We Huff and Puff--He Carries Effortlessly

Jonathan and I sat at an old wooden table sipping water or chamomile tea at the home of precious friends in Colorado Springs the nights after Jonathan's brother's viewing/visitation and the memorial service. Gordon is a cancer survivor, Iraq vet, and song leader at our old church. Sophie, his wife, is from the Netherlands and I just love her accent and the way she talks. 

She is an avid quilter and loves handwork--like this below, from England.

 She sat at the table stitching furiously and showing me how she does the stitches. 

I also loved this framed Dutch alphabet (below) in the basement near the room we stayed in. I am always fascinated by other alphabets and cultures.

But anyway, as we were sitting at the table that evening, Jonathan mentioned about how he was going to be trying to level and stabilize a travel trailer for his brother's widow on Saturday. And in the blink of an eye, Gordon pointed out the sliding glass door.

"We've had pavers sitting there for twenty years," he said. "Take as many as you want."

And at the drop of a hat, God provided pavers we would have had to purchase!

Saturday morning Gordon and I helped Jonathan carry pavers from the pallet on the hill in the back yard to stack in the back of our Honda. 

Gordon was puffing, and I was only able to carry one paver at a time.

Our weaknesses were rather disgusting as we watched Jonathan haul three or four at once down the piney hill.

"Doesn't that just make you sick?" I said to Gordon, as we stood there watching my husband (chronic pain and all) carrying four pavers almost but not quite effortlessly down the hill. 

Jonathan has spent his life completely unable to keep up with the mountain hiking and biking that his brother Rob has done--hundreds of mountains climbed, thousands of miles biked. Jonathan's asthma as well as his ankle, injured more than once in falls from scaffold early in life, has kept him from participating in strenuous hikes and mountain biking. So he would look with complete awe at what his brother could do, while we, even weaker, would watch with complete awe at what he could do. 

Like the way he knows how to operate the jacks under most any travel trailer, and how he can walk away from the trailer, eyeball it, and get it almost perfectly level in the absence of any levelers on the old trailer. 

It was all I could do to carry one paver at a time to the several different spots by the trailer where they needed to be. 

I also had no idea how to fix a faucet that had to be turned on with pliers. Jonathan took a look, took a closer look, and decided that for a temporary fix, a Y split would take care of the situation so a hose could be connected for the trailer while the other side of the faucet could be turned on and off--without pliers. 

Jonathan also knew what was needed to replace the nonexistent sewer hose/pipe for the trailer. A trip to Lowes while I tried to find something affordable to eat at Safeway nearby resulted in three 10-ft plumbing pipes riding on the back of the Honda seats. I am learning in our trips with our Honda to expect most anything to fit inside between the windshield and the back window!

I am also learning to admire more and more the skills and abilities others have that I don't.

They remind me of God, Who gave the skills and abilities, and of His immeasurable strength, grace, and power to accomplish so many things we can't possibly do in our own strength.

Jonathan can only take short hikes and short bike rides and do a few little things for a sorrowing sister-in-law in a very short time that we are still in Colorado. 

I can only carry one big brick paver at a time.

But God carries us all--the grieving family, the contractor suffering chronic pain, and the little lady fighting cancer and chemo effects. 

"I am strong when I am on His shoulder," the song says,

"He'll raise me up to more than I can be."

Last Good-bye to a Brother--and Mercies in the Midst

Last week we said our last goodbye to Jonathan's youngest brother. 

And even in the sorrow, there was beauty, and mercies, and hope. 

Even as a tearful dad would be saying goodbye to a son for the last time, and a brother to a brother, 

that dad's other son greeted his first grandson for the first time!

Those moments of bliss and indescribable joy were as surreal as the profound loss we were in the middle of. 

To think that the heavenly Father planned the bliss and miracle of a baby grandson born within days of losing a brother...It's just like our Father in heaven.

"Super Papa," read the sash in the woodsy bouquet Jonathan's sister Esther arranged for the casket. 

Rob had been that to his little granddaughter Magnolia, or Maggie for short, 

and Jonathan is going to be a super "papa" as well, I'm sure. 

The huge, beautiful, "Son"/"Brother" bouquet that Carrie had arranged Thursday afternoon before the viewing/visitation was one of the beauties we enjoyed--even as each one tried to process the recent tragedy.  

Somehow Hannah, the "flowers chauffeur," as she dubbed herself, got the flowers to the visitation safely.

Carrie's job in the floral department of a large store in town provided her with access to her choice of flowers in the colors she wanted for a much more reasonable price than at florists or funeral home. 

She also did the arranging for us. 

Several extended family that I had never met before, such as Jonathan's aunt on his dad's side, and two of his cousins, were there for both visitation and memorial service, and it was an honor to meet them. There were lots of hugs to go around--and four new great grandchildren for Grandpa Lucas, including one only two days old!

