I thought this day might not even come this year, but here is it, on a rainy Monday. The boys are back in school!

Last night, I thoroughly combed through the newly revised school supply list, making sure both of my elementary school boys have everything they need. It probably took us an hour to get it all ready, but it was a glorious feeling.

Today it was easy to get them up in time because there was the excitement of the first day of school.

One boy was more excited than the other. That’s okay.

My heart swelled with joy to see the line of kids, with their parents, at the corner bus stop. That is actually our bus stop, but I have decided to ease them in as car riders this year. The school is literally one street away, but it is a major highway, not a walking route.

Normalcy! I mean, almost normalcy.

Maryland is way overdue for it, I think. I mean it feels like everyone in the country is already back in school and sport except for us.

Lately though, change is in the air. I don’t care what the neigh-sayers say. Ever since they rolled out the vaccine the COVID rates have been dropping like a car at the top of the roller coaster, and we are thrilled!

Church was suddenly a different place yesterday. We have had several weeks cancelled or altered due to ice and snow in February, but this week we had plain old rain.

And in spite of the rain, people were in church! We have two services, an outdoor drive in service and an indoor service that has been running at about 10% capacity. It was open for more than that, but each week that looked like all that was coming to me. But yesterday! Y’all! Yesterday! There were people in the balcony! Many barriers had been lessened or removed, but most of all— there were people!!!

There was even a singer! We have not had special music in a year.

It was water and bread and balm to our souls. I was so happy to experience it all. Yes, we still wore masks and stayed apart from our neighbors, but we were there! It felt like church again.

We belong to an active church that gave out both food and clothes to those in need during the pandemic. When everything was hard shut down, we met online and then in the parking lot in our cars, listening to the preacher on our car radios. Now that Covid case numbers are down so much, people are getting to come back inside.

I know this isn’t over. The masks, cancelled activities, and plexi glass on the boys’ school desks are an ever present reminder that the rona is still among us. But the deep decrease in cases, the continuing roll out of the vaccines, and the return to life outside our home is all so promising and refreshing.

Spring is really coming this year, and spring is my favorite.

We will have two days/ week to send the boys to school. If you can picture what you would expect a house of four boys to look like after a YEAR of being home 24/7, your picture is accurate. There is so much cleaning that needs to be done. I came home not sure where to even begin! I worked on the kitchen for a while. Then I have myself some time to do this.

Next I will probably tend to the laundry and lunch. It feels exciting to have time to write again too! I missed my blog!

I know some people are more careful to play it safer than others, but my hope is that if we open at least partially, in as safe a manner as we can, that is a very good thing.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

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