Still have Covid antibodies

One good thing that came out of this mess is I was compelled to start donating blood back in March 2020.  Along the way the American Red Cross started testing for antibodies, and sure enough, those started to pop up after an upper respiratory infection last December. 

Since moving to SC, the Red Cross hasn’t been an option, but I’ve been able to give via The Blood Connection.  They have been testing for antibodies, but will stop doing so in the new year. 

It’s cool that they are still showing up 12 months later.

A musical and fries

Today marked the resumption of rehearsals for the Music Man production that was abruptly brought to a halt last year when the world locked down.  Johanna asked if we could have dinner at Wendy’s to celebrate.  She said she’d been dreaming of Wendy’s for “so long now” and nothing else would do.  

The best part was the Freestyle beverage machine was fully operational AND self-service made it so she could combine any numbers of pop flavors together for the perfect concoction of sugar.

So insanely grateful for any bits of our former activities.

(Mama also got to hang out in Hobby Lobby for a little while.)

Mickey Minnie Mask

I don’t like masks.  I almost never wear them outside of work.  But if I have to wear one, I am tickled to wear the one my friend Lynn made me and sent me from Scotland.

CBS – techno-version

Katriel, Nan, and I headed to Canandaigua on the 9th to pick up our CBS books for this year’s study.  It is nothing short of AWESOME how much of an effort the leadership dove into in order to provide such comprehensive start-up bags for the kids’ programming.  With labelled envelopes to open at specific times through the months, this is clear that our loving volunteers poured themselves into the ministry.

Marie and Tab even got ESV Scripture Journals of the Gospel of John.

There were glitches (oh – Zoom – you never knew you’d be so popular),

But there was a lot of gladness, too.

I’m going to get a lot of exercise going up and down the stairs between girls as the technology comes in and out, but it is totally worth it.

Camp Cherith day two

We woke by 7 to a glorious morning and headed off to breakfast by 8AM.  We came back to our cabin to do our devotions, and then we went to our first activity, which was swimming.  I didn’t take my camera.  I sincerely enjoyed, to the core of my being, my conversations with the two women who are swim instructors/life guards.  One was from FL and one from IL.  I was so soothing to talk with them and find they felt the same way I do about this “pandemic” and the lockdowns.  They also were so encouraging to my reluctant swimmer and they played with Katriel and their cool toys.  Our family had the WHOLE POOL to ourselves. 

We headed back to the cabin to prepare for our next activity.

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ARCHERY!

Our wonderful archery instructor does this FOR FREE every summer as a ministry.  God bless these leaders.  I am just in awe.

My girls are naturals!

Tab shoots left.

I even took a turn.

WE WERE HUNGRY!

Then we went outside for our post-lunch devotional activity.

This one focus on how we need people in our lives to support and encourage us.

We had cabin quiet time.  Here she is reading her Bible storybook to me.

Finally we had a craft period.

Again, we had a lovely adult leader who met my girls where they each were at for crafting.  Different than at home, where mom is all about calculating the mess, our leader was all about helping them see their vision come to be.

We hurried back to the cabin for swim suits and we were at the Tuck Shop the moment it opened for our daily ice cream.

Tab used free time to read while we hit the pool again.

Dinner was delicious.

We played on the lawn a bit.

Then a game before campfire games.

Our family was the only group to finish the map relay race on time.  Tab is an expert mapper.  (It runs in the family.)

Devotions and treats.

And SLEEP!

A very covid party…

Celebrating with William this year also meant getting to go to a party center for the first time since this whole “pandemic” started.  We had to wear masks, but otherwise it was celebrating as normal.

After pizza and cake in the building, we got to play arcade games and use the outdoor attractions.

Mr. Hoyt took Katriel on the go karts.

Hanny was surprised to find some of her HCTC friends are also William’s friends.  They did some mini-golf.

Even I rode the bumper cars…

It felt so good to celebrate William’s milestone AND to do real life things!!!