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| My Funky Christmas Tree |
Isaac was a freshman at USI in Evansville, which is about a 6 hour drive from our home. He was so eager to come home for Thanksgiving that he left school at about 9:00 p.m. on Monday! I sensed something was up with him, so I stayed up until he got home. I didn’t want him to drive all that way & have no one awake to welcome him.
He walked in the door around 4:30 a.m. He came into the living room, where I was, and plopped down on the love seat. He started to talk. And talk. And talk some more. We didn’t stop our conversation until close to 6:00 a.m.. The main subject we discussed was his unhappiness with his life in Evansville. College was a lot of what he expected, but also not at all what he expected. Although USI claims to be a “dry” campus (meaning they don’t allow alcohol on school property), but Isaac said there was plenty of booze flowing all over campus. It was very easy to acquire, even if you were under age. He said that in addition to all of the alcohol, marijuana was readily available, along with other illegal substances. Some of his friends at USI spent several evenings a week getting sauced or high. Isaac had dabbled with the vices that were around him, but he felt no different & decided that he had seen enough of the world & wanted no part of it. He decided (completely on his own) that he would finish out the semester at USI & then move back home. He felt God leading him to Grace College (near Warsaw, IN). His plan was to enroll at Ivy Tech for their Spring semester & take general classes. Then next fall he would begin classes at Grace.
As I sat there early in the morning listening to Isaac’s heart represented in his words, I was not angry at him for briefly getting caught up in the common pitfalls of college life. On the contrary, I was proud of him for having the guts to leave before he got sucked in to the many temptations that swirled around him on campus. He believed that people would draw a variety of wrong conclusions because he didn’t “stick it out” at USI, but he didn’t care what those people thought. He was only concerned about how Bob & I, as well as the rest of our family, would receive his decision to move back. Once he explained his decision & the reasoning behind it, everyone in the family got behind him & encouraged him in his pursuit of God’s will.
On Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving for those of you in Rio Linda), Josiah had several of his friends spend the night. I’ve never seen Josiah so motivated to clean the house! It was amazing to witness his attention to detail as he tidied things up. Now that I know what he’s capable of, he had better start working like that every day! Earlier in the 9 weeks, Bob & I bribed him with having friends spend the night. If he got his assignment turned in & got good grades during a specific time frame, we would allow him to invite them over. He did very well & we had to hold up our end of the bargain.
I’ve never been so happy to have a basement as I was that day! Josiah invited Sam, Brandon, Jacob & Harrison, & when those boys are together, they are crazy! They played video games late into the night & finally, one by one, they each drifted off to sleep. Josiah had so much fun & thanked us repeatedly for allowing his friends to stay the night.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Isaac left for USI. He was going back, determined to do everything he could to avoid temptation. The next day, November 29th, Colson began his first job. He joined the team at the Chick-Fil-A in the mall. It’s a little bit of a drive, but not too bad. I was so proud of Colson, & he was pretty proud of himself, too. When he got home after work, he talked excitedly about what he learned, people he saw, etc. Work definitely is a gift from God. My kids never really believed me when I told them that when they were growing up! The great thing about working at Chick-Fil-A is that they are never open on Sunday. Colson asked to have every Wednesday off so that he could continue to be a part of his small group at church, & they were understanding about that & he has yet to work a Wednesday night. He sees people he knows frequently while he’s behind the counter working, but many times it takes people a second or two to recognize him because he has really grown! He’s 6 feet tall now! We were wondering when he would start stretching up, & it just happened within the past year. Poof! He became a giant!
On the first Tuesday of December, Bob & I drove to the Parkview Home Health & Hospice office in Huntington, where he would have his cubical. I took all kinds of things to use to decorate, but his cubical was much smaller than I anticipated, so we ended up takng a lot back home. His boss, Karen, was excited that he was decorating his cubical because it was an indication that he would be sticking around for a while & actually putting some effort into his job. The guy before Bob didn’t really have much of a passion for the job, so Bob was a great contrast for them. We were headed back home when I got a phone call. It was Josiah, who was at home alone. He was bored, so I told him to take Fiona outside & run around the house to help her expend some energy. About half an hour later we received a call from Nancy, saying that she heard water running upstairs & some water was leaking through the ceiling. I tried to call Josiah, but there was no answer. That freaked me out! We were only a few miles from home at the time, but it seemed to be an eternity until we got there. We ran into the house & up the stairs to see what had happened. We found Josiah’s bathroom covered with soaked towels, & he was in his pj’s with wet hair. I was relieved that he was OK, but I wanted an explanation for what had happened.
