I’ve delayed posting a Christmas entry. I was afraid that I would sound like a complainer. I know I have so much to be thankful for; and fortunately, because K and M and I celebrated Christmas early together, that was a special time. But Christmas itself—and the week following—was unexaggeratedly the worst “Christmas break” we have ever had. And thus, the delay. But as I reflect today on the last week, I realize that it is indicative of what our entire 2007 has been. (I don’t expect anyone to read all of this—I know it is long. It is mostly my musings on the year.)
K and I both took all of the weekdays off between Dec. 21 and Jan. 2. I haven’t had that kind of a “vacation” since last Christmas (when we went to CA in Oct., I was going “on business”). We had a week of relaxing planned, because 2007 has been the year of “running.” Little did we know that God had a much different week planned for us.
After the Christmas Eve service on the 24th, we headed two hours east for Christmas with my parents and brother and sister-in-law. It was after 9:30 when we arrived—but M had fallen asleep only 15 minutes before our arrival. Unlike most days, he stayed asleep when we took him inside. Because the family wanted to see him unwrap his presents, we woke him up after about an hour. He was so scared and confused when he woke up, I felt awful. Then, when it was time to actually go to sleep, he screamed for hours. We each got under 4 hours of sleep that night.
The next morning, we packed up and headed to K’s family. In order to “stay on schedule,” we had to pack up again and head north another 2.5 hours to my Grandparents’. Due to a death in our church, we had to leave there early the next day (the day after Christmas) and spend another 4 hours in the car. So we traveled Monday (Christmas Eve), Tuesday (Christmas Day), and Wednesday (day after Christmas). Oh—and Moses screamed himself to sleep again on Christmas night. We were very tired.
The visitation was Wednesday, the funeral Thursday. We had a wedding to travel to (2 hours each way) on Saturday. And of course, K works on Sundays. Throughout it all, I was clinging to the fact that we would have New Year’s Eve and New Year ’s Day to “relax.”
And then something terrible happened. A very good family friend—closer than most of my extended family—died suddenly. True, he had been battling Hodgkin’s for 5 years. But this was completely unexpected. It was a blow.
The visitation was Sunday, the funeral Monday. Although I have tried to ignore it, I have had a hard time with his death—especially the timing. We spent every New Year’s Eve with his family for years. To be at his funeral on New Year’s Eve was hard. I felt out of it for the rest of the day.
And that left today. Fortunately, we did NOTHING all day. Nothing.
I mentioned that our Christmas week was indicative of our 2007. Indeed, 2007 was marked by:
*Busyness of all sorts—including moving across the state in January, following a career move by K (from worship to preaching ministry)
*Traveling, traveling, traveling (either for work, or for family functions, or for funerals, or for *weddings, or for… you get the picture. We were gone almost every weekend from the beginning of Sept. through Thanksgiving)
*Crazy work schedules (including one brief I had to write in a week—I usually take about a month if I can; and then the following realization after filing that the most notorious abortionist in the nation now has my home address; comforting, huh?)
*Four deaths—all from cancer—of people we have been close to (NOTE: none of these people “lost” their lives to cancer; instead, each was victorious in his or her battle and walk with God throughout. They WON their battles and walked triumphantly into the presence of God)
Rabies shots for Moses (and a following 6 month battle to remove the bats that were living in the attic of our “new” home)
*Medical test after medical test for me, as doctors try to figure out what the heck is wrong with me (fortunately, everything serious has been ruled out at this time—but nothing can be done for my symptoms until we find out what is causing them)
*A rough health year for nearly everyone at my organization (including extended medical leaves for two integral persons)
Needless to say, I was ready for 2007 to be over and for 2008 to begin. But as I sit here at the beginning of a new year, I look at it with trepidation. I would like to think that 2008 will be different, but something in my gut just tells me otherwise.
Maybe it is because God’s people are not called to be “sitters”—I certainly have never been able to sit back and the let world around me fall apart—and we are not called to have easy lives.
Maybe it is because 2008 could mark the end of the free world as we know it if either Hilary or Obama is elected (I’m not sure which one is scarier; interestingly, my spell check wants to change his name to “Osama”—Coincidence? Maybe not…).
Or maybe, after the year we just had, it is just cynicism.
But before I feel too sorry for myself, I have to list some of the wonderful things of 2007. These things give me hope; hope in the knowledge that God is still here and still takes care of his people:
*Watching Moses take his first steps
*Hearing Moses say “Ommy” and “Addy” for the first time
*Hearing Moses sing the high notes with Frank Sinatra in “Have Yourself a Very Merry Little Christmas” each and every time he hears it (it could be the single most hilarious thing I have ever witnessed)
*Hearing Moses say, unprompted, “happy, happy, happy” while we drove through a Christmas lights display (and hearing him say hi and wave to all of the characters)
*Watching Moses fold his hands, “pray,” and say “AH-men” before every meal
*Watching Moses kiss the baby Jesus in his Fisher-Price nativity
*Watching Moses do the motions to “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “This Little Light of Mine” (and adamantly refusing to hide his light under a bushel)
*Okay, watching Moses to just about everything he does…
*Moving to a new community and a new church (the most wonderful I have ever been a part of)
*Meeting and fellowshipping with all sorts of new friends
*Taking family walks three to four times a week this summer, with Moses in the radio flyer wagon (most of these walks ended up at Dairy Queen!)
*LOVE. Greater love for and from my husband, for and from my son, and for and from our church.
*Health. Moses got through the rabies shots just fine, and I don’t have anything too serious wrong with me. And for that we are very thankful.
Despite the crazy year that it has been, there are truly too many good things to list. That is because God is good. God is here. God will never leave us or forsake us. God will neither slumber nor sleep. God is with us ALWAYS. And because of that, I can leave 2007 behind, and advance confidently into 2008.
We wish you all the best in 2008.
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