Today's Gifts

The third day of the new year, three days until Epiphany.  I have been conscious of the Christmas calendar more this year because I participated (and will be throughout the year as I work on this project) in an online class called Journal Your Christmas.  It's set up in a truly helpful way because there is no pressure to follow a certain direction, although prompts are provided every day for journaling and photographs from December 1 through January 6.  Rather than journal this specific 2012 Christmas, I decided to do a retrospective of memories, which feels like a bit much, but I will keep working at it all year.  I am looking through photo boxes and CDs for all our Christmas photos, which is quite a challenge and is turning out to be quite a few pictures!  I have always loved Christmas and this is my opportunity to examine it in more detail and pull together some thoughts, pictures, recipes--all sorts of things.  It will be fun to have in the future...and to add to from time to time as well.  This is also going to help with one of my goals--that of sorting and putting some shape to our family history and stories.

The prompt for today's list of gifts (we are working toward a list of 1000 by the end of 2013) is about grace.  That is a huge concept and my life is totally dependent on the grace of others...God first of all, my very patient husband, our family, even down to a person standing in line behind me or behind me at a traffic light.  Some of my favorite verses are Eph. 2:8-9.

Today's gifts are about episodes of grace extended:

#7 My husband.  I am most always thankful for him (smile), but in particular this week he has extended grace so generously.  We were scheduled to babysit overnight for our grandson, and I caught the very nasty cold going around, so Chuck went and stayed for 24 hours caring for an almost 3-year old by himself.  I stayed home and slept and coughed and blew my nose.

#8 Our neighbors.  When I came home from the hospital in October, our neighbor brought a huge pot of soup to us, made a curtain for our front door (I had already purchased the fabric), and gave me a lap quilt for our journey to Mayo Clinic.  She said that as she makes the quilts, she prays for the person it goes to.  What grace!  Another neighbor baked some cookies for us.  We have been so blessed in our new little community of neighbors.

#9 Our son-in-law.  When Chuck had his nosebleed episode after Thanksgiving that took us to the ER in Minnesota, our son-in-law drove us there, stayed in the room with Chuck while they were working on him (and I had to walk out or pass out), waited patiently while I picked up a prescription, and then went back to the pharmacy later to get another prescription.

The thing about grace is that it is undeserved, which makes me feel even more grateful.

Taking the Joy Dare in 2013

I am reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and enjoying it very much.  Ann's blog is A Holy Experience which I love because she shares her gratitude and joy in the midst of all her humanness...something that is good for all of us to do.

We are staying in the frozen North this winter instead of heading south.  Recording what I am grateful for every day will provide the sunshine and warmth that we are not experiencing this year in the physical sense.

Recording these gifts on my blog is a stretch for me because I am essentially a very private person and I have a lovely journal (still mostly blank) given to me by a friend recently.  But this will keep me accountable more, and it will be easier to share with others taking on the challenge of recording our gifts.  So for the two of you who read this blog every now and then, I am sharing my gifts with you.

I am using the prompts provided on Ann's blog to spark a fresh look at my life. I could list a thousand things probably without much thought, but I want to peek into the corners and examine the gifts and blessings that I haven't thought about before.  Here is the list of prompts that I am using.

January 1 -- 3 gifts heard
#1  the voices of my grandchildren -- especially when they say "I love you" (or "lub oo" as it often comes out).
#2  music of Christmas -- nothing fills my heart like the choral music so abundant at Christmas.  The light of Jesus translated into something we can hear.  I listen to The Messiah every year.
#3  the silence of falling snow -- something about that blanket of snow coming down is a very special kind of hush.  If you happen to hear bells ringing (any kind) while it is snowing that is an experience all it's own.

January 2 -- A gift outside, inside, on a plate

#4 since it is winter in the Midwest, the evergreen trees outside our windows are a gift.  They provide color and privacy, and are beautiful when the snow sits on the branches.
#5  our fireplace (that can be seen reflected as I took the picture of the trees--no, the tree is not on fire).
#6  baking Christmas cookies with my daughter.  That was fun.

Never a dull moment...

I was surprised when I looked at the date of my last post.  Just 9 days before I went to the hospital.  The weeks since September 30 have been full of surprises.  Most everyone reading this probably is up to date on our events, but I will record them here "for posterity" and so I can return to the list when I forget it all!  Hang on, this is a long one.

