Social Distancing Diaries: Day 80

Dear Diary

Drive through youth group celebration

Today was a weird mix of feeling like a “regular” day and feeling like summer vacation has begun. School work has been done for a few days now (feels like summer), even though tomorrow is technically the last day. Eden hasn’t had any school responsibilities but Lily has a few meetings each day (“regular” day). Hayley has left home (feels like summer). This is the last week to pick up school lunches (“regular” day), so we did that today. I’m so grateful for the folks that assembled lunches and stood outside twice a week to hand them out! It provided us with a break to the monotony of our days as well as variety of foods. On the lunch run today I tried to go to the post office but the line was out the door. Now, it’s a small post office so it only takes 3 people in line to put the line out the door, but still. I’ll try again tomorrow. I should know better than to go at lunchtime on a Monday.

Lily and Dad snuck in a quick bike ride

For a much needed creative outlet today, I fulfilled a few orders for masks and then assembled 2 pillows that I had cut out at the beginning of quarantine. While I did that I caught up on a few podcasts I had been saving.

Kudos to the youth leaders and volunteers at EBIC who designed a drive through celebration for families tonight. We wound our way through the parking lot to different stations, including popcorn, hot dogs and burgers, and ice cream treats. It was creative and fun!

Our Lily Joy!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 79

Dear Diary

The Bittersweet Edition

My Loves!

One year ago today we picked up Hayley from the airport after she spent 9 months traveling around the world with the World Race Gap Year. It was so wonderful to greet her and reunite with her! Fast forward one year as today we said our good byes to Hayley once again, this time for only 2 months. Ellen and I dropped her off at the Philadelphia Project this afternoon. I know the challenges posed by the pandemic are different for everyone, but I can’t deny that for our family, the last 2.5 months have been a sweet gift. It hasn’t all been unicorns and rainbows (I have 78 days of blogposts to prove that!) but it really has been a gift. So it’s with mixed emotions that we send Hayley off to this place to which God has called her. We rejoice that she has an internship this summer, as so many students have had theirs canceled. And we trust God that He has great things in store for her this summer. We pray for her health and safety. And, basically, we’ll miss her!

If you feel led to contribute, she needs raise $340 yet to meet her fundraising goal. I’ll post a link in the comments. Thank you!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 78

Dear Diary

All in a day’s work! We started to paint Lily’s room at 9:30 and finally wrapped up around 7:00. Of course, we did need to take a break between coats and to make supper, but all in all, it was quite an accomplishment. The best part is that Lily is so pleased. Who am I kidding, the best part is that it’s over!

All those hand embroidery lessons from Grandma Grosh have paid off! Hayley worked on this for a few days and this is the result! I love it!!

Thomas was our Freebie Finder today. He went out to get our free dogs and fries for lunch. Then he went out again to get free gift cards from a local church. He promptly redeemed one of them to buy some delicious-looking sticky buns to tomorrow’s breakfast! Yum!

Late last night, when we thought we’d be heading to bed, the twins and Thomas and I went down the rabbit hole of Myers-Briggs personality assessments. This was by far not our first rodeo—we all knew our types already. I just find it interesting how for most of us they never change! Hayley’s type migrates around a bit, but we also think she misinterpreted a few of the questions on this quiz. Hmm, I was going to reveal our types, but maybe it would be more fun to hear your guesses! Thomas is a textbook ____, Ellen is a classic ____, and I am the poster child for ____. What do you think Hayley is? She’s not particularly strong in the categories, so she’s trickier. Bonus points if you can guess our Enneagram numbers! Here are some hints: Thomas and I are completely opposite except for one category. Ellen and I are the same except for one category. And Hayley and I may be the same type, I’m just more strongly that type than she is. Now it’s more like a logic puzzle or Sudoku! Personality assessments are not the be all and end all of identity. But I do find them helpful in interpreting my feelings and actions and they help me to be more understanding towards others. And can we all agree that the world could use more understanding right about now??

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 77

Dear Diary

Just a day of ordinary randomness. But that wouldn’t make for a particularly interesting blogpost, so I’ll try to do better.

