I've been planning a few posts in my head for about a week now.  It started with this package of soap I got in the mail from my fabulous online buddy, Robynn.  Seriously, go to the Ferguson Heritage Soap Factory.  The soap is so amazing (more on that another day). 

Then we found out that a cousin of mine had died in a car accident on his nineteenth birthday.

Then I had a very close call in the van myself.

So, I was thinking, why don't I just post the email that I sent to a good friend of mine instead?  And that's what this is...

Oh Bev... 

What a few days it's been!  A few days that were nutty enough to warrant a whole new email!!

So, because I get sore so easily now, we decided to kind of do one last trip down to my parents and join it up with a visit to Jason's friend who lives just down the road from my parents.  That was fine.  It was a nice visit, got to see my nieces, Ephraim fed some cows.  The men took the kids out on the Gator to see the cows so I had a lovely visit with the wife of the friend.  All good.  The weather was kind of sucky, as you know, but it was still lovely.

Then my dad called us early Sunday morning.  Turns out that my cousin Nathan had died in a car accident Saturday night.  It was his 19th birthday.  This is the second child that this family has lost.  We weren't close to him, but still family is family.  I didn't think they were church goers or saved or anything like that.  So we went to the Wake in Stirling on Tuesday night.  My sister Glenna even bussed in from Kitchener to go, which meant all four of us were there for the wake.  It was quite heartbreaking.  I did really well until we came across the oldest brother, who I did grow up with.  Then him and I both kind of lost it.  However, my aunt was completely thrilled that all four of us had made the effort to come down.  I was really glad about that. 

ANYWAY, this is the amazing part.  I was feeling pretty lost because I don't really know how to grieve for someone who isn't saved...  BUT, JASON'S cousin Julie was at the wake too.  We couldn't figure out the linkage, how they would know each other, that kind of thing.  Not from the same small town, didn't go to the same school...  and Julie is quite a bit older.  It turns out that Nathan was going to their (Julie and her now husband's) youth group.  Les, Julie's husband, and Julie knew him very well, and also knew that he was saved!!  Oh Bev, I was so glad to hear that.  It changed the whole situation somehow, you know?  I felt instant peace.  And I was so thankful that God had put Julie at the Wake, in a spot where we would see her (it was PACKED) at the same time we were there so that we could know.  It was truly truly amazing.

So that was the weekend.

Then, (my goodness, this is a novel!!) yesterday I went to Port Hope to help my friend Jen out by watching her little guy for her.  She just started a new job and was only stuck for this week with no sitter.  No problem, just hung out at her house with her little guy and my two.  My parents were going to be coming into Peterborough yesterday to drop my sister Glenna back off at the bus stop. 

I was coming home with the kidlets down 28, and was just outside of Bewdley when I felt something in the van pop and I lost all control.  The wheel did nothing, it was completely loose.  I felt the van pulling into the oncoming lane, and new I just had to not let that happen.  This was after five, so the highway was really busy....  but, the stretch where this happened there were no cars terribly near me (praise number 3 billion).  I skidded off the highway and onto the shoulder where it was like we stopped abruptly.  I KNOW that it was only the hand of God that got us stopped, that there were no cars to collide with, AND that we didn't roll down the very steep embankment there.  When I got out to see what was going on, the wheels were pointed toward each other...  not a good sign at all!!  I shut the van down, and we were maybe two inches from the embankment.  If that.  Another second or two, and we would have gone over.  If we had have gone into the ditch, we would have wrote off the van, not to mention it was very very likely that we would have rolled it.

SO....  nobody stopped for us.  Even the people that saw it happen.  Until a man pulled in front when he saw me walking with the kids, we hadn't made it very far at all.  He asked me if I needed help, a cell phone, a ride...  I was shaking, so I was probably pretty white too.  I called Jason at work, etc, etc...  This man, all I know is his name is Cam (why didn't I ask him his last name?????)  Was truly amazing and truly sent by God just for me.  He got me completely calmed down, got the kids carseats into his car...  He would have driven us all the way home, but I was trying not to be a bother.  He was going to home depot, so I got him to take us there.  Bev, he stayed with us the entire time we were waiting to be picked up.  About half an hour, to make sure that we were safe.  I kept telling him we were okay and thanks very much, and he insisted that he was going to make sure we were safe.  What a wonderful man.  I was so thankful that he came by.  I didn't have any hesitation about taking a ride from him either.... went with my gut there. 

Jason managed to find my parents and my dad came down and got us from the depot.  The Ja and my dad went to look at the van after dropping us here.  I was really thankful that my mom was here too... after that adrenaline rush, I completely lost it.  I do think I am the main cause for flooding in Peterborough!!!  It turns out that a tie rod (sp??) broke, and that's how I lost control.  Nothing I could have done about it.  Jason was pretty shaken up after he saw how close the van was to the edge too.  My dad managed to rig it together just to get it to a church parking lot or something.  He's going to be able to come up tonight or on the weekend to fix it for us.

