Well Spring of 2020 has been unique in unprecendented ways. A international pandemic has descended upon the world and wreaked havic on both the world and in our individual lives. The world has been on lock-down in hopes of saving vulnerable lives from Covid19. On a local level, Michigan is on a stay at home order until May 15. There has and will continue to be debate as to the handling of the pandemic. Was the modeling WAY off and with scary preditions of death rates in the millions in the U.S., those numbers are not anywhere close to reality. No one can say if this is due to the actions of the general public of staying home and away from others.
On a personal level, it has been hard. Ava is a second semester senior in high school and she is experiencing so much loss. She is dealing with delayed or canceled prom, senior end of the year activities and graduation. Thankfully, she is rolling with things really well and she looks forward to her college years at Hope. She has accomplished so much and was preadmitted into Hope's nursing program. She was able to have a wonderful dance team season where they won Catholic Leagues (a HUGE accomplishment!). There is much to be thankful for and at times I get a glimpse of what God is going through all of this. Both Anna and Ava are home together. It truly is precious time. Although they both are busy with online course work (especially Anna with an intensive nursing course load), there is much joy and laughter between the two of them. I am grateful. Jeff also is working from home and we all are enjoying family dinner, walks, zoom calls, movies and netflix series together. Jeff has enjoyed the slower pace. His companies are making masks and other protective gear to help front line workers. Adam is quarantining with Hannah's family in Grand Rapids and doing his work from there. We have seen them at the beginning of March and will again this weekend when Anna is done with finals. Adam is preparing to be finished with his training program with Parker and will be placed in a territory in Dallas. He is excited about this new opportunity and adventure and we are excited for him. We have had some sweet times together.
Andrew and Nessy are engaged and preparing for their wedding next June 19th. We are thankful that it wasn't this year as there has been so many cancelled events (weddings included) as large numbers cannot gather together safely yet. It has been hard not seeing my parents, although we have seen them from a distance and have facetimed quite often. It seems that the elderly are most vulnerable to the coronavirus so until we know more, it is wise to keep our distance. As with all hard things, there is much to be learned and God is doing the teaching through placing a pause in "our plans" and causing us to look toward Him and what He would have us learn during this time.
