A Look into Our Lockdown Lives

     This is such an interesting time in the world.  A time of both grief and a time of hope.  A time of isolation and yet a time of connecting.  We've been praying about how to live well in this time and to make the most of opportunities God gives us.  We're blessed to share a house with Nettie, which gives us a personal connection with one more person outside of our family. Leif, Nettie, and I get together in the mornings to pray. And Nettie and I go to the store together once a week.  I find that I really like having to get everything for the week in one trip.  I like rationing our food and cutting fruits and vegetables into the perfect number of slices to be divisible by the 5 or 6.  I like having to be organized with my lists and having to be flexible if we don't have all of the ingredients.

     Nettie is registered to be an official volunteer.  She takes medicine and groceries to elderly people that aren't supposed to leave their homes.  She also hears of lots of opportunities to serve.  A few of the local churches have teamed together to make these packs of food for people who have nothing.  The value of the ruble has dropped because of oil prices, so we are thankful for extra money for things like this at this time.  We want to be God's hands and feet.

     Since we started getting groceries once a week (on Fridays), we started a tradition of a Friday night barbeque.  The weather has been exceptionally warm this year.  I see pictures of this same date on several different years, and we were making snowmen!  I feel like the warmth is a special gift, as we aren't allowed to leave our yard.  We're SOOOO thankful we have a yard, and aren't in the city in an apartment!!!  I told Leif that if we still lived in an apartment, we would be getting a dog, just for a reason to get the kids outside every day!

     Being home so much and spreading out our food for a week has given us all such grateful hearts.  We don't know how long we'll have certain foods available (one week the store was out of onions!), so each week feels like a huge gift and we savor the fruits, vegetables, and barbecued meat.  This weekly feast is also a great end to the school week, as the kids have been working so hard on their lessons.

Side note: it has definitely been warm, but Ella and Ike tend to wear tshirts even if it's 40(F) degrees! I think it just feels so warm to them compared to the winter!!   

     Ella's neighbor friend slid this bucket of kittens through the fence.  How can you resist those little furry faces?!?

     We sent the bucket back with some kitten food and said we'd think about and also try to find homes for the kitties.  

     We never would have imagined our trip to the well would be such a source of excitement!  This three minute drive each week is a highlight for the family.  We have to wear masks, even with standing outside.  The kids have been motivated to drink lots of water so that we can go more often.  Our trips are pretty much once a week, sometimes  a little longer.

     The first week of the lockdown (before we started doing everything over Zoom meetings) and during the kids's spring break, we had some extra time. We painted this mosaic on this wall one afternoon.

a picture before we peeled the masking tape off

We just love how cheerful it is!  It was definitely a group project.

We've also been trying to clean up the yard a bit, moving wood to more concrete piles.

We had a big pile of gravel that Leif dumped along the side of the house to make a walkway.

We all smoothed it out.

Ella and Ike often think of creative projects of their own.

Homemade juice popsicles!

     We've been studying the Bible as a family.  Right now we're reading about the life of Elijah.

     We're so grateful for the Blakers' continued lessons with the kids over Skype.  Leif has taken over with helping the kids with math during this time, and we both help them with other school questions.

The kids have had a lot of homework.

     The kids have taken a few extra classes on Outschool, too.  Anneka really enjoyed a digital drawing class.  She learned how to take a sketch...

...and turn it into this! She's been experimenting, making all sorts of cool digital art.

     Ella has had a lot of homework for her dance class.   Sometimes we have to send in videos and it takes a long time to get it just perfect.  The teacher is quick to point out if something isn't perfect.

     She also has  homework for her drama class.  On this day, she had to send in pictures of herself displaying varying emotions.  She was supposed to be in a play, but now the teacher had everyone send in videos clips with each of their lines and she will put them all together.

Ike has been doing a study on Robinson Crusoe.  He made raisins out of grapes.

And he made butter out of cream.

Cuddle times with Boomerang, the cat.

     The kids are always thinking of creating things to do and build with things from the yard.  Here's a little fort they made.

     They stacked had me stack these tires over them until they were completely overhead.

A kid-made teeter-totter

     We've played some outdoor games, too, and made up variations of games we've played in the past.  It really helps to move our bodies and get outside to prevent going stir-crazy!

   The kids made an obstacle course and timed everyone to go through it.  It was great fun watching Papa go through it!

They kept adding tires for us to jump over.  

Family Dance Competition!

... and dance party!

     Ella and Ike took a one-time class on how to make illusions.  After the class, all three kids looked up different tricks on YouTube and performed them for us.  

Listening to an audio book outside.

Enjoying lunch and the view

Throwing the Frisbee

Experimenting with Different Hairstyles

Making a basket out of twigs

Digging a hole to make a "zipline" for our dog.

     Leif decided to make a bike shed from materials we have around (as none of the construction stores are open).

Measuring the wood

 

Putting on the Roof

     The kids are learning skills that we probably wouldn't normally be focusing on, if it weren't for this lockdown.  We're definitely getting a bit stir crazy, staying home all the time.  But at the same time, we're thankful that we get to be together and create these memories, too.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, 

not lacking anything.  James 1:2-4