God’s Different Agenda

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Margaret

The Christmas season is full of reasons to celebrate, and celebrate we do – in classrooms, offices, churches, stores, homes, and in our yards.

One of my favorite parts of the season is the music. Though our children grew up with a measure of choice over what they wanted to hear, once we flipped the calendar to December, it was mom’s Christmas carols, all the way.

I love the old standards and don’t have any need to get familiar with new ones, but this year, God himself added a tune of his own: Rock-a-bye Baby.

Daughter Linnea, 9 months pregnant, felt a few twinges yesterday afternoon but didn’t think much of it. Her fifth baby wasn’t due for a few more days, and the older four had all come well after their due dates.

But God had a different agenda, and by dinnertime they were cuddling their new baby boy. Labor and delivery were speedy and textbook-perfect with three midwives, one daddy, and one auntie (also a midwife) present for the home birth. Linnea and Adam decided to name their little guy in a special way, after both of their oldest siblings: Nelson Aaron.

As his grandma, my plan was to be in Florida for the baby’s birth – like I was for the last two – but here again, God had a different agenda. Many months ago when Linnea and I chose the day after Christmas for my plane ticket, we gambled that this baby would be late like the others. But the Lord smiled and said, “Well, we’ll see about that.”

He had a different agenda for Linnea, for Adam, for baby Nelson, and for me.

But isn’t that often his way? What we think will happen doesn’t, and what does happen often surprises us. That’s because we so easily fool ourselves into believing we’re in charge of our own lives, when it’s really God who has it all in hand. The up side of this is, if we’re willing to accept that our good, loving God is completely in charge, any future unknowns can’t possibly worry us.

And so, as my 11^th grandchild dozes in his mother’s arms, I’m delighted to add yet one more Christmas-time carol to my playlist:

Lullaby and Goodnight.

The Most High… does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)

A Desire Accomplished

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Margaret

In 2005, Mary and I began talking about the possibility of writing a book together – someday. It would be about raising our 14 children together, with the hope of encouraging today’s young moms. We would share what worked and what didn’t, not as experts but as ordinary women who learned by trial and error.

The next year, 2006, we began meeting to strategize, and got together 8 times to plan the book. Mary, a whiz at bringing order from chaos, would establish the “bones” of it, after which I would put “flesh” on those bones through writing. We would use examples from our own experience, including failures, since we learned the most from them.

We wrote a statement of purpose and chose a tentative title and subtitle: Old Mommies to New Mommies, What we wish we’d known at the beginning.

We labeled 10 giant yellow envelopes with 10 chapter titles and began filling them with “snippets” of mothering information that would eventually become polished prose. We began writing what would evolve into 57 sidebars and gathered a team of friends who were willing to pray for us.

But then, as I wrote in a blog posted on May 3 of this year, life got in the way:

My family moved from our home of 29 years to a much smaller place and had to focus on eliminating and concentrating. Shortly thereafter, Nate got sick, and in a whirlwind of upheaval and grief, he passed away.

While we were still reeling, Mary and Bervin’s home of 40 years sold, and they too downsized big-time. Then shortly after that, Mary learned of her cancer and began treatment with major surgery and 6 months of chemo. During these same years the two of us greeted 19 new grandchildren and 6 new in-law children.

And our book was set aside.

But since we’d asked God to orchestrate the timing, we just figured he wasn’t ready yet—until that day 8 months ago when he gave us his green light. (A Blog Hiatus) And so we dug out our old notes and went to work.

Today we happily announce that our book is finished! It has taken 8 months, scores of meetings, and hundreds of hours, but we’ve enjoyed every single minute. And since we’ve asked the Lord to choose a publisher, we’re currently in another wait-zone. But we’ll keep you posted on whatever 2016 brings.

P.S. As a publishing postscript, the book of prayers for widows that I was working on in 2014 was published on December 2 and is now available in bookstores and on web sites. (See left margin.)

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you…. one voice [to] glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)

Flip-flopping into Seventy

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Margaret

Since I was born in 1945, this was the year I was scheduled to turn 70. For many weeks leading up to August 8, though, I was dreading it.

Seventy! Threescore and ten. According to the Bible, once you reach that age even your best days are full of sorrow. “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow.” (Psalm 90:10)

None of that sounded good, and I didn’t feel like celebrating. But with daughter Linnea and her family of six staying with me, how could I disappoint the children? “You know how important birthdays are to kids,” she said. So I decided to swallow my worries and go with the flow.

Linnea and Louisa put together a lively family celebration that included streamers, glitter, balloons, spaghetti with all the trimmings, made-from-scratch cakes, gifts, and 29 relatives. The house was rockin’ with joy and gladness, and the 15 kids on hand weren’t the only ones who had fun. I did, too.

The next morning my three daughters had a much smaller celebration in mind – brunch for just the four of us. But before we left, Klaus came by and gave me a gift I’d been hoping for: a birthday motorcycle ride. “I’ll take you to the restaurant, Mom,” he said, and off we went.

The girls followed by car, but that was the end of what I thought was planned.

When we walked into the restaurant, 20-plus friends came out of hiding singing “Happy Birthday” in three part harmony!

Sister Mary (who is still feeling great, by the way) and friend Mary Jo had put together this beautiful event, robbing their own yards of hydrangeas and also giving each guest a flower to wear.

Knowing of my love for summertime, Mary had instructed each person to bring a pair of flip-flops, which even included flip-flop earrings and flip-flop cookies!

But there was more….

Linnea shared memories of being raised in our family, touching my heartstrings in deeply emotional ways. Her loving words warm me still. I know it wasn’t easy for her, especially when talking about her father, but she did a wonderful job and blessed us all in the process.

And then, dear blog readers, came the grand finale. YOUR gift!

Mary had collaborated with several others to notify you of my birthday. And the giant box in my living room today is overflowing with your greeting cards, some I haven’t even opened yet! Feeling overwhelmed with your kindness, all I can do is express a huge “THANK YOU” to each of you in these words, hoping you feel my intense gratitude!

These cards will re-gift themselves as I go through them slowly for the second time during this year-of-70. And in trying to bless-you-back, I plan to use the words you wrote to me, to pray blessing back over you.

Now, as I look back at turning 70, I can see God in a fresh way. Isn’t it just like him to take an event I was dreading and flip-flop it, transforming it into a day of joy?

And I hope my “happy feet” will help me remember that for next time!