I tell ya, though, my faith????  Has increased a hundred fold.  I am so thankful.  If the van had to break down, we couldn't have had a better outcome.  It happened where no cars were around, an awesome guy stopped for us.  My parents just "happened" to be in town that day, my sister took the early bus which meant we could find them.  My cousin is, as we speak, having a feast at the Good Lord's table...  whew! 

And that's my story.

Love,
jamie

 

My faith has really taken a booster shot right in the behind.  And?  Cost to fix the van?  $34.  My dad is great.  My God is an awesome God.

... that I am thankful for

1. For my God, for His saving me, for my surety in who I am and where I am going.
2. My husband.  The love of my life.  The man who doesn't even shrug when I whine and blame him for all things that go wrong... from my pants not fitting, to the sun not being out.
3. My daughter.  The light she brings into my life.  Her quirky comments.  Her childlike faith.  Her joy in all things.
4. My son.  His spontanaiety.  His enthusiasm.  His zest for life.
5. Friends, too many to name.  Always supportive, always loving, and yet not afraid to tell me when I'm being a boob.
6. Family.  Loads of it. 
7. Spring!  Ahhhh spring.
8. The peanut. (although I will be MORE thankful for this in another month when I don't feel like such absolute crap!)
9. Sleep.  When it happens.
10. Life.  Life is good.  I am so blessed it blows me away just to think about it.

I go to a women's bible study group once a week at my church.  It's quite fabulous, they supply child care!  For free!  Child care!!  Which means, of course, that I get to socialize with other adults.  For two hours.  Without telling someone to take their finger out of their nose, or without hearing, "I need to go poo, Momma!!"  It's bliss, I tell ya, bliss.

Anyway, the kids also get a little lesson on these mornings.  It's like Sunday school on Tuesdays.  I always ask them what they learned on the way home...

This past Tuesday...

Me:  So guys, what did you learn today?

Keyzia:  Well, Momma, we learned how Jesus died on the cross for us.

Me:  You did?  Wow.

Keyzia:  Yup.  He died so that we can go to heaven!

Me:  You're right!  He did!  Isn't that wonderful??

Keyzia:  And because we believe in Jesus, we get to go to heaven!  But some people don't believe in Jesus.  And they don't get to go to heaven.  That's sad.

Me:  That's true, it is very sad.

((and here's where she got me))

Keyzia:  But, I already knew all that, Momma, cuz YOU taught me.

And isn't that all there is to it?  In a nutshell?  When we take away all the doctrinal arguing, Christianity is about whether or not you believe and accept Jesus into your heart.  Those who believe in Him, go to heaven, those who don't?  Don't.

It's interesting how the death of a family member makes you think about your own mortality.  About how we were simply intended for a short stay here on earth.  How we were made for eternity.

This week my great aunt's son died.  He was found in his condo, just leaning against the wall.  He was 42.  They don't know why he died, they don't know how.  The funeral is today.

Now, I am sad that he died, and yet at the same time, I didn't know him.  We have been very close with my Great Aunt, she is like a Grandmother to me, and I think I feel more sad for her.  She's had a rough go over the past couple of years.  Losing a husband and brother to cancer, and now her son.

It's terrible, too, that we haven't been around more for her.  I could give you all kinds of excuses as to why we haven't, time, etc, etc.  And they don't really matter.  We should be there more, and we haven't.  We are going to try and remedy that in the near future.

I don't feel like I'm afraid to die.  I know where I'm going.  I'm sure of my salvation, of the fact that when I die, I will be partying it up in heaven.  I am afraid for who I would leave behind, and yet I know that my God is eternal, and that He will look after those left here on earth.

I hate funerals, who doesn't?  And yet we will go, pay our respects, and hug my Aunt Joyce, letting her know that we are here.

 Up a tree...


Jumping in leaves...


Laughing so hard it hurt...


Being buried up to your eyeballs.

Sunday afternoon, after church, after naps, we rallied the troops to go and take some leaf pictures.  It was the perfect fall day.  A day made in heaven and donated to us down here for a taste...

We went over to the edge of one of the trails in this great little city, surrounded by trees, and made a giant leaf pile.  Keyzia has been asking if we can make a giant leaf pile and then "jump in it like maniacs" ever since the first leaf turned yellow on the trees.  They had a blast.  We laughed so hard that our sides hurt.  We raked the pile up about 30 times, just so we could destroy it again.

After we got tired of the jumping, we went for a walk up the trail and down by the river.  Right smack dab in the middle of the city we found this...


A little oasis that we could call our own for the moment...  The sun was just going down, and us country folks who have been transplanted to the city could feel like we were back in the country again. 

