The first week of Decembers Advent Calendar Blessings for us.
Probably the biggest visual blessing we have had for months, literally months, has been the weather. Several people have mentioned the blessing of the weather this year and think of us. I had one friend tell me that she was praying for us and the fact that we lived in a holiday trailer, so she was reminding God of this, and God told her “I’ve got this”. Oh my, He has got this.
Second is the fact that Brian and I have been blessed with abnormal strength to do the jobs that are being required of us and being given the timing in which to do them. We had no idea last Monday when we woke up that that was the day, we would move our stuff from our storage locker into the trailer. Yet when we woke up that morning with other plans in mind, we both felt we needed to go and get our stuff. So, we did.
We did not know that ice rain would be headed our way and it would make our driveway almost a “no go” zone to the new house. Wednesday was almost impossible to walk it was so slippery. Gord and Ray had come out to work on the propane lines at the new house and had spun around and slid down the driveway – huge blessing they did not get hurt and the truck was okay. We are very blessed to have our own personal gas fitter, and sheet metal professional and a totally handy guy in the family and the boys have come to help us a lot with huge projects! That night we were blessed to bring home a sand truck and sand the driveways and then a grader came and graded the road and our driveway. Driveway – no problem!
I was able to attend the big Christmas Farmers market on Thursday in Gr. Prairie, I am not sure if I have ever missed it and I felt I might this year, but I squeezed it in! It was a fun box on the advent calendar. I found an unexpected find there – it was these beautiful dove candle holders for the chapel.
Friday: what a day! It was minus 6 and it was “beef pick up day”. Our cows were done at the butchers and so we had to go and pick up the meat. We headed into town (Gr. Prairie- 1 hour) with a big trailer as we had to pick up 3.5 cows, ours and 2 and a half that we had yet to sell. On our way in we decided we should probably buy another freezer because where were we going to put all that meat. No one knew that that was the day we were picking up the meat, except people who were waiting for us to drop it off. We went to the store where we had seen the freezer we wanted 2 days prior, and they had sold them all including the floor model just that morning. Okay, we went to plan B – go pick up the meat and drop off and look for a freezer later. The phone started ringing with various friends calling to buy some meat, one wanted a half a beef, one wanted a quarter, some wanted set amounts and by the end of the day we only had our personal cow and a half a side left. We were amazed how much had sold. We went to a warehouse to pick up our propane cook stove that we had ordered and as I sat in the truck, you can imagine my surprise when a lady knocked on my window to ask my etransfer address because her husband (warehouse owner) had just bought the last side of beef off the trailer. I was stunned. All the extra beef had sold. We came home with our beef, and it fit perfectly into our freezer, no extra freezer was needed. God knew.
To us it looked like God was late. Brian had kept saying “God was going to sell all the beef”, he was sure of it. As we drove in to pick up 3.5 cows it looked like that deadline was not going to be met, we had passed the 12:00 hour. God was apparently late. Never, assume that God is a respecter of time, He sold all the meat right on time and right off the trailer!
We got home late and knew that we needed to move into the mobile that night because tomorrow was going to drop into the minus 20’s. We threw stuff into boxes and headed to the mobile where we dropped into our bed in our new home around midnight. Blessing: we were in our new home and had the strength to do two moves in the same week!
Saturday, I had to go back into Gr. Prairie and get propane for the furnace at the holiday trailer before it ran out. While I was away the gas ran out in the generator and by the time I got back the holiday trailer was a solid ice cube. I was so thankful that I had not been in it trying to stay warm that day. Brian was working most of the day but when he got home, his boss blessed us by letting him take the trailer and move it into a heated shop to thaw out overnight.
The bucket blessing. I am the first to admit my reluctance at using a “bucket” for a toilet in the mobile. But let me tell you at minus 20 (and with wind chill almost down to the 30’s) even ducking outside for a quick pee, makes the bucket look welcoming. We have no sewer yet so have been using the bucket. I am thankful that I can do my business in the warm. It’s quite interesting how many other people have told me that they have used the famous bucket toilets over the years.
Sunday, we needed to take care of the trailer and get it winterized and out of the shop. Blessing – nothing broke, no water lines, no faucets – nothing. The trailer and us were spared water damage. It is now winterized and put away and the fact that we got to do all the cleaning, winterizing in a warm and heated shop – wow, that was a blessing and we were into our new house, the day before the temperature crashed.
Monday, I got to have a laundromat shower – those are always such a blessing! Plus I got to cook and bake in and on my new stove. It’s awesome and the butter tarts are delightful!
I was also very thankful that afternoon when I put Mocha out and she started barking up a storm that she did not go running off to chase the large cow moose standing in my driveway.
Tuesday, what a joy I got when I got up and looked out my kitchen window to see a huge piece of machinery sitting in my yard. The big “girl” as Brian calls her, a big hoe. I am hoping you get where I am going with this….
The hoe came with an operator at 8:30am and our sewer has been started to be trenched into the ground. Can I hear a “Hallelujah!”?
By Wednesday evening as the plan goes, tonight, I should have a working sewer system. (no running water yet but hey, what will I write about next week?)
I did not even get to mention that for the 3 Tuesdays in December before Christmas (yesterday being #1) our Bible study group is singing Christmas carols at the Mission Thrift Store in the afternoon. I am not sure who was blessed more, the customers, the staff at the store or us the singers. What a fun and delightful way to spend an afternoon!
I came home to a wonderful surprise, Brian’s brothers had brought us out a large fridge to use until we can get our own. I had been muddling through with the Ford mini fridge – does not really hold a lot. Corey had blessed us by splitting a pile of fire wood that day as well as helping Brian lay the pipe and hand filling the sewer pipe with some dirt so it would not break when the hoe put piles of dirt onto the top of it, no small job.
I had no blog written last night, I tried and tried to come up with something, the generator had stopped and Mocha and I were sitting in the dark trying to get a fire going in the wood stove. Brian came home and said, “write about the blessings”. I looked at him incredulously and asked him, “what blessings” because honestly I am really tired, and it all seemed like work to me. It surprised me that I had put the week down as “work” and Brian had put the week down as “blessings”. Perspective is everything and mine needed adjusting. When he started to list them, wow, what a list!
The Wheeler Personal Advent Calendar is fully operating and functional, cannot wait to see what next week brings!