This One's For The Scrapbook ~ Part 2

Let's see...where did I leave off?

Whelp! The Mother Ship's plans for my colleagues and I to return to our offices on July 13th got extended a week and then extended indefinitely due to an uprise of Covid cases in our area. I was kinda ok with it because I have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home and just going into the office when I need to. 

Let me just say that the month of July and early August have been nothing more than dodging Corona and canceling plans because we "might" have been exposed to the virus. Unlike some people, we're choosing to show kindness toward others, wear our masks, and use common sense. We've had to say no to invites a whole lot more than we've been able to say, yes, and it sucks. Alise's social calendar has slowed this month, too.

Our 4th of July plans were pretty much canceled when we learned that a team mate on Alise's basketball team may have been exposed to Corona. Of course, practice was canceled, too. So instead, we stayed home and grilled. We went to see the fireworks later that evening at the top of the Mother Ship's parking garage. It's the best seat in our city to see the fireworks every year. 

Alise and I had a Mom & Daughter Day of shopping! We donned our masks and got out of the house for a few hours for lunch and to stop in at all her favorite stores. And let me just say, that shopping just isn't the same with wearing a mask.

I've gotten into intermittent fasting over the last half of the summer and I have no recollection as to why. It just sounded like the right thing to do and dare I say that I think I feel better. It's a game trying to determine when those long 16 hours end, but I truly do feel better. I actually hit my goal weight in mid-July! All that sweating and walking in the humidity at 5AM nearly every morning is finally paying off. 

Basketball practice was halted in the middle of July when another teammate of Alise's tested positive with the virus. I did not have Alise tested, but we quarantined as best we could and none of us ever showed symptoms. The team had just had a small little party after practice, too! 

My best friend recently got remarried to a guy I went to high school with. I am so excited for them as they start a new life together! 

Whelp! She did it! Wayne took Alise back to the DMV to get her permit and so now for the next nine months, she will be chauffering us around. So proud of her! 

We certainly could not let National Ice Cream Day or Wayne's birthday go by without celebrating! We went out to eat at a local restaurant and then had his favorite, Red Velvet Cake, for dessert. 

We waited in line for an hour for snow cones one Saturday afternoon, but it was so worth it.

I finally found a piece to begin decorating our kitchen wall. Wayne painted our kitchen last summer and this particular wall has been blank ever since. I've had the hardest time deciding on what I wanted to do with it. More to come. 

                                      

Alise got invited to go to the beach with some friends at the end of July. She had the best time and even used sunscreen this time! 

And now...? Now we're waiting on yet another friend's test results from Covid. Like I said, it's been a month of holding our breaths and sighing with relief. I'm not sure how much longer the virus will escape us. I'm pretty sure when school starts back, our number will be up and we'll come down with it. 

There have definitely been days when I've been ready to throw in the towel. I'm over Covid; I'm over racial injustice and protests; I'm over sex-trafficing and politics. And I'm certainly over the evil in this world. As Christians, our hearts long for Heaven and I've selfishly prayed that Jesus would just come back and take us  to Heaven with Him. And then someone in our Life Group posted this verse from John 17, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." This was the prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden the night before his crucifixion and it reminded me how much God loves us and desires people to come to him and be saved, even in the last days. 

So until then, we'll keep looking up and praying for better days.