Two more weeks

I found out on Sunday that a church about 30 minutes from us resumed having in-person services on May 17, which technically is in violation of the governor's edicts, but I have no problem with it. I know the pastor's family because they are also homeschoolers. If we were going to have to wait a lot longer to attend a church in person, I would haven been willing to drive 30 minutes to attend a worship service, but I found out today that the church where our kids play basketball is resuming their service on June 14. They were trying to reopen on June 7, but they've ordered some equipment to make it possible for them to also stream the service to those who choose not to attend in person. They need a bit more time for the equipment to arrive and be installed. I've noticed a common pattern of the churches that are beginning to reopen - using every other pew, families sit together, no nurseries or any type of programming for children, no passing an offering plate or a communion plate, no hugs/hand shaking, no church bulletins, etc. Some churches are requiring everyone to wear masks, and some aren't. Our church posted a video today saying that they will be rather slow in reopening given the size of the church. The maximum number that can be gathered together in the green phase is 250. Our county hasn't entered the green phase yet, but I believe we will in the near future, possibly as early as June 5. Our pastor said that as they move forward the first step will be to have small group "watch parties" who are watching the service together on a screen. That doesn't interest our family. Our plan is to attend FBC from June 14 until whenever our church returns to something a lot closer to normal than a "watch party." March 8 was the last time we attended church in person so it will have been a little more than 3 months on June 14. FBC is requiring everyone to wear a mask. Paul wears a mask for many hours a day, but wearing it for a church service will definitely be the longest the kids or I have worn a mask yet.

Today we learned that Camp Good News cancelled their day and overnight camps. Nadia really wanted to attend a summer camp somewhere this summer so I said she could search online for Christian summer camps to see if she could find any that were still operating. The Governor has not prohibited overnight or day camps in the green phase provided they follow a wide array of new rules. She found a camp in the Poconos. Camp Susque, where the kids usually attend, is 40 minutes from our house. The camp she found is 90 minutes from our house, but they are planning to still offer summer camp this year. As an added bonus, they allow first time campers to come for free! Wow! I've never heard of a free overnight camp before. They require that you pay a $50 deposit per child. If your child actually shows up for camp, you receive a refund of the $50 deposit. They offer camps for ages 8-10, 11-13, and 14-17. I signed the boys up for a week the end of July, and I signed Nadia up for June 28-July 4. Camp Susque goes from a Saturday afternoon to a Saturday morning. This camp is one day shorter (Sunday afternoon through Saturday morning). Hopefully the kids will have a blast! I'm willing to do some extra driving if it means #1 the kids CAN actually attend camp even with COVID-19 and #2 we save a little more than $1,000 (what we would have paid if our original plans hadn't been cancelled). Our town this week decided to cancel the Fourth of July parade, fireworks, etc. I was beginning to think everything in July would be cancelled as was the case for the second half of March and all of April, May, and June. It felt so nice to add "attend church" to our calendar starting on June 14 and to add a week of camp for each of the kids as well this summer. I talked to my Aunt on Monday, and she feels hopeful we will be able to visit her sometime this summer. I said it doesn't matter if the restaurants, museums, zoos, aquariums, etc. are still closed. If  one or both swimming pools in her development are open and we can swim at the beach where she has a cabana, that's all we need. 

I received emails that our iPad couldn't be backed up because the iCloud was full. I didn't want to pay a monthly fee to increase how much we could store. So I tackled the unpleasant task of sorting through the photos and videos on my brother's iPad. There were more than 500 pictures and videos. One photo might be of what he was going to eat for dinner, another showing how many calories were in a particular dish at a restaurant, another of books on a library shelf, etc. I don't cry regularly any more over the loss of my brother or mother, but I did shed tears during this task. Nadia helped me some as it wasn't as challenging for her emotionally. I have taken far fewer pictures than normal over the past 2+ months, but I did use my camera multiple times a day today. I decided today to make it a goal to take at least one picture a day.