New Year's in August!

I am beginning to see the new year as beginning in August. When I looked at the high school football schedule, the dates when my oldest grandson will march in the band, I began to remember why.

Last August 8, I was going to exercise at the rec center - (training, I called it) to gain stamina to keep up with my 8 grandchildren and the 9th who was to come in August from China. I needed more energy and I knew it! I had just completed yet another physical therapy course for my long-term hip pain. This time the therapy actually worked! I had lost a little weight and, without hip pain to hold me back, I hoped to enjoy the new rec center's salt water pool. It had been years since I had been able to swim due to chlorine sensitivity. I was so excited about Gracie Joy coming and about being the grandmother to NINE grandchildren, but I knew I couldn't keep up and be a help if I didn't gain some strength.

On August 8, less than a week before Jennifer and Rich were leaving for China. Paperwork and preparation for travel to China had been grueling for Jennifer, and she was stressed about leaving her children during their first week of school. She was concerned about leaving Wesleigh, who was only three, and only home from China for a year-and-a-half.  I went to the pool to swim, came back and began to spin with vertigo. I knew that in just a few days, Ralph and I would be responsible for 4 grandchildren for two weeks with their parents literally on the other side of the world!

Because it was such a ridiculously obvious attack from the enemy, not just on me but on Jennifer and Richard who had stepped out so boldly in faith to make Gracie their child, I began to praise God for His goodness in spite of not being able to stand. You see, I had been studying about trusting the character of God - who He is and how we can depend upon that character as revealed in the Bible --no matter what. As I spun, I decided that this might be just the time to put it all into practice. Might as well praise God and remember His goodness!

With the help of Richard's mom filling in a few days and some meds, I was able to get myself to the Doughty house, but I didn't know how much help I would be. Ralph did so much, but I was able to get the boys off to school in the morning, prepare the meals and do almost my share. There was plenty enough for both of us - and a few more - to do! (It's hard to try to replace a mom!) The dizziness was bad and doing anything at all was hard, but we made it through, even through Bryce contracted mono and had a serious drug reaction.

Gracie Joy was worth it all!

But that's not the end of the story! During the China trip, Joel called to say that they would be adopting a little boy within a month! Another answer to prayer! I thought with joy, "that means TEN grandchildren!" Ever decided to arrive sooner than expected, August 31, and required a life-saving surgery within 24 hours. Now, our job was to care for Rylan and Auden and then take them to Jacksonville, Florida, a 10 hour drive. I was still VERY dizzy. Again, I chose to trust the Lord and to press on. Again, I was able to do more than I thought I could - not pleasantly - but able to do it.  Ever  is an amazingly healthy and happy baby! What a joy he is!

As I continued to battle the dizziness, doing physical therapy that made me even dizzier, I was able to make our planned trip to Washington, D.C. with Madelyn in October. Though lighting and glass in the museums and Metro stations made me so dizzy, we had a great time! I will always cherish that time with my sweet and amazing granddaughter. Another answer to prayer!

Then, on November 29, 2012, lovely Adalie Rose entered this world and our family! Yes, ELEVEN grandchildren. I was physically dizzy, but the three new grandchildren in three months, really "dizzied" me. I still have friends who, after a year of hearing my story, will ask, "You mean there are TWO babies?" Yes, that's what I've been telling you!!

I think of how many times God uses His goodness and blessings to teach and mature us. All year I have wrestled with my planner and struggled with the fact that, no matter how I stretch myself to help, it isn't nearly the help they could use! I see the calendar as a complex jigsaw puzzle. I can never fit the pieces together! I don't want to disappoint anyone or miss out on any time with my grandchildren. The older grandchildren are proof that the time when they are little passes too fast. I want to know each one and to make a difference in their lives.

As school's opening nears, more and more items must fit into each other on the "jigsaw puzzle" that is my life. My BLESSED life. In Malachi, God tells us He will open the windows of heaven and  pour us out a blessing that we don't have room enough to receive. Not only did I gain three grandchildren this past year, friendships and ministry at church have increased also. I am blessed, Lord.

So, as I fill in the spaces on my calendar, many to be whited out and replaced later, I have decided that in this "new year" of August-to-August, I will thank you for my busyness! Yes, THANK you, Lord. I am trying to schedule as well as I can, cut out  non-essentials, overcome the residues of dizziness and, again, exercise to increase my strength.

Back to the high school football schedule. Last year, because of my dizziness and Gracie's adjustment, Bryce marched in many half-times with no one to watch! We are all determined that we will all work together this year to be sure that doesn't happen in his last two years of high school. There are similar concerns and determinations about each of the other ten grandchildren! And, I am always missing the ones who live far away! They grow up fast! And every one of them is SO MUCH FUN!

Lord, I thank you for the fullness of my life! I ask YOU to bless and care for all of my family. I am  limited in time and energy, but you have no limits! Yes, I am so grateful for the busyness! I ask you, Lord, to make each puzzle piece fit into the others. I trust you that a lovely and peaceful picture will begin to form as the pieces fit together--one I can't see yet as I painstakingly try to fit them all together.

This verse in Ecclesiastes must have been written just for me in this season of my life:
"Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart."   Not only does God give the blessings, He gives us the power to enjoy them!

Thank you, Lord, for keeping me occupied with the gladness of my heart (and with busyness!) as I begin this "new year". Looking forward to a great year!