Beautiful Snow

Three days after Christmas we had the most beautiful snowfall! Husband's parents were supposed to come down for a visit that day, and it delayed them, but other than that, it was the perfect snowfall. It was the kind of snow that just made everything look like a Christmas card. It even packed nicely so the kids made a snowman. Husband shoveled, the kids played outside, and I took pictures (from inside where it was warm and dry!).

Glory

I went off the road this morning on the way to work. I hit a patch of ice on the Interstate, fish-tailed all over the road, and ended up about 35' down the ditch. The roads were terrible, every school around me was on a two hour late start (except, of course, the one I work at) and my daughter was home sick with strep throat. I should never have attempted to go to work. But I did. So, why the "Glory" title? I was really feeling horrible today, and rightly so. It was a horrible day! I still feel shaky and nauseous. But then I got to thinking.....am I going to be a victim or a victor? Am I going to give glory to the one who brought on the calamity, or am I going to give glory to the one who brought me through the calamity? And I made a choice. I will give glory to the One who brought me through the calamity.

I can certainly see how God was with me every step of the way. Why did He allow this to happen if He was right with me? I don't know. What I do know is that I was not harmed in any way. What I do know is that what Satan meant for bad, God can use for good. Romans 8:28 And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I am able to see God's hand protecting me. Don't get me wrong, I was SCARED! Like I said, I am still kind of shaky and it's been 13 hours since it happened. BUT, I will not wallow in self pity. I will celebrate the victory!

When I hit the ice, there were cars near me in front of me and behind me. I didn't hit any of them, and I was sliding all over the road. I went flying into the ditch, hit and took out one of those poles with the reflector on top, and yet didn't have so much as a bumped head or a scratch on me.

When I went off the road, I did not even need to call for help. There was a sheriff right behind me who saw the whole thing. He pulled over right behind me, and was out of his car before I was even out of mine. He was very nice, and never even questioned my speed or anything. (I wasn't going fast at all. I just hit a patch of ice and it sent me careening all over the road.) He had me get my things out of the car and drove me to a nearby Hardee's.

When I got into Hardee's and reached for my cell phone, I discovered that I must have left it in the car. I asked the lady at the counter if I could use their phone and she informed me that they did not have a public phone. This was the point that the tears almost came. I guess it was obvious by the look on my face that I was about to cry, so she asked, "What's wrong? Are you stranded or something?" When I said yes that my car was in the ditch about a mile up the road, she was like, "Oh, sorry. That's too bad." Helpful. Thanks. Anyway, I went to the back of the restaurant where the old guys were gathered drinking their coffee and asked if any of them had a phone I could borrow. One of them lent me his right away. Of course I was so flustered all of a sudden I couldn't remember if my work number was 319 or 391! The guy was so nice! He told me not to worry about it, just to dial 411 and let them dial it for me. I didn't have to do that, I finally remembered the right number, but just the fact that he was so kind really made me feel better. After I called work, let them know where I was, and had the arrangements made for my principal to come pick me up (yes, the principal drove 20 minutes to pick me up), the man offered to buy me some breakfast at Hardee's. I was too upset to eat, but again, the kindness this man showed me will always stick with me.

My principal was just glad to see that I wasn't hurt, and was very understanding. I work with a great bunch of people, and they were so nice to me all day. They gave me hugs, taught my class while I tried to get things in order, and let me borrow their cell phones to make calls to my husband, my mom (who was taking care of my daughter) and my insurance agent.

After school, I looked in the phone book for a towing company. There are literally two or three pages of towing companies. I wanted to call a few to get an idea of a price range, but I didn't have time to call 2 or 3 pages worth! I picked 4 and started calling. It seemed like it was going to cost me well over $100 just to get the car pulled up out of the ditch. More if I needed any other services. The fourth one I called said he's easily half the price of other towing companies. He charged $40 to come pull me out. A coincidence that his number was one of the four I wrote down? I don't think so! Unfortunately, my front passenger tire was flat, so he had to tow the car to a gas station. He only charged another $40 to tow it there. He took it to a place where he knew they wouldn't charge an arm and a leg to fix the tire if there was something wrong with it. The tire didn't have a hole in it, but it had been knocked off the rim a bit. The tire was fixed for $10.

