Christmas Letter Part IV

Mom and dad were forced to live “one day at a time” this summer when Coleman Powermate, the place where my dad had worked for over 23 years, shut their doors one afternoon. Dad was called into the office in March and told to pack his office up; he wasn’t needed anymore. After 23 years, he went home with a box full of his desk supplies and nothing more than a “Goodbye.” He spent until June interviewing for jobs all over the country, but everything fell through, much to their disappointment. Imagine our kids surprise when we went home one weekend and found dad begging on the street corner. God is good, though, and Coleman was bought by an Italian company, who decided to re-open the doors in the Kearney office as PRAMAC America. Dad interviewed for his old spot, got it, and is back working at his old job.

As if dad losing his job wasn’t bad enough, we kids were surprised again when we went home in June to find the house missing due to a tornado. We found it in Oz with a witch underneath it. Mom was saying, “I don’t think we’re in Nebraska anymore, BooDog.” Ok, well, the house wasn’t really missing, but a tornado really did rip through Kearney, destroying the airport, fairgrounds, Harmon Park, portions of downtown and other sections of the town. The storm was so amazing that Kearney was featured on the show Storm Chasers just this month.

As for mom, the oh-so-graceful-one, she’s been busy falling and getting hurt. If you’ll recall from last year, she had knee surgery and was out for six weeks. This year, she fell on the ice in February and fractured her vertebrae. She was out of work for a few weeks. As the summer went on, her shoulder began to hurt, so after a few doctor appointments, the doctors realized she had hurt her shoulder when she fell on the ice. She had surgery in November, and has been enjoying her eight week hiatus from work. I’m beginning to think she injures herself just to get off work for a few weeks at a time. There was no bus tour this year, but they did take a week long vacation to Hawaii, where they visited Pearl Harbor, did a little snorkeling, and took a tour of the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

The entire family has taken it “one day at a time” throughout this entire year. Sometimes it’s too overwhelming to look ahead or look behind, so in order to get through the day we focus on today. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “So never worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." We’ve each had our trials and tribulations this year, and I’m sure you can relate, but we’ve had our happy moments, too. We pray that as you live your life “one day at a time,” remember who controls the way. Jesus always has our hand, and we have to trust that he knows where he’s taking us. The dang road is bumpy sometimes, but as mom and dad say while riding their four-wheelers, the bumpy road is sometimes the best road.

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That's our long Christmas letter. Thanks for taking the time to read it.