Footprints in the South Dakota Sand

A week and a day ago, there were Lucas footprints in the South Dakota sand along the Missouri River.

We'd been through some rough weeks of financial blows; long, agonizing night hours of travel, 

days of hard work at Native American Indian reservations,

 and then suddenly the missionary at Lower Brule told us the welcome words, "You are done with your part of the job! Go have some time off!"

And so we explored a side road (on our way to another church/school where we would shower)

and kicked off our shoes.

It was a picture of joyful abandonment--heavy work shoes kicked off and left lying in the sand

while the wearers ran off to wade in the cool water.
That is, all except me.
Yes, me, Anna Lucas.
 
I was still in the truck, because I was suffering with about 18 (I counted them so I could tell you) maddeningly itchy chigger bites and I didn't want to walk in the wild, unmowed South Dakota grass and just get more bites. I had gotten these ones after going into the thick underbrush two days earlier to pick wild plums that we ladies would help Sis. Judy Sherman turn into plum jam.

It was such fun picking those plums that Beth Montour said we could have at the edge of her house's property right next to the church! Only the Lord knows how delightful it was to get back under some wild little trees and pick gallons of fruit, as if I were back in Pennsylvania. 

Except for the unexpected chiggers--and their red, itchy bites that didn't show up till the next day.

We thought there weren't supposed to be any chiggers this year, as they said it had been cooler and hardly any chiggers.

Well, Anna is so good at finding things, and if South Dakota had any chiggers this year, Anna Lucas would most certainly be the one to find them.

And she did.

So while the others jumped out of the truck and ran out onto the Missouri shore, I sat there,

not really unhappily, because I was preserving myself from all the bites they were going to get!!

But I was there all by myself until Jonathan came back. 

I watched him coming, and I had a stubborn streak come on.

I was NOT going to let him persuade me to go out into that grass and get more bites.

Not on your life.

Not until he told me that it was beautiful out there and I really must come and enjoy it with them--

and that he would carry me!

Well, that did it!

What lonely, chigger-bitten little wife like me could resist her big, strong, work-booted husband reaching around me and picking me up in his strong arms and carrying me, laughing,

like he did on our wedding day,

out through the wild, buggy grasses and onto the sand and into the waves.

It was such a happy, peaceful evening, enjoying the sandy shore along the river or reservoir or whatever it was, (we never did know for sure,we just went down a road and found a pleasant spot like we usually do) 

resting for a little while from the work and heat of the day.

We had first spent three days working at Winner, helping to finish siding the church we had started siding last year and hadn't been able to finish.

One of my jobs was to scrub off pieces of siding that had gotten dirty. Here Keith Lavery is handing me a bucket and dishsoap and a big roll of heavy paper towels.

I could write a whole story about Keith Lavery's lift that we used.

 

 It had this embarrassing habit of backfiring with a huge, fiery explosion every time you started it up and then hit a certain button (I couldn't tell you which one, but Jonathan taught Rose how to start the thing and hit this disastrous button, which pleased Rose immensely
and which also resulted one evening in  police arriving on the scene!

 

 Someone had called in a gunshot! 

I sat there watching police cars pull in, one after the other, and the first police walk by me in the truck where I happened to be sitting at the moment, 

then hesitate just a moment at the corner, with his hand suddenly going to his weapon at his side.
(Envision drunk, out-of-control, red-eyed monsters named the Lunatic-Lucas-Lavery-Loonies about to blow up the whole town...)

We had to let the police know it was just a harmless mission church construction crew with a wild and ornery lift that was trying to let everyone in the neighborhood know we were there!

I was still sitting in the truck when the police walked by again, on the radio letting headquarters know that it was just a construction crew working on a church!
That crazy lift would barely move, taking six minutes to lift whoever was on it up a few yards to where they needed to work, and then other times it would go rather fast and jerk and careen, and you had to hope it wouldn't butt right into the new siding and create a disaster! But once it got up where it needed to be, it was a great help.

I could also tell you stories about caulking. Jonathan asked me if I wanted to caulk, and--

no, I didn't.

I stood there not wanting to caulk with all my heart.

1) I did not know how.

