Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of the world where December keeps marching on. What a week of weather to talk about!  On Wednesday it reached 68 degrees here in the upper midwest....in mid December!  Unbelievable weather and it brought with it unbelievable storms.  Thursday the temperature dropped into the 20's.  Again, unbelievable.  It looks like a green/brown Christmas this year, though, since all the snow from before has melted. 

Yes, speaking of unbelievable weather, the forecast was for a fast moving line of storms, possible tornadoes, and then straight line winds to come through Wednesday afternoon and evening.  We had an appointment at Mayo scheduled, so headed out early Wed morning.  Fog made driving down right scary at times, but once the winds picked up the fog dissipated.  We made a quick stop at Trader Joe's to stock up before my appointment, which went well.  We then quickly headed home getting back by 3pm.  We were gone 7 hours and 4 of that was spent in the car.  

We prepared for the storm, putting outdoor decorations away and making sure we had candles and flashlights available.  By the time we headed downstairs to wait for the storm itself it hit, we knew that there had been wind gusts up to 90 plus mph one state over from us.  The storm came through quickly and even though tornadoes were all around us, we did have one right here.  Unfortunately in a small town just east of us they got hit hard with a lot of damage.  Other places the same.  We decided to head upstairs to bed by 10 but Joel woke me soon after saying the winds were so high we needed to head to the basement.  We live in a tall, tall house......so we were up in a high tower and vulnerable to tree or wind damage.  We slept all night in the basement.......me on a comfortable wicker sofa and Joel on a futon.  We only lost a few small branches and three shingles off the back roof.  Grateful.  

My sister Kay and her husband Dan ended up without power from Wednesday evening until midnight Thursday making for a very cold house!  They came over Thursday night for soup supper and we kicked on the fireplace to warm them up.  We offered them a bed but they headed elsewhere.....thankfully they are now cozy in their own home.

One of our kids told me I might be obsessed with the weather..........and I probably am.  Having a meteorologist for a husband (Air Force) weather was always on his mind and mine.  Having lived through earthquakes, seven typhoons, tornadoes, storms, floods, and blizzards I am a bit focused on what weather is coming!  The first earthquake I experienced was when I was a baby so had no clue......the second was in the Philippines ~ did not last only a minute or so, but with everything shaking, the dining room light swinging, and doors banging, and walls rippling, it kinda surprises you!  Our "sew girl" was working at our house that day and was very relaxed about it all.  I was not!  All I could think of was that we were on an island in the middle of the ocean and the earth beneath us was moving and grooving!  Ha....  The third brief earthquake we experienced was in west central MN!!  During our daughter's graduation ceremony there was a tremor and shook things up. It was quickly over but pictures on our walls at home were crooked when we got home...I have probably shared these stories before.  Forgetfulness.  Brain fog.  Think I will blame it on the med I am taking.....

We finished up our Christmas shopping this week, which was pretty easy as we are giving out gift cards to our family.  We made more pumpkin bread, homemade chicken and rice soup, and I got the Christmas newsletter out.  Our holiday itself will be quiet, but the day after Christmas our family starts arriving for that evening, the next day, and the morning of the day after that.  Short but sweet.  We are praying the weather holds!  No snow, no wind, and no tornadoes in December!

Joel has kept busy shopping, making more wood projects, and rewashing the windows.  It seems the winds blew in dirt from places like Kansas and it rained wet dirt, leaving our shiny windows filthy!  I am on yet another antibiotic as the infection did not completely leave. Thus the brain fog.  I have been baking a bit for Joel and working on a puzzle, walking, and trying to sleep past 5 pm.  I took Benadryl for a few months to help me sleep through the night, but read a couple of studies that said consistent usage was linked to dementia so I am off of that.  Just sayin'   I don't need help in going down that road!

So this week I am grateful the shopping is done, Christmas is coming!  Grateful the storm did not cause us damage, and that the tornadoes avoided us.  Grateful for phone calls, Christmas music, laughter, medications when you need them, PT help, a husband willing to wrap my arm and hand in bandages every night, the fireplace, the love of family, memories that make us smile, our tree, and so much more..

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our home where ........"the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...."  What a difference a day makes!  Thursday it was in the 40's and Friday afternoon the snow storm hit.  Much of Minnesota is covered with 8 - 21 inches of snow!  For us in northern Iowa we are estimating 4-5 inches on the ground.  Joel is out blowing snow from the driveway,  and clearing the sidewalk and back deck.  Two days ago he was outside all day doing woodworking from our driveway.  Definitely a big change.

This past week we decorated our tree.  We were going to get a real one, but the more we thought about it the more it made sense to get out our artificial tree.  The first picture shows how the bottom half of the tree lost its lights and the second picture is what it looked like after we added three more strings of lights!  It looks good!!! The third picture is of it all decorated.  My favorite part of Christmas is worship on Christmas Eve and the decorations we bring out that hold so many memories.  Our tree is filled with ornaments the kids made, or ornaments friends and family gave to us over the years. Many represent places we have lived.  So fun..,,,,

half the lights working

Let there be lights!

