Strange Times

Never in my wildest imaginings would I have ever thought we'd be encouraged to stay at home.  That church would be cancelled, every level of public and charter schools would be "dismissed" and most every public building shut down.   The COVID-19 has engulfed the world and people are scared.   It's the unknown that's so unsettling.

Almost daffodils!

But, we're safe at home.  We've power and water and the luxury of appliances.  We've a freezer that has food in it, a pantry that is about as well-stocked as we can figure how to stock it.  We've plenty of books to read, projects to work on and the internet to keep us "plugged in".

We've even had some decent weather.  They are predicting a fair amount of rain later on this week but for now, we're reveling in the sunshine.

We stopped at the grocery on Saturday afternoon looking for some chicken for yesterday's dinner.  I've never in my life seen so many empty shelves in a grocery store.  The grocery was expecting a supply of chicken later on that day, so we got up early and were at the store shortly after it opened this morning (we don't shop on Sunday).  And sure, enough - the only chicken left was some wings (that no one really eats) and some ground chicken.  Haven't ever tried that but we picked some up and I'll use it in soup tomorrow.

I tried a new breakfast casserole recipe the other day.  It was great, it'll be in our rotation often - as long as we can get eggs.  😋

Yummy.

We had our own version of church yesterday.  Opened and closed with prayer and did our Come Follow Me, complete with an online video of a gospel doctrine teacher's Sunday school class, covering the same chapters of Jacob in the Come Follow Me program.  It was great.  We felt uplifted, and encouraged.  Then we received permission to have the sacrament in our home so next Sunday we'll do that with our daughter and grandson.  I will look forward to renewing my covenants - specifically the one to always remember the Savior.

We went for a walk yesterday afternoon just to be outside in the sun and fresh air, met multiple families from the ward doing the same. Even that little bit of outside contact felt good to our souls.

And I love this quote from 1948:

“The first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb, when it comes, find us doing sensible and human things -- praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts -- not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs.”

― C.S. Lewis

I'm so grateful that generally people are careful and seem to be coming together to work through this unprecedented craziness together.  So grateful for the gift of a couple freshly made rice krispie treats - made for a great breakfast. Grateful for being able to get outside.  And I'm even grateful that some kind soul stuck their fake flowers in a tree that has yet to bloom.  It made me smile when I saw it.