It was about a week before Christmas.  I was just leaving my parent’s house after a short visit.  My mom and dad walked outside with me as I made my way to my van.  It happened that the mail truck had just passed by.  My parent’s mailbox is the kind that is on a post at the street, so the mail carrier drives by and puts the mail in the box.  My mom opened the box and retrieved a small package.  She bent over a bit and peered into the box looking for more.  There was no more mail.  Certain that she was supposed to get more mail, my mom shouted “Yoo hoo!” at the mail truck then turned to my dad and me and emphatically told us that there must be more mail.  “I always get more mail than this” she declared.  “Yoo Hoo,” she repeated as she beckoned to the retreating mail truck.  Turning back to us, she suggested that one of us chase down that mail truck because, dog gone it, she was expecting more mail!

Yoo hoo!

Life doesn’t always deliver what we expect, does it?  Oh – sometimes what we get is better.  Like the unexpected sale price on a special purchase.  Or a bigger paycheck.  Free dessert.  Or an “A” on a test when we were expecting a “C”.   Many times, what we get is much worse.  Medical test results that say the cancer has come back.  Or the inflated car repair bill that was supposed to be a small easy fix.   How about when you unwrap and bite into that carry out burger and discover it was put together all wrong and they forgot to hold the onions?

Now here we all are at the start of a new year.  What do you expect the New Year to bring you?  Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?   If you are like me, you will probably agree that most New Year’s resolutions simply go in one ‘year’ and out the other.  Ha!   Besides, most people look forward to the New Year simply for a new start on old habits.

I think we are all in the same New Year’s boat in the fact that we all want to lose weight, improve ourselves, maybe learn a new skill, clean out the basement, become a better person, and have all things honky dory happy.  But in our desire and quest for all things good, we must be prepared for things to not always go as we expect.  And that’s okay.  Because maybe God has a better plan then whatever we could think up. Or if things don’t go our way, maybe we just can’t see the whole picture of what the final outcome will be.  And if we are simply frustrated because we didn’t stick to the diet, well, that is a goal we can start working on new every day.

I think I shall try to face the New Year, armed with these words from Psalm 5:  Hear my cry for help,my King and my God, for to you I pray.  In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.  There is no better way to start the day then with a chat with God.  He wants to hear from me.  He wants to hear from you!  If we lay all our requests before Him, what then do we have to worry about?  To be ‘expectant’ means that you are feeling or waiting for something to happen.  Talk to Him when you wake and give the day over to Him.  Then expect something to happen.

So, why not try starting each day with a “Yoo Hoo” to God?  He’s waiting to hear from you.  And know that however it is he answers you, that His plan is always perfect – even if you don’t get what you expected.  You might get something even better.

Yoo Hoo!

just Laurel

And the word of the day is:

Home.

After a month of daughters and son-in-laws coming and going, everyone is finally home or on their way to home.

So I thought a lot about “home” today.  I grew up in Parma, Ohio.  That was my home.  My childhood home.  I can’t go back there now because my parents don’t live there anymore.  And the house my parents have since moved to was never a place that I did any growing up in, so I can’t go to their place and feel like I am making a visit home.  I suppose if I had some ancient grandparents that lived in the old family home or farm, I could go visit and it would feel like going “home”.

My husband, Ted, grew up in a military family and was always moving every couple of years.  “Home” to them was where the grandparents lived in Columbus, Ohio.  That was home.

All three of my daughters are now experiencing a new and strange “home” situation.  Youngest daughter Jillian and her husband Andy just moved out of their home in Knoxville, TN.  Knoxville was their first home as a married couple.  Leaving two years of living and making friends behind them, they have everything in storage and just moved to St. Kitts.  Jillian starts school there and she and Andy will have to make it their home for the next twenty-eight months.

Middle daughter Kristen and her husband Ric just got dropped off at the airport to fly home to Portland, OR.  They moved into a new apartment a month ago and I asked them if they were happy to be going home.  They replied that the new apartment didn’t feel like home yet.

And of course oldest daughter, Amanda, just moved into her own apartment.  That’s her home now.  She even calls the house that Ted and I live in ‘your’ house (when she is speaking to us) and calls her own apartment her home.

So, home is where you reside.  Some say that home is where the heart is.  Or home is where you lay your head.  Emily Dickinson says that “Where thou art, that is home.”  Home is where you can scratch where it itches.   I like what Nancy Reagan had to say about home:  “I have been very happy with my homes, but homes really are no more than the people who live in them.”