Beautiful flowers from Rob's in-laws, who miss him terribly, stood near the casket.  

Rob's pastor shared a message about Jesus meeting His disciples in the boat in their storm--and how He meets us in ours as well--a Savior of mercy in the middle of heartache.

Second Sewing Classes Graduate in Africa

 "Oh, I forgot the most important news!" Crystal messaged last week on Monday. "Yesterday in church (in Geises' garage), Bro. Phil preached an excellent message from 2 Corinthians 5 about pleasing Christ, and a young lady, I'm guessing a teenager, wanted to pray to be saved. Candace and I went with Amrie and this young lady and her friend, and Amrie asked a few questions to make sure the young lady understood what she was praying for. Amrie led her in a prayer and then encouraged her to pray out loud herself. She has had demonic attacks in the past, but it was just a beautiful thing for her to come to Christ. 

Amrie told her she could pray in Zulu, and that praying out loud would make it clear to the devil that she belongs to Jesus. Amrie said later she thinks the young lady prayed the Lord's Prayer, but she did pray out loud! She said she has been reading her Bible, and Amrie encouraged her to read the book of John. Pray for [this girl]. Phil and Amrie said she has been coming pretty faithfully for a while now. She is now the eighth young person who has given her heart to Jesus" under the ministry of the Geises and Crystal's cousin Ezra.

In this photo, the ladies of the first week's sewing class are gathered first for the devotional that Amrie was sharing that day. Other days Crystal had the devotional. 

Candace helping a lady cut out her first skirt to sew. 

Last week Crystal was involved in her second week of assisting with sewing classes--this time in an unfinished home of one of the sewing students. 

She wrote:

This morning there were a couple ladies that caught on pretty quickly and were able to help some of the other ladies. Most of the ladies don't know English, so that makes it interesting.  We have translators but they are also learning to sew and can't be everywhere at once. So we just have to try our best and make lots of hand motions. One lady this morning would forget to take her foot off the pedal, so the needle would still be going while she was reaching for the lever to lift up the presser foot!  I was so afraid she was going to get herself jabbed, but somehow she didn't!  I think she finally was learning to take her foot off when we got done for the day.

Most of the time either Ezra or Bro. Phil is there. Last week we had to travel 50 minutes one way to get to the school, so whoever took us would stay the whole time. The rest of the groups are much closer, so the guys might not stay all the time if they have other responsibilities. It's pretty safe since we're not in town, but one of them will likely be there most of the time. Ezra knows enough  [Zulu] to be able to help some, which is a blessing.

By the end of the second week, the sewing teachers had graduated another group of ladies who now knew how to sew!

And now Crystal and Candace are in the middle of their third week of sewing classes. 

Escape to the Garden--a Place of Hope

Friday morning was cloudy and even a bit drizzly. On top of the usual weakness and post-chemo side effects, I found myself lonely and a bit down,  and decided that getting out of the house and working in the garden, even if for just a little while, was what I needed. 

 

Thank God for gardens!

That very same afternoon, Hannah and I watched a documentary about the incarceration  of the Japanese Americans during World War II in southeastern Colorado, and how gardening helped the Japanese cope. Of course, none of those stark barracks behind barbed wire exist today. The event is something the nation ought to be ashamed of, but that doesn't change that it happened. 

Thankfully, the Japanese Americans were not treated anywhere near as badly as prisoners of war in other countries. They were allowed to live together as families, have gardens outside their barracks, and after a while, even go outside the barbed wire fence to shop in the local town of Granada. 

I was riveted by the fact that gardens helped the people get through those awful times of relocation and confinement behind fences. The Japanese people were excellent farmers and were expected to farm the 10,000 acres of land around the barracks. They did a superb job, growing enormous vegetables and amazing crops even in the very dry, wilderness-type land and climate of southeastern Colorado.

They grew, as my family and siblings are doing, not only vegetables, but flowers (the ones pictures above are ones my sister Joella gathered into vases to sell in Missouri). Gardens brought some semblance of beauty from the ashes of the lives of the Japanese Americans.

For myself, I found that working in the garden and watching the plants sprout and grow gave me a sense of hope in the middle of a hard journey. No wonder our Lord Himself chose to stay, pray, and face the cross--and His ultimate resurrection--in a garden. 

Thank You, Lord, for gardens and for the hope they represent.

In Pain or Peace--"Our Eyes Are Upon You"

Big blue eyes peeped out from a fuzzy warm blanket, and Rose sent this picture to brighten our day. 

Her eyes were upon her mom, or her dad, that cool summer morning--just as our eyes were upon our God the night before. 

Jonathan had come home from the addition project in Mission in a lot of pain. Ever since the spider bite--there has been pain. Doctors have prescribed different things but nothing worked. 

