Break for Spring

We've had a whirlwind of activity here since Snowmaggdon hit. After we recovered from our solid week of winter (I know, so sad), we assessed the damage and started to make plans.

Thankfully the worst damage we had to our property was to some of the landscaping never meant to survive freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. It was really minimal though and most plants have started peeking through what had looked dead.

Meanwhile we've been putting on hold the work needed to be done at church until after we got through Lent, Easter, and a Sunday of special occasions. It's been slightly overwhelming to my brain so I've been taking one event at a time and it's worked out OK so far! 

Zanna came home for Spring Break! We managed to briefly get out of town for a fun day while she was here. We headed to Ft. Worth and spent an evening at Brent and Chantal's place to visit and let the cousins hang out. The next day we headed over to the Ft Worth Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we soooooooo enjoyed ourselves! We stopped for some BBQ for lunch before heading back to our neck of the woods.

Easter at Grace was way more normal than last year! We had a beautiful service with a good sized group, Easter breakfast beforehand, and hosted Easter dinner at home later that evening. 

One of my favorite things I've loved about sending our kids to Luther Prep is how they come home playing the piano. It's like a miracle to me. Finally something I didn't teach them or have to drive them to weekly! And because the mission of Prep is to prepare God's people for serving in the church, they are being equipped to do just that. Our worship leader, Ruth, worked with Zanna to play for Palm Sunday worship and it was amazing! 

Oh! And Will was almost home for Easter. Except he wasn't.

A close friend from his school tested positive for Covid during a mandatory testing. Because he listed Will and his roommate as close friends, they were supposed to quarantine in their rooms over Easter weekend. Once school resumed on Tuesday, they were to then take a Covid test and go from there. 

Feeling confident that there was no way he had Covid (because our feelings are super scientific), he received permission from the nurse and his father to come home. Nobody asked me until after he was on the road. 

Anywho .... I demanded  suggested that when he arrived home in the middle of the night he go directly to his room and stay there only coming out when it was time for his rapid test appointment the next morning. Meanwhile Zanna and I were out the door early that next morning for a shopping day trip and awaited the results that would determine what would happen next.

I'm sure, dear reader, you see where this is going. He tested positive. Since it was noon by now and too late to drive back to Minnesota from Texas (having just arrived the day before) he stayed in his corner of the house and I brought food to leave at the top of the stairs where I would wave to him from afar. He drove back the next day to live out the rest of his quarantine time with his fellow Covid positive friends in a house near campus. Thankfully none of them experienced any symptoms and they ended up enjoying (dare I say?) a week off of school to work out in their homemade gym, sit out by the bonfire at night, and who knows what else ...

Which meant he came home for about 30 hours and I got to spend the last half of Holy Week disinfecting everything he might have touched up there. Awesome. 

Having said that we all felt bad for him and tried our best to show him love from a distance. I bought him protein bars and avocados in bulk from Sam's Club. I kept the meals coming to the top of the stairs. Zanna made him cookies and wrote him this sweet note:

#Snovid'21GodblessTexas

 Well that was interesting.

I saw a meme somewhere that said: 2020 was the year from hell. 2021 was the year hell froze over. 

Yep.

We knew some crappy weather was coming our way. Frankly, Wayne and I barely blinked. We're Canadians for crying out loud. We spit in crappy weather's face and then get in the car and go to the grocery store. So when it was suggested that church be canceled on Sunday because of some freezing rain we were like, "Doesn't bother us but we have a lot of older people that don't want to be driving and we would feel awful if someone got in an accident trying to get to church." Ok. 

So for the first time EVER we didn't get up on Sunday morning to go to church. It was so weird. Yes, it's true! All through the worst of the Covid lockdowns we still got up on Sunday mornings and went to church. Wayne preached and I recorded it.  We continued to get dressed up, sit in the pews, stand for the Gospel reading, sing hymns, etc. Sometimes we were the only ones there and sometimes another family was there with us but it was business as usual (with Covid). 

We finally got to experience what we've only heard about: not setting an alarm, staying in our jammies, filling our mugs with coffee/tea, settling in on the couch, and participating in church from our sofa. It was novel, strange, and sort of exciting. I can see how people might take to this way of "doing church". I can also see the many dangers in it and am concerned for the future of the Church. God help us! 

