We Might Just Survive This Year After All

Let's talk about 2013 for a moment, shall we?

It pretty much sucked.

I cried A LOT this year.  More than I have ever cried in one year, I am sure.  I cried in front of people that I never dreamed I would cry in front of.  After Dan got laid off, I cried on the way to work to every day, without fail, for probably three months.

We had some dark, dark days in 2013. We were on the verge of losing everything.  There were days when I was ready to give up, throw it all away and walk out.   The worst days were the days where it seemed like we were so close to some miraculous event happening that would seemingly solve all of our problems.   Then it would fall through at the last minute, every single time. We spent a lot of time looking for those kinds of miracles, and willing something like that to happen, but everything that seemed so right for us, like it was meant to be, just never worked out. 

I prayed a lot this year too. I started out praying for that big  miracle.  Then I prayed for survival.  Then I prayed for a change of heart.  Finally, after everything seemed to be failing,  I just prayed to know what I needed to do, and for the faith to do it.

We never got that big, obvious sea- parting, life-changing kind of miracle.  Not yet anyway, although I'm still holding out hope:)

What we did get was enough for me to say I know some things now, that I didn't now at the beginning of this year.


I  know  now that God was providing good gifts for us all year,  not always what we wanted, but what we needed, as any loving father would do.  Some people will scoff at the things that came our way, and call them coincidences, but I know they are more like hints from a God who has told us to walk by faith.

We had people come to our rescue on so many occasions.   Sometimes it was cash in our pocket, sometimes it was extra work opportunities that came along at just the right time. Sometimes, it was a neighbor knocking on my door at just the right moment to come in and cry with me. Clothes and shoes for my kids that were the exact right size and fit,   a microwave, a dryer- so many other specific  needs we had that we never advertised or asked for.  They were just freely offered.  It is hard to accept help.  It is easier when what you are offered is the exact, perfect thing that you just realized you needed and had no way of obtaining for yourself.

The past three years, we have had a bumper crop of peaches off our tree, that we always wound up giving away, because  while they were delicious to eat, it was impossible to get the stones out of them, and to peel them. So to bottle them or make jam or anything was more work than it was worth.  This year, we got the same bumper crop of peaches.   But this year, the stones and peel slipped out effortlessly.  So we put up about 30 quarts of peaches, and a few batches of peach jam as well. The only explanation I can find is found in Malachi 3:11.

I know now that the law of tithing works. And I know it's not about money.  It's not about God needing my money, and it's for sure not about me getting more money.  It's about where you put your trust, and where your treasure is.

In spite of the fact that I have always been and will always be a sarcastic, irreverent, blasphemous skeptical doubter, 2013, in all its  messy, disastrous, stressful,emotional, torturous, sucky glory, blessed me with some understanding that I might not have learned any other way.  So yeah, while I don't really want to live it again, I guess you could say this year and me are parting on good terms.

 However, if 2014 turns out to be less of a drama queen kind of year, none of us will be complaining.

We Needed a Little Christmas

Well, I blinked, and when I opened my eyes I found us all sitting here, on the other side of Christmas 2013, amid a pile of new electronic gadgets, random boxes, leftover goodies, and a very dead Christmas tree. In spite of me dreading Christmas 2013 since about last March, it turned out to be one of the best Christmases we have had, in many different ways.  First off, we had all eight of us together, plus our two bonus members, Erwann and Steve. That was the best part. Second, Santa sent some generous and loving elves our way this year who gave us all some extra joy and peace.  And third, there were some traditions that we have always done, and that we always thought we could not live without,  that we just didn't do this year.  And guess what?  The world went right on spinning, and Christmas still came.   As Dr. Seuss would say, somehow or other, it came just the same. And lastly, everything just fell into place this year.  We had so little time to get so much done, and it all just worked.   Never fought crowds, never ran ragged searching for the perfect gift.  Christmas seemed to come to us this year.  Or maybe we (I) just let go a little bit of the fantasy of the perfect Christmas.  Whatever, it was peaceful, and happy and oddly, perfect.

Still, it  takes A LOT of work to get a decent family picture.

And are you ever too old for Christmas jammies?



 


And now, 2013 is on it's way out, and all I want to say is don't let the door hit you in the butt.

But more on that tomorrow.