Decorated for Christmas!

Speaking of fun, this past Wednesday our oldest son came for a day long visit.  We had a great time visiting, playing cribbage, and eating a good meal together.  He also helped his dad get a big, heavy, older TV out of the house and down to the Salvation Army for someone else to enjoy.  

Right before Thanksgiving we received a pumpkin pie from a neighbor who has moved away.  Friday Joel went out to the mailbox and came back with the mail and a box of caramels wrapped and sealed from ??  We don't know!  It was not mailed to us, but left in the mailbox.  What a nice surprise!!  Joel said they are delicious! 

Speaking of delicious, we made pumpkin bread this week.  It freezes well and it is our tradition to make many many smaller loaves using mini bread pans, or cans we bake in and then we give some to friends and send home loaves to each of our kids and families.  The recipe I use is from a cookbook that came out at our church, St. Olaf Lutheran, in Austin MN when I was 16.  I have a copy of the cookbook that Joel has put back together for me a couple of times.  Many of our traditional recipes are from there.....like for Lime Pear Salad, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, and Ginger Cookies.  Now I am getting hungry!

Joel kept busy this week with woodworking while the weather held and a couple of walks outside. I worked on getting a newsletter ready to mail out this year for Christmas.  I often wonder if people read them.....we read the ones we get, and after the holidays when January weather has us bundled under blankets in front of the fireplace we re-read them and look over the photo cards we have received one more time.  We have lived many places and have friends who have moved around too, so it is fun to catch up on what people are doing.

So today, I am grateful for Christmas greetings that come in the way of cards, photo cards, and newsletters.  I am grateful for the tree that stands in the corner of our living room, for surprises that show up on our doorsteps and in the mailbox,  for decorations that bring back memories, for a visit with our oldest son and his warm hugs, cribbage, for love and forgiveness, the snow....and our fireplace, Christmas music, laughter, tears, pumpkin bread, caramels, and so much more............

Enjoy your weekend!

The Pot Was Boiling

I have struggled with what I felt was Holy Spirit telling me to write about for my blog.  Seriously?  Putting our personal stuff out there?  Then at morning devotions the Guidepost story for today was about anger and how most anger could more accurately be labeled fear.  "Anger is usually fear wearing a scary mask".  My response was, "Okay.  Someone must need to read this............so here goes.

This week, in the late afternoon after a beautiful day spent decorating the house and tree...the boiling pot on the back burner of our lives boiled over.  Unexpectedly.  Surprisingly.  It was sobering. 

I used to tell our kids that often there is a pot on the burner of our lives that is simmering with "stuff" that happens.  Sometimes it gets closer and closer to boiling over and just one last drop in the pot can cause an eruption that makes a mess of things.  That happened to Joel and me this week.....It had us asking, what happened here and why?

Joel and I disagreed on what it meant to put ourselves at risk for a Covid exposure.  I felt he was taking a huge risk and he felt he was minimizing the risk well. We both thought we were on the same page , but turns out we were not and instead of handling it well, fear bubbled over and I became angry and found myself raising my voice.  He reacted and raised his voice and the argument brought us to the worst disagreement we have had in probably 20 years.  We just don't fight.  Yes, we disagree, but we never escalate, raise our voices, or carry on.  When we had Lyme disease we just did not have the energy to get into a boxing ring over anything.  Period.  And we liked it that way......it has worked well for us for the last couple of decades.  

And then...........the pot boiled over.   

Later that evening we sat down and talked about the question we both were asking, "What just happened?"  It is why God has asked us to be transparent here,  sharing it for the world to see.  Because I expect the past two years have had all our pots simmering on the stove at higher levels than normal.  The pandemic is something new for all of us.  The fear, worry, caution, isolation, division, death and disease, has taken a toll.  For us, add to it the continual medical marathon with my body and the daily managing of the lymphedema and fractured ribs and maybe we have reasons for the pot to be boiling.  Yep.  And I expect we all have more than one issue that has kept our pots boiling or at least simmering on the burner of life. It is obvious with the increase of violence in the streets and on airplanes alone that many are not handling it so well....this season of conflict, disease, death, and even loneliness.

So, how do we become more aware.  When we are thinking we are really handling it all so well.......being the stoic, independent, determined people we are.....we sometimes miss the warning signs of when we are at the point of "enough is enough".

In our circumstance, Joel and I first apologized to each other, forgave each other, forgave ourselves, and then took it before God and repented.  For us all those steps were important.  And then we sat down and discussed whether we had missed any warning signs that brought us to the "boiling point".  And just how are we taking care of ourselves in the midst of it all?  

