Day # Thankful for Sunshine!

Today I don’t having anything overly exciting to share except....I survived the day, and so did you! I don’t think anyone really knows what day of “stay-at-home” this is anymore anyways, so congratulations on making it through the first week of April!

I am thankful today for sunshine! God gave sunshine and warmth today, and I was able to get in a quick little run. Roger was home today so he was able to help with some of the schooling, monitor the yard-pick up crew, and then take the boys fishing after lunch! Chandler caught one small fish today, and the other boys got a few nibbles. Nothing to bring home, but they still enjoy going fishing! (I think after several unsuccessful ventures, I’d be done. But the boys keep on wanting to go!) I’m thankful that Roger has the opportunity to take them. The boys ask Emma every time if she wants to go, and she always says “no, thank you!” Apparently, once was enough for her!

       I love Chandler’s expression in this picture! He is so delighted to play outside and use his imagination.

Emma and Garett both had classroom meetings at the same time this morning, and we managed to make both meetings! Whew! I am thankful for an Ipad that one of the kids could use, and a computer for the other student. Along with everyone else, I’ve had a huge learning curve in technology this week. From filming preschool lessons, to Google meets, to attending online staff meetings, to figuring out how to put a video on YouTube...craziness! But God has been faithful, and He continues to give grace-lots of grace!

I was blessed by several people today. A friend, Ashley, called to say that if we needed help delivering Easter meals, her husband would be happy to help. It’s always a blessing to have friends to be there to help! My friend, Renee, said if I needed any extra desserts or anything for the Easter dinner she would also be happy to help. Roger was given a turkey from someone, so that was a blessing. And we have fifteen meal confirmations for Sunday! I think that’s awesome! I am happy to cook for however many meals are needed/wanted, so it’s not to late to message me about an Easter meal! I’m thrilled with how its coming together, and I just ask for prayer that I’ll be able to find every thing I need when I go grocery shopping later this week.

Also today, I got a call from an older lady in our church. She was calling to check-in on US! Usually, I’m the one calling to check in on our older folks, but she called me. She just said that she couldn’t get us off her mind, and if there was anything we needed to please let her know. Here’s a dear sweet widow that is already in the high-risk category reaching out to me to see if there is anything that we need! How sweet! My heart was touched by her thoughtfulness.

Other than that I prayed with two dear staff ladies, helped with schooling as needed, did laundry (never ending) and made food! I’ve taken to tell my kids that they have to drink a glass of water before they ask for a snack! I know that they are playing outside a lot, and that they are burning a lot of energy, but woah! Garett polished off half a pan of enchiladas last night along with salad and grapes. Emma ate two eggs and a bagel, and the rest of them are part piranha, I’m sure! I am thankful that we have food to eat, clothes to be washed, and a bed to sleep in. We are blessed.

Maine news: We have another 20 cases of Coronavirus in Maine, and two additional deaths. We are over the 500 mark, but 176 have recovered. I keep praying fervently for God to stop this virus, but also I plead with Him to give me patience and grace as we wait. I’m not always great at the waiting part, but I’m learning!

We all need to be united in prayer these days. It doesn’t matter what your personal opinion is of the President or his cabinet, but I do ask that you uphold them in prayer. Ask God to give them wisdom, direction and discernment. Our President has a very difficult job these days, and it seems that the American people as a whole have laid down our freedoms in the name of “safety”. I ask that you pray for God to remove this virus from our land in a way so great and mighty that it can only be called an “Act of God”. I would ask that you pray that the American people can get over the fear that seems to be griping them, and turn their hearts to God. He is our Rock and our Deliverer. Trust and Rest in that today!

Day # Blessings! WOW!

                                                Photo credit: a lighthouse.com

                                              Does this look like a mess? It was!!

My day was actually filled with many blessings! My heart is just full to bursting of all that God has done today.

