Snapshots of Quarantine

Like the rest of the world, we have been sheltering in place here in the VM House.  While there is much I can say about all the feelings that come with this, I think I will mostly let the pictures I've been taking for the past 2 weeks do the talking.  Today the girls officially begin their distance learning and one of Delia's assignments is to create a Power Point about her personal experience throughout this historic time.  She asked me to write this post so she could grab some of my pictures. :)

 We started with a very ambitious Corona-virus to-do list, but as the days stretched longer and we got lazier, we paired it down to these 7 things, and, in some ways, this alone sums up our experience pretty perfectly!

 There has been much sleeping and not as much showering or regular clothes wearing.

  I have loved reading my all time favorite YA book aloud with Delia (and Ivy!).

 Delia continues to practice her lines and choreography for Aladdin (she did get a major part!), with the hope that somehow the show will go on.

We each take turns picking what board game we'll play each night.  If you've ever played Pandemic, you will find this as hilarious as we did!

 Watch for Ella and Delia's Masterclass in Fort Making-- coming soon!  ;) This one was so cool, I let them keep it up for several days...and even sleep in it.

Ivy is in heaven!  We walk her ALL the time now.  The girls skate every single day.

We try to support our town's small businesses.  We've been making lots of visits to our local donut shop.  Above, some sweet encouragement from our town's cute home goods store!

I'm part of the 8 person team running our online church services each Sunday.  It's very strange to see Dave preach to an empty sanctuary, but we're thankful for the technology that keeps us connected and the Lord's promise that "where two or three gather in my name, I am there."

Everything ended up being fine, but at the beginning of all this, I got some irregular test results back from a routine visit and had to go in ASAP for follow up.  This was possibly my most unsettling experience thus far-- a long line out the hospital doors to be screened and a totally empty, normally bustling, radiology department.

We had to stop at school last week to clean out lockers and pick up supplies from teachers.

And today we start our learning from home!

Thinking of you, loved family members and friends!  Wishing you health and eyes to see the gifts and possibilities in each strange new day.  Praying for healing and strength for our land, so we can soon return to some semblance of normalcy. 

Winter Drama

It's been a busy winter balancing the practices of not just one, but TWO drama productions for Ella.  When the second show closed last weekend, the director pointed out that some of these kids were on their fourth play in less than a calendar year (Annie Get Your Gun, Singin' In the Rain, Women And War and Meet Me in St. Louis)!  We LOVE our school's drama program and feel excited that Ella could gain even more experience in  2 more drastically different dramas.

The long story is that after the huge success of Singin' In the Rain, about twice as many kids tried out for the winter drama, Meet Me in St. Louis, as what the director needed.  Not wanting to cut anyone or lose any interest or momentum, she found and cast a whole second show, Women And War, so everyone could have a part.  Meet Me in St. Louis was the headliner and was cast with mostly upperclassman, but it's the one Ella originally landed a part in.  Then, the director asked her later to help out with a small role in Women And War too.  

Women And War was SO cool!  It was a one act, monologue-style story, telling the life long affects of war on the not just the people who fight, but on the family members at home, the SOS girls, the nurses on the front lines, the telegraph operators, even the Donut Gals (which was the part Ella played).  Characters emotionally told of husbands, sons, and brothers dying, abuse they endured, limbs they lost or amputated, heartbreaking telegraphs they sent, etc.  I totally cried.  To add to the intimate and intense telling of the stories, all the audience seating was right up on stage with the characters, giving it a black box theater feel.

Ella and her good friend Ansley were the 2 Donut Gals.  They told of making and delivering coffee and donuts to the soldiers and they were the only ones who did not have a sad story to tell.

The cast of Women And War in real life (above) and in artistic form (below).

A few weeks later, it was time to perform the full length comedy Meet Me In St. Louis.  This play could not have been more different!  It was HILARIOUS!  It was about a family with 5 crazy kids who were told they had to move from their home in St. Louis to New York for their dad's job.  The kids met this news with rebellion and anarchy, doing things like derailing trolleys by tossing dummies on the track, biting the boss, slapping boys, throwing cats at people, or soaking them with water.  Ella played Mrs. Waughop, the irate, offended, and prim neighbor to this completely senseless family.  She'd often storm into the neighbors' house to lecture them about dousing her dress with flour or stomping through her flower gardens.  Even though this part could not have been more of a stretch for sweet, earnest Ella, she played it perfectly and got tons of laughs.

I thought it was so cool to watch her in two plays that evoked such strong emotion-- tears one weekend and roaring laughter a few weekends later!

Meet Me in St. Louis had TEN seniors take their final bow and kiss the stage goodbye.  Ella has loved learning from, laughing with, and becoming friends with these older role models.  We are all sad to lose such a huge group of major talent, but the upcoming freshman can bring it too!  The above picture is our director with the freshman.  She told Dave and I after one of the shows how proud she is to work with students who are such versatile actors, and many of them so young still!

And a friend picture to close.  Ella loved having her sweet group of buddies come cheer her on!  Though high school drama is now done for the year, life shows no signs of slowing down!  This month, Ella's other major extra curricular activity, Robotics, will be going to the 2 major competitions they've been preparing for since January.  And Delia's Aladdin cast list goes up tomorrow.  So, stay tuned for recaps of this year's equally exciting Acts 2 and 3!