Stay Home, Stay Safe...Counting Blessings

I am writing a counting blessings post this week. With all that is going on in the world, it is important to find the silver linings in this dark cloud. This certainly is a time of worry. I am trying to stay positive, and counting blessings is always one of the best ways to see all that is good even when there is so much bad.

Everyone needs a cute cat picture!

We are now under a Stay Home, Stay Safe mandate in our state. It has really struck me how very blessed we are in our family that we are safe at home. Everyone gets along peacefully, and there is no fear that harm will come to us from each other. There are so many families riddled with violence that place children and adults in physical and emotional danger every day in their homes. My heart goes out to all of them!

The roads are increasingly empty in our city. I am taking this opportunity to encourage Anne to drive more. She really doesn't like driving at all, so far, and really would like to stay in parking lots for forever (her words). We even drove in the rain one day this week. We practiced social distancing and didn't get out of the car. Now we are under the Stay Home, Stay Safe mandate, she can only drive if she is driving us to the grocery store. I am glad I had her do a bit of driving on actual roads so she will be more comfortable getting us the three or four miles to a store. Of course, we don't need to go to a store for several weeks, so she won't get to drive much anyway.

Dear husband is still at work. All hospital employees are essential. He did have to do lots of training of a new employee this week and one staff member was sent home with Covid-19 symptoms over the weekend. He is done training the new person and is blessed that next week he can spend most of his time in his office and hopefully won't have much close contact with other people. For the most part, all outpatient appointments have been cancelled and rescheduled for June. The Veterans Hospital is a bit of a ghost town, which keeps him safer.

I am really enjoying having time to cook. I always have made many if not most of our meals from scratch, but I was always rushing. Now, I actually have time to cook what I want. Cooking is enjoyable again instead of being a chore.

Veggie beef soup and biscuits

Chicken pot pie

Breakfast for dinner

We also accomplished a goal we have had for a long time. We got a floor laid down in the back shed. It is now a dance and gym room. The guys are putting weights back there and Anne put her dance bar on one side. Now she can kick and leap without hitting the ceiling in our main house. Everyone took turns learning the skills required to lay a stick and paste floor.

Anne's homeschool spring formal for late April was cancelled, and we do not know yet what will happen about Dean's graduation party. We received his cap and gown in the mail this week. Since we had such lovely outfits ready and nowhere to go, we decided to have a photo shoot under the cherry blossoms.

Lastly, we are moving right along with schooling. It is amazing how much you get done when you have nowhere to go. Dean completed Industrial Arts this week. His last project was making a coin sorter.

I hope all of you are healthy and finding peace and safety in this difficult situation.

Blessings, Dawn