Day # End of April!

Thursday...right?! I mean, who really knows which day is which anymore anyways? They all seem oddly similar, but my calendar reminded me this morning that this was the morning for two google meets.

Roger had today off, which provided me the opportunity to be able to record a few lessons for our preschoolers for next week. After praying with Mrs. Wheelis this morning, I snuck in a quick run, and then settled Emma in for her google meet with her teacher. Every week, Emma has a quick lesson with her teacher. Emma seems to enjoy the one-on-one lessons better than the classroom meetings, which I think is just because sometimes the classroom meetings are a bit more chaotic. I set Emma up for her meeting, said hello to her teacher, and I walked away to do a few other things. About five minutes later, Emma gets up from the couch and announces that she is done. I asked, “Already?” Emma replied, “Yes, she went away, and I don’t know where she went.” The computer had lost power and gone dead while Emma was having her meeting. Emma just assumed that the meeting was over, so she walked off! There was a few minutes of crazy as we worked to figure out how to set up the iPad to connect to the meeting. Emma’s teacher was waiting patiently, and Emma was able to finish the lesson. It’s just one technology thing after another!

Later in the morning, Renee and I had a meeting with our three-year-old preschool class. The interest level is waning for everyone, and we had one preschooler come to the meeting. While it was a bit disappointing that more of the class did not come, we sure do enjoy the opportunities for one-on-one time with our students also. While the technology curve is steep, we are learning!

Renee and I were able to get three more preschool lessons recorded as well as our packets ready for our preschoolers tomorrow. We only have two more packet pickups. I feel like the little engine that could “I think I can, I think I can!” God is good. He brought us this far, and He hasn’t forgotten where we are at.

Tomorrow begins Phase One of Re-Opening Maine. So since we haven’t been required to wear masks all this time, now tomorrow we have to wear masks when we are out in public! I wanted to get the grocery shopping done for the week today so that I wouldn’t have to wear a mask, but the line to get in Wal-mart was way too long. Oh well! I could totally use grocery pickup at Walmart, but I kinda like picking out my own groceries (especially fruits and vegetables). And I know that there are people that need to use grocery pickup far more than I do! We do have a  Sam’s Club Plus membership so that allows me to get a lot of non-perishable items shipped for free. That helps too!

There is much confusion and fear in our society today. It is fueled by panic, fear of the unknown, false information, and speckles of truth thrown in here and there. This is certainly not the America our Founding Fathers envisioned of almost 250 years ago! I encourage you to pray, to write letters to our government leaders, and to ask God to send revival to our land. The mightiness of God has not changed because we are in a pandemic! 

Emma’s weekly lesson

We had an ice cream cake with candles last night to celebrate Wyatt’s birthday (which was over a week ago!) I had found an ice cream cake on deep clearance on our last grocery run, and we had saved it to have a birthday celebration! Birthdays during a pandemic are different! 

I am thankful for the time to pray and to really get into God’s Word. I’m reading through I Peter now, and I am enjoying searching out God’s Word. I have also signed up to take a class online (how I’m going to find the time, I don’t know! But where there’s a will, there’s a way!) One thing that continually comes through Scripture is how much God loves us, and He desires a relationship with us. He will never force Himself into our lives, but He is every ready to be involved in our lives. I’m thankful for a relationship with a loving yet holy God. If you don’t know Him as your friend and Savior, He’s waiting for you today! 

Maine news:

 The Maine CDC reported one additional death due to COVID-19, for a total of 53. The additional death announced Thursday was a woman in her 50s from Cumberland County.

There are now 1,095 confirmed cases, 631 recoveries, and 170 total hospitalizations in Maine. 

35 people in Maine are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 18 being treated in intensive care units and 8 on ventilators.

Day # Prayers and Sunshine

                                                            The view behind our church property

We definitely jumped on the opportunity to be outside today! The sunshine was absolutely beautiful, and it was much needed.

Power tools and outside projects! 

Bikes and sunshine! 

Our children are busy wrapping up their assignments as we prepare for another school packet-pickup on Friday. It is supposed to rain on Friday, so please pray with us that the rain will hold off. Two of our children have almost everything done ahead of time, and the other three still have some work to-do before Friday. We will get there, Lord willing!

Two google meets this morning. One for Wyatt and Travis and one for mom. Wyatt and Travis had to be called in from outside to join the meet, and then they left to go back outside as soon as the meet was done. It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow and Friday, so we have to use up all the sunshine that we can! I had a google meet with our pre-schoolers. I love them all dearly, and I enjoy ‘seeing’ them every week. It often hard to understand everyone though, so the meetings are kept short on purpose. Renee and I recorded lessons last week for this week of preschool. One of the lessons kept refusing to load and it kept saying the video was too long. I decided that I could probably take off the last song in the lessons and it would be short enough. Well, my non-techy skills came through as I accidentally deleted the majority of the video, and we were left with the ending song! Ugh! All I can say is that I am really learning a lot through this- at least I’m learning what I’m not good at if nothing else! Oh well, Renee was gracious and kind, and I just sent out an email explaining what had happened. And we move on.

