Good Friday Fast and Easter Sunday

Family pictures shared on the group text for Easter Sunday:

Caitlyn and Nate

Greta, Bridget, Crista, Matt and Ruby

Jennie and Jordan

AJ, Gunnar, Ollie, Finn, Adrienne and Ila

Andy, Max, Mav, Bevy and Elise

Effie, Ori and Avie

Another one of the kids since it was hard to see one of them in the picture above:
Max, Mav and Bevy

I had a lot of thoughts this week of my Savior and the events that led up to His glorious resurrection.  With millions of others, our family fasted as our prophet had asked: “I invite all, including those not of our faith, to fast and pray on Good Friday, April 10, that the present pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized.” 

My thoughts were drawn to my Savior as I contemplated the need for this particular fast.  I realized that the impact on my own life is not that bad.  Roy still has a lot of work, most of my kids are still working, I have a very nice home to quarantine in, and I even have plenty of toilet paper J  I read a news article about a family in Woods cross, our neighbors really, who had lost a daughter due to the Covid19 virus.  She was 24 year old.  I realized I may not be suffering right now, but many are.  The Savior was always concerned about the needs of others, even when he knew His time, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, would soon be upon Him.  He sacrificed His life for us.  All we were asked to sacrifice was a couple of meals. 

I also found myself thinking about the Children of Israel being led through the wilderness towards the Promised Land.  We don’t celebrate the Passover, but the events associated with it are very significant.  The Hebrew people were told to mark their homes by putting the blood of the lamb on their doorways so that the destroying angel would pass them by.  Our Savior died for us, so that by looking to Him, we can also be saved. Our ancestors compared themselves to the Children of Israel—they suffered greatly as the Lord led them to their Promised Land.  We know, of course, that the eventual Promised Land is Eternal Life.  I loved the Come Follow Me lesson for Easter.  It had us read through many scriptures about Christ’s suffering and His Atonement.  The lesson asked the question, “What did the Savior suffer?”  The answer—He suffered pain, hunger, thirst and fatigue—“even more than man can suffer.”  He felt anguish.  He was mocked, scourged cast out and disowned by His own people.  Ultimately, he was crucified and slain—“He was despised and rejected of men.”

The next question was, “Why did He suffer?” Answer: To gain power over death so that He could intercede for us.  He suffered to satisfy the demands of justice.  He suffered to redeem us, to have compassion for us, that we might find Grace through Him.

Then the lesson asked us, “What does this mean to me?”

Even at the ripe old age of 60, or maybe because I’ve reached that age, I feel that my understanding of my Savior and His atoning sacrifice is very limited.  I know that He died for me—for all of us, and I know that He suffered greatly.  I know that because of Him I can repent and work towards my salvation (though it is by Grace we are saved after all we can do).  I know that because of Him I can be reunited with Thomas and with my parents and grandparents and others who have gone on before me.  But even knowing all of this, I know I can never understand the depths of the Savior’s suffering.  The closest I ever came to even an inkling of understanding was when Thomas passed away.  I felt that if I had suffered anymore, I would have died.  And yet, that’s only a very small part of the Savior’s suffering.  His sacrifice and suffering is incomprehensible to me. 

What I do understand, is that I can turn to Him and He can and He will heal me.  He will comfort and guide me.  I am so very grateful for the atonement and for my Savior. 

I loved General Conference last week.  I haven’t yet dived into re-reading the talks, but I am ready to do it.  These few weeks have been interesting.  Our world was instantly changed.  We have had a lot of time at home, and hopefully, with that extra time we are doing a little better with our scripture study and other spiritual pursuits.  I do find that the time still goes by just as quickly as it did before, and I still go to bed at the end of the day thinking of all the things I didn’t do. 

I read an article this week about the Good Friday Fast and what significance it has.  It was worth reading.  Here is the link: Contemplating Calvary

We have really been obedient to directives and stayed home.  We’ve also mostly stayed away from family, though I admit, we saw family a little more this week than last because we had so many birthdays.

