Current Situation

Thanks to all who have been praying for us through this time. This lockdown has been so hard, and there seems to be no end in sight. We've been locked down significantly longer than Wuhan was...94 days now. Thankfully, it has loosened up a little...we can drive a couple miles from home, and Steve and I can get in to some stores now without the quarantine pass. The kids are still not allowed to go out at all, we can only travel a couple miles from home (so can't travel to any of our ministry locations -- or take any vacation time), and many places are still closed. Masks are mandatory, they take your temperature multiple times everywhere you go, and the lines to get in to the places that are open are crazy long. BUT it opened up enough that we were able to move! Because of Steve's asthma, we've been trying a long time to find a place and get approval to move. Well, we found one, but the current renters are delayed getting out because of the lockdown. So we moved into a tiny one bedroom basement apartment for 10 days. It was crowded with our man children (especially since Steve was reacting to something in the bedroom so all 3 of them slept in the living room), but we are thankful to be in an area with cleaner air.

 After 10 days in that apartment, we moved upstairs, which has a ton more space, and we have been loving it. Our favorite feature is the porch and the gorgeous sunsets! We will be in this house at least through the end of July, possibly longer, depending on when the renters in our house-to-be are able to vacate and whether or not the next subletters arrive the first of Aug for where we are currently staying. 

As far as what ministry looks like for us right now with the lockdown...not much has changed from the post I did previously on this. Lots of online meetings and computer work! Thankful that we have found ways to be used by Him in the midst of this, but definitely anxious to get OUT and visit our ministry sites and partners. Please also pray with us that Steve's asthma continues to improve, that we can get our visas sorted so Zach can head back to the States, and for Zach as he looks at making this massive transition without our help since we can't leave (so thankful for family and friends who will help him!).

Graduation

So Zach (and Ben) finished the semester through online classes, then graduation was online as well. The cousins came again to help us celebrate, and his dad made him a mortar board from cardboard. We watched it in the bedroom to make use of the airconditioning since it was smoking hot that day.

During the ceremony, Zach was awarded a scholarship for his ministry involvement in high school, achieved honors distinction and was named as one of only 2 students who maintained a 4.0 GPA, and he was awarded the outstanding senior athlete award. So proud of the ways he has grown and pushed himself through high school!

 A couple days later, Zach had his appointment to walk for his diploma. Definitely not the way he/we envisioned it, but we were thankful for the effort the school put in to make it special for them anyway.

 Zach was also able to get together with a couple classmates who he is closes to and celebrate in a small group.

 Congratulations, Zach!  

Birthday Season

The end of May/beginning of June is Birthday Season around here because we have lots of birthdays - Zach, Jen, Steve, as well as my (Jen's) mom and brother in law - add mother and fathers days in there, and it's a lot of celebrating! Then we added another this time because we were never able to celebrate Ben's 16th birthday with his friends because of lockdown, so we had the traditional "mystery dinner" celebration once things loosened up a little bit for lockdown. 

Zach's birthday fell on the same day as graduation, so we called it his "birthdiation". This was before things loosened up a little, so his cousins were the ones to help him celebrate.

 The beginning of June, things loosened up just a little, allowing us to drive around a little and gather in small groups of less than 10 people. Still can't go shopping or drive into the city, but we are thankful for the little bit of loosening anyway. So just a couple days after his birthday, Zach got to celebrate with some friends who also had graduated and had birthdays the end of May.

 Shortly after, Ben and Gabby decided to do their birthday dinner celebration that was cancelled for lockdown, even though not everyone was able to get there yet. They had a great time anyway, and it was fun to see them celebrate with our family's traditional 16th birthday mystery dinner. 

 Zach and one of his friends decorated and served as wait staff for the dinner.

It's fun because the guests all select their menu and what order they want to come out, but it is in code, so they don't know what they will get when...and whether they will order silverware to eat their ice cream is a mystery. :)

 Thankful for the celebrations with our family and friends and thankful as well that things are starting to loosen up at least a little.