I asked my wife to write down her experience of when I went through Covid-19. I am so grateful for my wife and her dedication to our family and taking care of literally everything while I was quarantined from not only the world, but my family. She is a woman of immense beauty and courage, and I love her so very much. Here is what she wrote:

Surrender 
Provisions
Trust-romans 8:28

I have been so blessed by the Lord’s unmerited favor.
Having walked through a trial like this I want to glean exactly what the Lord has for me and I see His provisions in so many ways. The Lord is teaching me to depend solely on Him trusting in Him in every aspect of my life and not compartmentalizing when I feel like I want to do it my way. Complete and utter reliance despite the outcome knowing that my God will supply all my needs and He knows the plans He has for me.

Seeing my husband go through this has been so hard. He is the one I looked to as my covering and to provide. Stepping into both roles was not fun or easy. In the 11 years I’ve known Micah whenever he’s gotten sick and I can count it on one hand. It lasts about 24 hours maybe 48 hours and he bounces back. Not like me when I get sick. But this was different, no one knows how Covid is going to react in their body. It meets you at your weakness. But regardless, quarantining away from a spouse is weird and unnatural and should never be. I’m a problem solver, I like to fix problems or at least run along side you when there’s a problem but this was a hard one. I wasn’t allowed to fix this problem or at least care for him. All I did other than fill up his water cup which was in the middle of the hall way and put down food when he was hungry which wasn’t often. Micah solely cared for himself. I barely saw him other than through FaceTime. When I did see him it was from 6 ft or more away. And not for very long as he was too weak to stand for more than 5 mins and chat or I got called away. The lighting wasn’t very good and he was always bundled up by a hoodie so I never realized how much weight he lost. On Day 11 after he took a shower and came out. It was a glorious oh so sweet moment. I was really surprised to see how much weight he lost. He was pale and gaunt. He just seemed so frail. He sat down on the couch and I honestly couldn’t stop staring at him I was just taking it all in. It was so long that we were apart struggling on two separate journeys. I know the Lord had worked on us both. Just having there in front of me, emotionally my love tank was full and I was content.

Our baby Jesimiel. Has been teething and doesn’t sleep through the night. I’ve been trusting in the Lord to help him through and to sleep longer than a 2 hours at a time. I’m just wanting for change, I’m waiting for this to relent but there is no end insight. The Lord brought to my knowledge that the situation isn’t going to change but my trust needs to. I need to exercise my trust which produces faith. Faith is the evidence of things unseen and the evidence of things hoped for. My capacity to trust has increased-a provision. 
As a result I have joy in my long suffering and I am able to delight in the Lord, remember His goodness and His faithfulness. I become less of me and more in Him. He must increase I must decrease. Here is a list of the things I saw the Lord do!!!

1. Puppy Samson who was trained to ring the bell on the back door to go potty use to do it gently we could barely hear it and if we didnt get to him in time he would have an accident. Suddenly started ringing the bell so loud I was able to hear it around the house. It felt like Christmas. 
2. Samson wasn’t that hard to take care of and became quite docile even though pretty high strung. He kept me company in the night after the kids went to bed. Even though I really enjoy alone time in the night. I felt so lonely going through this. There’s a reason a dog is called mans best friend. 
3. Got back in contact with a childhood best friend who reached out to me. The last time we physically saw each other was when we were 15 years old. Even though we had messaged on and off through socially media over the years. Our conversation was real intimate and on going. 
4. A sweet friend video called me to check in and pray with me. I had no more clean bowls for the kids breakfast. I asked her to sing worship for me while I washed some and made them up so food. It was so beautiful and that’s when I just broke down and cried out to the Lord. I had been so worried about Micah with the fevers and was so comforted by Him through her sweet lyrics she had composed.
5. Even in the midst of a very hectic stressful time I was able to speak life and give counsel to friend who reached out to me. I was blessed to speak into her life only because the Lord had poured into me and was doing amazing things. It blessed me as much as it was a blessing to her but only through the grace of the Lord. 
6. Was able to get in contact with a cousin over seas I hadn’t spoken to in 2 years.
7. Totally blessed by new friends who just stepped up and did grocery shopping or picked up shopping and set up & made meals, checked in, prayers. We are so appreciative of you and we love you.
8. Finding out through conversations that people we didn’t even know had heard about Micah and our family and were lifting us up at prayer meetings and church services.
9. Someone reached out to me in a different state regarding a question I asked on Forum. She was checking in on me to find out if my question was ever answered. We ended up messaging for a while and I was so blessed by it. Now I have new FB friend who is also a believer. 
10. Another person Friend requested me and seeing we had several friends in contact I asked if we had met. I like to keep my social media private and don’t accept people I haven’t met but I decided this time to proceed. We ended up messaging back and forth and it was a sweet precious time. She goes to the same church as most of our family on the west time.
11. After I was out of quarantine And starved off human contact I was able to have a very sweet conversation with a neighbor I had never met and it was one of those divine appointments. Again I was totally blessed.

