He Said What?!

Aaron’s Talking Points #12

It’s high time I shared more of Aaron’s fun (or sometimes not!) way of viewing his world. Enjoy!

I took my bracelet off in the van on our way to Aaron’s day group this morning because I didn’t think it matched the red in my blouse. Within three seconds of taking it off, Aaron had it on. When we pulled up to Paradigm, he jumped out of the van faster than greased lightning! He didn’t want me to make him take the bracelet off. Here’s the picture that Barb sent me. HaHa!

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Aaron was excited to tell me what he did today at Paradigm. It involved a Spangles hamburger, but he was also glad to help buy things for group homes at Sam’s.

Aaron: Mom!! Today I went to Sam’s with Amy!

Me: You did? What did you buy?

Aaron: Things for group homes. And we stayed a LONG time! Like til 1:09!!

Me: Really? It wasn’t 1:10?

Aaron: No!! It was 1:09!!

Me: Not 1:10?

Aaron: No! We stayed til 1:09.

This conversation never gets old and never ceases to make me laugh. 😁

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Aaron was talking about the drive home from his group today. “Mom, our driver missed the first two road spaces to our house!” Well, I guess turning off on the third road space was a charm because he made it home.

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Aaron was talking again yesterday about the girl in his group who likes him, so I told him to tell her that they could be friends without her having to be his girlfriend. Later he said, “Mom, I’m going to keep those words inside of me.” In other words, he doesn’t want to tell her that because he likes this situation! Oh boy!

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There was one piece of pizza left so I offered it to Aaron, although I asked him if he minded that I had taken a bite out of it. His reply: “Well, just so I don’t get your germs. I don’t want to become bossy!” Now I’m wondering who I caught MY bossiness from!

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Aaron was a little sad when I picked him up one day last week. It seems that his good friend was having a bad day…as many of the clients sometimes do, including Aaron…and she had hit Aaron. He talked and talked about it over the weekend.

He and I were in Dillon’s on Saturday, and we passed through the beautiful flowers in the florist area.

“MOM!!” Aaron blurted. “Can I get N some flowers because she hit me??”

At first, I laughed, but as I thought about it I realized what he was really saying. He wanted N to feel better, so he thought flowers should help. He was willing to give his friend something sweet even though she had been mean to him.

This sure has given me something to think about the last few days, and it’s not just that maybe if I hit Gary then he’ll bring me flowers. 😉 Aaron has focused my thinking far deeper than that, as he often does. 💕

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We got Aaron a new bed. It’s bigger than his old bed so we’ve cautioned him about bumping his legs on the end of it. He’s done very well with all the changes, including putting his night stand with all his “stuff” on it on the OTHER side of his new bed.

Tonight at supper, Gary asked Aaron how he slept last night.

“Good,” Aaron answered. “But the edge of that bed keeps hitting the edge of my leg!”

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Aaron: Mom, Jackson gassed. Can you smell it?

Me: No, I can’t smell it.

Aaron: I think you can smell nothing. I think something’s wrong with your nasals.

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Aaron’s EEG went well. I don’t know when we’ll get results. As we left on the elevator we wondered what time it was & so I quickly looked at Aaron’s wristwatch. I said, “Oh, it’s 10:45.” You know what’s coming, don’t you? Aaron then looked at his watch & said, “No. It’s 10:46.” I wonder if people could hear the laughter coming out of the elevator. And Aaron can’t figure out why on earth I think that’s funny!

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Aaron: “It’s cold! Does that mean it’s half-winter?” A new season has begun!

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Gary and I returned home after being away this weekend. Aaron was doing his usual talking, then paused as he remembered something important.

“MOM!! WAIT!! I got you something!!”

