Weeks 28 and 29

Dear Scott,

I'm not sure you'll get a chance to read this before you get home, but I thought I'd document a few things anyway.  Right now you should be in the airport in Salt Lake City, having recently landed from a chartered flight from Santiago that left this morning.  I have no idea where you'll spend the night before your scheduled flights tomorrow, and I don't know where you slept last night after your flight from Concepcion.  I just trust that all of these details are taken care of, and you're comfortable and safe, and we are ready for you here.  (Except that the vacuum won't turn on for some reason, so we're dealing with that.)

Last week, during our "bonus" Spring Break, the kids' teachers sent some educational links for optional things to do, but none of them wanted to do them, so I didn't enforce that.  We found a few other things to do, though.  

Sunday was our first "church at home."  We had Anna and Martha Baker come over, and we had a simple sacrament service and a couple thoughts shared.  The day before was pi day, which we missed by driving home from Memphis, so I made a peach pie from some frozen filling I had made with the Packard's peaches this past summer.  Then, Tessa and Gracie decided to do spa treatments for me and Dad.  Unfortunately, Dad's sensitive skin reacted badly to a foaming face mask they used, so he stepped out, but I enjoyed getting my face done, my hair curled, my feet soaked, and my fingernails and toenails painted.  They did a pretty good job!

On Monday we got the garden cleaned out.  We all took shifts working.  It was muddy work, but now it's ready for more dirt and some plants.  That afternoon the girls did some sidewalk chalk art.  Gracie spent a lot of time on drawing Stitch, and it turned out pretty great.

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day.  Our neighborhood organized a shamrock hunt.  Anyone who wanted to participate put some paper shamrocks in their windows, and then we went out to hunt them.  Benson, Tessa, Caytie, and I droved down every street in our neighborhood, and we found over 200 shamrocks at about 90 homes.  It was a good way to have fun while "social distancing."  

On Wednesday I had the kids come with me on a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood.  It had rained a lot the night before and I'd heard a road near us was flooded, so we went to look at it, but it wasn't by the time we got there.  Benson splashed in every puddle we came to, and slipped into a big one at the end.  Anyway, we explored a lot of the trails and were gone for a couple hours.  It was nice to have a drier day than we'd been having.

Thursday is a bit of a blur, but I'm pretty sure Netflix was involved.  Oh--we went to Caytie and Tessa's schools to pick up their Chromebooks, to be ready for school the next week.  Emma and Gracie already had theirs with them.  Benson will just use our desktop.

Friday was when we heard from you about Milton's baptism (congratulations to him!), and your quarantine (bummer, but I'm glad they were trying to keep you safe, and that you were being so positive).  We got the first notification of someone with coronavirus in Wylie.  We had the elders over for dinner that night.  They had offered to just pick it up, but we were excited to have company.  (Dad made pancakes!)  By the end of the dinner, though, they had been notified that they would now be in quarantine, too.  We got some games and puzzles together for them to take with them, and they headed home for the foreseeable future.

On Saturday I put together the maze puzzle we have.  It was nice to have something different to focus on.  It was supposed to be Tessa's choir performance at the Meyerson, but of course that was cancelled.  Dad took the kids to the pet store to get some supplies, but they were kicked out because it wasn't an "essential" purchase.  So they went to Walmart and Home Depot, which have no restrictions, though the supplies at the stores are still limited in milk, meat, eggs, frozen and canned goods, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper.

Sunday again--I started with a phone call Ward Council, and we had home church again, though the Bakers didn't join us this time.  The Elders did a Facebook Message lesson with us.  We have a greenie in our ward, and I wonder how he's feeling about all of this!  They did a good job.  Gracie and Tessa decided they wanted to dye their hair since they won't be in school for at least two weeks, so they looked up how do to it with Kool Aid.  It was uncomfortable for them to dip their hair backwards into the bowl, but they stuck it out.  Gracie now has tinted red ends, and Tessa tried purple, but it didn't show up on her dark hair.  That afternoon the elementary school staff did a car parade for the major neighborhoods at the school.  There were a lot of cars, and it was really fun for our kids to see them driving by.  We also got notice that evening that you would be coming home with all the foreign missionaries in the South American South Area, and would be in a 2 week self quarantine here when you arrived.