These updates, if I’m being honest, are becoming more and more difficult to write. It feels like the same thing over and over at this point. Sleep; rest; eat; enjoying my family. I suppose that is what one would and should expect, and I know it's better than what others can say. 

As for me, yes, I am improving everyday. My energy levels are returning and I seem to be able to do more every new day. My cough is still there, but it has really died down. I can actually hold a conversation without worrying too much that I will have a coughing fit. I even have been able to pick up the guitar and start singing again!! I was expecting to do that. My tastebuds are still trying to recover. I can taste things...mostly. I’m use to drinking my coffee black, however, black coffee still tastes terrible to me right now. And no, this isn’t Folgers or some generic brand name coffee that is mediocre at best. This is my Peet's coffee, which tastes delicious if it weren’t for my taste being all messed up. 

However, my wife so preciously opened up to me about her experience. I thought the idea of it was such a great word of encouragement. As she wrestled about why the Lord would allow this to happen, the Lord reminded her of all the growth that He put in our lives. Even though it's been a bit of a difficult season, the lessons the Lord has brought have been immeasurable. Not only that, but people that the Lord placed in our lives that have blessed us and been reaching out with love have been a testimony to the Lord’s faithfulness. I’ll have to get her to write it all down, I know I can’t do justice to what the Lord has been doing in her life. Maybe that will be in my next update :) 

So where am I now?? I would say at about 85%. My head is much clearer now and I feel like I’m once again excited for other things in life other than just recovering. Which is perfect, because we are coming into a season that excites every part of my being!!! The season to celebrate the Hope of the world, to celebrate Immanuel, when God came to dwell among men!!! What a great time to recover and to celebrate!!!

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The last couple days have been good. I really enjoy being with my family!! That seems to make all the difference in the world. Just that extra encouragement, that touch of your kids, it makes the heart glad, and that in of itself really helps with healing. 

I do remember, when I was a kid, I had been sick throughout the week. I was in wrestling, and the week prior I dominated the competition. Everyone I wrestled I had pinned, it was almost like I didn’t belong there. Then I fell sick. When the next weekend came, I had become human again. I was losing to guys that the week before I manhandled. I couldn’t understand what was going on. My mom tried to comfort me, she reminded me that I had been sick and my body was probably still weak from it. I was too stubborn and too competitive to buy that excuse. However, I knew deep down that she was right. 

I kinda feel like I’m in that type of moment again. I feel tired and exhausted, and I know why. It's not a fun feeling knowing that you are doing much better, but still have no energy to show for it. 

On the bright side, that energy is making it way back everyday. I feel myself able to do more and more without having that utter exhaustion. For example, yesterday, I was able to make some dinner for the kids and do the dishes. I was totally wiped out, but I was able to do that much. Today, I have been able to do more and not feel as exhausted. 

So I am getting there. Not there yet, but I’m on my way. I’m hoping by next week I will be at least 90% there. That might be ambitious, but lets shoot for something big, shall we. So that is where things are right now. Just slowly improving.

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My first full day with my family!!! Boy, was it exhausting. Lol. I am so tired from the whole day, but of course it is all worth it. 

I was able to watch church with my wife and partially with the kids, but I had to eventually tell them that I was wanting to listen to the teaching so they needed to go play somewhere else. After that, I went to take a nap as I was feeling pretty tired. Bless my wife, she just wants me to get to 100%, so there isn’t much she allows to do other than just relax.