The slowest game of Dutch Blitz ever played

Hayley packed for Philly. There might have been some twin tears going on. I will not confirm or deny. Without the semester being moved to online learning Hayley and Ellen would only have had a few days together this summer. Instead, they’ve had 2.5 months. So that’s kinda cool. But we all really like having Hayley around. She is a fun, peaceful presence in our family and we’re going to miss her. I know she’ll bring that same fun and peace to her team in Philly.

UFO pizza

Do you know that the Rotary club will have their fry wagon at The Gathering Place in Mount Joy from 11-1, giving out free hot dogs and fries (on 5/30)? Guess where I’ll be at 11am?

We’ve been trying to make Hayley’s last weekend here special. We had homemade pizza and I made a strawberry/rhubarb crumble. Then we let Hayley pick the games (Dutch Blitz and Bananagrams) and the evening viewing (Disney’s Zenimation). The Zenimation wasn’t what Hayley expected but it put me to sleep!

Strawberry/Rhubarb Crumble

Oh, we planned a little summer getaway! Since Kenbrook Bible Camp had to cancel their youth camps this summer they are replacing it with family camping. Each family will have their own room and they’ll be able to do activities as a family. Since we have nothing else to do we thought we’d give it a try. Lily was game—a camp where we don’t have to interact with anyone? Sweet! Speaking of Lily, shout out to my girl who earned the “Kindness Award” on her 6th Grade team! We’re so proud of her. Also, how great is it that the school celebrates Kindness?!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 76

Blog Takeover by Thomas!

Dear Diary

I find it hard to believe that I’m posting on Naptime Inspirations. Although through the years I’ve helped with online presence and booth setup / tear down, I truly am not worthy to share in Theresa’s Diary. Today my experience with Naptime Inspirations was coming out of the home office from my zillionth Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) Zoom call and seeing Theresa amid the creation of 8 bibs in the family room turned Naptime Inspirations studio. If I would have known that I’d be asked to write a post, I’d have snapped a photo  

As for the family, we began the day with morning worship by singing I’ll Fly Away and Turn Your Eyes on Jesus. We prayed for one-another and CMDA’s ministry at Drexel College of Medicine. Please take a minute to join us today and tomorrow. Note: Tomorrow’s prayer focus will be the pre-med students at Grove City College. Through the years we’ve served a number of alumni who became students at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine. We currently have three alumni part of the Christian Medical Society / CMDA at PSU-Hershey. 

Highlights from the day, shared over an incredible dinner of breakfast sandwiches, biscuits with newly produced (and tasty) rhubarb jelly, and potatoes:

Eden and Lily posing on Memorial Day

·      Lily: playing Bananagrams with Hayley and making progress toward painting her bedroom. Quite an amazing operation!

·      Eden: finishing her 9th grade school work (Wow!) and the opportunity to read her Bible in her new / improved room, i.e., new layout and lighting (Halleluiah!). 

·      Ellen: her newly painted room and its excellent new layout. 

o   Comment: What a joy to see this come together! Yes, COVID-19 has led to a lot room clean up and redecoration in our house. How about yours?

·      Hayley can’t wait to dive into The Philadelphia Project. She leaves on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for, encouraged, and supported Hayley in this journey.

·      Theresa: completing 8 bibs today.

·      Amid the challenges of COVID-19, I found my rhythm as the CMDA Northeast Regional Director. Today the Lord brought great joy to me through…

o   Envisioning the next step of CMDA Northeast Regional communications and online offerings with the regional student representative.

o   Attending a Leadership Transformations online workshop on Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Team. I not only directly applied lessons learned to ministry and made connections with whom I’ll follow tomorrow, but also discussed next steps for applying regionally with members of CMDA afterward.

o   Participating in the first session of an online Ethics workshop developed by a staff / healthcare professional in Richmond, VA.

Gifts from the hens

o   Serving CMDA from the home, has enabled me to be supportive of the family during this unique season. I’m not sure if I more enjoy being the Brother Lawrence of the kitchen, collecting the eggs, reading books to Eden, watching Alias with Theresa and Hayley, or laughing with the family around the dinner table. Actually, it’s the last one 

Although I could write a lot more, that’s all for now. 

To God be the glory!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 75

Dear Diary

Have you driven around and noticed how nice everyone’s yards look? I guess some of us have more time on our hands. For this brief moment I feel like our yard is in pretty good shape. But I know that only lasts for a hot second!

