a really neat opportunity to watch Scott bless our weekly Sacrament. Its humbling to have such a powerful priesthood ordinance done in our home. The first week we were much more relaxed than we should have been. Scott had a mandatory church meeting, so we tried to break the day up. Our rule is no TV before church. So we thought if we did our lesson before the meeting, we could do the sacrament when Scott got back. That way, if his meeting ended up going longer than anticipated, the kids could watch TV. When he got home, we had to round up the kids all over again to take the sacrament and they were rowdy. Then of course I was made because they weren't being reverent and on and on it went. Last week, we all dressed in church clothes to set the mood. Then, we had an opening song and prayer. Scott gave a talk, blessed and passed the sacrament and then I gave the lesson. After the lesson we closed with another song and prayer. It went much smoother and the kids participated and actually learned. It was so spiritually rejuvenating.
We've been home for two weeks and the Governor of Idaho just announced a three week shut down to try to slow the spread of the virus. Thats five weeks isolated at home and it could just be the start. Who knows when this will end. Home school starts Monday and we are all looking forward to a bit of routine and normalcy. I'm trying my best to recognize that my kids memories of this time depend on me and my attitude and what experience I am giving them. Even though this is a time of scary uncertainty, I want them to remember it as a time of fun and safety. I want them to look back with fond memories of homeschooling and home church. I want them to reminisce on the family board games and dad working from home. I want them to remember all of us being safety gathered in.
We're surviving and with any luck we'll learn how to be thriving in the weeks to come. This is hard, but no harder than the trials of our ancestors before us. The wars, the pioneers, the persecution for their faith, the great depression, etc. We'll get through this and hopefully come out better because of it.
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