What a year! It is one that will go down in the archives of my mind as very difficult and challenging. The whole year we just hopscotched from one mud puddle to the next. It was a good thing we had our wading boots on and an umbrella over our heads. However, I have to say it was not all gloom and doom. Through it all the sun shone brightly. We saw and basked in it.
The year started with the first puddle. In January our granddaughter Karla had a very serious and life-threating sledding accident when she careened into a post, shattering her spleen and a kidney. The weather was too bad for med-flight to transfer her from Harrisonburg to Charlottesville to the trauma center so an ambulance inched it way over the icy Afton Mountain while paramedics manually squeezed blood into her veins. They made it and she has made full recovery. She had the worse possible injury to her spleen but with modern technology the doctor was able to repair it. The kidney had been without blood flow for 12 hours. After 4 hours, medically it is considered dead and non-reviveable (if that is a word!). Going against the advice of all her colleagues, the doctor said, “I have to try.” God heard our prayers and miracleously blood began flowing and the kidney was restored to health. God can do the impossible and she is a walking miracle. The sun shone bright revealing God’s tender care for her.
The next puddle was in March when my dad left this world and went to be with Jesus. Death is never easy and we miss daddy but do not miss the suffering and demented condition he was in. Dementia is a cruel taskmasker. Mother had passed away three years prior from cancer so now the reins of the family are officially in the hands of the next generation. The sun shone bright as we grateful gathered to remember daddy and reflected on our godly family heritage.
On Mother’s Day the sun glowed with sunshine. Our daughter Jill and her husband Obe came for the day and announced that they were moving to Powhatan in 2025. We never saw this coming and our hearts overflowed with shock and joy. They had been praying and seeking God’s wisdom. This was brewing in their minds for quite awhile. Jill had a dream, a vision for the tired farm and store to revitalize and give it new life. It was time to make a change and easy to welcome it. Jill was ready to leave the corporate world and return to the farm to help her dad. Gene has been struggling with his health (long-haul covid) for several years and it was becoming more and mored challenging for him to do what needed to be done on the farm. He needed help and until that moment we didn’t have a path to move forward.
The reality of the next puddle was not anticipated or predicted.
Two weeks later Gene was in the emergency room with severe septic shock due to an exploded gall bladder and had a 50% chance of making it. The next five months were a blur of surgeries, medical procedures, scans, relapses, therapy, doctors, nurses, pain meds, infections and sleepless nights. Several times he came home from the hospital and within days was back in the ER. More than once we wondered if he really was going to make it. Our days were filled with discouragement and uncertainity. Finally on September 5 he came home and little by little he is getting better. It is a long road to recovery. He had lost 43 lbs. and had to regain strength to even stand and walk. The mud in those puddles was thick and sticky, threatening to sink us but God’s arms were around us through the support, encouragement, prayers and love of family and friends. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
This Christmas season we as a family were reflecting on the events of the past year and the unimaginable blessing, hope and joy that the announcement from Jill on Mother’s Day held. It was our lifeline as our ship was sinking and we grabbed hold of it with all our strength and held on. What looked dark and unnaviagable has become full of hope and anticipation.
Change is coming to the farm and store as the next generations, full of energy and vision, are involved. It is good and we see the blessings that have come out of the hard times. The sun has burst through the storm clouds and glued our family together in way we never dreamed possible. So with great gusto we wave goodbye to 2024 and look forward to the changes of 2025. Stay tuned.
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