Spent the first week of October in the hospital with an unidentified kidney ailment.  Still unidentified actually, but more than one doctor thought my symptoms were consistent with a kidney stone even though none was ever spotted.  "Really??" I asked.  "Even with all that blood?"  The specialist at Mayo Clinic said yes, so who am I to argue with experience and knowledge.  I already knew the pain was consistent with a kidney stone.  Apparently women who have had stones and also given birth say the stones are worse.  I agree.  You don't get a great prize at the end either with kidney stones, so you can't say the pain is worth it.

The week after I got out of the hospital, Heidi came to visit.  She went to doctor's appointments and to the hospital for x-rays with me.  Not so much fun for her, but it was wonderful to have her here!  She and Heather got to spend their birthday together, which doesn't happen very often.  We celebrated at Real Food Cafe.  Love that place.

Through a friend of a friend (one of those little "coincidences") we were connected with a urologist and kidney cancer specialist at Mayo Clinic. Off we went, Chuck driving, me lying on a mattress in the back.  It was a pretty sweet way to travel, for me anyway...and nothing hurt.  I had just found out I was severely anemic, so had no energy either.  Spent a couple of days at Mayo, and the good news was that I don't have cancer.  Bad news is they didn't know what caused my problems either, except the possibility of the aforementioned kidney stone.  Things didn't look quite normal on my CT scan, so we will return in January (my favorite time to go to Minnesota!) for another one.  Trusting all will have healed, recovered and returned to normal by that time.

Home for a while, feeling better, gaining strength.  Continuing the process of getting settled...realizing how horrible I felt during August and September when all this was building up in my kidney.  I attributed everything to the stress of moving, huge changes, etc., but apparently not.  Now that I am feeling better, I realize why I couldn't seem to accomplish anything during those summer weeks.  So, life can settle down a little, right?  Well, not yet...

Unfortunately, this has always been Chuck's favorite vehicle and I have totaled it twice...this time irreparably.  The first time a deer hit me which wasn't my fault.   Chuck is such a good sport.  He put up with all my trauma during October and then was extremely gracious about this.  What a guy.   A couple more visits to the chiropractor and I will be pain free and moving well.  I am grateful I wasn't really injured (nor was anyone else) and the shaking up was pretty minimal.  As a result of all this we have decided to let the dust settle and stay put in Michigan for the winter.  Except for that trip to MN in January, and then I will go back in March to help Heidi when their new baby arrives.  That will be fun!  Right now our plan is to put the RV in a campground near Heidi and Kris and stay there for a good part of the summer.

Which brings me to the final thought--gratitude.  How grateful I am to God for his mercies and grace.  There is no end to them.  Yes, we have tough things to get through, but he is always there.  Life is full of hard stuff, that's just the way it is.  But we are not left on our own, and everything God allows to come our way has value and meaning if we thank Him for it, and we do, every minute of every day.

A friend sent this text message today:  "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer (Rom. 12:12)  For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord from my youth."  (Ps. 71:5)

Finding Home

There is nothing like totally uprooting your life and transplanting it for finding out what “home” means.  As a kid growing up, we moved just enough to keep us from developing a total attachment to any one place or home, so I never suspected the depth of my roots even though it had been 44 years since I first stepped foot in Upland.  I expected to miss our friends and church and community.  And I expected it to take a while before new places and ways of doing things become second nature.  What I didn’t expect was the feeling of homelessness.  It’s not just about being surrounded by possessions or a familiar place and routine.  It’s deeper than that.  It’s something in my innermost core that says, “I am in the place that was made for me and I belong here.”  Uprooting ourselves made me think about all the people who lose their homes suddenly in a natural disaster or some sort of catastrophe.  If I feel uprooted and disoriented, what must they feel???

Our experience has made me realize in a whole new way just what “home” means.  Yes, it is possible to feel rooted and secure in a place, especially after a lifetime there.  But life is fragile, isn’t it?   Everything can change in an instant and truth is revealed.  My home on this earth isn’t really a place, it’s a Person.  Only with God can I feel truly at home because I know it’s safe to put down roots and know that “here is where I belong.”  We spend a lot of time creating a home, making it as beautiful as we can, and it brings us much joy to live amongst family and people we love.  If we can love these earthly places so much, how much more joy and love will we experience in our true home?

Speaking of homes...we are gradually settling into ours (both of them), doing more downsizing as we go.  That is a good feeling.  We will be at our “home base” in Michigan most of the time until the end of the year, then in our little “home on wheels” in the sunny south.  In late March we are due to become grandparents again (yippee!!), so here’s hoping there will be no blizzards in Minnesota then!

The great RV adventure begins...

