Sunday was our first week of church at home. I'll cover in another post, but it was truly a wonderful experience.
On Monday, I got up really early to get to the grocery store by 6 am when it opened (Stores have reduced hours to handle the crisis). When I got there at 6:05 it was already so busy. It felt like a busy Saturday. Fortunately, I was able to get everything I wanted except, Cheese, Dishwasher detergent and Rice. Hopefully things will calm down at the stores, but we'll have to see.
In truth, this situation is stressful, but on thing that has been helpful is a plethora of funny memes that we have been sharing on Walker and Peaden family text message chains. Here is one that we liked that pitted public accounting against the corona virus.
On Monday, the Coronavirus won. We received an e-mail Monday around 1 pm that Eide Bailly would be working 100% remote and that we were no longer allowed to work from the office. It made for a crazy afternoon. They allowed us to take anything we needed home, so I grabbed two giant monitors and my office chair to try and make a good set up. The homeschool room was super messy because we have been storing things in there during the basement construction. I woke up at 6 am on Tuesday to get started with the cleaning and Shantel came and helped and we got it set up really nice for a place to work. It has been an adjustment, but I am getting use to working at home. It consists of a lot of calls and screen sharing. I've tried to mix in video calls/meetings with my teams as well. I am grateful that I have a job that allows me to work from home and continue to have a job.
We had been limiting contact already, but with me staying home from work, Tuesday really started our full quarantine. Since that point we have been completely isolated/quarantined except to go to the grocery store over the weekend. We have not allowed our kids to play with neighbors and when we see neighbors have stayed at least 6 feet away. It is hard to believe it has been less than a week in quarantine, because it feels like longer.
Wednesday morning I was in the bathroom and Shantel was studying her scriptures in the homeschool room when we felt the house begin to shake. At the time a large train was speeding past the house, which causes the house to rumble a little anyway, but I quickly realized it was a full blown earthquake and ran to find Shantel. As we got to each other the house was still swaying, but you could feel it lessening. We were deciding whether to get the kids even though the earthquake was over and decided we should in case there was a follow up earthquake or that was a foreshock. We quickly got all the kids and headed down to the couch to wait it out together. Here is our little picture. Finally, after a while we got going with our day. The earthquake was a 5.7 and was the largest in Utah since 1992. Especially with the current virus, having the earthquake as well really made things feel like we are in a world in turmoil. There were various aftershocks during they day, but only one, 4.6 that we could feel in Lehi.
On Wednesday, Lydia also had a piano lesson via Video. We are finding lots of new things that we can do online. Including in that was a video doctor appointment. Caleb began to break out in a rash and it continued to get worse all week. On Thursday Shantel had the video call with the doctor who confirmed he is allergic to his ear infection medicine, so we took him off of that and will be giving him allergy medicine.
This week Caleb was showing signs of being allergic to his ear infection medicine and Shantel had a Zoom call for her doctors appointment.
Today (Saturday) my parents came to visit with Bruce. We put a blanket on the grass about 8 feet from the curb and told the kids they had to stay on the blanket and could not get closer. Then we talked with them while they stayed in the car. I think the enjoyed being able to see the kids and it was nice to be able to see them.
Later, we got a call from the Shields who told us to come outside. They came to make a drive by visit as well. Their kids (after putting on hand sanitizer) threw fruit snacks to our kids. It was so nice to seem them. Also, such a crazy thing because last week we went to dinner with them and now we would not even get within 6 feet in order to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
There are now more than 250,000 cases worldwide and over 25,000 in the US. New York, California and Washington have the most. Utah still only has just over 100, but that grows by 33% a day.
As a family, we are doing pretty well. I definitely feel the related stress of what is happening in the world and in our country. It was really Wednesday/Thursday that I felt it and could sense that stress. I try to remember that I am feeling that so that I make sure I am patient and kind with the kids, despite the stress. Across the country, the government has encouraged no gatherings of more than 10 people. All restaurants have closed for dine in options, they only have takeout, drive thru or pick up.
I truly feel like this is such a reminder of the constant need to listen to and follow the spirit. The Holy Ghost is our guide and the one that can bring us peace.
Okay- to finish, other notes:
-The Philippines decided to close its borders and gave people 72 hours to get it. That means that Daniel Rencher is currently on his way home from his mission. The church is making plans to send almost all missionaries home to the home countries. They will quarantine for 14 days and then go to serve in their home country. Daniel only has a few months left, so he won't be going back out.
-Some favorite memes.
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