Favorite memes of 2020

 

This one was from way back in March or April. 

Now that many kids have been home much longer, yeah, 

absolutely zero chance that they're being taught new math.

Back in the olden days when I was a homeschool mom, 

we were all up-and-at-'em and dressed and ready for the day

whether it was school-at-home-or-not.

'Cause how many people get to work in jobs where they can get up 

at whatever time they want, wearing whatever they want?

But then everyone was working/schooling from home

and we all had Corona Fatigue so, yeah, 

if you can't lick 'em, join 'em!

With 9 of us living under one roof, 7 in online school,

1 teaching online school, and 1 working from home, 

the work was endless.

So, we finally declared that everyone had to do their part.

For a select few, you'd have thought we asked them

to donate their teeth. Without anesthesia.

But really, who gets a free ride in this world?

My heart was increasingly saddened by the social media stoning I saw 

repeated over and over again. At a time when people needed compassion and love 

and grace, they were met with anger and self-righteousness. No wonder

I on day received a text message, "I'm giving up on the church."

Some days I didn't know if my heart could keep breaking for the hurting.

Seems like a much more Biblical response than what

happened too often this year, don't you think?

And I don't even drink.

If Eden wouldn't have made so many delicious baked goods...

I never did like math.

The Brady Bunch made it look like a lot more fun

than it really is. I hate staring at myself. 

Now. I think the answer is now.

Well, it's not wrong. Right?

But thank God, it's over.

Things that make you go hmmmmm...

Things that make you go hmmmmm..... Besides the obvious ones that you are somehow safe when packed like sardines in an airplane for several hours or more but not in church, school, or restaurants, or that you are safe in a crowd of any size while protesting and looting but at outdoor picnics or weddings you're only safe if you keep your guest list under an arbitrarily chosen number or that it's okay to attend private school, daycare, childcare centers, and after-school programs 5 days a week, but only safe in public school if it's for some type of hybrid design, or that big box stores are free of disease but mom-and-pop shops are not... Hmmmmmmmm...

I can try on a sweater in the middle of the store and put it back on the rack if I do not like it for some reason, but I cannot try on the same sweater in a fitting room because then we've somehow become disease spreaders. Then, if I choose to purchase the sweater, the cashier tells me that he's just been informed that he has to send the hanger with me rather than touch it to put it in his bin. Then he proceeds to stare at the sweater and hanger for a few minutes before saying, "I'm not sure how to fold a sweater on a hanger so..." he touches the hanger to remove it and put it in my bag. We exchange shrugs and he oh-so-brilliantly declares, "It's all for show anyway." I take my hanger and sweater home and touch both when I remove them from the bag. Hmmmmmmmm...

The same store insists that if I have to return my items (because not everything can be tried on in the middle of the store), I need to remove them from the bag and dispose of the bag "there", in the receptacle conveniently placed next to the returns desk so the cashier does not have to touch it. Presumably because they are afraid the bag might be covered in the virus? But not the clothes that I have obviously touched to try them on and when pulling them out of the bag, which the cashier is now touching as the item is being returned? Hmmmmmmm...

At the bank, I have to put my money or check into a bowl and pass it to the teller. Who then touches my money anyway when taking it out of the bowl. Hmmmmmmmmm...

At the grocery store, they have placed plastic over all of the credit card machines. "Why is there plastic on the credit card machine?" one could ask. The answer (which the cashier thinks is obvious), "So you don't touch the credit card machine." "Brilliant. But aren't we all touching the plastic when we click the green button?" Cashier: ...

Try it. You might only be able to see eyes but the look of the wheels turning is priceless. (But please be kind and gracious - the cashier did not make the rules) Hmmmmmmm...

My son (who refuses to wear a mask correctly although we have made progress in the actual "wearing" part) was originally told that he could only go to church if he wore a green sticker. Presumably so folks would know he's not wearing a mask and could be a living, breathing virus dispenser. But, on the first day, when they put the mask on his face instead of the green sticker, and he promptly put said mask below his nose, and later below his chin, he was somehow deemed safe and free of any virus. But another family was sent away because their children were not wearing masks and were somehow more dangerous than my son whose mask is almost always below his nose or chin? So the virus is spread through the chin but not the nose or mouth? Hmmmmmm...

Doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel beg and plead on social media to get everyone to wear masks and stay home and social distance, then post pictures on the same social media sites of their family gatherings and outings with friends where no one is masked or at home or socially distanced. I guess they follow the politician's logic, "It's only for thee and not for me." Hmmmmmm....

2020 Self-care

With a short reprieve from classes, I've been practicing a lot of self-care. 