The rest of the day continued on in it's loveliness.  We had no where to go and nothing pressing to accomplish which almost never happens. It rocked. 

Monday we woke up to snow. And I gotta say, pretty impressive to see even as Canadians. It really dumped on us! Since we've lived here I've only seen flakes once (a month ago maybe?) and it melted once it fell on the ground. It was very unimpressive. So this was quite a shock! It was quite a different scene to look out at! The best part was watching the dog's reaction to it- freaked out at first but then having the time of his life. 

No one drives in snow around here so we stayed put knowing there was no where to go anyway! Plows weren't going to come through although a neighbor with his John Deere went through our neighborhood and made a path. We ended up gathering at a neighbors that afternoon for mid day tacos and a visit. It was fun. It was cozy. We weren't concerned. 

It was shortly after we got home that the power went out. Our power has gone out before but that was during heavy spring rains, strong winds, etc. I hate it when the power goes out. It's so inconvenient. I can't sleep with my fan, the air conditioning shuts off, and it's so hot! It's always comes back on though well before the risk of having to throw out everything in the refrigerator and freezer. We've talked about a generator several times before but the expense makes us hesitate and put it off. 

This was a different kind of power outage though because of so many factors ... mainly that it was SO COLD. It actually got below 0 F on Monday night. It never gets that cold. Even the high was cold -  8 or something. That's ridiculous! All of a sudden our conversations with our neighbors were all about how we had to beware of our pipes freezing, keeping the faucet running, using your blowdryer to thaw the tap outside, our septic, our sprinkler system, the list went on and on. Most Texas homes are not built with great insulation. Thankfully ours is and has the spray foam everywhere which is more than we had in Ottawa. But Monday night was cold. We have a gas stove which became our only source of heat. We started sleeping out on the couch which is fine when we're watching TV but not so fine when you're trying to sleep and would like to stretch out. Also since hot air rises and we've got high ceilings, I ended up going upstairs to sleep in a sleeping bag camped out in the open hallway that was warmer than below. 

I must have dozed and when I came to I noticed how stinky the gas fireplace was and started to become concerned about CO2 even though the alarms we have weren't going off. Every time I'd start to doze I'd jolt back awake for fear of never waking up again. Apparently Wayne was having similar thoughts down below and suggested we get out and go for a drive in hopes of getting some breakfast somewhere. 

Maybe if this was up north we could have found a diner open or even the McD's drive thru but it was a wasteland of empty parking lots and us crazy Canadians driving around wondering where everyone was. We arrived home two hours later thanks to the icy roads and took our neighbors with a generator up on their offer to come over for hot coffee and to use their kitchen to make something. 

The same party that was happily eating tacos the day before could now be found the next morning to be quite a sad, cold, tired,  and hungry bunch gathering at the only house in the neighborhood with a working generator. God bless them. And their generator. Power came back that afternoon once we returned home from a Mexican restaurant that was open for lunch. Our bellies were full of enchiladas and we could feel the warming temperatures as soon as we walked in our house! 

At some point Wayne went out to a fire call (he's on the volunteer firefighters) to a nearby gas station with a car on fire. When he arrived the car was already engulfed in a ball of flames but things got really interesting when a gun that was under the drivers seat started going off! Only in Texas ... 

He also helped the neighbor guys break up the ice with pick axes over at the neighborhood pool. That was a new experience! I figure come mid summer when it's 100 degrees they'll look back on that as a funny memory. Not there yet ... 

Wednesday brought more snow and we prayed the power would hang in there as we continued to hear about the rest of the state's woes. I was kicking myself that just last month I had sent Zanna back to school in Wisconsin with my nice Merrill snow boots and Columbia snow pants because I was thinking that if we hadn't seen a snowflake of consequence yet in the two and a half years of living here then I was probably safe. She needed it more than I did. God has a sense of humor, doesn't he? 

On Thursday Wayne finally had a chance to head over to Grace and check out how things were there. Turns out a pipe had burst and about five inches of water collected in the room of origin, spilling over into the worship area and back to the narthex and offices. Wayne managed to pick up his office computer that sits on the floor just seconds before the water made it's way to it! This week will be busy with insurance adjustors, damage assessments, etc. We've already been offered help from WELS Christian Aid and Relief. And Camp Shiloh opened it's doors to us for worship until we can get back into Grace again. So thankful! 