I overheard Ric say to Kristen, as they were packing up today, that he thought they should leave some of their toiletries here so that they didn’t have to pack and bring them each time they came here.  It made me laugh to myself, as I already have most of Jill and Andy’s stuff here since they could only take 2 suitcases of stuff to St. Kitts.  I said to Ric jokingly, “Oh yeah – leave your stuff here and set up permanent temporary residence like two other people I know!”

I actually find that rather nice.  “Home” suggests a nice place, a comfortable place, and somewhere you want to go.  It was a lovely month of visits from all of them.  They can come home anytime.

<3

Just Laurel

December was a whirlwind of family and friends and Christmas celebrating.  The tree is still up – but shall be put away in a day or so.

I just wanted to send out this quick note to let you all know that I miss you and shall be writing back on schedule in a day or two!

It’s January first – so it’s resolution making time!  Besides the 10 pounds that found me this past month that I plan to lose – I want to get back to (almost) daily blogging and plans to start writing my next book.

Get ready!  Here I come!

just Laurel

(This blog was written as a devotion to be read at choir practice on December 6, 2012, as the St Paul Concert Choir prepares for the singing of three concerts the weekend of December 15-16, 2012.)

Where’s Christmas?

A week or so ago, Ted and I had to make a road trip to Knoxville, Tennessee.  On the drive south, we veered a little bit out-of-the-way so that Ted could make a sales call to a steel mill in Ohio.  He dropped me off at a nearby shopping mall because I was not allowed into the mill.  Only weeks away from Christmas, I thought it would be a pleasant couple of hours to wander the mall while waiting for Ted to finish.  I thought I might even get a start on the Christmas shopping.

The mall was suffocating.  And it wasn’t even because it was filled with shoppers, seeing that it was a quiet Tuesday morning.  There were so many Christmas decorations, it was like a cake that was completely over-decorated with icing and sprinkles oozing and overflowing everywhere.  There were all the shiny boxed gifts that you see only in stores at the holidays littered everywhere with festive sale signs all over the place.

Do you remember the “Where’s Waldo?” books?  Well I felt like I was in the middle of a Where’s Waldo book. In the Waldo books, usually other things and people look a little like the real Waldo and it makes it all the more challenging to find the real guy.

Well, here I was in the midst of a mall full of Christmas decorations … and stuff … and Christmas music playing relentlessly … and bows and Santa’s and Christmas trees and ornaments and … and I really couldn’t see the real Christmas.

I didn’t buy a single gift that day.

So, what is the real Christmas all about?

I am sure you will agree with me that it’s about family, caring, sharing, spending time with the ones we love, and of course rejoicing in the celebration of the birth of God’s Son, Jesus.

I recall a favorite old Christmas Carol, “The Little Drummer Boy.”  The song was written in 1941 by the American Classical music composer and teacher, Katherine Kennicott Davis.  In the lyrics the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, the little drummer was summoned by the Magi to the nativity where, without a gift for the infant Jesus, he played his drum with the Virgin Mary’s approval, remembering “I played my best for Him” and “He smiled at me”.

(Now I really have a message here folks, just give Laurel a minute to come full circle with her thoughts here!)

So – What is Christmas?  It’s about people gathering to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  And as a choir getting ready to celebrate by singing three Christmas concerts, I see a whole variety of characters before me.  We all bring a different voice – some strong, some weak, some pitched high, and some pitched low.  But I believe that God truly smiles down as we offer our gift – like the little drummer boy.  No matter how large or small, strong or weak the voice we bring – as a choir we are dependent on the person next to us to lead, or to blend, but to ultimately be part of a Christmas gift – a Christmas celebration in honor of our Savior’s birth.  So let’s sing our best for Him.  (Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum!)

just Laurel

ps  For my faithful readers, I apologize for not blogging for several weeks.  Life has been so busy I have not been able to think; life has been more like survival lately.  However, it has provided me with a lot of blog-worthy material!  Between moving Amanda out, preparing for Christmas, working at a new job, and welcoming daughters and son-in-laws home – it’s been CRAZY but WONDERFUL!  Please be patient as I get through the rest of December – I’ll blog when I can – but I will be back full speed in the New Year!

Blessings.

Thirty three years ago on Thanksgiving Day, Ted and I were sharing our first Thanksgiving dinner together.  We had spaghetti.  It was just me and him.

Ted and I got married in September of 1979.  At that time, he was working for a company in Cleveland and waiting to see where he was going to be sent to work.  The company was adding salesman to several offices around the United States, and the three possible choices were:  Ironton, Ohio (some little ‘ole town along the Ohio River near the Kentucky border), somewhere in Texas, or Detroit, MI.