A Christmas gift for one of my own who purposely left a pile of t-shirts here when said child moved out. I finally got around to making a blanket out of them.

Hats and scarves for the homeless and other folks in need.

Baby and toddler quilts for Backpacks of Hope, to be given to foster children.

Pillowcase dresses for Dress a Girl Around the World.

And two pillows - for a special friend and her dad who recently lost their mom/wife, made from some of her shirts. They say, "These are shirts I used to wear. When you hold this, know I am there." They were a joy to make. 

A very merry covid Christmas

 2020 tried to steal our Christmas but we said, "No way!"

The best part of Covid giving some of us an early Christmas present is that, according to a professional in healthcare who happens to be semi-related to some of us, our home is currently immune. This opened the door for Mariana and Jake to spend the day with us. 

Lucy enjoyed the reading of the Christmas story and singing of carols from a place of honor.

Just because they're the same age, they think they can confuse us by wearing the same shirts. But a mom can always tell her twins apart even when they think they're fooling her.

Lucy and Mariana are not the best of friends, and Lucy kept trying to steal Mariana's seat and her place in Jake's heart, but the joke was on Ana since she stole Lucy's seat in the first place. 

A very special gift from Mariana and my mom. I made this cross stitch for my parents and gave it to them on the day of my wedding. For years it hung in their hallway with photos from both my wedding and my brother's wedding. When my parents down-sized, my mom saved the frame and then gave it to Mariana after her wedding day. Ana switched out my brother's pictures (sorry, Chad) with some of her own, and it now hangs in my bedroom.

Wooden crafts from PopPop's quarantine hobby.

Everyone got a book for Christmas, including the Good Doctor who will now be spending his evenings filling in the pages of this book.

He was sitting on his gifts the whole time and didn't even know it. What was inside? A collection of Star Wars treats collected from consignment sales and a Silent Auction that the Good Doctor won. I figured wrapping everything separately would keep him occupied (and the older kids were old enough to understand that the collection of gifts equalled one gift so there would be no cries of unfair play). The best part was when he pulled a gift out of the bin, said, "That's clothes," and set it aside without opening it. Some things you can get away with when you have behavioral challenges.

Best Dressed in the "Come-To-The-Secret-Santa-Zoom-Exchange-Dressed-In-Your-Ugliest-Gaudiest-Fanciest-Christmasyest-Red-And-Green" Contest

Runners-Up

The Secret Santa Zoom Exchange. It actually went better than expected. The only gift that didn't make it on time was not due to postal delays but Covid delays. Because she was sick and because we were quarantined while we all lived out our mandated days at home, Eden was not able to go to the pottery shop to complete Mariana's gift. But she had pictures!

And he also won First Place in the wrapping contest. Isaac had Jake's name. He got him a book from his wishlist. It was hidden between the cardboard on the "seat" of the "chair".

Victor's Secret Santa gift from Jesse

Always a good big brother

Sisters

Jesse broke my animal loving heart with his gift. At least it wasn't a framed photo of his smiling self holding the head of an unsmiling dead deer, apparently named Dasher. My sincere apologies to Dasher's mother. I didn't raise him to be like this. But I should have known because every time I cried with trying to get through a read-aloud with a dead or injured animal, he laughed hysterically. And they're always bringing that up. Just because I cried when the badger died but then it wasn't really dead just injured. So what if it was "just a badger".

Someday, this might be what I get. I'll try to be prepared.

We even got to Zoom with MomMom and PopPop while we opened their gifts. 

Great joy for all the people

I didn't write and send Christmas cards this year. While I had been whittling the list down for a few years now anyway, this year it just felt like there were too many financial needs around us to justify the printed photos and stamps. And if there's anything that 2020 taught us, it's who our community is. That community has remained close and they know all the highlights of our year. They know our lowest points. And they were there through it all. They didn't need a piece of paper they'll throw out in January to tell them anything new.

This Christmas season I've been meditating on the angel's words in Luke 2:10...

"Do not be afraid. 

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people."

2020 is the year that fear became fashionable. Having spent many years of my life letting fear and anxiety drown me, I refused to go back there. And knowing the influence a parent can have on a child's levels of fear and anxiety, I determined to do everything I could to not allow them to live in fear. We didn't live with our heads in the sand; we didn't live recklessly or unwise. We masked up in public and we stood on our dots when out-and-about. However, we also talked about the science of viruses, risk factors, and immune systems. We did what we could to build up ours. We remembered the One who knows the day and cause of every sickness that was going to be allowed to trigger that immune system and yes, who ultimately knows the day and cause of our demise. We don't need to live in fear of that; it's good news that causes great joy! 

We have learned that one of the best antidotes for fear is service. So we kept our eyes and ears open. Any time we got the hint or a nudge that someone was struggling, we stepped in to bring that good news that causes great joy. As a ministry partner of mine used to tell me, there are people who have to fabricate pain (sleeping on nails, going on long pilgrimages, not eating or drinking) to experience the pain that Christ told us will be ours as we serve. When, like Him, we step into the brokenness and darkness, we won't need to try to fabricate anything. But surprisingly, the result is "great joy for all the people" - for the one who serves and those who are being served. 

There are plenty of people struggling physically, yes - but even more so struggling emotionally and spiritually. Hidden behind masks, socially distanced, and isolated, forgotten by Christians too frightened to let them in. But the good news that causes great joy is for all the people. As Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) 

So this year we mourned with those who mourned. We rejoiced with those who rejoiced. We tried to bring hope to those for whom hope had been shattered. Where division was great and overpowering, we tried to remember Romans 12:18, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." We fail sometimes but we tried to give grace for every belief, comfort level, and opinion.

We cannot control or change what others say about us. We cannot control or change the lies they tell or the chaos they leave in their wake. We can control how we react. We can control what we do with the hurt. And as far as it depends on each of us, we can choose to live at peace with everyone. It's good news that will cause great joy!

How can that be? Because the same God who chose to send a tiny baby to a stable in Bethlehem and who then chose to announce that to shepherds with the statement, "Do not fear," followed by news that causes great joy, that same God just as intricately orchestrates every single moment of each of our lives. Everything.

Three years ago, I read a devotional written by Shane Claiborne where he said, 

"Let’s remember this Christmas that the Savior we celebrate was born into the crap. He couldn’t care less whether we say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”. He’s much more interested in us getting dirty in the trenches than decorating the Temple. What Jesus cares about is how we care for the most vulnerable people on earth—the widows and orphans, the immigrants and refugees, the sick and the homeless.

The world we live in, like the world Christ lived in, is ravaged with violence and poverty. But the good news is that a Savior is born. He has come to preach good news to the poor and to disturb the rich. He has come to cast the mighty from their thrones and to lift up the lowly. He has come to bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim freedom to the captives.

He has come to remind us that God is with us—if we are with the poor."

- (Keep Watch with Me Daily Advent Reader)

Merry Christmas and may your 2021 be filled with a message of "do not fear" for those who need to hear good news that causes great joy!

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

Victor-isms from quarantine

 Me: (Advent reading, Day 11 - Jesus is the Vine) "All the nutrients travel along the sap of the vine into the branches so the branches can stay healthy and grow and produce fruit..."

Victor (interrupts): That's capillary action!

Me:...That would be correct...Now, continuing on with the reading...

********************

V: What are you doing?

Me: Working on supper.

V: I'll help boil the water.

Thanks, buddy. That's the part that had me the most stressed.

********************

Victor: Eden, when did you learn German?

Eden: I started in 5th grade.

Victor: Oh, you're in 10th grade now. So...you'll be in college soon. So you won't put your foot on my chair anymore. *Thinks a bit* Well, I'll kind of miss you. I'll miss your snuggles.

********************

Victor: I'm a little bit sleepy.

Me: Then go take a nap.

Victor: I'm not that kind of sleepy; I'm emotionally sleepy because my emotions have been working all day.

********************

Overheard:

Victor: Eden, what's your favorite Christmas song of all time?

Eden: I'm not telling you because yesterday when I told you my favorite Christmas song of all time you yelled at me because it wasn't the right favorite Christmas song of all time.

********************

The 8th grader had a question about her science lesson. The adult didn't know the answer. The 10th grader didn't know the answer. We asked the 2nd grader. He knew. Apparently we aren't smarter than a 2nd grader.

********************

Me: Victor, finish your supper.

Victor: It's cold.

Me: Put it in the microwave.

Victor: How long would you advise?

Advise? How long would I advise? What 7 year old asks how long I would advise?????

********************

Me to Eden: Should we have our Little Women viewing party on Friday night?

Victor: NO! I'M HERE AND I'M NOT A WOMAN SO YOU CAN'T DO THAT WITHOUT ME!

Ummmmm, I think you completely misunderstood my question. Way to get your blood pumping there, buddy.

********************

School question: Victor, what is your favorite place in PA?

Victor: Chick-Fil-A, The Appalachian Trail, and Spirit Day Spa because it's just so calm and relaxing.

********************

Victor (while rubbing my back): Does this feel good?

Me: Yes.

Victor: Is your back getting looser?

Me: Yes, thank you.

Victor: Why is it tight?

Me: I wish I knew.

Victor (while moving his hand the other direction): That makes it tighter, right?