We are one step closer to: 1. Finishing Ellen’s room (she’s all moved in; I just need to paint her door), 2. Preparing Hayley for her move to Philly on Sunday. She had a Zoom call with some helpful information! 3. Figuring out what Ellen will do for the summer now that we know her job as a day camp counselor has been cancelled.

Supper from the Grape Leaf Café was definitely a highlight tonight! Their chicken shawarma was delicious!

Lily has been working hard on some final projects for school. Seems like she spends more hours on schoolwork than the 9th grader. On the one hand I’m eager (with them) for school to end but part of me also wonders what they’ll do with the extra hours in the day. Especially since everything we had planned this summer has been cancelled. I guess everyone’s in the same boat.

Name that play:

Romeo and Juliet, of course!

I unplugged for a little while this evening and broke out the Coloring the Psalms book. I can easily mindlessly stare at a digital screen. But it is refreshing to do something just a little bit creative, even if I don’t have the energy to sew something. Eden loves to do huge Dot-to-Dot puzzles. She’ll do them for hours at a time. This week she requested a new book called “Create This Book” by Moriah Elizabeth. It has prompts on each page for different activities. She’s really enjoying it. Let me know if you have similar books to recommend because we have the whole summer ahead of us!

What do you do to unplug?

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 74

Dear Diary

Hello, Summer! Whew. Today was a great day for drying laundry outside, which is mostly what I did. Ellen finished painting her room!!! Now to put it all back together. We’ll set up our pool before tackling Lily’s room next. I need to pace myself. I also had a marathon grocery trip today. I haven’t been out for a while since my mom picks up things for me here and there. I guess she just goes out more frequently. I don’t find shopping to be as stressful as I did at the beginning of the pandemic. And the shelves are certainly fuller! Shout out to Giant—the head cashier noted my struggle to use a coupon for “Extra Large Shrimp” on a bag of “Large Shrimp”. After checking back in the freezer and consulting with the meat guy, I learned there was no more “Extra Large Shrimp” and heaven forbid you use the coupon on any other arbitrary size of shrimp, SO, she gave me $2.50 back in cash when I broke down and bought a more expensive bag of shrimp because the meal that my dear daughter requested before she leaves us for the rest of the summer is Shrimp Alfredo! Thanks, Head Cashier Lady. I was moved.

My Silly Lily—Floating on a pool floaty under the sprinkler. She’s a water bug and can’t wait for the pool to be up and running!

Have you noticed how folks are “hiring” (I don’t know how it works) food trucks to come to their neighborhoods? It wouldn’t work out here in the boonies, but tonight we visited the Lancaster Cupcake truck in town, mostly to be part of a little birthday celebration for Hayley’s and Ellen’s friend. Tomorrow we’re ordering from the Grape Leaf Café truck that’s coming to Landisville because 1. Chicken shawarma and falafel (!) and 2. They employ refugee women (!). What’s not to like? Oh, and 3. I won’t have to cook!!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 73

Dear Diary

I needed more pictures of Hayley! She leaves in 6 days to go to Philadelphia for the summer. We are going to miss her SO much!!

Jelly making

You know those days where you feel a sense of satisfaction and contentment at the end of the day? Today was one of those! I decided I needed to return to regular running, so I dragged my bones out of bed at 7am and managed 2 miles without dying. I was home by 7:30 which was my normal wake up time so the run hadn’t interfered with my typical schedule. I could still join the family for our 8:30 Family Meeting. And I could still walk with my mom at 9:00! After my walk I completed the project of weeding the garden. Sadly no beans or peanuts sprouted. I have no idea why. Maybe something ate the seeds right after I planted them. So I have lettuce, beets and tomatoes. I finished weeding in time for lunch. Thankfully, Ellen and Hayley worked on painting Ellen’s room. We hope to finish that up tomorrow. In a week or two we will be receiving an order of beef that will need to find a home in our freezer, so I’m trying to be diligent about eating food that’s currently in the freezer. That led me to remove 2 gallon bags full of rhubarb, which led me to make a double batch of rhubarb jelly and a batch of rhubarb punch. Then, satisfaction aside, I was so tired that I needed to lay down and I took a 5 minute cat nap on the couch. But alas, supper preparation was calling. I roped Hayley into helping with that which was an immense relief to me. As supper finished Lily requested a quick bike ride and Eden requested a backyard campfire. Thankfully Tom took the girls on a bike ride and I built the fire. What a beautiful evening to sit around a campfire and reflect on a productive day! Hoping you enjoyed your day too!

