As of this writing, all of my side of the family have had Covid-19 and have recovered from it. Currently, our Christmas plans to spend about a week in KY with my family remain the same. We are all looking forward to the holiday time with them. Joy is looking forward to sleeping in as long as she wants every morning. Ethan is looking forward to play time with cousins...and presents, of course!
Starting early this past Sunday morning, it started to snow in OKC. We got about 4 inches on Sunday and a great upper 30’s day for Ethan to play in it on Monday…after he finished school! Then on Tuesday it snowed all day--from 9 am until dark around 5 pm. That was amazing! I have never seen snow fall in OKC quite like that. The whole time it was just the most beautiful lightly-falling snow. If you could imagine the perfect computer-generated movie snow, that’s what it looked like. It was so neat to watch all day. Those of you in northern cities can tell we don’t get snow often in OKC. We make a big deal about it--especially snow like that. Tomorrow the high will be 54, so bye-bye snow. We do enjoy it while we have it.
Speaking of tomorrow, it is Philip’s birthday! We plan to make a trip to the cemetery and replace any broken pinwheels with new ones. So far, Philip’s birthday has been consistently the hardest day for me. I know many of you pray for us on this day and I am so thankful. I know God’s grace is keeping us. It’s such a bittersweet time. Our hearts hurt, but there is so much joy in remembering our happy boy…and knowing that happy boy is with Jesus and we will see him again.
Along with celebrating his life, we will also be getting ready for our trip. There is a lot of planning and packing to make sure we have all of Joy’s needs covered for a week-long trip. It makes my mind tired just thinking about getting it all together and double-checking all the “lists,” even if they are just mental. Once it is done though, it’s a great vacation time!
Just like Thanksgiving, I’m guessing Christmas plans will look a little different for some this year. May you find peace in knowing that the year of the very first Christmas, Christ left heaven, angels and the Father and was robed in the body of a baby, laying aside His will to fulfill the will of His Father. He found joy in knowing that because of His incarnation, and ultimately His death, He would restore fellowship between mankind and God forever. So, yes, there is joy, no matter how much our plans change! Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!