Roger had the day off today, so that was enjoyable for all of us. He worked on the yard with the boys, cleaned up part of the basement, and took them fishing. They have yet to be successful at fishing, but they keep trying! Since Roger was home, I was able to go to church to work on a few things there. Allison and I had plans to try to get some things done, but we weren’t all that successful. We did have a good opportunity to pray and talk, and that was definitely what my spirit needed today. The opportunity to pray is one that we need to use often and fervently. It’s easy to feel “weary in well-doing”, but our defense against that is prayer. And I think rest is important. There is so much negativity in the world, and I think it’s important that we get enough  sleep. I know that when I don’t sleep well, it can totally affect my attitude the next day (just ask my husband and my kids!). We have relaxed the kids bedtime a little bit, but we still work hard at getting them to bed early enough so that they can get a good nights sleep. It’s necessary for all of us! Not having enough sleep just makes the problems of the day seem bigger in my opinion!

My sister told me yesterday that their governor in South Dakota has issued a “back to normal” status. How cool is that!? I think it’s great- maybe we should all go visit South Dakota this summer! I try not to think too much about the ramifications of the governors orders yesterday, but already so many events have been canceled. Tourism in Maine accounts for over 6 billion dollars annually! Tourism Article  I am concerned about Roger’s job and their success this summer. So many businesses depend upon summer visitors to help them through the long winter months that do not provide a lot of income. But- I have not given up praying that God will allow our governor to change her mind, and that we can see the people and businesses of Maine encouraged. And yes, I absolutely understand that some of you disagree with me and think that we should stay buttoned up until the entire threat of Coronavirus is wiped out. Know what? It’s totally okay to disagree with me, and we can still be friends! I may not agree with you, but I can agree to disagree.

A friend of mine dropped some “May flowers” off at my house this afternoon. I didn’t even know that there was a flower that is actually called “May flowers” but now I will be on the lookout for this flower. The tiny blossoms smell so good, and it was so thoughtful for Sharron to drop those off for me.

May Flowers 

Maine News: Our number of recovered cases is up over 600. And the number of active cases continues to decline. You can read additional information here. 

Day #Governor’s update

Snow today 

Emma made her own toast! 

Chandler made his own lure

Yes, we do school work! 

Our state governor delivered a speech at 3:00pm, and in light of that, I had a hard time finding the energy or effort to write. But, here I am! Maine news: It really is blah, blah, blah! Regardless of how the number of recoveries continues to rise, the restrictions just keep coming! I’m frustrated, and I’m to the place where I think we need to protect the vulnerable and ill - but we need to get the economy moving again. But- I’m not in charge! Instead we get to wear face masks when we go out in public beginning on May 1. (The thought makes me feel nauseous). And our stay-at-home mandate is extended until May 31. Yes, you read that right- May 31! If the Mills Administration thinks that we are “safe” enough by May 31, the second phase of the re-opening plan will commence. Our economy is based largely on tourism, and this is not shaping up to look good for our state. This is hard! I want to go back to church, and on-line church is fine (but totally not something that I want to do long-term!). You can read about all the details here


We woke up to snow this morning! It was hard to even fathom that it had snowed, as just on Sunday it was a  beautiful day. However, I’m often reminding myself these days that “this is the day that the Lord hath made”. Regardless of my FEELINGS, I must ground myself firmly in God’s Word. God’s Word is truth. He is the anchor for my soul.

 We had a morning full of google meets for two of our kids. Emma woke up and was very disappointed to see the snow outside. She had a hard time getting ready for her google meet. She told me that she did not want to go to the “googly meet” as she called it. Nevertheless, she got online and went to the meeting. Garett is mostly independent on getting to his google meet, as he just needs me to check my email. We get the link via my email, and then Garett connects to his class meeting. Garett goes to one room, and Emma sat in the living room today. I tried to clean out the pantry while Emma was having our classroom meeting, but quickly realized that Emma needed me to  help her a lot. Sometimes she needs her mic to be muted and sometimes she needs it turned on. But eventually we finished up both the google meet and the pantry was cleaned out.

Pantry cleaning day means that we eat random odds and ends as I discover packages that are open and need to be finished up. Why put back the potato chip bag with about ten chips? Who wants the chaff and a few cheerios in the cereal box? A few mashed crackers? The kids ate up some of the snacks that just had a few left, and the pantry looks much better. Wyatt also told me that the pantry looks a lot emptier now! Its not really emptier, its just cleaner! Mission accomplished!