Can we take a moment and admire my poppy? I’ve made everyone in my family look at it as it’s blooming. I love it so much! Last year I had 2 blossoms. This year I have 18!!!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 72

Dear Diary

The Quotable Edition

Ellen keeps a running quote list on her phone. These are things she has overheard in our family during quarantine. Unfortunately the funniest ones are not appropriate for a wider audience, but we hope you enjoy!

“George Washington isn’t *that* famous. He’s as famous as Taylor Swift in my book!” –Eden

“I mostly drink tea to smell it.” –Hayley

“What’s ‘fastidious’? It sounds like a seafood.” –Lily

“I ended up having to choose between waffle fries and mashed potatoes, and that was REALLY hard.” –Ellen

“I’m so bored I have to fake cry!” –Eden

“So skip the fancy knick knacks and sling some mulch for your ‘ol Mum!” –Theresa

“Get your Mexican undies!” –Theresa (Aerie was having a sale on Cinco de Mayo)

“That scared the spit right out of me!” –Hayley

“I only like books where people DIE. And have terrible endings.” –Lily

“I like to have a balanced lunch. I like to have my pile of fries be as big as my sandwich.” –Theresa

“You have a boyfriend. The least you could do for me is give me shot gun.” –Lily

“You can’t go slap a cold slice of ham on a warm egg!” –Theresa

“When you say ‘vibes’ do you picture “V-I-B-E-Z?” –Eden

You might observe that there are no quotes from Tom. He has one on the official quote list, but it is not appropriate for a wider audience. It is, however, a zinger!

Anyone else not going anywhere??

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 71

Dear Diary

Yearning to Be Amish Edition

One of our favorite family treats is to buy chicken BBQ at a local Amish place. I don’t know what they put on their chicken but it is SO delicious! I figured that would make the perfect Memorial Day Weekend meal. So I went there this afternoon with 3 of the girls. Hayley waited in the car, but Eden and Lily walked up to the counter with me to order the chicken and homemade root beer. When we began our drive home Lily was fan-girling all over the young Amish “youth” (probably about 13 years old?) who was working the register. She thought he was SO cute, and she thought he might have made eye contact with her in a significant way, and she returned the look with a coy smile, but since she was wearing a mask (he wasn’t) he didn’t know that she reciprocated his amorous feelings, thus he must have felt rejected by her, dooming them both to live separate lives, forever pining for their lost love. I might have embellished that a little bit, but it sounds good enough for one of those Amish romance novels. If Hallmark had an Amish life series, this would definitely be a story line. Lily giving voice to her infatuation led Eden to likewise express her desire to join the Amish by marriage. She claims she’s always had an interest in the Amish, so that must mean that God intends for her to become Amish. “Mom! Please!” “Please what?” I asked. “What are you asking me for?” “You need to find me an Amish boy to marry!” I’m sorry, I don’t think that’s within my power. Then she reasoned that because she dislikes sitting on the driver’s side of the car (she can’t stand the feeling of the shoulder seat belt on her left shoulder) she will never be able to drive. I told her *that* was a sure sign from God that she should become Amish. She thought she’d like to ride around in a horse and buggy. I said I would too, if it wasn’t cold or raining, or too hot, or I didn’t have to go too far. So basically there’s a 4 week window in spring when it would be ok to travel by horse and buggy AND THEN I threw in my favorite joke: “Are you sure you want to travel by horse with a buggy behind?!” HA! 

I do not make these things up. Welcome to my life.

Future family members?

Lily applied the first stroke of paint to Ellen’s walls today. One coat done!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 70

Dear Diary

While we waited for the paint to mix, Lily and Ellen played Guess the Facial Expression Behind the Mask.