Another milestone has been passed.  We successfully got the 5th wheel from Indiana to Minnesota.  Or rather, Chuck did.  I drove the car, so Chuck drove the truck and RV by himself.  The scooter that was fastened to the back of the RV jiggled around a lot, so Chuck had to stop several times to tighten it.  I had visions of it falling off and me running over it.  Not something I cared to have happen, but it didn’t.  We are now parked in the Minnesota Daughter’s yard, at least for now.  Starting to get moved in, unpacking items that I packed back in June.  It’s like Christmas because I have forgotten what I packed.  Speaking of unpacking, I feel like I have been unpacking for a VERY long time.  We are enjoying the company of our Minnesota family, especially our almost-two-year-old granddaughter.  Being with her is what this move has been all about, and it is worth every moment of exhaustion, uncertainty, confusion, and expense.    We just trust God that we will make a positive contribution in the lives of those we love.

Saving $$ on appliances

When we were preparing to move, we decided to bring our washer and dryer with us.   Buying new didn’t fit into the budget at all, they are only 4 years old and I am pretty fond of them; Chuck is, too.  We thought that in fairness to the new owners of our house, we would bring the washer/dryer from the condo back to Upland for them to have which they were fine with.   We were good to go with Plan A.  The weekend we started moving in, Chuck unhooked the appliances to bring back to Upland.  Surprise!  The dryer is a gas dryer.  Our Upland house and dryer are wired for electric.  Never thought to check.  Now what?  Load up the washer/dryer from the condo and take to Upland, and come up with a Plan B on the way.  Grateful for smart phones.  Get on craigslist and see if there are any washer/dryers for sale in our area.  Found one!  Woo hoo!  Turns out it had been posted one hour before I got on the site.  The owner lives near Indianapolis.  Oh.  But wait, he is traveling this afternoon to Daleville to go fishing with his son.  Chuck will drive to Daleville as soon as we get home from Michigan to look these over and purchase.  Oops, forgot to take cash.  Fortunately, the owner will accept a check because we know it won’t bounce.   Now our garage is full of washers and dryers, plus a refrigerator we brought along also to trade with the one in the house (that we also wanted to take to MI).  Are you confused yet?  We were.  

Arriving back in MI with our washer and electric dryer, Chuck is confident that he can run some wiring so that we can use our dryer.  Daughter works for electrical contractor as does a friend.  He comes to look at the situation, takes the numbers back to the office to consult.  Daughter calls that afternoon.  Official recommendation is, “Buy a gas dryer.  It will be cheaper.”  We start the rounds of looking.  Do we buy a set or try to find a dryer that is like the one we have?  We end up at Chuck’s favorite store and find a dryer that is the same as the one we had (only the updated version), so we opt for purchasing just the dryer.  Electric dryer now sitting in garage waiting to be sold on craigslist.  So far, our costs are about the same as they would have been had we left the washer/dryer in the house and bought new ones.  Sigh.  

Small world P.S.  The man who helped us at Chuck’s favorite store was very gracious and knowledgeable.  It turns out that he was a professor at TU from 1970-73…and I had him for a class!!!  I was glad he didn’t remember me because it was a required gen ed class that I hated and I did not do very well in it.  He has been designing kitchens for quite a few years…his other love besides teaching.  You never know who you will bump into, do you? 

No TV

Basic cable is included in our monthly condo fees, but I just got around to calling the cable company this week.  They scheduled a technician to come on Wednesday afternoon  to set things up.  On Tuesday evening I got a recorded reminder call, then Wednesday morning got another recorded call asking me to give feedback on how the visit went.  What visit???  Not only did the call come in before the scheduled visit, but no one ever showed up for the appointment.  Back on the phone again.  This time the customer service rep was even harder understand, and I really think it was her first day on the job.  She never could quite pull up the information she needed about my account.  And during a 25 minute call, I swear I was on hold for 20 of those minutes.  She kept asking for my patience and to “bear with her.”   I told her I expected that the charges would be reduced because I was stood up.  Yes, and someone will be here on Monday afternoon.  Note to file…if offered the opportunity to provide feedback on a customer service “experience,” never turn it down.  I would give a lot to be able to tell someone about that conversation.  Bottom line?  I haven’t missed having TV at all and don’t really care if it doesn’t get hooked up.  The Cubs have totally tanked, so I haven’t been watching them and I would probably even survive without football season this year.  After all, the Colts aren’t the same, Peyton is a Bronco (I think I will probably be a Broncos fan this year), and while I have always liked Tim Tebow, I will not become a Jets fan…ever, even for him.  I’ll still pray for him, but not root for his team.  Now the internet is a totally different story.  I would have serious problems coping without that.