First of all, while I was reading Emma her Bible lesson story from school today we started talking about Jesus’s death on the cross. It was another golden opportunity to ask her about her own salvation. She seemed shy and intimidated, and I did not want to push her into making a decision about trusting Christ as her Savior. However, she knew that Jesus died on the cross for sinners, and that she was a sinner. She knew that Jesus has risen from the dead, and she knew that the only way to get to heaven is by asking Jesus into her heart. After a few moments of thinking, she said, “I think I want to ask Jesus to come into my heart.” She did not need help praying, but her prayer was so simple and trusting. She told Jesus that she was a sinner, and that she needed Jesus to come into her heart to take away her sin. My heart is so full! The angels are rejoicing in heaven tonight along with Roger and Sarah!

Secondly, I mentioned yesterday about my idea of taking meals to some of the older folks in our church and in our community. You can read about that idea here. I have ordered some “to-go” containers off of Amazon, and I have been working diligently at planning the menu and trying to get all the groceries. Today I got a Facebook message from a friend in Florida! Joanna  mentioned that she had read the blog yesterday, and that she and her husband wanted to give money towards funding the meal for Easter! I was completely blown away by their generosity and thoughtfulness! I still get goosebumps thinking about it. It was just complete confirmation that this Easter dinner plan is from the Lord! I’ll never forget this moment for as long as I live! We serve a Big God!

Also today I was able to talk to my sister, Jenn, in South Dakota. It’s always nice to hear from someone who doesn’t think the sky is falling and that everything needs to be gloom and doom. Are we concerned? Absolutely! But fearful? Well, we try hard to fight that with faith! Their Christian School has gone to digital lessons, and they face technology issues just like the rest of us. It was good to talk to her. I was able to text my other sister, Hannah, today too! She and her husband have a bunch of chickens, so I asked her if I could possibly get some eggs from her. She said that the chickens are laying pretty well, and that she has given away a bunch of eggs lately, but she will have some for me on Wednesday. How great is that!

Other praises from today would include ...sunshine! Blessed sunshine! I was able to get out and go on a walk and get some Vitamin D. I also had a good talk and prayer meeting with my friend, Ashley. It’s good to hear the voices of some of my dear friends, and it’s always a calming feeling when I bow before my Heavenly Father to pray.

We also had our first on-line staff meeting today. One of the hardest things about online meetings is just trying to grasp all that everyone is saying. Since really only one person can talk at a time, it can get a little crazy if the sound gets distorted or something is making noise. However, for the most part I think we succeeded in what it was that we needed to sort out. We are preparing for another set of packets to be ready to go out on Monday. This has already been longer than anyone has wanted, but it is what it is. We press on.

Also today wrapped up a fast I’ve been doing for the past seven days. Today was the eighth day of our water fast. I know you’re reading that and you think I’ve lost mind mind! Hear me out! I’ve read a lot of books, articles, etc., and the benefits of water fasting are astounding. Some of the benefits include: Improved metal clarity and concentration, induces weight loss and body fat loss, lowers blood sugar levels, improves insulin sensitivity, increases energy, improves fat burning, lowers blood cholesterol, can aid in prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, extends life, reverses the aging process, and decreases inflammation. WoW!  I did a water fast over a year ago because I knew it would be good for me to do. My friend, Jenna, reached out to me to see if I was interested in doing a seven day water fast with her last week. To be honest, I wasn’t crazy about the idea. But I knew it would be good for me, so I said yes. We were good for each other. We encouraged each other along the way, and slowly, oh, so slowly we made it through the week! It was a long week! But here we are on the other side! I do feel better, and I’ve lost over 12 lbs. Obviously, much of that is water weight, but I still lost weight. I wish I got to choose where I lost the weight from on my body, but I didn’t get to pick that! I did tell Roger that I would never again do a fast during a time where there is so little to do. These days, food can bring much pleasure to my taste buds! But it was good to exercise self- control, and it certainly gave me extra time to pray and read. However, I am looking forward to enjoying coffee again! (And it’s much easier to go on a date, if we are both eating- not that there’s been a lot of those lately!)


So, my day was full to bursting with excitement and good news! I am just once again in awe of the great God that we serve! Glory be to God the Father, Glory be to God the Son!