I feel like I’m gaining strength everyday now. My cough is getting better. I’m just that much closer to returning to life as it was. Still waiting for my tastebuds to go back to normal. I really want to be able to enjoy a good cup of coffee. Then there is my appetite. I seem to eat fruits and soups just fine, but for some reason can’t muster much of anything else. 

Anyway, it has been a long day and I am exhausted. As always, thank you all for your continued prayers. They are much appreciated.

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Today, I finally made the move out of self-isolation!! My wife and I made the decision after a couple things. First, we talked about me getting retested to make sure it is all gone for sure. Come to find out, the nurse on the phone told me the CDC does not recommend retesting and therefore, they don’t do it. Another medical professional told me that you can actually test positive for up to 3 months after first being diagnosed, so retesting would be useless for the sake of deciding whether to re-enter the world or not. The only way is to keep an eye on symptoms and go off of that. 

Other than a cough and just tired, we decided it was time. Mind you, I haven’t had any human contact for over 10 days!!! This meant a lot to me!!! I wanted to take a shower before I joined my family, and I was getting ready to do that. All of a sudden, my son was outside my window, yelling “When are you going to come out!!??” I told him through the glass my plans, that after a shower I would come out. He lifted his hands and exclaimed “YAY!! I finally get to hug Daddy!!” 

I didn’t think it would hit me, but it did. I just broke down, trying not to cry, but to no avail. I had longed for the touch of my family for so long, it was finally happening. To see my child rejoice in that just brought it all together. It was a tender moment, one I had to fight so that it could actually happen. It wasn’t a very long shower.

When I came out, the kids were at the table eating, and they all ran and gave me a big hug. It was sweet. Then my wife came out, and we held each other for what seemed like 5 minutes, but was probably only 30 seconds. It was well overdue. And yes, of course there were tears. 

So now that we are together, we have decided to stay quarantined together for the next several days as I regain my energy. My cough is getting better and I feel like my energy is coming back as well. It's a long, weird road to recovery, but at least, it is together with my family.

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Today hasn’t been much different than the previous day or so. Lots of sleeping and just laying down and getting rest. My body aches are gone, my fever is gone, but I am just completely exhausted. So I’m just trying to get all the rest I can. 

I did make the decision to ease up on my supplements, because I feel like they may have “stuffed me up,” if you can catch my drift. I want to be smart, but I know I tried a couple things that I probably shouldn’t have and now I feel like I’m reeling a little from those decisions. Lesson learned… just stick to the plan and stay the course. And because of this, I still really have no appetite and I haven’t been able to eat much. 

Of course the only other thing that is more of a bother than anything is this silly cough. Literally, everytime I talk I need to cough, so it makes conversations really difficult. Some people have said that the cough will probably continue for several more weeks. That's a bummer. So pray with me friends that this actually goes away much quicker and I can get back to normal conversations very quickly. 

Also, this is hopefully my last day away from my family. I anticipate it will be unless there is some sort of setback that keeps me from moving forward. Anyways, hope y’all have a great night!! God bless

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I pray you were all able to enjoy it the best way you saw fit. The day for me flew by, primarily because I slept through most of it. You see, sleep has been really hard, and usually all I could muster out of sleeping is about 1 hour. That makes it difficult and makes for some long nights and days. However, last night, there was one stretch where I slept for 4 hours straight!!! Then for most of the day today, I laid down and slept. It was very nice and much needed. 

I did get a chance to talk to some family on the phone. I had a nice conversation with my parents, then talked to my Grandma who lives in Boise, and finally my brother. My brother assured me that he drank a cup of eggnog in my memory!! 

So after today, I’m a bit more hopeful that I get to come out of quarantine in the next several days, just praying my temperature stays down and I really hope this cough goes away soon. Anyway, I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving. I’m going to sleep!!!

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One thing I am realizing about how this is reacting in my body. During the day, I usually feel pretty good and my fever stays pretty low. At night time, it is a different story. I would say from about 6 pm- about 4 am my body acts completely different with a midgrade fever and chills. I really don’t know why this is, but that seems to be the trend. 

