We have had an unlikely, improbable in fact, convergence of challenges of late. These have accompanied by completely unforeseen blessings.  So it often goes, doesn't it?  At least if you look for them.  

Among the highlights was the well running dry. Literally versus figuratively.  No water. With radiant heat that meant none of that either.   After adjusting the depth of the well pump we were back up and running but left with a dirty cistern.  Allen had to siphon that out refill and sanitize.  The blessing there is the smile on his face seen as he descended into the tank one cold November morning.  God bless him.  He set a steady, positive tone for the rest of us. 

 

 
 

Even Asher looks game, though the little boys were the ones who truly revel in big, dirty, wet projects. They have had their fill!

One night a while back we heard a loud thud.  Loud.  Thud.   It prompted an investigation of the inside and outside of the house which turned up a lotta nothing.  Weird.  It was forgotten til a ball soared too high and fixed itself on the roof.  Could they get it down?  Please Mom?  So Asher scaled the low pitched roof to retrieve…….. a goose. Hello?  Perhaps the stress of recent weeks caught up with me after all.  Come again?  Yes, there was a goose on the roof.  Dead.  Apparently it was injured or sick or gosh only knows what and fell from the sky.  To my roof.  (I am sparing you that picture.)  Not sure what the odds of that are….

Thanksgiving morning Moira came in from chores to say the coyotes were hanging around yet.  They have been exceptionally bold this fall, lingering into the daylight hours.  We have been keeping Daisy inside or on a leash til noon just in case.  The hens are not leashed however. You probably know where this is going.  Moira chased off the pair of coyotes and came inside.  We walked back out in time to see that one of them had returned to carry off a black hen.  Eww.  Really eww.  Its a ranch.  It happens.  But still.  Eww.

The next morning I went to a park downtown to do a  photo shoot for a really lovely family.  

 

  

 
 

 When we returned to the lot, full of joggers and dogs, we found this:

That would be my van.  That would be my van minus the passenger window.  And minus my purse.  Hopefully not minus my identity. : /    It was actually my babybag and was down on the floor between the seats.  The family I was photographing had a purse in the van next to mine.  No other vehicle on the lot had been touched that we could see. Again, the odds?  Probably out there. 

 

Last week we had a freak cold snap.  Sub zero temps the likes of which have not been seen here since we have been here.  The water pump shorted out.  The pipes froze.  We are at this moment writing from a hotel suite waiting for the local repairmen to chip away at their appt's and get to ours. Patience is a virtue.  

 

And this list is by no means exhaustive. In fact it omits some of the most pressing concerns we have at the moment.  But it brought to mind a conversation I had with a genetic counselor over ten years ago while pregnant with Aidan.  The hospital serving us at that base insisted upon genetic counseling before ultrasound. I sat patiently listening to the 'counselor's' litany of risk factors.  My demeanor was apparently unsettling to her. She assumed I must not be understanding her correctly.  She asked point blank, "Do you understand what your risks are?" To which I replied in the affirmative.  "Yes.  I do.  The best I can figure is that if God intends for a thing to occur then the odds are about 100% in favor of it coming to pass.  If not, then they are pretty close to zero."  She let me have my ultrasound. 

This is my feeling yet today. I don't know why these things are happening.  I do know that we have been visited with singular moments of grace throughout.  There is an odd peace within.  My husband has his hand in mine. We are taking each day as it comes and trusting that the right things are happening.  When he can't stop you, satan often sets a smoke screen in front of the blessing just ahead to muddle your thinking and convince you the journey is fruitless.  We are pressing on through this fog, determined to realize God's best for our family. It is just ahead. 

To read more about Christian families facing trials visit Teri Maxwell's December Mom's corner for inspiring perspective.  Trial is not uncommon, but our response can and should be. 

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body."   2 Corinthians 4:8-10

"In the world you will have trouble, but I leave you my peace,

That where I am, there you may also be."  

– Rich Mullins, That Where I Am 

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