Week Two of A Series in May: Recognizing His Ways

Last week, I introduced a series of blog posts recounting some ways God is revealing Himself to me in the month of May. This is the second installment of that series.

Day Eight:

I went to Vienna (Ontario, not Austria, of course!) with Ken for the day. With the orchards in full bloom this time of year, the beauty was outstanding - to the point of overwhelm, even. Using Ken's Kia work vehicle and a four-wheeler as our means of transportation, we bumped over rutted orchard lanes and down some grassy aisles between the apple trees, viewing row upon row of gorgeous white and pink blossoms.  

I thought about all the potential in that place. If every blossom became an apple, which it has the capacity to do, what an abundance of fruit would be the result! But beyond quantity, apple growers strive for quality in their crop. While delighting in the sight of their orchards blossoming thick with promise, they don't sit around simply admiring the view and taking in the sweet scent. They get to work pruning, thinning, spraying, irrigating, and fertilizing the trees. All with a bountiful, profitable harvest in mind. Fruit farmers are bunch of hopeful people, I decided. 

Today, among apple orchards full of blooms, I caught a glimpse of God . 

He scatters abundant seeds of hope. 

Day Nine:

At the end of the day, some new friends of ours dropped in unexpectedly. It was lovely to connect with them again and when we heard of their housing crisis, I inwardly bemoaned the high cost of living in this region and wished we could help our friends find a reasonable place to rent, immediately. During our visit, I served tea, along with the options of sugar and cream for add-ins. While pouring Ken's tea, I asked if he wanted sugar in his cup, and he made some remark about the fact that I should know he always takes honey. Something in me knew I should regard his comment as teasing, which is the way he meant it, but something else in me felt it was a put down, like I wasn't measuring up to his expectations of me as a competent hostess, let alone a wife intuitive of his preferences. I allowed my sensitivity of the latter to trump my sensibility of the former (and then I heaped shame on myself besides - for feeling like I did!) 

After the guests left for home, I listened to a voice message an elderly friend had left on my phone. Her plea for me to touch base with her at a certain time the next day seemed demanding and manipulative. I know we're supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus, I told myself, but she also needs to know I am not God! How can I discern whether I'm being selfish or simply putting up some healthy boundaries in my interactions with her? 

I slumped over my phone for a bit, but then I went and sagged onto the couch. Feeling utterly undone, I sat there while slow tears slipped down my cheeks. Talking things out with Ken afterward was the honey in my cup of outlook.  

Today, when inadequacy and overwhelm stacked up against me, I caught a glimpse of God .

He is Enough. 

 

Day Ten: 

One of Ken's orchard workers in Vienna messaged him this morning, wondering if Ken is coming by today. And if so, could he bring two maple syrups from Martin's store, clear kind. Ken asked me what I thought clear meant in this case...maybe golden, the lightest color of syrup there is? That's what immediately came to my mind. "What size?" was Ken's next question for clarification and the worker replied with one word: big. This required more messaging, to sort through the options. Finally, they got it worked out. Clear meant glass-bottled, not the most see-through amber liquid on the shelf, like Ken and I had thought, and big meant pint-sized as opposed to half pint and not nearly big as a gallon, like Ken had interpreted the word. 

Is this how God views His communication with me? I don't always understand His messages, but I wonder if He's pleased when I feel free to tell Him that I'm puzzled, and I need further clarification. I'm sure He is happy to carry the conversation further, not for what He can get out of me, but for the depth it can bring to our relationship. And maybe He thinks the most important question of the whole exchange is "Are you coming by today?"  

Today, while chuckling with Ken over a WhatsApp series of messages, I caught a glimpse of God . 

He loves to connect with His children. 

Day Eleven: (Two for today. I couldn't decide which, so I included them both. His goodness multiplies.) 

Brilliant photos of northern lights inundated my social media feeds today. It's nice we got to see the aurora borealis show in that manner, since we didn't get to see it in real life. Last evening Ken and I were playing a game at home when I got a message from Kerra (who was at an event in another location) asking if we were watching the northern lights. Immediately, we dropped our game to go out and peer into the sky. All we could see was a faint whitish streak that we took to be a northern light. Evidently, we weren't in the right area to get the full effect...perhaps we get too much light pollution living this close to Waterloo. I guess we should've driven out of the city into the country to get a better view, like the folks whose vehicles Kerra saw while she was traveling home. She noticed many cars were parked along the back roads, where the occupants had pulled off and stopped to get out and view the heavens. It made me happy to hear that people cared that much about seeing the phenomenon.

