As you all know, this year has been like no other year that you and I have ever witnessed. Since I have not updated the blog in over a year, I thought it was due time to bring you back up to speed on what the Regan household has been up to. I'll go by month...
January 2020
Jay celebrated his 55th birthday while Chandra was recovering from pneumonia.
February 2020
We all continued working. The only significant thing was that Chandra caught strep throat. But, she did manage to make a homemade Valentine's Day wreath for the front door.
March 2020
Chandra caught strep throat again, just before her birthday. Then she passed it along to Jay, just before our state went into lockdown mode, due to the corona virus pandemic. So, Jay started working from home.
Penny and Chandra continued working at their preschool, but our numbers dropped significantly.
We were considered essential workers, especially for the frontline workers, like nurses and doctors, who absolutely needed a place to bring their kids while they were working. Chandra started sewing masks, fortunately, before it was the "in thing". So, she had plenty of needed sewing supplies, before they were wiped out.
We, too, got to experience things like long lines and shortages on the shelves.
April 2020
We all continued with our jobs. It was odd having only 9 kids in our preschool room, since before the pandemic, we had had 24 kids. Chandra started cutting Jay's hair for the first time ever.
The highlight of the month was celebrating Easter. It was different just celebrating at home, but still the most awesome reason to celebrate that Jesus is alive!
May 2020
Chandra injured her shoulder, went to the doctor and discovered it was something called Adhesive Capsulitis, or Frozen Shoulder. It made life very challenging. The high point was that Penny received her AA degree from Front Range Community College, although there was no ceremony, due to the virus.
Chandra did several painting projects this year. But, the one that she was most excited about was transforming the china hutch that she had inherited from her great aunts. She managed to finish this in spite of her aching shoulder.
She also enjoyed taking hikes outside in the early morning after dropping Penny off for her earlier shift at the preschool.
June 2020
Chandra was in shock and saddened to go to the funeral of the director of her school, who was almost the same age as Chandra. Let's just say that mental health struggles had taken a toll on her. The high point was celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary.
The cabin that we had reserved in the mountains was still available. But, the communal shower area was closed, due to COVID-19. While on the trip, the downside was that Chandra fell and made her shoulder feel even worse and Jay sprained his ankle on a hiking trail. Thankfully, Gold enabled him to get back to our cabin on his own. The other special celebration in June was celebrating Penny's 25th birthday. We got her cake at a Japanese bakery.
July 2020
This was a special month, because during Penny and Chandra's 4th of July break, Chandra's parents came out to help celebrate Penny's graduation. Penny still had her graduation gown from when she graduated from high school. In addition, Front Range had sent her a cap and tassel. So, we decided to go to the Botanic Gardens to take photos.
You could reserve your tickets online. It was a beautiful way to celebrate. Afterwards, we were even able to eat at a restaurant, since they were starting to reopen in Colorado.
We also enjoyed watching the fireworks at Mt. Rushmore on our t.v. and played with sparklers in our backyard. This was also the month when Chandra started her physical therapy in earnest to try to correct her frozen shoulder.
August 2020
The new school year started for Chandra and Penny. By this time the number of kids had gone back up to 20. We got a new crop of great kids. The toughest thing was the sweltering dry heat and the constant smoke in the air from all of the forest fires both in Colorado and throughout the West. See the smoke below.
We were surprised and thankful that we got raises from our school!
September 2020
Jay continued working from the basement. Penny and Chandra had to say, "Goodbye!" to our colleague, Ms. Gaye, who decided to move over to the elementary school and teach 3rd grade.
But, we were also happy to welcome our new fellow teacher, Ms. Etleva. We knew her well, since her son had been in our class before and she had previously been teaching over on the infant side across the street. The highlight of the month was taking a road trip to the Black Hills of SD during the Labor Day weekend. When we arrived they were having record breaking temps of over 100 degrees.
On the day that we left, it was beginning to snow! We were so relieved that the snow followed us home to Colorado, where it helped to put out the terrible wild fires. Thank you, Lord!
October 2020
The highlight of this month was going down to Pagosa Springs, where we saw the beautiful fall colors. We also were so thrilled to meet another Thai adoptive family, who also adopted their daughter when she was older. Penny was happy to bring her some Thai snacks, since we have more Asian markets here in the metro area.
November 2020
This is the month of thankfulness. Chandra was thankful that she was able to end her physical therapy, as her shoulder was improving. We were also grateful to get to see Jay's niece and her family for Thanksgiving. We are now looking forward to hopefully seeing Chandra's family for Christmas.
How about you? How has 2020 been treating you? We realize that we have much to be thankful to God for. We are trusting Him to carry us through to the new year.