2) I did not think it was a ladylike job.

BUT--
there was no one to do the caulking while the men and boys were hard at work with the huge job of siding, most of them on the other side of the church.
Soooo--I learned how to caulk.
And do you know, it was actually fun! I caulked a lot. I couldn't reach the tall spots. Jonathan had to get some of them. I just get heebie-jeebies that high up on ladders.

 But I did what I could. I mourned to Keith Lavery that I was using up the caulk tubes awfully fast. He didn't seem perturbed. He just seemed to be glad we were there to help, even us ladies, even if I was using up twice too much caulk for a greenhorn caulker.
But please don't go looking very close!!
Oh please!

On second thought, go ahead and look. 

And then you come and do the job next time. I would be only too happy to let you do the   job!

We had spent three days working there, until the siding ran out, and it would be days before some could arrive. So we had to leave before the work was quite done, but I heard a couple days ago that the siding was supposed to be finished that day.

Anyway, after all that, and working at Lower Brule, too, (pictures on that later)

we were here at this spot along the Missouri/river/reservoir water.

The children happily hunted for flat stones to skip on the water.

And Jonathan and I happily watched them.

They happily discovered, collected, and caught toads--and I happily admired them.

Out there with the Missouri pebbles in South Dakota, out there with the wild flowers,
out there with my husband and children and chigger bites...

...out there with one set of footprints leading through the sand.
So we pause in our lives at times, stuck in our trucks,
itching with insect bites and bugged by bloopers,
and we can't make ourselves go any further.

And that is where He steps up to our truck door and holds out His arms.
There is joy awaiting just a few steps away through the wild and woolly weeds
 at the cool shore of His grace and peace.

Will you let Him carry you today, too?

Our 24th Anniversary--and Peanut Butter on My Pillow and God Provides Popcorn from Mormons !!

After being away, the internet at home being down, or just plain not having time, I am posting once again. Jonathan wanted a picture of me on the little bridge in our back yard the day before our anniversary, and I asked Timmy to take a picture of both of us since we were celebrating our 24th anniversary that weekend.

(Timmy noted that there was a star over his mother's head! Not sure what that was supposed to mean!! :)

Maybe this picture (don't ask me how it got this way) is a little more realistic of our life--a bit topsy-turvy at times! :) Since we had just taken a trip to Texas and were going to be leaving in a few days for South Dakota, we celebrated our anniversary "in our own back yard."

All these beautiful sunflowers came up all on their own in the back yard, and we couldn't bear to get rid of them.  God has His ways of making sure a flower-loving wife and mother gets lots of beauty in her back yard even when so many other flowers she planted never flourished.

It makes us realize how very  much we totally depend on God for the outcome of everything in our lives. We can work so hard to make something happen, whether it's to grow a flower garden or raise a godly family, or see a church or mission or Kids Club flourish, but it is truly only God Who gives the increase.

Sometimes the increase comes from sources and in places you don't expect at all--and then God gets all the glory!

 Jonathan took me out to eat at Las Palmitas, since I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for there. I know you're probably not supposed to use coupons on your anniversary meal...but as long as his meal got paid for and mine was free--hey, I can think of better ways to spend the anniversary money we saved.  

 I just love the--oh dear, what is the name of this Mexican goulash?? Oh help!

It has savory broth and mushrooms and chicken and steak slices and onions and sweet red and green peppers, and who knows what else in it, and is served in a huge castiron bowl so it stays hot a long time, and makes you have to wait and eat slowly and patiently and enjoy yourself and the food.

PLUS, this plate of rice and beans and salsa topped with avocado came with it!

Was I able to eat the whole thing? You guess!

Did he eat his whole plate? You guess!

I want to share some things that I am thankful for about my Jonathan, things that have happened just in the last few weeks.

Here is something I heard with my own ears recently about him and his work crew.

"They have exceeded expectations!"

Just a couple days ago Jonathan was talking to a former lawyer for whom he had done a remodel job of a cute little cabin north of the Springs. The cabin had received hail damage in the last hail storms, and when the insurance adjuster came down from inspecting the damage to the roof, he told the lawyer,

"Whoever did your roof did a VERY good job! You need to have the same person come to do it again!"