Blessings,
Sarah


Maine News: We now have 499 cases of Coronavirus in our state. And 158 people have recovered from the virus. We also have ten deaths total, but for the second day in a row, we have no new deaths to report. Along with the rest of the nation, we wait. Trying to be patient, but I’ll be honest...It’s hard. I constantly give it over to the Lord, but as soon as I say amen it seems like the fear is nipping at my heels. I’ve learned to just not say “amen”. I truly hope that you are praying regularly and fervently for our states, our nation, our President, our communities, our churches and our schools. People are fearful and scared, and while we should be cautious and kind we do not need to live in fear. We serve a mighty God- keep praying!

Beautiful Blue Sky! 

Back and forth between soccer and football all day long! 

Day # Palm Sunday and an Idea!

Palm Sunday! Our church here in Maine always gets a bunch of palms to have for Palm Sunday. While they can be terribly messy, it’s an actual visual reminder of the palms that people threw down for Jesus. I kinda missed that today. We had services online along with the rest of America today, and while it is good to hear the Word of God, I truly miss the fellowship of the believers. But...God is faithful. I pray that today you were able to find rest in Him.

An Idea!
A few nights ago, I had trouble sleeping so I was up thinking and praying. I came up with an idea of how our family might be able to bless some of the older folks in our church. Since I’m going to be making a large Easter Dinner already, I had the thought of making meals for some of the elderly in our church. Many of them don’t have family around the area, and I thought might be able to benefit from a meal. I contacted our pastor, who said “go for it”. And then I reached out to a friend (Judy)  to see if she would make phone calls to some of the folks in our church that might appreciate or need a meal. The plan is that I will make the meal, we will plate the meals, and then drop them off to the folks. There will be no contact (obviously) but it’s still a tangible way to say “we are thinking of you and we love you”. I’m actually very excited about this opportunity! I’ve thought that my love language is probably gift giving, but my friend Allison says “it’s cooking!”. Either way, I’m excited for our family to serve others, and I am planning on having our kids make cards this week. If you live in the area, and would appreciate an Easter dinner, I am more than happy to make you a meal! For real! The menu includes: ham, turkey, rolls, roasted green beans, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, pink fluff, and Asian salad. For dessert I am making Double Chocolate Bundt cake and lemon cheesecake bars...let me know if you would like a meal. There is no charge, it’s just an act of love.

I got up early today to do an actual grocery shopping run. I had thought that if I was at the grocery store right when it opened then I wouldn’t have to wait in line to get in. Crazily enough there was already a line of people before the store opened at 7am! However, I was in the first wave of people that they allowed into the store, so that was good. I had also assumed (wrongly) that the shelves would be stocked and I would be able to get everything on my list. This is my first actual make-a-list grocery store visit since this craziness started, and I quickly found out that the list didn’t matter anyways! Oh, well, we will improvise! I was happy to find milk, and was horrified at the prices of eggs! What happened?! Did the chickens quit laying during this virus!? Eggs are difficult to be without, so I bought some anyways, but we will have to use those carefully. A few weeks ago, a dozen eggs was about $1.30, and today it cost $4.39 for eighteen eggs! Now, that’s crazy! I bought many of the ingredients for our Easter dinner that I could buy a week in advance, and we will see about getting the fresh ingredients later this week. God is good. The grocery store cashiers and workers seemed calm and collected, and I greatly appreciated that. None of them were wearing gloves or a mask, and that actually helps me feel calmer. It’s bad enough to have arrows on the floor telling you which way to go down the aisles, and tape on the floor marking off six feet, and the plexiglass between you and the cashier. But, I survived!


After coming home, the boys ate breakfast of bagels. In the past we’ve often gotten a dozen bagels from our grocery store. But since I haven’t been going to the store, and we haven’t been going out on Sundays, they have missed the bagels. Everyone was happy to have bagels for breakfast...and lunch! It used to be that the customers could hand pick their own choices of bagels to make a dozen, but now you have to buy them in packages of six. Our kids favorites are the cheddar bagels and the everything bagels. We can easily go through a dozen in a day and one-half. The bagels are made fresh in the store, and they are delicious!

The sun was shining for part of the day today, which is another reason to rejoice! The kids tromped around outside, played football, and also cleaned up the yard (which is an never ending job!). Roger and I went on a walk, and we were able to talk to our neighbor for a few minutes. We had to yell across the yard, but it was good to check on our neighbor. I am thankful for those interactions. These are the moments that we need to be looking for ways to connect with others, even if it is yelling across the yard!


