"Coffee Just Doesn't Sound Good"

“Coffee just doesn’t sound good.”

Those five words had only come out of my mouth two times before.

My husband looked at me with raised eyebrows and a smirk, shaking his head.

You see, I don’t just like coffee. I full-on LOVE coffee.

Making and enjoying a perfect cup of coffee is part of my morning (and sometimes afternoon) routine and grounds my day. Combine coffee with a few quiet moments for prayer and spiritual study, and I pretty much can take on anything!

So when my appetite for coffee is gone, it only can mean one thing…

Those two pink lines on the pregnancy test confirmed my hunch.

Our family of four would prepare to welcome a fifth and I would go without coffee, yet again, for many weeks…

I’ll never forget the day I found out I was pregnant with our daughter: It was March 16, 2020. The same day California received the first of many “shelter in place” orders in the coming months as the uncertainly of the COVID-19 Pandemic began.

Yet in the middle of the fear and uncertainty felt by so many, I wasn’t afraid. In fact, the peace I felt was utterly uncharacteristic given the circumstances we were heading into – both as a family and as a society.

At the start of 2020, I was running two small business – one being a brand-new preschool our family had opened just over a year ago – so there was a lot up in the air with what would happen next!

Going head-first into stay-at-home orders while being self-employed could have been scary. And for some, it was the deciding factor in closing their businesses for good, changing careers, or going into early retirement.

But that was not our path.