Our Stories
Strange and Unusual
By Char Forslund | posted 01/22/2009
"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Galatians 5:6b)
This has been a strange and unusual "SEASON" for me and our family.
Let's start with Thanksgiving. JaLynne has a good friend at work who, as a single Mom with two very needy boys, truly coveted a safe and welcoming place for the holiday. I worked hard before Turkey Day, not only on the food, but on decorating the house for Christmas - full steam ahead and ignoring the fact that I had had a spinal procedure done the week before. I knew Kathy would not be able to provide any of that in their small apartment. It was evident that the boys were not accustomed to sitting down at a table to share a meal, let alone with extra plates and silverware and a glass goblet and sparkling cider to deal with. Most everything was finger food although the spoons did get used for mashed potatoes and gravy. No, I am not kidding – BUT, I had a chance to sit down with Kathy by the fireplace and talk to her at length about the services available and how to advocate for herself and her boys. JaLynne did yeoman duty entertaining the boys. I cannot fathom how she works full time and tries to deal on a daily basis with her boys. Suffice to say, it was a strange and unusual day, but oddly fulfilling and even in our extreme tiredness, rewarding.
Respite! There came those days in early December when we could shop and wrap for Christmas. We had warned all of "them" it would be cut way back ... yeah, OK. Then we checked the check book and shopped a very little more. Final end of Christmas budget ... and then we finished wrapping ... sort of. Have you ever run out of gift tags and resorted to post-a-notes? OR discovered that tissue paper, which you seem to have twelve packages of can really be layered for gift wrapping? And what about all those old gift bags you've saved-so what if Happy Birthday had to be explained as, "We are talking about Jesus here!" It was a strange and unusual assortment under the tree!
A few days before Christmas, our youngest grandson, Gabe, planned to come and do an overnight, then go home to Aunt Kimm, his guardian, and come back to us LATE on Christmas Eve after the celebration with Kimm's extended family and spend Christmas Day with us. Wonderful plan ... truly a good plan ... and then the snow came, and came, and still came. OK, so with the two pairs of socks, underwear, shirts, and jeans, and pair of pajama pants, and NO winter coat, just a hoody, Gabe spent the next 11 days with us. Count them, 11. The biggest challenge was getting the meds that he depends on. Between us, Kimm and her good friend Randy, who has a big four wheel drive truck, and calls between pharmacies we were able to get the meds he needed. Whew! By Christmas Day he realized that even with all the fun in the snow he had missed the "other side" of Christmas and the homesick episodes and teary eyes crept in. I need to tell you it is hard to fix gravy when the 15-year-old is saying, " Grandma" can I talk to you privately?" and go to console and hug him and let the gravy take care of itself. Life is full of choices ... good kid –bad gravy.
My nephew Matthew and his family made it to our house from Renton in their SUV. JaLynne, determined as ever, vowed to walk three miles with her friend William if no one could come and get her. Between Ron and Matthew we got them here. Strange and unusual ...
So we were all together in our house with the snow whiting us out, stranded together over Christmas. Praise God we love each other, and Yahtzee, and Monopoly, and Scrabble! And we had food, heat, and power!
What a strange and unusual holiday. Think about it. What a vibrant living picture of our life lived under God and Grace!
We're all in this together!
What will happen? When?
Where is our sustenance?
Who will be rescued to join us?
Who will need special care?
Who will need sanctuary?
How will we cope and love one another?
What will God challenge us with?
How will He in His grace and goodness provide for all our needs?
How will we stay true to one another and to Him?
What great and marvelous lessons will we learn?
Hopefully even in the most strange unusual circumstances, we will touch and understand that the only true gift to us, the faithful, is HIMSELF.
Love and Joy,
Char
To respond to this message, email Char at charforslund@comcast.net.
