Another week under lockdown. Well maybe not quite lockdown but certainly close to it. Everyone certainly spent most of the time at home all week. Alex had work a couple times, since Culver's is still open for drive-thru and take-out, and we all went a few places like to Owen's (which by the end of the week seems to be pretty well stocked again, except the toilet paper supply is pretty light) or Menard's, but the kids all had only e-learning (normal for Natalie), I worked from home all week, and we had only virtual church again. Matthew set up a video conference call for our small group this week, which was nice for us to at least get together online, because we are all going a bit stir crazy. A few times we all went out for ice cream or a drink just to have something to do. Beth and I started working on a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and we've been watching a lot of movies..... Natalie has spring break this coming week, Alex and Missy have it the week after. Beth and weren't sure what to do about spring break because of that, but as it turned out the decision was made for us. Good thing we never made any plans..... Sunday afternoon Beth made a bunch of soups with leftover ingredients from the soup season, and we drove around dropping them off to several friends around town. It was nice to see everyone but seemed a bit wrong when we didn't stay. Almost like a ding dong dash.....

For the past week, I have been working from home, and things continue to be weird. I did run in to work a couple times, briefly, last week, but otherwise I was just at the kitchen table with my laptop remoted in to work. It was nice(r) on Friday so I got a run in while I was at work, but then it got cold for the weekend. Alex still had work, even though the dining room is closed at Culver's and it's takeout and drive through only. No church service (online streaming only), no kids klub, no small group, no movies, no YMCA, no toilet paper in the stores (otherwise, I'm not seeing any real shortages of anything. Cereal, canned vegetables, pasta, bread - those are really picked over though). We spent a lot of time on the computers and trying to find something to do this weekend. Beth and I have been playing Aggravation a lot.....Saturday while Alex was at work the girls and I went out driving through the country to get Missy some driving time and do some geocaching while we were out. We got 6 caches from Silver Lake to Beaver Dam....there was supposed to be a coaches meeting for church softball this week, but it was cancelled with everything else.....

Things are definitely starting to get really weird. And a little freaky. This coronavirus is just getting started though, as of today only like 9 cases in the state. But the idea is to take action before everyone is sick, and actions are being taken. Starting with work. On Wednesday it was announced that everyone who was able to work from home should do so until the end of this month (although I have a feeling that the end of this month is going to be just when it's getting really bad around here), so I was sent home as of the end of the day. Everyone was a bit taken aback: did I really just get told to stay home for 3 weeks? In short, yes. I took my laptop and an extra monitor home and spent the last couple days of the week virtually at work at the kitchen table at home. We still had FCC Kids on Wednesday, but I bet that's the last time for the rest of the year....I had yet another urology follow-up on Monday for the prostate thing, but the doctors didn't find any bacteria in my sample from last time, so I got yet another, um, rigorous prostate exam that seemed to confirm that it's been due to levator muscle spasms, and he suggested relaxation techniques. But anyway, it seems to be nothing to worry about too much.....Alex also took his driver's ed road test on Wednesday (10 am...he got out of school for it). He didn't pass (pulled out in front of a motorcycle, didn't check a blind spot one time) so he can take it again in 2 weeks.....Thursday was Alex's birthday - 17 years old - and he wanted to go out to FlatTop Grill again so we took the chance that it was still open and headed to FW. It was open. But not very busy. Maybe about half capacity, or so. Jefferson Pointe was looking pretty, well, not deserted, but sparse for sure.....Saturday morning Alex had the SAT. I dropped him off at the school at 8 am and he was in the test until around 12:30, during which time Beth and the girls and I went to the US30 antiques mall for something to do. Things were starting to be called off by late last week, including school until at least after spring break, so I had wondered if the SAT would be postponed but they must have just got it in under the wire. I'm glad it's over for him, but he said parts of it were insultingly easy, especially the math. The theater was still open (again, very sparse) so we all went out to see a matinee of "Onward" which I give an 8/10. Beth and I grabbed a date night at Yamato afterwards, then did some grocery shopping to get us through the next couple weeks. Strange to see the store empty of milk, bread, and toilet paper..... On-site church services were cancelled for Sunday - online live streaming only until further notice - but Beth was in the praise team so she went in anyway, but the rest of us watched the service online. The kids were all supposed to go with the youth group to the Komets game on Sunday, but by Saturday the rest of the ECHL season had been cancelled (and the NCAA tournament, when the Spartans were going to win it this year). We were looking for something to do Sunday afternoon, so we all went to the mall in FW to go to B&N. The mall was not deserted, but sparse for sure. Some of the stores were closed, and the entire mall closed at 6:00. This upcoming week, and for several weeks, the kids will be doing e-learning exclusively for a while. I'll be working at home until further notice. Things are going to shut down, so there'll be little to do. Not sure what's coming next.