Maine News: The number continues to rise as we are up to 470 cases as of today. The governor has mandated that hotels, motels, campgrounds and other lodging to be closed today. We are still praying for God to do a mighty work and to stop this virus. And for patience while we wait!

Day #Thankfulness

                                  Photo credit: my friend, Allison

Thankfulness! Today I am thankful for blue sky, a bit warmer temperatures, friends who love and pray for us, a warm house, food to eat, and clothes to wear- and that is just the beginning of things we have to be thankful for in our lives.

As the Coronavirus strides forward, I’m hearing more and more about fear about what comes “after” the corona virus. How will this affect churches, small business, the economy, small Christian schools,  the election, and on and on. I’m hear to say that the God that is all-seeing and all-knowing is already there. The Bible states clearly that we have no reason to fear as God is still in control. Oh, it might not seems like it from our perspective, but that’s why it’s called “faith”. We just keep on praying and doing the next right thing. For me today that included feeding my tribe, laundry, a bike ride, quiet moments, and solving our children’s problems...doesn’t sound very glamorous, does it? The truth of the matter is that much of our Christian life isn’t glamorous, it’s one step at at time doing what we know to be right. Rest in that tonight.

Roger worked today, so Garett and I were on trash duty. Every week it changes, so we never know what to expect. This week they were only allowing two vehicles into the dump yard at a time. They only had one dumpster and everything went in the one dumpster regardless of what it was...no recycling or sorting again. The yard workers were wearing masks today, and Garett and I were both happy to leave. We got the job done!

The kids spent much of the day outside, except Chandler. He woke up with a migraine, so he ended up heading back to bed. He was feeling much better by later this afternoon, so he went outside for a while, and he ate supper. I’m guessing he is fine again! Garett managed to kill a chipmunk with his pellet gun, so he skinned it out, and is treating the hide. He is writing and collecting for one of his assignments for school. I hope his teacher isn’t shocked by all his “treasures”. I don’t think she will be as she’s a great sport and a good teacher.

When Roger came home from work, he brought along a large box from his boss and his wife. We are so blessed to work with such a wonderful couple who also love and invest in our children. The box was full of goodies, art supplies, games, crayons, paint, paper, modeling clay, and other things! It was a wonderful surprise, and we are so thankful. It will keep our children happily entertained for a while as they try out all the surprises in the box.

Maine news: Maine is up to 456 cases of Coronavirus with ten deaths in the state. We also have had 120 people recover from the virus so that would be the good news. The virus is found in fifteen of Maine’s sixteen counties. Around America...I feel that it is almost impossible to know what is actual truth, so I don’t really have a comment to add there. We just keep on praying that God will do great things, and that we will wait patiently as He is working.

                                                    Our surprise packaged from Kevin and Terri

                           Clearly, this girl has brothers as she is posing next to a dead chipmunk!

The song I’ve chosen for today is one that I had the privilege of singing with a few others at a special event at church many months ago. I love the fact that “through it all, He is Lord, Lord of all.”

April Showers

                                                               Art Lessons

Reading with Daddy

                                                              Muddy Fun!

Emma’s outfit choices continue to add humor to our day 

Welcome to day number ...oh, wait, I can’t remember! Oh well! I’m guessing that the majority of you are in the same boat!


We finished up our third week of  “at-home” schooling today, so that makes the week successful, right? I don’t consider it homeschooling simply because if I had chosen to homeschool all our children, I would have pick curriculum that would have been specific to teaching five kids at home. I will say that I think our school teachers have done amazingly well with trying to meet the needs of the students and not overwhelm the parents. It’s a difficult balance! Our kids spend a lot of time
outside every day, and today they cut down a brush pile. I am thankful that God saw fit to bless us with this house almost four years ago. The yard is a messy, muddy, sloppy place but it’s a space that represents freedom, creativity, imagination, and fun for five kids. I am thankful.

