Cousins are coming!

My kids LOVE spending time with their cousins. Due to cancelled travel plans in April and May, they haven't seen Wendy's kids since August or Yvonne's kids since December. Nadia told me yesterday she was counting down the hours until her bedtime because when she wakes up, it will be the day they are coming. All three kids have been very excited. One said to me that being with their cousins is better than being at Knoebels, unless they could be at Knoebels with their cousins. And my kids LOVE to be at an amusement park. On Thursday we purchased two birthday balloons. One is for Andrew who will be turning 15 tomorrow, and the other is for Joel whose birthday was on May 30. We mailed birthday cards to Joel prior to his birthday. The kids have each made a card to give to Andrew this weekend, plus they decorated the driveway yesterday in honor of his birthday (we can check sidewalk chalk off the summer bucket list). Speaking of the bucket list, I added something to it as I ordered 10 caterpillars through Insect Lore. It's been quite a few years since we did that. The cost is what had seemed prohibitive, but considering I've been getting refunds in the mail from Camp Good News and PA Wilds Child, I thought we'd splurge. I did use a BOGO coupon so we got 10 for the price of 5, which helped make the price seem not as ridiculous. It is very special to see them go through metamorphosis! 

One of the neighbors has only one child, and she's a toddler. Some of her cousins were camping in their backyard on Thursday night. One of her cousins is eight years old. Oliver quickly became friends with Deacon. Oliver gave Deacon and his younger brother each a freeze pop. Deacon borrowed Ian's bike to try out our ramp. Oliver swam in their little kiddie pool with them. No one is a stranger to Oliver! Learning someone's name is unimportant to Oliver, probably in part because he has a very hard time remembering names. He uses words like "friend" or "buddy" when talking to someone if he doesn't know his name. 

The last three months have been really crazy in more ways than one. I've been taking a break from spending any time on Facebook or reading any news articles. The stock market takes a huge nosedive one day and then another day it's soaring up. It seems like so many responses to things the past few months have been without any moderation but from one extreme to another. I feel like sometimes we've been treating COVID-19 as if it is as deadly as Ebola. It's definitely VERY bad for certain people such as those in nursing homes, but quarantining healthy people who don't have any pre-existing conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, etc.)? There are several counties in our state that over the past 3 months have had a total of fewer than 10 cases of COVID-19. Why were the schools, churches, libraries, and most businesses closed in those counties? Our governor hasn't been working with our legislature. He has been vetoing like crazy. Evidently if they put an end to the "state of emergency" he can't veto that. Checks and balances are a good thing! They are trying to enable all businesses in PA to be allowed to reopen. On the one hand people have been arrested, charged, or fined for things like attending a funeral, cutting someone's hair, and a dad playing t-ball with his daughter outside. But it's okay if social distancing and "stay at home" orders are violated if large numbers of people are protesting George's murder?

What the police officers did was very, very wrong. I have often wondered why people video these tragedies instead of intervening and potentially saving the person's life? One of the drummers at our church is African American, and he posted on Facebook that if anyone ever sees someone doing harm to him, don't take a video but rather help save his life! In every profession there are some abusive people. There have been teachers, parents, pastors, priests, etc. found guilty of doing very bad things to children, for example. However I don't see people marching against all teachers or pastors or parents because some deserve to be in jail. We aren't considering defunding schools or abolishing churches. It feels like we are throwing the baby out with the bath water if we talk about defunding the police. I remember on 9/11 when so many fire fighters and police officers gave their lives trying to rescue people from the twin towers. Hopefully good will come of all of this. I think no-knock warrants should never have been permitted and should be abolished. The same goes for "qualified immunity." The Supreme Court has been known to do great harm at times along the way (Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe v. Wade, Buck v.. Bell, and Korematsu come to mind as a few prime examples of some horrible decisions they've made over the years). They are responsible for the creation of "qualified immunity" which hopefully will become a thing of the past.

I've been listening to audiobooks and also reading books quite a bit this week. I listened to the audiobooks while I was walking. I read Everybody, Always and listened to Love Does, which are both by Bob Goff. I've also been reading Get our of your head by Jennie Allen and The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate and listening to Love Lives Here by Maria Goff. After I finish The Book of Lost Friends, I am going to start reading Two Weeks by Karen Kingsbury. I used an Amazon gift card to get the book by Jennie Allen, but I got all the rest for free through either the Lewisburg library or Hoopla (which I access through my library card at the Free Library in Philadelphia). I have always loved reading, and it's such a treat to have more time for that this summer!