Wednesday, April 29, 2020

The Ranch - Hours of Fun

We spent Saturday playing with friends at the Ranch after Jessica and Isabella got their nails done.  We shot guns, hiked, played Gaga ball, swam, 4 wheeled, fished, and picknicked.  It was perfect weather.  We had a ton of fun even including Kody's two accidents, one resulting in a broken ulna and radius and minor injuries to Neleah.

Even with the injuries everyone had a good day filled with the best things life has to offer: friends, food, and nature.

Monday, April 27, 2020

He Done Broke It

We had an amazing day planned.
It turned out to be as epic as we hoped.
 Including our first official broken bone.
We got a temporary splint and sling at the ER.
 We also got a referral to a pediatric orthopedist.
He deemed no surgery and casted it.
These babies come with a waterproof option these days.
We took it.
And now this Kody kid is back to normal.
Well mostly! 🤣

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Easter Isolation???

 The Easter Bunny came...
 We went to the Farleys - who we have been social distancing with...
 My cutest Easter gift...
 The kids racing to find their eggs...
 Cascarones fights...
 Finding their "golden eggs"...
 Jessica helping Kody...
 Totaling their loot...
 Swimming...
 Eating, talking...
 Loving...
 Snuggles, loves, and deep friendships...
 I love these people so much!

Thursday, April 9, 2020

The Power of the Fast

Many times in my life I have exercised faith in the principle of fasting. As a result I have seen marvelous and miraculous things.  I also participate in the paying of tithes and offerings.  Here too I have seen many miracles.  These are principles of the Bible that a lot of people don't as frequently participate in, but I can't help but want to when I see so many immediate blessings in my life.  Malachi is an expert when he explains the commandment and blessing in chapter 3 vs. 10 "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

There are lots of ways to tithe.  I try to tithe both my income (money) and time (service).  Each one I strive to give a minimum of 10%.  One such blessing happened this particular week.  As a default I pay tithing the first week of every month, for the income I plan to receive that month.  My husband gets paid quarterly bonuses as well.  Without going into too much detail, the first week of this month, I paid the tithing for our household on both April's income as well as the first quarter bonus.  The bonus that had come in the check I noticed was not as much as it should have been, but before we had time to address it with his employers, I decided to still faithfully pay on the intended amount assuming the details would work out later, because I had trust in the Lord.

Just yesterday, my husband came out to me as I was working in the backyard and he said, "Good news, bad news"  Of course I wanted the bad first and he said, "Bad news is they are doing another round of layoffs/furloughs today, good news is I am safe once again."  You see this is the second round since this COVID stuff has started.  I felt hugely relieved, even though I hadn't realized they were going to do another round.  These are scary economical times and Travis is one of their newest employees.  Immediately the words came to my mind, "this is your blessing for paying your tithes".  Now this isn't to insinuate that every tithe payer will never lose their job or face economic difficulties, but that Heavenly Father spoke from heaven to me regarding my circumstances this past week.

Despite my initial relief for my own personal circumstances, I couldn't feel joy yet.  My heart hurt as we discussed who may be going from his company.  People I have been getting to know and coming to love.  We discussed a lot of other people's fears and concerns at this time that we knew about who have been adversely affected and I am worried for.  And so tonight my family is eating dinner and starting a fast for tomorrow.  Because I can't be happy for myself when so many other people are hurting, I fast for them.  I fast for solutions, that I can't conceive of.  I fast for people with bigger brains than mine to come up with medical answers, economic answers, for peace, for comfort, for God's will to be done, and our hearts to humbly accept his will even when we don't understand it.  Please join me in fasting.  I really believe miracles can and will occur in our life and in the world at large!

Thursday, April 2, 2020

COVID-19

-Gas prices are $1.69 in Boerne, TX
-School cancelled - yes closed and moved to online
-Social-distancing is a thing.  No one should be within 6 feet of a non immediate family member.
-Tape on the floors at grocery stores and other public areas to help distance us from each other
-Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lines outside the store doors
-Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed
-Entire sports seasons cancelled. Like NBA, MLB, ALL sports!
-Disneyland and Disneyworld are both closed. This has only happened less than 10 times in history.
-Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events cancelled.

-Temples closed first for the dead and then in totality.
-Weddings, family celebrations
, holiday gatherings cancelled, downsized or done under the radar. Funerals limited to a specific number and being live streamed.
-No masses or churches even during Easter.
-No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or more, and even this is encouraged to be limited to immediate family.
-Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.
-Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.
-Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill in some cities.
-Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.
-Shelves are bare. Hard to find beef, eggs, milk, bread. Sending one family member to shop.
-Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.
-Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.
-Fines are established for breaking the rules.
-Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
-Big industries help make more ventilators and masks for hospitals.
-Press conferences daily from the President and the Governors. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
-Stock Market is crashing, half the value than when this all started.
-Government incentives to stay home.
-Stipend for most Americans
-People wearing masks and gloves outside.
-Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
-Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.
This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

And despite all of this surreal, dystopian novel devastation, there are so many amazing things happening too.
-Families are spending time together.
-So much cooking is taking place.
-Sidewalk chalk art has taken on a whole new level of artistry.
-So many poeple are out walking, running, and recreating in their yards and neighborhoods.
-People are also sharing, offering, and helping when and where they can.
-So many instances of the hand of the Lord in my life, the lives of my family, and all around me.