Disappointment and Joy

We are really getting good at at-home church now. 

Sacrament meeting AND Come Follow Me.

Honestly, its not longer than an hour, but as we were wrapping up,

when it came someone's turn to comment, they simply said, 

"I'm tapped out, could we please just wrap this up."

(I personally have loved going from 3 hour church plus FHE,

to 2 hour church plus Come Follow Me (which counts as FHE),

to the current at-home church: Sacrament/ComeFollowMe/FHE all wrapped into one hour.)

I seriously hope this kind of church lasts forever. 

But that's easy for me to say because my kids are basically raised

so I'm not relying on my church village as I used to.

Today is Courtney's 25th birthday! 

Because the mail is so slow with Coronavirus, she did not receive the birthday package I sent, neither the one Rhonda (Michael's mom) sent, nor the one Michael had shipped to her.

In spite of us all planning ahead! 

Good thing Michael is so creative and so is her roommate. 

Michael made a wall mural for Courtney's birthday decoration!

Yesterday she needed to vent a little about the disappointments she was feeling.

Her wedding won't be like she was imagining. 

It's easy to say, "It's ok! It will be great anyway!"

But there are quite a few details that when you really think about it, really stink.

Not to mention all the opinions of people who want to have an opinion

on how you should do your wedding.

She qualified everything with, "I know so many people have Corona concerns that are much worse..."

She's right. But that doesn't mean she's not allowed to be disappointed.

Not celebrating your wedding day with all your family and friends sucks.

And it's okay to say so.

Courtney's first New York Corona mask she made from a scarf.

Marty and Lizzie are super excited about their upcoming wedding on Saturday,

but, yeah, they have things they're really disappointed about too.

And in addition to wedding changes, Marty's internship got cancelled.

And Chris is working through his disappointment of not getting to go back to Mexico right away --

and the reality that he might never get to back there during his mission.

He really loved it. He loved the people and the language. He loved living in Sonora.

Nick is disappointed that I make him stay home when so many of his friends 

are hanging out and disregarding social distancing. 

And yet, these guys are making the most of their situations. 

Finding things that make them happy. Being grateful for what they have.

Trusting God will help make things better.

He can consecrate our disappointments so that we find joy even amidst them.

We took Marge Sunday dinner tonight and I visited with her for a minute and everyone else waved from the car. She's keeping a positive outlook in spite of being homebound.

Marge waving from the bottom corner of the window. Watching how good of a driver Nick is!

Tonight we watched Groundhog Day.

Perfect movie for this strange time!

As a family we talked about finding people to serve this week.

Making sandwiches for the Good Samaritan House or Food Bank.

How can we help ease the burdens of others? I'll let you know what we find.