Today was one of those days when there were a lot of balls in the air. Having worked on the utility room the last 2 days, Ellen is finally cleared to begin the process to paint her bedroom.  Thankfully Grandpa was on hand to provide some supplies and advice. She moved her furniture and we began to prep her room. Eden needed help with one of her classes. Hayley stepped in big time to help Eden get over that hurdle. Ellen took a break from paint prep to help Lily with her math homework. In the middle of all of that Grandpa came over to switch our 2 overhead bedroom lights/fans that we were moving around. I prepared lunch in the midst of all that chaos. I promised Ellen and Lily we would go to the store to buy the paint they picked out last week for their bedrooms. So we left the house to do that. When we came home I needed to prepare supper (lasagna; I made 2 and froze 1) and fulfil my promise to Eden to read to her. I don’t respond well when several people ask things of me all at the same time. Add to that the fact that I didn’t get to accomplish the 2 things that were on my To Do List today and I quickly became frazzled. But all is well. Hayley stepped up to help with a few more tasks throughout the day and to provide moral support to me as I switched from my winter wardrobe to my summer wardrobe (one of my 2 tasks for the day). Hayley is great for many reasons, but significantly because she thinks I am hilarious. So she builds my ego by constantly laughing at me. My ego is really going to take a hit when she leaves on May 31!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 69

Dear Diary

Donations awaiting a home.

The family that cleans together…well, they clean together. We spent the day continuing to tackle the utility room, and some of Tom’s office. We’ve been able to give away a lot and sell a little bit and throw away a ton (!) but sadly we can’t donate anything. We have a shelf and our entire work bench surface filled with things to donate to various charities. It would be so nice to be able to get rid of those things but I guess we’ll just have to wait. Coming soon: Tom will be listing the books he has to share. This will be by donation. Stay tuned!

Working together teaches us a lot about ourselves and about each other. It teaches us to have grace with one another. It’s not easy but hopefully we are becoming better people through it. I guess that describes a lot of life, if we let it.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 68

Dear Diary

The Grunt Work Edition

I got to use my favorite limb cutter!

Today was Physical Labor Day. It’s not as enjoyable as National Donut Day, but it does leave one feeling satisfied at the end of the day!

We spent the morning cleaning out the shed and the utility room (our equivalent of a garage). Thankfully Ellen is super pumped about cleaning and organizing, so she tackled the shed. If you followed my Facebook feed this morning you saw all the junk I was able to unload! I’m so happy to pass on things to people who can use them! One of the girls commented that we’ve had more people come to our house during social distancing than before the restrictions! Shhhh, don’t turn us in. Everyone who visits is picking up items from the porch and most of the time I don’t even see them, so it’s really not visiting! But between masks, eggs, and getting rid of things there have been a lot of visitors! 

Checking out the massive stump!

After lunch we paused our clean out and headed over to my dear friend to cut down her dead weeping cherry tree. My dad did the fun work with the chainsaw but Tom, the twins and I chipped in with the grunt work of cutting up the branches. By the way, weeping cherry trees are mostly twigs. And they grow in all directions—not nice and straight. With everyone’s help we finished the job. That was worthy of pizza, so we picked that up on the way home. Tom couldn’t help himself and spent the rest of the evening mowing our entire yard.

Can we just take a moment to collectively wonder how in the world it’s May 20 already?!?!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 67

Dear Diary

The Bizarro Edition

The day literally began with Eden announcing to everyone (individually as we woke up, or while we still slept) that today was the day that Hayley would cut her hair! To say she was excited to get her hair cut is to put it mildly. Hayley armed herself with YouTube videos, scissors and comb. Two hours later, Eden was thrilled with the outcome. Hallelujah! There was great rejoicing in the land.

This picture totally cracks me up. That’s my “Ellen-will-you-run-my-Instagram” face. And that’s Ellen’s “naw-mom-i-really-don’t-want-to-do-that” face. And Hayley’s “you-seriously-didn’t-know-how-to-do-that-??” face.

This morning Ellen and I watched a local news show because they were announcing the winners of the Apollo Awards, south central PA’s version of the Academy Awards for high school theater. We had to endure commercials and un-newsworthy fluff (we hardly ever watch “real” tv anymore!). The cooking segment especially floored me. The woman literally browned some ground turkey and onion, mixed it with a jar of spaghetti sauce and put it on top of the spaghetti. That was the cooking lesson! Seriously? Do Americans not know how to do this?! At least our efforts were rewarded when our school won 2 awards—for Best Lead Actor and for Best Play! Go Donegal!!

