Well, we made it through eleven weeks of school!  Friday night we were notified that both of the kids’ classrooms are being quarantined for two weeks.  Someone in each of their classes tested positive for Covid, so the protocol is to send everyone home for awhile. 

But, we are grateful for many things!  We are grateful for being in school this long – much longer than any of us thought.  We are grateful we are all healthy so far and not developing Covid symptoms.  We are grateful that both kids are quarantined at the same time rather than one kid for two weeks, then the other kid for the next two weeks. We are grateful that Thanksgiving break is one week of our quarantine – only one week of at-home learning instead of two!  

James & Anna mixing up our winter supply of hot chocolate.

After getting the news about school, the kids were of course disappointed.  I was disappointed for them, too.  This is Anna’s birthday week so she was really looking forward to bringing donuts to her class to celebrate.  

I spent the evening getting my head around the fact that our week was going to look quite a bit different than what the calendar shows.  (It takes me awhile to get used to change.)  But the next morning on Saturday, I settled in pretty quickly to a calm and relaxed mode that only quarantine can bring.  Now that all of our activities for the week were canceled, we could have some downtime rather than doing the work that needed to be done by Monday.  Instead of preparing food for friends to visit on Sunday, I curled up with a magazine and a word find.  Our entire family quickly switched gears and we spent the weekend enjoying each other’s company and slowing down.  

Rather than attending church and having friends over for lunch, we watched the service online, had a slow lunch, then took naps.  We played games and read by the fire and went for a walk.  Kenny introduced the kids to film cameras and his old Atari.  Our week will consist of only at-home learning – no drum lesson, ballet classes, or youth group.  And that is okay.  

We are hopeful Anna’s birthday party can still happen this weekend.  And, we are hopeful we’ll be able to return to school after Thanksgiving.  Once again, 2020 is the year of flexibility!

A few weeks ago my sister, Sheila, from England came for a visit!  I picked her up in Denver and we drove to NE to spend several days with my parents.  Our last visit was two years ago so we were all thrilled to see her again. 

It was so interesting just the four of us being together without all of our families.  It felt a little like we were back in high school, living at home!  We enjoyed slow days with Mom & Dad catching up, we worked in the yard together, and watched movies and played games together.  It was a very special time for the four of us and I’m so thankful.