I was texting my friend, Allison this afternoon. We were talking about the bit of a rough day we had both had, and she sent me a picture of her dining room table. At about the same moment, I sent her a picture of our table.Yup, we are just both trying to keep our boats from sinking at this moment in time! Both of our dining room tables were covered with various pieces of school work, miscellaneous stuff but no students! Ha! We are working at it, but basically we are trying to keep the boat afloat! A bit of school work, laundry, some more meals, a bit more schoolwork, redirecting the distracted children, more food, dishes, back to a bit more school work, and then “Everyone outside”! And like ants on sugar they gladly escape to the great outdoors!

I sure hope you all are using your most valuable weapon right now- prayer! I was talking with Mrs. Wheelis this morning and we were discussing prayer requests. God is God, and He changes not. He wants to hear the requests from all of His children whether it is Emma praying that we can find a close parking spot or her mama begging God bring revival to our land. Mrs. Wheelis made the comment that both requests are important to God, and that gives me such peace knowing that God is still God. He is still on the throne, and I will continue to pray fervently and diligently. Please join me!

Our friend and a pastor we know, Jared, recently wrote an encouraging article on Covid-19 and God’s Word. He and his family live in Wisconsin, but the article applies to us here in Maine as well. WWJD and Covid-19. Our confidence is in the Lord, and we can rest assured that God will be glorified.

Additional Maine News: 1,023 cases of Coronavirus. Recoveries: 549 Deaths: 51

Day# No title

Journal writing 

One big wrestling match after another today! 

She looks so excited about math! 

I am surely hoping that April showers will bring May flowers! Today we woke up to a very dreary day outside, which makes motivation very low on the totem pole. Last week was “spring break” technically, but it was not a wildly exciting week. Regardless we did have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to live in-much to be thankful for in our lives!

Our school will continue remote learning until May 29, which will then be our last day of school. I’ll be honest, I cried last week when I heard that school was continuing until May 29th. Granted it is still two weeks earlier than we are scheduled to be done, but I am just weary. I told Roger that I am just trying to keep this boat floating! I’m not into steering or paddling but rather just trying to keep the boat floating! Our children are enjoying all the outdoor time, family time, and relaxed time, but I know that they are all missing going to actual school. We all miss our teachers (having mom teach is NOT the same thing!) our friends, and the activities of school life. Regardless, we are taking one day at a time- along much of our nation! Our confidence is not in mankind but in the power of God!

Emma did not read every day last week, and I was surprised at how much harder that made school for her today. I am seeing the importance of having her stick with her reading over the summer months. We have two children that really do not enjoy reading, so it is sometimes a struggle to keep everyone doing what needs to get done. They love to have me read-a-loud to them, but several of our children really struggle to find something that they enjoy reading on their own. We put one foot in front of the other, and I try not to focus on one thing at a time.

Emma, Wyatt and Travis had the opportunity to talk to a few of their classmates today via Facebook messenger. Emma was very excited to see Lucy, and Wyatt and Travis enjoyed a few minutes speaking with Abel. It was probably Claire and I that were the most excited to see each other, and we interrupted our children’s conversations several times to talk to each other! When you haven’t seen someone for five weeks, it’s so good to “see” them again! Claire is a good friend, and I am thankful for her. We look forward to the day when we can work together on school events again, which may not be until next year. However, that being said, I do have a specific prayer request. Will you pray with us that the restrictions on our gatherings in our state will be lifted enough that we will be able to come together for some type of year end gathering? I feel that some type of picnic or fellowship would help us all get some closure to the school year before we break off into summer break. It’s a big prayer request!

What are you resting in today? Resting in mankind is foolishness. Resting in technology is unwise. Resting in the reporting of the “experts” or “media” will certainly not provide rest. Our rest, our hope, our confidence is in God and God alone! I’ve been reading through the Psalms- again, and I am always reminded of how often David calls out to the Lord to rescue him. We cannot let our emotions run wild and crazy, but rather trust in God and His Word. He is faithful.

Roger had to work today, and we are thankful that his job still has work. Today was non-flyable, but Roger still did a lot of paperwork and other odd jobs that needed to get done. We are thankful that Roger is still working. We really just have so much to be thankful for as we have a home, heat, food, clothes, and all the things that we need.

