Good riddance 2020, that is what the world has pretty much said. The Coronavirus pandemic is still in existence and so, so many lives have been lost and changed. We have known coworkers and family members to have gotten the virus and thankfully they have recovered. The last time I wrote on this was Mother's Day and that was back in May. That was the start of the pandemic and changes including cancelling trips, closing schools and many businesses. 

At the time the children we still going to the at-home daycare and I was still able to go to the office and I left during lunchtime to pick up May for her less than 2 hour class for 1st grade in the afternoon. Rex, my parents and many of our friends have been very fortunate to have not lost our place of work and we have been able to continue with pay during this time. Other businesses closed and workers lost jobs, the economy did crash and the community came together to help those in need. Rex found at his work that some of the material was held up or delayed in shipment. Packages were delayed, almost everything was shut down. 

Fast forward to September 2020, the kids started complete virtual school, May in second grade and Nia in Kindergarten. 

I am so thankful that my job allows for working from home and I worked a full-time job with two children in full-time school. There were assignments too and I will say that time was very hard at work due to two major projects with very short deadlines. I couldn't say too much though because I am still thankful for having a job and that I could stay and help my children. Rex was still able to go to work too and every day at his job he needed to get his temperature checked and wear a mask. We still wear a mask wherever we go. We tried to play more in the backyard too and have the kids be more active with games outside. It's hard though because they really are missing the interaction with other children. They might be going back to school in person in the Spring of this year.

We also tried for getting buying a home in 2020. We have been saving for the last 4 years and we knew we didn't want to stay in the area we live in now for more years. The kids are getting bigger and the townhouse is so small. The walls have been paper-thin since the day we moved here and the area is also getting worse. We tried in May of 2020 and we got approved for a lower amount then. It's crazy to think to purchase a home in the middle of a pandemic and with the amount we got approved for it was very hard to find a home that didn't need major repairs or was an auction or another unlying issue, had a termite problem. We also just wanted to get an idea of the process and that pre-approval was just with my income and information. I was thankful but I knew and the realtor knew that home prices in the area we were looking to purchase a home were much higher. The low rates of today are nice but we had to let that pre-approval expire. We couldn't find anything in the 3 months it was active and we did try. We actually applied for another pre-approval just recently with both of us, just to check and see and we got pre-approved for more. We actually found a home in December of 2020 and currently, we are pending. That's the start of the new chapter which I'll write more about in another post. We are very excited!

Other good news, in November 2020 the American people cast their vote, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be the new president and vice-president. So exciting and such a breath of fresh air. Kamala will be the first female vice-president and she is a fellow Howard alumna! Such a welcomed new chapter indeed and even though Trump has tried to overturn the result, the people have spoken, it's not voter fraud it's people wanting a change.