Quaranscenes: a pandemic photo journal

We are living in extraordinary times.

While the earth was still spinning, much of our lives came to a standstill. Our work changed. Our fun changed. Our families changed. And so did our priorities.

Although we’re trying to get back a small sense of normalcy, there is still so much that is not normal. And as much as we dislike it, we are learning to live with uncertainty.

When it’s all over, I want to remember how strange, different, and in many ways, how beautiful, life was in 2020.

There are many ways to recall. Through writing, through reminiscing with others, through scrapbooks and keepsakes. How will you remember the pandemic of 2020? How will your memories be passed on?

In an attempt to preserve my memories, I give you “Quaranscenes.” A photo journal of our first three months, living through a pandemic.

house and home.

Making room for home offices and college students. Attic project. Back porch makeover.

entertainments.

Coffee. Lots of coffee. Podcasts and puzzles. Legos out of storage. Knitting and Netflix. Takeout. Signs and singing and “couch church.”

special days burst through the sameness.

Palm Sunday. Easter. Chloe’s 21st birthday. Mother’s Day.

venturing out.

“Don’t forget your mask!” “Let’s go!” Hiking at Lawless Park. Helping Grandpa in his garden. Sibling visit.

the world around us.

Necessities: Wine and toilet paper. Ghost town. Sharing art. Greenhouses are open again! Eddies on parade. Cries for justice.

family…apart, together, and growing.

Chloe arrives home safely from Dublin. Mothers’ Day visits. Zoom chats. And a special delivery gives us new titles: Mommy & Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle & Aunts. Welcome Baby Hanstra!!

backyard beauty and the promises of spring.

How God shows his faithfulness. Year after year after year. Even during a pandemic.

These are the memories I will hold onto. They remind me that no matter how crazy life gets on the outside, there remains the support of my friends, the love of my family, and the faithfulness of my heavenly Father.

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.