On Making Lemonade

This may seem disconnected at first but I have had a lot of things swirling through my head this week and as I was driving home from a lovely tea this afternoon it all seemed to gel. A little background. This week I got back from visiting my grandfather in Wisconsin. During that time we talked about legacies and about his legacy to his children and grandchildren and now his great grandchildren. Later this week I had quite the adventure getting home. I will tell you more about that in a few moments and finally today we had two baby blessings. During which the pastor admonished them to not just ask for God's blessings but to actively pursue ways to order our lives to show God's workings to our children and how to live life for God for our children to see. Now all of this came to together to bring these thoughts.

Our legacy to our children involves teaching them how to see the world. I thought of glasses and the phrase rose colored glasses. But everyone wears glasses those glasses effect how we see the world. For some those glasses may say win at all costs or eat drink and be merry because tomorrow you may die or life is futile so why bother. But we have another option we can say in this life. We may have trouble and we may fail but if we believe that despite our failings Jesus loves us and will forgive us there is hope. With these glasses lifes little troubles don't seem so important and the big ones can be endured. I can say I have seen this modeled for me and they have given me these glasses to wear. This is not to say I blindly wear these glasses because I know no other but when I searched I found these glasses true. I saw it modeled in grandmother who had an incurable disease. She could have said God you are unjust but instead she said I will rejoice in the fact that I have lived longer than the doctor said. I see it in an Aunt who daily deals with pain and yet can say I love Jesus and I will do the best with what I have. I see it in a father and mother who said I want you to know the Lord and I will take where you need to go to hear it even if it means long road trips and plane tickets. Parents that said I am scared to let you go half way around the world by yourself but God can use you. I see it in a grandfather that at the age 81 says the Lord can use me yet...at a camp for Jr. highers and teaching a Sabbath School class and supporting a wife with Alzheimer's. These are the glasses I choose to wear; ones that say trouble is here but with God I will make lemonade.

Which brings me to my trip home, I will not say that I enjoyed the trip home or that I was not tired and just wanted to be home but I am grateful. My son and I were on our way home from a wonderful visit with my grandpa and we made it to Detroit without incidence but it is at this point our adventure began. I should also note that Mom had had breakfast with some of the church ladies and ask them to pray for me. We loaded on our flight to State College and were all set to go. We even deiced and we were sent back to the terminal. At this point we were told that the flight was canceled due to a completely iced runway in State College with it not looking like it would clear anytime soon. So off to the reschedule line Aaron and I go and low and behold we have already been booked on the late flight to State College even though it is overbooked. (Not everyone was so lucky) So Aaron and I enjoy an evening in the airport and when it gets to the time for the flight they are still overbooked and no one can pick me up in State College because of weather, so Aaron and I agree to take a bump. (For the non flyers among you cancellations overbooking and missed flights due to acts of God i.e. rain ice snowstorms are not the airlines problem so you get a voucher for a hotel discount and hope there is a room otherwise you are sleeping in the airport). Because of this bump I had a guaranteed room which by the way was the last when I got to the hotel, they gave me food vouchers and extra ones to feed Aaron and a voucher for another flight at a later date. Talk about lemonade. Oh yeah I also "happened" to throw in pajamas and a change clothes for Aaron in his diaper bag. Yes I lost my luggage but we had clothes for Aaron and it was delivered to our door. The next day I decided to try to get home a little sooner. The only seats left to State College were at 9:00PM. So I jumped on the plane to Latrobe. Perry was going to meet me - everything is great. Wrong... The airplane had mechanical problems and I eventually got home by flying to Pittsburgh and Perry meeting us there. During this period mom had called up the ladies and said keep praying and they did. No my flight and trip home was not without troubles but did work things to His good. I had a room for the night, a mostly happy boy, that voucher may end up helping to pay for a ticket to pickup Andrew, my luggage made it home and we made it home safely. It may not have been in my timing but it was perfect in God's. I believe that God made lemonade and that the prayers of the ladies made a difference. They could have given up and said God didn't answer our prayers but they didn't and I am blessed as a result.

