Lockdown Life

We just found out that Manila will extend their lockdown again, new date for it to end is May 31 (but could be extended again). This means that Manila will be locked down longer than Wuhan was. Here's a few pics from our locked-down life. 

Zach has continued with his advanced foods class, and we have enjoyed weekly international recipes. Ecuadorian sweet rolls was a favorite.

 The guys have been enjoying playing "knock out" for school/work breaks. Our two basketballs went flat, and nowhere is open to buy new ones, but a friend loaned us two, so they have been able to continue.

 It was a hard day when they announced no graduation. Zach stared into space a lot of the day, processing. In the States, graduation is a happy celebration and an important milestone, but for an MK, graduation is even a bigger deal as it is when they say goodbye to the world where they grew up and all their friends (most of whom they will never see again) and try to find closure to this life before starting their new one on the other side of the world. We are praying for this group of MKs who have been denied the opportunity for healthy transition activities. Research says they will flounder without them, but our trust is in God for these precious MKs.

 Rugby sports awards were held online. Ben was awarded Most Inspirational Player for JV, and Zach was the MVP for varsity. So proud of these guys!

 Meanwhile back in the States, Mikayla has been staying with my parents. We are so thankful that they have each other during this time, and they have been such a blessing to Mikayla!

 Online school has continued. It has been a challenge (there was a 2-week stretch that Zach was putting in 12 hour days until I started emailing teachers), but they have persevered, and we are so proud of them.

 The weather has added some challenges too - heat index has been up over 115 most days lately (sometimes higher!); it was 102 in my kitchen - straight temp not heat index - when I was making supper the other night. Now we have a typhoon headed our way that we have been tracking. This is especially exciting because we have a section of roof that is about to give, so Steve needs to reinforce it before any winds...but hardware stores are closed with the lockdown. We think we found a place to get some lumber, so trying that...

 Another thing to be thankful for in this lockdown is that we live a couple houses down from "the cousins" so we have considered ourselves 1 household during this time and enjoyed lots of time together. I found these pics on google photos from where they synced from one of the boys' phones. Looks like they were on the roof at the cousins' house. :)
(yes, there is one more cousin, but her pic wasn't in the ones I found)

Here is our ticket to the outside world during quarantine. It is the quarantine pass issued by our area. It says that only one person per house can go out to buy food or medicine.

 Ben gets a kick out of this side because it lists Zach as head of household because he is the one who got the pass. It says that anyone without a quarantine pass will be caught.

As of this past weekend, our area has gone to "general community quarantine" instead of "enhanced community quarantine". Not much has changed for us since still only supposed to go out for food/medicine, but a few more places (like hardware stores) are open now. And the road checkpoints aren't as strict so Steve and I went out for a short drive in our area (to check out a house to possibly move to), but apparently you still need the quarantine pass to go shopping.

Thanks for continuing to pray for us during this time, especially for wisdom as we try to figure out summer plans.