Quarantine? Are you serious?  What does that even mean?  According to our handy dictionary, it means, a state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.  I haven’t been anywhere?  They are telling me what??  I have to stay home? Educate my children?? Put up with my husband all day???  WHAT????

This was fine in March…then April…then May (it’s got to end soon, right?) …then June…now we are in July and we are still here, living this quarantine life.  To be honest, it has not been so bad?  In fact, it’s been kind of a blessing!  I could certainly sit and tell our terrible story of how we have our fifth child still sitting in an orphanage in China waiting for us to come and get him with no news of when that will be, but I’d rather focus on the grace this season of life has given to us.

When this pandemic hit the United States and we shut down almost everything within a week’s time in our country it was a little alarming.  It stirred emotions of anxiety within myself, my husband, and my children that I had never seen before.  Then as we began to take things one day at a time beautiful things started to unfold.  I was able to sit back and see grace in so many moments that I had never seen before.

I had never been able to sit side by side with my 8-year-old and work on math with him. I was able to see his frustrations (mostly with online platforms) and love him through those frustrating moments…even laughing together at times.  I was able to sit with my 6-year-old with Down Syndrome, who is only now learning to talk, and celebrate every new word and number we learned together.  I have never cheered so loud for the number 10 or the color grey!  I was able to witness my husband in his job which I have never been able to see before.  I could see how tirelessly he works for us and how stressful his job is.  In the moments I would pass by him and I’d see his hand on his forehead trying to work out a problem, I could silently say a “Hail Mary!” for him.  Our oldest girls were given the opportunity to show how independent they are and how helpful they can be with their little brothers.

Grace upon grace!  Amidst this increased anxiety our family decided prayer was essential for us.  We started praying a Rosary together every evening asking Mary to intercede on behalf of the world.  We also prayed our Chaplet of Divine Mercy, The Litany of Humility, and no matter where we are at noon, we all pray the Angelus together.

I truly believe that part of this quarantine life is God’s plan for us to renew our families.  To slow down, to hug more, and laugh the most!  My prayer for all of you reading this is that you are able to escape the trap of focusing on the little annoyances of being stuck in your home and be free to see countless little daily graces and reflect on them.