Not the Christmas I had Planned!

Well, to be clear, I did not really plan anything. I had in my mind that we could/ should get together with the believers in our town, especially since we do not have team mates. Then at my conference in November, I was reminded that the believers in our area are our team mates, more than that, our family. I was reminded to see them that way. So in the few days following our return from the capital, Rich went to talk with one of our brothers about gathering everyone for a celebration, and together they went to the village to invite other brothers and sisters.

Rich had it in his mind for us to also give some sort of gift to our close friends and neighbors. However trying to home school and manage a household without our regular house helper made it too stressful to think ahead. (One of the side effects I have had since all the cancer treatment is a lower threshold for stress and in turn decision making.) So I asked Rich to do a lot of that thinking ahead on his own, and I promised to be all in once the day came.

Wednesday afternoon, my mind free of home school and planning for guests, Rich and I were able to talk about gifts for close friends and neighbors. Some people we knew were giving buckets of useful items and sharing the Christmas story. Some were giving plates of cookies. Some were giving bags of treats with scripture references on them. We decided to go with the bucket of useful items, which Rich went out immediately to buy, and a copy of Mark. After dinner, as a family we worked together to fill the buckets to deliver the next morning.

On Christmas Eve, we began delivering the buckets. We made sure they knew we were including Mark because it tells about Jesus, whose birth we were celebrating. We prayed with each family we visited. One visit was particularly interesting as it involved a guest at the house we went to visit. The guest wanted to emphasize that the two religions come from the same father, Abraham, and how at peace they are, especially this year when both the birthday of the Prophet and the birth of Jesus were celebrated the same day. If it had been just my friend and her husband, we might have been able to go deeper in the conversation to clear up some misconceptions, but that day was not the time and place with a guest whose heart was not yet ready. Giving those buckets was a great idea!

We had lunch and a laid back afternoon. We ate dinner and watched Polar Express before putting the kids to bed.

Christmas morning, we opened our stockings and a few small presents. We had breakfast. We put dinner in the crock pot. We got dressed in our finest outfits, especially the children in their new clothes. We went to visit Jennifer, since I knew she would not be able to get out to see the children. She was so happy to see them but sad she could not come with us to the gathering. As we were leaving Jennifer's, we remembered something we had meant to bring with us, so we headed home.

Crash! Boom!
Turning ever so carefully off of the street, a motorcycle came up on our left side while we were turning left. He clipped the front driver's side corner and flew into the air. I was just sure he was going to be laid out on the ground, likely even dead, but he got up and walked from the motorcycle. Despite no helmet, there was no blood from his head. He had some blood from scrapes on his arms, but nothing like we feared. Police  driving by asked a few questions. Everyone testified the same thing, that the young man was the one at fault. An ambulance came to take the young man to the hospital. Police came to take statements and measure out the distances involved. We had to go to the police station to pick up paperwork. This was not what I had planned.

We were all a little shaken after that. We left the kids at Jennifer's house while we went to the police station. When finished there, we took the rice and onions that we planned to take for the gathering over to the brother for him to serve. We however begged forgiveness because we all were in need of rest.

We came home and pieced some things together for lunch. We rested and watched more Christmas movies. It was restful, but it was not what I had planned.
That afternoon was when Jamie came over and told me she had read Mark and watched the movie about Jesus. That also was not what I had planned.

Because I had planned for us to be out all day on Christmas, we planned that the next day would be a totally inside day, so that the kids could enjoy their new presents. Other than a short visit from someone who came to visit me, it was just us inside all day. I essentially stayed in my pajamas all day! We did that again, more or less on Sunday.

Monday morning, Rich went to the police station to pick up his paperwork. He was later than we had planned on him going, but because he was late, he was able to see the young man. The young man from the accident had a bandaged arm but was mostly well. The fact that he was able to walk away was a miracle. The small amount of cuts and scrapes was even more so. Thank you Lord, for Rich being able to see that young man this morning.

Grateful for how the Father worked miracles and worked in hearts over the last two weeks, in ways we had not planned.