Count Your Blessings

It’s the Sabbath and all is quiet in my house. My husband, Don, is long gone for a full day of service and all the kids are still peacefully sleeping in their beds. I have one hour to write. At the very beginning of this round of experimentation, one friend commented that he knew this plan would “change our lives.” Well, I have to say honestly, that I am a pretty stubborn soul, and real change is hard for me. So, I’m still waiting to see the life-changing impact in myself. But, we did it.  This month we lived on what we gave, and there are a number of small and simple blessings, as well as major interventions, which I count as miracles as a direct result of our experiment, especially the last one on the list to follow. Here are highlights from my list:

A Ride – Don has a degenerative eye disease.  He is legally blind, and seven years ago he lost his drivers license because of it. Since then, we have witnessed many miracles relating specifically to transportation. Don’t get me wrong. Aside from driving a car, he is probably one of the most mobile and independent blind guys you’ll ever meet. He rides miles and miles on his bike, runs marathons and is more athletic than most men I know. He just can’t drive. This August he began a new job, far away. He had a ride to work from the beginning, but coming home was another story. Most days Bren and I would go get him. Bren’s 15, driving on a permit, and thrilled to be on the road. I, however, always felt torn between getting my husband home and meeting all the afterschool and early evening needs of the kids. The drive was beautiful but took at least an hour and a half round trip. The day we began this experiment, the very day we agreed to take it on, a new ride presented itself and he now enjoys door-to-door service to and from work. I am SO grateful for co-workers who care and I hope the extra gas money blesses them as much as the ride blesses us.

A Flat Tire in the Driveway – After a weekend of camping as a family in the middle of nowhere, Don and I got up early to go to a mountain resort where he had to give a presentation. Thankfully, we were up and out the door 20 minutes earlier than we needed to be. As I pulled out of the drive we could feel that something wasn’t right. I turned around and pulled back in to find a flat tire. The miracle is that I had driven an easy fifty miles back and forth down a deserted dirt road over the weekend and this flat waited for our car to be in our driveway before it gave us any problems.

Don was anxious to get up the mountain to his presentation, “Well, maybe it’s time for you to learn to drive Bren’s car.”

Alarm arose in me, “Are you serious? I know I need to learn to drive a stick, but I promise you, now is not the time. We will not get there.”
He was serious, “Mariah, you can do it.”
I held fast, “I know I can, but not now. You cannot miss this presentation because your wife could not pull it together under the pressure of a manual transmission and a deadline. Please, let’s change the tire. We have plenty of time.”

Not waiting for his response, I said a quick prayer, jumped out of the driver’s seat, opened the back and went for the spare tire. He took his jacket off, got the jack and went to work. In heals and a skirt I brought him the spare, on his knees in his suit he put it in place. In under twenty minutes we had the job done. We said a prayer of thanks and enjoyed a beautiful fall drive up the canyon. He walked in to his convention just as they were getting ready to announce him.

Sickness and Health – This month several sicknesses have come and gone through our house. And, while we have good medical coverage, we hate to go to the doctor. Between waiting to be seen, paying co-pays and filling prescriptions, the whole undertaking cn be quite costly, even with decent insurance. No one had to go to the doctor and, though some sicknesses lingered longer than I prefer, everyone is well and whole again.

Gifts from Grandma’s Farm – One day we came home to find a freezer basket full of ground venison (when it’s ground, you mix it with a little beef and it is great in tacos, marinara sauce, chili and other highly seasoned dishes). Grandma and Grandpa had also brought a box full of potatoes, apples and onions.

Gifts from Heba – Our honorary Egyptian family member shares so much with us. From recipes to her favorite foods from Costco, she has helped a lot. She is amazed by the abundance we enjoy in the US and wants to partake of it all. She gets antsy if we have fewer than four gallons of milk or five dozen eggs in the fridge. I am overwhelmed by her generosity and her desire to always see the fridge full of the right stuff.

Inspiration - I’ve had several small epiphanies on how to keep my family close this season when we are all going so many disparate directions. I'll elaborate on them all another time if anyone is interested. They are:

• The Thankful Things Jar
• Meal Time Helpers
• Candle Time
• Short and Sweet Traditions

I came from a home rich with weekly and seasonal family tradition. I married into a family where tradition isn’t in the details of WHAT we do when we get together, their tradition is just BEING together. So, in this home I’ve made with my husband, I often feel like the primary guardian of all things sentimental. What can I say, left to my own foolish machinations I overly-romanticize scenes of hearth and home and am inclined to perpetuate them whenever possible. And, it’s not that Don isn’t supportive and creative when it comes to making family memories, he absolutely is. But this year, I’m thrilled to watch my older daughter jump on the Nostalgia BandWagon with me, drink deep from a cup of cheer and catch the sap before it starts pouring to thick. She’s my new check for overdoing it.

I count it a rich blessing to have another someone to share the work and fun of family traditions with. KC made a goal this season to spend ten hours in the kitchen with me learning the ins and outs of bringing holiday, and everyday, meals to the table. From menu planning, budgeting, shopping, and preparation she plans to be my partner in the high and holy work of nourishing our family at the dinner table. Wahoo! I told you I was going to get sappy.

Grateful Girls and Boys – On Hannah’s birthday, after all the gifts were given, cupcakes were devoured and everyone was in bed for the night, I found a note from Hannah on my bed. It summarized her grateful feelings of the day:
“To My Family. I am so glad to be in this family. I love you. Love – Hannah.”

This from the girl of great expectations that can rarely be met to the level of her dreams or fully realized as she imagined them. For her, this token of gratitude was huge. No wishes that things had been different, no talk of what she wanted and didn’t receive, no mention of anything lacking. Her note epitomizes the spirit in my house, among all of us this month and I am grateful for that feeling above all else.