The Last of 2015

2015 is ending with new snow every few days and happy times with family. We've been spending our vacation days at home playing with the baby, drinking Frank's lovely lattes, playing games, reading, keeping the fires going, coloring, looking at our awesome winterscapes outdoors and blogging. It has been great. Elv and Amy are working some days. Brad is splitting and stacking firewood some of the time. Last night Elv and Brad installed a new log to replace a basement jack downstairs as the official beginning of our bedroom remodel. This is rather exciting for us.
 As 2015 closes I keep thinking about the blessed times we had with extended family this year. Looking back it feels as though we were given this year to collect encouragement and affirmation from our own kith and kin in ways that we particularly needed at this time. My faith got a real boost from these meetings. God is a faithful Father!

Amy turned twenty on the 21st. We had a little party for her on Saturday evening at six. The girls came with gifts and smiles for her. At first it felt a little formal like all special parties do. But eventually everyone relaxed and had a great time.
Amy came home from Thailand a few days before her birthday. We missed her tremendously, but we don't want her to miss out on any of the adventures that God has lined up for her in this next year. So we are determined to enjoy our friendship and mom/daughter times to the full now as much as possible.

These new coloring books sit on the coffee table and we color and visit a lot these days. Even Brad has been trying his hand at the intricate details.
At first I felt a little silly just sitting here wasting time with something so elementary. But it is a great way to be creative and visit at the same time. Rest is not wasting time. Our Christmas vacation has been perfection, again.
Yes, it's been good. Everyone should be ready to hit the new year running and exuberant with new ideas.

Christmastime 2015

Family evening walk at Christmastime. Snow came in time for a lovely white Christmas.  This poor quality picture was taken with my phone. A small edit made kind of neat like a painting. There's no mistaking the snow and the beloved forms of my family and the dog, though.

                                                                                                                                                                                 

Francis and Josh carried Anne Hazel who was bundled so well she was hard to carry. Here they are shifting the load a little and taking turns.
The road is slick with bumpy ice.  The trees, every surface and twig is heaped with snow, frozen tightly in place. The children say it is like walking in Narnia. 

  Morning with snow falling outside. Candlelight and coffee inside while the rest of the household slept in.
   All the rage these days are coloring books and pencil colors. Amy brought us coloring books from Thailand. So we've been coloring. How silly is that? I want to have the same detailed style done in scripture verses. Anybody?

Anne Hazel is the belle of the ball these days around here since she is the only baby here. She's seven months old and a delight to us all. The whole family got together when Lisl was here this fall so we didn't for Christmas. We have Josh's only at our house. We're enjoying this way. It's fun to have the whole family together, too. But for them to take turns is just as nice.

Ten Things to Know on Christmas Eve Day

    1. The birds are feeding all day after our snowfall of yesterday. Chickadees and nuthatches will empty a feeder in no time at all.
    2. I had Brad take the screen off the window so that my phone camera would stop picking up the screen. Now I can see the birds wonderfully sharp. One little chickadee has gotten into the habit of landing on the screen and today he keeps scratching the window in his failed attempt at landing. He looks back over his shoulder in surprise when he can't anymore.
     3. I am disgusted with my phone camera. I simply cannot get a clear picture. Why didn't I tell the family that all I wanted was a real camera for Christmas?
     4. It is not a good idea to watch birds and cook from-scratch pudding for pie at the same time. There went a whole lovely batch of whole milk,eggs, sugar and clear gel, right down the drain. Ooh, but it stank!
    5. If you wash and dry laundry for two days and don't get around to folding it; you can have a big mountain of laundry right in the middle of your clean living room.  Then it doesn't look clean anymore, even if you light candles.
    6. No matter how well you plan for travel over Christmas time a snow storm can change your plans whether you like it or not. Just ask all the folks who were trying to go anywhere yesterday.
    7. When you belong to a very small church; you better know how to be flexible and cancel services now and again and go elsewhere. Otherwise you could end up going to church with only two or ten other people and preach and teach Sunday school all by yourself for the two or ten of you.
    8. Nobody does this anymore but I've often thought it would be fun to walk to church on Christmas Eve through the falling snow to a candlelit service of the story read from Luke 2 and the carols of Christmas.
    9. We are richly blessed. We have warm houses, ranks of firewood outside the door, a blazing fire on the hearth, snow to make it truly winter, and plenty of pie and hot chocolate.
    10. Most of all we have Jesus who is our Savior and His Holy Spirit to comfort us.

