Author: ekasey04

Our Halloween wasn’t what I expected, but it was one for the books. We set up to hand out candy, with social distancing in mind, as our street is generally pretty hard hit. We set up our patio chairs for all of us to sit and watch trick-or-treaters stroll up the driveway. We made sure to set up a table with the candy 6 feet away from us, and down the driveway a ways, so that no trick-or-treater had to touch a doorbell, or anything else that might have been touched by others. We made sure we had our soundsystem going with some nice Halloween tunes, and had the carved jack-o-lanterns lit and awaiting the tantalizing and potentially terrifying tiny trick-or-treaters that were sure to arrive.

As we eagerly awaited their arrival, we enjoyed hotdogs, laughter, dancing, and just time together as a family. I had invited my father-in-law, and our oldest son, who we were sure had better things to do, to join us for the evening. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t pleasantly surprised when Christopher texted saying he was on his way, and double checking what time the supper would be ready. As we sat and enjoyed the crisp, cool, fall air we realized fairly quickly that it would likely be a scant year for trick-or-treating. We would have a family show up, and then another maybe 10 minutes later or so. At first I was a little disappointed, but as I sat back waiting for the next group of costumed kiddos to show up, I was thankful.

What I thought I would enjoy this Halloween was the colossal amount of trick-or-treaters, and counting how many of the same princess or superhero costumes we saw, but I was wrong. The joy came this year from a nice quiet evening with family. It was nice to watch our daughter playing, in her LOL Doll costume of course, with the neighbor kid from next door. She eagerly asked “can I PLEASE walk up and down the street with her?”, and it made my heart so happy. Happy to see her so at home with us, happy to see her playing with friends in the neighborhood, and happy to see her so content on our quiet little street. I was also overjoyed to see Zeke running and dancing up and down the driveway. It was such a drastic change from last year, which included Zeke riding in a wagon with an oxygen cart, tubes, and emergency equipment as he trick-or-treated.

Halloween 2020 was not the norm, or what I even thought it would be, but I would dare to say, it couldn’t have been any better. We got to enjoy time together for a homey, healthy, happy Halloween.

Today was my first time to step foot into church since this whole pandemic shut down started back in March. Last weekend was the first time some of the children’s services opened back up, which is what I had been waiting on. I registered us for church early in the week to ensure we had a spot, but even doing so early, Zeke’s class was already full. The big kids were overjoyed as we piled into Big Betty White, our beloved 12 passenger van, and started the drive to church. You could feel their excitement exuding from them as they chattered the entire way there about what activities they would do and who they would see. I drove with anticipation and hope for some sort of a return to normalcy by starting my week with the in-person church service I have been yearning to have for months.

As we parked and all eagerly exited the van my heart was at least for a brief moment feeing full as we walked up to church. However, as we approached the door the new normal hit me like a ton of bricks. The handshakes, hugs, and high fives I love so much from our greeting team had been replaced with mask, muffled hellos, and the question “have you pre-registered?”. I smiled, even though it was hidden by my mask, and said “yes” as I proceeded to scan the QR code in my phone app at the check in kiosk. The kiddos had their temperatures checked as they entered their classrooms, and I made my way to the sanctuary. I was met by an usher who asked “how many in your party”, as if she were the hostess at a restaurant, and then showed me to my socially distant seat for the service. As I settled into my seat, I second guessed if I would actually be able to drink my coffee or not, and then slowly looked around to see if I could see anyone else doing so. I was relieved to see a sweet elderly woman a few rows up remove her mask just long enough to sip her coffee and replace it. I followed suit, then began to look around. I noted the rows which had been moved to double the space in between, the masks worn by all, and the multiple ushers helping people to their seats. I tried not to let the disappointment well up in me as I waited for the service to start.

As the band started up their set I began to feel my walls I had built up start to shake. Despite singing behind a mask, I could feel that familiar feeling of God working on me, as He has done so many times before, through music ministry. I felt the tingles on my arms as I sang louder and raised my hands while singing that joyful noise for the heavens to hear. As we finished and transitioned into the message I pondered if God would do like He has done over and over again, and have a message built to speak directly to my soul; the answer was quick. Today’s message was based on a passage from Psalms about darkness and knowing God is there through the darkness. It couldn’t have been a more timely message, and as has been true so many times before, was exactly what I needed to hear today.

My take a away from today was that although going back to church today wasn’t exactly the return to normalcy that I had hoped for; it was exactly what I needed. I left church feeling refreshed, renewed, and ready to tackle this week, and the darkness that will surely be lingering around, with a better attitude and appreciation for the new normal.

Thank you for visiting my site. I will be updating with my first “official” blog shortly. In the meantime please look around and learn a little about me!