Here we are!  He was sent to work in the Detroit sales office!

Our move was set for Thanksgiving weekend.  On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, the moving truck picked up all of our belongings.  We didn’t have a whole lot – but it was all new and it was all ours!  We were newlyweds and we were going to our first home!  After the moving truck left, we drove to Woodhaven, MI.  The moving truck wasn’t going to show up until Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  We wanted to be there ahead of time – ready to greet the truck and unload our stuff!

My mom happened to have some leftover spaghetti and that’s what we ate together – on the floor – on our first Thanksgiving together – in our first apartment together.

Ahh – memories.

Oh – and we slept on the floor that night.  Remember – the furniture was not going to be there until the next morning!

So – that’s how we started out and spent our first Thanksgiving as Mr. and Mrs.  The cool thing is that our first apartment?  Well, it’s the very same apartment complex that we are, this weekend, moving Amanda into!

Crazy how life works sometimes, huh?

I feel like Paul Harvey:  And now you know the rest of the story!

Just Laurel

Greetings!

People have been greeting each other for centuries – even before American Greetings or Hallmark had a chance to help us with that task.  It seems like you can buy a greeting card these days for just about any occasion:  Birthdays, anniversaries, get well, sympathy, good luck, and congratulations are the usual themes.

The actual sending of paper greeting cards started somewhere in the mid 1800’s.  Here’s a little bit more on greeting card history if you are interested:

The History of Christmas Cards — Christmas Customs and Traditions — whychristmas?com.

But people in the bible were always sending their greetings, too:

Romans 16:21  Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.

2 Corinthians 13:13  All God’s people here send their greetings.

Philippians 4:22  All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.

Colossians 4:14  Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.

2 John 1:13  The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.

Last week I received two greeting cards.  One was a Thanksgiving card.  This came from Ohio and it was sent with a nice note inside and sincere greetings from some people we don’t see very often.  I think a Thanksgiving card is sweet.  It reflects a heart of thankfulness, and to receive such a card makes me feel like the sender was thankful for ME.  Can’t get any nicer than that!  I love the colorful cornucopia design of the card, although that turkey looks too pretty and is almost smiling.  I don’t think he is aware of his true fate.

I also received my first Christmas card of the season.  Already!  Are you serious?  I was a little shocked to have received one already.  You will see that the postmark date shows it as having been mailed on November 13^th.  Wow.  Now that’s ambitious!

I can remember, when I was a child, there was this unwritten law that you don’t put up Christmas decorations or display Christmas items in the stores until after Thanksgiving.  Heaven forbid that a Christmas card shows up before December 1^st!  But then I thought about it and decided what the heck!  Christmas is about celebrating the birth of God’s son, Jesus.  And don’t we celebrate birthdays all through the year?  And don’t some people have extended celebrations for very important people and very important events?  And even if the stores are just trying to jump-start their Christmas sales, so what?

Folks – I say we can start celebrating NOW.  Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!  And although much of the early hoopla is pure marketing, it still is because of Christmas.  A lot of people get it.  And a lot of the stuff you see in the stores, although hidden in the generic title of ‘Holiday’ is just dripping of Christmas.  A Christmas tree is and always will be just that.  Don’t even try to call it a ‘holiday tree!’  That’s silly.  There was one big important star the night Jesus was born – and you will see stars in much of the Christmas marketing.  You will see angels, trumpets, wise men, and bells.  Those are all reflective components of Christmas celebrations.

A couple of years back, they made a big deal about the workers in the stores at Christmas not being allowed to say “Merry Christmas” but had to say “Happy Holidays.”  I remember saying “Merry Christmas” to them any ways, after their ‘holiday’ response.  Most of the time, I got a smile back from them and they would quietly say the forbidden Merry Christmas back to me.  It doesn’t seem like it’s quite so forbidden these days.  I hope not.

I just got today’s mail, and am so please that on the cover of the Cabela’s catalog, it says “Cabela’s Your Christmas Gift Outfitter!”  Yeah Cabela’s!  You didn’t chicken out and call it a holiday catalog.  Now Williams-Sonoma titled their catalog, “The Holiday Entertaining Guide 2012.”  Chickens!  Although the first page of the catalog has ‘the 12 Ways of Christmas’ dinnerware advertised.

‘Tis the season folks – the stores have decided to help propel us into the Christmas season.  It’s okay.  Embrace it.  If there never was a savior wrapped in a manger – we wouldn’t have anything to celebrate!

just Laurel