It's All About Walking Together

Christmas night, still feeling a bit blue that Sam and Caitlyn wouldn't be able to make it to our home till the next day, Rose said she was going for a walk. I promptly decided to go with her, as did everybody else in the family--including the goats and I don't know how many dogs. 

The sun had just set, leaving a bit of golden glow over the land, even though rather dark clouds were sitting above us. 

Looking behind me, I saw Tim silouetted against the sunset, and just had to snap a photo. 

I loved the cowboy hat against the sunset sky.  

And this one was even better--Tom and Rose holding hands, with Tim following them. He and Tom like to tease and vie over Rose. Tim and Rose used to be best friends, and now--let's just say Rose has another best friend, as it should be, so Tim and Tom sometimes just have to spar about that. 

As for Danny, he carried a big huge box along for reasons which soon became apparent. He was trying to capture one of the furry creatures following us! He entertained us royally by first trying to box Teddy, the golden retriever papa, then one or more of the goats, then one of Carrie's big woolly dogs. 

Not much luck, let's just say!

The next day, shortly after sunrise found our family traveling to the Badlands, as I told about in another post. Some of us had never been there even though we've lived here going on three years soon. It must have been Hannah or Danny that took this picture of us starting on a hike there.  

Hannah and Tim are photo-bombing!!!

There, that's better!

Quite the scene in the Badlands. It was too bad Crystal had to leave early and go back to her driving job in White River, and that Sam and Cait weren't yet to our place, but we still had five of our children and Tom and baby Ellie with us in this photo.

No matter where our family walked, the main thing was that we walked together.

"And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own.

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known."

It doesn't have to be a garden or a plot of roses.

It can be a driveway in the sunset, or a spot in the Badlands at noon, or a walk to the river in the morning, but the most important thing 

is that we never walk alone.

For God is with us--

always, 

even to the end of the world.

More Christmas Snapshots

Sometimes games happen at the table, sometimes on the floor! This one happened Christmas afternoon after the morning project and lunch. 

And then Sam came, and more work and more games. 

This one was Bible Apples to Apples after watching Rick Larson's "Star of Bethlehem: Exploring the Evidence about the Star..."

Most of the children had just gotten through a seige of severe sickness, and most of them konked out in the living room Sunday afternoon or evening--catching up on needed rest. 

Playing with baby Ellie was a pastime for all. She loves being on her feet!

Tim installed tongue and groove into the space between the top of the front door and the porch roof. 

Outdoors the boys went for loads of logs from down by the river where we'd been given permission to harvest some downed or burned trees from the prairie fire the year before. 

Saturday the boys all helped with several projects, including cutting firewood. We were so grateful for the projects that got done. 

And there was lots of music, especially after Crystal opened her Christmas gifts and birthday gifts which we shared with her day before Christmas. She got at least three piano arrangement books!

I so enjoyed hearing her, Carrie, and Hannah playing music. 

Family Around the Christmas Table!

What a privilege it is to gather around our family table that Jonathan and one of the children extended for Christmas holiday!

Christmas morning we had biscuits and gravy, and Sunday morning (above) we had oatmeal pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. 

Christmas Day turned just a bit blue when Sam, still in Colorado, let us know that his wife Caitlyn was way too sick to travel, but they hoped to travel up later if she was better. Several plans went on hold. Instead of our main meal being at one, we made homemade pizzas instead. 

Danny is checking out the sleigh driver in the vegetable sleigh train that Rose decided to make and I helped with. 

We had to admit our snowman driver did not look too great, but oh, well. Maybe he was having a sick day, too!

Little Ellie entertained us royally!

Rose made sourdough bread and one of the girls formed cookies from the molasses cookie dough I had made the night before. 

One meal was taco salad, and that day we got a large envelope in the mail from my nephew Ezra with our Morley clan photo calendar he puts together each year with all of the extended families' birth dates and anniversaries noted in it. Each  month a different family of the nine families is represented, and the other three months this time had photos of the two newly wedded couples from this year, a photo page of my mother with grandchildren or great grandchildren, and other such things. 

After the girls had done their due "ooh's" and "ahh's" it was my turn to look at it when I finally sat down at the table. 

Ellie enjoys the bouquet of flowers Jonathan had bought me the day I had my PET scan. They still looked pretty for Christmas!

Jonathan smoked and roasted a prime rib roast given to us a couple months ago from a friend who was clearing his freezer for a new cow. 

"Don't just put that in a crock pot!" he stoutly warned us. "That is a very expensive cut of meat!"

Believe me, we did not put it in a crockpot! We saved it and saved it and saved it until Christmas came.

