Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” (Exodus 17:14)
‘Tis the day after Christmas, and in addition to returning all the gifts that we didn’t want and taking advantage of after Christmas sales prices, it’s a time when we traditionally start looking back at the year that has passed and forward to the year to come. So here’s my retrospective of the past year.
December 2017 and January 2018 were difficult times, with Dad in and out of the hospital. Before the hospital trips, he was somewhat able to do for himself, since them, it’s been downhill. I learned to give insulin injections. He’s now bed-ridden, as much by choice as by weakness. The benefit of that was that somehow, I recall doing a fair bit of writing while sitting in the hospital room. On the way home from Florida last March, he fell and fractured his L1 while I was bringing stuff out of the car. Since then, he’s been in and out of the hospital a few times and I think every time, it throws me for a loop because he comes out of the hospital less able than he went in.
Late in the spring, God told me that if I was going to put in a garden, that day was the day. I replied that I had decided not to put one in. God said, “No, if you’re going to put in a garden, today is the day.” The third time He said, “You don’t understand. If you’re going to put in a garden, today’s the day.” I finally pulled a Gideon. “OK, God, if You want me to put in a garden, the mini-tiller will work.” It did. The garden went in.
At some point, Grace snuck out by me (I think) and went on a grand tour of the neighborhood. She had lots of fun. Dad got frustrated. I got worried. When I got her home again, Dad suggested that we put in a fence so she can’t escape. So, after fifty years and seven dogs, we put in a fence. Shortly before they actually installed it, my sister and brother-in-law visited.
Shortly after that was ordered, one of the healthy looking limbs on our birch tree cracked off. Reluctantly, I decided the tree needed to come down. The people who removed it also took out the remaining 1960s era bushes. After a couple weeks, Dad said we should put a tree in its place, or better yet, a couple bushes. One for each side of our split front yard. I’ve wanted Service Berries for some time, to attract birds. I got two and used the mini-tiller to plant them. Now, all we need is for the Cedar Waxwings and Indigo Buntings to find them. That’s also when I started work on a butterfly garden in front of our picture window.
Shortly after that, I tried to get a ramp put in, so it’d be easier to get Dad in and out of the house. That didn’t work out. I think it was a ploy on his part to keep me from pursuing that idea that he told me to paint the front step. I got some “Dried Thyme” paint, then a bunch of acrylic paints and sponge painted the sides and risers to look like a garden. It seemed to be fading even before we returned to Florida so next spring may require another round with some sort of sealer. I learned to change supra-pubic catheters.
Then, Dad decided one day that we should take out the tree in the backyard that had been taken out a few years back and put in a peach tree. I got a peach and a crabapple tree and used my mini-tiller to plant them. After that, Dad told me to go buy a truck, so we’d have more cargo room for the trip to Florida.
I got it into my head that next spring, I wanted to try square-foot-gardening, so I bought some wood to use to frame my raised beds. Then we came to Florida. Dad has spent some more time in the hospital, and we got him enrolled in Hospice.
In addition to that whirlwind of activities, I finished the second revision of Earth Fire in April and began editing it. I’m finishing that up to send to an editor in January. I started working on my revision of Soul Fire. I gave up on that on November first to try the National Novel Writer’s Month challenge of writing fifty thousand words during November. I only got forty thousand written. I have returned to editing Earth Fire but have been toying with a short story that seems to be turning into a novel. I also suffered from a depression about which God told me to “trust Him until the end of December.” I haven’t gotten what I wanted yet, and I may not, but the depression is lifting.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year, with a wild mixture of good and bad. What have I learned? I don’t know. I’d like to say that I learned to trust God more. Maybe I have but I don’t know how to measure my trust either before or after to compare them. That’s not an unusual problem for me. The best I can say at the moment is that God blesses, God is good, and He has guided me through some tough stuff.
December 2017 and January 2018 were difficult times, with Dad in and out of the hospital. Before the hospital trips, he was somewhat able to do for himself, since them, it’s been downhill. I learned to give insulin injections. He’s now bed-ridden, as much by choice as by weakness. The benefit of that was that somehow, I recall doing a fair bit of writing while sitting in the hospital room. On the way home from Florida last March, he fell and fractured his L1 while I was bringing stuff out of the car. Since then, he’s been in and out of the hospital a few times and I think every time, it throws me for a loop because he comes out of the hospital less able than he went in.
Late in the spring, God told me that if I was going to put in a garden, that day was the day. I replied that I had decided not to put one in. God said, “No, if you’re going to put in a garden, today is the day.” The third time He said, “You don’t understand. If you’re going to put in a garden, today’s the day.” I finally pulled a Gideon. “OK, God, if You want me to put in a garden, the mini-tiller will work.” It did. The garden went in.
At some point, Grace snuck out by me (I think) and went on a grand tour of the neighborhood. She had lots of fun. Dad got frustrated. I got worried. When I got her home again, Dad suggested that we put in a fence so she can’t escape. So, after fifty years and seven dogs, we put in a fence. Shortly before they actually installed it, my sister and brother-in-law visited.
Shortly after that was ordered, one of the healthy looking limbs on our birch tree cracked off. Reluctantly, I decided the tree needed to come down. The people who removed it also took out the remaining 1960s era bushes. After a couple weeks, Dad said we should put a tree in its place, or better yet, a couple bushes. One for each side of our split front yard. I’ve wanted Service Berries for some time, to attract birds. I got two and used the mini-tiller to plant them. Now, all we need is for the Cedar Waxwings and Indigo Buntings to find them. That’s also when I started work on a butterfly garden in front of our picture window.
Shortly after that, I tried to get a ramp put in, so it’d be easier to get Dad in and out of the house. That didn’t work out. I think it was a ploy on his part to keep me from pursuing that idea that he told me to paint the front step. I got some “Dried Thyme” paint, then a bunch of acrylic paints and sponge painted the sides and risers to look like a garden. It seemed to be fading even before we returned to Florida so next spring may require another round with some sort of sealer. I learned to change supra-pubic catheters.
Then, Dad decided one day that we should take out the tree in the backyard that had been taken out a few years back and put in a peach tree. I got a peach and a crabapple tree and used my mini-tiller to plant them. After that, Dad told me to go buy a truck, so we’d have more cargo room for the trip to Florida.
I got it into my head that next spring, I wanted to try square-foot-gardening, so I bought some wood to use to frame my raised beds. Then we came to Florida. Dad has spent some more time in the hospital, and we got him enrolled in Hospice.
In addition to that whirlwind of activities, I finished the second revision of Earth Fire in April and began editing it. I’m finishing that up to send to an editor in January. I started working on my revision of Soul Fire. I gave up on that on November first to try the National Novel Writer’s Month challenge of writing fifty thousand words during November. I only got forty thousand written. I have returned to editing Earth Fire but have been toying with a short story that seems to be turning into a novel. I also suffered from a depression about which God told me to “trust Him until the end of December.” I haven’t gotten what I wanted yet, and I may not, but the depression is lifting.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year, with a wild mixture of good and bad. What have I learned? I don’t know. I’d like to say that I learned to trust God more. Maybe I have but I don’t know how to measure my trust either before or after to compare them. That’s not an unusual problem for me. The best I can say at the moment is that God blesses, God is good, and He has guided me through some tough stuff.
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