There's been a big time gap in this collection of ours. Life at home with 3 littles in the middle of a pandemic will do that I guess. There was no where to go and not much to do, but in some ways it was wonderful. We were given the gift of so much family time, so much togetherness. And at least for our family, we loved it. 

John was able to work from home for the first time in history. I got a little taste of homeschool and got to teach the kids all sorts of things. One summer we had butterflies, the next we had fertilized chicken eggs that we got to watch develop and then eventually hatch live chicks. 

The time was not without its difficulties. It can be difficult when even the playgrounds are closed. And moving to a new place 6 months before the world shuts down does make it difficult to find community. But even in the hardships, we were thankful for the relationships we did have. Our marriage, the fact that we had more than one kid so they still had playmates. Zoom class with friends in Maryland became a regular thing. We began a rhythm of at home date nights every Saturday when we would order in food and watch a movie- about the only thing we could do. 

I remember when everything first shut down it would only be a week or so. Obviously it went on far longer than anyone would have liked. We had to navigate masks, vaccines and once things opened whether or not we were comfortable going out. The first time we felt safe to go out we went downtown where we could just walk in the open. Will just kept pointing at everyone saying people, people! The poor pandemic toddler had no idea what he'd been missing. 

Somehow in the middle of the pandemic, we were blessed with Elliana Joy. Perhaps God's biggest surprise for us. We had no idea the gender and just assumed we would have another boy. The Lord has given us blessing upon blessing. Fast forward and Jack has finished 2nd grade, Ben 1st grade, Will is 4 and Ellie is 2. And now we are in a hotel getting ready to move back to Maryland. There have been a lot of transitions these past 4 years, but I feel this is the biggest one yet. We will be making our way back to the States after being away 7 years. Raising children there for the first time. The country is very different than when we left. With that comes a lot of questions about how to parent these little ones during this time. What to talk about, what to protect them from. But through it all we lean into the Lord, trust that he has got them, they are covered. And we pray like crazy. 

So the adventure continues, next chapter- Maryland.