The 2015 Christmas Letter

                                 

              We send greetings of comfort and joy on a Sunday afternoon in December to all of our friends and family around the world. Another year to watch for miracles and to spread the good news of salvation is before us. We’ve been blessed in the past year and wish to recount them here.

            In January, Elv was ordained for the work at Grace Bible Church, our home church for the last 14 years. He had been helping in the leadership for several years prior, but the way the ordination came about made it difficult. Elv handled everything much better than I did. God faithfully pulled us through this process, as He always does when we wait on Him and trust. The church was packed out with supportive church folks and family and friends the day of the ordination. It has been almost a year and though we still have a lot to learn; we are blessed.

            Also in January, Lance began courting.  He married Kristine Peachey in July.  I tell him that she is the best thing that has ever happened to him. They are settled in Hayward in a nicely remodeled home that Lance has been living in for the last two years. She works for Miller’s Market and he still works with Elv for Warder Logging. They stay busy with work and NBCC (children’s ministry), as well.

            So, we saw a lot of these two because they liked to use our living room for a place to spend time together. We liked that, of course. She finished up her last teaching job in May and they began to plan a wedding.

            In June Elv and Lance were moved to a job two hours west of us in the red pine plantations. They parked the travel trailer in a clearing there and stayed on the job over the week. Never at any other time in my life would I have “been okay” about such an arrangement, but for whatever reason, it worked for us. We stayed busy here at home with each our jobs and the weeks flew by. Weekends seemed more special, though, I’ll have to say.  

            In August, we went to the Kauffman reunion in Idaho. We made a road trip out of it and took our time traveling. Fun times. We were blessed by hearing other stories like our own and the victories and lessons similar.

            Asking Amy here what we did in September and she answers, “Worked.”  She’s right. Brad had odd jobs that kept him plenty busy all summer: repairing golf carts for Arlyn Martin, and mowing the cemetery in Hayward, and other things. He also built himself a shop; learning as he built, from a CLE carpentry book. It’s a cute, well built little shop.

            Amy finished her first full year of working for Miller’s Market in November of this fall. She quickly caught on to deli work and they seem to like her there. This past summer was very busy with making deli sandwiches for the folks of Hayward by the hundreds a day sometimes. Miller’s Market has caught on here in Northern Wisconsin.

            My work at Northwood Outdoor has been fun and fulfilling for me again this past year. I really enjoy all aspects of my job: restocking gifts, sales, and even cleaning.  Thank you again, Ruthie, Rosie, Susie, Patrick, Mary Jo, Elvie and  Liz for work and happy times together.

            I have been walking with a friend, when I can, through breast cancer this summer.  Cancer is a wicked and nasty ordeal for a woman to go through. Why mince words! But cancer cannot destroy our souls or our spirits. Cancer does not take away our eternal life. It feels threatening, though, to a lot more than our health and beauty.  We spent hours during her chemo treatments visiting together.  She will live, praise the Lord. But we are both changed. We do our best to use illness to grow in eternal ways.

 I have also learned that hardship does not necessarily make us better. I am disappointed in myself about this anyway. We become more broken and faulty. It should make us more humble, more aware of our need of a Savior. I am learning. But I am not becoming angelic, unfortunately. One of the children said to me the other day, “I cannot let my struggles define who I am.” This is true. I hope I am kinder as a result of discovering this, at least. Jesus said, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  That's past tense there, and I'm banking on this. It's all we have, but then, what else do we need?

            Lisl came all the way from Thailand with her littlest one to spend a couple of weeks with us. She deeply regretted having missed Lance’s wedding and endeavored to make it up to herself and us by coming later.  We had a lovely time of visiting with her and we met Rennie for the first time who is a year old now.

            Amy went home with her. I drove them down to O’Hara to fly home. It is hard to leave loved ones at the curb to fly away half way round the world. Amy stayed to help out for five weeks. They got their list of things to do, done, including moving to a new house and helping Lisl with her homekeeping through the first trimester of her summer baby coming up.

            Winter has barely set in and we are almost to Christmas. The winter promises to be short and mild so far. God bless you all.

                                                                        The Grabers of Hayward

 

The Christmas Letter

The Christmas letter must be written. And so must the writer’s group packet assignment.  Neither of these pieces will write themselves. Effort and forethought and vision must take place in my head and heart. It’s time, again.

I must get an idea. Build on it and maybe make an outline of it.  Write it out. Get all the words out there on paper. Never mind the mess. Just get it onto a work space.