He ran up to his room and came back with a beautiful pouch that our friend Terri had helped him buy for me. Aaron was super excited as he handed it to me and said:

“MOM!! This is for you, but if you don’t want it then I can keep it!!!” 😁😁

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Aaron has been very happy that Gary and I were planning a trip to Topeka. “No parents!” he says. Yesterday he asked what time we were leaving, and I told him we were leaving at 3:00. “Can’t you leave early?” he asked. “Like 2:59?” 🙂

By the way, we left at 2:52. We showed him!

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Aaron and I are watching Rocketeer. When the girl hit the bad guy over the head with a vase, Aaron said, “She bonked him into sleep, right?” HaHa!

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Aaron saw a bowl of whole, uncapped strawberries on the kitchen counter and so he grabbed one to eat. He carried it over to me and said, “Mom, can you cut the flower off the top?”

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Aaron, watching Laura Ingalls at the fair on Little House on the Prairie as she tried unsuccessfully to find the coin under the shell: “She has UNLUCK!!” 😆😆

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Aaron pulled a muscle in his leg a few days ago. He’s been limping around but is better today. Still, it’s bothering him that this mysterious thing happened.

Aaron: Mom, I feel like I’m getting old!

Me: You’re not old!

Aaron: I’m 34!!!

Me: 35. You’re 35.

I’ve always had the gift of encouragement. 🤪😁😁

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Today our dear friend, Terri, spent some time with Aaron while Gary and I were out. They went to lunch, walked around a lake and saw ducks and geese and a snake, went to see Terri’s bird, and just had fun. Aaron totally enjoyed it. But as usual, Aaron has his own take on things.

Aaron: Mom, I don’t think Terri looks like the kind of woman who should be watching over me.

Me: What on earth do you mean?

Aaron: Well, she looks like a Grandma! 😅😅🤷‍♀‍

Terri, you meant it when you said you think Aaron’s funny, right?

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Aaron: “Mom, are cashews normal nuts?”

Me: “What’s a normal nut?”

Aaron: “Nuts that aren’t cashews.”

I need to sit awhile and think about this.

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Just awhile ago Aaron said, “Mom, someone in my group told me that eating pears will put hair on your chest. Is that true?”

Me: “Well, Aaron, I’ve eaten plenty of pears.”

Aaron: “But girls aren’t ALLOWED to have hair on their chests!”

I cannot tell you how relieved I am right now!

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Aaron and I are sitting on the front porch enjoying this beautiful evening. A neighbor that we don’t know real well came walking by with her dog. She spoke and I spoke, which Aaron saw as his wide-open door.

“HEY!!” he loudly yelled. “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE VOLCANO??!!”

She was a trooper and answered him. while he vigorously rubbed his hands together, totally delighted.

He’s just hilarious!!! So random!! 🤣🤣

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I’ll be back with more another day, of that I am certain! 🙂 🙂

Giants, Grasshoppers, and Grapes

I sat in stunned disbelief last Friday evening as the latest news was being broadcast. As if the whole week wasn’t bad enough, now there were reports of big tech wrapping their tentacles around people whom they deemed unworthy of using their services. Deleting accounts…removing followers…attempting to destroy a new social network…silencing thousands who didn’t tow the line that they have declared to be the only sanctioned “truth.”

Clearly, the stage is being set for followers of Christ to be “lawfully” declared as enemies of society and enemies of the government.

Scary times, for sure. Full of uncertainty and fear. Pandora’s box seems to have been opened and evil is spewing out unchecked.

And that evil is being celebrated, legislated, and expected to be accepted by all…or else.

Else what?

Therein lies the question.

We’re not sure of the answer, but current events don’t bode well for conservatives and Christians.

I read something last week, though…an old story that gives me and every Christ follower great comfort and hope.

That story is in the Bible book of Numbers, which I am studying. The children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt by God. They had seen His protection in their deliverance and the working of so many amazing miracles. Now He affirmed to them His promise to give them the land He had marked for them. God told Moses to select 12 men to spy out the land and come back with a report to the people.

The 12 spies did just that. They returned to the camp carrying a huge cluster of grapes along with other fruit, evidence of God’s promises to be true. The land WAS flowing with milk and honey. The land was very fruitful. What God said was true!

