Category Archives: Easter

Nelson’s journal 4/5/22

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Nelson’s baby Will is only three weeks old, but already he has brought some new and interesting challenges to his parents. Nelson gets up during the night along with Ann Sophie, cheering her on and sharing in the hard parts of trying to settle him when he’s crying for unknown reasons.

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April 5, 2022 

Thank you, Lord, that Will finally went to sleep. And with an empty stomach. He gets overtired and hard to settle. It’s a cycle that repeats itself. Raising a kid is pretty hard. Stretches you in lots of ways. I would say the hardest thing is having a problem without solutions.

A crying baby who is upset but has a clean diaper, a full belly, and no known reason to be upset. Won’t sleep, won’t settle, whether he’s held or left alone. We read books, pray, and do the best we can. I hesitate to even pray anymore because it seems when I do pray, the thing I’m asking for definitely doesn’t happen.

Does God answer prayers like, “Please help this baby to drink something,” ? I don’t know, but no one said it would be easy. We are thankful for him and he’s lovely when he’s chill, but that’s not very often. At least not for me.

Annso seems to have stretches during the day when he’s a little angel, but when I show up, he’s jacked up. Maybe he can sense the inner motor I have running and goes off that a little. Overall, we are loving it. The best part of the whole thing is Annso. She’s an angel and makes everything just a little bit better.

The church handoff is pretty much in stone. I’m so relieved about it. I have one more sermon this next week, then Bob Duffer will do the last one which falls on Easter Sunday. We did good. 6 years, at least 5 that Annso was with me. She stood with me the whole time and had more enthusiasm and optimism than I ever did.

Thank you Lord for giving me all these amazing blessings and I hope to be worthy of them, the adversity too.

Came back from HNL [Honolulu] yesterday after an appointment with the Endocrinologist, of which I didn’t know there even was such a thing. Apparently, lots of people have thyroid issues. Hopefully he can resolve mine for me. Pills, tests, levels, etc. No talk of changing diet, which I’m thankful for.

I go into those places assuming they will say to eliminate the things I love to eat and drink, but thankfully, he didn’t. Thank you Lord for Little Will, thank you for the staff team we have here now and for the relatively low key Kokua Crew gang who is here. Thank you for Ally who helps Annso through this time and takes her job. Thank you that you have a plan for the Summer when we hope to leave. I am grateful you give us time together and time off.

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“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted the desires of my heart.” (1 Samuel 1:27)

Newlywed Love (#47)

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March 25, 1970

About this time, it seemed like the whole world was getting away during spring break, traveling to exotic places like Florida, Arizona, or California. Nate and I had both enjoyed traveling during our undergrad years, but these days as we struggled to support ourselves, taking a trip was out of the question. We were lucky to get through a week without a hot-dogs-and-beans supper.

ThinkingOne chilly spring evening we lit a fire and sat in front of it dreaming aloud about what might be the perfect vacation. Nate mentioned the Virgin Islands, knowing how much I loved beaches. Our conversational fantasies drifted to different areas of the country including Hawaii, then across the ocean to Europe and of course Russia, since Nate had learned to speak Russian in college.

 

He said, “If you could visit any country in the world, which would it be?”

That was easy. “Italy,” I said, “because of all the glass factories in and around Venice!” He laughed and talked about his dream to travel all over Europe so he could see first hand where the history in his text books had taken place. But finally we had to set aside our verbal travelogue and face the facts: During spring break of 1970, we were going nowhere.

If we had to stay in Champaign, though, we decided to be deliberate about having a good time. Friends came over to share meals, or sometimes just dessert and coffee. One evening several of us wrote a primitive script and made a movie complete with subtitles. (Super 8 cameras had no sound.)

Sponge candy.Another night we made “sponge candy” with our friends Cathy and John, and Nate liked it so much he made a second batch all by himself.

We went out to eat with friends and saw a movie. And as our downstairs neighbors Fred and Alice arrived back from a winter in Florida, we took brownies to their apartment to welcome them home.

 

At AllertonThough the weather was cool, we drove to the Allerton mansion, packing a picnic, a thermos of hot coffee, and reading material. It was heavenly whiling away the afternoon on a blanket where both of us slept for 2 hours — unmindful of other visitors walking past.

Toward the end of the week, a surprise snowfall invited us outdoors to have a mini-snowball fight, after which we warmed ourselves with Russian spiced tea by the fireplace.

Last snowballsAnd of course we frolicked around the apartment “in a carefree manner,” enjoying our free time and each other.

As vacation week ended, we agreed it had been delightful, as good a spring break as any. And the grand finale’ was a one-day turn-around drive to Wilmette and back to share Easter Sunday with Mom, Dad, Mary, Bervin, the aunties, and brother Tom.

“The Lord…. restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:3)

Newlywed Love (#44)

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March 19, 1970

Nate was a husband who used words to praise, never to find fault. When I looked, it was clear which of us was contributing more positives to our marriage, and it wasn’t me.

No complaints

He cheerfully encouraged me through failures without the slightest criticism, and I found myself admiring his example – and learning from it.

For instance, as I made my first attempt at banana bread, for some reason the batter overflowed the pan. It dripped through the racks and spread out on the oven floor. I didn’t notice until the smell of burn filled the apartment, but it was too late for a rescue.

EatingDiscouraged over yet another failure, I couldn’t face scraping and scouring the oven, so left it for later.

Over the next few days as I used the oven to make dinner, burned banana flavored every meal and filled our home with an ugly odor. Surely Nate noticed…. but he never said a word.

As he loved me unconditionally, I often felt convicted of self-centeredness. Though my grumbling wasn’t about Nate, I often whined to him about other things, not realizing the extra stress this was putting on him.

He listened carefully no matter what I said and never forgot the words. Then he would do whatever he could to remedy my problem. His greatest desire was to make me happy.

If I stood in front of my closet and complained about nothing to wear, it wasn’t long before he’d surprise me with a little money attached to a sweet note – urging me to go shopping.

Noon note

If I whined about not getting to go out very much, soon a coupon to the local pancake house would appear with a note inviting me out to breakfast. Nate was a pro at demonstrating how to love well. And his good model became my good teacher.

Sometimes as we lay snuggled in bed, I would listen to his breathing in sleep, silently thanking God he’d been willing to wait for me. He’d suffered through 18 months of sadness watching me date another boy without ever losing patience.

Lying safely next to my loving husband, I was filled with gratitude that God had prevented me from marrying a guy who would not have been good for me, nor I for him.

Nate’s arms were the only ones I wanted around me.

“I am my lover’s, and he claims me as his own.” (Song of Solomon 7:10)