Our response to Covid-19

"United in love, each prayerfully following the path where Christ is leading."

In the midst of the pandemic, we as a church family find ourselves in a variety of positions when it comes to the different aspects of the coronavirus. We are asking the Lord to bring an end to the pandemic, but in the meantime, we are praying for one another, listening to one another, and demonstrating grace and patience toward one another. It's hard to believe, but Godly, prayerful, mature, intelligent people can end up on opposite sides of the Covid-19 issues. May we be united in love so that God might be glorified and others drawn to Him.

Family and Parenting Resources

Focus on the Family has a great amount of information ranging from on line magazines for kids, parenting advice to mental health issues and a lot of other topics which are related to Covid 19 crisis.

HOME SCHOOLING

So, you are home schooling, but you really were not planning to do that. If you talk to those of us who have home schooled we can give you a whole list of materials we have used. Most of those probably cost money and are intended to be used for a whole school year. What you need is something you can use now and fills in for the time your kids are not at school. Here are 2 free resources:
Khan Academy has free online material starting with preschool going through college. Khan academy even offers a daily schedule which might be helpful as it allows you to structure your day more easily.
Freedom Homeschooling lists a great variety of free homeschool materials you can choose from.

Bible studies and activities

FOR CHILDREN

Ascension offers WINGS online on Wednesday afternoon at 2pm.

Okoboji Ingham Lutheran Bible Camp offers the following activities during the Covid 19 crisis:
Weekday Daily 'One Hour of Power' opportunity especially for parents to share with their children during this time they are homebound. This is a Facebook Live broadcast each day.
Weekday Daily Bible Study geared toward 6-12 grade youth on the Gospel of Mark. This will be broadcast on the camp YouTube channel.

FOR ADULTS

We encourage you to join the on-line Bible Studies Ascension is offering during this time. Pastor T leads a men's study on Thursday morning at 7:30 am and Brigitte leads a ladies' Study on Thursday at 11:15 am.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod offers the following devotions which can be downloaded

Bringing God's Comfort and Peace in Tragedy
40 Daily Devotions of God's Comfort
Spiritual Care Companion for Times of Disaster
Trusting in His Love

Another option is a LCMS daily video devotion

You might also find Bible Study and devotional material at the Concordia Publishing House website

Health Issues

GENERAL INFORMATION

https://coronavirus.iowa.gov/
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
These sites give you general information about taking care of your self and your family and also list the symptoms of the disease.

MENTAL HEALTH DURING COVID-19

From Dr. Strosahl, a psychiatrist in our congregation:

I think the most important keys to getting through this is taking care of one's self through proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise; maintaining a schedule; giving grace to one's self and those around them as none of us has ever been in a position like this before; and maintaining or strengthening our relationship with God. I also encourage people to be wise consumers of information, limiting how much media they take in and considering the reliability of those sources.

Focus on the Family has an article that is well written with good advice.
The APA has similar advice.
NAMI has a helpful guide, though it might be more information than most people need.