This year's gift from God: the weather

 Many people are complaining that 2020 has been the worst year ever (totally not true and very myopic, in my opinion); it certainly has been a strange one.

But while Man has been down here messing up things left and right and causing chaos where it did not need to be, God has been gracious over and over.  One of the clearest ways He has tangibly shown us that grace, I think, is by giving us the Best Weather Year Ever.

Grove City is not known for it's good weather.  Let's just say the rainy Pacific Northwest has got nothing on the PA Northwest.  But the year 2020 has given us unusually stellar days.  Let's review...

This past winter was "very mild" according to all the locals.  (Of course we still shivered and complained, but apparently it was practically balmy)

Then we had a lovely spring -- with a surprise May snowstorm which you could only laugh at.

 

The summer was full of beautiful, bright-blue-sky days, with rarely a cloud to be seen. I  think it rained for 3 days in a row at one point, but other than that, it was warm and sunny allll summer!

Then fall was the loveliest anyone can remember, again full of bright sunny days.  All of the trees showed off their bright, bright colors and we all walked around in awe.  Again, almost NO rain.  None of the boys' soccer practices or games were cancelled due to rain -- surely a record.

November was rather bleak, because that's what November is supposed to be.  But even in November we had some unusually warm, almost summer-like days and everyone walked around with wondering smiles.

Then December brought a few lovely snowfalls, including one with perfect timing, beginning right on Christmas Eve to give us a beautiful Christmas Day (and Boxing Day).  

I mean, seriously, we could not have specially ordered better weather.

So, thank you, God, for giving us this great gift of perfect weather in a year when we have made everything else far less than perfect!

2020 Language Changes

 This year has been funny in many, many ways, but one of the most fascinating to me is how quickly we have adapted to new language patterns.

For example, "distancing" is now a verb we use daily.  I don't think I ever used that as a word before this year.

We now also says, "Shhhh.... she's on a class," when Rayna is online for school in the other room.  ON a class?  We also says Pete is ON a meeting regularly.  These are whole new prepositional phrases for us.

My regular mom-speak has also had to make an adjustment.  Every time we're walking out the door in addition to the traditional "Did you go to the bathroom?" and "Do you have your shoes and coat?" questions, I now need to add, "Do you have a mask?" to the lineup.

Fascinating stuff.

Christmas

 This was the first Christmas that we were just together as our nuclear family with no extended family in sight -- it was kind of weird!  But it was also the first Christmas in our new home, so we had new traditions to make, and Strider was here, so that made it more festive for sure.  Plus we had a White Christmas!

Exciting gifts this year included some musical instruments, some NFL gaiters, clothing, a cash register, and a trick scooter.

Exciting would-be gifts was the PlayStation 4 we ordered.... that didn't work.  Oh well!  Good thing we had plenty of new board games to keep us occupied instead.  Q-Bitz Extreme and Clue were the big hits.

Sledding and a steak dinner rounded out the day -- which ended up being a great Christmas, despite the weirdness!

Christmas Eve

 It felt a little like a Hallmark movie on Christmas Eve as I was driving to the airport to pick up the missing member of our family flying in for the holiday.  Strider arrived uneventfully and the rain we were driving through on the way home quickly turned to snow soon after we got safely inside.  It was going to be a snowy Christmas!

While I was en route to the airport, Pete took the rest of the kids to a Christmas Eve service and we all arrived back at the same time. Then we hunkered down for some appetizers-for-dinner and the Behold the Lamb of God concert!  For dessert we had an amazing croissant bread pudding with caramel sauce made by some new friends.

To end our night we sang Silent Night -- and it was a little more silent when the boys held their candles in their mouths.  Thankfully, once again we managed to not burn the house down.

So good to have everyone back together!

Pre-Christmas Visit

 The Frank family Christmas we canceled this year due to Covid concerns, so everyone was pretty sad that we would all have to stay home for quiet celebrations.  At the last minute, though, Bud and Jane decided it was worth it to come visit us for a night so we could visit in person and have a Christmas dinner together.  (Since we've already had Covid, we assumed the risk was minimal that we would infect them)

So glad they came!  We enjoyed several games, walks, and good food together.  It was almost Christmas!

Spoiled again

 Every year I sincerely enjoy my birthday more and more.  It was sad to be away from my parents and siblings this year, but I felt loved from a distance anyway.  My new community here was kind to me, too.  And my family always spoils me!

I received a new cardigan from Mom and Dad -- so comfortable --

-- this fruit arrangement from a neighbor and friend --

-- sweet treats from Jodi and my family --

(the cake is backwards -- the candles were in the shape of a question mark)

It was a very good day.  :)

The house of God

I love how the Gospel of Luke ends. The very last verse says, "And [the disciples] were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.  Amen."

After all the drama that His followers had just gone through -- the miracles, arrest, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus -- they boomerang back to the house of God.

Coincidentally (and not accidentally I'm sure), the opening scene of the same book also takes place in the temple, with Zechariah going in to worship God.  Then in chapter 2 a couple of God's faithful, Simeon and Anna, are found lingering in the temple, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Messiah.

So the story of Jesus is book-ended by His people waiting and worshiping in His Father's house.  

For the brief time in the middle, the Messiah comes as a man and makes His dwelling with them temporarily.  But before and after those mind-blowing years, the people have gone to the temple to wait, recover, grieve, rejoice.... and wait some more.

This year, the year when churches all over were shut down, has shown us just how much we treasure the House of God.  There is something that happens when you physically go into the building where you will gather with others to worship and hear Truth, something we have missed acutely.  I'm sure I was not the only one who cried when the doors finally opened after months of being shut and we were allowed to be in proximity of other believers and hear preaching in the same room, as opposed to on a screen.

The faithful followers thousands of years ago knew this; they longed to be in the House of the Lord as they waited, recovered, grieved, and rejoiced.... and waited some more.

Now it is us who wait.  

Recent quotes

Upon coming home and finding some bread I had just made on the counter: 

Colsen:  Is that bread you just made for us?  It's not, is it.

Me:  It's for the neighbors.  How did you know it's not for us?

Colsen:  If it's one thing I've learned here it's that Every Good and Perfect Gift that you make -- is for someone else.

****

Upon receiving this Ghiardelli package as a gift in the mail:

Colsen:  I've SEEN these kinds of things in catalogs but didn't think they actually EXIST!

Miles: My eyes are sweating!

St. Nicholas Day

 Our first SND in PA was such fun!  We knew our neighbors would be the perfect allies in our candy-caning schemes so we invited them over for dinner and explained all about St. Nick.

Then we went out on our night adventures -- and did NOT get caught this year!

Afterwards, in the wee hours of the morning, St. Nick made a special trip to our house, too!

(Even Strider got a stocking in NC -- we had left it for him at our St. Nick's buddies' (the Burkes') house so he was surprised.  :)  )