Maine News: Our stay-at-home or safer-at-home mandate is set to expire on Thursday. However, our governor announced today that she is expecting to extend that mandate. I’ll be honest- I do not agree with this decision as I see so many, many hurting businesses that may not be able to get through this if our state does not ease up on some of these restrictions soon. Now, clearly, I am not in charge and I am not an expert. And I work very hard at keeping my opinion off of social media. However, you choose to read this post tonight, so this is free! :) As a child of God, I absolutely believe that every single life is precious in the eyes of God. And we have 51 deaths in our states as of today. I would like to point out that the majority of these deaths occurred in older people, which are still precious and valuable people. However...it wasn’t that long ago that these exact people that are now touting that every life is valuable and precious and these that think we should keep the state in lockdown are the same people that were proclaiming that we should legalize the euthanasia of those that are critically ill. Oh, and clearly if you want an abortion then that  life is not valuable (insert sarcasm here!) You can’t have it both ways! Either we value all lives...all the time...or not all lives are valuable! And while I absolutely believe that we should value all lives, we also have to consider many other factors in this war on Coronavirus. Okay, I’m getting off this rabbit trail. I do have an opinion that runs much deeper and stronger than what was posted here, but I’m getting off track. We have 1,023 cases of Coronavirus in our state. We have 51 total deaths. And we have 423 active cases in our state. (And we have 1.3 million people that live in our state.)

Please continue to pray for our state and our nation. I do believe that God is at work, and we need to pray and fast while we wait. Take heart in the promises of God tonight.

Day # Sunday, Hiking and Life Lessons

So thankful for my man!

                                                  God’s Beautiful Creation

Wyatt is learning to ride the unicycle

Sunday! I don’t know about you, but Sundays are probably the hardest day of the week for me. Our Sundays used to be geared  around Sunday School, worship service, home for lunch and back for youth group and childrens’ programs. Now we have a service online each Sunday, which I am very grateful for, but it just is not the same! I miss face-to-face fellowship and interaction with people and our church family is like family. I talked with my sister, Jen, in South Dakota last night. I am so jealous that she was able to attend actual and real church today at their church building!  Of course they still have to practice social distancing measures and safety, but they could actually return to their church building for church- I am jealous! I am praying earnestly and fervently for that day to be allowed for us Mainers soon and very soon. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time focusing at an online church service. I can be distracted when I sit in an actual pew much less when I’m sitting at home watching via the internet. Our internet has been very spotty since the last storm that came through, and sometimes I feel like I am back in my childhood and the days of dial-up internet!

This morning was a beautiful morning, and since the internet was not working properly, we decided to take the kids on a hike and watch our church service later this afternoon. Remember that hike that I took the kids on a few days ago that went up a mountain, but we weren’t sure which mountain or how long the trail was? The kids have been asking if we can go back and hike that trail, so we decided to climb Ragged Mountain today. It was a beautiful morning to enjoy God’s creation and to  spend time together as a family. It was almost five miles round trip, and Emma did the entire trail by herself! She did take a tumble on the way back, but she’s tough. The higher we went up the mountain trail, the more the boys kept telling Emma to be careful and to stay away from the edge. She finally told Garett, “I can do it myself. Stop telling me to be careful!” I know that the boys really do want to look out for her as they were definitely looking out for her. Chandler brought along his back pack with water bottles and snacks. He ate the entire way up the trail! Every time I looked over at him he was eating granola bars or fruit or venison sausage. My parents sent us a box of cheese and sausage from Wisconsin this week, and the boys have been eating through the venison sausage. Remember how I mentioned that Chandler is growing? Well, I think I was watching him grow today! It was a fun time together. And hiking that trail is something that we probably wouldn’t have had the time to do if it wasn’t for the Coronavirus. We were on the trail by 9:10am, and we hiked to the top, had a snack, took some pictures, and we were down the mountain and back to the van by 12:00pm. I found it to be easier to climb up the mountain than to come down. Climbing down is harder on my knees, but it does go a bit faster on the way down. Truly it was a wonderful morning spent with some of my very favorite people. God is good.

When we came back from our hike, we discovered that Mr. Philbrook (the boys Sunday School teacher) had brought the boys over some pallets for their forts. Oh, the boys were so excited! Chandler has dreams of building some type of pallet garden, but I’m not sure that will come to pass. All the other boys were far more interested in using the pallets for their forts and trails. We will see. I’m thankful for friends that are willing to provide free material for the boys. At the end of the day it can all go in one huge bonfire if needed.

Roger took the boys fishing again this afternoon. They have not had a whole lot of success, but the boys always are eager to go. I’m glad that Roger takes them fishing as it provides a few moments of relative quietness at our house.

Church services tonight as a family, and the boys are anxious to finish our read-a-loud story. I have been reading aloud a lot more since the quarantine started simply because I have a little more time to read, and it’s okay if the boys get into bed a little later than normal. We are reading through a series of books that I remember reading as a child. It’s called the “Young Underground” series and it is written by Robert Elmer. The stories tell of the adventures of some young Danish children during the World War. I had looked into purchasing the books as I do like to read off of paper, but the books are expensive these days! Apparently, I’m getting old as the books I used to read are not being published anymore! I knew that we could not afford the $30 for just the first book in the series, so that was disappointing. However, Amazon Kindle is offering two months free for their Amazon Kindle Program which is “borrowing” books via the app and online. And guess what? The series that I was looking for is free using the Kindle App! It’s just another reminder to me about how good our God is to us! The children are enjoying having me read to them, and I’m enjoying the opportunity. It’s another thing that we probably wouldn’t have done if it wasn’t for the quarantine.