I didn’t eat very much today. I think it has to do with what happened to me last night, which I won’t get into too much detail about. However, it was really strange and a bit scary for a couple minutes, but I got through it quick and am keeping an eye on it for tonight as well. One thing that is good is that my taste and smell are both returning. I told you about my dad’s shampoo that is a bit perfumated… I could smell it in the shower this morning. Praise the Lord

The only other thing I wish would go would be this cough. Everytime I talk, it makes me feel like I have to cough, and it is just annoying. A sweet friend finally went and got me some more tea and lozenges to help out, that has been a blessing. 

As always, we have been so blessed by all of our friends and family who have made the effort to help out while my family is quarantined, and I am isolated away from them as well. I’m grateful for the people who have been praying and lifting us up. I could use every single prayer possible!!!

However, I would say one thing has made things a little bit difficult. I know everyone has an opinion and everyone means well with the things they say, but sometimes it may be a little too much. Questions like “Have you tried this?” or “My friend had it and did this!” I can assure you, I have consulted with healthcare professionals that I trust and they have been great resources. I don’t know why some people have symptoms for days and mine just seem to persist through the week. I know everyone responds differently, and I do know some other friends who have this right now as well and they all seem to be doing just as well as me. I can’t explain that and why others do much better. I’ve never had this before, and most people I know haven’t either. So keep up the prayers please, that is most important. If I need advice or council, I will reach out to the people that I trust most. 

Anyways, God bless everyone, I do love you all. There is nothing easy about this, and if I’m being honest, I just want to be back with my family and sleep in my own bed!!!

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A person told me today, “This is like a flu that just doesn’t go away!!” He had Covid several weeks ago, so he was definitely talking from experience. It's true though. I would have expected this to be gone by now easily if just the regular flu, but not this one. 

I definitely am feeling better overall. Today felt like the first day in awhile I was able to concentrate enough to get some reading in. That might not sound like much to most other people, but to me, it was a world of difference, not only in time I spent throughout the day, but also psychologically it really does me good. 

I finally decided to grab our thermometer and start checking my temperature as I get closer to day 10. To be honest, that was a bit disappointing. I was consistently over 100 F before I took some more IBuProfen. Once I did that, it was down to normal level for a good 6 hours. Now I can feel it start creeping up again. Which is all weird to me anyway. I don’t feel like I have a fever and don’t have many of the signs that usually come with it, which is why I was never really that worried. I guess I’m still not too worried, but I really hope this goes away by Saturday. 

On a good note, today I was able to eat more food than I had this entire time. I asked my wife for a fruit type of breakfast, and did she deliver. I mean, there was so much on the plate that the whole thing felt like it could collapse. Then she made me some scrambled eggs and toast with sauerkraut that tasted delicious. Finally, a friend made a delicious chicken noodle soup that I was able to put down all that my wife served me. Being able to eat has been difficult this last week, so I take this as a great sign and necessary for my body to continue to heal. 

As always, thank you everyone for your prayers. We have continued to be blessed tremendously by our friends who have brought us food and have been supporting us through things that we need at the store. Through all this, the Lord continues to show Himself faithful. Thank you Jesus!!

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After complaining a little bit, feeling like this thing will never pass, I finally had a moment. It was a good moment. It feels like I have turned the corner on this thing!!! 

My body still aches a little bit, but I feel more exhausted than I do pain. Therefore, I am very tired and trying to get lots of rest, which is what my wife keeps yelling at me to do. I was trying to “parent” my children from the back window as I could hear screaming and yelling and crying, and my wife finally said “Right now you aren’t a parent, you are a patient.” Yes dear!! LOL

I still don’t have much of an appetite, but that isn’t uncommon for me when my body is fighting something. Usually when I am sick, I typically refuse any food and just drink water and take my supplements. I feel like I just need to give my body that rest and focus on that, and prayerfully I will be out of this in a couple days. 

We have really been receiving a bunch of support from friends and family, and that is a total blessing. Even though as of now I won’t be able to enjoy many meals, I am so thankful for those who are helping by taking care of my family while I recover. Today I feel much more optimistic, even though it is still hard to stay focused on certain things, like reading. I have lots of books to catch up on, but I’m too exhausted to really start digging in. As I said, most of my days are just sleeping and resting right now, just waiting for this thing to say its final good bye. 