Well, the person who did that roof was Jonathan!

He didn't lie around sulking in bed because something went wrong in his life and/or business.

"Never despair," I've often remembered the saying I have kept for many years in my Bible.

"But if you do, work on in despair."
We are both working on in despair. I have pitched in as much as I could, such as the morning before we left for South Dakota when Timmy and I hurried out early in the morning before breakfast to finish staining these banister rails for a deck job Jonathan was doing. We got them done and then we had to start packing.

Jonathan works on, day in and day out, meeting clients, going to Regional for paperwork and permits, scheduling inspections, supervising myriad details of the jobs, discussing details with homeowners, signing contracts, making an unexpected trip to Denver to deal with more government red tape, and all manner of other things, plus scheduling work on Mission Helps projects like the ones we did two weeks ago (more on those later).

Which brings me to peanut butter on my pillow.

That is the name of this hilarious little book by a mother of eight children,

a book I salvaged from some shelves of books Dale and Judy Sherman in South Dakota were getting rid of.

It's what I picked up today off the kitchen desk (don't ask me how it got there) after the rest of the family left for Denver for church. I was still in my bathrobe with my hair flying every which way when they left, because I am still fighting this cold I got after getting back from South Dakota, and I am just plain weary and felt I should stay home and rest instead of doing the 3 hours of travel and helping with morning service and Kids Club and not getting back till 5:30 in the evening today.

 Sometimes you just gotta pause and rest while the young and robust and healthy go on their merry way.

I  managed to get the crockpot ready to go, elk meat sliced, veggies cooked and added for them to take along with zucchini muffins and apple cake we made last night. And I sent them off, pushed a recliner over into the sunshine, and collapsed with a book and Bible and obviously this computer.

I think of the ways God has provided for us--not just finances and food--but joy and goodness.

The children are soo happy with the little garden they are raising--under a hail screen.

Indian corn, a few green beans, squash, a few little pumpkins, and morning glories twining all around. Nothing to brag about, but just enough to be delighted with.

And a few days before we left for South Dakota, Jonathan came home with something that he thought was very, very special:
a huge bag of gourmet popcorn from a family whose house he is working on!
The man is fighting cancer, but is such a kind man and easy to work for, and the family is Mormon.
And since they already had a bag of this popcorn when someone gave them another, they gave it to Jonathan!

Despite not having gotten paid the large bill on the one job recently, Jonathan had gone ahead and scheduled our Mission Helps trip to South Dakota. Was it faith or presumption?? I didn't know.

But when hours or days after he scheduled the trip and this sweet family gave us the organic popcorn (which we saved for our trip to South Dakota) we felt it was Hand-given of the Lord, a small token letting us know He wanted us to keep our promises and Mission Helps plans despite our financial setbacks. Our travel expenses would be paid, and then God would just have to come through.

And He did!

In South Dakota we were given an unexpected check that Jonathan said had him "blown away."

It was at one of the lowliest places we've ever helped, and a place that probably had the least amount of money to work with--but they shared what was left over that had been raised for the repair project.

Brandie Eberhardt said she and others from Faith Missionary Association wanted us to have it.

Through Mormons, missions, and many other ways, God provides!

Pie in the Devil's Face

Jonathan thought I should title my next blog post, "Pie in His Face."

The devil takes away a big hunk of money that is owed to Jonathan--

and one week afterward, Jonathan said he is signing the biggest contract he has ever signed in his life! That happened yesterday.

And Jonathan's wife and family are taking the free apples God provided and making pies to give away.

 One went to a friend who lost his wife several weeks ago. At the funeral, we promised to bring a meal sometime, but I haven't been able to make it happen since he lives on the other side of town.
But then yesterday I found out that he actually works in Falcon not far from us.
So I made supper fixings early, and went 15 minutes away,  looking for the auto body shop where he works. After stopping at three different auto shops in the same culdesac, I found the right one! It had changed names recently which is why I couldn't find the right one to start with.

 When he came in from the garage after being called by someone who seemed only too happy to hear that someone had brought supper in, he looked so thin! The secretary had shared with  me that she was worried about him because he was losing weight.