He was running around with Fiona chasing him & he thought the pond was frozen solid, so he ran onto the ice. One of his feet broke through the water & one leg went hip deep in the water. God protected him & allowed the ice to stay solid enough for him to pull his leg out of the water & get off of the ice. He went into the house & was freezing, so he decided to take a bath to warm himself up. He started to draw the bath & when it was half way full, he got in & lay down in the tub. Without thinking, he let the water continue to run. It was overflowing & he was oblivious to it for a couple of minutes. When he realized that water was all over the floor, he decided to turn off the faucet & get some towels to soak up the water. We had a very direct conversation about the events of his evening!
The following Tuesday Colson & I headed down to Evansville to help Isaac move back home. His semester was over & so were his days at U.S.I. Isaac took us to a FABULOUS local barbecue restaurant called “Shyler’s” for dinner. They had an amazing all-you-can-eat meal for around $7. There was barbecued chicken, pulled pork, potato salad that Isaac LOVED, corn bread & several other tantalizing items. After dinner, the boys dropped me off at the hotel & headed back to Isaac’s dorm for the night. Colson had a lot of fun staying the night with Isaac & I had a relaxing night alone in my hotel room. For one evening, I HAD THE REMOTE!
The boys picked me up in the morning, having all of Isaac’s things stuffed into both of our cars. We picked up some breakfast at McDonald’s (I fail to understand what people like about McDonald’s coffee) & headed north. Praise God it was a very uneventful trip. When we were going through Indy, we stopped at the Plato’s Closet on 96th Street because the boys have previously had some success finding deals there. They had a lot of things marked down, so it was good we stopped. I was greatly distressed to find that the Noble Roman’s that had been there for years was now closed. By the time we got close to the GM plant, Isaac took off for home at a higher rate of speed than I wanted to drive. To say he was happy to be home is a gross understatement.
Christmas was upon us shortly after Isaac’s move home, & I wasn’t really ready for it. In the past, we’ve gone to Bob’s parents’ on Christmas Eve & my parents’ on Christmas Day. This year Christmas with neither family had a very joyous Christmas to look forward to. Christmas Eve we visited our nephew Chadd at Wesley Health Care in Auburn. You may remember that in August at just 28 years old, Chadd had an AVM which caused extensive brain damage & put him in a coma. He looked like he was sleeping, like he would wake up any moment & start picking on people like always. Leslie had decorated his hospital bed with garland & a big red blanket, like he was a present. He was off of the ventilator & was breathing completely on his own, which is something his doctors said would never be possible. Bill & Judy were there, along with Sarah (Chadd’s wife), Leslie (Chadd’s sister), her husband Ryan & their son Aiden. The room Chadd is staying in is very comfortable, but with so many people it became a little congested. We didn’t care because we were together talking & catching up. Unfortunately Nancy was unable to join us that night. As we were leaving, Scot & Angela (Chadd’s sister) were arriving, along with their kids Cassandra & Ian. There were hugs all around. We love our family so much! Chadd’s easy smile & frequent laughter are so greatly missed.
Christmas morning we all headed out for my dad’s house & prepared our usual brunch. Instead of my mom making the waffles, Bob made them. It’s the one thing he has learned to make for dinner. Unfortunately Bob forgot to add sugar to the mix, which made the waffles taste quite bland. We will never let him forget the sugar again! Connie brought her customary Egg Casserole which is always gone in a wink. Alyssa brought a salmon dish that I just couldn’t figure out. All who tried it said it was very good. I just took their word for it. There were so many parts of our brunch that were absent this year for one reason or another. Of course we were missing my mom, & all of the wonder & amazement she brought at Christmas. We also missed Kristie, who chose to spend Christmas with her husband’s family. She makes the most wonderful cinnamon rolls! My dad participated by supplying some baked goods from Grabill Country Shops. Oh, my! Those Wedding Cake cookies truly melt in your mouth! I had powdered sugar all over my face & shirt after having a couple of those!
For the first time in my life we celebrated Christmas without any gifts under the tree. No of us had the finances to be able to purchase gifts for each other, so we didn’t exchange gifts. However, my dad was able to give each of us some money for Christmas, which was very unexpected. Instead of spending so much time exchanging & opening gifts this year, we spent a lot of time talking about all that God had done for us over the past year. We spent much time remembering my mom & the amazing person she was. Our dreaded first Christmas without my mom ended up being a sad yet very uplifting day, because we know that one day we will see her again. We were reminded that this life is but a vapor, here for a second & then gone without a trace. What we do in that second will determine how we spend eternity. We were reminded of the importance of spending our lives serving God by serving the people that He died to save.
This concludes “2010 - A Year in Retrospect”. Thank you for your faithfulness in following this blog. In the future I will continue to periodically peck my thoughts out on my Mac so that you can read my little blog & through it, bear witness to the greatness of the God I serve. I don’t claim to be a scholar or religious expert. As my dad has always said, “I’m just one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread.”
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