Weblog
Thursday, 26 November 2009
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Am I Thankful?
Today, Thanksgiving Day, would have been my mom's birthday, her 65th!!...I always think of her as young, 39, as she was the day she died. But really, it's hard to imagine, but today, if she would still be living, she would probably be gray-haired, looking older, and perhaps a bit wrinkled like my dad is becoming. This week I've been thinking and pondering and remembering.
This summer I visited my grandma, my mom's mom. Somehow, she makes me feel special. I have always felt a special connection to her...maybe of the experiences we've shared, or maybe because she reminds me of my mom. We had such a nice time reminiscing and sharing memories and crying. At least, I cried. Grandma apologized profusely for bringing tears to my eyes, but to me they were healing. She told me again how difficult mom's death was for her personally, as a mother. She told me how difficult it was to lose Grandpa only a few short years later. And she told me something I won't forget. "Laura," she said, "I never was able to accept your mother's death until I thanked God for taking her." Thanked God! I can't say I've ever thanked God for whisking away a needed mother, wife, and friend from us. But I think I'm beginning to see what Grandma means.
I will never understand why God took my mother at such a crucial time in my life...I will never forget the empty feelings I had as a child...I will never forget how many times I've missed her through the years...I will never forget the sadness that I still feel today when I think about it...but I do know that I'm living in the life God has chosen for me...I don't have to run away...I don't have to "get over it"...
I've found so much joy in the midst of all the acute pain...I have learned to find happiness as I live in this dark valley...God has brought abundant blessings that show me His love...and my life is full...this experience has really become a part of who I am, part of my story, my life.
And so, yes, in a way, like Grandma, I have thanked God...not for the pain I have felt, not for the life-long suffering, but for the joy I've experienced, for the peace God puts in my heart, and for the abundant blessings I'm experiencing in my journey through pain.
Thank-you, Father, for your everlasting care!
Saturday, 14 November 2009
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Last month's update
October, the month we expect falling leaves and apples and hot spiced cider, brought us a surprise this year. We woke up one morning to a white world outside and snow kept falling most of the day. The leaves were still on the trees making them heavy and with that together with a windy day brought huge trees and branches down all around us. I was planning to go shopping that day, leaving John home with the homeschooling. A few times I almost turned back because the snowy conditions made driving absolutely treacherous. At a snail’s pace, I continued on, but the snow didn’t let up. Who is prepared for deep snow in October? By the time I did my shopping in the first store, I had a hard time wading out to my car with snow coming in my shoes and my cart wallowing in the slush. I had had enough of shopping in this weather and decided I should just go back home. It was a good decision. If I would have been gone any longer, I might not have reached home for hours. As I crept out of town, branches were bending down to the road. A few places, we had to go into the other lane of traffic to avoid the low hanging obstacles. Branches were beginning to break and litter the road. It was dangerous to be out. I almost slid on the corner even going only 20 mph, but I managed to pull myself back onto the highway. After I arrived home, we stood on our porch, and could hear the trees just creaking and groaning with all the weight. We watched as tops of trees on our neighbors’ property just broke off and crashed to the ground. Living in the woods causes one to fear a bit in a storm like that. Two trees fell right by our house, but none of them did any damage.
During the snowstorm, we along with almost all of Poland lost our electricity, y. With all the lines down and branches and trees fallen everywhere, it took quite a while to restore all the power. We lost power on Wed morning and finally had it again on Friday. Our house was very cold by this time and we even spent some time in town at our school there so the children wouldn’t have to do school in the cold conditions. We are so dependent on electricity for our heat, and it is frequent that we lose our power here in the village. We would really like to get our fireplace finished for a second source of heat.
John and the boys spent the next couple of days cutting up all the downed trees and branches. Two trees fell into our pond on the back of our property, so it was exciting to pull them out. A few trees had fallen on or close to our property fence, so we had to do something with them as well. We ended up with a nice pile of wood for burning in the boys’ stove for which we are thankful.
The boys are building a rowboat to row around in our little pond. There is quite a few sticks and things poking up out of the water and boys would really like to get it all cleared away before winter so hopefully they can do some skating. Building the stern was the easiest, just pounding together the two side boards into the correct shape and length. Then using correctly positioned trees, they managed to bend two side 1x8s to fashion the prow and continued by building a floor. Their maiden voyage wasn’t too successful with water spurting up through the bottom of the boat, so they have dry-docked it for further repairs hoping to launch it again before the ice makes the trip impossible.