BUT…there was a problem. There were fortified cities, for one thing. And giants! Huge strong men who terrified the spies.

Ten of the spies focused on the giants.

“We became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight!” they declared.

But Caleb and Joshua chose to focus on God and on His promises, many of which had already been fulfilled.

“We should by all means go up and take possession of the land,” they told the people, “for we shall surely overcome it.”

The people listened to the ten spies, though, as they fixated on the giants. Caleb and Joshua urged them to listen to God…to obey…to not fear…to not rebel against God.

But fear overruled the day and therefore God caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years instead of taking the land right then that He had promised to give them.

I think Christians today are feeling a bit like grasshoppers as we look around us at those who hate our beliefs and hate our God.

There sure are lots of giants today.

Tech giants…political giants…media giants – to name a few.

How far will they go in this new administration to enforce their new world system?

What will that mean for those of us who can’t Biblically agree with that system?

We’re not sure yet, but it’s not looking very rosy.

Everyone I talk to is concerned and burdened and feeling great heaviness after the events of this past week…and even longer, actually.

So, we have a choice to make. Are we going to look at the giants or at the grapes?

Are we going to feel like grasshoppers?

Or are we going to remember and claim the fact that all of us who know Christ have all of God’s promises…and God Himself?

“…God has given us His very great and precious promises…” (II Peter 1:4)

God is here to help us in our uncertain future. He hasn’t brought us here just to strand us all alone. The God of our past is the God of our present, and the God of our unseen future.

“The God Who is meeting our present needs will not deny us His future provision.” (Raymond Brown)

We have only to look in our own lives to see the fruit of God’s presence with us. His peace and joy in our hearts is ours as we focus on Him and not on the giants of this crazy, sinful world.

No matter what may be ahead for us, God has promised to be with us every step of the way. He will give us grace and strength for whatever is in our future.

So even if we feel like little grasshoppers, let us remember that we serve a giant of a God!

From Bliss to Brokenness

Today’s answers to prayers don’t guarantee a carefree tomorrow.

He Said What?!

On Monday, November 6, of last year…..yes, 2017 is – as of today – LAST year!! Anyway, on that day last year our washing machine loudly died. I mean, the noises coming from the bathroom/laundry room were downright scary. I remember that date because two days later, November 8, was Aaron’s birthday. Gary and I met at Lowe’s after he got off work on Tuesday night, where we found our dream machine, got it ordered, and were told that delivery would be on Thursday.

Thursday was the day we were having two of Aaron’s favorite friends over for a birthday supper, so I knew I would be home most of the day as I got things ready. It was also the day that Aaron woke up in a very wet bed, so it became the day of a huge mound of wet bedding piled near our dead washing machine, waiting…

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Don’t You Remember?

One of the many side effects of Aaron’s seizures and even of some of his seizure meds is memory loss. It makes me sad to see it sometimes.

Gary and I took Aaron out to eat the other day. While eating, I got a text saying that his day group would be re-opening on Monday. I was sharing with Aaron the names of some of his friends that he would get to see again. At the mention of one of his friends, Aaron’s face was blank.

I was surprised because just last week Aaron had facetimed with her. Yet his forgetfulness was genuine just a short time later.

As I get older (and older and older 😊), I find myself often saying, “Remember when…?” Gary and I do this at times, remembering events and situations of the past, sometimes with joy and at other times with regret.

There is an incident recorded in the book of Numbers…the book I am now studying…that has impacted me this week and which I want to, well, remember.

The children of Israel had traveled for a year in the wilderness. In chapter 11, we find them complaining about their lack of good food. They remembered all the variety of foods in Egypt, forgetting their horrible life they lived there as they ate that food.

They begged for meat, so God told Moses that He would give them meat. Then Moses seemed to have memory loss as he questioned just how on earth God would be able to supply so much meat for so many people.

