Operation: Asa Joy

 This week has definitely not gone the way I envisioned. I had plans to go out and write every day. Carl was planning to work from home on Monday and Wednesday and go in on Tuesday. Thursday and Friday are holidays so he was off anyway.  It was going to be a relaxing week getting ready for things to get back to normal next week. God had different plans though. Esther tested positive for COVID on Monday most likely from being exposed working at Chick Fil A from a customer or a co worker who came to work having symptoms.  At first I was angry. I could not understand why anyone would come to work with COVID symptoms and expose all their co workers and all the customers that drive through every day. I cried tears after having to call my mother and father telling them that with all the precautions we had taken that they had been exposed. I cried hearing my daughter call all her friends and tell them that she had exposed them. I was frustrated and upset and could not understand...

 What a year! I look back over my prayer and goals for 2020 and can honestly say that I NEVER expected this year to go the way it did.  At the end of 2019 I was coming off the amazing high of directing A Weaving of Grace. I poured my heart into that production and was ready to do the same with my next show, Anything But Normal. I was so excited. And then March came. I remember watching Tirzah act in the Gingerbread Man knowing that my show was next and being so excited and ready.  Then the world shut down.  Instead of directing my show, I had to suffer the loss of it being cancelled. And then watching every other show be cancelled for the season. My days were filled with trying to figure out Zoom meetings and explaining to my children why we couldn't go out to restaurants or coffee shops. I had to watch as finding masks became an every day thing. I had to watch a child almost end up in the hospital with an asthma attack because of the masks he was now required to wea...

 I remember it like it was a few months ago... Oh, wait... it was. William called me on the phone from his bedroom. It was a Sunday and Carl and I were out running errands. He told me that he felt bad. I was like, "What kind of bad?" He responded with the dreaded words in our country today. "I have a fever and a headache. I am coughing and just feel awful." I sighed and told him that we would be right home. We flew home and indeed he had a fever but his main complaint was that he was having a hard time breathing. It set off a whirlwind of activity for the next day. Carl called his work to let them know and so did Esther and Nathan. All three places of employment said not to come in to work.  We drove down to the Army base with William to be seen and tested. Esther had come to us on Sunday too and informed us that she thought she had poison ivy. She is highly allergic and it goes systemic. She does not even have to physical touch it. If she touches a shirt with the o...

 In 2020 I have been reading through Paul Tripp's New Morning Mercies . I have enjoyed it thoroughly. This morning I read,  "On your very worst day and on your very best day, you are blessed with pleasures that come right from the hand of God. That tells you that you don't get these pleasures because you've earned them, but because He is a God of grace. He graces you with good things because He is good, not because you are." It was interesting because this morning I got up a little earlier than I normally do. I went into the kitchen to start making coffee when Esther, my 17 year old daughter, flew into the kitchen in a panic. She works at Chick-Fil-A and she has a shift this morning. Apparently her alarms did not go off this morning and she woke up 15 minutes before her shift was to start. She has a 20-25 minute commute to work. She jumped out of bed and got dressed and ran out to her car. She did hug me before she flew out the door only to find her car covered in...