COUNTING MY BLESSINGS

This has been a rough week.

Everything has been up in the air, so it has been hard to know just what to do. It was comforting to have Dave and Neti come for a visit. After dinner (unfortunately Miles had to return to work), we sat and read through all of the letters I have received from Gramma over the years. They are a poignant collection of her thoughts. Smatterings of wisdom along with some very sweet, funny ideas - life through her eyes in rural Princeton. She managed to make whatever was around her at the time something to be explored and pondered. We are still waiting to see what any arrangements might be as for a formal rememberance of any kind.

Miles has a full-blown cold. I'm immersed in the tail end of our Church Book. This is a book I volunteered to help with. Some days I don't feel particularly 'Christian' about it, but I must admit, creating it through this difficult time, I think, has kept my mind where it should be. Because we don't have the opportunity to attend any chruch services through the holidays, the words and thoughts in the book have spoken to my heart about what Christmas truly should be. We make a choice to spend the time with our family, rather than attend services at Christmas because our parents, so for us it would be going for ourselves only. We only end up with a few quality days with them in the end so we feel that we should BE JESUS to the family - rather than not be with them to satisfy a desire we have to be around the church family. Though we really miss the church, especially at this most special time, we never regret investing the time into our family. They are wonderful, interesting people and we love them with all our hearts. Mom and Dad make a great effort to build traditions around our tiny family. They are a gift from God to us.

These next few weeks will be filled with all sorts of distractions. Pot-lucks, visits and events but I intend to work very hard in keeping the true meaning in focus. I hope all of you out there have a peace through the next few weeks. Remember, You will never get EVERYTHING done, but if you give it to the Lord, He will enable you to accomplish the things that NEED to get done.

e