Ever since I read Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts, I have been keeping a list. I have tried to cultivate a habit of gratitude to God in myself and my children, instead of complaint that comes so naturally. We are so blessed! My pages and pages of scribbled gifts remind me. So I have reached One Thousand now. There have been many more that I neglected to record or neglected to even see. But let me share my thousandth:
996. A day with Deacon and getting to know my little grandson better
997. Watching The Bible together on TV
998. Spring birds singing as we all anticipate the end of winter
999. A feast of abundant food that God provides
1000. My new grandson Caden River is born on March 3, 2013!
I have ten grandchildren now! (One we are still waiting to see.) But each new little one is like it was the very first. I can't wait to meet baby Caden. God is so good to our family and we continue to grow. My list continues...
I can't believe February is over. What have we done? I've been too busy to write, which means too busy to think. Because if I am thinking, I always have lots to write about.
I was in the middle of an interesting conversation with my step-mother. She was filling me in on some ancestors I never knew and giving me details about my father that makes me realize I wasn't missing much by never knowing him. She sent two boxes of his stuff that she doesn't want. While I'm talking to her, Fred comes home from work with a big Chipotle bag! It's going to be a great dinner! He is so generous to stop and buy us all burrito bowls. (And Fred doesn't even like them.) I can't wait to eat.
Suddenly I actually feel like a whirlwind is spinning in my brain and I'm dizzy. That begins a very long and lonely night on the cold bathroom tile floor. Norovirus! Within hours I hear Arielle upstairs. She is in the same shape I'm in. And I can't even go and help her because I'm so weak I can't walk up the stairs. The next day Liana falls to the virus too. Then Fred. Sickness has a way of ending all plans and nothing seems important except getting well. We have no desire to read or watch TV or even talk to each other. Due to the nature of this virus, we also have no desire whatsoever to eat. For days. The Chipotle we longed for gets thrown away uneaten. Life stops.
While I'm sick I think about food and how I don't care about eating anymore. Normally, our lives revolve around meals: the planning, the preparing, the cleaning up. Now nothing. I feel like my head clears and I can think better without food. When we do begin to eat again, we eat slowly and thoughtfully. I never want to go back to mindlessly stuffing my face with food. It seems obscene now.
Our first real meal is soup I prepared to replenish our purged bodies and souls-- a soup of organic kale, tomatoes, carrots from our summer garden, and white beans. We even have a small dessert of Cara Cara oranges. I don't think any meal has ever tasted more delicious.
I would hope to never crave again counterfeit food over the riches God provides that grow on this good earth he gave us. Is that the lesson to be learned from our fast? My daughter-in-law Gretchen brought over kefir and got me started on making my own. It is a potent tonic to restore our health and boost our immune systems. Here is my first batch. Anyone want a taste?
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