I remember some of the Christmas letters I’ve read. I thought about what made them memorable. They were real. I mean that they were honest and didn’t try to hide their humanness.  I’ll re-read a Christmas letter that makes me laugh or cry. I enjoy the things with which I can identify.

Then there’s the picture ruse.  I’ll wager that most folks who send out a letter and a picture are sort of banking on the picture to do the real stuff of the Christmas greeting. I do it, too, so I understand. I have in the past sent out a picture itself. You can figure out a lot by a picture how folks are doing. But pictures don’t tell the hard parts. And sometimes that’s nice for both of us.

Generalizations feel cold and pretentious to us. So why is it, we are satisfied with writing in generalizations for others to read, you know, because it feels safe.  But we don’t get much of a kick out of reading sterile words in others’ letters.

On the other hand there is a comfortable zone of honest sharing the newsy goodwill, being neither too private and preachy (I want to pinch you and see if you’re real),  nor too garrulous and tacky, telling all your secrets out of town. 

We write the Christmas letter because we like to get them. The golden rule applies here. I must go to the effort of writing a newsy, inspiring greeting for you, our friends and family, because we are anticipating your letters. I love getting the mail these days. I pour myself a fresh cup of coffee then sit down to savor these letters. Two or three new Christmas letters arrive most days from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Yesterday, we enjoyed two family portraits on a card from The Dexters.  On the first, Mom and Dad were kissing while the four tall teenagers were hiding their eyes behind their hands and such antics. This made us laugh. Of course, they all stood tall and pretty for the formal, too.  

So every year I have this question. How shall I say “Hello”, “How are you?”, “We are well”, and “God bless you” in a meaningful letter that will make you smile and feel a few warm fuzzies to boot? 

Rain, D3, And Simply Pretty For Christmas

 Rain and clouds and no snow continues. Every day the sky is cloudy and grey.  Many of our customers are really quite pleased with no snow. I have assumed that people who live in Wisconsin or Minnesota enjoy winter best with snow. But I want snow.
    Along with cloudy days come the need for Vitamin D3. I especially need it this year, as does 90%  of our northern population.


So, we need sunshine or D. But another way to add cheer to a grey day is to make something pretty.  Our house has been cluttered up with a large lot of reclaimed oak T&G for over a week. We're sanding and varnishing it with a water based clear coat and getting a lovely result. Brad took it all downstairs today. Now that room is cluttered but it's closer to where it will become the study wall soon, we hope. So when I came home from work, the house was tidy and sparkling clean. Brad says he's tired of housekeeping, but I don't see why. He should be proud.
I was shopping at Walmart after work and noticed these cute little packs of washcloths right there beside the Yardley soap bars and bottles. Maybe this tendency to put things together/create pretty comes from my work, but I immediately "saw" what could be done with this small collection. Less then ten dollars and it's beautiful, smells nice, and with the little sprig of red berries it's Christmas decor, too.
By the way, Yardley soaps have been around since the 18th century. So I just added a bit of London class to my life. That makes me smile. 
Christmas decor around here this year is staying quite simple. Red berries and pine with white candles, and pine in white pitchers is about all I have so far. Simple is restful and quiet.
 Another thing that makes me smile is having sisters and a mom who understand my anxieties and joys.  Thanks all of you for listening and praying the last few days.

Snowless Winter?

    The grass is greening up. Yes, we are in December. Headed into the weekend that we usually have us a delightful blizzard or at least a snowstorm here in Wisconsin. Not this year.  We're disappointed.
    We're disappointed in more than one way. Green Christmases in Wisconsin are not actually unheard of, but they're rare and it feels odd and incomplete as far as the Christmas season goes. Everybody knows that the perfect Christmas is to have snow and cold: skating, sledding, mittens and scarves, and hot chocolate by the wood stove fire.
    Secondly, it changes our scene as the northern tourist/playground for snowmobiling and skiing. It affects our town of Hayward economy.  We'll have to be creative instead with our weekend recreation.
   Loggers are fighting mud in December this year. Some of them are not logging for now. That's tough, too, on incomes.  There will be some complaining about this.
   Regardless, Jesus DID in fact come as our Savior. Nothing about that has changed and never will. We should still be able to choose joy. Excitement at Christmas time and all it holds should not be different than any other year. Praise Him.
    If the weather makes it or breaks it for me about Christmas; I possibly need a year like this to ponder the true meaning.