The new van went in for service Thursday this week. I got a recall notification so I brought it in, and asked them to fix the rear wiper as well. Well, they found a few other things that should be done, maintenance mostly, but I figured I should do it since the van is already over 120k miles. Then, they couldn’t get the rear wiper fixed because they can’t get the rear spoiler off. Overall, it set us back $1139.41…..while that was going on, Beth and Nat went on a road trip back to Elkhart to get her new social security card, which this time they had all the documents for, so it’s going through….. Friday I stopped by World Compassion Network’s HQ and dropped off a check for $1650 to cover expenses for me to go on the mission trip to Honduras! Beth and I have talked and prayed about it and we are ready to say yes, even with everything else we have going on. Not sure what we’ll be doing exactly but it’ll be the first week of August…..Alex had his annual birthday sleepover/video game fest this week. Again, the girls got a hotel room in town and the boys were up late being loud. I got pizza on the way home, but they were almost disinterested, even in cake later on. I just hung out in the kitchen on the computer and let them do their thing until I decided to go to bed....Saturday was hockey night in Fort Wayne! It was Warsaw night again so we had some cheap tickets. They were playing the K-Wings, which I always like to see. The K’s fell behind early in the game 2-0, but woke up after the first period was over and by the end (including a goal with 5 seconds left) we all got to count to 7 for the first time! The Komets won 7-4, including a hat trick by Brady Shaw. There were a few points where the goals were coming like lightning. Much more fun game than the teddy bear toss a few months ago. We wondered if there would be a light crowd for the game with all the virus worry going on, but the crowd was pretty good. Maybe everyone is trying to get in a last game before you can’t any more…..Sunday was our small group night. Matthew had brought up Chicago dogs in the sermon earlier, so Beth and I changed plans and made a pot of hot dogs and all the fixins to make them. Unfortunately we and the Rogers’ and the Burgess’ were the only ones that could make it, so we made way too many…..

Nat had ISTEP testing this week, and since she is doing the online high school, Beth had to take her to Elkhart to do it.  Monday and Tuesday, they had to get up early and take a road trip. Beth had to wait around until it was over, so she tried to get something done and get Nat’s new social security card (since the office is in Elkhart) but of course they needed more documents than we had. I need to get a copy of the adoption decree with a raised seal, and medical records to prove identity and residency. So, another trip when we have those…..I finally got Beth onto Red Pocket this week, after months of procrastinating, and remembered why I’d been procrastinating as Beth’s service was off for a few days. There are some weird rules about moving a number from Verizon to a Verizon MVNO, so first we had to switch her to a Sprint MVNO network for a day, then switch her again to the Verizon MVNO. It’s a pain, and she couldn’t make or receive any calls until the porting process was finished. It took a few days, and no information came from the new network about when it would be done. Anyway, it’s done now, so we should save about $50 a month on phone service…..Saturday was leap day! We were all ready to get out of the house and do something, but there weren’t a whole lot of ideas, but we thought Rocket Science would be fun, so we went to Nappanee first for some ice cream. Coppes Commons was open, which it usually isn’t when we’re there, so we spent some time looking around (there is a really cool cue-ball clock in one hallway!). There are a lot of places to get a snack, and a lot of places to get country craft things there. And there is a cabinetry museum upstairs from the golden years of Nappanee furniture. I thought that was interesting but nobody else did. After that, we went to Hobby Lobby at Concord Mall. Alex and I were done with it long before the girls, so we went out to explore the mall, which is almost as dead as a mall can get, it seems. Walking in to the mall entrance from Hobby Lobby, I felt like I was walking back in time to West Main Mall in Kalamazoo in the 70s. The décor has not been updated since the place was built, I’d imagine, and is amazingly dated. Nearly every store front was empty, except a few, and there was a poster in the directory display that dated from 2005. After we were all done there we had dinner at Chili’s and went home…..