BLESSINGS IN THE UNEXPECTED
As we have come to the holiday season, I have been decorating my home. I see so many of my mother’s and grandmother’s decorations bringing so many memories of times gone by. My grandmother created a lot of holiday ceramics. I have sitting on my desk, the three reindeer that she painted. I put out a white ceramic tree that lights up, with red birds as ornaments, that she had made so many years ago for me. My mother liked the “12 Days of Christmas” song. She always hung the twelve ornaments I gave her with the different verses on it, from her dining room chandelier. I now have them hanging from mine. My husband has been gone ten years this last October. He loved to play Santa Claus for the boy scout troop, for special needs kids and even as the Walmart Santa in my area. I have a precious picture of him as Santa with my grandson, A.J. A.J. was maybe about 4 or so. He is wearing reindeer antlers on his head, standing in front of my husband, Santa. My husband has his head turned to the side, leaning forward to talk to A.J. The sweet thing is, A.J. had no idea that he was really talking to his grandpa. Such a wonderful picture to set out this time of year! One year my husband recorded his voice on an ornament that has his picture as Santa on it. The first year after his death, it brought me to tears hearing his voice and remembering how much he loved to play Santa and be with the kids. The picture I have for this blog, is my great-granddaughter, Delaney, kissing that ornament which hangs on my oldest son’s tree. She will never know her great- grandpa, but we will keep his memory and the memory of my mother and grandmother alive for future generations to come. The death of our loved ones is so unexpected in how we had envisioned our future!
Thanksgiving has come and gone since I last wrote. My daughter and family made the long trip here from Virginia, with four kids and two dogs. I had so much planned for the few days they were here: getting a picture of all my grandkids together at one time, spending a holiday together with them which we had not done for many years. I have been back & forth to visit them but the rest of my family had never seen little Iley who had just turned a year old and they had not seen my Navy son-in-law for three years! I was so excited for family here to get to know our littlest one and spend time all together. But the unexpected happened when they got here. Little Iley was not feeling well when they got here. We were thinking it was just a cold. But then she started running a fever and had trouble breathing. We took her to the emergency room and they sent her very quickly to a pediatric hospital. She ended up having RVS which is baby bronchitis and contagious to children under the age of 12. She, my daughter and son-in-law ended up at the hospital three of the five nights and days they were here. Not what we had expected the holiday week to be like. I was in charge of the two dogs and three other kids under the age of 10. I was so worried about our little one. I know and have taught women to not worry. But in reality, we all worry from time to time. We just need to remember to reach up to God during times like this and give the problem to Him trusting in faith that He will take care of the situation for us. I was so sad that they were having to spend their Thanksgiving holiday at the hospital. We took lots of pictures that day, but we had three family members missing from those pictures. I was so sad that we could not get all of family in picture at once. That had not happened for three years before and never with little Iley in them. Unexpected!
I had the other three grandkids, Adasen who is 10, Owen who is 8 and Opal who is 5. Also, their two little dachshunds, one who is blind. I realized, even though I was sad about how the holiday was turning out, that here were these three precious grandchildren in my care. Little Opal was in the bathroom for a long time and I knocked on the door to see if she was ok. I heard a little voice say no. I opened the door and there she was sitting in the bathroom crying. I asked her what was wrong and she asked me if little Iley was going to die. It was right then that I realized I had to make this Thanksgiving a memory maker for these three sweet ones. (I won’t lie. I am very thankful for the Disney channel on tv, when they got a bit rambunctious! Ha!) We played games, colored, giggled, read books and played hide and seek. I had planned on Friday night after Thanksgiving, to have a little Christmas for just my daughter’s family since we do not ever get to actually see them open their gifts. My son-in-law came but my daughter and Iley were still in the hospital. Unexpected!
That day I gave the three kids jobs around the house and told them we would go to McDonalds when they finished. I had them line up along my kitchen cabinet and we made some cookies, each one having a different job. I had them take their presents and put under the tree. During the time of our party, we had so much fun. My mother had a tradition that she would read a story she had made up about what had happened since last Christmas, in our family. She had drums, bells, reindeer antlers, Santa hats and horns and at certain times she would tell the drummers to beat their drums, ring those bells, etc. Since her death, my brother has taken on coming up with a story and reading it. He wanted to do it at their Christmas party so they could experience the fun. Even though my daughter and little Iley were not there, we still did it and had so much fun. My brother had a special gift for all of us after. We all got different colors of little ceramic trees with lights on them that actually light up, just like what my grandmother had made so many years ago. Unexpected and heart felt!
There were many blessings during all of the unexpected ways our Thanksgiving turned out. My son-in-law was with my daughter and Iley when this happened. He was not gone out on leave! This unexpected happening was when she had family surrounding her to take care of kids and dogs. My son-in-law had to be back home Monday at 7am, to go out on leave for about three weeks. Iley had to breathe on her own all night, without any oxygen before the hospital would release her. As of Friday night, we did not know if she would be released in time for them to start the long drive home before early Monday. We started thinking that we could fly him back, but then my daughter would have a sick baby, three other kids and two dogs to try to drive all the way back home alone! We all started praying that God would give good health back to little Iley and they could all travel home together. Praise God for answered prayers! The hospital released Iley on Saturday morning and they were all packed up and left about noon. I am always very sad when I have to leave my daughter and family. But this time I was full of praise to God that they were able to get on their way. Do I miss those little munchkins snuggles and laughter? Of course, I do! I texted all my family here and told them that they had gotten on their way home and said that I was going to go out for some shopping therapy!
Was my Thanksgiving what I had planned for? No, not at all! But when life throws you the unexpected, we have to look for the blessings that are intermingled through all of those unrealized expectations! God will never fail you. God is always by your side holding you up when you don’t think you can take another step. God is with you when your future with your husband is cut short by death or when your amazing, supportive mother passes away before you are ready to let her go! Life can kick us in our guts, way deep down! But God has promised us that one day when we become a passing memory, that we have a heavenly home waiting for us!
This holiday season, if your plans do not work out like you had hoped they would, remember to find all the many blessings that God is giving you and helping you through. Don’t take your loved ones for granted! Hold them tight, laugh, take pictures for future generations, put away your phones and concentrate on them and them only!
I want to leave you, this year, with my favorite verse in the Bible. One that has given me hope in troubled times and the ability to keep on going and working for the Lord.
Isaiah 40:28-31. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable, He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
May God bless your time with family! May He bring you peace for the unexpected! May He help you to remember to be thankful for the times you can be with family! May He help you to be thankful for your blessings during the unexpected! Happy holidays!
Till next year! Keela