March began normal, like any other month. We were starting to hear more about a new sickness in China spreading but there were no real concerns being raised yet in India.
Ezra started back to his twice a week golf lessons and now Madelyn was old enough to join. It was an exciting day for her. She doesn't have as much natural talent for the game but she certainly has excitement and a competitive spirit.
We took a family road trip to see some friends in Punjab.
We saw a farmer with his tractor parked on the side of the road and he let us take some pictures in it because the scenery was just so beautiful.
After school driving range fun with her daddy.
I love her sense of style. :)
We went on a family date to the mall to see Onwards. We also went to the trampoline park in the mall and the kids found a couple of plants at the plant stall that they wanted to take home with us. It was such a fun family day together.
March 10th was Holi. Luke was out of town and Madelyn didn't feel well but we had a lot of fun.
We started the day with our traditional colorful Holi breakfast.
The kids played with waterballoons and water guns in the street.
They also loved throwing them at neighbors who walked by, which is very welcome on Holi.
The last time the kids would play outside for about 100 days.
The Prime Minister announced a practice lockdown day which made me concerned that we were going to actually lockdown soon. I went to out and bought a month's worth of meat and nicer food items that we can't get from our local market. I am SO thankful I did. The meat shop and the nicer stores did close down in the next day or so and didn't open for about a month. Thankfully we had stocked up and were able to plan out our meals with what we had in the kitchen.
I also made a weekday schedule to help give our days productivity and rhythm.
As the need arose I would edit this and ended up remaking our schedule about 5 times in over the next few months of lockdown.
With the kids stuck inside, LEGOs quickly become a favorite toy.
We also found ourselves hanging in the hammock on the balcony more.
We started a daily putt putt challenge. Each day someone new got to set up the 9 hole course through our house. It was a fun thing to look forward to each day.
Playing putt putt and getting creative with holes.
The kids makeshift driving range. :)
We started watching our local church service online.. it was so great to see our friends faces again.
The kids banging their pots and lids along with a neighbors as a sign of unity and hope.
More fun putt putt games.
The kids and I made mug cakes for the first time and they were awesome!
Madelyn has been getting a lot of good practice in those foundational educational things like number sequencing and sight words.
Ezra learning to sew because his Chase doll had a hole in it.
Art for Kids Hub on youtube was also a favorite new activity for the kids.
Lots of reading with the kids, especially in Hindi to keep up their skills since their Hindi tutor wasn't able to come. We did end up having online video Hindi class starting in April.
Lockdown was announced suddenly and all people were forced to stay inside unless they worked in a hospital or were going. to a hospital. Stores were only allowed to open for a few hours of the day and it took a few days for the owners to get the necessary passes. So for a few days there were no stores, no chemist shops, no fruits or vegetable carts. It was something we had never experienced. I woke up the first day of lockdown with an eye infection but wasn't able to get medicine for 3 days. I realized how privileged we are to have never gone without anything we needed before this moment. Despite all the unknowns and insecurities we tried to keep our house light hearted. We didn't talk to the kids about the issues going on and played a lot of games with them.
We were no longer able to leave the house, even to stand on the street, especially the kids, so this small area behind our house became a saving grace for us to have some fresh air to play in.
We also got creative with indoor space like pushing the sofas to the side of the room and letting the kids ride their scooters.
Wii also became an energy booster.
The end of March is Luke's birthday. We were supposed to be in Thailand on a family vacation with his mom but instead we were on lockdown. It was a hard pill to swallow but we made the most of our time together and celebrated with some sweet time together and cake.
The kids giving their card to Luke.
I made Luke a golf themed birthday cake.
Once the stores did open I stocked up on everything we would need for another month just in case they loss their chain of supply (which they did) or closed down again (which they didn't).
It was a crazy thing to live through and our peace in the Lord was tested and grew stronger.