What else am I thankful for today? Well, it was windy and dreary, but it wasn’t raining. That’s a praise! Roger was called off of work today due to the windy weather conditions and visibility over the islands. It means that he will only get in two days of work this week, but in a small business we all must make sacrifices to help the business get through this. We are committed to helping and serving in whatever ways that we can. Roger has a great boss and wife, and we pray for them daily, as well as miss them dearly!

I”m pretty sure that Garett has continued to grow taller in the last few weeks! His pants are starting to get short again, and I’m guessing he’s getting close to six feet these days. Chandler continues to be wiry and muscular...and fast. We haven’t been able to do much running this week as I wasn’t feeling great at the beginning of the week, and the weather has been quite dreary the last few days. Wyatt and Travis continue to be able to wear the same size of clothes, and they are often mistaken for twins when I am out with all the kids (which we haven’t been for about three weeks now). Emma continues to grow as well, and she loves to wear my clothes! I know that she has worn my heels and dress shoes more than I have lately! All in all, I think our kids are weathering through this all quite well, and I trust the Lord to continue to protect and uphold them. We have our moments, don’t get me wrong, but God is faithful and provides grace for the moments.

Having Roger home is always nice for the kids, and today he was able to give Garett an art lesson. It was fun to see them sitting at the table together drawing and talking. I am thankful for all the time that Roger invests in our children. He’s a good, Godly example to them, and I am blessed.

We continue to put one foot in front of another, as do you. I had the opportunity to talk to several older people this week, and I am amazed at their spirits. They are happy and not worried at all. Granted these are our church folk, but I was certainly blessed by their spirit. We had an older lady in our church call to let us know that she was doing grocery shopping for some of the other folks in the church. She sweetly offered to get groceries for our family, and that was such a kind gesture. We have been getting by, and I’m sure I’ll be getting creative about using up our pantry stores and then making a trip (preferably in the morning) to our grocery store. When your family goes through four or five gallons of milk, 3 dozen eggs, several pounds of cheese and butter, yogurt, and lots of fruits and vegetables, you kinda have to grocery shop more often than others. We had thought about investing in an extra refrigerator, but now doesn’t seem to be the time to be finding one. God carries us through, and He continually provides.

What are your blessings from today?
* I took a nap this afternoon. I can’t remember the last time I took a nap, and it was wonderful.

* I’ve been able to do a lot more reading lately as Amazon has offered a kindle membership free for two months! It means that you can “borrow” books to read on your device, and you don’t have to pay for the books. I’ve enjoyed that a lot, and it’s been fun to do some reading for fun.

*Even though the weather was dreary, the kids played outside for several hours building and creating- and not squabbling!

* I am thankful for Godly friends who also encourage me, pray with me, and remind me that this is not forever.


God has not forsaken us. Pray fervently. Pray believing. Pray without ceasing, but let us be patient as we wait for God to do His work among us (I am speaking to myself! I am not the most patient person ever!). Rest in the Lord.


Song for today:

April 2- Day one of Official Stay-at-home

                 Photo credit: peaceforthestorm.com

Emma’s online lesson

“This is the day that the Lord hath made”

April 2, 2020
Today marked the first day of the official stay-at-home mandate as issued by the governor. We are here until at least May 1, but feel free to pray with me that this will end sooner. I certainly am praying for that! The weather today seemed to fit the mood as it was rainy and dreary outside all day. My vitamin D levels were low before, and I haven’t been sleeping great. I can sometimes feel depression try to overwhelm me, and I fight it often. I have to fight the fear and remind myself that God still is faithful and on the throne. He is not caught off guard by the events of today, and in the midst of a turbulent time, I have to trust Him. Anyone else struggling with me? One thing that has helped is having prayer time every day with some of the staff from our school. I regularly (Monday thru Friday) have prayer at 6:30am with one of our staff ladies, Mrs. Wheelis. And then every week, we rotate through the other staff ladies from the school. Sometimes I can hear the bits of discouragement in their voices as well, but we know that ultimately our hope and trust must be in God and God alone.

Thursday today and Roger was home. That was a blessing for me. He was able to help with the schooling, so we were able to get done a little sooner than normal. The rest of the day was filled with playing on the Wii, board games, and basically just a day of survival. It was way too wet to go outside, in my opinion. The kids did go outside for a while, but they came back so wet, muddy, and cold that it wasn’t that fun.