So with that said, I’m going to bed. Goodnight, and I will see you all tomorrow!!!

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I went to bed last night really early. I was so tired, and I hadn’t had much sleep the previous days for various reasons, probably because I’m sleeping on my son’s twin mattress on a bunk bed. Talking about uncomfortable, I definitely found it. 

As I was in bed, probably a couple hours after going to sleep, I could feel my fever spike. I got really hot and I was burning up, unsure of what was going on. I felt very warm, but nothing else was being effected, so I thought I would just stay and ride it out until that changed. I remember sitting there thinking “Lord, are you going to take me home?? Am I going to die??” But I remember the thought directly after that. I said “ No use in getting mad at something you can’t change. No use in being mad at the One who holds your life.” A weird conversation, I know!!

What was weird, was within minutes I could feel something lifted. I don’t know what it was, but it literally felt like something was lifted from my body. At that point, my temperature went back down, and I knew then that it would all be good. 

When I woke up, I was able to watch church online. After that, I decided to take a shower. While I was washing up, I decided to wash my hair with a shampoo that is very perfumated. Its not a bad smell, but it is strong. When I went to go use it, I realized I couldn’t smell it??!! That was weird. I actually hadn’t brushed my teeth yet, so I decided to see if I could smell my breath. Nothing. So I found out, I have no sense of taste or smell, which is completely weird. I can taste sour, salty, and sweet, but I can’t taste the flavors that go with it. For example, we had some sweet neighbors bring a costco chicken to us. My wife put it in a salad for me to eat. All I can taste is that the chicken is salty, but nothing else. Its weird. 

I’m still tired and have been sleeping a lot today. My cough has become a little bit worse as well. I’m just sitting here wondering, “When will this all be over??” I’ll be honest, this has been lingering for 5 days now, and it seems no end is in sight. I was hoping I would be better by now and spend the next several days in quarantine just relaxing and counting down the moments. But it hasn’t gone that way. I’m sitting here wondering if on day 10 I would be able to come out or not. I know that is still 5 days away, but there is no encouraging sign of it. I just want to be with my family, that's it. 

Please keep all of us in your prayers. This isn’t easy for anyone, and we really want day 10 to be the last day of quarantine. Y’all have a good night and God bless

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It’s interesting. I have been trying to rest all day, get some sleep, and even though I was mildly successful, I’ve hit my wall tonight. I feel like my body is just telling me to go to sleep. Most of the time, I have been going to sleep because of time and boredom, but tonight is different. So this probably won’t be too long, I’m going to see if I can get some sleep. 

I was told by a friend, who is also a nurse, who also previously had covid, that it just seems like there is something new or different everyday. Even though what I have has been pretty consistent, I feel like there is certainly truth to that statement. I’m waiting for this thing to just go away, but it is holding on with a more stubborn will than I’m used to. If you want to know, it feels like the flu, but just extended and more body aches. Which is weird, my body aches, but I don’t feel fatigued; it just aches. 

The days without holding my children become increasingly difficult. The inability to just go do a simple chore for my wife while she is busy is becoming more demoralizing everyday. I know people struggle with this for many reasons, and I’m realizing that this is more than just physical, it is emotional. This poses many questions in my mind, ones I will not entertain tonight. Please have a great night. Don’t forget church in the morning. Go get fed and be blessed by the time you have. Goodnight y’all!!!

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Today was painful. My body aches, and once, when I sneezed, it hurt… my arm!!?? But that wasn’t the painful part. The pain comes from sitting in this lonesome room, hearing my family as they live life without me right now. My wife is working tirelessly to keep the kids in order and keep the house the same way. I know she is tired, she has 4 children and a nursing baby. That hurts me. All I want to do is go out and give her a hand. I want to jump in where I hear the children giving her a difficult time. I want to hold her, and tell her I got this. I want to hold my children, and tell them that I love them. I can only do that through an iphone, and on some occasion, through the window as they play outside. 