The boys have also been learning additional cooking skills during this time at home. They can all cook eggs now, but I definitely have a few that are better at it than others. Wyatt can make chocolate chip cookies, which are inhaled around here. Chandler has lately been into eating all the food! I am thankful for the opportunity to teach them a few more cooking lessons in the kitchen. Learning to cook is a great skill!


Maine News:

• Maine CDC reported 25 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. There are no new deaths. This bring the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state of Maine to 1,015 cases and 50 deaths. 532 people have recovered from COVID-19. There are 433 active cases on Sunday.  

This is a funny song! It is going to help you in your spiritual growth, but it might put a smile on your face. That’s important too! :) 

Day # 40 (Unplanned Haircuts)

Haircut! Just a big chunk right out of the side! 

Can you believe that this is day #40?! Ahhh!! And we are all still alive and breathing, and I still love my kids!

Today felt like a spring day! Hooray! The sun was shining, a little bit of wind, but lots of sun. Spring has a specific smell in my opinion, and it smelled like spring today. We spent most of the day outside. During this season of quarantine, the boys have spent hours and hours outside! They have grown both physically and mentally over these past few weeks. I’m hoping that they will look back on these weeks of quarantine as a time when they created good memories, and their faith grew. God is still faithful regardless of how my fears want to squelch my faith. God is unchangeable in all of this. I’m also hoping that their clothes will last until the thrift stores open back up! Wyatt and Travis are back to being about the same size, and Chandler has grown several inches in the last month. He is now as tall as I am (not a huge accomplishment, but still!)

We hiked for several miles this afternoon while Roger was working. Garett and I did trash in the morning, and then the boys worked on their bike trail. Since they got all the lumber from the neighbor yesterday, they spent some time today cutting up the lumber and putting it over the really, muddy spots on their trails. Seems like a lot of work to me, but hey! They were motivated to do it, and the yelling was minimal!

We hiked at a preserve this afternoon that had multiple trails all over the property. It was interesting to follow the kids as they hiked around. At each intersection of the trail, a different child picked which way to go. Wyatt was the first to realize that we had backtracked over the trail due to the directions that were picked. I was waiting to see which child would pick up on that first. It didn’t matter as we didn’t really have any plans or a particular direction, so we just wandered all over.

Emma cut her hair today. Ugh! Oh well! She cut her doll’s hair first, and then cut her own hair. I’m not too bothered by it actually, as it’s just not something that needs to bother me right now. Clearly, I gave her firm instructions to never do that again, but Chandler told her “It looks terrible. But since we aren’t going anywhere right now, I guess it doesn’t matter how you look!” Trust a brother to tell you how it really is!

Maine news...we’ve reached over 1000 cases of Coronavirus, but we still have more recovered than have the illness. It seems like that would be the good news in the media, but I always feel like I have to completely read through the news articles to find the news about the recoveries. Maybe that’s why I don’t keep up with the news more...truth seems to be hard to find these days, and there is so much that is negative and depressing. That’s not what I want my mind to be focused on. I want my mind to be focused on the truths of God’s Word, and the promises that He gives to His children.

Very thankful for these five!

Worst enemies and best friends! 

Lots of laughter and exercise 

                                                                     Blessed

Day # Free Treasures? (One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!)

Free Boards! 

                                                A whole pile of “treasures”!


Friday! Somehow the day has lost the excitement that it carried back during the days when we remembered which day is which! Nevertheless today is Friday! Today is the last day of “spring break”, and while we did not really do anything exciting or go anywhere, it was very nice to have the week off of emails, “google meets”, teaching, preparing, and trying to educate our own tribe! All of our children have said that they would be a lot more excited about school work on Monday if they were going back to actual school at the school building! Yeah, me too! Bu wishing doesn’t make it so! Onward we go back to “google meets”, emails, packet learning, and trying to finish up the school year with some measure of sanity!

We had an online Bible study and prayer time with some of the ladies from our church last night. I’m still not a huge fan of online meetings, but this meeting did go so much smoother than the last meeting we had online! We are learning! We had six ladies “join” on the meeting, and what a special time we had of prayer and fellowship. I had not really realized how much I had missed these dear ladies, but last night was just a very sweet time together. It was refreshing to me to hear the other two mamas with children at home also stating how long the school year seemed to be- so it’s not just me! Whew!

