Lockdown Life: Take Two

Man, I feel like a broken record with these posts...but it is just true to real life here. Recently, because of a rising number of cases, we were moved back to a stricter lockdown again. That means many stores that had started opening up are closed again, and we can only go out on our approved days, with our face mask, face shield and quarantine pass, and only for groceries or pharmacy. Poor Ben hasn't been allowed to leave the house for 5 months - pretty tough on an extrovert left at home with 2 introverts! To keep busy, he has been working on several different projects - learning to weld with his dad and making corn hole sets to sell. Some local friends have bought them from him, and some in the States (and Australia) have sponsored some to give to local orphanages and child trafficking rescue homes. We even made a custom one (I tried something new with painting the owl!) for my sister's birthday. And, yes, he is sewing the bean bags himself as well! School starts for him on the 24th, but they will be online for the first semester, and he will be doing a couple homeschool classes as well.

Like so many in the world, Steve's work has transitioned to zoom calls. Thankful for the many things that have been accomplished in midst of lockdown - 7 classes of approx 200 people have completed/are in process of a 6 week course on God's heart for the nations. This week, he is also doing a class on community development principles with our partners. 

I'll leave you with a pic of our people. We miss them dearly and can't wait until we can travel out to the mountains to see them again. In the meantime, so thankful for our tribal partners who are ministering to them. Lots of new Bible studies!

Other Side of the World

It's tough to have your family split in half with an ocean in between, especially when we don't have the option of jumping on a plane to go visit them (covid travel restrictions). BUT we are so incredibly thankful that my parents (and other family/friends) in the States are loving on them and standing in for us during this time. Also so thankful for how well both Mikayla and Zach are doing. Mikayla finished her summer at the camp (read other post for details) and, after road tripping with Zach to bring him to a re-entry retreat in Indiana for MKs who have just graduated and moved back to the States, she is moved back into college in NW Arkansas already. Please be praying for her as she is the RA for a bunch of RAs this year, and there are lots of new challenges with covid precautions - always wearing a mask and staying 6 ft apart at all times. Hard to function as family/community when under those restrictions, and especially hard to be the one to enforce the new rules when you are struggling with them too. :( 

My parents and some friends threw a graduation celebration for Zach. It was so good to see pics of those who helped him celebrate. And especially good to see pics of Mikayla and Zach TOGETHER. 

Zach has been enjoying hanging out with grandparents and getting ready to move down to school. He has been able to help with a few things around the house, and have some fun with them too. He has also already gotten his license since he's been back (wasn't allowed to get it over here) and has been driving all over. He attended a re-entry retreat with some fellow MKs, and he loved reconnecting with old friends who have been through similar things this past year. My parents will go with him down to Mississippi next week to move into college. Pray for safe travels and smooth transition into college life. Just found out their freshman orientation will be online in their dorm rooms, and he won't have a roommate because of covid. Pray that he will find ways to develop community in spite of the many restrictions.  

So very thankful for how well our "kids" on the other side of the world are doing. Miss them here but we are excited for the many ways God will continue to use and grow them there. 

Pressing On

Life continues on in spite of the lockdown. We are thankful for the ways that we can still be involved in what God is doing here and around the world. In addition to other projects and distance-consultancy, Steve is currently teaching 3 weekly online classes, and several people have expressed a desire to serve overseas full-time in recent weeks. Exciting! 

We are also thankful for my sister and family living so close. We have had some great times together, including a "staycation" (we desperately tried to get out somewhere ANYWHERE for a couple days, but no luck, so we just all stayed in the same house for a couple days. 

We also found a nearby motorcross track that offered lessons to kids (not really sure how they're getting around the whole "kids under 21 aren't allowed to leave their house" thing, but we're not complaining!), so all 5 of the cousins had a blast learning to ride motorcross bikes. Zach and Ben both completed the off-road basics course, and all 5 of them gave their safety gear some good tests - the gear is good! :)

Another thing that has kept Zach and Ben busy was some painting and construction at a friend's house. They couldn't make much money (rates here are too low), but they learned some skills and were able to work together on a productive project, so that was great. 

We are also thankful for this house we're subletting. The view is amazing, and the sunsets have been spectacular. Also, Steve's asthma is so much better now. He still has asthma, and he can still get triggered occasionally, but it is no longer a 24/7 fight to breathe. He's been able to exercise again finally, and he is feeling night and day better. 

 We are also thankful for how well Mikayla is doing this summer. Us not being able to come back to the States was a tough blow on her for sure, but she is thriving at the camp where she is working. Their camp ministers to kids in the foster system who have too many discipline issues to be placed in homes, so they live in residential programs. This camp uses adventure therapy to help them work through issues. They live in tents (can only take showers 1x/week on their day off!), and they are dealing with some very challenging kids. But she is absolutely loving the opportunity to love on them and speak into their lives, and God is using her in big ways. Their camp got shut down for 10 days when the staff was all exposed to covid, but thankfully everyone's tests came back negative, so they were able to open back up. So very proud of her and can't wait until we can see her again. 

 Zach left last week, and that was incredibly hard. Still is. It's always hard to send your kid to the other side of the world, but sending another one off when we have no idea when we will be able to see either of them again...wow so hard. Zach is doing well though, and he's LOVING all the freedom he has, even though he is still taking precautions of social distancing etc during the first few weeks, still so much more freedom there!). We are so incredibly thankful for our parents and others there who are helping him settle in and make the transition. We covet your prayers as he transitions into his new life in the States, especially after such a traumatic end of the school year here. Please also pray for Ben as being left behind is hard, especially when we are still in lockdown and he's not allowed to leave the house. To make it worse, we found out recently that his school will be online this whole next semester, so that was a painful blow. And now even more of his friends are packing up and heading back to home countries to wait it out...lots to be thankful for, but also lots of hard things, so we appreciate your continued prayers. 

 One more thing to be thankful for is that during lockdown, Zach picked his guitar back up and started playing again. Then he stepped waaay out of his comfort zone to start leading worship in our little house church. It was such a blessing to us to see him developing this new skill and wanting to use it for God's glory. The last song he led us in worship in (the day he flew to the States...I bawled through it) has been going through my head since then. I'm gonna sing in the middle of the storm...louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar...

The Light Shines Again

For several months, everyone in the Philippines was locked down due to Covid, even the places with few to no cases. This meant that our ministry partners were not able to do Bible studies or visit their outreach locations. However, now that things have loosened up in some areas that have few or no cases, they are able to move around a little bit more. So even though we can't go visit them or get to any of the ministry locations due to continued lockdown, they have been able to start Bible studies back up again. And because of the relief project we were able to offer during the worst of it, they even have several new Bible studies starting up! We're sad that we can't get out of Manila and visit them, but we are so thankful that our tribal partners are able to get back out there. Please pray that God would work in the hearts of those who are hearing the Word for the first time and that God would give strength and unity to the team there, especially with all the added stresses that this lockdown has brought.

Here are some pics from their FB accounts that I thought you may enjoy.

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!