Ellen and I spent some time this afternoon weeding flowerbeds for a friend. That prompted Ellen to declare she deserved an ice cream sundae from McDonald’s. I consented but she first had to call the McDonald’s and make sure their ice cream machine was functioning. It notoriously malfunctions. She called. Yes, it was functioning. We drove to McDonald’s and waited in the drive-through line until it was our turn. I ordered one hot fudge sundae. “I’m sorry, we are out of toppings. We don’t have hot fudge or caramel. I can offer you a plain sundae.” <pause> A PLAIN SUNDAE?! What even is that? It’s a cup of vanilla soft serve! There’s no such thing as a “plain sundae!” Note to self: When the craving for a McDonald’s sundae strikes, call and ask two questions—Is your ice cream machine working AND do you have any toppings! The back up plan was for a Frosty from Wendy’s. At the drive through I ordered one child size chocolate Frosty. I pulled up to the window and the woman handed me the Frosty and said “Thank you!” I said, don’t I have to pay for it? She said, “Don’t you have the key card?” which I understand to be a little bonus card you can keep on your keychain that apparently gets you a free child size Frosty when the mood strikes. No, I didn’t have the key card. She was flummoxed. Obviously no one drives up to Wendy’s to order only one child size Frosty with intention to pay for it. She waved me off. “Just go. Take it.” I wonder how many times I could get away with that.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 66

Dear Diary

Delightful people! Adorable puppy! Fantastic gymnastics! Jumper cables!

I loved all the name stories from yesterday’s blogpost! Names are obviously such a personal thing and so much a part of our identity, it’s no wonder there are so many stories!

Mama Pevensie in the foreground

This morning at our Morning Meeting we started to joke around about our afternoon plans. It started to sound like camp activities (“The waterfront will be open from 2-4. Don’t forget to grab a life jacket if you want to go boating. There are a limited number of slots for the climbing wall. First come, first served”). Our favorite family camp that we’ve attended has a bit of a Narnia theme. And, we just rewatched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe together a few days ago. Somehow the ideas kept flowing and Eden and Lily ran with it. By the time I returned from my walk they had built the Dawn Treader in the living room. Later in the day they planned a voyage on the Dawn Treader. First we attempted to dress like the Pevensie family. Then we divided into teams and competed in a scavenger hunt. Team “Aslan’s Army” won. Thanks, Eden and Lily, for facilitating that entertainment!

Have you been watching John Krasinski’s SGN (Some Good News) on YouTube? On Mondays a new episode is released. I was particularly emotional during today’s episode. I cried silently to myself at the story of the dad who had to quarantine himself from his daughter who was undergoing chemo. Finally the quarantine was lifted and they reunited. Ellen came in the room later and asked me what I thought of the episode and I burst out crying! After that episode I realized I had missed last week’s. So I was watching that when Hayley came in and I started to cry all over again! If you heard a ping it was just the sound of my heartstrings.

The losing team had to jump overboard

I have to thank Lily for the next highlight of the day. Because she offered cookies to readers who posted dance videos when she took over my blog, we drove around the county to deliver the cookies today. That led to the most delightful visit with the Good Family this afternoon! We were having such a great time that I didn’t remember to close my car door, resulting in a dead battery when I tried to start up the car. Thankfully our favorite librarian also knows how to use jumper cables, and we were on our way! Next we drove into Lancaster to drop something off with my friends Debbie and Nick. Oh! It’s so good to talk to people! Our other cookie drops today we did without a visit, but that may need to change because it’s so much more fun to talk to people (says the introvert)! Three of the girls came along for the marathon drive around the county today and the car arguing was fairly minimal. We’re all just human and those selfish tendencies aren’t always held in check. We can even argue while singing the Doxology. What’s your family’s talent?

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 65

Dear Diary

Favorite Child Award today goes to…Hayley! She spent a good part of the day making my website look SO much better. Why is it so easy for her to just click here there and everywhere and figure out how to do things that I didn’t even know you could do?! I think I’ll give her my login credentials and make her my official VA (Virtual Assistant)! I also need a VA to run my Instagram. Lily was eager to sign up for the job but when I told her the posts need to be in my voice she back-tracked. I don’t want my business Instagram to be taken over by animated pickles. If you’re a mom of babies or preschoolers, hang in there! Eventually kids come in handy.

