quarantine.

Well, today is the day.

​We are free.

We have been doing a precautionary quarantine after Mr. Farmhouse and our Mattie-girl were exposed to Covid-19 a few Tuesdays ago.

Although we really weren't very worried that they had actually been close enough for long enough to contract the virus, the health department recommended that we stay at home for two weeks.

So we did.

Now -- I can't complain.  

My brother and then his wife contracted the virus.  While they did feel kind of crummy for a few days, they experienced mostly mild symptoms as they stayed at home.  However, because of the dates of exposure and symptoms and all the rules & recommendations from the CDC, my niece and nephew have to quarantine until August 15th.  So -- please be in prayer for them!

Full disclosure here -- as a school administrator, the last six months have been a blur. 

I have said several times that I feel like we are living in a movie.  This doesn't seem like real life, as we make decisions about how to deliver instruction to children in the safest way over the next school year.  

While my 10 1/2 month school-year contract officially ends on June 15th and begins again on August 1st each year, this summer there have been too many decisions to make to really take much of a break.  

And then...quarantine happened.

Sure, I continued to work on giving input for school reopening plans and I did continue focusing on some of my school duties over the last few weeks.

But I also spent many hours every single day over the last two weeks working alongside Mr. Farmhouse and the girls to complete projects that we have been planning to get to "someday".  

• I finally built that barnwood hanger for my race medals.
• We finished the Rustic Rooster.
• I power-washed the deck (a new coat of stain coming soon!).
• Using materials we already had at home, Mr. Farmhouse made my barnwood laundry shelf vision come to life.
• We transplanted flowers and moved the carport to make way for the building process to start on our garage/man cave.
• Mr. Farmhouse hung the sheetrock for Claire Bear's bedroom walls and started wiring the electric needed to hang her ceiling fan.
• We put together the porch swing we have had in a box for the last THREE YEARS.
• We finally had that kindergarten graduation party for our Mattie-Moo that we had been putting off.
• We even put up our fall decorations a few months early (no shame here!).

And farmhouse projects weren't the only thing we accomplished.

• We ate every single meal -- breakfast, lunch, and supper -- around the table.
• The girls swam every day in the old water trough and we had a fire in the fire pit almost every evening.
• We walked through the garden every day, as a family.
  
• We were together from the time we got up until the time we went to sleep.
• The girls had slumber parties at night and helped each other deep-clean their bedrooms during the day.
• We saw so many beautiful sunsets right here at our house.

Not being able to leave the house for two weeks isn't ideal.

If we weren't in quarantine, I wouldn't have had to cancel our annual well-child checkups for the girls, piano lessons, & tutoring.

Mr. Farmhouse could have been working and I wouldn't have had to miss a few in-person meetings at school.

We could have allowed being stuck at home for two weeks with no symptoms to be irritating and a reason to complain.

However, last night, as Mr. Farmhouse and I rode the Ranger through the field moving hot-wire for the cows, I looked around and smiled.

Thank you, Lord, for this time we have had together.  Thanks for slowing us down and giving us the opportunity to connect deeply before we all head off into the unknown of this school year.  Thank you that my brother's family has had mild symptoms and that they have the opportunity to work from home.  Just thank you, Lord.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Amen

Back to the real world today, friends.

Sending gratitude to God from the farmhouse,
Hannah

​♥️🏡♥️