A handful of our neighbors' homes were affected by bursting pipes. One yard was flooded as the septic sprinklers kept going off. There was a scavenger hunt to find the box in the yard that holds the ability to turn off the water. What we would normally find in our basements up north is buried in the front yard here. With several inches of snow covering the yard it became a tricky thing to find! 

And now, a week later since we first woke up to that substantial snow, it's all gone and Texas is back. Thank goodness! We are still on a boil water mandate but hopefully that will be fixed soon. I'm just thankful we have hot water at all! It is with great joy that I return my Eddie Bauer down jacket back to it's home in the Rubbermaid container stored up in the attic. I hope to never need it again as long as we live here. Amen. 

And That's a Wrap

 

I don't think I'm the only one who imagined that with the change of a calendar that life would suddenly return to "normal" and we could all breathe a sigh of relief. I knew that was unrealistic but a girl can hope, right? 

It's now mid February and it's been awhile since I've sat down to write about life other than the time and energy I used to write about my Grandma's life, something that I'm sure I didn't do justice to. 

Truth is that our days have been full, we still need relationship, and technology can't replace togetherness. 

Advent 2020 brought a new layer of anticipation to Jesus' second coming.  We are so ready but for as prepared as we are it is sobering to recognize how many are not. As our world struggles with mortality and morality, and lives and acts out of fear and foolishness we know we have a message and truth all people need.  Jesus' love and forgiveness is for all!! Peace and Joy are found only in Him! Our Christmas celebration was no different than any other year in that Jesus already came to earth as True God and True Man to bring healing to souls from a pandemic of sin. The masks we wear aren't just the mandated ones, but our attempts to cover up and make excuses and justifications for how we're just fine as we are. A cursory inspection of what's going on around us speaks volumes to how well that line of thought is working ... There is a cure and it's been here the whole time. And we all need it. 

We need each other too. And so we were incredibly grateful for the holidays to bring with it a full house of family! Will was already here to finish up his first semester of school and Zanna arrived home from Prep mid December after successfully finishing her first ever high school exams. We had a few days together again before we were joined by my mother-in-law, Fran, having flown into Texas from Calgary. We hadn't seen her for a year and a half! We enjoyed some long awaited time with her and made lots of fun memories. 

We're happy she came when she did as Canada has since made it practically impossible to travel now. 

Of course she got to meet Buddy which I'm certain was a highlight for her - haha! 

We also cherished our time with our sweet girl home! We celebrated the Lunar New Year early since this would be the first year that we wouldn't be with her when it actually is. We made homemade dumplings and noodles - yum! Why do we only do this once a year? Because it's a lot of work!

After Zanna flew back to school for her second semester, my parents drove down and spent a little over a week with us too. I hope it was a time that not only offered them a change of scenery from the snowy and cold north but also a soft place to sit with some fresh emotions after losing Grandma. I love my people by feeding my people so we ate a fair bit. We took walks and day trips. We were lazy and didn't feel bad about it. By the time they left they were not only covered in dog hair but ready to head back and tackle whatever comes next. 

Finally it came time for Will to head back north too and start his second semester of University back in person. The extra time we had with him at home for three months was one of the greatest gifts that came out of the pandemic. We loved having him around, being in our daily life, and knowing he was tucked safe in bed right upstairs! He was my walking buddy with Buddy when Wayne was working. He was helpful and appreciative and ate us out of house and home! While online school was FAR from ideal (try learning four languages in person much less online - German, Greek, Hebrew, and oh yeah - English), the timing was the Lord's and he seemed to need a break from some of the college life that's so draining but often necessary. As his mom I'd love to be able make him feel better, rub his back, and place a bandaid on what hurts him but at twenty it's more complicated than that. It's his life to learn from and choices he has to make. We're grateful that he talks to us and listens to what we have to say. Parenting never stops being hard! It also continues to be one of my greatest joys. 

Will also helped me go way outside my comfort zone and starred with me (or was the star?) in my first YouTube video for Epicure! What a great sport - haha! 

