Pandemic - The Beginning

A lot has changed in a short amount of time.  We are now in a full-blown pandemic and the world seems to have stopped.  Thursday afternoon, the Governor announced all the schools in three counties would close until April 26 at the earliest.  I cried when I found out.  I cried for Marcus who most definitely won't get a lacrosse season.  I cried for me because I get to homeschool my children whether I like it or not, and I cried for the scary situation that has become our reality.

Randy took a quick stock of our cupboards and went to the grocery store for a few items.  You'll die laughing when you hear what he came home with.  He bought four bags of marshmallow cereal and about ten boxes of other various cereals, along with orange juice and ice cream.  Lots of ice cream.  Oh, and yogurt because that's the one thing I asked him to pick up.  I could not stop laughing.  But don't worry because the next morning I went to the Church's storehouse and bought about twenty cases of dried goods including their last cases of flour, black beans, sugar, potato flakes, pancake mix, hot cocoa mix, and pasta noodles.  I was quite proud of myself and hope we don't have to use it anytime soon because that would be really depressing to actually have to eat it!

Today we had our second Sunday of home church.  All church meetings and activities have been canceled worldwide.  When that was announced I panicked, along with the entire State of Utah, apparently.  Our local church authorities have not given us permission to administer the sacrament in our homes until Easter Sunday.  That's a long time!  But if it means fewer people having to go to other homes to administer the sacrament then it's worth it in the long run.  We had a family-style sacrament meeting in the living room where each of the boys gave talks and we started and ended with a hymn.  Henry sat inside a big wicker basket, invisible to the rest of us, as Ethan passed him books to read from our Sunday diaper bag.  He kept quiet and the boys listened.  It was a miracle!

I've already started going crazy and the extrovert in me is freaking out!  As long as I focus on the day at hand and not the infinite number of days ahead with nothing to do but trying to entertain my rowdy children, I will be okay.  And if I hide out in my room every time I start to think less than loving thoughts about my children, I just might be okay.  It's going to be hard and it's going to get ugly sometimes.  I'm going to have to do a lot of apologizing to my kids.  But I'm also embracing this gift of TIME.  Time to do things that I normally don't have time for.  I'll have time to read a book instead of driving my kids everywhere.  Time to teach my boys how to cook, cut hair, iron shirts, fold laundry (the right way), etc.  I'm choosing to see the good in this situation and am humbled to tears that as scary as things are, I have faith in God who has prepared us for events such as these through prophets who have counseled us to prepare, save, and teach our children the gospel in the home.

For those of you who have extra time on your hands, please leave a comment!  What are you doing to cope with your new pandemic life?  What do you miss the most?  What blessings do you see?
I want to hear all about it because I'm surrounded by a bunch of stinky boys who think a conversation consisting of only grunts and nods is okay!