The Lord says through Isaiah..."Look! I am about to do a brand new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?"
No, Lord. We never saw it coming.
The Cruses have been bowled over this year. Last December if you had told us that @Christmas 2011, Beth would be pregnant and Brad would live in Little Rock...we would have guffawed. Who saw either of those coming?
I sent Beth's baby bump picture to a friend...who responded that God had answered prayer. I emailed back. "No, you don't understand, Georgia...they weren't even praying. They were content and now they are flabbergasted."
Her answer? "If you will remember, they DID pray some years ago. And now the answer is here."
Amen, Georgia. Nate (7) is so excited about his little brother Will...arriving around Valentines.
Now they've unpacked, survived, and are settling in. The girls are enjoying their new space. We love having them "drop in" from only 2.5 hours away.
It is funny how interconnected life can be. Brad is working with a dentist on the 9th floor of the Med Towers next to Baptist Hospital. He's in a corner room that is all glass. Niiice.
Here is a random factoid. Know who occupied that office space before Dr. Rollins moved in? The space belonged to a surgeon for nineteen years. And Georgia...the friend who reminded me about God's answer to Beth's prayer...worked everyday in that space alongside her husband, Dr. Chuck Nash. Small world.
Mike and I are loving our stage of life up here in the hills. Well, mostly. A kind lady pushed a cart by me the other day in the WalMart lot and stopped to offer "can I help you ma'am?" All of a sudden I realized she was honoring an older person. That SHOCKED me to realize my age. In the spring, Mike will begin his seventh decade. Are you kidding me? When did we get old?
At the same time, life is increasingly vibrant. When we tell the Lord goodnight, Mike and I constantly tell Him how amazed we are at His grace toward us. This year the Spirit has been home-schooling Mike as he prepares a weekly SS lesson. Mike has always been a facilitator for groups, but this year he's hit his stride in cracking open Scripture. I wish you could hear him. About mid-week I'll say "seein' the lesson yet?"...and he'll say "not yet". Then about Friday when I ask again, he'll GRIN and say "well, there MAY be a lesson there...". It's an adrenaline rush to depend on the Lord.
Mike is my greatest blessing of 2011, followed by the kids and the grands. But there's someone else who has poured into my life this year. Check out the lady to the left in pink.
I hang around Bobbie because she's a glowing Hebrews 10:24 billboard. "And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works." Bobbie is a "spurrior" whose delight in the Lord is catching.
[Note: the other women in the pic are Bobbie's daughter/granddaughters. Don't be fooled by their gorgeous cheekbones 'cuz they're more than just pretty faces. Their love for Jesus translates into outposts in Africa, an island nation, and a couple of stateside spots (plus their brother on the left coast). Love this precious family.]
Just wanted to close with some pics of what Mike and I have counted as richness this year. It is touchy to talk about richness when we know no one has a perfect life...or a completely easy one. In fact, several dear friends are walking through a HOT fire right now. Our prayer for them is that the Breath of Heaven would (in the words of an Amy Grant song) "hold them together" . It helps to remember the final chapter is yet to be written.
Mike and I wish your family a joyful celebration of that first noel when Mary and Joseph were caught completely offguard. The Giver of unexpected blessings...that is our God!
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