 I told him I had brought supper for him, and we went out to put the apple pie, zucchini muffins, coleslaw and meatballs in his car.

We stood there under the hot sun and he shared a little about how things were going (or not going) in his life, and I extended an invitation from Jonathan and me to come out to supper sometime.

We have only a humble abode, and the back yard needs mowed and we never do seem to have everything under control here, but people like him are welcome here.
People with losses and griefs and heartache.
People who need country and horse rides and smiles and a good meal
and to be around others who care--even if we are a bit of a mess.

I came back home from delivering that supper, and I was halfway to heaven.
I get my greatest joy in life not from selfish things but from sharing, and watching people open their hearts and tears come into their eyes and them feeling cared about--
us, imperfect though we are, just trying to be the hands of Jesus reaching out to someone who can't find a reason to go on. 
When I got back home, someone else was here for supper, someone who couldn't seem to want to leave. A pie went home with that person, too. 

Pies in the devil's face!
Pies from Jesus! 

Let Me Count the Ways God Provides! Coupons from Heaven

The day the lady told Jonathan she wasn't going to pay him the final invoice for his job was the day Crystal left for college.

We didn't think it insignificant that we got slammed with this situation the day Crystal left for her junior year of Bible College.

Sometimes God chooses to test our faith.
What do we love the most--our children? Our money? Or God?

The very next day we read the story of Abraham offering up his son Isaac--and how God provided
for Abraham,
for Isaac,
for the sacrifice.

Abraham gave his only begotten son to God--and God gave him back, besides providing a ram caught in the bushes for a sacrifice!
Abraham called the name of the place "Jehovah-jireh," or in another translation, "The-Lord-Will-Provide."
So let me count the ways God is already providing!


*This  year we are getting one of the best harvests of zucchini and squash that we have ever gotten!
We are baking zucchini muffins and canning zucchini relish with zucchini from our own gardens!

*The very next day after Crystal left, our children who work at a ranch down the road returned home with a bag of fresh corn on the cob and another big package of pork loin from the ranch lady they work for. 
*The next day we found an ad for free, organic apples that had been hammered with hail.

We weren't sure they'd be worth the trip, but yesterday we went to town and checked out the apple tree, and we got three or four bushels of delicious red apples! We stopped at another place that we saw had a loaded apple tree and asked about the apples and were told to pick because they don't use them all. The landlord of the place said he had been thinking of putting out a sign about the apples. He said, "Be blessed today!"

We were blessed!

 Out of the first batch of hail-hammered apples, we made the most delicious, thick, pink applesauce today!

We got almost 50 quarts of applesauce, with lots of those apples left for pies, and we hadn't even started in on the second batch of apples from the other tree.

That was with just Rose, Timmy, Danny, Hannah and me to work on the project!

I praised God for supplying the energy to me to keep on my feet the whole day, and keep going. 

*I praised God for the "new" used grill we'd gotten recently that had a burner on the side so I could can the applesauce outside.

I even canned in the rain!

(This is what happens when you are canning applesauce all day and don't have time to do the dishes!)

*That evening the kids brought in the mail, and there were three envelopes--one each for Rose, Timmy, Danny and Hannah.

They had raked up battered twigs, evergreen buds and leaves after the hailstorm at a place were Jonathan was to remodel, and the owners had sent the children money in the mail--more than the children were expecting! They were so happy!

*Crystal told me on the phone that at one place where she and Carrie stopped and visited on their way to college, she had been given $50 toward her school expenses.
*Sam brought home another puppy to replace the one he sadly lost when it ran out on the road and met its end.
This one is absolutely adorable, charming, sunny, friendly, cute, darling, and everything sweet you can  name. Sam is still trying to pick a name for it. Any suggestions?

God blessed the children with two batches of beautiful puppies.

Yesterday when I went to get ketchup at Walmart, there were three bottles of Non-GMO ketchup (with no high fructose corn syrup) that had 50 cent coupons on them!
So while Jonathan is looking into his options for how to get the stubborn customer to pay what she owes, we are tickled about 50 cent coupons that were there just for us!

 Lord, You are so good! You are already providing, as You always do!