Hello!
Thanksgiving
is right around the corner, and I have lots to be thankful for.
The
biggest thanks this year is for the safe delivery of my great granddaughter,
Ellen Joy, who was born by c-section on the 7th of this month weighing 8 lbs
and 8 oz, almost two weeks early. Miss
Ellie was breech so the doctor decided to try and turn her only to discover
that her heart rate was off. When the
c-section, was done, they discovered the cord wrapped around her tiny neck
three times! God certainly worked everything out. Next week, Dwight and I are going down to
Nashville to see the little Miss. I can't wait.
Another
thing I'm grateful for is the safe travels for Dawn and Katie during the two
days of flying back from the Philippines. It's hard to wrap my head around the
idea of my daughter, Dawn, being a grandmother. Meanwhile Randy- who a couple
weeks ago was in the hospital on antibiotic IVs for a problem that suddenly
flared up but is now doing OK- and William are holding down the fort doing all
the services back in the Philippines while Dawn and Katie are over here for two
weeks.
I've
never been one to worry about getting older, but this year in the beginning I
dreaded the thought turning 65 this month after Thanksgiving because that was
how old my mother was when she died.
Also, I would now be older than Dana, who died at 64- something I never
imagined happening as he was two years older than me- as well as being older
than my brother, who died a year ago at 64 too.
Then lo and behold, I was told the news of Annette expecting a couple
weeks before my birthday and suddenly, where the Bible talks about God turning
our mourning into joy, it became a reality for me. What is more joyful than a
newborn baby girl? And to get to be with
Dawn and Katie this Thanksgiving is icing on the cake. This birthday will
always be a reminder of how God works miracles in our lives- even through dark
times.
The
last two months have been up and down physically for me again. I finished
sewing the beige summer chair covers in my living room the end of Sept,
harvested mint and raspberry leaves, collected flower seeds, and harvested all
the green tomatoes left on the vines before the temp dropped to freezing. I
also have worked on my shade gardens transplanting ferns and planting spring
bulbs. Between begin down with the cold/flu for a miserable couple of weeks, along
with some down days when my pain levels rose due to the cold weather, I
winterized the duck and henhouses with straw and leaves, put leaves in the duck
pen as well, filled buckets with sticks for kindling, mulched all my roses for
winter, and cleaned out the back end of the woodshed, which was quite the
project that had been needing done for a couple of years now.
I
still need to winterize the beehive and my garden plots yet before it gets too
cold to be working outside. For some reason work always manages to stick
around.
You
know me, and how my mind is always buzzing with ideas, well after Dawn and her
family went back to the Philippines, Katie was on my mind. I had hoped to get
her started with piano lessons when they were back here this summer, but it
didn’t work out. Every week, when I’d give piano lessons to my two girls, I
always thought of Katie, wishing I could sit her on my piano bench too. One
evening, when I was talking to Dawn (it’s her morning) and she was telling me
about Katie beginning her next school year, I got a brainstorm. Dawn doesn’t
have time or the patience to give Katie piano lessons- she had someone else
give piano lessons to Annette and William. Now that Katie is older, she is able
to do most of her home-school work by herself.
I thought, why not somehow mail piano lessons to Katie where she could
learn how to play the piano by herself too?
If Katie didn’t understand something in a lesson, Dawn could always
explain or show her on their keyboard.
So,
for a couple of months, I spent hours on my computer every week typing,
photocopying examples, and explaining piano lessons- the way I do with my piano
students in person. Then I wrote songs
to play. I put three lessons in one
envelope and sent out four batches by the end of Aug for a total of twelve
lessons. So far six piano lessons have
made it to the Philippines. Say a prayer that the rest will make it too. Next,
I got a notebook and plastic sheet covers for the copied hymns out of the piano
course that I began with Dawn and always use. I punched holes in the first
twelve piano lessons so that Katie can put in the notebook too. Originally, I
was going to copy from the old piano course that I thought Dawn had given me
back, but instead had ended up somewhere with their things in storage.
I
told my two piano students how I was making and sending piano lessons to my
granddaughter in the Philippines and asked if they (my first girl is in the
second piano book and the second girl is in the first book) would be willing to
let me copy some of the songs out of their piano books. They both said “yes”
thrilled at the idea of copies of their piano songs going around the
world. In fact, my youngest student’s
grandmother offered and copied off her granddaughter’s songs for me. Then I took a picture of both of the girls at
the piano with their piano books and put it on the first page in the notebook
telling Katie about my two piano students and how they let me copy piano songs
for her. I got the notebook ready with the Christmas gifts to go in the box
that is to arrive in the Philippines for Dawn and her family in time for
Christmas. That way Katie can keep doing
piano lessons until they come back home next summer. Like they say, where there is a will, there
is a way, and this grandma wants to make sure that Katie has the chance to
learn to play the piano like her great grandma, grandma, mother, and older
sister does.
Have
a wonderful Thanksgiving season on your end!
Dorcas
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