Christmas Time

What happens when you mix up a large batch of procrastination with one full time job,  then add a week full of Christmas concerts, a pinch of anxiety, a long list of people to buy for and a short imagination for gift ideas?  Mix that glob of goo up thoroughly  about eight days before Christmas, then add a messy house, the regular gamut of laundry, grime, and busywork, and throw it all in the fires of hell to bake for a week, and what do you get? You get me, running out of time to pull off this thing called Christmas.

Another week, and I will be burned to a crisp.  But it will also be over, and then I can go about collecting myself again. 

The GREAT news is that Alisa and Erwann will be here on Saturday, and I doubt they care if the house is clean.   The other GREAT news is that I have the day after Christmas off work.  And the REALLY GREAT news is that we have ONE MORE Christmas concert to get through tomorrow night, and then we can start Christmas shopping!  See, I had planned on shopping all this week after work.  But then Will and Audrey had three Christmas concerts between them this week, which is great, really great. But leaves me no time.  So I will be one of those desperate fools out shopping on Christmas Eve,  and oh crap, I just remembered Will needs a white elephant gift for school tomorrow- over and out for now-

Going Wireless

The day after we got back from California, Audrey had the momentous occasion of getting her braces off.  She was originally scheduled to have them removed on January 27.  This is her face when she heard she was getting them off the next day:

She was just a teeny bit joyful.  And then, the next day, after  two hours of having the glue painfully scraped off her teeth, even though they said it wouldn't hurt, she was still chipper enough for a smile.  And it looked like this:

Gorgeous, no?  Worth every penny and two years?  Yeah I guess so.  And now, she has a fancy blue retainer with the Super Man logo on the roof of it.  Now she wishes she had gotten  Hunger Games.  I keep telling her Super Man is much more classic, and since she will have this retainer for MANY YEARS TO COME (because I will have to hurt her if she leaves it on her lunch tray and it winds up in the dumpster), she will one day be happier she went with the more classic icon. As if anybody will ever see it.

This may be our last bout with braces.  I keep looking at Olivia's teeth.  It's hard to tell yet if she will need braces.  The dentist hasn't said anything, so I'm hoping she will take after the two big brothers she most resembles,  who did not need braces, and save me and my insurance company a few thousand dollars.

Now we are off to eat caramel corn and drink soda.

Sun Day

Tired of beach pictures yet?  Too bad.  I have a LOT more.

The original plan was to head back home early Sunday morning.  Then a few things changed, and we found out that Sunday was going to be beautiful weather.  So we stayed an extra day, even though it meant the kids missing a day of school. And I am so glad we stayed.  How many December 1st's do people from Utah get to spend basking in the sun, in 90 degree weather?  This year was the first for me, ever.

We spent a good chunk of the afternoon building this elaborate sand castle neighborhood. Then we took way too many pictures of it, because it was so cool!

 Moats and all.

An ocean miracle. Duncan took off his shoes, walked on the sand and got his feet wet!  It only took a little coaxing on my part.  And he even smiled while he was doing it.  Sensory overload can be so hard.

 All those little mounds in the sand?  Olivia added them.  She decided our sand castle needed a graveyard.  Then she added a dump. Where she thinks up these things, I will never know.

Okay, that is the last of the beach pictures that will be on here for quite a while.  Sunday was our last day in California.  Early the next morning, we packed up and headed back to reality.  Getting used to real life again has made it a long hard week around here.  But it was so worth it.

Back to the Beach

Saturday we went back to the beach.  It seemed a little chilly to be at the beach,  around 70 and kind of windy.   The sun was nice and warm though, and the cold water didn't slow Olivia down at all.  And now that we are home, and the high temp here today was about 15 degrees, it makes that day at the beach seem balmy.  I'd go back to this day anytime.

We all got nice little naps in the sun.

And did the traditional burial.

These next two pictures are entitled:

Game on-

 Hip Europeans vs.

Nerdy Americans.

Olivia was dying to get into the pool at Alisa's apartment.  Unfortunately it was FREEZING and by the time we got back, the sun was starting to go down.

Nothing stops this girl though.  She cannonballed right in.

And then the hip European performed a perfect dive.

And somewhere along the way, we had lunch at the Habit.  Picture In-n-Out Burger, only better.

Yep, I'd go back and do Saturday again.