It has been a while since we have posted anything here. There is a good reason for this. Our Advent has been somewhat disrupted because Daddy had to go on National Guard orders to help with the flood response in Western Washington.
This has been an unusual advent. We began a novena to Our Lady of Loreto on December 1. This took us through December 9 (Papa Doug’s Birthday). We were praying it with friends and family for our housing needs and theirs, which seemed appropriate since according to legend Our Lady’s house was flown by angels to Italy. Actually Our Lady of Loreto is the patron of Army Aviators and their families for this reason.
Then, on December 10th, the actual memorial of Our Lady of Loreto, we got the Warning Order (WARNO) to report for mobilization the next day.
Daddy left on the 11th, and went up north to Skagit county to put sandbags around leaks in the dikes in the area around Burlington.
Mommy was left behind to be a single parent until further notice. The next 9 days were marked by alternating long hours of work, short nights of sleep, long hours of boredom, trying to manage all the things with only one adult, scrambling to get child care worked out, sheer panic (it was falsely reported that the Green River Dam had burst. Actually, it was just one of the levees in Kent), excitement, false alarms, cold, wet, rain, mud and manual labor.
Nothing like praying for something and then receiving the exact opposite.
Or was it the opposite? Daddy was not put on the evac mission (saving people from stranded houses and cars) or the TCP mission (controlling traffic on flooded roads. Daddy was on the sandbag mission, which was all about blocking rising water with sandbags to protect homes. The biggest of these missions (roughly 12,000 sandbags in two days) was protecting a housing development built below the water level. And it was a nine-day mission, or in other words a novena.
Prayers are often answered in ways that we never expected. The separation and homelessness for a short time allowed us to meditate in a new way on the homelessness of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem, and of the Holy Family on their way to Egypt.
Orders ended on the 19th, and Daddy headed home to surprise the kids at homeschool Co-op, but before we actually got there, we got word from Kathleen’s Mom that Kathleen’s Dad had been sent to the ER with chest pain. Within a few hours he was in the cath lab, and they discovered that the bypass from 9 years ago was not patent anymore. So they are going to stent him, hopefully today or tomorrow.
Again, God is not absent from this. If the theme of this Advent has been the desire for a peaceful and loving home, this health crisis (and all health crises) serve as His reminder to us that ultimately, this earth is no our home. Even if everything we prayed for is granted, and we are all able to live at the farm in peace and tranquility for years and years, it will still not be our home. At best it will be an echo of our true home, which is heaven.
On Sunday we had our first family day of the month (much appreciated!)
Our annual AdventChristmas cookie extravaganza was interrupted as well, but we are trying to make up for lost time.
We made Mailanderli on Sunday.
Ellie drew a manger in a Christmas star, which I thought was quite nice.
Mommy tried to catch up on Christmas presents too. Somehow, she just wasn’t able to find time to sew very much in the last few weeks.
A life that prepares us to be at home in our true home is a good life, no matter how upside down and out of control it seems at the time.
A life that does not prepare us to be at home in heaven is a wasted life, no matter how successful and under control it seems at the time.
Happy Fourth Sunday of Advent! May we all empty our hearts of all attachments that could prevent us from welcoming Jesus when He comes.
Little Farm in the Big City 