Lunch at the airport

Today Roger was working, and while it wasn’t exactly warm, it was not raining either! I was able to get in a quick run this morning while the kids worked on their chores and played outside. Later in the morning we took Roger some lunch at the airport so that was a nice change of pace for all of us. Sometimes a change of scenery can help put things in perspective. I took the children on a hike, but I’m not sure which one! There are SO many land trusts around here with various trails, which is great! However, often times it seems like the trailhead is not clearly marked with a trail map. I like the maps that are posted that state “you are here” and how long the trail is and whether or not its a loop or out and back, etc. All that was on the board of information was about three signs stating that social distancing is in effect, please move to the side of the trail, please watch out for ticks, please be safe, etc. So, I sent Roger a picture and our coordinates, and off we went. Sometimes I think the Mainers don’t realize that we didn’t all grow up around here, and a map would be great! The sign at the parking lot states “Ragged and Spruce Head Mountain Trails”. Great! And which one is which? And where is the trail map? Anyways, we hiked anyways! We can definitely follow color-coded trees and a trail that is well used. We hiked for about a mile or so, but since we didn’t know how long the trail actually was in length, we decided to turn around. Or rather, I said we were turning around! I’m pretty sure the boys would’ve kept on going for much, much longer, but as my dad always used to say, “It’s better to quit while everyone is still having fun!” Definitely!

One of our neighbors had a free pile out by their driveway on the way home. Free is Chandler’s middle name! Okay, not really...but he loves to scrounge through a free pile! He walked down to the neighbors, and he came back with a whole pile of “treasures”. A fire extinguisher that did not work (he wanted to see what was inside), a bunch of outside faucets, a can of copper fittings (for his scrap pile). Oh and “Mom, the lady said that she has a bunch of old lumber if I want to have it. Can I go back and get some lumber for my fort and the trails?” Ooo...Roger is going to be thrilled! (That’s an exaggeration, but we do not buy stuff for the boys forts or projects. They have to figure all that out on their own.) So the four boys trotted back down the road to the “lumber pile”. I let them go down on their own, but then decided that I should walk down and make sure that the lumber was free and that the neighbor was fine with four boys hauling off her stuff! I walked down the road, and it was so nice to meet another neighbor. She was quite pleasant to talk with, and I would love to visit more with her...but these social distancing rules are hard for people to visit together! Anyways, she was delighted to let the boys have her lumber, and she even borrowed them a wagon to haul all the lumber home. The boys proceeded to spend most of the entire afternoon pulling nails out of the lumber and dividing up their stash evenly. Roger never knows quite what to expect when he comes home from work, but I’m telling you, he’s a good man! If we didn’t have children we would probably have a perfectly manicured lawn and some nice landscaping. Instead we have lumber boards, a pile of bikes (for parts), a scrap pile, trails everywhere and lots of other random things. The kids pick up the yard about once a week, and we hear often “but we just did this”...um, yes! And somehow all this stuff is out everywhere again! Ah well, it’s good to hear them laugh, yell, and work (or fight) together outside.

Maine news: 28 new cases of Coronavirus, with an additional three deaths. The statewide death toll stands at 47. Meanwhile 499 people have recovered! We will rejoice in that, and we will also pray fervently for our governor to have wisdom and good counsel. I certainly do not agree with her on many, many things, but regardless of that, she is our state governor and we need to pray for her.

I have a lot of pictures from today.

Garett and Emma

A board of information without a map!

Part Monkey

Wyatt is also part monkey

Chandler and Emma 

Day# Free Food and Recording Lessons

The sunshine was lovely today, but the wind still makes it feel like spring is eluding  us! I guess it just means that when the temperatures do start to rise, we will be even more thankful!

Roger had another day off today, so that was nice for all of us. Roger and I were able to get in a walk together and by ourselves! That provided an opportunity to talk together without “ears in the cornfield”! I don’t know about any of you, but we have certain children that seem to perk right up when Roger and I are on the verge of an important conversation! So, I am thankful for the opportunity to walk together! Roger took the boys fishing tonight, and they were all very excited to go! Mom and Emma were happy to see them go off happily while we enjoyed books and some quiet time!

I spent the afternoon at the school working on recording preschool lessons. I’ve missed my co-worker and friend, Renee, so it was especially delightful to have the opportunity for face to face conversation. Neither of us were prepared for how exhausting recording lessons would be for us! You don’t realize how much you rely on student interaction until the students are not there! It is very tiring  and often overwhelming to try to record and film the lessons. Renee does a good job, but I know it’s tiring. I was happy to spend a good chunk of the afternoon just visiting with her, praying together, and asking God to continue to give us wisdom and grace. We miss our preschoolers so very much, and it’s very hard to walk through the empty classrooms at the school. I am looking with great anticipation to the day when the rooms are filled with joyful, happy voices of young children.

Our local grocery store had been playing this “monopoly game” in which you get these little paper things to open for certain items you buy. It’s a pain to open all the tickets to try to win something, but I’ve collected quite a few tickets for free items from the grocery store. Since I was already in town, I decided to try to go an collect some of my free grocery items. In our family, it is always worth it to spend time opening tickets to possibly win free food!!  I know that I had tickets for all the items to be free, but the total was $1.14. Somehow it doesn’t seem to be a wise decision to ask the sales clerk to go back through the thirty something coupons to see which one didn’t scan! It seemed like a much better choice to say “thank you” and pay the $1.14!

