| What a Week! |
| Hi J,We had an unpleasant surprise on Thanksgiving. All eight of the kids plus wives and grandkids were here and we’re all in and out of the kitchen, cooking and fellowshipping, when the floor starts to give in the kitchen. Pretty soon, we realize it’s more than a soft spot; part of the floor was actually visibly sagging! There wasn’t anything we could do about it in the next few weeks during the Christmas rush, but we decided we’d have to replace the floor right after Christmas. Ugh.One of our boys is a real estate investor. Sam loves to renovate and flip properties, so last week he offered to come help, but, “Mom, I’m sorry, but the only time I can do this is the week before Christmas.”Oh no! I really can’t do any preparations for our family Christmas until after the holiday shipping deadline. I depend on that one week to do all the baking, cooking, wrapping, decorating, all of it. If you’ve read our book, Christ-Centered Christmas, you have an idea how much all that means to us! I flat-out panicked at the thought of not being able to use the kitchen for even part of that week! Ugh. Ugh, Ugh.Then Caleb and his wife Sarah, who live nearby, said, “You can come cook at our house! Don’t worry, we’ll move all the stuff for you,” and the other boys said they’d come help with the floor so it would only take a day or two and we had a plan. A plan that worried me a lot, but it had to be done.Tuesday morning bright and early, they started breaking up the tile on the floor. Quickly they found out the situation was far worse than imagined. It wasn’t just sub-flooring. Three JOISTS had to be replaced, others had to be rehung. The cabinets had been damaged and had to come out. There was mold and wallboard had to come out. The kitchen had to be gutted. It was going to take all week and a lot of money and we were really worried about how we’d manage it.“Oh, don’t worry, Mom and Dad, we’ve got this figured out! Sam is buying the lumber, drywall, and flooring. John is buying new cabinets. Matt is buying walnut countertops and beadboard for the walls. Caleb is going to do the driving to different towns to get what we need and host everyone. Sam, Seth, and David are going to be here all week doing the hard labor. Susannah, Katie, Camille, Makayla, and Sarah (our daughters and daughters-in-love) are going to help you bake at Caleb’s house. Seth even brought steaks from his cattle herd to feed us! And Camille brought garlands and greenery. Don’t worry, we’ve got this!”Y’all. Tears. There are so many times when your kids are young that it seems like parenting is just pouring yourself out until there is nothing left. Ever had the stomach flu go through the entire family? Even day-to-day life can feel like sacrifice after sacrifice. Let’s face it. Your children are not going to thank you for disciplining them or teaching them math!One day, though, you’ll be the one needing them. Then all that time you spent building relationship and focusing on discipleship will come to harvest. Galatians 6:9 tells us,And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.The holidays are sometimes hard when you have young children. I remember one Christmas we were up ALL night wrapping gifts and preparing food for Christmas. Finally we were done and we got in the recliners to try to sleep a bit before the children woke up. Fifteen minutes later they ran in shouting with joy! So hard.If that’s you this Christmas, don’t grow weary in well-doing. The love and teaching you are pouring into your children makes a difference. One day you’ll probably be in our shoes, humbled and amazed at the love and sacrifice our children are showing us. Keep trusting God and doing good, friends!We hope you will have a wonderful Christmas full of happy memories for the future, dear friends! – Hal and Melanie Young www.raisingrealmen.com |