When Your Heart is a Potato--A Rather Strange New Year's Meditation

 Sometimes my heart feels a little bit like a potato.

I was pulling potatoes out of the big mesh potato bag this afternoon for baked potatoes for supper, when I discovered this one--a heart-shaped potato. I don't remember ever seeing a heart-shaped potato before.

When I turned it over, it had a dent in it.

Right in the middle of it. 

I thought about that dent--about broken hearts and holes in hearts and Cupid's arrows stuck right in the middle of a heart. 

I don't know how that heart potato got the dent in it, but hearts of people get dents in them, too.

And the dents aren't always bad. Dents aren't the same as holes.

Holes go through hearts and take pieces away. 

But dents just leave an impression. 

Like a Christmas bouquet that is a total surprise.

I had been editing and editing the second book I've been working on, the story of my year in Ukraine and the spring when Jonathan came into my life, and I had told Jonathan on the phone about some of the emotions I have to work through sometimes as I write and edit. 

Sometimes I'm up wandering around the house, or pacing the floor, or going to my window to ask God questions like "Why this and why that?"

 And I don't have all the answers, but it meant so  much to me when Jonathan arrived home one day with this bouquet, saying, "I just wanted to bring some flowers for that lonely girl in Kiev!"

And he couldn't have said anything more thoughtful.

It went straight to  my heart. 

Because, as I told him later, there is still a little part of that lonely girl in Kiev

inside of me.

It was inside me again tonight as I tried to work through why I was feeling lonely and sad,

and praying that I would figure it out without blaming someone else.

Sometimes you have to crawl out of your shell and be willing to go visit people, or pick up the phone and call someone, or do something nice for your own husband and children. 

You can create your own potato heart dent. 

Kindness and thoughtfulness go straight to one's heart. 

My oldest sister Dorcas and I were talking on the phone yesterday, reminiscing about some things in our childhood, and she remembered when a friend of our family had come to dig some of our extra potatoes.

I was a little girl then, and she said that he had been so amazed at that little six or seven year-old girl trotting along after him pulling potatoes out of the dirt as he dug the hills. I had picked the potatoes up and put them in a basket. I remembered that I had this picture in my photo album.

 But as Dorcas and I reminisced, I couldn't help noticing how many of Dorcas's memories revolved around people who were kind to us. Like that man, Kenton, who my parents had invited to come dig our extra potatoes Dad had grown. 

"He and his wife Sonia were always kind to us," Dorcas remembered.

"Always."

"They were always kind," Dorcas remembered about another family.

And there was a pastor who came to our little dumpy trailer and who was touched when Dad had us children sing for him, and who always welcomed us to his church--"he was so kind to us," Dorcas remembered.

He was kind to our family that was so different and strange and lived in such a dumpy place.

Such people and their thoughtfulness and kindness leave impressions on our hearts

like little dents in the heart-shaped potato I found tonight-- impressions that we will never forget.

What Made Covid Christmas Eve Special

This Christmas was special in its own way--despite, and perhaps because of, Covid.

Almost every Christmas season I've been very busy trying to do things for others--

from practicing for Christmas programs to caroling to baking goodies or making cheese balls

to being part of extended family gift exchanges to finding someone in need to help.

Last Christmas we even took our goat and chickens to be part of a living nativity!

This Christmas was more laid back. 

Personally I did very little of the above. I only went out shopping one day!

Crystal was home from college and student teaching and kept the piano alive with practicing new Christmas arrangements.

Our children did some caroling but I let them go themselves with a few young friends while I stayed home and took care of the men folks coming home from work and needing supper, and then worked on my own projects. 

Not to say I didn't love this photo one of my family in Missouri sent of surprising my parents one night when the relatives there got together to carol to them! I thought my mom looked so very nice in this picture! Happiness does so much for a person!

The above photo is from one of my family back in Missouri, too. I just loved it. I read an article a couple days ago by John Piper, answering a question that comes in often at Christmas time, about whether having a Christmas tree is pagan or not. He answered well. 

I found it quite amazing that John Piper, noted Christian scholar and preacher, and his wife chose not to have a Christmas tree in their home. It's not like he's Mennonite or Amish or ultra-conservative or a miserable hermit. Not because Mr. Piper thinks it is pagan, but because they chose to have something that more specifically points to Christ as the center of Christmas. Something like the beautiful display above, on my brother's family's mantle. If you want to find out what that was that Piper's family did, and the other special things his family did such as have Shepherd's bags instead of Santa's stockings, read the following article at this link: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/is-christmas-too-pagan-for-christians

 

It was a happy moment when I opened up the bag of sweet gifts a sister had sent back with my children who had made a quick business trip to Missouri. Nothing like a sister to know what kind of little gifts will lift my spirits!

Jonathan and I kept capturing beautiful sunsets around Christmas time. I got down low to try to catch our little hanging creche with the sunset behind it.

Christmas Eve we had a very simple supper, but I did splurge and buy a couple small packages of shrimp especially for Jonathan with some of a Christmas gift of money someone sent us. Otherwise we had simple baked sweet potatoes with butter (my favorite way of serving sweet potatoes), and there were some Christmas treats later that evening.

This was my all-time favorite time this Christmas--Jonathan reading out loud a very charming Christmas story to us from a book Crystal had on her shelf, Christmas in My Heart. And the story was called "The Candle Tree." You'll have to look up that story and read it yourself. It was about a little girl whose parents had so little money that they could barely pay their rent, but they pretended the vegetable pie the mother and girl made for Christmas was full of carrots which were gold, and onions which were silver, and potatoes which were ivory. And the little boy next door, son of rich but unhappy parents, ended up longing for the love in that poor home. 

His home was full of Christmas tree, lavish decorations, delectable smells of food, and grouchy relatives who blamed and deceived each other. He crept over Christmas morning to the "poor" neighbors, and shivered outside the door without any gloves, not because he didn't have any, but because he'd forgotten to put them on because he was so excited to get to go with that loving family to find their "tree." The family went together with the little rich boy to the woods and found a little tree on top of which the dad placed a burning candle. And that tree glistened with all the sparkles of a million gems! But what the boy wanted most of all was the love that he saw when that little family of three held hands around the tree, and he wanted to hold the mother's hand, too, so he did. 
And in the end,

In the end of the story, the little boy ran home and got the beautiful pink doll that should have been given to his cousin, but which was still by the tree because his cousin's family had gotten mad and left the Christmas celebration in a huff. His grumpy and miserable mother at first did not want him to take the doll, but relented, and he brought that doll to the little girl who had been longing for a doll. So in the end, the little boy in the rich but unhappy family found the love he had been longing for, and the little girl in the poor but contented family was blessed with the beautiful doll she had been longing for. The story is a wonderful story about the blessing of contentment and happy family relationships, even when life is hard. Money and gifts and lavish celebrations do not hold a candle to simple, contented, happy, loving family relationships where the father treats the mother tenderly and where she lives to give him joy, where they both love their children enough to play with them and spend time creating fun games when there is no other gift to give.

I was happy that Jonathan could look at his family and say that he thinks that we have that same joy in our home--even if we have our imperfect times.

Teaching Boys--Quite Different Than Teaching Girls

Once Upon a Time there were two little girls--I mean dollies who had to go to school.

Cousins Elizabeth, Lydia, and Laura were playing school at Grandma and Grandpa Morley's at Thanksgiving time. When children aren't given screens to waste time and lose their imagination on, they use their imaginations all the time! And this time was no exception. The girls piled wood pieces up near the wood stove, and set their dollies down there at the "desks" while they pointed at the alphabet letters above the chalkboard which was up on the wall apparently just for grandchildren to draw on!

An older girl cousin, I think Charity, had sewn these cute matching doll dresses and bonnets for the dolls. 

Those girls set up little books, a ruler, and even an apple, and had the most charming school imaginable!

When a bunch of cousins get together, it is so easy to see the differences between the girls and the boys.

The girls are going around finding twigs with red berries and some kind of greenery to make a bouquet for an invalid cousin, while the boys are sleeping outdoors in a tent with a wood stove, playing ball, and running the zero-turn lawn mower and leaf blower. 

As a mom, I am so thankful when my hubby helps me with the Life Skills class for the boys at home, doing things like figuring out why the rear blinker light won't work on the van, and why the trailer lights won't work right. 

Here he and the boys finally found out that there are literally TWO fuses in our van that run the blinker lights in the back, not just one fuse under the front seat. There is a second fuse somewhere out on the engine, and that is why the blinker wouldn't blink! 

And of course, the boys are out with their dad when they go hunting, (although in our home, the girls are at least as excited about hunting as the boys are!) I just love that picture above that Jonathan took one night while hunting, with the moon glowing over the tent.

                                            And this photo of his elk, just before it got dark!

As you can see, our girls are right in there with the gutting and skinning and all! That is Rose who helped out her poor Dad when he was so shaken up with adrenalin after shooting the big 6x6 elk that he was too weak to gut it by himself. Rose got right in there and did part or all of the gutting.

                                             Another shot with mountains in the background.

                                                      Jonathan and his elk.

                                       I've had these pictures uploaded for quite a while.

                                                               When boys like to climb!

Crystal Has Lived One Quarter of a Century!

It's hard to believe Crystal has lived a quarter of a century already! At her age, I was going to Honduras to teach.

I wonder where she will go in the next year or two? Until then, she is kept hopping here at home with her puppies and helping pitch in with her share of household duties. For her birthday, since she was so busy, I said if she made her own cake, we would do the rest of supper. Well, she also decorated so pretty with some decor she found in her room.

          And she decided to try a new recipe, a lemon cake with raspberry sauce drizzled over the top!

                                                            What a delightful dessert!

It's a very low-sugar frosting, that is for sure! I think there is only 1/3 cup of sugar in it.

                                 There is no end of fun at the Lucas table during dinner time!

Boy, was this a bad time to snap a photo or what? How many people are licking their fingers or touching their faces???

                                                             This cake really went over!

The children had also made homemade lemon icecream that ended up rather chewy with pieces of lemon peel that were frozen in their syrup!

No end of laughter about it all!