Emma had an online lesson with her teacher today. I thought that she did very well listening over the computer, interacting, and staying focused. It can be a bit challenging to be focused at the table, while life is happening all around you! But I’m thankful for the bit of interaction that Emma can have one-on-one with her teacher. We are all trying to find new balance and learn technology in large doses!


Maine news: Maine is up to 372 cases of Corona, so the number is getting higher. Still praying that God will remove this virus from our nation, but also praying that God has a perfect plan.
Truth is that I don’t have any great words of wisdom or encouragement tonight. All I can offer is that there is hope in Jesus, and that is enough. We must keep praying. Keep on doing the next right thing. Love your kids and spouse. Trust Jesus.

Another day- April 1 & “Recording” lessons

I’ve enjoyed reading books at night with Emma

Yup, I am not a professional! Two tables stacked not top of each other, a binder and a few building blocks to coordinate our “recording” this afternoon.

Whew! Another day done! I don’t know about you, but these days seem a tad long! :) We are all just doing the best we can do as we get through one day and then another....but God is still faithful!

Roger had the day off today, which was extremely helpful to me as I was trying to coordinate several online meetings and groups for our kids. Wyatt and Travis had a nine o’clock meeting, and then we had a preschool group meeting at 10:30am. I was getting all set up for the 10:30 meeting when my computer just quit working! The outlet I was using was not charging the computer! Needless to say it was a frazzled few moments as I found my ipad and tried to get the meeting up and going on time. We were a few minutes late, but it did all come together- Thank you Lord!

Following our online preschool meeting, Roger took me to church to drop me off. We had made plans to record a few pre-school lessons for our preschool classes. Renee and I had big ambitions, but I’m not that great at technology and she’s worse! In our first video, I managed to chop off our heads, and somehow managed to stop the recording! However, the Lord worked out the second part, because I stopped the recording at the end of a section, so its still useable. I know all of you that know about splicing videos and sound are light years ahead of me, but hey, we have to make do! We had plans to record like ten lessons that we could release to our students over the next few weeks, but we made it through three. It is so weird speaking to empty space, and when there is no feedback- it’s just a totally different experience! Anyways, I am thankful for what we were able to get accomplished. Lord willing, it will go a long ways in keeping our connections with our preschoolers whom we miss dearly!

I also got to see my friend, Allison, for a minute at church as she is the church secretary. I wanted to throw my arms around her and give her a big hug, but you know - social distancing! Still it was good to talk with both Renee and Allison in person.

I have one more praise in that I was able to get some music recorded for my music classes. I am still planning and preparing for a Patriotic Program this year. I don’t know when it will be, but we will be ready even if we have to cut some things out! It’s totally weird recording myself singing, and definitely not my favorite thing to do, but I’ll do some crazy things if I think it will help my students. However, I was not prepared for how emotional singing the patriotic songs would be. I am thankful that I was able to play through them all first before we needed to record them. “America, America God shed His grace on thee” Oh, how I pray that! “And this be our motto in God is our trust” (excerpt from the third verse of the “Star-Spangled Banner”) I am praying and believing that God is doing great things through this crisis in our country. Please pray for our President and Vice President and our nation. Even if you don’t agree with them, I plead with you earnestly to pray FOR them!

Roger took the boys fishing again tonight. I think this is their third night in a row to go fishing! It’s an activity that they can do together, and it gives me a moment of quiet. Emma does not go fishing. She went the first night, and Roger has asked her about going every night since, and she politely says, “no thank you. That was not that fun.”

Maine news: I think we have 344 cases of Coronavirus in our state now. And 80 have recovered! I’m not sure why those that have recovered is not more exciting news these days, but I’ll happily tell you about it. We go to a mandated “stay at home” order tomorrow, but nothing will really change for our family at this time. We’ve already been social distancing, limiting our outings, and not allowing our kids to go in stores either. But knowing that we have another 30 days is a bit overwhelming. However, I’m still praying that it will be less than 30 days! God can work a miracle if He chooses....He’s still the one in charge of it all!

Don’t despair friends,
Sarah

Another good song that a friend sent to me.