April 2020 at the Alspaugh's

April is always a month full of special celebrations in our home, though it seems to be a hard month every year, as well. This year proved no different, as we happened to spend it in quarantine.

April 10th, Mike and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary, 4 days after celebrating our 26th dating anniversary. This year, rather than going out together, we celebrated as a family by ordering take-out from our favorite restaurant. Then Juan disappeared and came back with banana splits for all of us. And my anniversary gift? A new office chair for my new home office, aka--my bedroom.

April 14th, we celebrated Julian's 27th birthday, making sure he knew he was loved and never forgotten about, though he's living far away in Buenos Aires, Argentina, far from both of his beloved siblings. We walked to the grocery store to get milk and came home with a pie. :)

April 18th, four days later, we celebrated Laura's 18th birthday. Juan went to the store to pick up medicine and came home with a cake to celebrate his sister, specifically to celebrate the last of his siblings to become an adult.

In addition to our celebrations, David and I have found several things to do together to pass our time. We've taken up biking and have ridden over 50 miles together (he's ridden a bit more than I have). I took a tumble over a parking curb, of all things, right in front of a doctor's office and am pretty sure I broke my toe. It's put a damper on my morning nature walks for right now, but at least I can still ride, so I'm going to have to go for morning nature rides instead until my toe heals. I'll spare you the pictures of my very purple toe, but here are my nature pics that keep me inspired every day.

We've also done quite a few different photo shoots--one for senior pics that we never had done, one to show my FLAT niece from Indiana around town for her school project (like Flat Stanley), and then more of David at his high school. Kinda made me sad to realize that, although school isn't over yet, he's already closed the door on that chapter of his life at Sachse High School, knowing he won't walk those halls again.

 We showed our flat niece our church, the soccer fields where David literally grew up and then worked his first job, 

 Whataburger (a Texas thing), David's MST Elementary School, 

 Our favorite coffee shop, Rosalind, a pic with Texas bluebonnets, 

 Big Lots, Chick Fil-A

 The front porch swing, Juan's surprise at how tall she actually is, 

 and our schools, where I work, and where David went and Juan works. Now we hope she'll come to Texas to visit us some day. 

We're still waiting on a final decision for graduation, but I plan to send out his announcements this week anyway.  We truly are launching this class into the twilight zone.

I continue to work and teach from home, enthusiastically for the kids that are working, while desperately trying to keep the rest of the kids on board as their participation rates drop daily. That part is truly draining, both mentally and emotionally. So I'm having to get creative to draw them back in and keep them working for the next four weeks. I've also been working through online trainings to get my Google Level 1 Certification, busily "preparing" for an unknown future with virtual schooling. I'm glad I finally "have" the time to get the training because it's all super helpful in the classroom, as well.

Juan is battling a hard allergy season and is struggling through this pandemic away from the company of people. Watching him deal with this is just another reminder of how trauma affects the brain and keeps him behind, that "learned helplessness" that comes with having lived so much of life institutionalized. Trauma is real and has lifelong effects on the brain. While David is creatively and proactively finding new things to do to keep himself busy and active through this, Juan will sleep his day away, struggle to sleep all night, and keep himself glued to social media and/or electronic devices. It's very hard to reason with him or even have an adult conversation with him, so I'm praying fervently that God is working on his heart and will prepare him for his next steps. While it's a difficult stage to live through with him, I'm thankful he's stuck at home and not out in any kind of trouble. The good news is that he paid off all of his school loans that he got for the first three semesters of college, giving him a fresh start to go back to school or pursue a new path. He does occasionally get out, walks the dog daily, gets creative in the kitchen, rides bike with David a little, and attends a drive-in church where his best friend's dad pastors. I don't mean to make it sound all bad. It's just different with him because of the way he processes life.

I had hoped to have more time to read and write, but daily phonecalls with parents and students, slow computers and wifi while trying to upload my plans, constant texting with parents, accepting and grading work at all hours of the day, zoom meetings and google hangouts have filled my time and stretched me thin, despite being at home and not having to go anwhere.

So with that, we wrap up April of 2020 and see what May brings to this twilight zone that we never imagined we'd ever through. I'm thankful we're all healthy, though. I'll keep you tuned on graduation!