Update 1/25/10 Day 78

Dear friends,

Thought old Noah was going to pay us a how do you do today. What a deluge! If all that liquid was snow... Yikes! I was soaked after our errands this morning. I believe the technical term for all of this is "January thaw". Soon January will be over. February is a big month for the Smith's. If all goes according to plan (ha!), Stephen's bones in his right leg should be ready to bear weight. Most likely later in February, but that's the target month.

Corn muffins just came out of the oven. An asiago parmesan bagel is thawing on the counter. Somehow, I must get my teenagers to eat breakfast tomorrow morning. Joseph loves corn muffins, and Miss Rejoice is a big asiago parmesan bagel fan. They both have midterms on Tuesday, and I hear breakfast gives the brain a healthy shot of glucose to get those synapses firing. They'll be testing all week long, and studying too, so you can imagine the mood upstairs in the man cave is not jolly. I tried to explain to my firstborn that perseverance is required for all the testing times in life. He got that glazed over,"mom is philosophizing again" look on his face. So I shut up. I think I need to do that more often.

The Great One continues to uphold us on the road. David came home from school very overwhelmed today. We put our arms around him and asked why he was so stressed. He broke down and sobbed "Dad is still in a wheelchair". I'm so glad he told us how he was feeling. It all feels very long to us, but to a 12 year old it must seem like an eternity. We reassured him that Dad will indeed walk again (praise God!), and that the Lord will help all of us to persevere until the wonderful moment when walking commences. Even then, there will be a long process of getting strong enough to walk unassisted. This adversity in the life of my baby boy is heartbreaking, but I know it will produce something excellent. Nobody in history with any kind of gumption had an easy road. I love gumption. Judging by the characters and their stories in the Book, God loves gumption too.

Take Daniel for example. Teenager, exiled from his home, separated from all the familiar people and comforts, and by a series of events, becomes a prophet to the king himself. When said king demands Daniel bow down to him, the plucky youth refuses. No dice. So, miserable king throws Daniel into a pit with lions. Not an easy experience. Not a pleasant, lovely stretch on the pilgrim road. But in the end brother Daniel survives the night, and the pagan king sees the power of God and the beautiful character of Daniel. Gumption.

Look at Teddy Roosevelt. Amazing man of character. But he spent much of his youth deprived of the joys of a normal, active boy. He was sick much of the time, with asthma attacks and a weak constitution. But Teddy's father wrapped him up, took him out in the fresh air, and encouraged him that he had a duty to do his best to be a contributor to his world. Adversity was the platform T.R. built on. He trusted God, and served his fellow man. Is there a better legacy than that? Gumption.

As for all of you, whatever your adversity, work it! Or better said, let it work you. Don't go looking for trouble. Without a doubt, in some form or other, it will find you. (Not trying to sound pessimistic. Lovely things find us too)! Sometimes I think living gracefully with the small aggravations is more packed with character development that the big earthquakes in life. But feel free to take all I'm saying with a grain of salt. If it helps you, use it. If not, throw it out. I think I write it to remind myself of the benefit of climbing this mountain. Eee Gads! (Music Man quote), I'm glad to climb with all of you. Pray I'll gain some gumption!

See you tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel. (If that makes no sense to you, you are young.) God Bless all of you, my friends, young and old.

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann