March: In Like a Lion

Here we are again at the end of another month and I haven’t written anything even though there has been SO much that has happened this month. In fact, we have made world and church history this month, but because of the many prophecies and promises made by our prophet, apostles, and other church leaders over the past few years our family is and has been prepared for it all. I am extremely grateful for our church leaders—for their love and concern for the saints and people in general. Living in Utah the church is always in the news and put under and microscope, and I have felt like recently it has been attacked more forcefully by more people in the last few months. Everything that happened since the beginning of the year is a sign and testimony that the second coming is close at hand. President Nelson has warned and prophesied that this is true.

Here’s what’s happens this month:

“Mom, I can’t see!” -Hannah as she sat like this for the whole movie

 Lucas thought he was the luckiest boy. A few weeks ago we studied from the scriptures about feasting on the words of Christ, so his primary teachers brought a bunch of snacks and handed a couple out to the kids, then they told them they could all take as much as they wanted to demonstrate what feasting was. I think Lucas was in little boy heaven; he didn’t hold back at all. He came home with a grocery sack full of snacks like oranges, bananas, crackers, cookies, apple sauce, juice, candies, fruit snacks, and pencils. 

Stephen’s big trial finally came to an end the week of my birthday after 7 weeks of long, long work days and working weekends. It was such a relief and Stephen’s team won to boot, so we had a lot to celebrate that weekend especially with it being my 32nd birthday. We were finally able to get tickets to the Pompeii exhibit downtown that I had been waiting for since November. But that was the weekend everything changed. We had been following the news about the corona virus in China for the last several weeks and all the people on cruise ships that had been infected and quarantined, and I honestly didn’t think we’d end up like China and eventually surpassing their numbers of infected. It’s been hard to sort through fact and fiction in the news with what is really happening, and I was like a lot of other Americans who thought “ok this virus is in the US but it isn’t any worse than a bad flu; we’ll be ok” that was far from being accurate. So the day we were able to go to the museum it shut down. All the schools were closed for the next two weeks and in the coming week restaurants, gyms, salons, and other nonessential businesses were shut down all over Utah and the United States, and grocery stores were being wrecked and emptied within minutes of opening. 

On Wednesday the 18th somewhere around 7:04 am a 5.7 magnitude earthquake woke Stephen and I up from our slumber. I woke up first waiting for Stephen to wake to make sure it was really happening. I kinda just froze. At first I heard the blinds rattling and shaking and I thought maybe the windows had been opened for some reason because we had had a couple of really windy days, but then the bed started to shake and Stephen finally woke up. It lasted for about 15 seconds or so. As soon as it stopped I grabbed my robe and rushed downstairs to make sure the kids were ok. Surprisingly Lucas was the only one up watching tv. He asked why the couch was shaking. I went into Hannah’s bedroom to see if she was awake and ok. She was sitting up in bed and in a panicked voice shouted that her bed was shaking and ran to me to hold her. Stephen went to see if Zander was ok and he had slept through the whole thing. He had no idea we had just experienced an earthquake which kind of disappointed me because we have had talks and family nights dedicated to natural disaster safety. An earthquake is the most likely to occur here in Utah, so at least the kids now know what an earthquake is. We experienced several little aftershocks the rest of the morning until around 1:00 in the afternoon. We had a few things fall over on our bookshelf upstairs and empty mason jars and food in the fruit room in the basement fall off the shelf, but that was the extent of the “damage” of the earthquake. Downtown Salt Lake City and Magna where the epicenter was got hit the hardest. There was a fair amount of damage to buildings and homes but no one got hurt. That weekend I got our emergency backpack out and went through our supplies to update and add to it to make sure we were really prepared. 

