Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows.  James 1:17

Last Sunday was Easter and my wife and I were still celebrating our delightful Covid vacation as that beautiful holiday was taking place. We were holed up in our house hoping to keep the sickness to ourselves. We had already texted our kids and let them know that for the first time in our family's history we could not have them over for Easter dinner. It was a sad day for Jody and me. At some point in the afternoon, I received a text from my daughter Katie. She simply texted "look on the porch"- My daughter had taken the time to put together a special Easter basket for each one of us, and individually specialized to our different tastes. They were beautiful. That was one of the most thoughtful gestures one of my children has ever done. Talk about feeling all warm and fuzzy. We are blessed to have great kids.

After being MIA from church and other normal life stuff, people started calling and checking in on us. Offers of getting groceries and making dinner for us and many other people praying for us were a constant reminder that we were missed and loved. For all of you that I turned down (for the record, I never turned down prayer) please understand that we had no ability to taste anything that you prepared, and I know all of you well enough that I will save that need for the point in time when my sense of smell and taste returns as you are all fabulous cooks... The outpouring of love from our church family was a thing of beauty.

Fast forward to the next weekend. By this time, my "vacation" was over, but Jody was still in rough shape. It is Friday evening I am coming home from a tiring day at work and there is this white Styrofoam cooler on our front porch. The lid is stamped with "Omaha Steaks". Our good friends Joe and Krissy from Detroit saw a post on Facebook and heard we were recovering from Covid and thought we needed some good food (and lots of protein apparently) to aid in our recovery. As I brought that cooler into our house Jody came down to greet me at the door- for the first time in two weeks as she was so sick, she was barely out of bed that whole time. There was a certain amount of joy, almost like Christmas, as we opened that box together. I guess I had not realized the despair that had settled into our house from feeling run down for so long. I also forgot how good it felt to know that people care about you. It is not that I did not already know that people cared but I think God was showing up and using all of you to remind us how much He loves Jody and I- Rosie too of course but she did not get sick, so she does not count... -You all know I'm kidding 😊

Now back to that Omaha Steak. I could not resist cooking two of the smaller steaks that had bacon wrapped around them- (may God bless who ever thought to wrap steak with bacon). By now we had already realized we could no longer smell bacon cooking (which is obviously a crime against humanity) but I thought how delicious they looked- this time would be different... No such luck. It was terribly disappointing to not be able to smell or taste those tender morsels (curse you Covid) but at least they were filling. It was shortly after that, Saturday to be exact, that Jody finally turned the corner and has been on the road to recovery since. I am quite sure it wasn't the protein that helped her turn the corner. It was the love and thought that went into that gift.

My point to this blog is first to praise God for all the blessing, love, and mercy He has shown us. Second to thank all of you for listening to your hearts, being obedient to the Holy Spirit and reaching out. There is a certain amount of Joy that we are being denied during this season of Covid. I believe it is the isolation that comes with this virus that is robbing us of that joy. Remember, it is the good and perfect gifts that come from above that truly lift us up and give us joy. Thank you all for sharing those gifts and helping to restore joy to our home.

~Steve, Jody, and Rosie E