Monday was our first day of online school (and seminary).  They kept the assignments pretty light for everyone.  I had wanted to go shopping to get food for two weeks, for when you got home in case we all had to quarantine with you, but it took two hours of bouncing between kids answering questions about different assignments and how to turn things in and figuring out where in the house would be a good work station for everyone and how to sign in to everything they had to sign in to before I felt comfortable enough to leave.  I was able to get everything I needed except eggs, flour, and garbage bags, and they only let me get one gallon of milk, but I just planned to go to another store later.  Most of the kids were done when I got home, so I let them do "PE" with Just Dance.  They also had their last in-person piano lessons for at least two weeks.

Tuesday through Friday were much the same, except the school assignments got longer, but they required less help from me to get them done.  (Except Benson--I have to stay by him almost the whole time he's doing his work to help out.)  We take lots of breaks through the day for snacks, lunch, bike rides, walks, playing with pets, cooking, or just goofing off.  Benson finally learned to ride his bike without training wheels, and now it's all he wants to do.  Emma is really a fan of online school.  Gracie, Caytie, and Tessa are OK with it, but would rather go back to normal.  Benson doesn't like doing it online, but he doesn't complain--he just doesn't focus for long (which is understandable).  Dad is working from home, too, which he was already doing 3 days a week, so it's not a big adjustment, except for the increased noise level of the house with everyone here.  I'm having to learn how to do the things I need to get done with everyone here and needing extra help.  I'm not teaching preschool, of course, but I took my students a little delivery on Friday of instant snow and a small book and a note.  It was fun to wave to them on their porches from my car.  I have to take some alone time each day to recharge.  We've started watching The Amazing Race again in the evenings.  We also gave Emma her LAST OFFICIAL SHOT!  HOORAY!!!

Goodbye to all of this!

Benson had a GT assignment to make an invention.  He enjoyed making this "dat" (drink hat).

Thursday evening:

On Wednesday we found out that all temples in the world were temporarily closed for all work.  Collin County issued a "shelter in place" order, which is not as strict as Dallas County's policy, but still advises us to stay at home as much as possible.  All baptisms are to be postponed (so we probably can't do Benson's while you're here).  On Thursday we finally got some flight information for you, learning you'd be coming home Sunday evening.  We're cleaning up the playroom for you to stay in.

The world is in a bit of chaos, but I have faith that the fast President Nelson invited us to join in tomorrow will help to slow the spread of this virus.  The Lord is accelerating His work by making us slow down.  Good can be found in this.

We can't wait to see you tomorrow!  We know it's not the expected path of your mission, but your positivity about it rubs off on us, and we're excited to see where you get to spend the rest of your time as a missionary!

WE LOVE YOU!

Love, 

Mom

Week 28

Dear Scott,

This is a quick note late Sunday/early Monday.  I assume we'll be talking to you in the morning, but things keep changing, so who knows!  We got the email today that said you'll be coming home with all the South American South Area foreign missionaries, so we hope to hear more details about that.  We are preparing to quarantine ourselves with you, just in case.  We're also trying to decide where to have you sleep... 

This week was our bonus Spring Break.  I'll write more about what we did (which wasn't much) later.  The kids start online school tomorrow.  They're doing well, but they keep asking to go places.  Most places (the zoo, museums, etc.) are closed, though.

We love you, and look forward to hearing from you!!

Love,

Mom

Week 27

Dear Scott,

Well, the world is in a bit of an upheaval while dealing with the corona virus.  But first things first:  Spring Break!

It started with a loaded Sunday: Daylight Savings Time began, we had Stake Conference, I had a presidency meeting, Dad and I went to our personal finance class, and I had my family phone call.  We didn't have dinner until 8 pm!  Pres. Monroe told a great story at Stake Conference (of course!) of when he invited an old mission companion and his new wife to ride horses at his ranch.  The wife said several times to him that she wanted a strong, fast horse because she was "a very experienced rider."  So, he saddled up the best work horse on the ranch.  When he turned to get another horse ready for his friend, she jumped on and took off, and he said he just saw a streak go by with her screaming.  So he jumped on the other horse and rode after her.  He could see at the end of the road the horse standing there, with no girl on it.  He got closer and found she had let go of the reins and fell off, and the horse stopped, as it was trained to do.  He said that we sometimes think that we are "very experienced riders" in the gospel, and therefore don't need to do the little things that keep us safe and strong.  Do we think we don't need the scriptures or church or to follow other commandments, because we're already experienced?  We need to be vigilant about the small things and not get too prideful about our experience.

