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we escaped

We ESCAPED today!

We finally left the confines of our house!

It was beautiful…sunny and 60 degrees. The wind was out of the northwest and a bit nippy but not so bad that we couldn’t just push our way through it.

It’s been ten days since I posted. The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on anything that was normal prior to March 12. Prior to the first positive result in our area.

I believe we have all stepped away from the initial shock of what we couldn’t do and are beginning to settle into what we can. We can’t go to school, but we can have online classes. We can’t go to a restaurant and sit down, but we can order take out. We can’t go to a movie theater, but we can order movies via apps. We can’t attend any conferences or meetings in person (unless it’s less than 10 people) but we can have a meeting via Zoom. Changes…they’re all over the place and happening more and more every day.

This was the weekend I had been so excited about for an entire year. This was supposed to be the HarvestHER Retreat. We were supposed to be gathered together in a house in Omaha…not on a computer screen in Callie’s bedroom. But thank goodness for the technology which allowed us to hang out via Zoom!
Amy provided morning devotions on the HarvestHER Facebook page.
Sarah Geringer is an author and speaker. Sarah gave us great ways to fight the negative and fearful thoughts that seem to find their way into our minds. Her book, “Transforming Your Thought Life” offers guided meditations and personal examples that will help you train your mind to stay grounded in God’s Word. 
This is what our meeting with Sarah looked like.
Our second speaker was scheduled to be at the retreat Saturday afternoon to teach us all about enneagrams. Instead, she presented one of her four-hour-presentation on Saturday morning via Zoom. We will all look forward to hearing from her again over the next three Saturday mornings. Devan Martin is a life coach from Lincoln.

After Jamie received the email from our school letting her know the kids would not be going back to school prior to April 30, I knew I should step in when I can for her to get a break. I texted her and asked if I could have the three honyocks over the weekend.

They packed their suitcases, sleeping bags and snacks and headed to Gramma and Grampa’s house for a couple of nights. They were so excited when they came rushing through the kitchen door. I told them they could stay as long as they wanted to. Nora only wanted to stay two nights. Eli said he was going to stay 100.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, though, they were all ready to go home. I blame that on the fact that Jamie told them their dad had bought them some toys from Dollar General.

Nora loves trying to tie papa up hoping she can make it impossible for him to escape.
The sleep-over was held on the floor in the living room. Gramma got the couch.
lunch
The weather didn’t allow us to get outside while they were here. Painting is always a fun activity with these three. Ben told me he was painting balls and circles.
Nora’s quite the detailed artist!
Eli just wanted to paint a Christmas tree.
A friend of mine gave me her Gingerbread kit to make with the kids after she found out they were coming for a couple of days.
They had so much fun decorating these. Thank you, Amy! They couldn’t wait to eat them. I told them I didn’t think they would like them but they had to try. I was right.
Their finished products. Eli is missing one. Because he couldn’t wait until he got home to see what it tasted like. I told Nora to open her eyes because she was squinting. 🙂
“The Pandemic Art” was hung up immediately after they got home. Pretty cute!

Let’s see, another night at Gramma’s house? Or new toys? I think the decision was pretty easy once they found out what was waiting for them at home. I do hope, though, that both Jamie and Curt soaked up the quietness of their house the best they could before all heck broke out again.

I intended on having them all come back to our house last night.

That plan changed Tuesday night.

I knew Jim had been coughing some for several days. Tuesday night when he got home from work, he told me his “cold” had finally caught up to him. I’m going to go with the idea that it was just a cold. But these days…who knows. He wasn’t really sick. He didn’t have a fever. Just a very runny nose and a pretty deep cough.

Regardless, he stayed home all week. He finally started feeling alive again today. Therefore…the escape was made.

At some point over the past days that Jim has been sick, Jamie sent me this picture. I’m sure she wasn’t rubbing it in at all that she could see Layne and I couldn’t. (Layne is the perfect model for my new bows.)

I hadn’t been to Omaha since March 19th. That was the day I went to the grocery store and thought I had stepped into a different country. During the past 10 days, I haven’t been outside a five-mile radius of the house.

Tonight, we decided to actually go somewhere and get a bite to eat. We jumped in the van and headed north to Sonic in Gretna. Tell ya what…sitting behind the steering wheel never felt so good. The traffic was very, very light.

Once we arrived in town, it reminded me of how it looks and feels on Christmas night. No one out and about! Stores all shut down. Very little going on. Again, I almost felt like we were doing something we shouldn’t be doing.

Our supper date to Sonic included good classic rock and ice cream.

Today, we received the notice of the extension of the social-distancing guidelines until April 30. I bet I’m not the only one who feels like that date seems like an eternity from now. President Trump believes we will see our country on its way to recovery by June 1. I type this shaking my head. Unbelievable.

I wondered what would happen after the first 14-day quarantine mandate came to an end. I guess now I know. Will it be better in 32 more days?

At least the weather is going to continue to get better. We can get outside more than we have in the past two weeks. The wet, cold, cloudy weather doesn’t make it easy to be quarantined inside. At least if it warms up, we could go camping or do something a little different.

And then…there’s the question of harvest. What will all of this mean for us wheaties?

Time will tell.

In the meantime, I guess now is as good as any to set up an Etsy Store. The girls have been telling me for a couple of years that I should do it. With the help of the girls, I’m going to do it! Taylor is taking pictures of the first items for sale – head bows – and adding them to the site. Jenna created a store name and logo. Callie helped by creating cards for me to include with orders.

Guess we’ll see if this new Etsy store gets lost in the masses or if it finds its way to someone’s phone or computer screen.

I’m having fun creating…that’s all that matters, right?

And one of these days, soon, I’m going to have to make my way to the grocery store again. I wonder if there will be any toilet paper?

Thanks to Jenna, I will look professional. When the storefront is live on Etsy, I will share the link for you to check it out.
Yes, I made all of these for Layne! More just like these will be available in the “store”.
As well as these.
I’m most excited to make bows out of this!
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