Today, when I saw pics and heard reports of the northern lights sightings, I caught a glimpse of God . 

His creation calls.

Quinn started walking! His triplet siblings set an example for him weeks (even months!) ago, but until now he had been too unwilling to let go and take more than one step on his own. I guess today he discovered he can actually take multiple steps, and keep going without falling! Joy wanted to share news of his big accomplishment with the Kenites, so she posted a video on our family WhatsApp chat. What fun to watch Quinn walking, grinning proudly as he toddled a number of steps in their kitchen.  We responded with congratulations, mostly by way of applause and heart emojis, and hearty phrases like Go Quinn! and Way to do it!

Today, when I saw a video of our grandson walking for the first time, I caught another glimpse of God.

He supports His children and encourages their efforts.

Day Twelve:

I took two boxes of homemade cookies to church this morning. After the service, I set them on some chairs outside the front entry door along with a sign that said "Help yourself to a treat on Mother's Day ~ from the oldest mom at Oasis". The result was surprise and gratitude by children and adults alike, as they exited the church building. While I was arranging the treat, a first-grade boy edged up to me, looking longingly at the cookies while wistfully voicing his assumption that the cookies were only for the mothers. His face broke into delight when I said they're for everyone. Later, his dad passed me on his way back to the church entry from the parking lot where the first-grader's family was in their vehicle ready to go home. "Your cookies must have really revived my son," he said to me. "During the service, he begged to go home because he was starving hungry, and now he doesn't want to leave church!"

That's kind of how I felt about my Mother's Day blessings. The lovely cards and affirming messages (and even a favorite song stanza on shrink art) from my children and their father. The tasty meals and the waving away of my offer to help with clean-up afterward. The huge and beautiful hanging basket of flowering plants. The picnic by the river. The walk to see the trilliums in bloom. The promises of a writing time at Rumbletum tea shop, and a new picnic table at some point this summer. Undeserving, I stammer incredulously, "Really, God? Your goodness is for me, too?"

Today, when I took cookies to church for Mother's Day, I caught a glimpse of God .

He loves to share - with everyone.

Day Thirteen:

Sometimes on Mondays, I intentionally ponder messages I've received from songs, Sunday School, or the sermon at church the day before. One thought that especially stood out to me from yesterday's sermon on The Deity of Christ was introduced as a question, "What happens when God empties Himself?" The background passage from Philippians words it this way: "...though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of servant, being born in the likeness of men." For some reason, I just found it so touching when the minister answered the question about God emptying Himself. What did He become when He emptied Himself? A God-husk? No, a man! What? Mankind, like us?

Today, when I heard a message from John 5, I caught a glimpse of God .

He willingly took on humanity.

Day Fourteen:

This morning I made the 4.5-hr trip to Guys Mills, PA. I got to come and babysit Eleanor and Eva while both Kayleen and Carlin were gone for about 24 hours. (having wrap-up-the-term gatherings with their Faith Builders mentoring groups) I kept comparing the details of my stay this time with how things were in this household a year ago...our twin granddaughters have come so far since those days when their health was more fragile, and their caregivers had the seemingly constant warming and washing of bottles, the checking of oxygen monitors beeping an alarm, the exercising of extreme vigilance in keeping the girls' environments as germ-free as possible... Now the twins are healthy, adorable 16-month-olds who are very near to walking on their own, who are "begging" for stories, chowing down foods (especially fruit - yay says the fruit farmer!) with gusto, repeating sounds, and endearing the recipients of their grins and expressions of delight. 

Today, when I watched the twins reach out to hold hands with each other while they sat in their high chairs, I caught a glimpse of God.

He grows and develops little people.

Week One of A Series in May: Recognizing His Ways

Have you ever wondered about God? Is He real? If so, what is He like? Who is He, truly? If you're like me, you have had seasons in your life wherein you ponder the questions more often or more deeply than usual. 

I am approaching the month of May in such a season. Lately, I've been asking God for answers to the question, "Who are You?" and following it with a statement of longing, "Because I want to worship You, not My Idea of You." 

