Day 8- March 23, 2020

I find it exciting that every morning I take two walks.  One with the kids and one without the kids.  I'm usually up earlier than them and I like to "social distance" myself before the day starts.  I use this time for prayer, blaring music, or just some silence.  Today I woke up to snow.  Even though I'm not a huge fan of snow, Lucy and Mavis are!  They were so excited to run the pasture and play! Oh course, I used this quiet opportunity to bring along my SLR camera and take some pictures.

 Lucy had a pretty good time rolling around in the snow.  Mavis... she tries so hard to be a real dog, but she always manages to mess it up.  LOL.  Today the snow kept getting in her paw hair and she would stop and look at me like, "Mom, I don't know what to do!"  Lucy would run circles around her, jump on her, tackle her and had zero issues.

We did take a break at our campground to visit my favorite tree.  I freaking love this tree.  It sits behind the old Millrock School House.  I always wonder if this tree could talk, what would it tell me of our area.  So much history of a ghost town long gone.

 

 After rolling the kids out of bed we took another walk.  This time, no puppies!  We were lucky enough to watch a flock of geese fly over.  Brad thought he could race them down the highway.  It was the fastest moving we had out of him on any daily walk.  The boy is slow and always finding something interesting to stop and look at.  LOL.  Mia is constantly yelling, "BRAD, what are you doing!"  

"Mom, do you think I can run as fast as the geese?"- Brad

Brad is currently working on his week project of a Solar System presentation for our academic time.  He loves space.  And, it gets him to read, write, create, and present.  It's a win!  Mia is preparing a Facebook live concert for Friday at 7:00 pm.  I figure, why not!?  Buddy the cat always love to hang out with us at home school central on the tall table.  He loved it so much, he chewed through my headphone cord... oh vey!  

My own adventures; I'm working on starting a bible study with some ladies, designing a composting area, and designing a new chicken coop.  I'm also looking at how to build a cheap greenhouse with what we have.  Ideas I never had time for, but now... I have time.  I'm not complaining, I need some hobbies!  I never knew I didn't have hobbies until I didn't have school.  It's weird.

Hope everyone is staying safe!  

Love- The Ruley Family

Day 7- March 22, 2020

Today was a lazy day at the Ruley's.  We did online church and then our family bible study this evening.  Oddly, they both had the same message of not having fear and anxiety in the face of adversity.  Jesus stayed calm throughout the storm because He knew God would look after Him.  We, too, can have the faith to believe that God is always good.  He is always with us, even when things look scary.  My two cents; get off social media if you are fearful and anxious, too.  Take a walk, read a book with fun, watch a comedy, take a nap, eat some ice cream.  It is okay to log off and just take a break.  

Brad and Adam worked on their solar system project today.  Brad LOVES space.  I told him this week his job was to write and give a presentation on all the planets.  Secretly he will be "learning."  Don't tell him that!  

Mia was grounded from her phone today....so she did a lot of drawing with her new sketch supplies.  Poor kid... no phone.  Sorry, not sorry!  Adam and I had fun sending a snap to all her friends saying she would be back online Monday.  LOL.  

We did a music outing today and watched "Wicked" online.  It was a little annoying with a zillion ads, but it was free and Mia was so excited to watch it.  Maybe that will not replace the Frozen 2 songs that she was singing all week.  

Tonight we enjoyed a facetime call with our cousin, Katie, in Wisconsin.  :)  Brad now has Messenger Kids and decided to call her.  For all family, beware.  Brad loves to facetime!  

We are entering week two tomorrow of social distancing.  Our family continues to follow guidelines and we will also be helping Mom make masks this week.  Tomorrow I'm helping with food box pickup.  I pray daily for my family and friends in health care.  And all others who are trying to keep our country up and running with supplies and working daycare, etc.  You are my heroes.

See you all tomorrow... from a safe distance!

The Ruley Family

Day 6- March 21, 2020

Never miss a sunset is my motto... today after reorganizing our house to give some "spaces" for people to go, Adam and I went on a ride so I could take pictures.  We barely see the sun, so I wanted to take some photos.  It makes me forget being an adult for a short time and to breathe.  I just love photography.  :)

The kids were very excited to create a "library/reading" area by the glass door.  Adam and Brad put together the shelf unit.  Brad liked it so much when he tried the area out, he fell asleep!  Too bad he missed unloading wood at Grandma's house.   We also set up a workout area in the garage so when it's a little warmer this week, we can utilize that rain or shine! 

I also finally got my essential oil station the way I wanted it!  Now everything is in one area.  My "voo-doo" oils as most people call them.  But, it has been a great way to curb anxiety before bed with the kids.  They like their oils.. I do as well.