Are you kidding me?!

Moses had seen miracle after miracle, and he dared wonder how God could manage to find meat in the desert?

Actually, Moses asked God how he…Moses…was to get the meat. Moses left God out of the picture.

Moses was run down, discouraged, tired, burdened.

Pretty much like we feel today.

Here we are, on the first day of a new year, trying to summon hope in the middle of our burdens.

2021 must be better than 2020, right?!

It HAS to be!!

We can’t handle anymore stress in our world and in our homes!

But I think that deep down we all know that we are entering this new year staring ahead at huge problems that still loom large.

That’s why God’s answer to Moses is a HUGE promise to each of us who know and follow God.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.’ (Numbers 11:23)

Another version of what God said was this: “Is the Lord’s arm too short?”

That phrase brought to mind the fact that Pharaoh was said to be the possessor of a strong arm. Yet God defeated Pharaoh with His much stronger arm.

Remember, Israel?

Remember all the plagues and the miracles?

Remember the exodus from Egypt?

Remember the parting of the Red Sea?

How could they forget?!

Yet I am no different. How can I so often forget what God has done and what He has promised, to ME?

I have been challenged by others to have a word for this year. And so my word is:

REMEMBER

Primarily, to remember just who God is and that His arm is strong and is long enough to carry me and help me and protect me.

To REMEMBER God’s past answers to prayer.

To REMEMBER His promises to me in His Word.

To REMEMBER Who He is, and how He never changes.

God’s arm is never shortened, and His power is never limited.

So may I…and all of us…remember.

This new year here in our neck of the woods has begun beautifully.

May I allow God’s beauty to permeate my heart every day in the uncertain times ahead as I…

REMEMBER!

This Gift Has My Name on It!

Gary and I were sitting beside our decorated tree one night before Christmas. We were not alone for long, as is so often the case. Aaron soon joined us. He was, of course, drawn to the presents under the tree. His observant eyes had seen his name on a gift!

“Look!!” he exclaimed, “this gift has my name on it!”

His childish delight made us smile.

His childish delight is, in fact, a gift to us.

Yet there are other aspects of who Aaron is that we would not describe as a gift. Maybe more as a burden? An annoyance?

We know that God gave us Aaron, and he is indeed the whole package. It’s just that some of the contents of that package are not what we would have hand-picked.

Am I being too blunt here?

This reality of God’s gifts to me carries over into every area of my life. Gary and I had been married for five years before we had a baby…Aaron. We prayed for a baby. God gave us Aaron.

Do I really trust God in this answer to our prayers?

So many times in my life I have prayed over some matter…some decision…some issue. But sometimes God’s answers are not what I would have chosen.

Oh, they may seem wonderful at the time but later the gift might turn sour.

What happened?

How easy it is, then, to play the guessing game.

Maybe if we had moved there instead of here.

Maybe if we had joined that church instead of this church.

Maybe if we had raised our children in this way instead of that way.

Maybe…maybe…maybe.

Yet if I am walking with God in obedience, and I am praying for direction, I must trust that the way He leads is best and for a reason.

Good reasons, always.

But not always easy.

I must reach out and take God’s gifts to me with trust.

The children of Israel knew that God led them miraculously out of Egypt. No one could doubt that. But then it wasn’t long before they disobeyed God. Even the manna God provided to them became a source of discontentment and complaint.

Soon the Israelites were comparing their present lot with the life they used to have in Egypt, creating more unhappiness and grumbling.

I do that, too. I pray…I take God’s gift of an answer…and then when things get hard, I fight the tendency to complain and to compare.

If only I had what they have…lived where they live…got to go where they go…blah, blah, blah.

Such a trap!

This morning, I read the answer to this dilemma in my life:

“Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let those who love Your salvation say continually, ‘Let God by magnified.’ (Psalm 70:4)

I must keep my eyes on God in every area of my life.

My gladness and contentment is in God alone, not in the events of my life – good or not so good.