Finn on his birthday

Ila (a few days before her birthday) we gave her
a little Tupperware baking set).  Adrienne and AJ
bought this bounce house for their birthdays, since
they couldn't go anywhere or have any parties.  They ended
up getting it for free.  They picked it up, and then
got another notification to pick up their order.  A couple of
days later they were notified that they'd been refunded since
they didn't pick up the bounce house.  They called and said
they did get the bounce house, but the store said, "well, we can't
do anything on this end, so it's yours."

Gunnar and Ila wearing the sweatshirts I embroidered for them.  I've
finished one for almost everyone in the family.  They say "Rasband
Clan 2020" and each person picked their own design. They are
for Aspen Grove in June, but we're starting to doubt we will be going this year.

Finn said his birthday was ruined because of the virus.  It looked like he still had a pretty good birthday to me, but I guess it's a bummer when you can't celebrate with your friends.  They did miss their Spring Break in Disneyland and I think that was probably kind of a bummer.

Finn's birthday breakfast

Hyeji on her birthday, with Yuna and grandma

The next group of pictures are from conference Sunday, last week.

Roy and Catharine during our Sacrament Meeting/Come Follow Me

Caitlyn.  She didn't know we were taking her picture

The Green's watching conference

The Vance's watching conference

The Dan Rasband family watching conference

 The Nick Rasband family watching conference

Doyeon eating (and watching conference?)

Ruby and Greta moved their conference watching to downstairs

The Jackson's watching conference

A few more pictures from the week:

Ila ran to give me a hug when we went to see her for
her birthday.  That's a rare treat for me!

She was so excited to get both Ana and Elsa for her
birthday!

Dan and Roy got away for a Saturday morning rabbit hunting trip.
They didn't get anything.

I think this one is Roy

 And finally: The Dan Rasband kids took a break from their house for a few minutes and played in our backyard.

Yuna (she can't make a normal face for the camera--it's impossible)

Dojin

Doyeon

Hyeji

Easter was definitely different this year.  I didn't even put out one decoration.  I figured no one would see them but Caitlyn, Roy and me, so what was the point?  I didn't shop for candy either.  It was still a wonderful Easter with all of our focus on the Savior.  We had our sacrament meeting, listened to Andrea Bocelli's special Easter concert from the Duomo in Milan.  We also listened to the Messiah that was recorded previously by the Choir at Temple Square.  We took a short walk and we had a family visit on Zoom. Life is precious and wonderful.  We have so many blessings to be grateful for.

Continuing at home...

Now that I'm mostly home, I have more time to write, but less to write about.

I think that it's noteworthy that we are participating in a worldwide fast to ask our Father in Heaven for healing at this time.  Physical, emotional and economical healing.  There are many suffering from having their businesses closed or being laid off from lack of work, some in our own wards.
I think that the ones who seem to suffer most when something like this happens are those who are already struggling--either with finances or health.
I was going to write that I don't personally know anyone who has been infected by the Corona virus, but that's not true, there is a young man in our previous ward that contracted it while traveling and brought it home.  I don't know if his family got the virus or not.

I guess Caitlyn took this last week, but this
is her work attire.  She has a small face, so she
wears the kids size masks.  Her co-workers get
a kick out of it.

One afternoon I heard a siren, then a lot of honking.  I thought maybe our neighbors were welcoming a missionary home or something.  I joined Caitlyn outside and watched a parade go by with people honking and waving from their cars.  They had signs that said, "We miss you," etc.  I found out later that they were teachers from the elementary school out to wave at their students.  

I have been reading various articles and books and came across a few things of interest.  One writer called this pandemic, "The great pause."  It would be a more effective quote if I could remember where I read it.  I think it was either the Church News or LDS Living.  He was writing about President Nelson and his foresight.  I think that a great pause is a great description.  It does feel like our lives are temporarily on hold.  I've also been reading the book, "Insights" by Sherri Dew about President Nelson. As would be expected, I've come across some gems from this great man.  He said that when he was first married, his understanding of the gospel was modest--he did not come from a devout Latter-Day Saint home.  He said, "When we married in the temple, we didn't know many scriptures, but we did know Matthew 6:33: 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you'.  This became the lodestar for every decision we made together." We can all benefit if we put the kingdom of God first.
I am so looking forward to conference next week.

Nick says this is the real reason he got a chicken coop

Jieun's on the ball making sure her kids are protected.
She even made Dojin a Spiderman face mask, so he'll actually
wear it.