I know He is okay with my asking. Otherwise He wouldn't have inspired a psalmist to write things like "I pour out my soul in me..." and "...Oh people, pour out your hearts before Him." I've decided to accept this invitation by blogging some of my soul's "outpouring" during the month of May. Following are daily impressions from the first week, accompanied by photos of things in spring that have The Creator's signature on them. 

Day One: 

When I said hello to the white-haired woman sitting in a wheelchair at Lorene Weber's funeral, she spoke my name. A lady from Lorene's community who has had connection with the Webers' church family over the years, she remembered me from the few times we've met and have had brief conversations at Glad Tidings Church over the years. I hadn't seen her for ages, which is why I was astounded at her memory of my name as well as her knowledge of my twin and triplet grandchildren. She knew that our daughter with twin girls had very similar experiences as Lorene's granddaughter Amberly had with her twin girls. She also knew that one of our granddaughters is named Piper (the girl triplet), because she recalled hearing it matches the name of Amberly's one twin. I was amazed that, out of all the people whom she's likely encountered over the past couple decades, she would mark me as someone to remember and make associations with, even though our interactions have been so few and brief.

Today, I caught a glimpse of God when Mrs. White said, "Hello, Danette". 

He knows my name.

Day Two:

This morning, I got the idea to blog about seeking God in the month of May. I started crying when typed the above question and statement, "Who are You?" and "I want to worship You, not My Idea of You.", because in that exact moment I knew God heard me.

"You've come to the right place, Daughter," He seemed to say. "It brings Me great delight to show you who I am. Start looking for the ways."

Today, I caught a glimpse of God when I started this blog post. 

He hears the heart of His children.

Day Three:

Twenty-nine years ago today, we said goodbye to Mom-Eva. Her cancer got to be too much for her earthly body, and Jesus called her Home. It was a relief to know that her suffering was over, and a joy to think of her living in the presence of her Lord, but it was also a grief to part with someone so greatly loved. I don't miss her as often or as poignantly as I used to, but the pain of loss can still sneak up on me and surprise me with its depth. 

Today, I caught a glimpse of God when Ken gave me an extra long and tight hug since I might still be missing Mom-Eva after all these years.

His comfort is enduring. 

Day Four:

These days, I'm using the Audible app on my phone to listen to a gripping and sometimes heart-wrenching story that alternates between the lives of a grandmother and her granddaughter. When it's the grandma's turn, she recalls her experiences as a Polish girl in her late teens during World War II. She's the youngest in her family, and her parents do their best to shield her from the atrocities that occur during the German occupation in their community. As they emphasize the certainty that she can trust in them to look out for her, they say things like "When you need to worry, Father and I will tell you to worry", and "When you need to be concerned, I will tell you." 

 

I wonder if my Father would like to point that out to me sometimes, too, when I'm uptight about things that are out of my control, or even when things are in my control but I don't like the outcome because of the way I've handled them. When the fear of failure or the fear of the unknown is weighing me down, I wonder if "Fear not" and "Be anxious for nothing" is His way of saying, "Trust me, I will tell you when you need to begin worrying." 

Today, I caught a glimpse of God when I listened to my audio book.

He is completely trustworthy. 

Day Five:

Two local choirs collaborated to bring a delightful program to our community this weekend: Heart Cry Ensemble (of which our daughter is a member) and Menno Singers (a group that Ken & I had the privilege to join - along with many others - in singing Messiah last December). Their music stirred me, uplifted me, grounded me, shored me up, and solidified my belief that "My God is a Rock". He is ever near, He is there when I can't see or feel or hear Him, He is still with me after I wake - either here or in heaven - and He is the Place to anchor my soul.

Today, I caught a glimpse of God through the choirs' messages in song.

He reveals Himself through music.

Day Six: 

My heart constricted when I found the tiny, naked robin nestling. It lay on the ground in my flowerbed amid a wreckage of broken birdie bodies and bits of blue eggshell, not far from its cozy home still perched on the underbeams of our deck. Mama robin feathers littered the area, testament to fierce struggle against a predator (unknown to me, but immediately within the range of my known anger!) How I wanted to save that little bird when I saw its featherless chest still heaving slightly, bravely. I went into the house and got a serving spoon from the kitchen drawer with which to scoop up the baby and gently place it back into the nest, hoping against hope that the remaining parent bird would find it and care for it in a life-restoring way. (It didn't)

