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VOL. 124 NO. 30 www.whitebearpress.com $1.00
NATIONAL PRAYER DAY: Not just one day PAGE 3
3 moms, 3 Journeys lit itar ary; y; a ano noth ther er iiss in the military; another garten teach her and dm othe ot herr off a kindergarten teacher mother r-old twins and a 6-year-old; y ; and two 4-year-old e is an expectant mother who had then there to take a leave of absence from her job in the re industry. health care
BY ELIZABETH CALLEN SHOREVIEW EDITOR
N
icole Bruley, 27, never imagined that she would have to give birth during a global pandemic. But with only a few weeks to go before the due date of their daughter, Finley, she and her husband, Matt, don’t have another option. Formerly of White Bear Lake, the Bruleys relocated to Woodbury last year. Both of them are health care workers who have found themselves on the frontlines since COVID-19 struck BY ELIZABETH CALLEN SHOREVIEW EDITOR
C
hristy Fletcher’s days in quarantine are best described as a balancing act. The Forest Lake resident is a mom of three (a 6-year-old, Silas, and two 4-year-old twins, Hattie and Hazel) and a kindergarten teacher at Forest View Elementary. Since COVID-19 made its way to Minnesota, Christy has found herself on both sides of the distance learning line, navigating how to teach not only her students BY SHANNON GRANHOLM QUAD PRESS EDITOR
Y
ou could say Circle Pines resident Lauren Shegstad, 31, has her hands full —That’s an understatement. Lauren is married to Staff Sgt. Nick Shegstad, who serves full time in the Minnesota Air National Guard. The Shegstads will celebrate eight years of marriage in September and have three children, Landen, 6, Kinsley, 3, and Cedar, 1. Landen and Kinsley
Minnesota; Matt is a firefighter/paramedic, and Nicole is a radiology technologist. Working in health care creates a whole new set of uncertainties for the soon-to-be parents. “I don’t know what worries me more: delivering (Finley) into this scary world where right now, hospital restrictions are so strict that only Matt could come into the hospital with me during our stay,” Nicole said. “Or carrying her around with me (and) exposing her to everything I come in contact with
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Bob and Nancy Brydges wear their mandatory masks.
Couple can’t get out of Africa BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER
both have autism. Nick has been in the military for 12 years and works in Aerospace Ground Equipment. He just returned from his sixth deployment, this time to Kuwait, the fi rst week of March. “We have been thrown for several intense curveballs,” Lauren said. “My kids are my absolute greatest blessing, as hard as it is with having two that are autistic .... God has completely blessed us. He knew that I could do
KENYA — Flexibility and patience are key words in Bob and Nancy Brydge’s vocabulary. The missionary couple have been trying to return home for weeks. Every time they think they have a flight out, it is canceled. The Nairobi airport is closed to all international flights until further notice, Nancy shared in an email. “We are holding out for a May 10 date, but it is doubtful the airport will be open by then,” she wrote. “So here we are, a 79-year-old White Bear Lake couple with no way out (one of my fav movies by the way).” Adjustment is another word Nancy used in an update to family and friends. It’s advice she gives anyone coming to Kenya. “Adjustment is needed to enter the opposite side of the car, adjust to nightmare traffic, crazy drivers and long waits. The country is adjusting to the worst invasion of locusts in 70 years. Food prices are up for everyone as a result, many are starving and many have lost a living (due to COVID-19).” For 22 years, the Birchwood couple have been returning to their beloved Kenya to minister to abandoned and orphaned children at the Brydges Centre
SEE MOTHERS, PAGE 10
SEE BRYDGES, PAGE 11
from afar but also her own son in their home—all while keeping her young daughters entertained. Like a lot of teachers, Christy misses her students, especially because this time of the school year is typically full of realizations of the progress they can make in a year. “Especially in kindergarten, you do so much work helping them grow. They go from not being literate to learning to read,” she said. “The most exciting time is the spring (because) you get to see all that work come to fruition, and so
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As if motherhood was not a hard job already, throw in a pandemic. Press Publications set out to find three mothers from different communities and share what they are facing in these strange times. Although the three moms are around the same age, they all have very different stories to tell. One is a stay-at-home mother of three with a husband