Emmalee and Kaylee's Carnival Birthday Party

 So, we decided to brave a birthday party during COVID-19. Before you get upset with me, we are three families who decided to be in each other's bubble, and we celebrate only amongst us. We have done two birthday parties from the other families and a Christmas get-together. We felt safe to get together, but we had to follow regulations as to the number of people inside the house, so we did only moms and kids. I gotta say, planning a party having only six kids in mind is pretty awesome. 

I had several decorations and plans made, but it all got downsized by 75%, but I enjoyed the party so much more. Small space to decorate and clean, only six kids to feed and entertain! I loved it! I don't mind it one bit. The initial idea was to invite 20 something kids like we had on Emmalee's Pirate Party. I had made favor boxes and favor pinwheels for 25 children. The plan was to have it set up as a real carnival, with game stations the kids could go play on their own and redeem tickets according to how well they did. I was gonna give each parent a page where they would keep their kid's score and redeem the tickets while teaching their kids honesty because they could have written whatever they wanted. I had even started making cardboard booths for each station and had already made three. These all ended up in the garbage after months of holding onto them and my husband losing his mind seeing them in the house taking up space. I made a doll-sized ticket booth to hold the tickets because I would not have my life-size ticket booth. I had to eliminate many of the games because space would not allow for more, and noise would be an issue in an apartment building filled with quarantined people. I had to let go of the stations idea and do one game at a time with the kids making a line for each game. Again, the six-kid limit came very handy. 

Because we had done Kaylee's birthday with no kids and it had been almost six months of the girls not seeing their friends or doing things with them, we had to sell the party to the girls as a co-party. While it was closer to Emmalee's birthday, we were doing Kaylee`s chosen theme. They did not mind and got onboard with whatever mom said with no complaining and much gratitude in their hearts and faces. I tried to keep it as Carnival themed as possible. 

I hope the carnival theme is obvious.

I loved making these pinwheel cookies. A mom posted a nice tutorial online that was surprisingly easy to follow and the result was just perfect for me. 

I did not expect the cake to turn out like this. I had zero ambitions or expectations with it. I just colored some frosting inside folded baking sheets and went for it. I made the roller coaster first and as I went on, I just kept adding and adding. I loved the childish look it has in colors, design, and texture. 

Here is a peek-a-boo of the roller coaster in the back of the cake. 

I specially loved the cute horses.

They tell you food color gets darker with a little time, but I am always amazed when the red food coloring actually starts looking red. 

This is another view of the roller coaster. I didn't get a single picture of it completely, so no picture of the riding cars. 

My piping handwriting is getting better. The girls were clear it was a party for them both.

You can see an "E" and "K" cookie beside the cake as the only nod to their names.

I really loved the circus-style font.

Keeping those boxes and the roof of the carousel favour boxes was realy, really hard. The roof has even some water damage. 

The hubs picked those popcorn boxes for me to print because he said they matched the girls' personalities. I agree.

I really enjoyed the different carnival themed digital paper I was able to download. The pinwheels are made with a pencil that the kids can repurpose. 

The ice cream truck from Emmalee's doughnut party made a reappearance, but it was so on theme.

I was considering making the theme more like a county fair, but I couldn't push that more. Those mini baskets filled with gummy berries was the only thing that survived that idea. I also loved the mini pinwheels decorating the soda bottles. 

At least one of my girls will pose for me!

Can you believe I've been saving that plastic tablecloth since Kaylee's Bunny birthday?! It's plastic! You gotta make it count.

Here is full view of our little party setting.

I had these banners that Aunt Lilly salvage from her preschool days that I used on Emmalee´s Pirate party. I wasn't expecting them to look so well, but they really pushed the carnival theme.

First time putting place mats. I wish I had taken better pictures of the mini paper amusement park. I´ll share the videos of us using them as a doll amusement park in the bottom.

Toss game!

Not the prize booth I had envisioned, but, considering I had nothing made and Aunt Lilly surprised me with this improvised masterpiece, I was ecstatic.

They said they were the horses on the cake's carrousel.

Easiest and funniest photo booth ever. 

Got creative with the rails using tinfoil. 

The roller coaster cart is a simple trifold cardboard kids use in science fairs.

