2021 DECEMBER CHRISTMAS Walker Newsletter

 

Hello!

Christmas is here once again to celebrate our Savior's birth.  Little did I, and my family, realize that our last Christmas celebration would be the final time that Dana would be with us. We are still in the process of adjusting to not having Dana around. His larger-than-life personality leaves a big hole in our family structure; the house is much quieter now as forty-five years of memories flood our mind.  I'm so thankful though for the blessed hope- that Dana preached about often for several years- that we now can cling to. Christ's birth, crucifixion, and resurrection gives us the assurance that one day we will be reunited again forever.  What an awesome promise!

Meanwhile we have been busy painting and organizing stuff around the house that I wasn't able to get to before when taking care of Dana. With the stimulus checks we received earlier this year; we were able to buy metal for our roof that needed redone.  Dwight had to completely tear out the back sun/mud room roof that had been leaking.  It has been quite a project as Dwight can only work for a bit at a time.  The entire roof is thankfully three-fourths completed.

Dawn and her family came for Thanksgiving. Lots of changes have happened this year as Annette also got married the last of July, so she too was missing. Randy and William brought their guitars, and with Dwight, we had quite the music fest in the evenings between playing games in the dining room. During the day, the fellows put in three insulated doors in the sun/mud room, which is such a blessing. As usual our time together was too short.

One week this month the temperature was up in the high 60's so I went crazy hanging out wash, putting leaves in the duck and hen houses for insulation, spreading manure on another garden plot, and transplanting strawberry plants on the bank that have spread around Dwight's workshop.

Since then, I've had to break ice in the outside water buckets for Tex, the ducks & chickens, haul ashes and wood, and keep the wood stoves going. I'm so grateful for my warm house here in the woods when the winter winds blow.

Everyone, including Annette & Curtis, is coming up to celebrate Christmas the Monday & Tuesday after Christmas.  So needless to say, I am in a dither trying to get all the Christmas decorations up, finish the Christmas shopping, and then wrap gifts, cook, and bake before everyone comes- not to mention giving everything a good cleaning. Just where does all the dirt and dust come from anyway?

After Christmas I plan on remodeling my kitchen and some other major areas of the house. I'm going to go room by room painting and upgrading things. I've got a list of things needing a loving touch or rather a paintbrush. I'm so thankful for the strength I have, even though each year I seem to slow down rather than speed up like I'd prefer.

Dawn and Randy are still planning on going to the Philippines when the door opens. Curtis and Annette are pastoring the Madison church in Nashville.  Dwight meanwhile stays busy designing and making pocketknives between doing projects around the house.

I know that God will be faithful to take care of us and meet our needs as He has in the past; so I can trust Him for the future. Although Dana is gone, his legacy still lives in our children and grandchildren.

Have a Blessed Christmas Season!

Dorcas

2021 NOVEMBER Walker Newsletter

 

Hello!

The blaze of brightly colored autumn leaves have faded and fallen to the ground leaving bare tree limbs here in the TN Mountains as cold winds bring freezing temperatures.  I've had my wood stoves going to keep the house warm.  Even the hardiest of the fall flowers are fading away. Warm and sunny days are getting fewer and farther apart as the earth tilts and the days grow shorter.  As the squirrel's scurry around storing nuts, I'm also scrambling to get much needed projects finished outdoors.

The biggest project was and is our sun/mudroom that was leaking and went from bad to worse. Dwight had to completely tear off the roof and replace it- stopping finishing metaling the rest of the house roof like planned.  We also put in new linoleum, which Dawn and Randy helped to lay. You can't imagine the amount of stuff that was stacked and stored in such a tiny room- not to mention all the plants that I over winter there as well. I was dearly hoping to get it painted and everything back in place for Thanksgiving, but like so many remodeling projects it is going slower than planned so stuff is still sitting around the dining room to my dismay.

Meanwhile I've been busy brandishing a paint brush. I have totally repainted the back bathroom, front door, the outside bird feeder, and clothesline so far. Between painting, I've hauled two wagon loads of manure up to the garden and filled six large garbage cans with leaves to help winterized the duck and hen houses. On rainy days, I've been pulling out, sorting through, and organizing stuff under the beds & closets.

Here the other week I ran into one of my former piano students that I had given lessons to when she was just a small girl. Now she is a mother of three children and a nurse like her mother. She asked if I would be willing to give her daughter piano lessons. So, out of the blue, I am now teaching a second generation the joys of playing the piano- not that I am getting old (ha!). What fun!

The first week in November I had a rough week over what would have been Dana's 65th birthday.

I kept waking up at night as memories flooded my mind and cried during the day.  Grief is a process that one must work through as you adjust to the loss of your loved one.  During that week I planted spring bulbs I had bought telling myself that even though they looked dead right then, they would come back to life again and beautify the earth with their flowers. I'm so glad that the grave is not the end. As Christians we have hope of being reunited again forever in a much more glorious place than anything here on earth.

Dawn and her family are planning on coming up for Thanksgiving, which I am looking forward to.  It will be a time of making new memories over the holidays while cherishing the past.

Dorcas