Chesed

Perhaps it’s time to work on my enunciation.  I just heard Adam singing J-O-Y a few minutes ago.  It went something like this …. “Jesus first.  Your so fast.  Others inbetween.”

It is suddenly winter.  The weekend was fantastic.  I could hardly believe it was nearing the middle of November and we were heading out of the house wearing sandals and short sleeves.  Sunshine that you could feel instead of weak rays trying to lighten the cold and temperatures in the upper seventies.  Saturday night after we were in bed I heard raindrops.  A little before seven I heard some shuffling and soon discovered little icicle hands and feet squirming to find room in the middle of the bed.  The power had been off for at least two hours and our house was cold.  Fortunately it blinked back on in a few minutes so we could do lunch prep and take warm showers before church.

Halfway through Sunday School the lights blinked, blinked again, and blinked again before giving up entirely.  We continued church in the dim light the windows afforded and one tiny flashlight for our pastor.  Even the flash light lost its spark before long.  The wind was howling and the church house wasn’t exactly warm.  By the time church was out I had one place in mind …. mom’s house!  Where else do you go when you need comfort of any kind?  We raced home to grab a few clothes, gathered up the rice and beans and recardo chicken and headed for Stuarts Draft.  We almost never go there spur of the moment (being an hour away isn’t far but it usually means planning) and it turned out to be so much fun.  Kelvin and Beth moved Saturday so they came for lunch as well and brought dessert … talk about a family carry-in dinner.

By the time we got home around quarter to eleven the house was toasty warm again and I wasn’t heaving sighs at being a Greene county resident anymore.  Today it’s so grey outside … grey enough to be one of Dr. Suess’ “grey day, everything is grey.  I watch but nothing moves today” kind of days except that we had so much fun yesterday it’s not grey in our house.  I think it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas.  They really need a holiday in January other than New Years.  Something like around the 20th when it’s just blah winter. 

Here’s a peek at Evan …

I stopped at the hospital to drop off a dress for Jo and got to cuddle Evan a bit.  He’s so tiny and so dear!  I thought it would give me flashbacks about Adam since they are so nearly the same size; but apparently it’s been too long since Adam was that little.  Evan seemed so very tiny.  Jo was discharged yesterday and Evan today.  Elliot is off oxygen and under bili lights.  We’re so excited for them!

Somehow I must have been unknowingly depriving Adam of certain food items.  Yesterday at the sewing he saw cupcakes at the end of the buffet line.  He came to get me and emphatically announced, “I need one dose muffins.”  I didn’t really mind that he didn’t know what cupcakes are; but then today he pattered into the kitchen post-nap and found me cooking spaghetti.  He peered into the pan quizzicaly then asked, “dose toofpicks?” 

They’re here!  David Lee’s brother, Darrel, and wife Joanna are suddenly the parents of two!  Evan Ross and Elliot Wade appeared a little after seven this morning!  They weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and 6 lbs 3 oz respectively.  Elliot’s on oxygen and Evan soon joined him in the nursery for a glucose drip since his sugar levels were dropping; but otherwise they seem to be holding their own and Mom is doing well.  It still seems unreal and we all can’t wait to cuddle them!

Yesterday was meant to be fantastic and it turned out to be even more so than what I’d dared to dream.  Every few years my mom and sisters and Rosa and her girls will get together for a day.  This time, Mom, Beth, and I, along with Rosa, Treva and Tury met in Harrisonburg for a day of shopping together.  Mom had a last minute trip to OH come up on her schedule and had to leave by 12 (which meant Beth would leave, too, since they carpooled) so we opted to start early with breakfast to give us more time together. 

There we sat at Ihops, eating omelettes and french toast, drinking coffee and having the merriest of times.  There was so much laughter at our table I caught the few people who were also there early trying to slyly peer at us out of the corners of their eyes.  A wave of sadness washed over us when the talk turned towards the gruesome tragedy in Pennsylvania.  It’s hard to know who to feel most sad about … the girls who suffered and are still suffering such a horrible, horrible nightmare, the parents and families who have lost a child / children, the community who has lost friends and the beauty of innocent, normal living, the wife of the murderer who must be enduring unbelievable mental agony?  Through it all, I am most amazed at the forgiveness of the entire community.  The way God is showing His love to an entire world through His people, the quiet, rural Amish community in Lancaster County. 

The talk turned towards Tury leaving for Belize and then to reminiscing about other shopping trips.  How we laughed about the day 10 years ago when we met in Staunton and we girls shopped the toy aisles.  The prize of our day then was disappearing ink.  Some of us bought pens, some calculators, and someone a camera.  All were filled with the magical ink and we would laugh uproariously at someone’s horror as we squirted ink all over their clothes!

Hearts and stomachs bursting we headed for the mall.  Times have changed.  Instead of shopping in the toy stores, we were grown-ups.  Mom and I fell in love with the same pair of shoes.  This time it was also the girls urging the mom’s to “at least try this sweater on.”  It was also the girls trying to locate the mom’s because it was very nearly time for Mom and Beth to be leaving. 

You really know you have old friends with you when you can shop together, as in together.  The first time I went shopping with new friends after I got married I realized that shopping together means (at least for them), carpooling, and then setting a meeting time at each store or at the mall, then dispersing to shop alone.  I didn’t like it at first but have sort of gotten used to it as “normal.”  It is faster, but not as much fun.  Having been immersed in that sort of culture for four years, I was the one setting a meeting time at the beginning and immediately people started fussing, “but why don’t we just shop together?”  Oh what bliss!  We had an amazing time, looking, laughing and talking, trying on new things, being each other’s beauty consultants, eating soft pretzels when we needed to refuel and exclaiming over all our purchases!

It’s nice to know that some things haven’t changed.  We still love to be together and when it’s time to say good-bye, we nearly get misty-eyed.   Even before we walk out the door, we start dreaming about another time.   With Tury leaving for Belize for two years, it may be a long time.  That’s okay.  Meanwhile, we’ll hang onto the good memories in our hearts.