Our dog also is owner of a deluxe doghouse which the boys made using wood that they found around here and also some that John purchased to finish it up. It has a nice tin roof and even a plaque over the door with the dog’s name “Mocha” engraved on it. I wonder if the dog is as pleased with her new quarters as the boys are satisfied with their efforts. Since her former house was made of blocks that would collapse without warning, this is indeed a great improvement.
We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the future here and what options might exist for occupations for our boys. Conrad finishes high school this year and we’ve been talking about what the next phase of his life might look like. A lot to think about when you live in a foreign country. We’ve been tossing around some ideas and have been becoming more and more serious about perhaps starting a family business. It is now legally possible for us to do this since we now have our permanent residence cards. This might seem strange to all of you, since we have almost all boys, but the most feasible and seemingly profitable business in our town would be a coffee shop. Our friends have encouraged us for a long time to open something like that and make American baked goods. It isn’t a new idea for the team here, but recently we’ve been thinking about it more seriously as something to do with our family. We’re praying that God would open doors for this to happen if it is something we should pursue. We are praying for financing, committed people to help us start, for a location here, and that all the regulations would be easy to comply to. So you can join us in prayer about this. It looks big, but we want to be open if this is what God wants us to do.
Allison has recently taken up crocheting and knitting. She has great ambitions of making Christmas presents and gifts for her friends. I hope this keeps her recently restless spirit occupied for awhile. Right now, she has so many new ideas. But her ideas come at such inopportune times. On days when I feel the busiest she has some great project on her brain. One day, I was frantically trying to get everything done before an evening commitment, when Allison has the bright idea that we should do some card stamping. I told her I just couldn’t take the time. Another time, I borrowed the one and only sewing machine we have here to share among ourselves. Borrowing it at a time when no one else needs to use it is a feat in itself. This time, I wanted to revamp some of the curtains that bought in America this summer to better fit the windows here. I had five days until the machine had to be returned to one of the girls so she could sew. Guess what? Allison got the bright idea that she wanted to sew a jumper while we had the machine, so I spent three of those five days helping her cut out and sew it. I’m happy for the jumper and I’m glad she loves to sew, but that didn’t get any curtains redone. Sigh! Maybe another week when it is free I will try again. I wonder what projects she will come up with next?
We just celebrated one year in our new house. John and I went and picked out my kitchen countertops. So this now means that they are waiting for cupboards. John is getting closer to getting them done, and hopefully, there will be at least some of the lowers installed before Christmas. Oh, wouldn’t that be grand? I’m very happy with the colors of the counters, and I can’t wait to have a functional kitchen. It would be great to have it to cook for Christmas, but I won’t get my hopes up too high. We still have a lot of work to do inside our house, but we have made some progress since we moved in.
Blessings to all. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Monday, 19 October 2009
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Tea, Leaves, and Peter Walking on the Water
Ladies gathered for tea…what better place to come and relax. Fall leaves and oil lamps and flickering candlelight…the perfect place to share our hearts surrounding our theme…Trusting in Jesus. We felt God moving us to begin to focus more directly on passages of scripture when our friends gathered and last Friday evening, with seventeen of our Polish friends with us, we explored what “Trusting Jesus” is in the story of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14. Did you know the salvation story is right there? It was an exciting discovery for me. And this is what I gleaned…
1. Invitation—Jesus said to Peter, “Come!”
God longs for us to trust Him…so He invites us to come to Him through Christ.
2. Choice—Peter chose to get out of the boat
God longs for us to trust Him…so He gives us a choice through Christ
3. Doubt—Satan brought fears to his mind.
God longs for us to trust Him…so God offers us His power through Christ.
4. Realization and Salvation—Peter called out to Jesus
God longs for us to trust Him…so He wants us to admit our need of salvation through Christ.
5. Belief and Trust—Peter believed in Jesus
God longs for us to trust Him…so we will acknowledge our sins and come to Him through Christ.
6. Worship—the disciples said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
God longs for us to trust Him…so we can know who God is through Christ.