While at the gas station, Husband and I searched the car for my missing cell phone. No cell phone. I felt sick as I thought that it must have fallen out into the snow when I got out of the car this morning. We took his truck back to the place where my car went in the ditch, and began to search. Husband thought we were crazy for even trying, but I told him, "I prayed we would find it." He called my phone, and we heard it ringing!! How it managed to stay in one piece while the car was towed out of the ditch, and still was working after being outside in the snow, in single digit temps all day long is nothing short of miraculous! My only explanation? Jesus loves me! :)

So on my way home, 12 hours after I left my house this morning, as I'm thinking what a horrible, rotten, no good, very bad day (just call me Alexander) I had today, I felt God speak to me and say, "But I was with you. I protected you. I gave you favor. Now what are going to choose? to give Me glory and be a victor, or overlook all of these things and be a victim?" It's kind of like the choice the Israelites had in Deuteronomy 30 I guess. Verses 19-20 say, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

My mom was doing her devotions this morning and felt like God wanted her to give me some verses. II Corinthians 4: 7-15. It pretty much sums up my day.
But we have the treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
And finally, verse 17
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

My Kasey

One of my best friends has a little boy that is 2 1/2. He is SO adorable!! He and I are VERY good buds. I just LOVE him! I was over at his house briefly the other day, and he must not have realized that I had left. His mommy told me that some time later he went looking around the house and then said, "Where's my Kasey?!" Doesn't that just melt your heart?

Another day, his mommy and daddy were talking in one room while my buddy was playing in another room. My name entered the conversation, and he came running into the room asking, "Kasey?! Where Kasey?!"

Still another day, my little buddy was talking to another friend of his family. She asked him if he was her buddy. He answered, "No! I Kasey's buddy!" He's such a little cutie! Yes, he does have his Kasey wrapped around his little finger! But look at this face! How could I not be???

Cheap Entertainment

What do you get when you have 1 empty plastic bag, one glass with a few drips of milk left in the bottom, and two adorable kittens?

More on the Way

I am still trying to get things all updated before I go back to work & time is running short! AIY-YI-YI!!! We had a really nice Christmas, or three, or five, as we celebrate with our family, with both kids and without, and both sets of grandparents. It gets interesting on the years that The Boy is with his mom for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Two gifts that we got that are of particular interest to the blog are a digital camera and new computer! I have lots of pictures on the new camera that I'm excited to get downloaded on the computer so I can include them in the blog. The only problem is that our current computer can't handle downloading the pictures, and we can't hook up the new computer until we get a monitor to go with it. We can't get the new monitor until the gift card for a hundred dollars off comes in. Boy, it gets complicated, doesn't it?! I tried using our current monitor with the new computer, but it's too old and was not compatible. Hopefully by this weekend we'll be able to have the new one up and running. I can't wait!! Until then, I'm afraid I won't have many posts, as I have pictures I want to include with most of them. Anyway....until then, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Tribute

About this time one year ago, I began a search on the Internet to try and get in touch with an old friend from college. We had been close the one year we were roommates, and had stayed in touch pretty well even when she moved out to Colorado. Most of our friendship was spent living at least two states away from one another. Jenn was there for me through all the major transitions in my life. She was a bridesmaid in my first wedding. She came to my daughter's dedication service. She was there for me when I went through my divorce. When my daughter was 18 months old, we flew out to Colorado to visit Jenn. When Jenn was married, I was able to be there. Then, when she and her husband moved to Austria, it became difficult to stay in touch. I had been emailing her, but my computer crashed and I lost her address. I searched the Internet and found her again, but not learning from the first time, still didn't write down her address. When my computer crashed a second time, and I lost her address again, I didn't do a very good job of getting in touch for a very long time. The last time I had emailed her, Jenn said that she was expecting. I remembered that she was due right around Christmas time. Thinking that her baby was already a year old, and I had not even been in touch with her to see if she had had a boy or a girl, I began my search for her once more. Jenn had always been computer savvy, so I was expecting to find a family blog or something along those lines. What I found instead was horrifying.

At first, I just found some church newsletters from a church in Austria. I remembered that Jenn's husband's father was a minister, but I just couldn't believe what the newsletters were saying. It was something about a tragedy in the family. Asking parishioners to pray for Dave (her husband) as he dealt with all the sorrow so shortly after the joy of the birth of their daughter, Lexi. As I read on, I found out that a mere 16 days after Lexi's birth, Jenn had passed away due to a sudden attack of Hodgkin's disease. I couldn't believe that this was true. I tried telling myself that this couldn't be my friend, Jenn. I continued to search for some more information; something that tell me I was mistaken. This was some other person named Jenn. It was just a coincidence. No such confirmation came. Instead, I found her obituary posted in a paper from her hometown in the States, complete with photograph. There was no mistaking that this was in fact, my old college roommate, my friend, Jenn.

So many emotions filled my heart and soul. I was in shock. I was angry. I was grieved. I felt guilt and shame for not even knowing that she was gone. Not only that, but it had not been one year since I had last talked to her, but two. I was only just finding out about her death, and she had been gone for two years. I had missed everything. Even though there was a memorial service for her in her hometown that I would have attended had I known, it was too late now. I had such tremendous guilt. If I had been a real friend, then I would've stayed in touch with Jenn even though she lived in Austria. I felt such huge sadness, and still do, but do I have a right to feel that way when it took me two years to realize that she had died?