Which brings me pretty much up to date - February. We are experiencing actual winter temps here in Texas for the first time since we've lived here. I even went to the attic to find the Rubbermaid container with my Eddie Bauer down jacket - pulling out the big guns! At least I know it's temporary and not going to last until April - haha! I knew I saved my corduroy pants and flannel shirts for such a time as this! I shouldn't be surprised by this very rare cold snap that's far from normal. Maybe there's no such thing as normal and we should just get over it? Hmmmmm. Now there's a thought. 

Gram

Last month Gram went home to heaven. 

While I know how much I'm like my own mother in so many ways, I also know I wouldn't be the person I am without Grandma influencing so much of who I've become. 

Her funeral will be put off until June in hopes that the family spread out literally all over the world will be able to come together to celebrate her life and eternity in heaven with her Savior. I've no doubt that we'll have plenty of laughter mixed with the tears as we share all our memories of not only her but Grandpa as I don't think they can be successfully separated from each other in most of our recollections. After all they were a team for almost 75 years. Grandma may have gone ahead of him to heaven for now but the dementia that's been worsening over the last while has been a blessing to the man who in many ways has reverted to a childlike state, happy and unaware. 

Grandma was the definition of a grandma - fill the grandkids full of sugar, spoil them with love, and return them to the parents. My childhood visits included copious amounts of homemade cookies (extras were always found in the basement freezer), bowls of popcorn, and creme de mint shakes (the kind with alcohol). She loved her people with food. She always served spaghetti the night of our arrival. She still served that meal to us years later while she  had the ability despite her slowness and various aches and pains. She would try to serve our kids jello with canned fruit  jiggling within it's walls and couldn't understand why they were adverse to it. She extended hospitality to the very end of her ability. Everyone had a place at their table and she had the capability to make everyone there feel special. 

I will cherish the recipe cards written in her distinctive handwriting. Her memory will be with us when we are enjoying her rhubarb pie, green wreath cookies, and caramel corn, and slow cooked ribs. She loved the Taste of Home magazines and would save for me the ones she had gone through, the telltale cut outs of missing recipes showing that she'd already picked out the ones she wanted to try. She had her favorite dishes but she was also adventurous enough to try new ones too - usually on company or to potlucks. 

Their home was always filled with music. They sang in their church choir, grandma an alto.  They loved the hymns of the church and the songs of the liturgy taking them through all their years, reminding them of the Saviour's love. Their other passion was real down home country music. When our family moved to Springfield back in the '80's, they were thrilled to have the chance to visit Branson the years before it became the craziness it is now. Grandpa taught himself some guitar and always wished he could play other instruments too. I recall his ability to belt out all the twang and grit he could muster! Even now, the nurse who attends to him clued into the magic of music that still has the ability to cut through the fog of his mind. She plays it and he perks right up and recalls all the words and tunes, his face lighting up! It's no wonder music has always played a vital role in my home too. 

I adored them both as a child. When I went to Prep for high school my relationship with them deepened. Instead of living across the country from me, they were now the closest relatives - just a three hour drive! Throughout high school, I would occasionally go to their home for weekend visits sometimes bringing a friend but more often than not just myself longing for a break from my peers. All I really wanted to do was sleep and eat grandma's good food but they had different expectations. Grandma's definition of "sleeping in" was the not mine so she would start vacuuming in front of the door somewhere around 8 AM. We usually had some place to go - I don't remember being bored those weekends. During these years I got to know them without my parents around which really changed the dynamics. I didn't even have to share them with anyone those weekends - they were all mine! Their home offered me a respite from teen drama and their love nurtured my soul. Of course, the highlight was always the evening when Grandma and I would stay up to watch "Love Connection" and eat popcorn. Sunday mornings were church and after lunch we'd head back - either by car or by plane. Yep, Grandpa had a pilot's license and access to a relative's plane and he would often pick me up or fly me back to and from school. So cool! 

I wish ... I had a candle to light that smelled like their home used to. After visiting them I'd go home or back to school and I would unpack my bag and my clothes would smell like their house. I don't know what exactly made it smell like it did but it was Them. 