Isn’t that beautiful? We really felt God’s spirit among us and were thankful that we didn’t let fear of men overwhelm us at the last moment. One lady said…”I know the story of Peter. It is well-known in Poland but I never realized it could apply to my life today.” Praise God for His faithfulness. Baked apples, barbequed sausage tidbits, cheese and crackers, and cakes crowned the evening making it a special memory for all of us.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
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Back Again
Dear family and friends,
Vacation is over. We hit the ground running, and I have to say we haven’t stopped since. Jetlag was really awful for us as usual, but thankfully we are feeling better and are finally feeling like our bodies are living in the right time zone again.
The team met us at the airport with a banner welcoming us back to Poland. It has been so good to be back and to start building a new team for the year. We felt warmly welcomed even though our eyes kept trying to go shut.
Seven of our eleven bags remained in London for two days, so we were forced to buy some sundries to help us out. Thankfully, this was on the way home, so we had clothes and stuff here that we could use. Otherwise, we had a very good trip.
And how can I describe the feeling of walking into our house after being gone for more than two and one half months? It didn’t even smell right. J The floors were clean, the beds upstairs were fixed, and there was a casserole and breakfast items waiting in the fridge from Lolita and a plum cake waiting on the table from Beata. Oh, it was good to be home! I felt like I had to reclaim my home since someone was living in it all summer. Things had to find their places once again and there are some things I’m still looking for. And I was so aware of how unfinished our house still is. I’m praying that my kitchen cupboards will soon be finished so I can have a functional kitchen again.
And how the bombs began to fall…emails flooded in from team members wondering about this and that. The phone started ringing and people wanted to meet. John started getting calls for English students and for the conference weekend in a few short weeks. My stomach twisted a bit, but my determination was stronger and we dove in head first ready to tackle the duties waiting us.
Including…
---Unpacking (still working on that)
---Painting the school from top to bottom and helping to fix lunch for everyone
---Advertising in the streets of Minsk for our school
---Picking beans and picking beans
---Doing pizza sauce and tomato juice and salsa
---Corn day
---Cutting up peppers to put in the freezer
---Connecting with all the ladies on the team
---First Sunday potluck and singing
---Starting home school (still not caught up)
---Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning
---Having overnight weekend guests
---and the list goes on.
Somehow tonight I feel tired. That was a big two weeks. How thankful I am for a day of rest tomorrow. We are so thankful to be here and for the wonderful memories of the summer. We feel blessed by those that made this trip happen and also by the wonderful family and friends that we have. I hope each of you feels as special as you made us feel this summer. We are saving up all the moments of blessing for when we get lonely this winter and need some friend and family time…call us…email us… think about us…we’re glad we’re connected in some way…
Laura
Thursday, 16 July 2009
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Furlough--Rest? and Relaxation?
Highlights of our furlough so far:- spending a long weekend in GA with Sam, cousin Bonnie, and family, pontooning, hiking, losing watches and retainers and watching God answer our prayers for recovery of those and just hanging out.
- an unplanned "date" that John and I took to Helen, GA. Strange how God gives you the things you need. Bonnie's son lost his retainer while we were traveling through Helen, GA, an hour and one half drive from Bonnie's house. Sam called the next morning and to make a long story short they had found the retainer out on the sidewalk when they closed up the day before. All of us, including Sam and Bonnie and family were preparing to leave early the next morning for our trip to VA. Noone had time to make the trip, but we felt sure someone should go get it. Finally, Sam asked John if he would go and John said we would make a date of it. It was a nice three-hour date that we needed. Thanks to the lost retainer.
- getting blessed with dresses for Alli and myself all sewn and ready for our trip.
- meeting up with friends and family while in GA that we hadn't seen for years including Cheryl (Mast) Yoder, Kathryn (Bender) Garbutt, and Dorcas (Kropf)Stutzman. For some reason all of them have aged just as much as we have.
- spending a fun weekend in South Boston, VA with old friends there, visiting, shopping with Mildred, Crys, and Marie and the hilarious day we had forgetting to bless our food at the Bagel restaurant and Marie forgetting to pay for her ice cream sundae at Cold Stone Creamery, eating Mexican with Joe and Crys, a recital for the children, getting lost on the way to Ronnie Roysters and arriving an hour late, and getting in on some of their Bible School.
