Wow! What a difference a few weeks makes…a few days make…a
few hours make. I ended my last blog entry by saying, “a lot of firsts for us
this year and we look forward to enjoying them all”. Could you have imagined this
“first” that we are all experiencing together as we forge through the unknown
with the COVID-19 pandemic!?! So many changes for us so quickly. I don’t think
that my head has stopped spinning. Once we have our share of toilet paper
stocked in the pantry and we have mastered the art of social distancing, we can
pause and choose to look at this in a variety of ways. I am encouraging you to
look at the positives. I have seen a lot of negativity around cancellations of
sports, school, travel, work, etc. but what I have also seen is a social news feed with
the occasional picture of families coming together, playing board games, spending
time together and enjoying each other’s company. I have also seen promotions
for free streaming music performances, Broadway performances, workout classes,
worship services. Last Sunday, my news feed was filled with various church
services that had gone live. It was awesome! I am seeing people supporting
their local businesses by choosing carry-out options and buying gift cards. If
you can, I would encourage you to do the same. I am seeing the long overdue
appreciation of our “essential workers”, grocery store workers, gas station
workers, skilled trade workers, police, fire, doctors, nurses, mail delivery, financial
institutions, home medical suppliers and so on. We are social beings, no doubt,
and we will eventually get back to a new normal but let’s take advantage of
this time to slow down a little. Understand that God is in control and let’s
choose joy. The streaming church service that I took in last Sunday reminded
me that choosing joy doesn’t change the problem that we face; it changes the
way we face our problem. Our kids are watching us and learning about how we
react to stress and uncertainty. Let’s make sure we teach them to be resilient and
not to panic. I know, like me, you are seeing nothing but information on this
pandemic and I felt a need to write about this on my blog and hopefully
encourage you a little. For a Simple Ridge update; we have let the cats out of
the barn and at least two have hung around and are helping with mice and unfortunately
a couple of birds as well. From starting with 15 chickens, we lost one right
away and are down to 14. Those 14 seem to be very healthy and I need to get my
butt in gear and build a coop before they are too big for the container that we
have them in currently. I have already upgraded their accommodations from a
large plastic storage container to a large box that used to hold bird feed at Menards.
Ha, funny story, Liz and I knew that the chicks had outgrown the container so
we went in search of something bigger (you mean I have to spend more money on
these birds?!)…As we were walking the aisles of Menards, I see this huge, empty
box and I thought, this will work perfectly and I doubt it's very expensive ;) Excellent! After reinforcing it a little and putting some pieces of an old rug at
the bottom with pine shavings, the chicks were good to go. Like this pandemic
and like everything else, we must be creative and learn as we go. Let’s not
forget to choose joy, be thoughtful of others and look at the positives in the
process.