So, when I reach out and take God’s gifts to me, may I not focus on the gift so much but instead may my eyes stay on the Giver of the gifts.

That’s easy to do when the gift is fun and happy.

But I must understand that some gifts are not fun and happy. Some are hard and sad.

Yet on each gift, I see the tag.

To: Patty

From: God

Thank you, God, that every gift from You is good and perfect. You didn’t say they were easy and fun.

Help me to trust You.

“Look! This gift has my name on it!!”

Hovering God

A good word for this year, and especially for the upcoming days of uncertainty for believers politically. This is from the book I am reading as I study the book of Numbers. God appeared to Israel as He hovered over the tent of meeting as a cloud by day and fire by night. When the cloud or fire moved, they moved. It required a great deal of trust, especially when God didn’t move for long periods. Like Israel, we want to see God move and when it appears He isn’t, then it’s easy to become discouraged and to lose hope.

“There were days when they could see that they were making progress, but at other times they may have been puzzled because nothing was happening. Why the tiresome delay? For most of us, at some time or another, life has its bewildering waiting times. The evidence of God’s continuing care appears limited, even absent. The Puritans spoke about ‘the soul’s winter times’, when everything appears cold, bleak, and barren. We wish God would speak to us more clearly about why we are going through such dark days, when it is hard to hold on. BUT WAITING TIMES ARE NOT WASTED TIMES. When the guidance we look for is just not there, we must calmly renew our confidence in God; ‘such a resolution can never go to hell with thee’, said Thomas Goodwin. There is some wise purpose in life’s bleak experiences. GOD IS STILL PRESENT. ‘Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.’ In the desolate years of late-seventeenth-century persecution, John Flavel urged his contemporaries to ‘exercise the faith of adherence when you have lost the faith of evidence.’ (Raymond Brown)

God knows what He is doing…and if our road ahead is hard, God still knows what He is doing.

In our personal lives…in our lives in God’s kingdom…in our family lives – we must trust God and obey Him and leave all the rest up to Him. I believe hard days are ahead for Christians. But I would by far rather be following God today than to follow any other person or cause.

Thank you, God, for reminding us at this time of year that You are Immanuel…GOD WITH US. We really have nothing to fear.

Broken Lights

Aaron followed me into the dining room the other day. I wasn’t paying attention to him behind me as I worked on our Christmas village.

“Mom, look!” Aaron said.

I turned to see him staring intently at our little tree that is full of my Grandma Holly’s handmade ornaments, made with love so many years ago. This was a pre-lit tree, but as so often happens, those bulbs had long since burned out. I had replaced them with another strand of lights but left the unlit lights on the tree – hidden, so I thought, by the new lights.

“This light bulb doesn’t work!” Aaron exclaimed. And as his eyes roamed over the tree branches, he pointed out other broken small bulbs.

“Here’s another one!” he said. “And here…and here…and here,” he continued as he pointed to each one.

Aaron had gotten close enough to see the broken, while standing farther away, I could only see the soft lights of that new strand that worked.

I am studying through the book of Numbers. Now that book doesn’t exactly stir excitement in one’s blood, but I have learned that in Bible books we usually consider to be dull there are amazing truths from God…golden nuggets that shine brightly!

The setting of Numbers is the wilderness of Sinai where Israel wandered for 40 years on their way to the promised land. They should have gotten to the promised land much sooner than 40 years, but because of their sin God made them travel for 40 long years.

They were a broken nation full of broken families. Broken by sin…by their willful turning from God.

But look at the VERY first verse:

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting…”

God did NOT give up! God spoke to His people through Moses. Again and again, God reached down to those stubborn people and spoke.

“Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.” (Numbers 7:89)

“Moses had so much to talk to God about and, as the long journey progressed, each new day brought its fresh load of pastoral concerns, unreasonable complaints, arrogant accusations. Yet, desperate as he was to talk about his problems, Moses was overwhelmed with a priority greater than speaking. The Tent of Meeting became the place of attentive listening. Moses heard the voice…And He spoke with him.” (Raymond Brown, The Message of Numbers)

The place where God spoke was the mercy seat, the place of forgiveness of sin. Sin blocks our communication with God, but at the place of forgiveness we are once again receptive to the voice of God.

Oh, how broken we are today!

A broken nation…broken families…broken people.

No election, no Supreme Court, no political party can ever fix this mess we are in at this point in history.

Sin, national and personal, has blocked our ability to hear God speak.

But at this time of year, this Christmas season, we see hope for each of us.

Hope came in the form of a baby…God’s only Son…given to this old dark world to be the Light of the world!

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The word “dwelt” means to pitch a tent. God sent Jesus to live among the people…to pitch His tent much as the tent in the wilderness.

This is how much God loves us and how much He wants to fix our broken. We meet Him at the place of forgiveness where we confess our sin and trust His Son to be our Savior.

Like Aaron, when we look closely we see all the brokenness of this world. We see lights that don’t work.

But when we allow Jesus to forgive and to redeem, we step back and see that He is indeed the light of the world.

THIS is the message of Christmas!

Jesus is our only hope today.

He alone can fix our broken mess. Please come to know Him today and listen to His voice in the place of forgiveness.

The Nail Trim

Dad showed me such love in the simple deed of trimming my nails when I was young. Now it was my turn to show him the same love in the simple deed of doing the same for him in his weakened state.

He Said What?!

I remember climbing on my Daddy’s lap when I was a little girl. He was sitting in his chair near the fireplace, with his shelves of books on one side and his end table on the other. His newspaper was on the end table where he could eventually read it at the end of a busy, tiring day on the railroad. His Bible was also laying there within easy reach. He read his Bible often as he sat in his chair. He was always ready and willing to listen to my questions about what the Bible said about this and that, especially as I got older.

But when I was little and would climb on his lap, I remember the gentleness that he showed. In the early years he smelled of pipe tobacco and smoke…..that subtle odor that comforted me. I can still…

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Our Thanksgiving

I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up with my blogging. I’m so far behind that I haven’t even shared Aaron’s birthday pictures, and his birthday was nearly a month ago! Oh well. Life is busy and full, plus I just think I’m not as quick in many ways as I used to be.

Enough of that!

I last wrote about Aaron’s increased seizures, and our son’s COVID diagnosis. Thankfully, Aaron hasn’t had a single seizure that we’ve heard since that blog!

Andrew has recovered from COVID and is exploring job opportunities since his racing furlough.

Our trip to Texas for Thanksgiving went well. Not perfectly smooth, but then is that ever the case? God blessed us with safety and mostly good health and lots of sweet memories. I’ll share those memories with pictures galore, so here we go!

Kyle and Andrea’s house was so warmly decorated for Christmas!

Aaron did plenty of talking, as always!

And lots of laying on the floor petting these cuties.

He was pleased as punch to give Andrea the Thanksgiving picture he had colored for her.

And very surprised to receive a gift from Andrea’s boss at MD Anderson, who has taken a special and very kind interest in Aaron.

Our Thanksgiving Day was spent at the home of Kyle’s parents, Kent and Marie. What a beautiful home and hospitality!

Aaron was nervous and sometimes grouchy in these new surroundings but soon he found his comfort zone – adorable Jax and Jill!

We are thankful for time together with family and friends. Thankful, too, for all of God’s precious blessings, and for His comfort when we missed those not with us.

May each of you be especially blessed as we remember God’s goodness, especially His great love that we next celebrate at Christmas.

Thanksgiving!

I want to wish each of you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

We made it to Houston!

I just wanted to share with you a picture of Aaron with his sister, Andrea. Aaron colored that picture in his day group and was very happy to give it to Andrea.

I wish you all a very blessed day in whatever form it takes.

May we all remember to count our blessings and keep our minds on the Giver of them all.

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