We had had a very trying weekend up until this point.  It just amazes me how God chose that moment, that afternoon, to show me the love of my family.  The love and togetherness that we could have.  The joy we could take from it in that moment.  Sure, we have hard times, we have fights, we even can't stand to look at each other some days.  But, it was an afternoon like this, with the sun glowing beyond my husband and my son, with my daughter's small hand clutched in my own, it was then that none of it mattered.  God is faithful.  He will sustain me.  And sometimes it will be through little glimpses of heaven like this one.

This was emailed to me just the other day, and I couldn't think of a more apt way of putting those things that seem to ravage your life...

in the past two weeks we have entered another "storm" of life.  You know how they are, they come when you least expect and they sometimes stay longer than we would like for them to.  They rip and peel across our land and move on, only to leave us with bits and pieces to pick up and put back together.  I am thankful that Jesus is my stronghold and my Rock.

I too am thankful that while those storms whirl around me, I stand on the Rock.  My feet are on solid ground.  Otherwise, it's very hard to pick up those pieces.  Standing on the Rock, I have a firm base to pick up those pieces, and Jesus the carpenter will hammer them back together.

Go here, read this.

Definitely words of the wise.

 God is amazing. He is truly awesome.

This is such a little thing that He has done, and that He has made an easy thing to fix....

You all know that we moved recently. That we had to supply our own fridge and stove, washer and dryer. Well, God provided all those things, (for free!!) but the dryer didn't work. No big deal, it was just annoying to hang clothes all over the house... it takes them so long to dry that way! And, no matter how much fabric softener I used, they were still kind of stiff...

But, I digress. So, it turns out that my parents had a dryer they hadn't used in a long long time, and they said we could have it. The only problem was going to be getting it to us. They live a little over an hour away, and you kind of need a truck to bring up a dryer.

They babysat for us this weekend, and dad said that their dryer was toast. I guess the barrel had seized from sitting for so long. It totally wasn't going to work anymore. He popped out the motor, but he wasn't very hopeful. The dryer they had, he said, was "old and not easy to find parts for." He's pretty handy, so he was thinking he might even be able to rig up the motor on the outside of the dryer we had. Just something...

So, he goes downstairs, pops the dryer back up (it had been laying on its front since we had figured out it didn't work), and, IT IS THE EXACT SAME DRYER. Yuppers. He said it took him something like ten minutes to pop this motor in and get it vented and working!

Sorry about the long story here, but it just amazes me. I totally wasn't worried about it. I was thankful to have a washing machine finally, and I just kind of figured that the dryer would come eventually... But, our everlastingly faithful and wonderful God made it such an easy thing to fix.

Such a small problem, and yet He took care of it!

Well, God seems to be working overtime in our lives right now. 

I don't know if I've mentioned it to any of you, but we'll be moving into a townhouse soon.  A place where I WILL NOT HAVE A WAGON IN MY BEDROOM UNLESS I SO CHOOSE TO ADD A WAGON TO THE DECOR.  Anyway, we needed to supply a fridge and a stove for this new place, and, lo and behold, we have been supplied with a fridge and a stove!  A good friend of mine was at her uncle's place, and he happened to mention that he had a fridge and a stove to get rid of, and she happened to mention that a friend of hers needed a fridge and a stove, and voila!  we have a fridge and a stove!

In our new townhouse, there is also a hookup for a washer and dryer.  We weren't too stressing about getting some, didn't think we could afford it, and etc...  and yet, and yet, God really thought that if we had a house, we should certainly be able to get clean in said house.  Again, my good friend found us a washer and dryer!  Oh, what a good friend she is.  (((Rachel, I love you!!  You're the best!!  You can come and put things in my fridge, and cook on my stove and clean stuff in my washer and dry stuff in my dryer whenever you want to!!)))

So, our new townhouse will be nicely furnished with a fridge, a stove, a washer and a dryer.  And world peace will thus ensue.

When we move into our new house (February 25th), our children will behave, we will be organized, our food will be hot or cold, our laundry will be cleaned...  ahhh yes.  All good things will happen once we are moved.

Am I delusional, or what?

as i reflect on what Christmas truly means, and how we celebrate the greatest gift given to us of all, i was sent this lovely poem...  not sure who the author is...

 The Christmas Gift

Born this night a world of sin,
The Prince of Peace the Redeemer of Men.
This child of God, that was sent from on High.
To be born of Mary to suffer and die!

Rejected by men from the day of His birth;
To suffer and die on Calvary's tree.
For the sins of the world to set me free.
From Bethlehem to Golgotha, he never complained
Laughed at! Spit on! Mocked in shame!

He was born of a women, but He knew no sin,
This babe in the Manger the Savior of Men!

wow.  God came down from heaven as a little baby, suffered as we will never know, all to bring us closer to Him.  that is truly the greatest gift i will ever receive.  eternal life, just waiting for me to reach out and grab it.