Today, I caught a glimpse of God when I wanted to save a helpless creature. (I couldn't)

He wants to rescue. (He can and He does)

Day Seven: 

This afternoon, I walked with my elderly friend "Debbie" on our favorite trail. Typically, we see some wildlife as we stroll the tree-lined path between a river and narrow, man-made canal, but this time we saw an abundance of flowers, birds and woodland creatures. I guess because it's springtime, they were going about their business in greater number and intensity:

gray squirrels and their red and black cousins scampering, scavenging

cardinals trilling their pretty, pretty, pretty bird! call

snapping turtles sunning in the mud, then lunging into the water

chickadees flighty and hopeful, asking for a sunflower seed handout

violets, purple or yellow, their dainty stems waving banners of good cheer

mallard drakes paddling regally upstream

red-headed woodpecker hammering at dead wood, stocking or depleting its insect larder

trilliums dressed in classy white, living up to their status as Ontario's official floral emblem 

chipmunks skittering and scolding, or striking the dearest pose while reaching for a bramble bloom

blue jays, beautiful and bossy, jaying without ceasing (it seemed like)

frogs, bug-eyed and throat-bulged at water's edge, stolidly regarding passersby 

Today, I caught a glimpse of God along the Mill Race Trail. 

His springtime Creation teems with life.

What ways of God have you recognized lately?

Just Ducky

If you need an idea for a charming, harmless prank to do on a family member or friend, I can loan you one. An idea, that is, not a relative or friend. If you're like me, you don't exactly loan out the latter.  

Here's how I know about a good pranking idea to suggest: 

A few hours after we came home from Maranatha Bible School, I got my first clue of a mystery in our house. As I was showering, I noticed a tiny yellow duck sitting on the shower caddy shelf. 

"Hmm," I thought, "that's cute. I wonder how that got there. I'll bet Kerra put it there as a little welcome-home token." Minutes later, I noticed another mini duck, an identical twin to the first one, in my Q-tip cup.

"As soon as Kerra gets home from her singing practice," I told myself, "I'll have to thank her for the fun gift items she placed for us."

Meanwhile, I found a few more duckies about the house, equal in size to the first two I had discovered but in new colors. Pink and purple ones nestled in a set of glass candle holders on the banister above the entry stairs. Blue and white ones perched on the upper portion of doorways and window trim. Clearly someone had been up to some sort of ducky welcome home.

"Oh, it wasn't me," declared Kerra when I thanked her for the fun finds. "Someone got permission from me to come to our house last night while I was gone and place some items for you to find. But the person who messaged me about it wasn't the one who came here, so I don't know who actually did the hiding."

Hmm, interesting. My thoughts began paddling. A bigger deal than just a couple of ducks, then. Who knows what prankster(s) entered the house and who knows how many ducks they hid? This should be a fun mystery to solve. 

For the next week, we kept finding ducks both by surprise and by intentional hunting. I started lining them up in a circle on the kitchen counter as we discovered them. When the total number hit the 20's mark, I googled "hiding ducks" to see if duck pranking is really a thing. Turns out it is! Amazon is on board with the scheme, as well, offering for purchase multi-colored flocks of tiny resin ducks in packages of 100. 

"One hundred! Well. We have a long way to go," I thought. 

Ken got in on the hunt, too. When he discovered a duck in each of his work shoes, and another ducky pair on the window sill high above the entry door, he started thinking that maybe a man was involved in the duck-hiding scheme. Perhaps a husband and wife made up the pranking team, he proposed.

 I thought he had a point. I started shifting my ideas about youth girls being the culprits (because they had hung out with Kerra one night shortly before we came home from MBS) and employed my sleuthing skills to further investigation among our church family. 

I messaged numerous friends, prying into their whereabouts on a certain Friday night by asking if they knew anything about a duck prank in our house. Some said they knew absolutely nothing about it, but they wished they did, because it sounded like such a neat idea. Others said they had heard someone say it should be done, but they didn't know any more details than that, and they weren't going to say who had made the suggestion. A few knew that it was done, but they were quick to insist that they didn't do it. 

The vague answers and cryptic messages deepened our puzzlement while we continued collecting ducks. Maybe we would reach one hundred! The duck circles on the counter expanded as the tiny, colorful creatures showed up in flowerpots, egg cartons, jacket pockets, the spice cupboard, and of all places, in the fridge freezer - frozen into ice cubes! 