Roy was telling me here that he had bad news, he had the virus--
notice the blue lips.  In reality, of course, it's a malt ball.

I've also had extra sewing time. I'm working on embroidering
sweatshirts for our planned vacation to Aspen Grove.  The chances
we'll still go in early June are looking bleak.  I embroidered this shirt
for Effie because she loves Peppa Pig and her old shirt was too small.

(This is a girl) Bevy, chillin' with popcorn

Unflattering pose of myself enjoying a Korean
Style dinner at home.  Roy's the chef (as usual).

We enjoyed our home-based sacrament meeting.  We call one of Roy's ministering sisters (she's 86) and include her in our meeting.  We bore testimonies today after studying Come Follow Me.  There was a nice spirit.  I think I'll miss this when we go back to church, even though I really do miss attending.  

And an earthquake...

We are taking the Covid19 threat seriously and are lying low, although Roy loves to go to the grocery store.  I keep telling him that the grocery store is probably the most dangerous place to be right now, but I guess it's his outlet. 

Wednesday morning brought a new experience for me and maybe most of us as we were literally shaken awake by a 5.7 magnitude earthquake.  I should say shaken more awake, because Roy and I were both awake, but still lying in bed.  It's a little harder to get up and get going early when there's no place you have to be.  

Though it seems there isn't much going on as life has temporarily been put on hold; a lot happened this week.  Nan and Bruce's mission was closed down in a day and they were on there way home the next.  They arrived home Saturday night.  They will self quarantine for a couple of weeks (of course, we're all self quarantining, so it's not much different from anyone else).  James was also waiting for a flight out of Ethiopia but I haven't heard yet if he is on his way.  Jason Cook, Bruce's grandson has opted to stay in the Dominican Republic (in his mission it was left up to the missionary and the families).  I believe Grant Nielson will soon be on his way home as well.  Phil mentioned in his letter that Grant has served 20 months, but because of his diabetes, he will be released now.  I know that Dave's grandson, Colin Norton, is in California. I am assuming he will stay there as he hasn't been out long.

Our governor called for a weekend of prayer.  It is great to be involved in a spiritual effort with our larger community, even while being sequestered in our own homes.  

On two different mornings this week, I helped grandchildren with their homework.  Oli came over one morning, and Yuna the next.  I enjoyed it, but Caitlyn gave me a hard time.  She works at a doctor's office and said that I probably shouldn't even take the chance of associating with my grand kids.  That makes me sad.  I think that Caitlyn's at the highest risk of any of us because of her work situation, so she may be right in thinking that the kids need to stay away.  

Sara's dad was able to drive by and wave to his grandchildren yesterday.  With his pending heart surgery (and the previous botched attempt), it is especially important for him to stay away from people.  After he drove by Nick's house, he drove by his parents home where Sara's grandma is nearing the end of her life.  Sadly, he could only drive by and wave.

Last week I mentioned that we took over Nick's chicken coop since our chickens were bigger and needed to be separated from our older, meaner chickens. So, we owed Nick a coop.  Roy went over yesterday and helped to put it together.  We definitely got the best end of this deal, as Nick had spent 9 hours putting our coop together, and this time, Roy only showed up to help him assemble his.  It was a quicker 6 hours in this last attempt.

Catharine and Nick

This picture wasn't taken yesterday, but it's an example of how Avie is
entertaining herself and her parents during this period of
isolation.  Besides make-up (which Effie applied), she has enjoyed
cracking eggshells on the floor and crumbling crackers
on the bed.  Everyone needs something to do, right?

I have made bread a couple of times this week and
realize that I'm out of practice.  Though they tasted
great, my loaves would have failed miserably
on the Great British Baking show.  This white
loaf was over-raised, and my whole wheat ones
cracked in the oven.  Bread making is easy, but
it's an art.

Having our Come Follow Me and our "at-home" Sacrament meeting.

Videos like the one above of Bridget make us so happy! 

Roy is making a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce for our Davis County kids to get a drive by dinner.  He bought individual chocolate milk to give to the kids.  He's a great example of ministering.  He has kept tabs on all his families, helped our  own children, and is aware and helpful to elderly neighbors.  He's in his element when he's serving others.  