I will note to those reading this I am generally an optimist and so maybe it is easier for me to see hope but I do think that the glasses I have learned to wear are a result of a legacy of faithful people around me some named but many unnamed. Thank you for teaching me to make lemonade.

Hello from Whitewater

We have also had a good time visiting Grandma Lorna and the residents at Heartstone. Aaron chases the ball and plays hide and seek and everyone enjoys watching.

Aaron had a great time playing with this sweeper. Who needs toys. We are having a great time visiting Grandpa Graffius.

Christmas Part 2

This is Christmas part 2 we had this Sunday night after Mom and Dad got home from Virginia Beach. We had pizza and opened presents. One of the family traditions that we have is to take turns open presents. The opening involves passing out presents - Gabe was the guy and some ribbing to go with it.

Aaron liked the paper as much as anything. This time he was a better opener after the earlier practice.

This is a really cool collapsible tent from David and Kim and Anthony. Thanks for coming everyone.

Christmas Part 1

It has been a very fun Christmas so far. The presents are good but the people are even better and we are so blessed to have so many people in our lives. Our Christmasing began on Tuesday when Grandpop brought some mighty fine carrot cake. Then on Wednesday Grandpa and Mimi and Uncle Jonathan arrived along with cousin Ruby. Aaron decided that cousin Ruby was great. Then came Christmas morning and we had baked french toast with both grandparents this is so much fun. Aaron loves books and here Perry is reading to him.

It warmed up so the grandpas took Aaron for a walk. He soon fell asleep and slept a good while.

We of course ate way too much. In the last few years we have started a new tradition that involves ribs. So we consumed ribs and roast and generally ate too much. But we had fun eating and talking. We missed Aunt Cindi who wasn't feeling well as well as David, Kim and Anthony.

Jonathan brought his Wii up and so there was some serious competition going on. As well as some laughs as the grown-ups attempted to play. We also played some serious scrabble and introduced Jonathan to a strange game called In A Pickle.

Yes his mother dressed him as an elf for Christmas. Someday he will say I can't believe you did this to me Mom. Grandpa and Uncle Jonathan kept Aaron as the women chased the after Christmas sales. Overall it has been a great Christmas so far.

In all the chaos I am thankful that Jesus loves me and that He is the reason for the season. He makes everyday more meaningful.

Some Aaron Adventures

Aaron has discovered crayons and finger paint. The cool thing with this finger paint is that it only makes messes on the special paper. Aaron loves water as I mentioned before and here he is helping grandpop was dishes.

I met a couple families that also have children that are adopted. We had a good time visiting each other and telling stories. It is fun to visit with other families.

Well we begin to prepare for the Christmas season. I hope to post pictures soon.

ReAdoption

I know some of you are asking why are we readopting. We are readopting for two reasons: one so Aaron has a Pennsylvania birth certificate which will make our life and his easier. We don't have to use his Guatemalan documents. Second it allows us to his official name change easier simpler because it is just part of the process. So December 11th we went to the courthouse and completed our readoption. The picture is of us and the judge.

Misc

These are a few of the youth acting out the story of Balaam. We are doing Bible series called Weird, Scary and Gross. We have studied Lot's Wife, the Ten Plagues and now Balaam. It has been interesting to study some of the unusual stories in the Bible. Aaron is doing some new things lately including coloring. He is has finally stopped saying Ba for everything. He has added the words up and banana. He is saying wa for water and is getting close to saying a clear bath. Sometimes he says bite.

Growing up we always had a tree but it was artificial. Perry growing up always had a real tree. Well we have talked for a while about getting a real tree. So this year we decided to give it a try. With Dad serving as the director of straightness Uncle Jim and Perry manage to get the tree up. I will post the finished tree picture later.