December in Barcelona Or: I'm Glad I Listened to Mom

It all started when I was 3. I discovered pretend food, tiny plastic dishes, a little iron that actually heated up, and baby dolls. Right then I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I wanted to be a wife and mommy, and that's all I wanted.
That was the supreme goal in my little life. It didn't change as I grew into a young girl, and then an early teen. By the time I was 12 I had several checks against those goals ever becoming a reality.
1. I was not exactly skinny-boys only looked at me to tease me about my not-so-skinny state.
2. My parents were divorced-I had all kinds of emotional baggage from that. For one thing, I was afraid of ending up like they were someday. Hence, I thought, no way. I'm not even going to get married!
3. I can't think of anymore right now so I'll just get on with the story.

As I grew older, I would often whine, "Mom, why don't boys pay attention to me? I want to get married. I want to be a mom...." etc. etc. (Even though the thought of "divorce" terrified me.)
My mom's best advice came from those whiny moments. She just kept saying,"Judy, you're going to be married for a long time. And once you have kids, your life will change forever. Enjoy being young and single. Travel. Try new things! Meet people and make friends with all of them! You'll be tied down to a house, bills, responsibilities for the rest of your life. Just enjoy everything you can before you get married."

Well, for some strange reason I actually listened to my mother. (That didn't happen often) and a year after I graduated from high school I found myself on a mission trip with YWAM. There I was, 19 years old, temporarily living in a campground on the Mediterranean Sea just outside Barcelona, Spain. It was December and cold.

The bathrooms were large and had many sinks, toilets, and showers. The only problem was that the walls of the bathroom building did not go all the way up to the ceiling. Do you know what that means? You were basically showering outside in temperatures that averaged in the 30's. We had to wash our clothes outside in large mudroom-type sinks. The temperature averaged in the 30's.

While we were there, one of the girls wanted to be water baptized in the campground swimming pool. Ice had to be chipped off the pool before she could get in it to be dunked.

There were 7 of us girls literally stuffed into 1 camper. One poor girl even had to sleep on the floor of our cramped camper.

There was no central meeting room so anytime we had a worship service or even a meal, we met or ate outside, standing up. The temperatures averaged in the 30's.

Nearly every morning I would head to the beach to watch the sunrise. I'd stand there, in the sand, all alone except for Jesus. I was alone because no one else wanted to be on a beach when the temperatures averaged in the 30's. Just as the sun was peeking over the edge of the water I'd close my eyes and sing. I had never been happier.
There I was, alone with Jesus, having the adventure of my life. Seeing new things, exploring the world, making new friends, and learning more and more about the One who was and is my best friend. Worship just came naturally from a full and overflowing heart.

Sometimes as I stood there singing my heart out, I would suddenly be distracted by a strange and unpleasant odor. The Barcelona sewage system was located right outside the campground. When the wind was blowing in the direction of the campground, well, you can imagine. Yuck. Sometimes I was able to ignore it and go on singing. If that happened, something else would come along as a distraction. Right beyond the Barcelona sewage system was the Barcelona airport. Vroooooommms! from planes either taking off or landing would be sure to drown out any singing the stink hadn't managed to choke off.

I had a friend on our mission team I adored. Barry. He was from England. We hit it off and laughed for 4 months. (Our mission team had been in England for a 3 month training period before we went on the mission trip to Spain.) No romance, just a wonderful friendship. Sometimes we could hardly walk because we'd be laughing so hard.

There were YWAM teams from other countries staying at the campground while we were there. One of them was from Sweden. One morning, in the pre-dawn darkness we were all awakened by the sound of singing. Lovely singing. Sweet voices singing beautiful Swedish Christmas carols. As we all stumbled out of our little campers we saw something that I personally will never forget. The girls from the Swedish YWAM team were drifting through the campground singing. They were all dressed in white robes with shimmering red sashes tied around their waists. In their soft golden hair they wore Evergreen wreaths surrounded with lit candles. This was their Christmas gift to anyone who happened to be there that dark, December morning.

I've been doing this wifey, mommy thing for 23 years now. I've not had the chance to see too many exciting places since I said, "I do." The Lord has given me the desire of my heart and blessed me with a wonderful husband and 4 amazing sons. He's also blessed me with sweet and funny memories from a lifetime ago.
My mom was right. I've been blessed twice over. Two rich, full lives. I'm glad I listened to her.

A Wonderful Day

Thanksgiving was wonderful around here. Our 2 oldest sons have slept away most of our Thanksgivings and Christmases in the last few years. They would get up in time to eat, but exhaustion would send them back to sleep shortly after we prayed. (We pray after meals at this house.) However, for some reason they felt good and were even actually alert. :-) We enjoyed laughing and talking and eating together and then we ALL went hiking. I literally cannot remember the last time all 6 of us did anything together. We even rode in the same car! I can't remember the last time that happened either.
It started to get dark while we were out hiking, and because I'm an old woman now, my depth perception isn't what it used to be the closer to "dark" it gets. All 3 of our big guys were so sweet-they kept waiting for me and helping me over the rough spots. (Chivalry is not dead!)
I realize this is probably terribly boring to most of you, but I wanted to write about it anyway. Only God knows how many more holidays we'll have with all our boys together at the same time. Two of them are adults now. Moving, marriages, friends, etc. could all take away time from "this" family. If you still have little people around, soak up the time you have with them.

Thursday was a sweet gift to me. And you know what the whip cream on the pumpkin pie was? Later in the evening our oldest son actually watched a chick-flick with me!

Happy Holidays?

The other day I somehow stumbled onto an amazing, heartbreaking, bittersweet, hopeful, sad, wonderful blog. It was written by a couple in their 20's who just a few weeks ago lost a new baby. It made me think about life and death and pain and Thanksgiving. The holidays are "supposed" to be a time of joy. But sometimes they're not all their cracked up to be.
I've lived through:

• losing my parents twice-once to the effects of divorce, once to death.
• "losing" a family because of my parents' divorce
• the loneliness of being a latch-key kid
• losing a brother in a motorcycle/car accident
• 2 babies wait for us in heaven
• we've experienced financial troubles
• plus just the normal stresses of marriage and raising kids

If I look over at that little "FEEDJIT" thingy, I see that there are people who stumble onto this blog that I'll never meet. I think about you just the same. I wonder who you are, and what your life is like. I wonder why you stopped by this particular blog. And this week I've been wondering if any of you are in pain. Or stressed. Or lonely.

My heart is going out to that young couple who lost their baby. They know Jesus loves them and have clung to Him for comfort during this time. Jesus is the one who kept me going through everything that's been hard in my life. I just wanted to offer you the same comfort and hope.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

You can have joy in the midst of sorrow or stress. Trust me. I've experienced it.

If you're not going through anything particularly difficult right now, you might want to read about the young couple I've mentioned. And pray for them. Here's how to find them:http://conorbootheandgirls.blogspot.com/

Traditions

As the holidays quickly approach, I've been thinking about traditions. What are some of your family's favorites? What were some of your favorite traditions as a child? I'd love to hear from you, even if you've never left a comment before. I think our family has a tradition of no traditions. The only one I can think of is an "end of the school year party" held each spring when we've finished school for the year. Sometimes we'll have a "back to school party" in the fall, but not as faithfully as the "end" party. That makes sense though. What kid wants to party when he has to hit the books after a long, relaxing summer?!