My testimony has been strengthened through all of this.  I know that we have a prophet.  He is inspired and directed by God and it has been obvious.  He is mindful of his flock--Nan told us of the miracles it took to get as many missionaries out of the Congo as they did.  I am so looking forward to General Conference and the messages of faith, patience and hope that we will certainly hear.  I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for the leadership of the prophet and the apostles, that we can be prepared to face uncertain times as we follow their counsel.

Covid 19

This week has made a place in history because of Covid 19.  I know there have been other scares in the past with the swine flu and other illnesses, but I've never seen anything like this. President Russell M. Nelson told us 6 months ago that the next conference season would be "unforgettable."  He may have been referring to conference itself, but I think he may also have had some idea of what was coming for all of us.  When we look at the "Come Follow Me" program and all of the other changes we've seen over the past couple of years, we know we are following the Prophet of the Lord's church.  I am so grateful that I have this guidance and someone I can follow with complete faith that we will be led in the right direction--the direction that will lead us to our Savior.
There are definite blessings that come from being prepared.  We have plenty of food in our home, and even plenty of toilet paper 😀.  We did make a trip to the store on Thursday night after a visit to the temple (right before it closed).  We wanted bananas.  There was not one banana or apple in the store, which we found interesting since bananas and apples are perishable.  We took a few pictures.

The lines

Cereal aisle

Keep in mind that it was 9:00 at night.  All of the eggs were gone, much of the yogurt, all the toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning wipes, etc.  I think our real worry is the run on the stores rather than the virus--especially since we are doing some social isolation as a community.

Everyone's lives are being put on hold to some degree.  I would have thought I could have kept doing almost everything I normally do, but they have cancelled my water aerobics classes for at least 2 weeks, and there is a good chance the Rec center will be closed as well--so no skating (it is closed today and tomorrow--at a board meeting on Monday it will be decided if it will close).
I think my kids were praying that school would stay open, but alas, it has been cancelled for  the next 2 weeks--and then it is spring break. Concerts/plays/and meetings are postponed.  I am sure this means a lot of money lost for various venues and corporations.  I'm sure it will also mean a loss of income for many individuals.

In a Marco Polo to Caitlyn, Ruby said that she hates the Corona virus,  she said, "I just want it to be healed."

Andy received an award recently--resident of the month--he said it might be a joke because he's never noticed anyone getting the award before--but I'm pretty sure it was legit.  He will continue seeing patients as usual, as will Caitlyn in her receptionist job in a Bountiful medical clinic.  She says it has been quite interesting there, for example, people coming in to be checked "just in case".  People are fearful.

Roy has instructed his employees to work from home and Nick is also working at home.  I'm not sure about Dan.  I went to pick up some prescriptions at the pharmacy and was asked if the clerk could initial everything for me, so she didn't have to send the pad back and forth (for germs).

Prior to the schools closing, Adrienne went on a field trip with Oli.  I took Finn and Ila for most of the school day.  Adrienne was a little nervous that they still took the field trip with everything going on--especially since she was assigned 3 little boys, and one of them was sniffing a lot and kept touching her.  The kids were darling for me.  Finn took great care of his little sister (though I did have to remind him a couple of times not to bounce so high when Ila was on the tramp with him).

I found a doll for Ila to play with.  Caitlyn
told her to "say cheese."

me with Ila and Finn

 Ila had to do everything that Finn did.

We found one egg in the coop which I cooked for lunch.
Ila ate it--I guess she likes eggs more than Finn does.

I got a start at organizing the toys--Ila liked the empty bin.

Here's our new chicken coop for the new chickens (last week
I said they were 18 months old, but they're only 18 weeks).
It's not bad to have chickens when there are no eggs to be
found in the stores.  Actually, they are always yummy--way
better than store-bought eggs.  We had put the new chickens
in with the old, but they were getting beat up, so we took the coop that Nick bought for his new chicks that don't quite need them yet, then Roy bought another one just like it for Nick when he needs it.  He'll have to go help Nick put it together.

Caitlyn made us our Saturday night dessert
--chocolate mousse with strawberries;
and Roy wanted lemon wafers on his
The problem with this "break" from life
is that I feel like I'm on vacation and I should be
making lots of good things to eat.

