Dear Friends and Family,
These are unique times we are living in. Covid has had such an effect on our lives and continues to do so. Nicaragua went through one of the worst waves in September since this whole pandemic started. Daily we would hear of someone who had passed away or who was struggling with the virus. We were constantly lifting up someone in prayer asking for God’s healing touch on their lives. However, because the government is so quiet about the number of cases, we really have no idea how bad it was or wasn’t. But we can pray, so pray we did!
Our family had its own unique Covid experience. Thankfully, it did not involve a hospital or any real concern for our health and because of that I can call it an “experience.” Thomas, who is in his 17th year of working for the Nicaragua Christian Academy, is often asked to attend the Senior Retreat at the end of the school year as a chaperone. If you know my husband, then you know what an extrovert he is and how he has never met a stranger. Needless to say, the students love him and most Senior classes request he be one of their chaperones for the retreat. So he went on a weekend retreat in June and came back exhausted and not feeling 100%. But after a day of rest he seemed to feel much better and finished the final week of work at the school with all of the graduations and other activities to finish the school year. The following Sunday as a family we traveled south to Costa Rica in order to fly out from there to the States to visit my family for the summer. Flights in and out of Managua are quite expensive and a bit inconsistent right now. Once in Costa Rica we had to test for Covid in order to enter the US. Thomas unfortunately tested positive as well as the other male chaperone from the retreat. According to Costa Rican health protocol, Thomas would have to be quarantined somewhere for 10 days. Soon after we realized that all of us would have to be quarantined for 10 days but separate from Thomas. Because we had stayed one night in the hotel right across from the airport and we didn’t know of any other place to go, we booked two rooms for the next 10 days. Thomas in one room and the 5 kids and I in another. United easily rebooked our flights and we began our quarantine. We were not allowed to leave our room. The hotel staff brought us all of our food and any items needed in our room. They were not allowed to come in to clean or be anywhere near us. On day 6 I got a fever and did not feel well. Because the following day was a Sunday I could not be tested until Monday but when I did finally test for Covid, it came back positive. At that point the lab declared that all five of our kids had to have it too since we had been in an air conditioned room for the past 8 days together. In order to fly at some point, we felt like we needed to have them tested again so a couple of days later the lab returned and tested all of our kids and their tests all came back positive too. So our quarantine was then extended based on when my symptoms started. In the end we stayed in the hotel for a total of 16 days without leaving our room. Obviously there is a lot more I could share about 16 days in a hotel room with five kids, but I’m sure you can imagine what that might be like. Overall we survived!
The love and support we felt from the NCA family as well as from close family and friends was enormous! While this is not an experience I wish to ever repeat, I am grateful for our health and that Covid did not affect any of us too badly. I am also grateful for the Internet and being able to text and call so many different people during that time. Above all I am thankful for God’s faithfulness in seeing us through that time and for the ways we have seen good come of it. It has definitely been what impacted all of us the most over these past couple of months and will for years be something that my kids will look back on and remember.
Thank you for reading our crazy Covid story! Here are some pictures from our time in quarantine:
