Hushed

All alone and quiet. How unusual. And welcome. On a “normal” Sunday I would be singing with a worship team, celebrating our liberty to sit under biblical teaching, and enjoying the sweet fellowship of saints. But, after a long week of heartbreak, work, life, and then illness weekend farmer husband took one look at me this morning and said, “You're staying home, right?”

About an hour into quiet and alone I find it a welcome and pleasant place. I flit around for awhile before I land here, and then, like a magnet, I am drawn to it's center and I attach.

I can hear the animals, (the house pets), breathe, chirp, and click along the floors. The clocks keep steady time as their arms sweep across minutes. Music of Advent streams and lifts through the house. My cup is steamy and the candles and twinkle lights warm the farmhouse.

Settled I find myself looking forward to tomorrow, (by the time you read this, today), when I've purposed to make a practice of publicly chronicling gifts from the Giver. And I am moved with wonder that this simple but profound thing of writing, marking, sharing, and chronicling has once again quieted and blessed my heart.

I've not forgotten the blows of the week preceding. Waterlogged and weepy the waves still pound. Today will bring news, decisions, tooth clenching, gut wrenching, life testing results. Human wisdom will fall short and in humility I can know that my tank will empty much sooner than it “should”.

But I need not yield to the absence, because in giving thanks I mark the presence of what is Good. And, at the beginning of time He declared ALL THINGS good. Since He has not changed, His declarations remain, and I can find evidence of what He said.

So the list follows. Often it seems the events and images are unconnected, but in reflection and intention the pieces fit in the frame, and although the edges are recently jagged, the picture falls into place.

Another birthday celebration- 8 sweet years with so many milestones to humble us and make us shout with glee!  What better way to start the day than mommy saying "yes" to , "Please may we have frosted donuts from the store?"

It wouldn't be December if we didn't enter into a race with snow and hard frost- trenching yards and yards of ground between house and outbuildings to upgrade electrical service and equip these spaces for weekend farmer husband's weekday office.

Sons, all three, working together to run underground housings, back fill, and then pull hundreds of feet of wires between buildings.

Willingness to learn new skills, work together, and take risks-we've never done anything of this scope before.  For those of you that know us, that's no surprise.  I'm always breathless with thanksgiving at how God blesses our family's industry.

We're trenching, tunneling, digging, drilling, and pulling wires under sills, through walls, and even the basement rock foundation. Thankful for tools and safety.

What a week be without a picture of the cows?  This was perfect winter light-almost too bright to get a good photo?

Only 4 more days until they fulfill their purpose.  Don't they look "full"?  We enjoyed a local art exhibit last evening and viewed an original painting of them in our pastures.  It's satisfying that others can see what we see when these beauties grow and graze on our pastures.

And more...

• Long phone calls with siblings, parents, and just my mom and dad separately.  Minds still spinning with a diagnosis of leukemia and the severity of how ill my dad is, but thankful for one another, good care, and the rising up of community to love and pray for us.
• Antibiotics, urgent care medical facilities, and relief from pain.
• Siblings turning their lives upside down to serve my parents.
• Raucous games of Rook, sides splitting with laughter
• Advent-our family birthdays are done for the year.  Now we wait, prepare, and then conclude our year with the celebration of God with us.
• Quiet mornings
• Christmas movies, snuggled on the couch with the little girls.
• Weekend Farmer Husband has agreed to purchase the painting of the cows :-)
• A friend offering hay at a very affordable price, and we help move it, growing the gift of community
• Every stitch a prayer, rocking, crocheting, and staying at the foot of the cross in prayerful petition.
• And this, the capturing bits of all that is Good.  My cup stays full.