The Heermans family from the left, Josh, 41, Kelsie, 33, Kaizen,10 months, Junah, 8, Hannah Friden, 19, and Bindi, 5, at their home in Colorado Springs.
Kelsie Heermans, 33, has found the task of explaining the pandemic to her kids to be a tricky one. While she wants them to understand why the family is staying home, she doesn’t want to instill an overwhelming sense of fear.
They get understandably frustrated, Heermans says, and sometimes ask, “Why can’t we just play with our friends?”
Kelsie is executive director of the nonprofit Senior Resource Council and her husband, Josh, is a physician relations specialist at Colorado Springs Orthopaedic Group. The couple have been working from home alongside their three children and Hannah Friden, who joined the family recently as an au pair.
Even as the Heermans family grew by one, there was also a loss to absorb as Kelsie’s father died unexpectedly shortly after Hannah’s arrival.
“The tragic loss of my dad already changed our view of life so this just feels like another wave hitting us,” Heermans says. “Family and health is highly important, but our faith in God trumps all.”
Heermans emphasizes the positives that have come from the coronavirus.
“I pray that this pandemic way of life sticks,” she says. “We should always want to check on our elderly, homeless, small businesses, terminally ill, at-risk children. Can you imagine if this way of life becomes a little more normalized – a slower pace, meaningful relationships and pouring into others?”
