Thanksgiving Day and Giving Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.

Yesterday afternoon I got the stuffing most of the way done. Now all I have to do in the morning is combine the toasted bread cubes with the sautéed onion, celery, spices and apple (I’m trying apple this time instead of adding a lot of other things. I got the idea from my Mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook.). Then I'll add the chicken broth and put it in the bird. Yes, we cook our stuffing inside the turkey. It's so much tastier that way. Don't worry we're careful. And we've never gotten food poisoning from it. I figure my Mom cooked it that way when I was a kid and we all survived. 

Anyway, today I hope to make the desert. I am tossing up whether to make peach cobbler and pumpkin pie or just the cobbler. I don't think I have energy for both. I have to make everything from scratch because of my dietary restrictions (gluten, dairy, tree nut and coconut free). I'm also having foot pain and a fibromyalgia flare and sinus headache and congestion from--hopefully-- just allergies. And after spending so much time on my feet yesterday I need to pace myself today. My foot is still recovering from when I (re)injured it during our last few days in Tasmania. (I'll try to cover that next time) 

So basically, I feel like a mess. 

Yesterday I picked up an old journal of mine from 2010. At the top of the first page, dated Sept 17, was Psalm 50:23, "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." It seemed apropos given Thanksgiving is this week.

In the journal entry I wrote, "I have not felt very thankful about these problems [family crisis, care-giver stress and dental problems]. But I have some of the time tried to give thanks for stuff anyway. I like to think that sacrificing thank offerings is like that. It's easy to give thanks when everything is great. But when stuff is hard it's hard. It costs something emotionally and mentally.....Maybe that's why God gave that promise..."

I just now looked at the previous journal to get more context and was amazed by how much it illustrated the truth of the promise that giving thanks even in hard times can help. Two days before this entry I got an infected tooth extracted. This is what I said about it:

“Today I climbed ‘my Mt Everest’” Got my tooth pulled with just local anesthetic (& a little nitrous oxide for good measure.)

The Guide Post’s devotional for today talked about how the people in our life can help us do difficult things. The verse was ‘two are better than one.’ The author told how his neighbors helped him keep going on his morning run even up the hill that always seemed too hard.

I thought of that today as I waited to get the tooth pulled. Thought of my friends who had gotten teeth pulled with just local and lived to tell about it.

I thought of RC and S and R’s mom and T and J. I didn’t like hearing some of what they said about it Monday night at small group but it helped to think about it—their courage and survival 😉

So, I survived too. Thank you, God. It also helped that the Dr’s office staff played KLTY [Christian station]. One of the songs was really encouraging. I don’t know the name, but some of the words are ‘Jesus Messiah, name above all names, rescue for sinners, Emanuel…’ 

It also helped to think of Jesus going to the cross, and enduring the agony. 

I was struggling with anger with God and how hard stuff has been for me lately. Started to sink into self-pity, but God helped me turn it around by thinking about Jesus – he had it way harder than I did and also remembering my friends who have gone through the hard thing of losing a tooth or two. 

Then too I chose to remind myself and declare God’s goodness and to thank him for stuff – like Novocain, and friends to give me rides, and a Christian doctor who plays Christian music. And that helped.

I did feel an amazing amount of peace while I waited for them to get info from my insurance company. It was like John prayed—God was my valium!

It also helped to keep reminding myself that I would be rid of all that infection. Like how Jesus endured [the cross] for the joy set before Him.”

I know, I know I’m a wimp to have been so worried about a tooth extraction. Lots of my friends have endured worse! Since then, I have lost two more teeth and it was not fun those times either (and I got more than novocaine!). But the point is that thankfulness and trusting in God even when it is hard really can help. 

Just to clarify: At the time of those journal entries we were in crisis mode. In addition to my major tooth pain and problems we were caring for my Mom who had just moved in with us and had a lot of care needs. Caring for her complex issues was really wearing me down. She was so unwell that we didn’t expect her to live much longer. 

It is now 13 years later and she is still living, though not with us. She needs more care (and lifting) than we can cope with so she lives in an assisted living home. We will visit her tomorrow. 