 

Best gift of the day was finding a dime when I was looking for the deck rugs to move them to the garage.  I literally went to grab the rug and there was a dime sitting on it.  For everyone who doesn't know me as well, I have found dimes all the time since my Dad passed.  He used to tell us stories when he was alive about pennies and dimes from heaven.  We find dimes.... a lot.  And I needed a dime today.

We did our first supper "take out" order from Sckakey's in Oxford Junction.  We are going to try and support local businesses as much as we can.  We finished the day with our daily family bible study. 

Tomorrow we will decorate the house for Easter.  We had bought a bunch of stuff at Goodwill and it has been in quarantine and Lysol for the permitted time.  I'm excited to bring some "spring" to the house.  We have never owned Easter decorations.... I never realized it til this year! 

Day 5- 3/20/20

I was teaching HS choir in Bellevue 13 years ago when my water broke during a small group ensemble practice.  Literally...  I remember kids in the group grabbing a blanket off the grand piano so I could wrap myself in it!  LOL!  If you ever had any fear teaching, it is peeing your pants in front of HS students.. or worse... MS!  Little did we know that Ms. Amelia Ruley broke a hole in my amniotic fluid sack only to somehow plug it. They sent us home.....  At 2:30 am, we drove back to Dubuque and our first child was born a little after 7:00 pm. 

A COVID-19 pandemic is not really the way we thought her big teen birthday would look like, but here we are killing it like champs!  LOL.  We made terariums together.  Mia designed her own birthday cake and decorated it herself.  It took a couple hours, but she completed it!  The kitchen was a disaster, but she was in love with her creation!  We celebrated with us and Grandma Karen next door.   Mia taught her the art of snapchat.  Grandma Karen made her famous lasagna. 

We had some great video chats with Grandma Cindy who shares the same birthday!!!!  We sang and blew out the candles "together" virtually. 

We also video chatted with Uncle Matt, Aunt Bridget, Abby, Olivia, and Alex.  The kids had fun playing the games on Facebook messenger video chat.  It was nice to see all our family today. 

I found today to be a little emotional.  I have a lot of family and friends in health care.  It is unreal that the WHOLE world is being affected by this right now.  It's not supposed to be this way, but here we are.  It is not in my control, but I am thankful today for everyone who is following the guidelines, video calling, for all people working to keep food on tables, truck drivers, mail carriers, people helping people who cant leave their homes, and our healthcare people for trying to help as much as they can with minimal gear.  God bless everyone! 

Love - The Ruley’s 

Day 4: 3/19/20

It's storming outside.  Spring is here!

Today was a busy day at the Ruley Ranch.  We took our daily walk at 8:00 am this morning and enjoyed the chill in the air.  Brad was excited because the road was covered with worms!  Of course he came home filthy from touching them and Lucy (our other doodle) jumping all over him after sitting in a puddle.  But, instead of my normal annoyance with this, I just watched him run and jump in puddles and enjoy being outside.

We all took a car ride today.  Who would have ever thought 5 days ago that a car ride would be the most exciting thing my kids were looking forward to! LOL.  Usually I'm screaming at the kids to get in the car and this time, they beat me in and were buckled up and ready.  We picked up terrarium kits from Ronann's for Mia's birthday tomorrow to do as craft time, sack lunches, and boxes of books from my good friend who is a homeschooling genius!.  And yes, everyone stayed in the van, I brought hand sanitizer with me, and I bathed in at after getting back in.  Brad is the sanitizer police... he will actually bring it to you if you leave the house for anything!  Kid's going to have a complex after this is all over... I'm going to apologize in advance to his teachers next year.

Brad and Mia are both loving the Khan Academy for Disney Imagineering!  It is amazing!  I enjoyed sitting with Mom and ordering Easter basket stuff online because she cannot go to the stores.  :(  But, we will compromise to make the world better.

My favorite part of the day was taking a side-by-side ride with the family to the back 30 and playing football catch.  I took some pictures (because I needed a family distance break) and then we explored the creek valley.  It was simple yet watching Adam play with the kids was the best part of the week because I know it's stressful for him.  I am very lucky my job allows me to be home.  I am blessed and fortunate.  My other favorite part was watching Mia create her birthday cake design.  I have enough cake for like 50 people, so no judging my fat pants after the next week!  But, I want her to feel special and have creative freedom to be 13 tomorrow.  Weird enough, a week ago I don't know if I would have let her make a 2 cake boxes, multi-level, 6 color birthday cake.  But, she has a lot of time for dishes!

For any other Mom's looking for good activities, I have found that the kids journaling during breakfast and before bed after family bible study has been a chill out activity.  I also look forward to them going to bed and reading them.  I write fun notes back.  Someday...this will be a keepsake.  We are living in a time that will forever be in history for anyone old enough to remember it.  I want some of it to be happy, comforting, and them to feel loved.  And there is a lot of humor!