There are no chairs there. The parents are squatting as best as they can.

Of course we had to have hotdogs. What is more carnival than that?

Our first game was a kinetic carrousel made with paper and thread. You can find the template here and see it spin here.  

I really wish I had made more of those pinwheel cookies and not just exactly six for six kids. They were so good, they left no leftovers for moms. 

Someone was excited to trade her tickets for prizes.

Our little Adri was the only one who was able to get the arrow to stick to the target. The boys were especially challenged because she did it twice.

Santi kept practicing even after the games were over.

The fishes had numbers underneath to determine the number of tickets each fish was worth. Adri also got the special one. 

I love that their age difference has no meaning in their friendship, and they are pretty much inseparable every time they see each other.

We made good use of our DIY foosball table. 

I was surprised how well all the kids were able to use stilts for the first time.

For pics with our lovely Lyla (grandma) we had to use our masks!

While the party was a co-party, I did do a Dear Kaylee and birthday interview for her on her Covid party. Here are Emmalee`s letter and Interview.

Emmalee Birthday Interview Age 8. 

Here we go.

1. What is something mommy always says to you?To do the three things (make her bed, brush her teeth, shower)

2. What makes you happy? Um, when you brings to the park or give us many toys or make us our parties and you be kind to us.

3. What makes you sad? When we want to go out and it's a rainy day and going to the park and our friend comes and we can't play with them because our mom said not to be close to other kids.

4. What makes you laugh? Kaylee doing funny faces. When daddy talks funny and makes funny faces and sometimes I make fun of him. Now that Kaylee laughs of and daddy gets angry. (Kaylee cut in: and then I call him a baboon). 

5. How old are you? 8 and I'm about to be nine, or it's the year I`ll be nine. 

6. How old is Mommy? Mommy is 34.

7. How old is Daddy? 33

8. What is your favorite thing to do? Play with you and I love playing video games and play and um.... spending time with my parents.

9. Who is your best friend? Xavi and Santi because they invite us to do things and go to their house.

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Karate girl. 

11. What are you really good at? Helping my sister.

12. What are you not very good at? mmmmmm....... I'm not very good at obeying my parents.

13. What did you do today? I went to the park and did my school.

14. What is your favorite food? My favorite food is mandarine, lasagna, and spaghetti white (Alfredo Fetuccine).

15. What is your favorite song? mmmmm.....Chandelier and She Wolf by Sia. I sing those a lot in Smule.

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? A remote controlled car.

17. What is your favorite animal? Cheetah and wolf

18. What is love? Love is a good thing you do to others and say it with kindness.

19. What does daddy do for work? Daddy teaches his class.

20. What does mommy do for work? She does everything. She usually does everything in the house like teaching us, doing our food, teaching her computer students. 