God has brought me through so much and I know he will continue to be with me no matter what. I am thankful. 

Aussie Pilg 12 - Hobart goodbyes and on to Launceston

We arrived back in Dallas about three weeks ago. I think I'm adjusted to the time difference now. It's a whopping 17 hours different. As I write this it is 11:35 a.m. Monday morning here in Dallas but is 4:35 a.m. Tuesday morning in Melbourne, Australia.

The seasons are also different. It's Spring in Australia. But it's Fall here. It's been a bit of an unpleasant shock. Our first week back there was a cold snap here and it got down near freezing. It made sitting outside in the morning for an hour before noon to adjust to the time difference much more challenging. Of course to have an hour to sit outside before noon I had to actually get outside by 11:00 a.m. which didn't happen most mornings which was not the fault of the weather.

Anyway I seem to be adjusted now.

I'm also enjoying the fall colors. I was glad to see that the leaves waited to change color until after we got back. 

Our first morning back. Wearing John's big coat. I didn't stay outside very long that morning.

Our baby maple tree. I was glad to see that the leaves had not changed when we first got back.

Some of our garden died back during the broiling hot summer while we were away. It will be interesting to see how many plants come back next Spring.

Some of them need to be pruned back.
But we have had other priorities.

I went for a walk near the library after voting last Tuesday morning. I was delighted to see the leaves were starting to get their fall color. 

Our baby maple tree this morning. The leaves look prettier up close.

I'm glad I did not trim this bushy plant back yet. It is crowding the salvia and everything else around it. But the yellow flowers are cheering to see.

In addition to unpacking and trying to adjust to the time difference my main focus for the first week was to prepare documents to send to the Veterans Administration about my Mom's finances. I am her fiduciary and they periodically check up on things to make sure I am doing a good job. It was a little stressful. Hopefully I gave them what they wanted despite their instructions not being completely clear.* (John and I each had different ways of interpreting their directions.) Now that that is done and sent off I have no more excuses to put off writing about our final weeks in Australia.

My previous post about our first week in Tasmania ended on Saturday after the first WOW Missions Conference. Picking up from there, our next day was, of course, Sunday. John spoke at the church where our hosts, Phil and Elizabeth Prebble, attend in Midway Point, near Hobart. 

John at the podium. The floral wall decoration behind him caught my eye. See photo below.

It really is three dimensional--in real life that is ;-)-- and appears to be made of paper. I don't know who made it. I meant to ask. But I don't think I did.  

Prebbles took us out to lunch after church. Then in the afternoon we went to see Goat Bluff overlook and beach that Elizabeth recommended. It was beautiful though I felt a kind of sad knowing that it was our last afternoon in Hobart. 

Seeing this double rainbow on our way home was exciting.
I'm still just a kid at heart.

It was hard to say goodbye to Prebbles--especially Elizabeth. I really enjoyed getting better acquainted with her (and Phil too) during our time staying with them. I hope it won't be as long before we see them again--or our other Aussie friends--as it was since the previous time! 

Our next destination was Launceston, Tasmania. On our way out of town we took a little "detour" so John could meet with a young man who is interested in possibly doing computer programming work for Wycliffe. He and John had a good meeting and we all had a delicious lunch thanks to the kind family who were hosting the meeting.

 

Our trip to Launceston was enlivened by seeing "Shadows of the Past" sculptures along the way. There are 16 in all between Tunbridge and Kempton. These ones are near the southern end in Kempton.  

Notice the little girl patting the horses head at the front.

In this one the little girl is sitting inside the carriage. 
It's funny, I didn't notice those details until now as I write this. But the first thing I did when I walked up to the horse sculpture was to pat it on the nose. I thought John took a photo of that. But I can't find it now so guess he didn't.    

Not a great photo but you get the idea!

I was planning to make this post cover our whole final two weeks in Australia. But it is getting so long that I think this is a good place to stop for now. I hope to finish the rest soon, hopefully before Christmas! 

I finally put my Fall wreath up on our front door last night. 

*Post Script: I heard from the Veteran's Administration after I published this and they accepted the documents I sent so I don't need to do anything more. I'm so thankful!