Before bed, I applied muscle balm to his aching shoulders, but in bed he kept moaning. During very late hours, I found a couple more things to apply, but through the night he kept moaning, even while he was asleep--and I was not.

"Jesus," I prayed in a whisper after working castor oil and DMSO cream into his shoulders the best I could, "please touch Jonathan and grant relief. We don't know what to do,  but our eyes are upon You!"

Like King Jehoshaphat, facing an army too big for him, we were ignorant of what to do to help ourselves, and yet, 

we have God!

The next day, Jonathan thought the pain had eased somewhat. He was able to continue to go to work on that fellowship hall addition next to a big cottonwood tree with a robin's nest in it.

Danny had to saw the tree branch down because it was in the way of the building project, but then he screwed the same branch up somewhere else and the mama bird came back to take care of her sky blue eggs. 

In this way God took care of a little robin family, and He keeps taking care of us, too. 

Our eyes are upon the Lord--despite Jonathan's pain and my utter weakness--too weak at times to even do writing projects or hold a book to read. 

Still He is there, providing golden sunsets and cool mornings,

and a baby's big blue eyes looking up--

just as ours do,

to our heavenly Father above!

Crystal and Sewing Classes in Africa

Last Friday in South Africa, Crystal and Candace finished their one-week sewing class with nine ladies!

Here they are above, wearing the skirts each one made for herself and holding a sewing kit they were gifted. 

This photo was taken the day Crystal and her cousin arrived to South Africa to spend three weeks with Phil and Amrie Geise and their cousin Ezra Morley who is there as well. He is pictured to the right in the photo below. 

On the first day, Candace and Crystal taught the women how to use the sewing machine. The teenage son (boy in center with light colored pants) of one of the women helped to translate and was fascinated with the sewing machines. (You can also see him in the photo below to the right.)

Running a sewing machine was a feat in itself. It had not occurred to me that for women who didn't know how to sew, learning to operate the machine with foot pedal would be quite an accomplishment! Plus they had to learn how to thread the machine and thread the bobbin. 

Sometimes, Crystal messaged us, it was downright scary trying to help the ladies sew without sewing their finger under the needle! Learning hand/foot coordination was huge that first day. They used scrap fabric or even pieces of paper for the women to learn on.

Each day either Amrie or Crystal shared a devotional before the classes began. 

Here is the school building that the after-school sewing class was held inside. You can see that almost all the windows are broken out. 

After the first day of class, Candace got all the ladies' measurements and cut out skirt pieces for each of them. 

So here they are!

While I merely sew two missing buttons on to a blouse I wore recently!

Fawn's Frolics and God's "Perfectly Tailored Grace"

Not only is Fawn a joy to our family, but he makes a great conversation piece, which is always helpful when one is trying to reach out to others. He has learned to follow his instincts, and finds a place in or near the draw to the south to bed down most of the time, but then he comes back for milk two or three times a day, depending on the weather. 

For a while, Fawn, who is also called Bucky, (exhibiting our amazing creativity!) would show up in the corner of the flower garden, waiting for his milk. 

One of us would discover him and go for milk. That might be I, which doesn't sound right, but that is correct English, as Mom would say. And Bucky would follow me right into the house, where he would discover the  man of the house, or the other way around. 

And Hannah or I would get him to follow us back out of the house for his meal. It is better to have the milk bottle dripping outdoors rather than inside. Even Danny enjoys being part of some of the feedings. 

Thank You, Lord! You knew when we needed something totally unusual to cheer our days. 

"The Lord sent him to me," our native friend insisted, even though later she was told she was not allowed to keep him in native housing. 

That is when I offered dubiously, wondering if we could manage with everything else going on. But Bucky isn't much trouble--yet. 

And so the little delightful creatures wait expectantly for their food, given by goats and God. 

"What You give," the Scripture says, "they gather."

How we all do wait upon God to provide our needs!

Yet the birds must fly and look and nest and find insects and seeds for their babies, and man must labor until evening, and women must strain milk and make goat cheese every other day and gather eggs and fill the chicken pans, and do the dishes and cook the meals. 

And another little "fawn" finds food in a cereal box in a state a few hours away,

while the sun sets over the green hills of South Dakota.

And the prayer of a staff member of Samaritan Ministries Medical Sharing Program is answered, who prayed over the phone with me as I called with questions regarding new medical needs to share for Jonathan now, besides me, as she prayed and thanked God for His "perfectly tailored grace" for our needs. 

Before going to the next duty, I grabbed a scrap paper and wrote those words down, 

"perfectly tailored grace."

Who knew that part of that perfectly tailored grace would include precious new grandchildren whose photos brighten our days--

 and newborn fawns, once left abandoned in a ditch but coming with wet, black muzzle to beg for milk straight from our patient goats--and God!