The Year in Review

The Year in Review

 

What a very busy year!  January was the beginning of “life coaching”.  Struggling to move from depression and grief, I joined forces with a very godly coach (Tommy Echols...thank you) to help get life back on track.  Mom’s loss the previous September pulled the rug out from under me in ways I couldn’t have imagined.  I had not realized how much she was part of me…the person I turned to for guidance…the person I turned to for sharing good news (or difficulties).  How I still miss her.  But life kept going and I needed to jump back into the fray.

Sizeable checks had arrived from the inheritance my parents left.  This was not money I ever wanted…it was not money I wanted to keep.  So I gave away over half of it…to struggling family members…to friends who needed a boost to help them along their way…to a church that has faithfully cared for us through the years and to the college ministry in South Africa that had blessed me so richly several summers ago.  It was not hard to hand out the money…and to get the blessing of satisfaction that comes from giving with a cheerful heart.

It was also pleasant to make a sizeable payment on school loans…whew! 

Then it was time to decide the best way to use the rest of the money.  Spoiling grandchildren was fun…I like buying clothes for the little ones.  We put a new roof on the house and garage…and replaced all the windows in the house (I can tell already what a great difference this has made…our house is staying warm and comfy this winter because of that change).  We remodeled the living room and it’s such a room of comfort now.  Sometimes I just sit and stare at it…so hard to believe this room can be this nice.  Special thanks to Kevin Halstead and his crew for all the hard work on our house this year.  We’re still in the process of remodeling one of the kids rooms into “my office”…but since this is a DIY project it may take a couple of years.  All the furniture is purchased for the office…it just needs a room to be set up in.

I will remember this year as a year of travel.  The first week of March was a wonderful week spent high in the Rockies with friends Leisa, Shawna and Vicki.  Fireside chats…snow fun…a spa day…dinner theatre…dining out…dining in…beautiful, breath-taking vistas…it was a wonderful week to re-connect with women who had made such a positive impact on my life.

April and May were full of preparing for a trip to South Africa after Dan quickly agreed to give up a one-week cruise to Alaska for a ten-week trip back to the place where I’d left a chunk of my heart four years ago.  We crammed a lifetime of fun and service to God into those ten weeks.  Working at Durban Bible College again blessed my life…and Dan’s.  Our service included teaching, school maintenance, a fund-raising concert, a missions conference and a “Lead Like Jesus” seminar.  Our side trips included:  a safari to Kruger Park, The Drakensburg Boys Choir School, uShaka Sea World, Sunday services in Mandeni, Butterflies over Africa and an 11^th year anniversary celebration 32 stories high in a revolving restaurant that allowed us to see all of the city and port and ocean…a very memorable anniversary supper.  Our “suspense” included two car incidences (two flat tires late one evening and a terrible auto accident that totaled two vehicles but demonstrated God’s care for all of us), run-ins with local monkeys (one stealing bread INSIDE the kitchen). Our wonderful hostess,  Marcia Gustafson could not have been more gracious.  It was ten weeks full of memories.

It was also a year of listening to God and hearing a call to give our lives full-time to missions.  Durban Bible College has invited us to come and serve with them.  I’ve been offered an opportunity to set up a music department at the school and teach classes on “Worship and Music” and “Fundamentals of Music”.  I would also teach private music lessons to the students and work with the college choir.  Finally, I would set up a ministry “team” to go to local churches, ministering in music and word and helping to promote the college.  Dan has been invited to come and teach classes on Evangelism and Missions and facilitate “Lead Like Jesus” seminars in Durban.  Now we begin the process of seeking support to serve overseas.  South Africa does not allow Americans to work in their country because all jobs are protected for South Africans.  However, there are no South Africans willing to serve in our position since the school pays nothing for the teaching.  Therefore, we qualify to help on staff because our support will come fully from the United States.  Please pray for us as we begin this process.