They were truly inspiring people. It was Grandpa's dream to build a log cabin. I remember log home magazines piled next to his chair long before any trees were cut down. I think originally it was supposed to be a modest, standard A-frame. He had no professional experience in building (he worked for the phone company during his career and his main hobby was flying so it's not like he was bored or anything)   but it didn't seem to deter him. He dreamed big. He researched. I'm not sure how many years - decades maybe - this dream grew. All I know is that Grandma seemed to go along with it all and they did it together. IT turned out to be a log home in northern Wisconsin on the lake. He cut the trees down, and step by step the dream came to fruition and ended up being a two level log home with a loft and garage. They lived in it for years until my parents took it over somewhere around 14 years ago. Sure, the electrical is a little sketchy but I don't think any fires have started yet;) 

They were always so encouraging for me and so supportive. When I didn't go back to DMLC for teaching and instead went to cosmetology school, they helped pay the bill. They also loved Wayne and welcomed him to the family with open arms. I was their first grandchild and Will was their first great grandchild. We named Will after Grandpa. The last trip they took to visit us in Canada was for Will's confirmation. 

The things I have of Grandma's I've had for years already and I'm so grateful I've been able to enjoy them all this time while she's still been alive. I cherish her crocheted blankets (especially since I never learned to crochet or knit myself) and her yo-yo quilt she made with her older sister is something I consider a work of art. Her jewelry collection was extremely modest but at some point she gave me a gold locket with each of our pictures in it. She made a hooked rug for my dorm room freshman year of high school that I still use. She gave me a complete set of vintage Pyrex bowls she never used and I thought I hit the jackpot with that one! I know I have probably a dozen other things that I don't even think about because I've just always had them and I'm used to seeing them or using it. 

The oddest thing I can recall especially as a kid was how Grandma would keep and wash out empty cardboard juice containers and reuse them to put either leftovers in and freeze or fill with the kitchen scraps to throw away. Obviously something generational and thrifty but I grew up in the era of Tupperware so this was weird to me! 

But the memories that mean the most to me are of the many times we would worship Jesus together as a family - either around the dinner table in prayer and devotion or at church and up at the communion rail. That was the legacy they've left me and my family. Generations standing up side by side to receive the Lord's body and blood links us together with the Body of Christ for eternity. It's the closest thing to heaven on earth and it's the comfort we have that as each one of us takes our turn and falls asleep we will awaken to each other forever with Him. 

I called her when she was in the hospital. It was a Sunday afternoon. She hadn't been to church since probably February before Covid hit. She was always the one to do the reading for her and Gramps. Her eyesight didn't give out on her like Grandpa's did but her voice got gravelly over the years. Still she would read aloud for them both. She would read all the articles in Forward in Christ, Meditations every morning, and weekly read a printed copy of Wayne's sermon from the week before. They loved his sermons. This particular phone call would be my last conversation with her and I asked her if she wanted me to read today's Meditation to her. She readily agreed and I read it loud and slow in hopes she could understand me on speaker phone from her hospital bed. I'm so grateful to have this memory. 

Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10) was the verse she clung too and even when she became confused and disoriented at the end she would finish the verse that Mom would begin ... Be still Mom would say .... and Grandma would finish it and know that I am God. 

Man, I'm going to miss her like crazy! I'm so thankful to have had her so long. I'm so grateful that my kids got to spend so many moments with their great grandparents! I have so many memories to cherish and an eternal legacy to pass down. 

The next time I'm at a restaurant and I go to swipe the basketful of free breadsticks and saltine crackers into my purse I'll say, "These are for you, Grandma. These are for you." 😘

Is it Over Yet?

 Merry Christmas, you old Building and Loan ... I mean, blog! I don't know what happened to the last few months. Why do I feel like I hardly accomplished anything? 

For starters, our empty nest was short lived. Just when we started getting in our groove, Will came back to us. MLC couldn't safely keep up with housing the quarantined kids so they had to go to online school for the rest of the semester. Before we knew what happened, our 20 year old ended up back in our driveway with a car load full of clothes, books, and his violin. So for the last six weeks he's been logging on every morning, working out in the afternoon, studying with friends on Zoom, and eating. A lot of eating.

It's actually been what is sure to be a happy memory of a good that resulted from the chaos of this year. We've been a threesome for the last six years but a different three. Having Will home as the "only child" is a different dynamic and we are really enjoying this unique time with just him with us. 

