Life Lessons

Today was the day I came home from my mission 21 years ago. This is the only pic I have of Corey and I on that memorable day, along with two friends - friend from high school Dave, and my Snow college roommate Diana. (I should have gotten one with just Corey and I, but that might have been "too forward" of me, so we just played it like "we're friends")

I'm really glad that it worked out between the two of us. I had counted down to that day for over 18 months since I knew when the end of my mission would be, but I also had been looking forward to that day for 3 1/2 years. I've blogged a little bit about it before, December 2nd was the day my life with Corey began again, so it's kinda like also like a New Year's Day / New Beginnings Anniversary for me. It is also the day that one of my heroes passed away, the amazing Shannon Cloward. I gave her a shout out on social media as one of my heroes, for my Light the World post for today - 

I'm grateful for so many wonderful examples in my life. One I have mentioned before, but would like to share again, is Shannon Cloward, who passed away 9 years ago today. She is one of my heroes and is a Christlike example that I still remember and am inspired by. Her 10 Life Lessons seem very appropriate for today and what we are all going through! If one of her life lessons is helpful or applicable to you, feel free to share it in the comments

#1 - Always come to church

#2 - This is not my real home

#3 - Don't be scared about the future - focus on the day you're on

#4 - Read other people's accounts

#5 - Have an attitude of gratitude

#6 - Have confidence in yourself

#7 - Make it a priority to keep moving

#8 - Plan something fun

#9 - Life is a polishing experience

#10 - We don't own our problems, God does

#givethanks #LightTheWorld #lighttheworld2020

And then I put in the comments: 

Life lesson #3 - our son Joseph got covid results back today and he's positive. I am praying and striving to not worry or be scared - "Don't be scared about the future - focus on the day you're on" Today is a good day. My kids are all here at home with us and safe. We'll be isolating for 2 weeks, but we are so grateful we didn't expose any extended family over Thanksgiving. Today we are good, and I know God loves us!

So I shared that along with the 2011 blog post with more details of what she shared about each of her Life Lessons. She was just amazing. I always think of her on December 2nd - it's the day I finished my church mission, and the day she finished her mortal mission. We will all be called back home. 

And speaking of passing away - yes, Joseph got his covid test result and he is positive. We don't think he'll die, but I know covid is not a joke or something to take lightly. He slept in, and was feeling a little feverish when he woke up. He looked at his phone and he saw that he missed a phone call from Intermountain Health. (They only call you if you're positive). He didn't know how to check his voicemail though, so then we texted our pediatrician, and he said to call his office, so we did, and a doctor there gave us the positive news. Joseph didn't think to ask about Wes and Abi, so I called about them later and was relieved that they were negative, since they were both sick on Monday we thought they already had it.

Then I set about right away calling all the schools and let them know and that I was on my way to pick up my kids, cause we've all been exposed to someone who is covid positive. The school nurses and Health Departments from the school districts are going to call me, but we are staying in isolation for 10-14 days. I've gotten different instructions: Schools said 14 days, the hospital told me 10. But it also depends on what symptoms the rest of us show as the days progress. They wanted to know when we were first exposed. I said a week ago on Wednesday when Joseph came home from school. Then we were all together for Wed, Thurs, and Friday. On Saturday, Joseph told us that his room roommate Jared felt sick on Friday, went to get tested, and found out Sat that he was positive. Another roommate found out yesterday that he is positive too. Joseph said "I'm positive that I'm positive." And he was right, so we've kinda been keeping our distance since Saturday as soon as we found out about that first covid positive roommate. So I gave Nov 28th as our official exposed date. Joseph has mostly been in the laundry room doing homework and teaching the MTC, but Daniel, Peter (and I) have shared a bedroom with Joseph the past few days, that probably isn't good - I think I probably got it. When I called to get Wes and Abi's results today the nice nurse lady, Anna, set us all up to go get tested today. After we got QR codes to let us in, we all drove down. Lots of cars were already parked with big numbers on their windshields. The only number I remember seeing of the other cars waiting was "93" and I thought "Ohh.... we're gonna be here for a while..." Corey and I were both on hold for over 40 minutes.

Four of us got the tubes to do the spit test, kids 5 and under had to do the nasal test, lucky them.

Since Abi felt fine and just had a negative result, I let her stay home while the rest of us drove down to Alta View for our tests. The saliva test is hard. They want saliva/drool only, no mucus. I tried it twice but couldn't do it without mucus, so then after our long time on hold, we went over to turn in spit for Lily and the rest of us did the nasal test. Lily's saliva sample was perfect! I've never been so impressed with saliva. She didn't even have any bubbles! Wow. A probably not very useful hidden talent, but impressive nonetheless. 

Corey and I both called separately the number they gave us for the nasal test, and he got through before me and luckily we all were able to drive up together, so I got to hang up my on hold call. Corey and Hyrum in one car, the rest of us behind him. C and H did their test and H said it was worse than Walgreens and they left for home. Wes and I were next, since we promised not to cry and make the little kids scared. She passed out suckers to get everyone to trust her and with that Daniel smiled and got it stuck up his nose and he did SOO good, not a peep! I hardly knew he got it done, then he sneezed 3 times. He was standing up and looking over Peter's carseat. 

Peter was amazing, he just sat there working on his double fisted suckers and then he was done. His eyes were a little watery, but no tears. You can barely see Daniel's double suckers above Peter's head. Double suckers all around.

Next Natalie - she didn't like it and cried after, same with Owen. 

I think that was a sticker from someone's spit test on Owen's forehead. We wasted 5 spit tests - we got 4, only Lily's worked, I got two more so Natalie and I could try again, and they just became trash. Nasal test it is. Doesn't feel great, but it's fast.

Sophi did good. and then we gave them Lily's saliva and we were done. They cheered when I offered a prize of hardship ice cream after we got back home. "Yay!" Corey bought fries and a few burgers at Wendy's and they liked that too. "Let's do this everyday!" 

So, I vowed last week when we got home after Hawaii, that we would not decorate for Christmas until we were all unpacked and all the laundry was done and their bedrooms clean and yada yada. Abi cleaned up while we were all gone getting our covid tests done, and then they cleaned their rooms, so I let them get out the Christmas decorations. They thus earned my blessing to decorate. 

Plus, we might as well, since it's likely that we aren't going anywhere the next two weeks!