Batteries, taco seasoning, donuts, French bread, popsicles, yogurt, storage containers, three cans of fruit, one can of vegetables, pasta, salad dressing, sour cream, water, and ho-hos! The kids were very excited for popsicles, donuts and ho-hos! 

And we wait! Fear not and be of good courage! These days may seem long and monotonous (or maybe that’s just me!) but God has not forgotten us. I rejoice in the fact that God knows where we are and what we need.

Maine news: 44 deaths in our state. 937 cases. 485 have recovered.

I am not an expert on any thing. And yes, every single life is valuable! However, I have read multiple articles on how suicides, depression rates, and child abuse calls have all been on the rise while multiple states “shelter-at-home” and follow the “safer-at-home” mandates. I am also concerned about those lives! I feel “off balance” by it all as there seems to be no balance to be found. If a person posts about how they want to reopen the economy, someone blasts them for not caring about others lives. If a person tweets about how we should just stay in quarantine through the summer so that our loved ones don’t die, someone tweets back about how their livelihood and families health is also at stake! Words fly harsh and furious, and I just want to challenge you to be sure that you spend time with God and His Word. I’d challenge you to share your opinions with others with a soft word. We do not need to stir up anger or hot emotions...there is plenty of that flying around! Let’s not be the ones to spread division, but rather be ones that are fervent in prayer and love for our neighbors.

Day # Press Forward!

Emma is enjoying the new rain boots that belong to me! :) 

Spring? Where, oh where is spring?! Today was a chilly and windy day, but I am thankful that while we saw a few snowflakes, there was not a major snowfall! Our friends in Alaska mentioned that they still have a lot of snow that is on the ground and a lot of melting that needs to happen. So I guess I will rejoice that we did not get snow on the ground.

I am praying for a bit of warmer temperatures soon as it is just easier to get outside and enjoy being out if its a tad warmer. The kids don’t seem to be bothered by the cooler temperatures today, and they just came back inside for warmer coats and winter boots. They have almost completed the trail through the woods around our property and it’s almost cleared enough that they can ride their bikes on it.

Roger had the day off today, so that was nice for the boys. They had planned to go fishing today, but it was so windy that they decided to wait for another day to go fishing.

I am so thankful for each one that sent me a message or posted a sweet comment concerning my  Post from yesterday. Yesterday was a long day, but I’m thankful for a new day and new mercies. The problems from yesterday did not magically disappear, but a good nights rest and lots of prayer can put a whole new light on anything. I was able to spend some time in prayer and fellowship with one of our staff ladies, and that was certainly a blessing to me. We had been praying consistently during each of the school weeks (Monday thru Friday) but we had decided to take the week off from prayer partners during the spring break week. I was not prepared for how much I would miss that time of prayer and adult interaction. Roger will talk to me a lot, but he is just not all that interested in discussing google meets, teacher talk, and lots of ideas. Bless him, but he definitely gets a glazed over look when I start talking too long about remote classroom ideas or such! It was a blessing to get back into our prayer routine!

I had to go to Walmart today, and it is always a gamble to know how long the line to get into the store will be. I’ve driven into town before to try to get a few things, and I have decided that the line was not worth it. However, this morning the line was only about five people long when I arrived at Wal-mart. I’ve also gotten smarter in that I always have my winter coat with me just in case I have to stand outside for a while! It takes some time, but I’m learning! However, the wait to get into Wal-mart was relatively short today, so that was a blessing. By the time I left Wal-mart, the line was about thirty-five people long! The chickens are apparently still on strike from egg-laying as there were no eggs to be had, but other than that I found everything on the list. I still have some eggs from my last shopping trip, so it’s not like we don’t have any eggs. I’m sure we will have enough until the next shopping trip. My kids were thankful for the fruit that I brought home as that is probably the thing that we go through the quickest around our house. Five pounds of oranges, five pounds of bananas, three pounds of apples and seven pounds of mixed frozen fruit, and I told my kids that they need to ration out their fruit! I am very thankful that they enjoy fruit and fresh veggies, but I’m not going to the grocery store as often so we need to ration it carefully.

We also bought dirt and seeds to start on some plants for our garden. Chandler enjoys gardening and dirt! He is happy to start planning and planting some seeds in the next few days. I definitely do not have a green thumb, but I’m happy to help Chandler. Garett enjoys eating the food!

One more day! Aren’t you thankful that we have made it through another day? I am thankful for God’s faithfulness and His mercies. Even when it seems like absolutely nothing is happening, I choose to believe that God is still at work in and through us as well as around us. Trust!