God wasn’t through with us when we returned from South Africa!  We spent the first week of November working with two Navajo churches in New Mexico…along with four other members from our church and 9 folks from other churches in our denomination.  What a busy week we had.  I taught children on Sunday morning and Thursday evening.  Dan helped replace a door that had been destroyed during a break-in and theft at one of the churches.  He also spent a very busy Thursday chopping and stacking wood at Pine Tree Church.  Kirkland Hope Church was a gracious host church to our group of 15…and what a blessing to see how God put together the right team to accomplish all the tasks of the week.  I cleaned out a garden shed, straightened up and re-organized a basement storage shed and cleaned out a tomato garden and prepped it for next years plantings.  Two other large storage sheds were re-organized by team members…and a great job was done on preparing the “lawn” (dirt and burrs) to be a little friendlier and nicer looking.  A two-car garage was erected at the home of missionaries Dave and Carol Kochendorfer.  Paneling was hung inside the church building and everyone else participated in the log-splitting/chopping and stacking.  Wonderful side trips to some restored “ruins”, ShipRock, Four Corners and Mesa Verde made for a lot of memories from a very busy week.

We’ve enjoyed having a special guest in our home for two months.  We’ve hosted Pastor Stephen Chisonta from Durban, South Africa since October 16^th.  He’ll be leaving day after tomorrow, and after having his company for two months he is going to be dearly missed.  He’s had the opportunity to speak at the Bradford Area Christian Academy, the YMCA Bible Study group and Sawyer Evangelical.  He’s joined with the men’s group on Saturday mornings.  He’s continued to minister to friends and family through his computer and through our telephone which has rung off the hook while he’s been here (I have to confess I won’t miss the phone ringing all the time – smile).  Stephen’s been a gracious and sweet guest, and we look forward to his next visit to the United States…with his fiancé, Brenda, who will be his bride by then!

I’ve made a New Year’s resolution that I’m NOT FLYING in 2013.  We have a new grandbaby due sometime in the middle of summer and we’re looking forward to that.  Holden is 5 now and is doing well in school.  Orlando, who turns 4 at the end of the month, is also doing well in school.  Roman, 2.5, is starting to talk and chatter and is just a delightful, curly-headed sweetheart.  And princess Shannon, the only girl in the bunch, continues to delight our hearts.  Andy and Jen bought a house in Portville this summer…about 40 minutes away…and are working diligently to get everything up to par (it was sort of a fixer-upper).  LeeAnne has stayed busy as a teacher’s aide and spent a few weeks this summer as surrogate mom to her niece, enjoying having two kids at home.  Steve and Enith have had a challenging year, but seem to be settling in to anticipate the arrival of their third child.  Overall, 2012 will be a year of blessing for our whole clan.

God has been working on my heart in a myriad of ways.  I struggle still with selfishness and wanting “my” way.  He keeps proving that His ways are much better for me.  I’m ending this year having just joined Weight Watchers and losing some of the weight I’ve put on since my surgery three years ago.  I struggle with some pain issues…lower back and knee pains that make it difficult to walk.  I’m hoping the weight loss will help me rid myself of those problems.  I’ve been “busy” this year, but not so busy that I could get out of the “slump” and out from under the cloud that seems to have hung over me since losing mom.  I think I’m really just finally dealing with the loss of both dad and mom…having never really had the time to grieve for dad’s loss before losing mom.  I now understand what I never understood before losing them…knowing they’re in a better place doesn’t really fill up the hole left in my heart when I lost them.  Do we ever really “lose” people we love since they continue to live on in our hearts?

This year ends with some sadness in my heart too.  We’ve just experienced the great loss of lives in a shooting at an elementary school.  Twenty first graders and six adults were killed by a young man in a fit of madness.  It’s difficult to “cope” with tragedy on this scale.  But I end the year doing what I’ve done since the beginning of the year…holding on to God and thanking Him for sending His Son Who loved us so much He gave up His life to pay for our sins.  People talk about the “free” gift of salvation…but that sacrifice came at a high price for God.  He knows what it is to face an unreasonable, sinful world that was never intended to be like this.  He knows the pain of watching us make senseless choices and decisions and He has felt the pain of our rejection as a society.  And yet…HE STILL LOVES US. 

2013 will be another year to love God…love my family…love my friends…and be loved in return.  Thank you for being one of those friends who has made my life better!