21. Where do you live? I live in... what is it called again? PH Genesis Plaza Camino Real de Bethania?

22. Where is your favorite place to go? Picnic, the restaurant you have to pay $15 and has many games and video games!

Dear Emmalee, 

I can't believe it's been eight years since I carried you inside me. Today you came to my room to scold me because many hours of the day had passed and I had not given you a morning hug. You jumped from the bed and landed on my arms. I held you in my arms with your legs wrapped around my waist. You are still small enough for me to carry you, small enough to fit you almost completely between my arms. I asked you to stop growing. I don't know why I was feeling so emotional last night. You came to give me a good night hug and tears began flowing from my eyes. I felt compelled to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I thank the Lord for the privilege of being your mom. You make me so exceedingly happy. I am still amazed by your intelligence. Mom dropped the ball a bit in your Spanish education, but you just picked it up so quickly. You are reading and speaking so well in Spanish. I can't believe I raised you two so immersed into English that Spanish is actually your second language. It saddens me that the opportunities to grow and practice your Spanish have been cut so short from your inability to talk to your friends in the swim team and the gymnastics team. I am so sorry I can't let you play with other kids at the park, even when your heart is aching and breaking to do so. I don't know what the Lord is preparing you for during this time of the pandemic, but I trust Him that He knows what He has  for you, my little warrior. You and your sister are the warriors for His Kingdom I will leave in this earth. You have started to ask me to teach you how to read your Bible and study it. It fills my heart. You have a Bible camp coming up, and you just can't wait for it. I love your heart opened to hearing your Lord's voice. I love how you are tough on your daddy. You always make sure he looks his best. I love to see you bully him (the sweet kind of bullying). You laugh with your whole body sometimes even bending over because you can't contain it. You still hum or sing songs when you think no one is watching you or when you are doing the mundane things like brushing your teeth or getting dressed. The sound of you and your sister's voice is the best sound in the world to me. I always smile when I catch any of you singing. The pandemic has hit you harder than your sister, but you both have made good use of your imagination to make the best of what you have. You got that from your mother, baby! You’ve become quite the party planner. You made games and even prizes and written instructions for moms birthday. You even directed your sister into making the decorations. Even though this Christmas was so different and closed up, you had prepared makeovers for us and a fun movie night. We watched the new Croods movie. Of course, your sister and you made us watch it a few more times afterwards. I love how you get into "big kids" movies now. You remind me of myself. I would also watch The Sandlot and The Karate Kid and fantasize of being "one of the boys." We even watched The Little Rascals and The Goonies, all of mom and dad's favorites. The best thing about you getting bigger is that the number of things we share only grows. Last time you made pancakes for the family almost all by yourself. I want to teach you how to code, bake, sow, paint, build! And I want to see you far surpass me and even become my teacher. I want to make more singing videos together playing the piano and the guitar. I'll make sure not to drop the ball on that because I haven't been to consistent with that. I love you, my little sweet girl. You and your sister asked for new hair cuts. You look so much like I did at your age. We have these face covers with some round eyeglasses, and daddy swears it's like looking at my old pics. Mom wore glasses since she was 4. I praise the Lord for having guard you and your sister from needing to go to the doctor for the entirety of the pandemic. Not a accident or even flu. You struggle with allergies like I did, but at least mom has the experience to battle it. You are the one that worries the most about mom. You don’t like hearing the word “cancer” on the tv or movies or watching anything where the parent dies from a disease. Disney does you no favors in that department. But mom’s last cancerversary meant so much, probably as much as it meant for me. Mommy finally feels like a cancer survivo, and you felt that change. I am so sorry I’ve been a source of worry for you. We’ve had to work together to avoid you getting your mom’s bad habit of nail biting. You worry for anyone in need or trouble and celebrate as earnestly as possible when anyone has a victory. Your heart just loves so earnestly with no reserve. I pray that part of you never changes. Keep teaching me kindness and love, my sweet child of mine.

love, 

Mom

Here are the videos of our doll amusement park! 

Kaylee's Birthday in COVID

So, I wrote this back in May 2020, but forgot to post it, so here it is on February 2021, a few months before she turns 7 XD 

Writing this post pains me so much. My house is still filled with all the DIY and decorations and boxes of the things I was preparing for Kaylee's 6th Birthday. I even have the candy boxes and the piñata filled with candy. I've checked and they still haven't expired, but for how long? I refused thinking we were not going to do that party I had prepared, but now I'm starting to believe I may not even hold it for Emmalee´s 8th! I'm glad that mom is more heartbroken by this than they are. They are such troopers. But, because I was holding on to share the celebration, I had not done her birthday interview or her Dear Kaylee letter. I even had a mini photo shoot of her COVID indoor party. So. I'm going to share those pictures, do her letter and interview, and pray we can one day use her decorations for a party with friends soon.

Kaylee Birthday Interview Age 6. 

Here we go.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? Obey your parents. Don't be mean to your sister.

2. What makes you happy? Playing with my mom and dad and sister and my pet dog.

3. What makes you sad? Playing alone

4. What makes you laugh? When my sister tickles me.

5. How old are you? 5 years old.

6. How old is Mommy? um.... 31 (Mom is 34)

7. How old is Daddy? 33? (Dad is 32)

8. What is your favorite thing to do? um.. My favorite thing to do is watch movies with my mom and dad and sister and pet dog, my grandma and my aunt.

9. Who is your best friend? Emmalee and Vicky

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Ballerina and get married.

11. What are you really good at? Doing the splits.

12. What are you not very good at? I am not very good at doing mmm... how do you say "puente"? I'm not very good at doing the puente! 