Monday was a late morning, as you know since you called when most of the family was still in bed!  I had it in my head that we would do a deep clean of the whole house, so I started on the downstairs light fixtures.  Everyone had to do a job, like dusting or wiping down doors or baseboards, and could do extra for pay.  We did not quite complete the whole house, but we made a little dent.  We also did laundry and piano lessons, and Dad took all the kids to open bank accounts, and we rented Frozen 2 for Family Home Evening.  Emma did her last meal for her goal--she made Hawaiian hamburgers, which were delightful.  I also finally got the school pictures put up above the desk.

Tuesday started with an early morning trip to the temple for the girls to do baptisms with the Lamarches.  Dad ended up having to go into the data center that morning, so I brought Benson and Tessa with us.  We checked out this little book with a "scavenger hunt" around the temple grounds, and found out about the cornerstone (there is a time capsule in it!), the Angel Moroni (it's 7 feet tall), the walls (marble), the roof (tiles from Spain), etc.  Then we waited in the waiting room and did activities from the Friend until they were finished.  We went to the LDS bookstore, but it was closed for the owners' vacation, so we got some donuts and then went to that park with the spinny platform ride.  Tessa got herself stuck in a baby swing (she's bigger than she thinks she is!) and it took four of us to get her out!

On Wednesday Caytie, Tessa, Benson and I packed up and drove on over to Memphis.  It was a great drive, with low traffic and little rain, and so much space for each kid!  Four movies later, we arrived in time for some dinner my mom and dad made for us.

On Thursday we went to a botanical garden in Memphis.  It was such a beautiful day, and a beautiful place--we were about a week or so early for everything to be fully in bloom, but we saw lots of flowers and trees, and there was a huge kids area with fun things to do.

Meanwhile, Dad and the older girls left for a backpacking trip with the Venturing Crew.  They were going to Oklahoma, but it was raining, so they went south instead.  That afternoon we started to get more and more notices about closures due to the coronavirus.  We first heard that the schools would be closing for another week after Spring Break, and then soon after we heard about the church not holding in-person meetings any more for the time being.  Then we heard about temple closures, which were of particular interest to my mom and dad, as they had to figure out how to implement all the changes that were coming through.  There were updates almost hourly for them as questions were being asked and answered.  I had to help spread the word of church closures through our ministering districts.

On Friday (after a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes--YUM!), we headed to the Memphis Zoo.  (That morning the Dallas Zoo announced they were closing to the public until April.)  They have added some new things since we went there last, and because it was a cooler day, the animals were pretty active, so we really enjoyed it (minus being kind of cold, ourselves).  Dad called and said they had a great camping trip, though Emma is now seriously considering not going to Philmont.  Backpacking is hard. :)

On Friday evening we did what we came to Memphis to do (besides visit with my parents, of course!).  Caytie had said she wanted to do baptisms in another temple besides Dallas, so we set up a time for her to do them in Memphis.  She was the only one there that evening, and my dad was the one to baptize her.  Before he began, he welcomed her and said how proud he was of her being worthy of a temple recommend, and now her challenge was to stay worthy for the rest of her life.  He then baptized her for nine women whom he had found through his research, while my mom and I served as witnesses.  It was a pretty special evening.  Now, after today (Saturday), there will be no more proxy work done in the temples (only live ordinances) until the coronavirus threat is lessened.

This morning started a bit rough, with Benson throwing up first thing.  He didn't have a fever, so after he rested a bit, he joined us for scrambled eggs and bacon, and then we loaded up the car and drove home.  This time there was more traffic and more rain, but it was still a decent drive.  We stopped at McDonald's for lunch to get some shamrock shakes (minty green!) and there were so many people there, and all I could think was, "Have you all washed your hands???"  We stayed only as long as necessary, because the paranoia is getting to us all (me).  It was so great to get home again!  Dad and the girls did a good job cleaning up.  They had been to the store in the morning, and got the last two half gallons of milk.  There was no toilet paper or cleaning products, no meat, and very little produce and dairy and canned goods left on the shelves.  There are not shortages on these items, but people are buying them in bulk out of panic for the quarantines they fear are coming.  Crazy.  There are lots of funny memes going around.  Dad just read one to us--"Has anyone checked to see if the dolphins are still there?"  I thought you'd appreciate that one!

So now we have a bonus week of Spring Break (and hopefully only that--many districts are closing longer), and we'll have church at home tomorrow.  We're praying all of these measures will work to slow the spread of the virus.  We often wish we had more time, and here we have a whole bonus week given to us.  What will we do with it??  I take a lot of comfort from President Nelson's message today that he sees the Lord's hand in all of this, and that when we do what the Lord says, He is bound.

I have to go--we are having a thunderstorm and I need to turn off the computer! We're anxious to hear about how things are going for you there!

Love you so much!

Mom