So some of my to do items got shoved to the side and it looks like I can add another year to catch up on later to my Christmas scrapbook (although I did manage to order some new papers and stickers). 

In November I attended the Pastor's wives retreat I've gone to the last two years. This was at a different location than the previous years due to Covid and we were in a VRBO with plenty of room to spread out among us. I was just super thankful that we were still able to pull it off because our body and souls sure needed it! There were some new faces that became fast friends and returning ones I look forward to catching up with. We spent hours pouring over the book of Nehemiah, building each other up, and resting in the goodness of God. 

Later in the month I took a day trip with a friend from church and went to Lindale, Texas where we shopped at an outdoor Vintage/Flea/Craft market.  Apparently Lindale is where Miranda Lambert is from and the town's big claim to fame! I can't say I'm super familiar with her stuff but it was fun to see how excited they were about her in the shops we perused. 

I've continued to enjoy teaching my homeschool co-op writing class and have just the sweetest group of kids. Writing is a window into what is going on in their creative minds and personalities and I love helping them develop techniques to express themselves. We break from Thanksgiving through New Years so we'll get back to meeting next month for the second half of the school year. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we maintained a shred of normalcy by still going to Wisconsin for the holiday. It wasn't my favorite thing to get on a plane or even deal with an airport but we survived and God protected us (no thanks to the airline for packing us in like sardines and not even seating families together). We also had a far amount of help to make this all happen. Brent and Chantal had us over the night before so we'd be in place for next day's flight, even driving us to the airport and picking us up. They also kept Buddy for us and welcomed him into their family. His French Bulldog cousin, Maise, was not always amused by the presence of her East Texas hillbilly kin. Chantal would send me videos of their love/hate relationship of chasing after each other, tug of war battles, and growling showdowns. But then we'd also get these sweet pictures ...

On the Minnesota end where we flew into, my Uncle Greg lent us his car which was so generous. Originally Mom was going to pick us up but plans were constantly changing which leads me to Grandpa and Grandma - 92 and 94 respectively. My sweet grandparents have been declining in health especially over the past few years. It's so hard to see these precious people in a state of confusion and weakness. I don't want these memories to be the dominating ones I have and therefore I haven't even taken a picture of them for awhile now. We were able to have some socially distanced visits over the summer trips we took and I'm so grateful for those opportunities. Anyway both of them tested positive for Covid a little while back and Grandma has been in hospital with some complications. Grandpa never did have any symptoms but his dementia kept him from being able to live in the assisted living apartment on his own. Good news - Grandma has rebounded and made it through some pretty grim looking moments and Lord willing will be transferred this week to the nursing home Grandpa was moved to. 

That meant that our normal Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's was most certainly not normal as we feasted without my grandparents. They were missing at the card table while we played Hand and Foot and not around for the annual Muppet Christmas Carol viewing that officially kicks off the Christmas season (in a non liturgical sense:).  They were missing from Friday Fish Fry too. Mom and I spent a few days after Thanksgiving weekend going through their apartment and setting what we thought they'll need in their new place aside. It was emotionally and physically draining. 

But we have much to be thankful for including see our girl again! It was wonderful having her back with us if only for a few days. We went shopping, bowling, and worshiping together! 

Zanna is finishing up finals this week and headed home on Friday. Yay! Meanwhile we've been decking the halls at home. I expected to have to decorate the tree without kids this year but looks like we can put that off one more year.  We usually set Will's ornaments aside for him to put on the tree once he's home from school but this time he got to decorate with us and instead we put Zanna's aside for when she's back. Having said that, she was the one that would help me remember which ornaments belonged to who so I'm sure she'll be ticked off by seeing some of her ornaments we mistakingly put on without her. 

Years ago I had given Will a book and doll set that was a spin on the Elf on the Shelf (which I hate for doctrinal reasons) but it was Uncle Si (from Duck Dynasty) "Play Hard. Nap Hard". The idea is that Uncle Si needs to find places to nap. So we've all been having fun taking turns finding unique spaces for Uncle Si to have his naps and then watch as the others take notice. 

We're also looking forward to Fran coming for Christmas. We haven't seen her for a year and a half and have missed her so much!

Final thought to leave you with .... 

Shrimp and Grits. Because it's the South.