13. What did you do today? Today I played with my sister, eated with my daddy, and talked to my mom.

14. What is your favorite food? Ice cream

15. What is your favorite song? Ay.... my favorite song is... (starts singing) "into the Unknown, into the unknown, in the unknooooooown... ah ah ah ah." That is my favorite song.

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? Cake and toys and my piñata and even cupcakes.

17. What is your favorite animal? Baby bunnies!

18. What is love? I love my mom and dad, sister and pet, grandma and aunt. You love people.

19. What does daddy do for work? school!
20. What does mommy do for work? school.

21. Where do you live? Panama and mmmm..... I don't know. Panama and Honduras

22. Where is your favorite place to go? A picnic at the park. 

Dear Kaylee,

No matter how big you are getting, you want to be and pretend you are the baby. You will bundle yourself into a little ball and find your way on anyone's lap at your reach. I love it. I love how cuddly you are, considering you were not a cuddly baby. I would have not guessed it back then. I thought you'd be more like me in that regard. And even though you are our baby, you are the one to remember your brother Sammy the most. You're always talking about him and how you'd be big for him. You love baby everything. If there are toys you can play with, you'll pick the smallest or the baby-like. And your maternal love is ever present in how you treat others. You are quick to run to mom or Emmalee if any of us got injured or are crying and offer help and hug. Your touch is filled with such tenderness and sweetness that is also mirrored in the softness in your eyes when you comfort others. Mom is not keen on being touched when she is in distress and has snapped once or twice when someone attempts to touch her in that state. You are not discouraged by that as others have been and offer your touch and care promptly. You've done such a good job in bringing mom's walls down. I can't remain unchanged when touched by you. You are always walking around with a stuffed animal wherever you go. Mom has fought you in bringing your toys to the table when you do school, but you just feel better with your toys close by. To you, they're as if your friends where there. You have such a rich imagination. You've even dabbled into songwriting like your sister does. You've become more intrepid and try harder at your gym class. You put us all to shame with your flexibility even though you are the one who tries the least. I hope you know how jealous mom and tia Lilly are and how lucky you are to be so naturally limber. You have come leaps and bounds in your reading. It was such a great source of frustration to you that you would not even attempt it and would burst in tears. Mom had to find ways to help you and be reassuring. Now, you have found confidence in yourself and pride in your achievements that you run to show dad and read to him whichever story you just read mom. It fills me with such joy to see you thrive even if it didn't come naturally to you. It's how Emmalee must feel watching you do your splits so easily. You used to be a good eater when you were a toddler, but you have grown to give me grief in the eating department. Except when we eat pizza. You can eat three slices of pizza, even fighting dad for that last piece. I hope you learn to eat more fruits and veggies. For some reason, you have become an apple monster. That's what I call you, "my little apple monster." We'll always find you munching on an apple. You like to give me the cores for you know i won't waste them. You are a sensitive little girl. If mommy scolds you too harshly, you'll run to your room. I must always remember to guard your heart. You have been upset with mom because we've been watching out summer bible movies. A lot of them are movies about martyrs. The stories are too much for your sensitivity. You cry and demand me to make it stop. I believe that passion and tenderness will one day make you stand up for injustice and love the ones that need it most. The lock down has been easier on you than on your sister, but you long for park time. The only week when the quarantine was lifted you were the happiest little girl to walk hand in hand with mom and dad while wearing a mask. You kind of enjoy the mask. I don't know why. Sometimes I'll find you wearing it while playing in your room. You funny girl! Always my funny girl. You keep being a source of joy for the less seen people around you. Sarita, our maid, has trouble letting people in. You keep breaking walls there too showing up where she is and hugging her promptly. Thank you for your example of unconditional love and love with no fear. No fear of rejection, no fear of judgment, just loving how you know how and loving tenderly. I'm so lucky you came into our life when you did, unexpectedly and by surprise.Your obsession with pink is as strong as always. Pink this and pink that. You'll fight your sister for your favorite TV character because you always want the pink. Luckily for you, your sister wants the blue. Mom would always be the pink power ranger when we pretend played too. You've struggled with sharing because your sister has begun asking for your pink toys. You are reluctant, but when mommy gives you reason and Word to show love, you won't fight longer. You came a long way into being willing to receive discipline, so much so, that mommy barely employs physical discipline anymore. I love you, my baby. I want to cuddle with you forever. I wan to see you belting songs unabashedly for as long as you live, in the shower, in the car, in the park, in your bed. We will ask you from time to time to stop, but we will always delight in hearing you sing your made up songs from the top of your lungs. Thank you for your joy and your hugs and for being my baby. I love you. 