To all my friends and family-  Stay healthy.   We love you all!  Fear is a liar and faith is strong in our home.

King of the Tree

A little pasture football

Day 3- 3/18/20

I don't think anyone would have imagined just one week ago that we would be sitting at home for weeks waiting for a virus to stop causing panic and fear in our world.  Every day I wake up thinking maybe I'm dreaming but... nope.  Here we all are in this social distancing life.

I always look for hope in every situation.  It annoys the crap out of a lot of people, but it just makes sense to me.  Resilience is an amazing thing.  I often look at my kids and think we are creating a generation of kids right now.  They had the world on a silver platter one week ago with everything at their finger tips and in 3 days, they are living a completely different life.  No school, no social interactions.  Two weeks ago I directed our school musical with hundreds of people and 60+ kids.  Now it is silence. 

I find it interesting how quiet and distance has brought about a calm in myself.  I try to pray and make time for me on a usual day, but this was actually difficult on the first days.  Like, we can't go anywhere!  What the hell are we going to do!?  Oddly on a run with my kids today, I saw things I haven't ever observed.  In the midst of chaos, my kids were running together, doing Tic Tok dances, and singing to my phone playing music.  Mia has let Brad move into her room and made a space for his bed because he is having problems sleeping.  Two days ago, he wasn't even allowed in her room!  LOL!  Their nightly journal helps them process their thoughts and I chuckle when reading that even in all this crazy, Mia is still begging us to adopt another child.  Oh, Mia.  Right now we are going to stick with what we have unless God says otherwise.

 

Hold Me Together

I find it funny that just when you think you know it all, sometimes God puts a piece of information in front of you to remind you that you really don't have it all together without Him.  This evening, while tucking in my son to bed,  I wasn't really into it because I was still thinking about my day. I was overthinking situations, feeling sorry for myself, and trying to control what I was going to do next.  It was not a top parenting moment for me.  I know we have all been there.

As I focused in on my son's reading, he started reading about holding it all together, mortar, and bricks.  His devotional is about science and God because it keeps him reading it.  I mean, who wouldn't love a devotional that talks about the fact that King Tut's casket was glued together with animal bones and skin.  (Who knew?  LOL)  As the reading went on, it began to talk about the glue that holds cells together.  It is called laminin.  And guess what, laminin is shaped like a cross.  Yup, well played God.  I think I read this phrase a few times, stared at the picture, maybe fact checked google, and then stopped and thought very deeply.  "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together"  Colossians 1:17  That's when it hit me quite hard like a slap that I was being an idiot and thinking selfishly.  Even when I'm feeling overwhelmed with life; laminin and Jesus holds me- and all things- together.

I know sometimes the glue of faith seems to be invisible.  Who has prayed and never received an answer?  (raises hand)  Who has prayed and didn't receive what you wanted? (Raises hand)  Yeah, we've all been there.  But I have also found that sometimes God's fingerprints are often invisible until you look at them in the rear view mirror.  He is there.  He is the comfort of a friend to talk to.  He is the text checking in on you.  He is the hug from a family member.  He never left you, but you were too busy seeking to see what you wanted that you missed him there in front of your face the whole time.  (face palm moment)

Faith is invisible but foundational in the pursuit of holding it all together.  And the great thing about God is that, even when you are falling apart, He loves you anyway and is there with you.  What an amazing feeling!  I am loved, even on a day that I really am not loving myself.  I am loved on the day my hair looks like a hot mess.  I am loved on the day I mismatched my shoes in the dark.  (Yes, this happened) Just say it, I AM LOVED!  I am held together.  According to Jesus, true happiness does not come from all things that society suggests (Matthew 4:23-5:20)  Those Beatitudes in the bible have a great ring to them and hold more ground than followers on Twitter.  Jesus' motive is love and compassion.  In Matthew 9:36, the strongest for love in Greek is guts..in the bible this word was only used for Jesus in original translations. Translated it literally means "he was gutted" because his heart broke for humankind.  He was standing in front of crowds of people who were troubled, who needed help, and had nobody.  Crazily, that is me at this moment.  Sitting in my kids bed, troubled with thoughts, pouting, needing help, and feeling alone.  But guess what? Laminin and Jesus are there.  They may be invisible to the naked eye, but I know they are both holding me together today.  True happiness and peace are found in a relationship with God.  Tonight I will be remembering Psalm 4:7-8- "You have put more joy and rejoicing in my heart. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety and confident trust."
I am held together by laminin until my physical end but eternally held by the Lord.

Amen and Goodnight.