Super Trooper...

So I got a sweet certificate of thanks at the WCA Christmas Thank You Breakfast for key volunteers for Willow conferences. Bob, the presenter, pointed out that this was a tough year for our family and that I still had served when I could.

That day that started at 6:00 AM, did not end until 5:00 AM on Friday. Visiting the Novelli's after the breakfast and getting to hold the twins was a joyous time. I then stopped at one of my electronic distributors in the northwest burbs to drop off samples and Toys for Tots gifts for their Christmas party to be held that afternoon. I drove into my office in the city and worked like crazy to clear my desk for the weekend. And then the snow started!!!!!

What should have been a 40 minute drive ended up taking 2 1/2 hours of slow, slow inching home on crowded, snow packed roads. What actually made this time really wonderful is the Christmas CD Pete had just made for me the night before. Chris Rice playing piano of nothing but wonderful, sacred Christmas music. I had all that time in solitude to pray, think, appreciate the joy of this season. I had almost decided to bail on the Willow Creek neighborhood outreach of Carol singing at a local nursing home that started at 6:30 PM but I thought of Laurie and how she loved her patients at the Arlington where she had worked. Laurie had said how much they loved anyone from the outside coming to visit. So in I went and joined 15 others just about as musically uninclined as me and sang our little hearts out. The best part is the patients here are roughly 50% Christians and 50% Jewish and one particular Jewish lady, Eleanor, I came to find out, told the sweetest story. Years ago when her children were young, the seven next door neighbor Catholic kids decided to put on the nativity play and they used her young son, Eric, as the Christ child because he was Jewish. She went on to say Eric learned to sing "Jesus loves me." I could not help but think that this lady's heart had been touched by Christ. You never know what will have meaning to someone.

My last adventure of the night was to slip and slide my way over to Willow Creek to serve at my 11:00 PM to 3:00 AM PADS volunteer shift. While doing the meager laundry for homeless guests, sleeping there that night, I wrote out all my Christmas cards and was thankful to have that task off my To-Do list. When I arrived home, our sagging under the weight of so much snow, inflatable snowglobe on the front lawn needed clearing. So here I am at 4:00 AM with a broom dusting off snow, laughing out loud to myself.

Super trooper? No, just a 56 year old lady who is blessed to have the God given health and energy and pray support of many to carry on. Thanks, God.