Our dinner table conversation centered around nicknames and names. Do you or did you have a nickname? Despite my longish name I never went by a nickname. In 2nd grade I tried to convert to Terri, but it never stuck. I did have it on my birthday cake that year, but I believe it actually said “Tough Terri” because of my confidence to take on the shady looking guy that walked into the deli right behind my dad. In 5th grade I was part of a group of 6 girls and we gave ourselves nicknames. I was Terrance. In retrospect I’m glad none of those nicknames stuck. There’s no shame in a 3 syllable name. Hayley was a little appalled to learn that my inspiration for her and Eden’s name came from a soap opera I watched periodically. I was a little chagrined to admit that Eden’s name was inspired by a soap opera character and not the more obvious biblical reference. I’m not terribly sentimental when it comes to naming my kids, although after losing Elise I wanted our next child to have the name “Hope”, thus the inspiration for Ellen’s middle name. I wanted to spell Ellen Ellyn, but Tom vetoed that one. Ellen is grateful. Having a husband who is the “IV” posed some debate in the name department. But I felt that naming our son the “V” would be more of a dynasty and I wasn’t comfortable with that. Thankfully, having only daughters, that discussion was purely theoretical. If we ever had a boy his name would have been Aiden Thomas; that was as close to a dynasty as I would go. Eden’s middle name is Linnae. We kind of made that up, so we went to the library and found it in a baby book. Then we felt it was legit enough to name our kid. Not only that, but we learned it’s a name often used to honor the 18th century botanist Carl Linnaeus. How perfect for 2 Bio majors! Some parents put a lot of thought and research into the names of their children. And then there’s us. What are your favorite name-related stories?

Lily is baking the chocolate chip cookies for the dance-off winners from last week. She’s lobbying for the GINORMOUS cookies. I’m advocating for the reasonable sized cookies. I should just step away and let her handle it by herself!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 64

Dear Diary

New backyard entertainment

Today Someone declared, “I am not quarantining with you people anymore!” Indeed, she packed a suitcase. Not sure where she thought she was going, but sometimes the emotions bubble out ahead of the reason. I really can’t blame her. We are pretty boring. Except when we’re exciting.

Ready to go! Just need a destination.

Today’s excitement included greeting the goats as they moved into the meadow/woods/swamp behind our house. They seemed to be torn between the smorgasbord that surrounded them and their newly weaned babies whom they left for the first time. I get it. I’ve felt that tension between food and family obligations too.

Tom spent his afternoon as he spends most of almost every day—he Zoomed with medical students/residents in NYC, hearing their stories of working in hospitals, clinics, online learning, or having nothing to do! Whatever the situation, being in healthcare during a pandemic presents a myriad of challenges.

This evening’s excitement was a picnic on the patio, made possible by Acorn Farms Catering. We ate our fill of BBQ and then made s’mores. Thanks Acorn Farms! It was great to be able to share that with family!

Lily needed a hug while she iced her bruised tailbone.

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 63

Dear Diary

Popcorn the size of a small child? Sure!

Thanks for the kind words about Lily’s blog takeover!

I’m pleased to report that the trip to Massachusetts to retrieve Ellen’s belongings from Gordon College was successful! They left at 6am and returned by 11:30pm. Ellen spent the day organizing her things, so, essentially, Ellen had a GREAT day! Hayley slept in and reported that her highlight was not having to do anything today!

I spent much of my day trying to teach Eden how to be a responsible student (she did it) and comforting Lily when the hammock she was sitting in gave way, resulting in a bruised tailbone.

Then there was the drive to Lititz to pick up our bag full of popcorn (which we shared). Did you know that you can order popcorn and candy from Penn Cinema (penndemic.com)? While Ellen, Hayley, and I were on our outing to get the popcorn the heating element in the oven blew up. I wasn’t there to witness it, but according to Eden and Lily (who were here) it was quite dramatic. Daddy and Grandpa came to the rescue and all is well. 