Mom 

She was so excited for her decorations and party, even if it was just us and it was nowhere near to what we had planned for her party.

She has been dreaming of that pink flamingo floaty for months. And she waited almost all year to use on November 2020

Humble, but filled with all our love!

I made that K when she turned 4 on her bunny birthday and Lyla kept it.

The only good thing about quarantine is that Lyla lives on the apartment right next door, so we were able to be together all year.

Lyla got those Frozen plates and Kaylee wanted to showcase them.

The balloon made a nice backdrop, so we made a small photo shoot.

Good bye 2020

2020 ended, and even with the "time" we were given I was not able to write as much as I would have wanted to here. I was even inspired by a friend to finally write my own book. My writing has been stunted because of my desire of not spewing more negativity into the world. I have been riding quite an emotional roller coaster this year. 

I remember last year my husband and I had ranked 2019 in our top three worst years of our life and when we started listing all the things we were grateful for we felt quite ashamed of doing that. We had no idea what 2020 would bring! I feel inclined to feel defeated when one of the things I was grateful for last year was me getting over my PTSD, but this year it came back with a vengence. This is the main reason I have not wanted to "share" anything in my public corners of the internet. I wanted to write my victory post. I wanted to share my "aha" moments that stuck with me and got me out of this funk. And I did have those moments, but this is a recovery journey not a miracle awakening. 

My counselor says I am a very objective person. I see the problem at hand and list the steps necessary to overcome it. I saw my depression creeping back in, so I doubled my Bible reading time, my exercise time, and my gratitude lists. But life is not x + y = z, especially not our minds and souls. They are a mystery. They operate in mystery and are influenced by mystery. When none of my efforts kept my depression at bay, I fell into despair. "Why read the Bible if it is not helping how I feel? Why exercise if I only feel more crappy than before and everything aches anyways whether I exercise or not?" 

I´ve been wanting to write about that counseling session I had because OH MY GOODNESS it was something else.  In my objective mind I had made some things "truth": God had used my cancer for His glory because through it I was able to reach so many people and share the gospel. His will is good, pleasing, and perfect. God does things for the glory of His name, not for the good of the people. He is sovereign. You might be reading this and wondering why I put "truth" in quotations when this is TRUTH. Well, if you only take some truths from God and not the whole truth, these truths become lies. Think of Jesus being tempted by Satan and Satan using scripture to tempt Jesus. The same thing was happening to me. Deep in my heart, I was believing terrible lies due to these truths. Lies I had allowed in my heart and needed to confess to overcome. I will be writing down the lies I was believing in quotations for you to understand my thought process. 

Lie number 1: God gave me cancer. 

"If He is sovereign, He gave me cancer. My cancer is genetic for crying out loud! It came written in my genes at the time of my conception. God´s plan for me was for me to get cancer!" Here things get tricky for me to explain it clearly because it requires an understanding of Theology I do not possess. I´m going to write it down in the layman's terms I understand it. Jesus saves the sinner; He doesn't make the sinner sin. This is one of the most disputed aspects of predestination and sovereignty. His sovereignty is then defined in His choice not to exercise His authority over our sin (unleash His justice and wrath which no one would survive). This sovereignty of His is present in His mercy, grace, and love that is beyond our human comprehension. Some will not agree with me in this point but the answer is: No! God did not ordain cancer for my life. He allowed it: yes! He knew about it: Yes! He caused it: No! 

James 1 

16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.

See, I was believing the lie that He caused it. And so, my objective mind had never admitted many things my subjective heart was feeling: I was both angry with God and afraid of God. And thus my relationship with God has been a fear-bond: I am unwilling to trust Him because you cannot trust someone you fear, but I am too afraid to leave Him. 

Lie number 2: His plan for me was cancer for His glory. 