A week or two afterwards I was finally able to cry. I cried and cried. I cried until it felt like there was nothing left, no more tears, no more strength. I asked God "Why?" It's so unfair. How could this happen? She had a 16-day-old baby. This was supposed to be one of the happiest times of her life. How could all of it just be taken away like this? How is her husband coping with losing his wife and needing to grieve, yet needing to keep going to care for his newborn? I still don't have the answers to these questions, and I suppose I won't get them until the day I get to heaven and get to see my friend once more, but I have gotten some healing.

You see, the obituary I found online has a guestbook link to it. It is still there all because of a wonderful, sweet friend of Jenn's. This friend has been anonymously maintaining the site all these years to help keep Jenn's memory alive. For a year, I have been going to that site, clicking on the guestbook, and beginning a message. For a year, I have deleted what I had written, and left the site to try it again another day. Another day finally came, and I was able to get a message posted. A few days later, I received an email from a friend of Jenn's from Austria. I emailed her back, and she was kind enough to keep up correspondence with me. She has answered so many of the questions I had surrounding what had happened. She sent me pictures of Lexi, and again, I cried and cried. She looks so much like her mommy! I found out that Jenn was able to enjoy her time with Lexi because she didn't know she was sick. I am so grateful for that. I am so thankful that Jenn had a friend who loved her so much & is helping to keep her memory alive for Lexi. She is compiling stories and pictures of Jenn to give to Lexi when she is older and wondering what her momma was like.

On Christmas Day, I received an email from Jenn's sister. I can't explain how much it meant to me. I was afraid Jenn's family would not like to see that I had left a message in her guestbook since I hadn't been in touch with her for so long. I will be eternally grateful to "Anonymous" for maintaining Jenn's site and allowing me to find healing there. Thank you, Julie, for your email. You'll never know how much it means to me!

As all of this has come to pass, I marvel at the grace of God. Even though I will never understand why, I know that God is Sovereign. I know His Love never fails. I know that He is with us. I know that Jenn is with Him. I wish that she could still be here with us. I wish she could be with Lexi, helping her grow, seeing each new thing she does and learns. Yet I know it was God's Grace that kept Lexi safe through Jenn's pregnancy. It was God's Grace that allowed Jenn to enjoy what little time she had with Lexi. It was God's Grace that made their first Christmas as a family of three a happy one. And it was God's Grace that allowed Jenn not to suffer.

Finally, it was by the Grace of God that I was able to learn some important lessons. Life is too short to lose touch with your friends. It is worth the effort. This past year I have gotten back in touch with some friends that I hadn't spoken to in quite a while. It's too easy to live life and get busy and not make the effort to be friends. It's good to remember that friendship is a reward worth the time. I also thank God that through all of this, I also made a new friend. Your emails have touched me deeply, Neva. God bless you!

Jenn,

It's been three years ago today you went to be with the Lord. We miss you so much! Our only comfort is that you are resting in the Saviour's everlasting arms. You are in heaven where there is no more suffering and no more tears. John 14:1-4 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Can't wait until we get to see you again, Jenn. We love you!

John Deere Tour

Husband was recently blessed with a new job welding on combines at John Deere. God has been SO good to us! He was actually trained to weld by John Deere! This is a HUGE deal because not only did it save us about $2500 on welding courses at a community college, but he was getting paid as he was learning. He is now a certified welder! This job has already been such a blessing to our family, and the benefits are just beginning!! We continue to praise God daily for this job!

On December first, we were able to tour the facility. This was a pretty big deal because there hasn't been a tour like this since the early 90's. It was so interesting to see combines in all stages of development. I couldn't do justice to it if I tried to explain it all, but I highly recommend touring a facility like this if you ever get the chance! It was mind-boggling! The only downer of the day was that we were having a pretty significant ice storm!! The hour drive wasn't much fun!! After we left, we had to buy a new scraper because as Husband was scraping the ice off the car when it was time to go, the scraper snapped in half!

This is a picture of a wall of windows inside the visitor's center. Along the bottom, you can see that the ice had accumulated on the glass. Theses huge sheets of ice slid down the length of these windows (about 3 stories) and it looked like an ice fountain. I wish I could've gotten a video of it. It was really spectacular!

Always thinking about fodder for the blog, I took this picture hoping to show the horrible weather conditions. You can't really see the freezing rain and ice falling from the sky, but this gives you an idea of how windy it was on top of everything else!

Despite the weather, we had a good time touring the plant!