Another Chapter is Ending

I grew up in this home.

When I was two years old, my family, then consisting of Dad, Mom, my brother Rick, and me moved from Indiana to Findlay, Ohio. We moved into a little three bedroom house on West Front Street. By the time I was ten years old, we had added four more siblings. I was the only one of the six kids who did not take my first steps in our first home in Findlay. Many years later, after I had graduated from college, my family moved to another house. And so ended one chapter in our lives.

That move happened half of my lifetime ago. Over the years, we have seen our old home change hands a couple times. It's current owner is City Mission, an organization that aids homeless people. I'm not certain exactly what their plans are for the lot, but it doesn't include maintaining an old house that has become quite run-down over the last few decades since we moved away. Sometime soon, probably this next week, the house on West Front Street will be torn down. 

This grate allowed warm air to rise to the upstairs bedrooms.
I brought this keepsake home.

 

Over the last few years, City Mission has graciously allowed various members of my family to go back inside the house. Mom, Dad, and I went there this past Friday for one last visit. We took lots of pictures...and salvaged a few items as keepsakes. There wasn't much to take with us, but I am glad we got the things we did.

Mom brought this keepsake home.
She had never noticed the eagle was
upside down.

And so...another chapter is coming to an end. As with everyone who ever lived, I am sure, our life in the house on West Front Street held a mixture of sadness, happiness, pain and pleasure. As I walked through the empty rooms for the last time, I did not reflect on the sadness and pain. Instead, I recalled the happy, silly, funny times we shared in that home.

• Tickle fights where all six kids pinned Dad down on the living room floor to tickle him...until someone called "Everybody on ......!" and the person called was the next tickle-ee".
• Watching the first moon walk on the little black and white TV

• 

  Six PJ-clad kids gathered on these stairs
  every Christmas morning for a photo.

  
  

  Coming downstairs in our PJ's on Christmas morning to see what was in our stockings.
• Dad making pancakes for breakfast when Mom was in the hospital after giving birth to one of the youngest kids. He mistakenly put pancake syrup in the skillet. (I think he assumed pancakes were to be fried in vegetable oil rather than butter, and he picked up the wrong bottle. What a mess!)
• Mom's pleasure over opening Dad's Christmas gift of a sewing machine cabinet...and the laughter over the silly gift Mom received of a Snuffleupagus stuffed animal. (Remember that character from Sesame Street?)
• Watching Rick literally fall off his chair with laughter. I have no idea now what he was laughing about.

  

  Steve wasn't allowed in the house
  after the Swale Park episode
  until he had shed his smelly
  outer clothes outside.

• Janet eating blueberry pie and finding the fruit stained her teeth blue.
• Beth at age three or so eagerly offering her services to erase mistakes in the homework of her older siblings.
• Steve coming home covered head to toe in stuff much stinkier than mud after taking a forbidden shortcut through Swale Park. (I didn't witness that event, but it is part of family legend.)
• Doug trimming the eyebrows off of Mom's Snuffleupagus stuffed animal because Mom had commented jokingly that his eyebrows were too shaggy. (By the way, Mom still has Snuffy.)

As for me...so many memories. I especially remember my reading corner where I would mentally disappear into a good book and be completely unaware of what was going on around me. I also remember Rick and I sitting on the swing set in the back yard making up travel adventures. In our imaginations, we traveled to so many places. Hmmm...I guess we started our world-traveling even then.

So, one chapter is ending. There are many more to come. I look forward to seeing what future chapters have in store.

Drenching Rain, Flat Tire, Christmas Blessings

It is now December 26^th. Christmas is over…mostly. Here in Indonesia, Christmas celebrations continue well into January.

With Ibu Sara, retured director of the children's home

The last two days were full of memorable events. Monday, Christmas Eve, Rachel and I made the 45 minute motorbike drive into town to our international church. A great group of people had been working with me to prepare the Christmas Eve service. I went early to be sure everything was in order.

We arrived at about 3:00 PM, dropped off the small suitcase containing our clothes for that night, and then went out to eat a late lunch. While eating, it started to rain. I left Rachel waiting under shelter while I went to get the motorbike. I didn’t want her standing there exposed to the rain while I put on my rain poncho. I got quite wet before getting the poncho on, then picked up Rachel. She quickly put on her helmet and hopped on the back of the bike, sheltering under the back of my poncho.

We made our next stop at a supermarket. By the time we got there, one might easily have thought someone up there was dumping buckets of water on us. I let Rachel off the bike under shelter. By the time I parked and got inside, leaving the poncho on the bike, I probably looked like a drowned rat. We did our shopping, which included a raincoat and rain pants for Rachel, so she was well protected.

We got back to the church and parked near the office. The music minister had just arrived and got a good laugh over our (my) water-logged condition. He drives a motorbike everywhere, too, so he has been there…done that. (Sorry, no drowned rat pictures.)

With Hastin, wife of the current acting director of the children's home, and a dear friend.

Things started looking up from there. We both got a shower and changed our clothes at the church. The musicians came, and we practiced the music. The various participants came, and everything started coming together.

The one thing that wasn’t cooperating was my left knee. I was experiencing an acute flare-up of rheumatoid arthritis, and was finding it painful to walk. Once in a while, my knee would buckle under me, Once, I almost fell and nearly dragged someone else with me.  I asked some friends who had arrived early to pray for me. I was supposed to MC (for lack of a better term) the service that night, and was praying that my knee would not give me trouble. God answered that prayer. As the service ended, I realized that I had not even thought about my knee the whole time. What a great answer to prayer! What a gift!

Speaking of gifts…that was the theme of the service. God’s Greatest Gift. The Gift of Jesus, His Son, Who came into our world to bring us back to Him. Various scripture readings and carols retold the Christmas story. Our pastor shared a reflection gifts, and we finished by considering what our gifts back to God might be – our hearts, our talents, our praises.  

Rachel and I arrived home about 10:00 PM that night after an hour of travel, and dropped into bed.

Rachel gets kind of goofy while waiting for the tire to be patched.

Christmas morning, we got up and checked in our stockings. Rachel had filled mine. I filled hers. We went to our Indonesian church for their morning service. I was excited to see some of the graduates from the children’s home back for a visit. It was good to celebrate the birth of our Savior with dear friends here.

No need to tell every detail of the day, so I’ll fast forward to evening. We were invited to an Australian-style Christmas celebration. These friends had invited people of at least three nationalities over to their home for food, games, and Christmas carols by candlelight in the back yard. We sat around on mats and blankets spread on the ground and enjoyed a wonderful evening.

While waiting, we discovered that taking pictures of traffic using the fireworks setting on the camera, while moving the camera around made some very interesting effects.

 About 8:00 PM, we hopped back on our bike to head home. Ten minutes later, I realized my back tire was feeling strange. Great! Just great! A flat tire…after 8 PM. It could have been a nightmare. But God was looking out for us. If I had to have a flat tire, it couldn’t have happened in better spot. I only had to push the bike for about half a minute to get to a place that patches tires. Of course, it was closed, but the owner got up and helped me out anyway. I was so thankful for that.

An hour later, with the tire fixed, we were on our way. Yet another hour later, we arrived home. Once again, Rachel dropped into bed, and I followed shortly afterwards.

The same trick works on your Christmas tree. Try it out if you have a fireworks setting on your camera.

Drenching rain and flat tire. A healing touch when it was needed most. Church family celebrating together, and friends singing His praises.  Precious memories add to our collection for Christmas 2012 in Bali, Indonesia.

Christmas 2012 is over. But I trust that the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of Immanuel, God With Us – and all that His coming entails, will remain with you and with me all year through.