Our Quarantine Life, part 2

Things are starting to change for the better here!  

• Senior citizens were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in 40 days and walk for 90 minutes on Saturday.
• Sunday morning, mothers and children (ages ten and under) were permitted outdoor for a walk.  We are blessed to be in the village and have an outdoor space (albeit small), but we know Tirana is full of apartment dwellers whose children have not been outside in 41 days!!  I can't even imagine.
• Last week our weekday curfew moved from 1:30pm to 5:30pm for folks who got permission to leave their homes to shop for groceries.  We still must text for permission to leave our homes, and only one family member is permitted to leave per day, but the window is now wider when we can choose to go out.
• Today individuals in certain job sectors were permitted to return to work, but must apply for permission to drive (still no public transportation) and no more than two individuals are permitted in one vehicle.  They must wear masks and drive with the windows open.  
• The government is promising to lift more restrictions next week. Talks are underway to permit Albanian laborers to cross the border into Greece and Montenegro for seasonal labor -- something that many families in our village rely on for income.  Right now, many Albanians have been trapped at the Greek/Albanian border (and actually, within a number of European countries) when the borders abruptly closed.  It appears that to re-enter Albania, they must stay at approved hotels to quarantine for 14 days.

This is so encouraging when just a few weeks ago, prison sentences were threatened for people who violated curfews, up to fifteen years if you infected someone and they died! 

Meanwhile, on our homefront, much remains the same.  We have had to cancel all of our summer visitors from the United States.  And we are unable to receive mail from out of the country -- thankfully we stocked up on a lot of things, but we have grown accustomed to getting certain items from home like contact lens solution and medications.  Hopefully borders will open by summer's end??

The kids seem to have adjusted to this new normal, while I have found a new incentive to prevent over-buying groceries.  Who knew cleaning  every single food item could consume so much time?

Nevertheless, I am grateful for food, especially the lovely, affordable produce that we can buy here.  I'm also grateful that our regular grocery store is now providing delivery service so we can place orders on WhatsApp and enjoy delivery to our home!  WOW!

Mandi and Arjan brought soaps, cleaning supplies, and shampoo for families in our village that are struggling without work.  We don't want any excuse to keep them from staying healthy!  As a foundation, at the beginning of the quarantine, Mandi was able to procure permission to drive and move about within the confines of the curfew hours. This has been a huge blessing, especially for all his responsibilities like paying bills, banking, and acquiring supplies for the building project (which continues, praise God!).

This time of social distancing has meant more time than ever on our computers.  I love this photo below of Nathan and Reni working side-by-side at our dining table.  Reni is not necessarily a 'quiet', sit-still kind of learner.  His humming and spontaneous chair dancing during math homework was getting to Nathan one afternoon while he was trying to compose a memo so he just stuck a pair of headphones on Reni's head.  Problem solved.

Easter morning we streamed church from our living room with a previously recorded message from Pastor Genti and a live children's lesson using the Resurrection Eggs, then our family enjoyed Easter lunch.  I didn't have access to my our usual meat shop for our traditional roast so meatloaf it was with broccoli casserole and key lime cheesecake for dessert!  I think it was our first holiday meal to eat alone in our 6.5 years here, but we knew that we were not alone in that experience!

We still held our Easter egg hunt.  BIG thanks to Miss Pam who brought special easter candy from America during her trip at the end of February.  Also, Gigi brought some Cadbury and Dove chocolate bunnies which were special surprises.

Reni is laughing because I placed a orange plastic egg amidst a couple of mandarins that had fallen on the ground.

Gigi also brought over in March some special Easter basket gifts I had ordered for the kids.  They each got a book and a DVD -- special activities that I had no idea would be so meaningful in providing something new to do during these days of lockdown.

Our little seeds sprouted and grew in their plastic cups so we decided to transplant them into our raised garden bed.  Now praying that the bugs don't eat them up! 

Our family's favorite active past time has become throwing a football around in our yard.  Don't ask me why, but it's something that gets us outside and something we can do in spite of our differing sizes and skills.

This kid LOVES football and would love to play able-bodied sports.  His arm ain't bad!

Friday nights we still hold our regular Bible study but on Zoom.  The photo below shows each of us showing our different perspectives of the same beautiful sunset.

