After a few of my children dropped off some firewood from beetle-ridden spruce branches for our friends Ward and Naomi French on Christmas Eve, we found that our friends had been almost out of wood, and what we brought wouldn't last very long.
Their tiny woodstove (not like this one of Grandma's and pa's) eats up wood as if it owns the National Forest!
Naomi was in Canada for a couple weeks with her missionary son.
Timmy, Danny and I, at the last minute before leaving for New Year's Eve dinner with Grandma and Grandpa in town, decided to go ahead and saw some more firewood from Timmy's leftover slab wood, to drop off at the Frenches.
I was afraid we should have left the wood for another time, as it was out of the way to go to Frenches, and we were NOT going to be early for supper. Maybe I should have prioritized arriving early at the grands this time!
All seemed dark when we arrived at the Frenches, and we looked about to decide where to stack the wood.
Then I noticed that in fact there was a little light on in the house.
Ward was indeed home, having been brought home by a relative after his jeep's drive shaft fell off while he was driving home from work! He said he'd come home tired and hungry, and was expecting to eat a lonely supper when we arrived with wood!
"Is your arm going to grow wings?" he teased Danny, feeling as if possibly angels had come unawares.
(Very unawares for us, by the way! No sense of God, angels, or Holy Spirit as I struggled to decide what was best for the evening!)
As we unloaded wood, Ward also had to let us know that he'd gotten a call this morning that his older sister had died.
His eyes filled with tears.
Ward's daughter, mother of seven children, died earlier this year, of cancer. And he was still grieving over that this Christmas. And now this! A sister dying and his vehicle breaking down all in one day!
We urged him to hop into the van with us and go to supper at Grandma's.
After worrying about his work clothes and being assured by us that we were not much fancier,
he did hop into the van with the kids and to Grandmother's house we went!
The food was ladled out and the lantern turned on.
Jonathan's dad asked Ward to pray.
"Lord, Thank You for this table," he began, and broke down.
No complaints about God taking away his daughter and his sister and his vehicle's drive train.
No grumps, no reminding God about his sorrows.
Just thanks.
Just gratitude for the hands that had prepared the food, and the people around the table,
and of course, the food.
Gratitude characterizes Ward's life, despite his griefs and burdens. He is one of the most grateful, pleasant, and interesting old men our family knows.
Grandma's cookies!
Jonathan's parents opening our late Christmas gifts. We had been sick on Christmas Day and couldn't go in as we'd planned.
Jonathan had heard his dad talking about wondering where to get piano rolls for their player piano, and didn't I find some at an estate sale and another one at a goodwill!
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "He Lives," "At the Cross," and several others.
Rose pumped the pedals first.
Here are the pedals Carrie is pumping this time.
Ward tried, but gave up. It takes a lot of gusto to pump those pedals!
Hannah's turn.
My turn!
Just for fun, Jonathan tried! But his ankles wouldn't hold up very long, after the injury he had from falling off scaffolding at age 17.
Timmy tries the last song.
Then we played Balderdash. What fun! THat game is both hilarious and educational!
Someone picks a card that has a word that probably nobody ever heard before, and each person is supposed to make up a definition. The person who read the word also writes down the real definition. Then everybody votes on what they think is the real meaning.
Grandpa, on the first round, came up with a very close meaning on a word he had no idea about--
chiffarobe!
Ward remembered the word. It means a wardrobe with drawers.
He used to keep clothes in a chiffarobe, he said!
It was a fun evening, and we got to spend it with someone who was lonely and sad,
thanks to Jonathan's parents for opening their hearts to Ward as well last night.
And a Christmas popcorn can meant for Jonathan's parents got smuggled out to Jonathan's truck when he took Ward home, so he would have something to munch on.
What a happy evening and way to end the year 2019!
We were all blessed for it!
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