Hello hello! I’m hiding in my room, eating chips and guac while my kids watch movies downstairs. This buys me twenty minutes, maybe. (Lily is absolutely relentless, and wants to play Barbies constantly. #help) Life has changed just a little bit for all of us, hasn’t it?! How are we all doing? Are you hanging in there?! It’s a Covid-19 pandemic, and everyone is doing their best to stay home. I’m homeschooling and checking in with my couples and cooking and running a business and doing the shopping, trying to keep my kids healthy and my sanity intact (ha!). We’re staying in touch with all of our local people while still keeping up on worldwide news and our friends living in other countries. Never has our world felt so big, and so small, both at the same time.

Truthfully… I’ve been struggling for just about every minute of this! I checked out of Facebook after reading too many people bossing everyone around, acting like they work for the CDC or the governor’s office. Geez louise peeps. I’m hurting for the sick, the jobless, the poor. We’re looking for ways to be generous in the middle of all of this (and there are a million ways to give and give).

The beginning of last week was pretty rough in our house, and we figured out quite a few things that were NOT helpful (staying up late! too much news! alcohol!). Finding our rhythm through all of this madness has been so important. My anxiety levels go way down on the days I exercise, so I’ve been doing that as much as possible. Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon is offering a suggested “rule of life” — good habits to put in place during this Coronavirus pandemic. The list has been incredibly helpful (!!), and I’m grateful for the difference it’s making as we’ve began implementing it. Check it out if you’re looking for ways to manage stress and cope with anxiety during this crazy time: https://www.brdgtwn.church/rule

I’ve been homeschooling for years, and I’ve heard a lot of homeschoolers say that this hasn’t changed their lives much… but it’s changed ours drastically. We are always always going, moving, and doing! Two weeks ago today, we were downtown at the Adler Planetarium with friends, learning about space. Thirteen days ago, we spent the morning with our Classical Conversations community and the afternoon at choir rehearsal. Twelve days ago, gymnastics class. Eleven days ago, karate. Basically, our whole life is upside-down right now, just like pretty much everyone else’s. Staying home every day is just not something we’re used to.

Our state’s shelter-in-place order allows for “travel to outdoor recreational areas for exercise”… which means that I’m trekking my little crew out to the woods as much as possible! You all know how much I love winter… but this time around, I’m grateful for the warmer weather that’s (hopefully?!) right around the corner. Our local garden shop is open (it’s considered an essential business! I’m so happy!), and as soon as the ground thaws, I’ll have my kids breaking up the garden soil, getting ready to plant anything and everything we can. The tulips I planted last fall are coming up like little surprises, all over our yard, and our grass is a very bright green.

Marty and I were supposed to leave later this week for a MUCH-anticipated trip that is now (obviously) postponed. I was so looking forward to days (DAYS!!) of one-on-one time with my favorite person in the world — our life has been nuts, and time away was such a needed, necessary thing. But guess what? Everything is cancelled. Our lives have slowed down. And those evenings and weekends, when we were running and going and doing? They’re empty. Baby, we’ve got nothing but time now. So we play family hide-and-seek, or charades, or a board game. We’re baking cakes, reading books, watching movies, singing songs, taking walks, jumping on the trampoline.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s also fighting, and temper tantrums, and screen time marathons galore. (And that family hide and seek thing? I go and sit in the empty bathtub with a cup of coffee and pray they don’t find me for a long time haha!) But while the world falls apart, I’m focusing on what I can control. My attitude. The environment here at home. My words — to Marty, and my kids, and the grocery store employees, and my neighbors, and the strangers walking on the opposite sidewalk.

And FINALLY: A few things I’m loving these days?! Jimmy Fallon’s at-home show. Disney+. Medical workers. Soap. Psalm 23. Psalm 34. Voxing friends. My couples, reaching out to see if I’m doing ok (SO SWEET). Fresh flowers. Planning our garden. A laptop that lets me bring my work to the cleanest part of the house. Sunshine. Sharon, our world-class mail carrier. All the cashiers at Target, Aldi, Jewel, and every other grocery store. The Moana soundtrack (because it kept Lily groovin’ in the tub long enough for me to finish this post).

Happy Monday, friends!