What a misconception of God that was plaguing my heart! His plan for me was not cancer so He could get glory. He is able to somehow get glory from me in spite of me! He is not bringing forth things in my life for His name's glory. His name's glory is doing fine without me! That He is able to use my affliction for His glory is a mercy and a miracle, not the plan. How could I obey the Bible when it said: "Wait on the Lord! Do not be anxious! Trust the Lord!" when my heart was afraid that meant more hardship for His glory?!!! I was frightened. 

And here is where confession played a part in my recovery. How had I allowed myself to be deceived on who the true God was! My mom would say to me "Hold tight to God's promises to you" and I would fret. I was deceived. I was lost. 

This is His plan for me:

Ephesians 1 4 For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love 5 He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Lie number 3: He is a distant Father.

If my view of God is as Kind and Sovereign without the complete understanding of Who He is as a whole, my view of Him is flawed. I could no longet see my loving Father. As part of my counseling, I was asked to go back to the time in my life when I could hear His voice. I closed my eyes and prayed the Holy Spirit would make me recall the days my Father in Heaven was as real to me as my father on earth. I went back to the days I felt fatherless after the divorce of my parents and God's promise that “if my father and mother left me He would not” kept me going! I held tight to that promise and never felt alone. I would pour my heart to God all night and I would feel comforted, listened, and held. I began looking at God as my Father again.

One time I was trying to teach one of my students how to cut. She was getting frustrated because she didn't want to let her older sister teach her how to hold the scissors or the paper. She wanted to do it alone. She wanted to do it right. I had to ask her father to intervene. He came and held the paper to her. She had never cut straight lines before. Her attitude to cutting changed and she declared cutting was now her favorite thing. (For those who don't know, I teach preschool prep classes online). I told her father this was normal and I had struggled with the same attitudes with my girls, especially in their threenager years (three-year-olds that act like teenagers). It made me think of myself. I am struggling with depression and I want to do it alone and I want to get right on the first try. And I thought of God, my father, lovingly trying to let me know I need to let Him teach me, hold my hand when I can't hold the scissors right yet, and have the patience to practice to get it right. This filled my heart with joy and hope to feel I am not alone and I should not be defeated I am still learning to deal with my depression. 

I spent the night in prayer after that counseling meeting. I hadn't talked to God like that in ages. It was so comforting and uplifting. I woke up the next morning feeling so different. The counselor was telling me about God's love for me. While he was telling me this I could hear a voice say "Yeah, God loves you and wants to spend time with you but you squander that love and time." I said this out loud and my counselor said words that have been life-changing in this struggle: "God does not talk like that." 

And so, every time those voices have popped into my head I have let them know "The true God does not talk like that and I won't listen to any of that anymore!" 

If you are struggling with your relationship with God, seek help, seek counseling! Stop thinking you can do it alone. You can't! Ask God to bring you back and help you hear His voice. He is calling with tender love. I will not be kept from dwelling in that love any longer, not by my ignorance, not by my fear, not by my anger.

Matthew 79 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

There is so much more I want to share of that counseling session, but this will do for now. And so, 2020 was a beating for so many, but I will begin 2021 by listing all the things I must be grateful for in 2020. 

1. We had provision for the entire year. So many times we felt we would not have jobs or provision, and somehow we always had both. We even had enough to add ice cream to our grocery shopping to have something with which to comfort the girls for not being able to play outside or see friends. 
2. The most understanding girls ever. They suffered the quarantine. They shed tears. They consistently prayed for this to be over. But they kept their spirits up and their good attitudes throughout. 
3. My mom's recovery. I won't say much of this, but it was more than I could ask for in terms of provision and protection. 
4. A small birthday party in COVID times. I am grateful nothing went "bad" in terms of anyone getting the virus or being a threat to others. We took a chance. I'm just glad it turned out ok and the girls got a much-needed break from this reality.
5. Friends who stayed close, both far and close (though the quarantine made everyone feel far). 
6. A solid family. I can't thank God any more for my husband.
7. A renewed relationship with my mom and sister. Close quarters will do that. 
8. A business opportunity for Lilly and me. 
9. Everyone had good health. 
10. We still have our house.
11. Girls had a good education year and kept learning gym and piano and more.
12. We were still able to serve at Church

 I am so sorry for those who lost loved ones to Covid or during 2020. I pray you have the hope of seeing them again through Christ. The Lord is near.