- Talking to Norv and Jewel Yoder on the phone in Puerto Rico and hearing their hearts about mission work there.
- The fun overnight stay in Harrisonburg that included hearing the "Music Camp Chamber Choir" in which Joel and Gina were singing, eating supper with Uncle Paul, Aunt June, and Cousin Carmen and son Caleb, spending the night with Su and Cal.
- seeing former vsers, Hope Singers, and cousin Tim and family and other friends at our various presentations.
- Staying overnight with Maria Zimmerman's family in Lancaster, PA, whom we had never met, but discovered they are a wonderful family with big hearts. A story that showed God's care to us. We have experienced things like this over and over again: Warren Zimmerman's generously had a vehicle driven down to Harrisonburg, VA for us to drive to their place in Lancaster. That was a big gift in itself since most of our travel had been with other people and we needed some family time. We got into the van the first time and John said, "Oh, the gas tank is empty. Looks like we will have to find some money somewhere to fill it up." The next morning, as he was packing up for our trip to PA, he found an envelope, with a welcoming letter from the Zimmermans, maps so we could find our way, AND cash to cover the fuel. Thank you, Lord! We felt humbled again at His provision.
- Our wonderful time at Faith Builders and the many memories made there. Melvin Lehman's graciously opened their home to us and it was used as our hotel for the week. We had a great time connecting with them again although it felt like we didn't reach around. One souveniour from there was Derek's broken arm. We were with friends for supper. The boys were playing out on a tire swing. They were swinging up high and hanging from the bottom of it with their hands. Derek swung out and then as he was getting up high, his hands slipped and he fell, probably about 6-7 feet and landed on his right arm and left hand. We knew right away that it was hurt, but we didn't know how bad. Finally, that evening yet, we decided to take him to Urgent Care and get it x-rayed. Yes, it was broken. They sent us to an orthropedic doctor the next day to get it casted all the way from his wrist to above his elbow. He was very sad about it because he wouldn't be able to do much this summer--work, swim, and play basketball, etc, but he's being a real champion about it all and adapting quite well. He played whiffle ball the first evening he had a cast and king's base the next evening. It was very painful for him. It was a buckle break (compressed). Both of the bones were broken so it means 6 weeks in a cast. His victory day will be August 6. At least he will have a few weeks free before we go back to Poland!
- Spending time with Kevin and Brenda Birky, and Nelson and Ashley Bear as well as staying with Allen and Brenda Troyer. The boys went flying with Kevin one day and the next day we got treated to "the Creamery" for lunch and ice cream. Yummy!
- Our short coffee break with Lloyd and Mary Kauffman at Panera Bread eating Cobblestone Cake and enjoying the free refills on our coffee. What a wonderful two and a half hours of encouragement and blessing.
- The many boasts we had of encouragement, of prayer, of advice, of sharing together with friends at each stop. We really feel God gave us these moments of blessings to recharge us for Poland.
- the big yellow school bus that picked us up at the airport and our surprise to walk out of the terminal to find most of my family waiting even though it was nearly midnight! We all piled in the bus and went home. Raymond blinked his lights and pulled in to the bagggage claim area just like he was picking up some important guests. A lady sitting on the sidewalk asked, "How many more stops do you have to make yet tonight?" (Remember it was almost midnight!) We laughed until we cried. (Could it have had anything to do with the lateness of the hour?)
- just crashing in our little apartment and wondering if we will ever replenish our energy before the summer is over.
- God's provision of summer work for everyone. That has been keeping us hopping, but it has been so fulfilling for the boys and good for all of us to be on a bit of a schedule. It gets us going in the morning and keeps us going all day.
- spending time with family and anticipating more on both sides of the family. We haven't had much yet, with all the harvest going on, but August should be full of lots of family times.
- celebrating Alli's 10th birthday in GA and Austin's 15th birthday in OR
- ...and I know I'm not thinking of all the great moments. We decided to enjoy each moment to the full. We feel badly that we weren't able to spend as much time with some of you as we wished, but we did the best we could. Maybe that means you should come see us in Poland if you want to have uninterrupted time. :)
Thanks to all who have helped to make this furlough a wonderful experience.John, Laura, Conrad, Austin, Derek, Allison Smucker
bubblingteapot
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- Name: Laura
- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 2/4/2006
