Happy Easter!

What sweet mercy to spend Easter together. We are socially distant and masked up for another week, but at least we're in the same apartment! 😍 since both Matt and I tested positive for COVID, we need to keep Elizabeth a safe distance away for another week, but she's assured us she's having a grand time, (swipe for evidence 🤩) and I think we now see the bigger challenge will be convincing her when it's time to come home. 😅. God is so kind, and we are on the road to complete recovery. Happy Easter friends! He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Looking to the hills...

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭121:1-2‬ ‭

On Thursday afternoon, the girls and I enjoyed #paintingwildflowerslive.  Thursday night I developed a tickle cough and wheezing.  So yesterday morning we had to activate our “worst case scenario” plan to protect Elizabeth in the event both Matt and I got sick. We thought it would be a disaster. We wanted to avoid it at all costs. Yet in the end, there is sufficient, inexplicable grace.

💗I had just laundered the few sets of clothes we have with us in our *annex* apartment, so I donned gloves and a mask and was able to pack Elizabeth easily and send her to stay with dear friends Andrew and @hannah_lou_chandler.  After some initial anxiety and sadness about being separated from Hannah, she rallied and was so brave.

💗in a miracle twist, a friend of a friend who had already had covid and Is now safe from sharing it, took our car and delivered Elizabeth safely, avoiding her the risk of riding Uber. This angel-friend also picked up a box of surgical masks from a neighbor and delivered them to a dr who needs them at his Bronx Hospital. She then took my grocery list and got our refrigerators stocked for at least the next week. What grace.

💗we decided to move Hannah back home, since the front of the house is now clear of germs and Matt’s quarantined in the back.  After a rough start at bedtime, she’s done much better today.  Neither of us will be ok missing those bedtime snuggles, but Ruby is quickly becoming a good stand in.

💗So here we are doing the very thing that a week ago was unthinkable. Both Matt & I seem to have relatively mild symptoms, and are praying for new mercies, sufficient grace and peace that surpasses all understanding for each member of our family.

💗 Gosh I wish this were playing out differently. But even this would be impossible without incredibly generous neighbors who handed over their apartment, extraordinary friends who welcomed Elizabeth with open arms and are loving her well, and if not for the trust muscles ALL of us have developed over years & years of seeing God provide.

A slight delay

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:12‬ ‭(KJV‬‬)

There is so much we don’t understand.

This verse has been whispering in my ear over the past few days, when I wake up, when I lie down at night, and a dozen times in-between.  The window faces west...giving a perfect view of an oncoming storm.

I sit in our neighbor’s cozy quarantine apartment with two healthy girls, and look through this window multiple times a day.  There are beautiful springtime views that catch my attention even through the city grime on the glass, and at other times the sky is cloudy and all looks grey and foreboding.

There is so much we simply can’t see clearly right now. But we don’t have to. That’s not the point. The one who DOES, calls himself our refuge and our strong tower. I look to him and trust, even when I can’t quite make out what’s coming.

We were so looking forward to a family reunion in 4G on Saturday. Ruby has been well and we’re ready to be TOGETHER again.

Sadly, it’s not going to happen this weekend.  Matt has developed wheezing and flu-like symptoms, so we’ve had to start our COVID clock over again.

We definitely didn’t think we’d be spared, but to have this happen while we’re still separated is wearying.

We would covet your prayers for a mild case and quick recovery for Matt, for sweet Rubykins as she is isolated in the front of our apartment, (thankfully with plenty of access to zoom and FaceTime. 🤗 and for wisdom as I parent and shepherd my girls hearts through the disappointment and homesickness we all feel.