I have lots I can do even without going anywhere, but it'll be an interesting couple of weeks.
Today was wonderful.  I felt a great spirit as we took the sacrament in our home (Roy had permission).  We sang songs just as we would have at church, read the first presidency message and watched the video, and then we studied Come follow Me.  We heard from our children that they had great experiences in their families as well.  Dan said his kids planned it all.  Doyeon bore her testimony and Hyeji gave a talk on obedience, and then bore her testimony, "I believe this church, that we're not at, is true."  Elise met with some members in her neighborhood and said it was wonderful.  Nick's girls sang "Do what I'm doing"  Ori said, "It's fun pretending to have church." (Nick explained that it wasn't a game), and Crista said they had their meeting and then would continue to treat Sunday as they always do.  Her girls bore their testimonies as well, and they had an added item of interest--a microphone, which made it all the more real for the girls.
I think this is a great teaching opportunity for our families to teach the kids why we worship our Savior and why it's important to take the sacrament, even when we can't go to church.  I was impressed that many in our family dressed up for this important meeting, even though none of us had to leave our homes.  I realize that it's more of a challenge for those with little children, but it sounded as if it mostly went well with only a little "murmuring."

We will learn from this emergency, and it will pass.  I am just slightly concerned that Nan and Bruce might have a harder time getting home than they were planning on; but I'm sure they'll get home at some point (I think they get done in the middle of April).  I have complete trust in our Savior and thus I am not even a little worried about this hiccup in our lives.   He is in charge. Also, let's not forget that we have each other at this time.

A few more days in Georgia

 Caitlyn and I enjoyed the rest of our stay in Georgia.  We had a LOT of rain.  We thought we just had bad luck, but we had really bad luck because Elise told me today that they had had 500% more rain than normal.  We did have a couple of nice days for walking, though.
We also enjoyed working out in Elise's gym.  She is a member of a fitness center that has very liberal guest policies.  She was able to take both of us every day while we were there.  Most of the exciting things to do in Augusta (besides golf) is outdoors,  but we weren't bored because we went there to see the Jackson's, not Augusta.  Andy had the night shift every night while we were there--starting at 11 pm.  So, after he woke up for the day we were able to interact with him as well.

Beverly--we ate Mexican for lunch one day while the
boys were in school.  She can eat well if it's convenient
and she doesn't have distractions.

Catharine  on Elise's electric scooter.  

Caitlyn on Elise's electric scooter

The last night in Georgia we took everyone for ice cream.  The kids had their own little table with a chalk board, so they loved it.

Caitlyn, Andy and Catharine

Cait and Mav.  Selfie in the car!

As you can see, the Jackson kids love Caitlyn
Beverly, Mav and Max

While we were gone Roy bought 6 new chickens.  This time he bought older chickens.  They are 18 months old.  He introduced them to the current residents of the coop and they were not happy, so Caitlyn had to take it upon herself to protect them--and they love her.  The little white one follows her around.

Roy kept a full schedule while we were gone, taking care of lots of things he doesn't have time to do when I'm around--like visiting his dad; re-waxing the downstairs cement floor...and he had a young men's activity.  He missed me though.  It reminded me of my own mother coming out to help me when Adrienne was born.  After a week I walked out to find her sweeping the garage.  I said, "Mom, you don't have to sweep my garage.  Then I realized she was crying.  I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I just miss Vernon."

New chickens

We got a lot of chores done on Saturday.
I had another ward conference that I had to speak at (in the YW/YM meeting) on Sunday.  The theme was the restoration.  I decided at the last minute (since the kids didn't seem to be willing to participate) that I'd change up my part.  I told the story of John Howland falling off the Mayflower.  I mentioned that I thought he was a direct ancestor, but found out I was wrong.  (I guess I didn't listen well at Cook Family Organization meeting in February, because I asked about him at the meeting and was told that when they told the story, they had been talking about how it says on Family Search that he's our direct ancestor, but it's wrong).  I said that Heavenly Father had been working on the restoration for a long time before Joseph Smith ever went out to the grove to pray,  then I told the story.  It segued well into some other things I had prepared.  One more ward conference next Sunday and then I'm done for the year.
 Roy left on Sunday evening to go to St. George for a conference.  It's good he'll only be gone for 24 hours.