Our journey is challenging some days, to say the least.  So is yours.  And yours.  And yours,,,,,,,,,,,, The scriptures tell us over and over...........'Fear not".........."I am with you"............  Don't let the sun set on your anger..........." Trust in the Lord your God".............

I don't begin to understand why this pandemic continues to bring sickness and death.  I don't begin to understand the political climate in our government the past decade,  On a personal level I don't understand why something else keeps coming up to fight in my body.  But I do understand that God is with us.  He is faithful.  He will work all things out for good.  This week the Advent candle is Peace.  We all need a little peace, don't we.  And our peace comes in Jesus.  He is our peace. 

There is someone who needs to hear my words today.  Holy Spirit has told me to put this out there for this person to read.  He loves you that much.  He wants you to hear...........:Fear not.  I am with you,  Let it go.  Release the fear and anger.  Receive His love and peace.  The pot will stop boiling..........Trust Me. (God)"

What are we all doing to keep the pot from boiling?  

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our home here in Northern Iowa where fall weather has continued to grace us with temperatures in the 50's for several days.  Hard to believe it is the first week of December, although Joel and I remember one year after we brought home our tree from a local lot, Joel went out to mow the yard afterwards!  

We did experience some chilly weather when we went north to spend Thanksgiving with our middle daughter, son-in-law, and three grands.  It was so fun to actually go somewhere on a holiday. Married to a working pastor that just did not happen.  We traveled the back roads to avoid busy city traffic and headed to our home state of Minnesota on Wednesday.  We enjoyed our visit with the family so much, even though I ended up at urgent care Saturday morning the the worst UTI ever.  We had to wait and head home on Sunday so I could get the antibiotics working.  We did take the backroads home and stopped six times along the way.  Are we having fun yet?  We used to live in the area and found it very interesting that after 25 years away that we were still recognized.  In the pharmacy I handed them my card and the woman behind the counter asked, "Are you the Dahlens who used to live here?"  Turns out her father-in-law and mother-in-law lived across the street from the parsonage at that time.  We remembered them well.  

For the Thanksgiving feast our grandson made a delicious rhubarb custard pie and I made a pumpkin pie to take along.  One of our granddaughters made tiramisu which was very good too.  I confess I had to google it to see what it was.  Evidently they had it when they visited Italy. There was homemade bread and all kinds of traditional, unique, and fun food and fellowship while there.  We watched a movie the kids wanted us to see called Enola.  It is on Netflix and a cute family movie.  

Joel has been able to bike a few days this past week.  He sticks to the same trail and avoids roads....which I am more than grateful for since one of his long time friends was hit by a car this week here in town while on his recumbent and spent time in the hospital with 5 broken ribs.  Stick to the same trail, Joel......

Joel has been keeping himself busy making small boxes with lids out of recycled redwood.  You could say he has been a bit obsessed with his project since at last count he has made 88 boxes! Some are boxes within boxes which reminds me a bit of God.......we can sometimes put God in a box based on our own perception of Him or our own desires.  Maybe we make Him smaller and smaller...a box within a box until we are comfortable with our image of Him.  He is so much bigger than we could ever imagine.  I expect we would be completely undone by His presence and His glory if we met up with Him!  It is so important to be bold at times in how we see and experience God.  That is one of the reasons why I enjoyed the movie The Shack so much.  It took me out of my comfort zone in how I might see God, Jesus, or Holy Spirit.  I loved that!  

I just finished reading the book, The Veil which definitely took me out of my comfort zone.  I have another book I'll be reading as soon as my brain is no longer in an antibiotic fog.  I apologize for anything I might write here today that does not quite make sense!  I'm on a double dose of Cipro.....and cannot be blamed for anything I say.  (haha)

In this wanting-the-sofa state of mind I'm in, we are trying to decorate for Christmas.  We have pared down our many tubs of decorations, but still enjoy making the house festive.  We made ginger cookies this morning together (thank you Joel!) and I'm getting out the Christmas CDs and old boom box today to release a little Christmas spirit in the house!  We are still deciding on whether to get a real tree this year or use the one we have that needs some work!  A few Christmas cards are trickling in, which are always fun to open.  

December is a month that reminds us not only of God's love for us, but of those loved ones who are no longer here.  Gr. Jo died on December 1st last year, Joel's mom died on December 5th 2011, our son Kevin died on December 13th 2004, and my dad died a couple of days before Christmas when I was seven.  It is not a sad month for us, it is just, for a few moments, a time of reflection.  We give thanks for all their lives and how they shaped us to be who we are today.

So on that note, I am giving thanks for the lives of those I just mentioned, and so many more.  I am grateful for antibiotics and such things like "urgent care" and familiar places and people.  So grateful for homemade cookies that fill the house with a delightful smell, Christmas music, decorations, and trees, texts, phone calls, emails, bike trails, and prayers.  Yes there is so much to be grateful for.

Enjoy your weekend!