Me: No. Why do you think you’re making my back tighter?

Victor: Righty tighty, lefty loosey, right?

********************

Victor and I completed a multi-week unit on elections but I apparently did not adequately explain the process because when I told him I was leaving to vote he asked, “You’re just going to write Trump or Biden and then come home, right? How long will it take you to spell that?”

********************

After Victor's shower this morning:

V: Can I use the hair dryer?

Me: Sure.

...

V: Can I use the hairspray?

Me: Sure.

...

V: I'm like an old lady now. I used the hair dryer and the hairspray, right?

Me: How does an old lady even respond to that?

********************

Victor on the phone with Isaac: How are you enjoying your classes? How's music theory? So, are you enjoying reading the Bible? I love how the Bible fits together. I started in Matthew but then halfway through I decided I needed to go to Genesis. I need to get an ipad so we can have a Zoom meeting. I'll be right back. I'm just going to go to the bathroom. I don't want to take you into the bathroom because one time I dropped the phone in the toilet. I don't want to do that...

********************

Since listening to the OT on CD (he begged and begged for this and I surprisingly found a set at the Goodwill Outlet) we have had the following conversations and more:

What is circumcision?

Chronicles is cool

What are bowels? Do people still get a disease where their bowels come out?

Did you hear the one about the guy who was so fat that the sword disappeared in his stomach when he was killed?

Remember Uriah the Hittite?

Oh, the Philistines. I think that was the time of Agog, right?

(When seeing me sad about something): You should have sackcloth and ashes.

When watching Elf and not liking the character of Elf's dad: He loves money more than people. That's adultery.

All of the children

My children never got to meet my paternal grandfather as he died before any of them were born. However, many of them are here because of him. Yes, he married us, and blessed all who would come through our doors as husband and wife. But more than that he left a legacy of a life lived to bless others. A family with almost a dozen great-grandchildren who are adopted speaks for itself.

My cousins and I have learned that adoption is not easy. There are no guarantees. Trauma is long-lasting and all-encompassing. It pushes away and divides and leaves a trail of chaos behind. But it is also the best picture I know of grace and redemption and an unconditional love that patiently and expectantly waits for the prodigal to decide that a seat at the table is truly better than the scraps of pigs.

How do I know this is my grandfather's legacy? Because he loved unconditionally. He wasn't flashy about it. He didn't draw attention to himself. He chose to love those that were different from him, racially, culturally, and spiritually. He taught with his own life as model.

And, he also taught. It was my dream to have my grandfather as a teacher at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School. Unfortunately, he retired the year before I entered ninth grade. I never had that pleasure. This disappointed me greatly but when I hear stories like I heard today, I realize that claiming him as my grandfather means that I received the best education from his life just as others received from him in the classroom.

For many years, my dad had a train set in his attic. Victor enjoyed playing with that train set but something happened when my parents moved a few years ago and the engine no longer worked. A recent conversation with a contractor who came into their home, who they also knew, led them to a source for a new engine. The young man suggested that they contact his grandfather who probably had an engine they could buy. They made the arrangements and went to see what he had to offer.

My dad was pleased to find that this man did have an engine for sale, just the right scale and perfect for his set. My dad asked how much? He was told $1. My parents were shocked. Then the man added a trolley, and another car - without raising the price. My parents tried to argue. It was all worth so much more than that. Then the man's wife said, "Tell them why you don't want to accept any more money than that."

The man went on to explain that when he and his wife were younger, they had a foster daughter. The situation was tough. She wasn't the typical student to attend the private school where my grandfather taught. They didn't know if they should send her even though they had sent their other children there. In the end, they did decide to enroll her. They explained that it was my grandfather who went out of his way to care. He saw the value in her. The story may have had its own twists and turns, but this man and his wife never forgot the teacher who welcomed every student. They weren't just making a transaction to sell a couple of train cars; they were thanking the family of one who meant so much to theirs.

That's the legacy my grandfather left. That's the reason my family is here. That's the legacy I hope to leave to my children. 

"Let the little children come to me," Jesus said. All of the children. Not just the ones who make good choices. Not just the ones who acknowledge me. Not just the ones who can pay me back. 

All of the children. 

Thankful Thursday

Thanksgiving was a week ago. It wasn't like it has been in the past. We were in the wrong house. People were missing. But we enjoyed our day nonetheless. My mom even contributed to our table by preparing turkey, stuffing, and cake ahead of time and freezing it. Even in isolation she's looking out for us.

Eden decorated MomMom's cake

We even carried on the Christmas-craft-on-Thanksgiving-Day tradition.

An impromptu caroling session ended our time together. I'm so thankful for these people who I call family.