Family

Yesterday we got the news that Shari’s Grandmother (her Mom’s Mom) had passed away (in the afternoon). Her name was Ada Winger. We praise the Lord that she knew and loved the Saviour.

Ada hadn’t been well for some time, but this was still pretty sudden. In fact, Shari’s Mom had just talked to her yesterday morning. She (Ada) had company, so she was going to call back in the afternoon.

We would appreciate your prayers for us and the family and especially Shari’s Mom. The family has suffered quite a bit of loss over the past few months. Yesterday some of the family near Ada were heading out to PEI for holidays. Shari’s parents and sister were planning to come to Calgary today to see Shari’s brother and his family, who will be moving to Arizona on Monday. Of course all these plans have changed, and they’ll be heading out to Ontario today for the weekend and the funeral.

Because it was so sudden we don’t have a lot of details yet, but I just wanted to let you know so that you could pray. The funeral will be held on Tuesday.

The day didn’t start off well.  With a list of things to do that could fill a small book, neither of us were getting much accomplished.  Finally after some discussion I took Hannah and Nathanael on a walk, where we saw grass, flowers, trucks, airplanes, tree pruning, road repair, and a half broken brick that seemed to fascinate Hannah.

We came home and made lunch, and had great plans for all we’d get done in the afternoon.  Suddenly – CLUNK!  The sound of Nathanael hitting the floor.  He had been playing on Hannah’s bed and had fallen off – no great disaster usually, since her bed is only a foot or so off the floor.  But lunch came and went and he was still obviously in pain.  It was his right arm.

The arm looked ok, so we thought maybe it was a mild sprain or a bruise.  He calmed down and we put him to bed for a nap, but he only slept a little while before he was up again, still upset.

Well, that convinced us that it was time to see a doctor.  Shari went to the Children’s Hospital, while Hannah and I had supper.

Sure enough, something was wrong.  It was a “buckle fracture“.  For those who don’t know, apparently this is the best kind of fracture to get,

if you must get one.  It doesn’t require a cast, but it does require a splint, for three weeks or so.  That’s a pretty long time when you’re 2, let’s face it.

Meanwhile, Hannah and I made the most of the Nathanael-is-away time and pulled out the record player.  For those who don’t know, this is the best thing to have if you want to play … well, records.  Records are giant CD-like things that, many people would tell you, actually have better sound, but no one wants to use them any more because they don’t cost as much and they tend to melt a lot faster on the seat of your car.

We listened to some stories and songs, and it will warm your heart to know, if you’re a child of the third millennium, that we recorded a couple of the records onto a hard drive.

Nathanael is now home with his new splint, and both children are finally in bed.  And rather than attack my list of things to do, I thought I’d stop by and have a chat with you.  Tomorrow is another day.  Another day that already had another list.  Uh oh.

Still, as we sat around the table tonight, the kids were fairly happy with their yogourt popsicles.  And I realized that we’re still pretty blessed.  The injury really was minor, and our children were pretty happy for most of the day.  We had good food to eat, a loving home, and a caring God.  So maybe the day wasn’t so bad after all.