Not only did we collect tiny ducks by the dozens, but we also accumulated some duck puns in our ongoing hunt for the pranksters. "Did you have to duck the last time you came to our house?" or "Did you add to the "duckerations" in our house?" I might ask a suspect.

"I must have ducked the joke, because I'm swimming in confusion, but it could be I'm just a few quackers short." might be the reply. "I'm trying to keep my feet out of this web" or "I'm not trying to duck your question, but I could take you on a wild goose chase, if you'd like" were some other punny answers to my inquiries. One friend asked if we had discovered who broke in, so we could know whom to "bill" for any damage.😊

Our children were also interested in becoming mystery detective workers. Ricky got the brilliant idea to check video footage from one of Martin's Family Fruit Farm's security cameras, the one mounted on the side of the apple storage building that faces our house. 

That particular move is what led to the revelation: The duck-hiders were indeed a husband and wife team, and none other than our minister and his wife! Some other friends of ours were in on the scheme as well, arranging the different aspects to the prank in such a way that it was hard to pin down who actually did it. In the end, they just wanted Ken and me to come home to a surprise conveying the message that we were missed and we are loved. I'd say they chose a unique and creative way to do it!

So there you have it - a welcome home idea for showing your friends you care. Order your Amazon package today, and get started. Let me know if you need some suggestions for good hiding places. 

Also, here's some advice for you, if you're ever on the receiving end of a duck prank: 

1. Make sure your house is clean and in good order before you leave it for three weeks. (I shudder to think of the dust and spider webs our pranksters encountered while they hid ducks in ours...) 

2. Put aside your qualms about people pulling open your desk drawers and cupboard doors to find hiding places and just pull out the stops on your enjoyment in finding the ducks hidden in those places.

3. If you suspect someone duck-pranked you and you confront them about it and they say neither nay nor yea, but something about trying to stay neutral in this sort of situation, count on it - they are the culprit. 

And there's one more thing. When it comes to pranking, never put it past your pastor and his wife to pull off a good one.

P.S. We still come across a duck hiding spot now and then. The other day, I found the 100th duck! But is that the last one? According to the hiders, no one knows for sure how many ducks were placed. Now the question is What to do with 100 ducks? Playing Hide the Duck with the grandson and using them as conversation starters or accessories in fairy gardens uses only so many. What do you suggest? 

Marching in the Company Of

                                                  📷- Jenn Jantzi

A whole month (and a bit more) has gone by since we returned home from our stint at Bible School. When I look back over our March schedule - the places we went, the activities we did, and the people we encountered in the past several weeks - I realize that we live a full, rich life. 

Recently I heard a speaker on the Anabaptist Perspectives podcast quoting an "old anabaptist" on the topic of brotherhood when he said, "No man is in Christ apart from his brother." The speaker went on to explain that we all need to have some kind of group of people to love, someone to have to get along with. "You can't submit to yourself," he said, "You've got to have real people in your life to interact with", in order to fully live out the teachings of Jesus.

I can't say I've thought of it exactly like that before. Viewing our experience from this perspective, I feel like we are a blessed couple with lots of opportunity for living out Christianity in community. We have so many friends, relatives, and acquaintances as our "real people to interact with" - people who help to shape us, as well as people in whom we have a chance to help form character. I'm grateful that we get to do life in the varied company of these beautiful souls.

In the month of March, we were in the company of the following people, some pictured, and some not:

Pictured: 

Luci Martin from northern Alberta was the guest speaker at a seminar for us ladies at Oasis. I had the special privilege of hosting Luci in our home for several days over that time. (you can read more about the weekend in the series she posted weeks ago, being the perfect kind of prompt and prolific blogger that she is)

Carlin & Kayleen and the twins hosted us for a brief time at their place when we were on our way back home from a meeting in Lancaster, PA. I helped Kayleen prepare food for a friend's baby shower she was attending that evening. And we doted on those sweet little girls, of course!

The planning committee for our Sunday evening services at Oasis put together a memorable event for our church family on Palm Sunday - a Christian Passover Seder. I signed up to make multiple batches of unleavened bread (lotsa matzah, as my friend worded it) ahead of time. As "father of the household" at our table, Ken was the one to pour the water for handwashing before we shared the meal together. The committee did such a good job of explaining the symbology (I learned a new word that evening) of the different aspects of a Seder.