Experiencing an earthquake was very eye opening and dare I say cool? Having to stay at home and practice social distancing these past few weeks has had its ups and downs. I actually like that Stephen gets to stay and work from home. He has a table set up in the bedroom and works for most of the day while I tend to the kids and help Zander with school work. We’re trying to keep it as normal as possible and stick to our routine even though things are very different now. We’ve talked to the kids about the Corona virus and what is happening around the world and in our own community. They don’t like or really understand why they can’t play with the neighbor kids, but with me being pregnant I just can’t risk anyone being in contact with other people except when Stephen needs to go to the grocery store. Any time anyone goes outside or leaves the house the first thing we all have to do is wash our hands. I’ve had to disinfect all surface areas around the house and things that get touched constantly like knobs, light switches, remotes, phones, handles, and the inside of the car just to be on the safe side. I have to go to my weekly doctor appointments and they have nurses guarding the doors with hand sanitizer and they have to ask a series of questions before I get a wristband put on to say that I am safe to be there. 

This pandemic has been taken a little more seriously and extra worrisome with me approaching my due date next Monday. But I’m confident in my midwife and that the baby and I will be just fine. So I’ve just been milling  around the house trying to get things set up in the nursery. We got new carpet put in last week and I love it! I am so glad we finally got it done. The nursery is painted and Stephen got the crib and other furniture put back together so we’re just patiently waiting for this little bug to decide to join us on the outside. 

Other things that have happened this month: We met with Hannah’s surgeon at primary’s earlier this month to see how she was progressing. He was very happy with how she looked and acted and asked if she was still on her meds. I told him we’d have to follow up with our infectious disease doctor. He said she probably didn’t need to be on them anymore. The mass left in her jaw has shrunk considerably to the size of a marble. And since that meeting it has shrunk even more to where I can hardly feel it now. So it’s been 6 months since we discovered her infection and 4 months since her surgery and she’s good as new!

Hannah has also gotten really good with her speech. She is pronouncing more letters and leaning more words, but the funny thing is she can’t pronounce the “c” or “k” sound at all she’ll use a “t” or “d” in its place. She has also adopted a British accent when she talks which is so funny because Lucas did the same thing when he was her age. She can also sing the entire abc song by herself, she can count to 10 and recognizes written numbers, and recognizes a few shapes. 

Lucas has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He has been really excited about that and tries to ride his bike every day. This was the perfect size for him to learn on, but hopefully he’ll give his bike to Hannah and we can get him on a bigger bike this summer. He tries really hard to keep up with Zander.

Zander has been trying his hand at skateboarding on the skateboard he got from Santa. It has been frustrating for him, but he’ll get it eventually. He’s been trying to learn how to turn the board with his feet without having to stop.. 

We took the kids to the nature park down the road last week and brought their bikes so they could feed the ducks and get some exercise. They loved feeding the ducks, but it was really windy and sprinkling rain so we didn’t stay for too long, but we all had a great time getting out of the house.

Stephen put Hannah’s new dresser together last week and the kids were all too eager to help him build it. They had fun getting to hand dad tools and nails and getting a turn to hammer and use the screwdriver themselves. They eventually turned to the box the dresser came in and decided to make a truck so they set out hammering and screwing things into their box, coloring, and cutting things out to make it special. It was a good two day project for them to work on.

There has also been a lot of reading going on and I love to see the older kids reading to the younger ones.

The kids made pictures of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow for St. Patrick’s day. They loved that little activity. It took them most of the morning, but their pictures turned out so cute.

And how can I forget that a few days after being ordered to stay home Mr. Lucas, who is almost five years old, decided it would be a good idea to wipe his bottom on the carpet like a dog on his bedroom floor. This did not make mom very happy nor was he when he had to clean it up all by himself.

Since we are having church here at home now it has been interesting to see how the kids behave. Stephen and I dress in our church clothes and we give the kids a choice if they want to dress in church clothes or regular clothes, but they can’t wear their pjs. I’ve explained to them why dad and I wear our church clothes because we are partaking of an ordinance and we should always wear our best clothes. I’m trying to get them to make the choice on their own. It’s interesting because during the sacrament all three kids will sit and wait quietly as we partake of the sacrament, but as soon as we dive into our 10 minute lesson they are up playing and goofing off. It’s been pretty frustrating to be honest, but we’re sticking to it and hoping they will learn how important it is to learn and study together as a family.