Covid-19 Gadman Family Update

Four out of the five of us are hunkered down at home during this lovely virus crisis. The one who is still out and about, that would be me. I'm still working because our daycare is still open, and will remain open as long as we can to help our families who need to work at their essential jobs. It has been incredibly stressful balancing the safety of our children and staff with the help we want to give to the community. Many daycares in the area have closed. We only have about 1/4 of our kids, but that's still 75 kids coming. We are staggering our staff, cleaning like mad people, and checking temperatures at the door. And we just keep going, reminding ourselves of God's goodness.

On the home front, kids are doing online school stuff, and luckily I have older kids who are self starters who love school so we haven't had any issues. Hubby is working from home helping the church come up with ways to minister to the community. I have cooked more and we have sat at the table more in the past two weeks, well I just can't remember how long its been. So I'm treasuring these moments, especially with my senior.

That's been the hardest part of this. We were in Biloxi for a baseball tournament when the world came to a stop and the NBA suspended their season. We couldn't believe it and thought everyone was over reacting. But by Saturday at their last game, we were all waiting for the inevitable email to come that said school was out. They lost the last game by 1 run in 10 innings. Many of the seniors were on the field crying because we had a strong suspicion it would be their last game of their high school career. It didn't really hit me then or I would have probably been crying too.

We have three boys who play baseball, and we are sitting at home every night watching movies. That's not where we're supposed to be. I'm supposed to be cheering my high school senior on as he pitches. I'm supposed to be cheering my JV player on as he finds his place on his new team. He never got to play a game at all this season. And I'm supposed to be cheering on my 11 year old and his select team who have become his best friends. They have played in one tournament, which they did win, so we can say we are undefeated this season! The color coded calendar with all their games on it just taunts me. Normally I am in full blown exhaustion mode at this point, but loving every minute of watching them play. But instead I am treasuring the few games Cooper did get to play and remembering the awesome moments he had. I'm looking forward to next year for Cade. And hoping our youngest gets to play this summer.

My senior was supposed to be going to prom this weekend. And graduation is scheduled for May 11. So we're still praying that might happen. But in the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy these quiet moments with him. He will be gone in just a few short months. So I know I will treasure this time when I look back on it, some day. But for now, we hold hands at dinner around the table (after we have washed them), take elderberry and vitamin C, and pray really hard for this to pass quickly, for protection, and for us to have good family time. This too shall pass. And God is not surprised by any of it. But it stinks all the same.