Val, Sharon, and Tina are smart, helpful, and fun editors in my writing world. I thoroughly enjoyed my day with them and other writers at the Authors' Book Signing Event that Living Waters, a local Christian bookstore, put on. I didn't have my own signing booth, since the book I'm working on isn't to the signable stage yet, so I visited other authors at their stations, and sat in on Topic and Q & A sessions in the main assembly. It was a special highlight of the day to rendezvous with the abovementioned members of my Writers' Group. 

                                                     📷- Tori Martin

Norm & Sharon and daughters blessed us with their music and their words at an annual fundraiser dinner for NYP one evening at an area church. I'm always so encouraged to see families who enjoy singing together. 

Darrel & Cathy visited our church one Sunday morning and graced us with their presence in our home for Sunday lunch and an afternoon visit. There's nothing quite like getting together with old friends we haven't been with for awhile, to make the hours zip by. 

                                                                   📷- Kerra Martin

The Waterloo Kenites came here last Saturday evening to celebrate Kerra, who had just become a quarter century years old earlier in the week. The gathering was also a catch-up party for Joy, Rolin, and Jasmine, whose birthdays we missed celebrating right while they happened during the past year. As usual, the triplets provided a good portion of the entertainment that evening. It was their first time to be here since Jude and Piper are walking, so they had great fun exploring Grandpa and Grandma's house!   

Our church family shared a preparatory service, a Communion service, an Easter Sunday morning service, and a potluck meal together in recent weeks. What a privilege to get to know my brothers and sisters better as we sing together, listen to each other's testimonies and stories, hear sermons and study the Word together, wash each other's feet literally and figuratively, eat each other's good food, laugh and cry together, encourage one another, learn from each other's mistakes, and follow Jesus together.

Not pictured:

~ Nephew Nick married his sweetheart Alisha on the day that we got home from Bible School, and we were pleased to attend the wedding as the groom's aunt & uncle. A meaningful part of the ceremony was witnessing the couple read the vows they had written to each other, and a special touch at the close of the reception was the gathering of guests around the couple for a send-off prayer of blessing.

~ Seth came here after school one afternoon and stayed for a few hours, long enough to eat supper with us, listen to some stories, play house (which included caring for triplet babies, of course), play Hide the Duck, and go fishing (for Grandma's pool noodle fish).

~ A pleasant and helpful policewoman showed up when Ken and I were parked on the shoulder of I-90 somewhere in Pennsylvania, changing a tire on our van after dark. She informed us that we weren't the only travelers with a flat tire dilemma, that she'd gotten reports of a nail spill in the vicinity (Ohh, so that debris we had hit earlier wasn't a dead deer after all!) and that there were two more similarly disabled vehicles ahead of us. After our spare tire was on, she drove behind us, lights flashing, until we were well out into traffic again. In the next ten-mile stretch, we counted 13 vehicles pulled off to the side of the road with a flat tire!

~ My writer friend Elaine from Parry Sound treated me to lunch and a chat with her at Kitchen Kuttings when she came to Elmira to attend a visitation one afternoon.

~ And then the following day, my walking buddy and Tiny Group friend Rose shared lunch and a catch up visit with me at Covenant Cafe in Waterloo.

~ A pranking mystery couple visited us one evening...well, technically we weren't in the company of the sneaky pair, we were only in the company of the dozens of tiny ducks they hid all over our house, to welcome us home from MBS. I'll give more details of this in my next episode, oops, I mean in my next blog post. 

I Wish I Could Tell You

I wish I could tell you I was super excited about leaving home for three weeks and teaching twelve lessons on Christian Womanhood at Maranatha Bible School and that I didn't, sometimes after I was there, count down the days until I could go back home and fry eggs instead of my brain.

But that wouldn't be all the way true.

I wish I could tell you that I remembered to bring along my Warning: Slowest Eater at the Table sign for personal use in the dining area of the MBS gym.

But I didn't. 

I wish I could tell you that forgetting the sign didn't matter because I have made great strides (since I was a student in the same facility 40 years ago) in my ability to finish a meal at the same time as other normal human beings around me.

But I haven't. (Can't decide if it's due to savoring my food too much or talking too much – probably both)

I wish I could tell you I was model of righteousness at Maranatha; that I didn't go back to our apartment following the class wherein I had taught Stewardship of Time and promptly flop on the couch and start scrolling through my social media accounts when there were students' papers to grade, laundry items to fold, and the next days' lessons to prepare.