Crystal was especially happy for the sewing machine she got for her birthday. I found it at a thrift store.

We are very grateful for our firstborn daughter and for the choices she is making as she endeavors to follow God's will for her life.

I still remember the morning she was born, holding her in my arms and looking out the window of the birthing clinic at the crystal dawn outside!

Snow sparkling all over, that morning seemed to confirm that we had aptly named her Crystal Dawn! And she has been a bright, sparkly part of our lives ever since!

 

God Knows Our Address--and Our Favorite Treat!

 One of our favorite preachers, Bro. Harry Plank, says over and over again that God knows our address. Well, He also knows our favorite treats at Christmas time!

A week and a half ago, Carrie's violin teacher, with whom we often share our extra cow milk, and a sister came to look at Crystal's puppies. They brought with them a Christmas gift for us. I couldn't get over how they brought this huge bag of pistachios--my favorite nuts!

And in a gift bag there were crackers with cream cheese and Honey Smoked Salmon--one of Jonathan's favorite treats! They did not know our favorite treats, but God did! Their gift meant so much to me--not just because someone brought us a gift, but because the gifts were totally accidentally our favorite treats! Which left us feeling like it was from God and not from people! That warmed my heart over and over. It lets us know that He just has His ways of whispering to His people what to do, what to give, and what is His will. Just little tokens of His love and care at Christmas time!

Last Saturday we weren't able to go to any of the events we had been invited to. Sam's Firemen's Christmas Dinner was cancelled due to Covid concerns, and we couldn't attend a couple other events, either. So we ended up driving up to Calhan where there was their annual Calhan Christmas parade.

It was different this year! The parade was a drive-by parade. The parade stood there, and we drove by!! There was a traffic jam at the corner of this little country town where vehicles were waiting to turn, and a policeman sitting in his car was asleep!

Anyway, it was a fun little outing when we couldn't do anything else. 

We were stuck at home that Sunday, too, and so we had some Christmas music and our own little service.

"If You Want to Make a Grown Man Cry--"

We were a little late getting our Christmas tree cut in the mountains this year, but that's okay.

I reminded my girls who were choosing ornaments with which to decorate it

to make sure that they chose plenty with the real meaning of Christmas.

                                            It can be so easy to just go with a secular theme--hunting, buffalo plaid, winter ice skates and sleds and snowflakes, but for our own home, I choose to make sure that even while we decorate our tree, we remember God. One of God's biggest gripes with mankind is that they forget Him. Some people think that the way to please Him is to not celebrate Christmas--no tree, no gifts, no decorations. They think that is the way to be spiritual. But are we really remembering Him? I think Christmas can be a really great time to remember Him. We can remember Him by decorating a tree with meaningful ornaments, or we can remember Him by not having a tree but spending extra time praising Him, singing, or praying. I don't think that just treating Christmas like any other day is a really great way to remember God. Remembering God requires action, purpose, and special events and celebrations.

                                          

    I loved the real horse and cow in the background behind the manger scene window cling!And below Rose decorating cookies before the kids went Christmas caroling last night. 

      Jonathan and Sam arrived home just as the kids left to go caroling, and the working men needed to be served supper (I heated it on the woodstove!) After the men cleared out of the kitchen and I got the dishes almost all done, I found myself just praying in the quietness, praying for our children and for our neighbors. I was wishing we knew how to reach them with the gospel.

Well, little did I know!! The kids with the three friends who came to carol with them were already reaching them with the gospel in Christmas song! They went over to our next door neighbors, and the father said the carolers were awesome. In fact, he and his wife and kids asked if they could all go with the carolers to the next places! Our kids were delighted! So the neighbors jumped into their truck and followed our kids around, and also asked if the carolers could carol to some people they knew! Mr. Neighbor was so excited, he was videoing the whole thing everywhere they went! Rose said she has never seen him so excited! The neighbors wanted the kids to carol to Mrs. Neighbor's parents, and so they did. The parents/grandparents live a couple miles away. The granddad came out to listen, hugging on his little granddaughter, and he was crying. He said, "If you want to make a grown man cry---!" He said it was the first time in his life that he was ever caroled to! Our neighbors directed our kids to two other places and were having so much fun, they wanted to carol all night!

Anyway, the carolers also caroled to the mechanic, who has had Crystal's car in his garage for over four months now. He was on the verge of tears,too. He said, "This is much appreciated!" He doesn't have a happy life, lives either alone or with a daughter or something. He had to quit his own business because of so many problems with it, but discovered that working for another mechanic shop only proved that they have the same kind of problems--wrong products being shipped in, etc. We've tried to be patient with him about the car, and show him kindness since he seems depressed and unhappy in his life.

We heard about people caroling in California, hundreds of them, to protest the ban on singing. Well, the kids weren't protesting anything, just taking some joy to people around us. I think that the darker the night around us, the brighter the light of Christ shines in His people. We may not have all the answers, but we have Jesus!

One of the lovely things about the Christmas season is that Crystal can be home from student teaching! So we get to enjoy hearing her playing the piano often. She is already being asked about by no fewer than three interested parties involved in missions or Christian school, and is praying about what the Lord would have her to do after the holiday season is over.