Maine news: We have a total of 39 deaths in our states, which is three more than yesterday. We have 19 new cases today, and we have 455 that have recovered. We have 413 active cases in our state today. Confirmed cases are found in all 16 counties in Maine, but three counties account for 75% of the cases. 16,000+ have tested negative for the virus. We are praying for our nation, our state, our communities, churches and schools. Please continue to pray for our President and your state governors regardless of whether or not you agree with them!

• The 80 coronavirus cases confirmed in Maine in the last five days is less than half the 194 confirmed in the previous five days.

A friend sent me this song link this morning, and it was a reminder of God’s goodness and faithfulness. “Lord, I will wait for You” 

Day # Depression? “Negative Nellie?”

I’ll be upfront and honest. If you’re looking for an encouraging upbeat post, you’ll want to read something else! I almost didn’t even write a blog post tonight, as I do not want to be a discouragement to anyone or a “Negative Nellie”.  But today marks the 38th day of blog writing, and as I am still making our kids journal, so am I!  Today was a hard, long day for me. A lot of emotional moments, tear bursts, and just thinking about so.many.thoughts.

Roger was working today, and I woke up feeling the tentacles of depression threading to sweep me down. Drinking coffee and sitting in the sunshine streaming through the window did help as well as reading my Bible all helped, but depression is pressing. Depression is often not talked about or discussed, but I’m willing to wager that most people struggle with it from time to time. In fact, I think depression can be used in a good way as it can force us to stop and think. Now then we must chose to reign in those thoughts with the Lord’s help and focus on things that are honest, true, lovely, of good report, etc. I am thankful that most of the time depression for me comes in like a wave but it’s not generally something that I struggle with for days or weeks on end. I would consider myself to be a pretty cheery person in personality, but there are moments!

I was very thankful for the sunshine earlier today and Emma and I went on a bike ride together. I was also able to stop and talk to our neighbor for a bit, and I do appreciate the opportunities that God gives us to interact with others. Our neighbor is older, but he said he was doing well. He’s getting tired of being at home, but he said that the noise of the children in the woods never bothers him. That’s a good thing, because these kids can be loud! Today the kids spent the morning outside blazing trails and making forts. The boys have been busy making a trail to go around our entire property, so they’ve been busy! Their ambition is to make the trail wide enough to ride their bikes on the trail. I’m happy that they are content to be outside yelling at each other, raking leaves off their trails, and playing together. Brothers can be the best of friends...at times.

I got a phone call this morning from a friend of mine and she was passing on some news to me. The news wasn’t exactly delightful, and I was already a bit “down”. I could feel the tears pricking the back of my eyes, and my voice must have reflected my dismay as she asked if I was okay. I would consider myself to be a fairly upbeat person most of the time, but today I did not feel like myself! She prayed before closing up the phone conversation, but I didn’t even bother to try to pray. I knew that I would just be a blubbery mess of tears. I’m telling you, it was a down day!

I love our children, and I don’t mind being home with them. I just like having the OPTION to go somewhere if I’d like. I like to visit with people face to face, and like everyone else I didn’t sign up for these past five weeks! I’d like to take a break from it all, but like everyone else, it’s not optional. Onward! I just keep having this running list of questions in my head....what will be the outcome of this? Does it matter if we quit school now? Will it be hard for our children to get back into the habit of going to church and Sunday school? Are they being encouraged through this? What will the summer look like? Are our children learning enough through all this? Am I being a good mom? Did we do enough or too little today? Did everyone read? Should I make a grocery list?  Oh, more food? Dishes? Laundry? Jobs? School next year? Oh, focus on today? What? Where? Huh?

Finally, I just threw in the towel. I cried a lot, wiped my tears, went outside for another walk, made a cup of coffee, listened to some worship music, and continued on. I had grabbed a piece of laundry off the clean unfolded clothes on my bed to use to wipe my tears. Then I realized that I was using Emma’s Peppa Pig undies to wipe my eyes. Oh well!`  Life does go on, and it will continue to do so until the Lord calls me home.

The only thing certain in life is death. It’s not how long we get to stay on this earth but whether or not we are ready to die.  And I am. I’m not morbid, and I’m not looking for death, but I have absolutely no fear of death. Many years ago, I settled my eternal destiny. I asked the Lord to forgive my sins. I confessed Him as Lord of my life. I admitted that I was a sinner, and that I needed the blood of Jesus to take away my sins. And just like that, my eternal destiny is settled.

Maine news: This is in the little print, but I’ll announce to you that the number of recovered cases is GREATER than the number of active cases! That’s good news! It could totally change tomorrow, but I’m going to rejoice in that tonight. We had an additional death in our state, so that brings the total number of deaths to 36. We have 443 recoveries and 409 active cases.

Forts

Trails 

Clearing trails

Vitamin D 

A long day!