Quarterly Report: 2nd Q 2020

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90.12

My Quarterly Report

It’s time to look back at the last three months and see where and how I spent my time.

April

Rough month. Two weeks into Covid-19 stay-at-home orders and the world has gone nuts.

After about three weeks of the madness I wrote this:

Covid 19 the virus that killed common sense.

April came and went – here are a few glimpses of uneventful events!

The best thing in April is the celebration of favorite people’s birthdays! My daughter, my son, our son-in-law, a nephew, and a couple of other very special persons!

Resurrection Sunday found us home watching online church and preparing a ham and the fixin’s for our tiny house neighbors! Everyone came over and got a to-go plate (social distancing and all of that) but two couples chose to take the risk and we broke bread together!!! It was such a nice time – although it was chilly and rainy the fellowship was wonderful and fun!

We watched the hawks build a nest and we raised a family of Eastern Bluebirds and saved them from a rotten black snake! We saw our first hummingbird!

The He-Shed got done! Also known as his Lapidary!

Hannah visited South Carolina late April! She prepared us a wonderful meal – Beef Bourguignon!

We lost our beloved Aunt Mary on the 18th – if truth be told, Mary was my mom’s favorite sister! We hung out at her house a lot as kids in New Jersey – so many happy and precious memories. Aunt Mary entered the gates of heaven at 97 earth years old!

May

The very first weekend in May was spent in Statesville with our daughter’s family. Hannah was still in the Carolina’s so Marni, Han, and I got to have a mini girls-shopping-day. We went to Hobby Lobby! I bought a little sign for over our French doors

Simon came home with us for a couple of sleepover nights – he explored the lake only to get sucked in by “quicksand” and ruined a pair of shoes!

Lowell began creating flower beds and planting. Our daughter thinned out a ton of plants and loaded us up!

April showers (& there were a lot of them) did bring May flowers – we visited the local garden shop many times! Fig trees, butterfly bushes, a tea olive bush, a gardenia bush, and a lavender tree! I’m sure I missed something but you get the picture!

April showers continued into May – SO MUCH RAIN! More Sundays of online church. More praying.

Our Simon turned 17 on the 28th. This kid won’t stop growing – he measures in at 6’4″ now! He towers over most of us.

The last day of May we were driving to our storage unit when we saw an injured hawk on the side of the road. We stopped and another guy stopped – he promised he would take the injured hawk to a refuge for healing. I do hope he did.

June

I completed two books in the past two months! One was a spur of the moment project. I was asked to participate in a Psalm Kids Challenge on Facebook so I quickly took my Psalm 91 devotional book and adapted it toward kids 7-12. Click on book images to be taken directly to Amazon!

And, a huge accomplishment for me was to complete John 17-The Real Lord’s Prayer! The last “real” directive from the Lord, about two years ago, was to write this book. I did it!

The sixth of June found us driving to Central Florida – Lowell had a gem-cutting class to go to and we were able to stay at my sister’s lovely home in The Villages, Florida! It was a good week. I am able to work wherever we go – so laptop, phone, and I didn’t miss a beat! Lowell had a great class too. We tried to go see his Mom but she would not allow us to even do a drive-by because of her Covid 19 fear. To say we were disappointed is an understatement.

Florida was wet the first part of the week but the sun did come out – the photo above is a doggie park we visited with Peg & Tony’s foster dog, Violet. And, yes, I had the best pedicure of my life at my sister’s favorite salon! A real treat while we were there was on Sunday when Hannah and her beau, Chandler, drove up to see us – we all went to lunch at a seafood place and not one of us remembered to take a picture! AARRGGHH!

June brought a great sadness – my “other son’s” Mom passed away. Tonia is one of the loveliest women I have every known. I wrote about her here. Tonia loved Jesus and He was her Rock. Her passing has left a very large void in her family.

The rest of June was ordinary. The backyard deck got started (Lowell is building it) and the weather is finally showing us summer here in the Upstate of South Carolina. We’ve taken a few short day rides to local interesting places.

 

 

Another wildlife rescue took place in June too! A gosling had gotten under the chain link fencing at the nearby dam just at the same time we were driving by. Lowell to the rescue and a passerby helped pull the fencing so we could scoot little guy under – you should have seen the happy Goose Reunion!!!! Funny!

The Tiny House village people all met for supper at a local steak house – we had the best time! The steak house is approximately one-mile from here and we have decided we need to do this at least once per month! We are a diverse group!

Second Quarter 2020 is a wrap! It’s definitely one for the books, isn’t it? Our lives have been turned inside out. People are still suffering the effects of C19 and the heinous protesting and looting. But, God is still on the throne, y’all and He still hears us when we pray. Cry out to our merciful God to have mercy on our country and to shed His grace on us…again!