How do I even begin to wrap up a month as wild as this one. We are living in an unprecedented global situation so I can’t pretend that everything is normal. COVID-19 is changing our world as we know it with consequences ranging from inconvenient to catastrophic – depending on many variables. What I can do is tell you what we managed to do before the world (almost) stopped turning and what we are doing now to cope. Know that I am praying for you and I am here if you need to vent or have prayer requests or just need to communicate with someone other than your kids! Pop over to my contact tab and send me an e-mail or comment on this blog post. Or click on my social media buttons on the right hand side of this page. To quote from the modern day classic High School Musical, “We’re all in this together.”
We started the month with some presidential primaries. Maybe that should have been an ominous foreshadowing of things to come. I picked up an extra work shift helping at a memorial service. That was an interesting first, but now that I can’t work at all because I’m in the fitness/ service industry, I’m thankful for those few extra hours.
I praised God for one friend and one family member who received favorable medical news this month and thanked Him for the opportunity to have lunch with both sisters and two childhood friends – all together. So fun. We were in church youth group together just a couple of years ago. Such great memories. And then a couple of days later, my favorite hairdresser/friend (ok she’s the only one who fits both of those descriptions for me) treated me to the best chinese restaurant. Yum!
My 15 year old daughter spent the genesis of her spring break in Austin helping out our church plant there. Then I took her to get her first hair highlights (done by the same fabulous hairdresser/ friend). My oldest, Shelby, enjoyed Camp Summit during her time off of school (little did we know there was much more time off to come). This camp for special needs kids and adults provides fun, healthy activities for her and much needed respite from caregiving for my husband and myself.
The second half of spring break, we headed to the St. Louis area to see our son and his kids. Being with them is always a whirlwind of activity including a trip to Meramec Caverns, ice cream treats, playing outside and a disgusting round of Beanboozled! I really enjoyed getting to see our son and put my arms around him during a difficult time.
Then the times got more difficult. With the announcements that the kids would be out of school for two weeks (at least) and my son needing to work as a doctor, we made the last minute decision to bring the two oldest kidlets back to Texas with us. So this very non-kid person has been entertaining without the benefit of movie theaters, bowling alleys, libraries or any other public attractions. I know many of you can relate right now. So we have done online art classes, music lessons, cookie baking, game playing and lots of park time when the weather permitted. Thanks to some amazing neighbors we even acquired a bike and a scooter for them to use.
Tucked in around the edges of grandparenting, we watched Dolly Parton’s Heart Strings. I loved most of the stories but wouldn’t recommend all. We checked out Stargirl on Disney+ with our teen. A sweet teen-centric drama. She also talked us into The Perfect Date with Noah Centineo. The hubs and I caught Murder Mystery, Always Be My Maybe and Brad Paisley’s Comedy Rodeo. We also watched the first episode of the Netflix series Murderous Affairs (Don’t judge. I unfortunately knew the subjects.), and a couple episodes of The Movies that Made Us and The Toys that Made Us. My sister and I caught Emma at the movie theater and I finished two books – Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God, a Broken Mother’s Search for Hope by Christopher Yuan and Angela Yuan, and Wally Funk’s Race for Space: The Extraordinary Story of a Female Aviation Pioneer by Sue Nelson (mentioned in last week’s post).
To wrap up, reader friends, the days ahead will not be easy. Just know that it’s ok to have lows – to feel sad or frustrated or even a little anxious. But lean into our Heavenly Father. None of this surprises Him and He is our ultimate source of comfort and purpose. And I consider it an honor to pray for you. If you need to vent or have specific needs, please reach out to me. And tell me, too, if you have been given the gift of extra time (I realize this does not apply to everyone), what are you doing with it?
And now for this week’s featured post!
I love the honesty and realism that Linda Stoll expresses in This One’s for Anyone Who’s Not Feeling Especially Strong and Courageous Right Now. The truth is that you can hold both anxiety and faith in God at the same time. So often we pressure ourselves that it has to be one or the other, but this post shows what it is to be human – and have faith. Visit Linda at lindastoll.net and thank her for linking up.
Now for this week’s link-up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.
Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.
Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!
To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.
Maree Dee
Lauren Sparks
Heather Hart & Valerie Riese
Lisa Burgess
To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.
2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. We will delete these links. We also reserve the right to remove articles that don’t align with the theme or are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.
3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community among us, so please don’t link and run!
4.) We sort all links randomly – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!
Featured Post Requirements
5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. It is not mandatory, but it is required to be featured.
6.) Each host will choose one link to emphasize and promote via their social media channels next week.
Grab a Badge and Link Back to this Post.
And now, let’s link up!
Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe! Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.
To find some great places where I might be sharing this post, click here.
Does anyone else feel like January has been 87 days long? I think I’ve lived many lives since New Year’s Eve!
Allie’s choir served as the chorus for her high school’s theater production of Mary Poppins, so we are fighting against with the urge to speak primarily in a British accent. And others are struggling as they hear it! Allie also attended LIVE weekend – a discipleship retreat for teens at our church. We had 240 plus teenagers attend! The worship, preaching, fellowship and small group time make it the best weekend of her year.
We caved into some FOMO and subscribed to Disney+. Our first show? 
We only went to the movies one day this month, but made up for it by watching two in a row. 