One weekend we hosted virtual family reunions for our extended families.  We were thrilled with the participation!  We realized that we had much to thank God for... and it was sobering and enlightening to hear how all of our lives -- scattered across the country and world -- had changed as a result of the pandemic -- from those of us working in nursing homes, hospitals, or performing civic duties like jury duty!

So, working so much from our home, we are easily distracted by watching the activities of our neighbors.  This roof repair (below) had us holding our breath for several minutes!

During one of Mandi's trips to our village, he brought a large quantity of oats and baby food donated by the Food Bank.  With Genti's recently acquired permission to drive as part of his pastoral duties, he and Nathan stopped at a local grocery store and purchased flour, oil, and rice to supplement the food bundles and then traveled to Metalle. We hadn't visited since the quarantine measures went into place.

Incidentally, oats are NOT a food Albanians are accustomed to eating.  We had to explain how to prepare them and ways they could be eaten.  

One of our kid's club friends helped us locate the homes of our friends to make sure we didn't miss anyone!  Nathan said the families were overwhelmingly grateful, but assumed the distribution was part of our celebration of Easter.  Nevertheless, it was a blessing to help in some small, practical way.  Thank you to all who support the ministry here which enables us to help in times like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEO1nCD7XZ0&t=3s

Click the link above OR watch the embedded video below to see the status of the building project next door!  Nathan provides a 360-degree virtual walk through of the work site.

Forgive my bragging, but Nathan has taken the time to acquire and learn new software for streaming our weekly church services.  Because of his work, we may have one of the most professional looking productions for a church our size. :-)  We can stream Genti's preaching in one box while sharing the relevant Bible text in another, or Ellie playing the guitar in one box while projecting song lyrics in another. In addition he's making special opening and closing graphics.  I appreciate the time he puts into making our church services accessible and professional!  We did have to move the recording up to our home for a better wifi signal and acoustics. We are encouraged by the number of folks who are watching from beyond the borders of our village!

The photo below is for my friend, Linda S, who was here in March.  I love watching our grape arbor go from a bunch of naked brown, snaking sticks to leafing out to a lush green tunnel! It happens so quickly at this time of year, changing daily.

Many folks here have similar kinds of structures, some that cover the entire front of the home.  In a part of the world that lacks many shade trees, arbors actually go a long ways towards keeping the first floor of homes cool and sheltered from the summer sun.

Just a reminder, if you are receiving these updates by e-mail, we do not receive any 'reply' messages as these are sent by Feedburner.  Thanks for loving our family and having an interest in our lives here in Albania!

Reni's New Legs | A Video Collection

In December, Reni got a new pair of prosthetic legs that have revolutionized his independence.  We've shared about that often but friends from afar kept asking us for videos to see them in action, so I've found a series of VERY short videos of them in use to post here.  Reni's not exactly keen on attention, so it's tricky to capture him, especially when he's most active!  He's rather quick!
NOTE:  if you are getting this post via e-mail, the videos might have links in the attachment, or you will need to actually visit this blog's online page (click here).

This first video is of him walking around the University of Kentucky hospital complex within minutes of putting his legs on for the first time.



While we waited to see the prosthetist for final approval to leave, I caught Reni practicing a few dance moves.  Here he is...



The next day we woke up to frost and a giant frozen puddle where we were staying.  He told me, "Mom, I want to see what it feels like to walk on ice!"



You can't imagine how our hearts rejoiced to see Reni overnight doing such 'typical' kid stuff like playing in the snow.  Below, he's playing outside with his cousin, Elisha.


The video below shows Reni engaged in a nerf war with some of his neighbor friends... He trips in the middle, but you see how he can bounce right back up...



In February Reni attended Night to Shine.  Nathan caught this brief clip of him showing off his moves.  But I think it might have more to do with his hips, than his legs, ha ha.



So this one is more just for fun than it is to show off Reni's mobility.  When you're in quarantine, it's the simple things one finds entertaining.  Like chasing a trespassing chicken out of the yard.



Thanks for caring about Reni and his development!  We are so thankful to Shriner's Children's Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, for great service, and to his prosthetist, Eric Miller, who listened to our wishes and suggested these new legs which far surpassed our expectations of what he would be wearing at this age!