Blanket of Grace--God's Gift on My 50th Birthday

I wasn't expecting to wake up to this on my 50th birthday at the end of April!

Snow fell all day!

Rose is out replenishing the bird feeder while the handsome steer looks on jealously.

I miss Pennsylvania where my birthday was part of the whole lovely experience of springtime--

where spring is actually spring instead of snowstorms and blizzards--

but I couldn't help being awed at the beauty of this snowfall that was for once a snowfall

and not a blizzard.

There were several inches of snow outside already in the morning.

And after breakfast (I wanted bacon and eggs), birds started perching on the tree outside our window,
including this goldfinch--while I was talking to my sister-in-law Ruth who had called to wish me a happy birthday!
(More about the goldfinch in another post!)

Just the day before I had  switched our typical schedule and worked almost all morning outside, before doing school in the middle of the day, and then the children had been working on the mess around the wood piles.

There's just never any end to the work that I see when I look out windows.

And so for my birthday, it was just like the Lord covered all that mess and all that work staring us in the face--

covered it with a blanket of snow,

like a beautiful blanket of grace,

so I could enjoy my day without feeling guilty about the hopeless list of all the things that really need to be done around here.

In between all the usual work and school, I kept going to the windows and looking out at the beautiful snow--that white blanket of grace!

And lunch is leftover chicken soup with garlic toast.

And there's granola to bake,

and vaporizer to clean and put away for the next sickness.

And a day bed that Hannah outgrew needed to be cleaned and readied to try to sell on Craig's list.

I made beef cutlets for supper, and Rose helped me make scalloped potatoes. 

They are my very favorite potatoes!

 Rose also made me this luscious icecream cake with Rice Krispie crust. I wanted her to try to make it in a bundt pan to see how it turned out, and it turned out so beautiful!

(Even though we had to substitute Rice Chex for Rice Krispies!)

Jonathan and the children surprised me this evening.

I came from my room into the hall just before supper to meet Jonathan and Hannah singing "Happy Birthday to You." They were each holding a balloon. 

Jonathan motioned for me to come on out further, and around the corner down the hall toward the kitchen were all the rest of the children, each with a helium birthday balloon, singing, too! 

It was a total surprise and so sweet!

Of course, I wanted a picture, (my classic response!) but I let them get away with not having to pose all over again just for a picture. 

I will just have to let that be a precious memory I hope I won't forget!

I had a recipe on the fridge that I had saved to try on my birthday--chocolate cups filled with berries.

The next post will show more about that. 

I just loved these cute little edible baskets!

Timmy had built three rustic birdhouses, using ideas he'd found online. 

I loved the one he gave me!

He had filled it with chocolate eggs!

Carrie had knitted me a scrubbie, and she and Rose both had ordered me a new kitchen towel from dear Niece Amaris, and Crystal had sneaked them to Jonathan at IHC.

(The beans almost spilled when I discovered this strange bag in the trunk of our car at the hotel!)

Jonathan also got me this "Pioneer Woman" soup scoop (our old ones broke), and a food chopper because ours burnt out a couple days ago.

And after supper, Rose (don't tell me how she did it!) but she got me to let her give me a ride on the four-wheeler!

I thought it couldn't hurt this once.

You only turn fifty once in your whole life.

And so we went outside--almost all of us went out.
And the four-wheeler got stuck over and over, but I got my once-in-a-lifetime ride on a four-wheeler
on my 50th birthday--
out in that blanket of snow.

That blanket of grace--covering all my failures and messes and to-do lists.

That grace that says, as I read that day, "That you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, 

for which you also suffer...That our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,

that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him..."

2 Thessalonians 1:5, 11-12.

Jonathan lit the beautiful candle he had bought for me.

He liked that it had two wicks!

So did I!

I couldn't have had a happier 50th birthday--

all under that beautiful blanket of grace!

Violets at Historic Clifton Mill, Dayton, OH

 This is Historic Clifton Mill which Jonathan and I visited for a lovely 40 minutes last Tuesday morning near Dayton, OH,  before meeting Bro. and Sis. Will Byler for lunch before IHC began.

I saw a photo of this mill flit across the screen at the airport when we arrived in Dayton, and I begged Jonathan to look it up and see if it was far away.

It was only 30 minutes away from our hotel!

I wanted so badly to go out in the country in the east in the spring time to enjoy some eastern spring scenery,

and this was just the thing!

 Jonathan wanted me to sit on that wooden bench behind these beautiful tulips.

Inside there is this charming restaurant with wooden floor and pictures of the old mill (which got featured in Country magazine once.)

There was also a rustic gift shop, looking much like olden days.

The restroom had these cute water pump spigots.

Another snap inside the gift shop, of these little bean bins behind glass under the counter.

My heart nearly jumped out of my ribs when I saw this enormous patch of violets in front of the mill. 

Violets are some of my favorite flowers.

Roses are elegant, but violets remind me of me--just a little wild thing that chums up with dandelions sooner than clematis or morning glories. 

Maybe I should find my poem, "The Violet," which I wrote about 30 years ago--well, here it is!

The Violet

I am a violet in the wood

That knows I am for nothing good.

I look around at all the trees

And say, "I wish I were like these!"

How firm the evergreens do stand!

The oaks and maples are so grand!

The aspen, with its thousand leaves,

That every wisp of wind retrieves;

The glowing tulip tree's hidden bloom,

The snowy cherry's sweet perfume,

The apple tree, radiant as a bride,

The beech tree huge, the spring beside.

And then, poor me, poor little spike,

The Mayapple guards umbrella-like!

What use am I to this old world 

That my poor petals be unfurled?

Hark! Hear I not a child come,

Singing, skipping on toward home?

Ah, slower, slower is her tread

And her voice is quieted.

What, is it true? I see her face

So happy in its charming grace.

And--she's beaming down at me!

 

What? See you not yon stately tree?
But she disregards my plea

And plucks my stem quite tenderly.

Then running, flying on toward home

She bids her mother, "Quickly come!

See from the woods what I did get!

A pretty little violet!"

A tiny vase she fetched with pride

And gently placed my stem inside.

Then suddenly I see there is

A reason why God made me this.

 

Those trees could not--though hard they try-- 

Fit in a vase with so  much grace--as I!

g
Two pictures up is Jonathan in front of an old blacksmith shop which is just across the road from the mill.

What Another Blizzard Blew In!

The blizzard we had just before heading to IHC left a drift about 8 or 9 feet high on the south side of our barn.

It also blew in a neighbor who was nearly frozen after trying to dig out of the ditch he'd run into while driving in the whiteout, and then trying to walk home.

When his pants were frozen to his legs in no time with the wet snow whaling him, he decided he'd have to wait it out at our place. 

Here Jonathan is telling him about our upcoming trip to Papua New Guinea, and showing him where PNG was on the globe.

We enjoyed having our neighbor and his son there for a while, till the blizzard let up enough to see again, and Jonathan took them home.

Jonathan's snow suit was wet in no time, too, after going outside for a little bit.

There goes his truck down the road--his Chevy past that ditched Ford, he had to rib about.

 This is what one set of windows looked like.

We had to cover these daffodils by our front sidewalk before the storm came.

What a delight they are!

Here is Jonathan ready to go out into the storm.

Goodbye, stay safe!

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Out our livingroom window that day.

Indoors I am putting some updated photos on our Mission Helps display for IHC in Dayton.