The other news is that Hayley will indeed be going to Philadelphia this summer as an intern for The Philly Project! She’ll report to Philly on May 31. We’ve been holding our breath to see if she would still go and she had a call while in the car traveling to MA confirming that she will. Now it feels strange that she’ll be leaving us in 2 weeks. But it’s very good news for her!

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 62

Day 62: Dear Diary,

I am in shock of how good these are! I’ve had so many, but every time it’s like WOAH.

It’s Lily back with another blog takeover. My day started at 6:04…ugh. It was way too early for me. In fact, it’s the earliest I’ve woken up in quarantine. My usual is 7:45 which is what I consider sleeping in. Anyways, it was just me, mom, and Eden today. Hayley, dad, and Ellen went up to Ellen’s college to unpack. They are supposedly going to arrive at midnight.

Today was pretty lowkey. I got my work done and chilled for the rest of the day. My highlight of today was getting Empanadas. We got them at Fuego Latino in E-Town. It is my all-time favorite restaurant.

Also, I am OBSESSED with cucumbers. Everything about them is so good. BTW: Pickles are gross and NOT anything like cucumbers.

I wanted to share something that I feel is very important. And what is very important you ask? Singing and dancing to your favorite song. We all have that one song that makes us just dance. That song for me is Brand New by the artist Ben Rector. I suggest listening to it closely. It’s all about feeling “like a kid” and just being yourself. The weight of stress can be so heavy, and trust me, even though I am young I know that feeling. Yesterday, I was feeling so overwhelmed, stressed, and just unhappy in general. I went to bike yesterday on my road. On my way back I had to go down this hill that is long and steep (at least when you’re on a bike). As I was flying down the hill, I felt free. Feeling the wind in my hair and going so fast that the road was blurry, felt like that weight of stress was off and I just felt good. Get this, the album cover of Brand New literally is a guy on a bike. Freaky foreshadowing, I know. 

Now, let’s play a little game! In the Facebook comments, put a picture or video of you dancing to your favorite song and type the song name under it. I love to bake and I love to give, so if you life in my area, be the first to comment your picture or video and I will bake you a dozen chocolate chip cookies (from scratch of course).

Hang in there!

Lily Grosh

Social Distancing Diaries: Day 61

Dear Diary

Another college student has finished her semester! I cannot believe that Ellen will begin her third year of college in the fall. Where does the time go??

Someone will need to relearn how to dress once she gets out of quarantine.

Enjoying the beautiful day!

Early tomorrow morning Tom and twins will drive to Massachusetts to bring home Ellen’s belongings which are still in her dorm room. It’s a trip that takes a little forethought. Hopefully they’ll be able to find restrooms when they need them and things like that! They are driving up and back in one day to avoid having to stay overnight somewhere. But with 3 drivers they should be fine. Since neither Hayley nor Ellen had driven our Highlander yet and that’s what they’ll be driving tomorrow (we bought it in Jan.) they both took a turn driving for errands today. That led to the experience of them needing to wear masks in public for the first time. Lily came along with Ellen and I so she ventured into a store for the first time since March 13 too. We’ve been careful to keep the kids out of public since they had no need to be there. 

Today when I was going through credit card receipts, I came across a bunch of purchases I made when Ellen and I enjoyed a day of shopping on March 9 when she was home on spring break. It was surreal to think about how unaware we were then of how drastically life would change in only a few days. I really long for that day in the future when we will have the luxury of hindsight—kind of like the Monday after the Superbowl when all the speculation seems like such a waste of time. Not that I think that the research and analysis that’s being done is a waste of time! That’s not what I mean. I only mean that there’s a discomfort in living in the “not yet.”

Biking around the church parking lot near our house.

That reminds me of the sermon series that Pastor Adam has been presenting: The Point in Your Disappointment. It’s been excellent. He’s been using the example of Habakuk and in his sermon on 4/26 about how to complain, one of the points is that we should complain with expectant hope. There’s an element of faith in the power and goodness of God that we demonstrate when we are frustrated by the events of the world yet we agree to wait upon what God will do. In Habakuk’s situation life was going to get far worse before it got better. And the “better” that would come wasn’t going to look anything like what Habakuk was asking God for. To me it brings home the necessity of living day by day. As I said, I long for the luxury of hindsight. And I know it will come one day. But today, all I can do is to live faithfully this day. This moment. Lord, give me the grace to do just that!