BUSY DAYS

Eric's gold medal team in Minot

Eric and a friends sharing the medal

My Sunday post didn't get published until Tuesday so I won't rush to get a Wednesday post off on time!  I've devoted most of the day to the Christmas mail as I want to get the Canadian ones off in the mail when I go up to the library on Thursday morning.  I'll mail the ones to the US and Norway from Ambrose on Friday afternoon.  Canada Post came out with a price increase for next year that will raise the cost of a stamp from 63 to 85 cents or $1 if you just buy one.  I might be emailing most of my letters next year!   If people are sending fewer letters now, what will happen with a price hike like that?  I don't think that kind of a raise will help the Post Office's financial situation any.

When I got home after Bible study on Tuesday afternoon I started reading a book that I got in the mail the day before through Amazon.  Ardis had seen the author, Dr. Mary Neal, on a documentary on CNN.  The book is called "To Heaven and Back".  It's the doctor's account of what happened when she was underwater for over 30 minutes when her kayak got submerged under the water after going over a waterfall on a river in Chile in 1999.  The book fit in so well with our study on prayer that I just kept on reading until I got to the end!

Dr. Mary wrote about the events that we call coincidental.  She prefers to call them miraculous.  I tend to agree as only God could arrange some of those surprising meetings or events.  Like when my niece Mandy and Rick's trip from the US back to Canada was delayed by a day because the new trailer wasn't ready.  When they were on their way the next day, they got word of Howard's passing.  Instead of continuing on to Alberta, they came right to our farm with the trailer.  It slept ten and was just what was needed to help house family coming for the funeral. If the trailer had been ready on time, they would have been back in Alberta when they got word of Howard's death.  Oh, to add to that, Rick happened to buy work boots on their trip and was all set to get on a tractor and help Clare with seeding!  And what are the chances that both my brothers, our sisters, all our nieces and nephews would be able to be here for the service?  Only God's timing could have worked that out!

The author suggests that we keep track of the "coincidences" in our life to see evidence of God's work and the assurance that He has a plan for your life.  I'm going to do that.  Looking back, I already have quite a list but it will be exciting to see what's in store for the future.

One fun surprise I got from the book was to find a favourite little story that Howard had longed to locate.  It was one that he remembered from his childhood.  I tried to find it in some of the old readers and also "googled" some of the lines but I never found it.  On page 95 of this book, there it was!

"When a poor man was given a loaf of bread, he thanked the baker, but the baker said, 'Don't thank me.  Thank the miller who made the flour.'  So the poor man thanked the miller, but the miller said, 'Don't thank me.  Thank the farmer who planted the wheat.'  So the poor man thanked the farmer.  But the farmer said, 'Don't thank me.  Thank the Lord.  He gave the sunshine and rain and fertility to the soil and that's why you have bread to eat.'"

The author was reminded of this old fable when she was reading from I Thessalonians 5:18 "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  Now that little fable might have been familiar to some of you too.  I should have checked on Facebook or asked on my blog
but it was exciting to finally find it "for Howard".

It's now Friday afternoon!  I had a fun morning teaching two ladies how to make lefse.  Then they went to Crosby to buy lefse grills, rolling pins and sticks so I guess the lesson was successful.

Now I am going to Ambrose to get my US and Norway cards in the mail and to pick up some parcels that are waiting for me.  I hope to get my Sunday post off on Sunday!