“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” –St. Paul
Greetings Dear Ones,
I suppose it’s a bit silly to send a Christmas card at the end of January, but my order of Christmas photos was bungled and they didn’t arrive until last week, so I had to decide whether to send them out or…save them for next year? Considering that 2020 was such a significant year in our lives, and such a challenging year around the world, I wanted to send a real letter, even if it doesn’t reach you until February!
For many this has been the worst year of their lives, a year of anxiety, illness, restrictions, and loss. To all those who are suffering, I offer you my love and prayers for comfort and sustenance. It has been a hard year, a strange year, a fraught and anxious year. But for us, it has been, primarily, a year filled with blessings and gratitude.
We were blessed to buy a beautiful old Craftsman House, our first ever home purchase, the first week of March 2020, that is, we moved in two days before the whole country shut down in a panic. We held our breath, and settled in. We thanked God for Jacob’s continued employment (recognizing that, in another industry, he easily could have been laid off the week after we bought our first house!). As we adjusted to the new restrictions and uncertainty, we set about unpacking, painting, rearranging, and Craigslist shopping for new-to-us furniture. We began to rejoice in the opportunity to focus on our new home and family life, our homeschooling, and the happiness of just being together.
For so many years, we have had our own private struggles. Jacob has had long deployments, long work hours, hard labors. We have moved many times, had many pregnancies and babies and sleepless nights. Jacob has worked night shifts and rotating shifts and double shifts. He has taken a full load of college classes while working full time. I have learned to manage children and household duties largely alone, pregnant, nursing, and handling everything from exterminating ants, to dealing with drug-dealing neighbors, or nursing a gravely ill child at the hospital. A lot of our marriage has suffered the hardship of being apart, sleepless, and stretched thin. And this is the first year where we have really felt able to settle in, and enjoy our home, our children, and each other. Indeed, for us, this year has perhaps been the most “normal” of any. And with the Pandemic and suffering all around, we have been even more thankful and aware of every one of our blessings. We have soaked up the joys of each day, each house project, each dinner together. The simple joy of a normal family life together in our home. We thank God for these great blessings!
Praise God, we are healthy. We are joyful. We have a lovely family. And we have a home, a safe and comfortable and beautiful house big enough to spend our quarantined days in relative peace. We have enjoyed the break from outside activities and this very unique opportunity to turn inwards, to focus on our family life, and make our home a place of great joy and learning and prayer, a “domestic church.”
As we look to the year ahead, we are filled with hope. As much as we have cherished 2020, we look forward to a vaccine (Jacob already got it!) and the return of activities and gatherings. We hope for swim lessons, and maybe gymnastics and parkour. We hope to host more friends in our home, and sing more often. We plan to read more books and play outside. We hope for a garden full of flowers and vegetables. We hope we shall be able to visit family and take a real vacation or two. The only conflict is that I hope to go camping (as I hope every year), and my husband distinctly hopes that we don’t!
Looking forward to the year ahead, when we raised our glasses of champagne to toast 2021, it was indeed a night of deep contrasts in our household. This was a year of suffering the world over, and yet for us personally, it was a year we were especially thankful for. At the same time, that very New Year’s Eve, in which we celebrate new beginnings and hopes and dreams for the future, Jacob’s dear Aunt lay dying, passing away that very night: requiesce in pace. Her earthly journey, with all of its cares, worries, hopes, and plans, had come to its final end. We marked that end, and grieve that loss, even as we open the book to a new chapter in our own lives, reflecting again on our blessings, and also recognizing that nothing is guaranteed, and anything and everything may be taken away from us. Indeed, as I held my champagne glass in midair, grieving and celebrating simultaneously, I felt a moment of anxiety: What unknown suffering awaits us in 2021? In answer, the words of St. Paul came to mind. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty…” Whatever 2021 brings, we shall strive to find that secret of being content, whatever the circumstances, relying on Him who gives us strength to face all things. May we do so with faith, hope, and love, to the very end of our days.
From our family to yours,
God bless you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!