Then instead of spending money on a ham or turkey, we decided it was time to eat this fantastic cut of meat that had been given us. Jonathan decided it must be worth somewhere between $120 and $200 at going price rates. 

After Christmas Eve service, Jonathan drizzled the roast with some sort of sauce, having read instructions online. 

And he was the chef for the meat for our Christmas dinner Christmas night. 

Day after Christmas Sam and Caitlyn arrived in time for supper and we had more of our gift exchange. We had trimmed it to two gifts apiece to simplify matters for new couples, but I also planned a "practice" white elephant gift exchange with things I had around, and it was a blast. Next year we plan to trim even further to one gift apiece but to also have a white elephant gift exchange for fun. 

Several mealtimes I served buffet style. 

We had quite a line. Tom decided to ride an office chair through the buffet line at the kitchen counter!

Rose made this snowman cheese ball, with a special smaller one next to it for gluten-free crackers for Caitlyn. We enjoy making creative dishes to substitute for not making many sweets since so many had been sick.

The family table isn't just for meals. It's also for playing games!

 This one was Blokus. 

The family table is certainly a busy place at Christmas time!

Christmas Angel on Skis

God sent a little Christmas angel to our home this Christmas season--sweet, smiley Baby Ellie Rose!

We couldn't have asked for a more precious, uplifting, and adorable angel had there been a real angel!

Tasbah Lavery hadn't been able to pass up this darling little set of skis at a thrift shop and sent them home with one of our family for baby Ellie, who seemed to enjoy the idea of skis as much as we enjoyed watching her face as her mom tried them on her!

Christmas had been a little different this year. Several of the children had been very sick and were still trying to get well. My PET scan report hadn't come yet, and we were all concerned about what that might reveal. And we had decided to trim our gift exchange to just two gifts apiece--which simplified our Christmas gift worries but was a big adjustment.

Friday when I received my PET scan report and read parts of it out loud and discussed it with Jonathan, the family behind our front seats in the van were silent, and I found myself praying for God to send angels to our anxious and a bit downcast family. 

Later I realized, the angels were my family. 

Especially little Ellie who wakes up every morning with a big smile for everyone. She smiles at nearly everything that happens!

She manages dogs quite well. 

Even dogs get smiles from her!

What a Christmas gift God gave us this year!

Bad --and Good--News in the Badlands

We were not expecting a call from the cancer care center yesterday on our family excursion to the Badlands this Christmas break. My PET scan had happened Tuesday, but then Christmas came.

I had not expected any news until Monday at least, and maybe not before my appointment with the radiologist on Friday of next week. So when I saw that a call had not rung through on my phone, I listened to the voice mail. 

Monument Cancer Care Center wanted me to confirm an appointment with my oncologist right away on Monday. I knew this could not possibly be good news. But it meant that my PET scan report must be in, so while we were parked at a spot with signal, Jonathan pulled up my patient portal on his phone and checked to see if the report had been uploaded yet to my  portal. 

I wasn't sure we should be doing this right now. 

Should we ruin our happy family time together?

Or was it necessary for our time to be ruined--or could we simply surrender to what God allows and enjoy the family time together?

Yes, the PET scan result page was right there. 

I leaned over and we looked it over together.

Why did this have to drop into our laps right during a family excursion to the Badlands?

Well, because that is where we happened to be.

Not because God was mad at me.

Not because He was punishing us. 

Not because He must be nasty.

It just happened to be that way--us in the front of the van while the children listened quietly behind us. 

Uptake (of the radioactive ingredient in the intravenous fluid which lights up abnormal cells) was high in the skin lesion area and also lighting up seriously in my right lymphatic area. We could understand that much in the wording of the report. 

So that was the bad news, but the good news was that there was no uptake elsewhere, at least that we could read. 

There were still one or two trails we wanted to walk, though we weren't sure how they were going to turn out since we'd never walked them before. But just after seeing this news about my PET scan, we pulled over at a trail in an area called "Oasis of the Badlands," the one place in the Badlands where any significant trees grew.

Cedars met our gaze as we set off on foot up the board walk, cedars covered with tiny, blue, round seedcones that looked a bit like frosty blueberries.

The blue color seemed to almost perfectly match the color of the beautiful South Dakota blue sky--like small, blue pearls from heaven--reminding us that even in our troubles and extremities on earth, God gives little bits of Himself to us, little bits of heaven on earth--

like this time two days after Christmas when we could have a bit of family time and enjoy God's creation and our precious new granddaughter who has brightened this Christmas season for us all--a little pearl from heaven, along with all the other bits of heaven on earth that strengthen us when our heart is tempted to be downcast.