It's never too late to try something new. Here's what some of us have been up to…

Getting acquainted and making friends with neighbors that I never seemed to have time to visit before. I made meals for an elderly neighbor who lives alone and whose family resides in another state. She is 94, and we have become friends. Also, reading and learning about autism and language delays in toddlers.
Connie Claybough

I put out an Oriole bird feeder for the first time, after noticing that one was feeding at my hummingbird feeder. I have been walking one to three miles most every day since the lockdown, sometimes joined by a friend or two. I have also joined in on church prayer meetings during the week and on Sunday. These have been so encouraging to hear others pray corporately, and have ministered to my soul. I have also written some notes to friends and family to keep in touch and see how they are doing. Early on, my neighbor and I bought groceries for each other, which has helped me to get to know her better.
Dawn Sadler

Raised bed and patio Grow Box gardening.
Nancy Tally

I have tried grocery shopping for the first time by ordering online and going to the Jewel pick-up parking area as many of you have done during this lockdown. Of course, until COVID-19 there was not a pick-up parking area at Jewel. Last Saturday, I returned home with someone else's order along with mine own. So for the first time since the "shelter in place" orders, I not only drove back to Jewel but also joined the mask wearing shoppers and went INSIDE to return the bags of groceries that were not mine. I returned them to a very thankful pick-up worker who had just been called by the customer who had missed the order I took home. All in all, you cannot solve problems like this without going face to face and mask to mask to get things wrong made right. It was also the first time I entered Jewel' as a masked man. As online and pickup shopping fades, it will not be my last visit to Jewel as a masked man.
Bill Offutt

A month or so ago, Jessica Hundley decided to film herself reading Karen Kingsbury’s Let Me Hold You Longer (ISBN: 978-1-4143-8987-5, Tyndale House Publishers, 2004) to the class of 2020; she couldn’t have imagined what would follow. Hundley, a library media specialist at Hardin County schools in Elizabethtown, KY, read the highly emotive book in an equally poignant way, and it resonated with viewers to the tune of 1.5 million views in the first 48 hours. The video, which has now been viewed more than three million times, is available here.

As a result of that viral distribution, Tyndale House quickly reprinted the book and sold 63,000 copies in the month of May.
Mark Taylor

My four kids and I have watched hours and hours of Ray Vander Laan videos together (all putting the Bible in cultural context, filmed in Israel). My 14-year-old son suddenly became interested in teaching himself piano and has been focusing on practicing one of Beethoven's sonatas this week. My 17-year-old-daughter is teaching herself Korean (my new job is flashcard point person). We are also regularly doing something called "family dinner." (Family dinners are not a new thing to us, exactly, but as a household headed by a busy lawyer, Regular Family Dinner sure is!) Finally, I am about to self-publish a book, although I can't exactly say this is thanks to the pandemic. I started writing it years ago. But it is still a new step, coinciding with these interesting times.
Amy Ritter

I am always frustrated when I read a Bible passage and come across a word that catches my attention and causes me to wonder why the writer chose that particular word (this from a former English teacher). My usual modus operandi is to consult various translations to see whether they all use the same word, which, it turns out, is rarely the case. Then I'm caught in the conundrum of wondering which of those words most reliably conveys the author intended meaning. I've been chasing my tail like this for years and finally decided it's time to do something different. I mentioned this resolution to my husband, who attended a Bible school in his early adulthood, and we decided we would undertake a study of Biblical Greek so that we could read the primary text ourselves. I say this here so people who know me will hold me accountable for doing the work. Hopefully, by the time I emerge from self-imposed isolation, I'll be able to read the New Testament and know for myself what those attention-grabbing words mean.
Patricia Edwards

Learning to play guitar and cooking authentic Mexican food.
Rebecca Wolgemuth

Having a simple, online checklist of routine daily tasks plus seven once-a-week tasks. Once I've checked them off, I spend the rest of the evening relaxing.
Rebecca Fox

Making no-knead rolls. And blintzes. They (the latter) are crepes filled with a ricotta-cream-cheese-egg mixture, and then fried in oil and baked. Perfect lockdown recipe (so many steps, but the folding them up is strangely satisfying). Many of the new things I have tried involved starting to cook earlier, and even cooking more than I needed at the time and freezing some.
Vikki Williams

I took up crocheting again—for the first time since high school! I’ve finished one lap blanket and started on a baby blanket.
Lyn Newhouse

Bananagrams. Tim and I have never played games together without our kids. Now, after 60+ rounds of Bananagrams, we aren’t content just to win or lose. The real challenge is to come up with words we’ve never used before: harangue, acquit, ziggurat, quixotic, winsomely, Kindergartner...
Judy Sattler

Our daughter Hannah, a 2019 graduate of the conservatory at Wheaton College (Music Violin and Third World Issues), is living and working (remotely) at home. She is giving me piano lessons! One of my joys is singing (I only make joyful noises), particularly with others. I am not gifted with a voice that inspires but I love to sing hymns....and now I am learning to play them on the piano! One of the "traditions" we have always had is singing the hymns (that we had sung in church Sunday mornings) on the way home in the car. My daughter has a sweet voice and would set the tone, and I would joyfully sing along. Hannah is a wonderful teacher and so encouraging to me. She records my "recitals" after I have learned a piece, and sends it to two of her dearest Wheatie musical friends for my "jury" review. They, too, are encouraging and gracious in their comments. I am so blessed to be sharing music and time with my daughter.
Christine Appleyard

Trying to find all the Wheaton alumni here at Shell Point. And Z.....ing with our Life Group from College Church—one of the blessings of this pandemic has been the ability to "see" our Life Group again whom we hadn't seen since Feb 3. Getting carry -out fried oysters from Sanibel Island and bringing them home for dinner. Don't do it. They are soggy by the time you make it back home.
Jan Barger

Because I can't get out to replenish my stock of copy paper, I've started to risk confusion by printing on the reverse side of previously used print-outs.
Wallace Alcorn

My roommate and I baked Auntie Anne’s style soft pretzels from scratch (gluten free!) which required using a baking soda bath. They turned out delicious!
Alison Tews

I have tried online exercise classes and have really enjoyed the daily routine and the at-home convenience!
Karen Bagge