But I wouldn't be honest in saying so.

I wish I could tell you that I didn't worry a smidgen when Ken got pale-n-sweatin' sick the middle week we were out there; that I wasn't dealing with my own case of inner wobblies as I drove my husband to a walk-in clinic at noon one day and then again to an ER several hours later to get the severe pain in his side checked out; that I didn’t have to keep tamping down rising fear when he later developed a cough that sounded like it came from somewhere deep as his socks. 

But my journal entries from that time would tell quite a different story.

I wish I could tell you that the weekend we went to visit Ken’s sister Laurel and her family close to the one-year anniversary of Verlynn’s death, we brought our robust, cheery selves to their household instead of our sick and weary ones; that I didn’t question God’s ways again when interacting with a beautiful family bereft of husband, dad, and (first-time)grandpa; that my emotional strength caused blessing and comfort to ooze out my pores instead of having my longings drip out and puddle into a soggy mess in front of the Yoders as we circled up for a farewell prayer.

They could tell you otherwise.

I also wish I could tell you…

…how fun it was to return to Maranatha Bible School, to frequent the building in which I was a student for parts of seven consecutive winters so long ago, to walk the same tiled halls and enter the same rooms such as The Library and Rm. 103, to smell the same particular scent combination of laundry detergent and hairspray and snack boxes when approaching the dryers down by the girls’ dorm, to see the sign on the prayer room door and remember the awe-some feeling of meeting God while closeted there, to catch a glimpse of the Yearbook Staff corner and reminisce the moment when Ken came over there and asked me to go with him on a ten-minute walk along the lanes of little Lansing (don’t laugh, that was the extent of romantic beginnings we were allowed as MBS students back then)

…how interesting it was to make connections with the present-day students, to say to them, “I went to Bible School with both of your parents” or “Actually, we’re related to each other – your Grandpa Kauffman is my first cousin” or “Nine years ago when Ken and I were instructors here, your sister was a student in my class.”

…how beautiful it was to get to know my fourteen students – young women who listened carefully and respectfully in class, laughed at my jokes and cried with me when I told them about our tiny babies in heaven, turned in thoughtful homework assignments, entered wholeheartedly into group activities (my, were they ever good at volleyball!), served others willingly, interacted well with the staff children, and were profuse with their appreciation for my teaching.

…how enlightening it was to sit at my desk in the teachers’ room, listening to the male instructors’ conversations going on around me and hearing their robust discussions generated by chapel messages or questions from students in class, and how empowering it was to have these godly men invite my participation in the staff teamwork and sometimes ask for my input on a topic they were teaching.

…how exciting it was to watch God answer prayer during our time at MBS – for wisdom in class preparation, for relief from pain (thankfully, Ken’s bout was due to a muscular injury and not some gall bladder issue or another even scarier cause), for safety in travel and for event-free border crossings when both the principal and the assistant principal needed to return to their respective home communities for funerals within the same week.

…how healing it was to intermingle with Laurel & Co. in their home, to share meals and games and laughter together, to meet sweet baby Adalynn for the first time and to watch her mama’s family dote on her, to see the effect Laurel’s tonic had on Ken – both the home remedies and the in-depth conversation opportunities she offered her sibling.

…how enriching it was to spend three weeks of concentrated study in God’s Word, to learn more of His ways while fellowshipping among His people, to hunger more deeply for God and to find Him so satisfying. 

I wish I could tell you…

So I did. 

The current MBS students (eating popcorn after Sunday night singing in the halls)

The future MBS students?

Dining tables creatively arranged on Valentine's Day

Justin Martin leading the choir in daily chorus period

Hands-on activity (making a cake while blindfolded) during Team-Building Saturday

Sampling and judging the "blind-mixed" cakes

Indoor Blitz with oversized cards

My students had amazing childcare abilities

Studious, but also fun-loving

All the beautiful ladies posing after The Tea Party in the lounge

A special treat to be at MBS at the same time as our niece April

Dining with the Yoders

"Let's go!"

What a great-niece we have! 💗

Concentration efforts while "Uzzling"

Making music and memories

What's been happening in your life lately? Is there anything you wish you could tell me?😉 I'd love to hear it!