I am very grateful for my wife. She is still looking after me and keeping me accountable with taking pills and eating properly. I know this is only for a short period, but she is doing a fantastic job. It always makes me smile when people at church say how well behaved our children are. They are impressed by the children coming in with backpacks, in a line, and being on their best behaviour. I smile because I know that this is all her hard work, she has trained our children well. I’m proud of her, and if it wasn’t for her faithfulness to her calling, then I would be unable to do what the Lord’s called me to do.

This morning, I was awoken by my wife slamming the door open and yelling my name. I was startled and she had a look on her face that was cause for concern. It had better be important, I don’t want to spread this to any of my family, and her coming in like that put her at risk.

“Micah!!!” she cried out. Something was bothering her, that was clear. 

“Honey, what’s wrong??” was all I could muster to say. I was concerned, fearful something dreadful had happened.

“What are you doing??” she asked. Wait… what… I was sleeping, and I told her that. 

“Why are you not answering your phone??” She continued

“Its charging honey!” I said pointing to the phone on the desk on the charger.

“Micah, I thought you were dead. You didn’t answer my text, I tried facetiming you, and I got nothing. All I could think was that you are back here dead!!” 

After we settled ourselves down, we just laughed a little. One of those misunderstandings that I suppose comes with this covid isolation. Needless to say, she told me to call her tomorrow morning when I wake up so she knows everything is ok. 

As far as my health goes, I’m actually feeling a bit better. Other than the body aches, my cough is better, my temperature is staying regulated, and my head is feeling much clearer. I’m trying to eat what I can so my body can recover properly and gain its strength. I’m very encouraged by what the Lord is doing and how He is healing me. 

The only thing I probably need to do more is just sleep. I slept a little today, but not nearly enough. When I’m done here, I’m going to go shower and probably put myself to bed. Lord willing, I continue this trend and feel much better in the morning. Thank you all for all your prayers. God bless.

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Today is the day!! It has finally come. After avoiding this thing for 8-9 months, I finally caught the dreaded “C”, COVID-19.

When I woke up, I was feeling mostly ok. However, I had just found out the night before that I was around 2 people the previous weekend that had tested positive on Tuesday, so I was a little extra conscience of that. I hadn’t slept very well and wasn’t eating particularly healthy the last couple days, so the headache and nausea didn’t seem too suspicious. Only when I had a hard time eating my breakfast, I had some concerns. 

I went to work being mindful of what I knew, so I took an entrance nobody else would take and I successfully avoided people altogether. I wasn’t going to risk anything, so I put my mask on for extra precaution, even though no one was within 100 ft. of me, nor visible. 

You see, I’m in the full-time ministry, and we have some elderly people that come to our church, and whether they care about dying or not is between them and the Lord, but if things are suspicious with my health, I will take the extra precautions to keep from spreading this disease. I was sick 3 weeks prior, and I couldn’t believe that I had tested negative at the time. This time, I felt a little off, but nothing compared to the bug I had before. 

As I sat in my office preparing for that evenings Bible Study, I found it difficult to stay focused. Not that I don’t get distracted, but this time, I just couldn’t pay attention to what I was studying. I had a tickle in my throat, my head was still hurting, my stomach felt uneasy, and some of my back muscles felt a bit restless. I decided I needed to go home and sleep this off, but not before I went to the clinic to get tested. 

When I eventually got home, I avoided all my children (easier said than done), and proceeded to the room and fell asleep. At about 2:45 pm, I got the call that I was positive. So we proceeded to move my boys out of their room so I could stay there. I took off the sheets and pillow cases so I could wash them for my wife, and now I’m in COVID-19 purgatory listening to my children and wife as they navigate through all this. 

My personal thought is that I won’t be alone for too long as I’m not sure if I spread it to my kids or my wife. However, I’m assuming I did and within a couple days I will be tending to them and let them get the rest they need. 

So far, all I have done is slept and talked on the phone, but mostly the latter. I know that no matter what happens, that I have ran the race with confidence before my God. I am not too worried as I already feel much better and more alert than I had, but even if this goes sideways I know I will still praise my God. I’m so thankful for our Lord Jesus Christ, I’m so thankful that He has used this pandemic to set a fire in many hearts. I praise the Lord that my hope is in Him, not in my government and not in my recovery. For I know, that by the end, I will see the glory of the Lord and so will those around me. Thank you Jesus that You have complete control!!!

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