What a great holiday vacation! It started with a sweet deal on a new-to-us washer and dryer on the 23rd. Not only did we get $1500 worth of laundromat for $350--thank you Craigslist! We also found Dennis on Craigslist, who picked them up for us within the hour and delivered them, even carrying them down to our basement.
On the 24th, imagine that, we had a wonderful Christmas eve service with communion and everyone bringing gifts to the manger. After the service, we left racing the leading edge of a massive winter storm. Praise God we were headed east. We drove all night in the rain, reaching the beautiful Cumberland Gap in eastern Kentucky on Christmas morning. The skies cleared up and it was glorious. "The heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmaments display God's handiwork," as the psalmist says. Cumberland was the long way around, but I wanted to see the mountains first thing in the morning and it was worth it.
Ross traveled incredibly well for his first road trip. The ruffrider seatbelt we got him worked really well. He would occasionally stick his head up between the seats to see what was going on, but mostly he curled up on his dog bed. We did learn that busy gas stations are not the place to stop for Ross breaks. He's really skittish of cars and lots of noise.
We arrived at the Taylor farm around 9AM and were greeted by the whole clan--Lynn's parents, her sister Julie and her husband Mark, and youngest sister Katie. Ross loved the farm, except for the horses, that is. He would growl and place himself between us and the horses when they came up to us. Ross required daily trips to the farm since he simply will not go to the bathroom in a yard. It's crazy! This dog will only do his thing in the woods or on this island up the block that we call the poop deck because all the neighborhood dogs go there. Ross won the family over quickly as well. Mom said she wouldn't have the dog in the house, but as soon as she met him, she fell in love with him and invited him in and gave him the run of the house. Grammy succumbed to his canine charms as well, feeding him bits of ham all week.
Christmas day was a whirlwind for us all as we had breakfast at the farm and then headed over to Grammy's for dinner, where we joined by Uncle Robert and Aunt Tammy, Aaron and Haley. Dinner was wonderful--turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, gravy, cranberry relish, and 3 kinds of pie for dessert. After dinner, it was time for paper to fly as we opened presents and stockings. Ross even had a stocking stuffed with doggie treats.
Later, we headed back to the farm to open presents with the immediate family. Ross had a long day and as the excitement grew, Ross decided he needed to crawl up in my lap to escape the chaos. The poor guy was trembling so we had to take him outside for a break. He doesn't like having his picture taken either and it may have been the flashes that got him excited. Lynn and I crashed that night at Grammy's with Ross on his dog bed on the floor next to me. He is such a cute and lovable dog, and smart too. We decided to get him a new harness the next day since he was able to get out of his other one. Houdini slipped the new one in about 3 minutes. Oh well, he doesn't run off and he doesn't try to get out all the time, so we've given up trying to find one he can't escape. FYI-if he's left in the car alone very long, he gets out of his seatbelt and crawls into the front seat to wait for us.
Lynn and I started in on our commissioning paperwork on the 26th as well. Lynn has most of hers done since she has to go back to work on Monday and will be starting classes at Northwest Missouri State in mid-January. I haven't pushed as hard, thougth I've done better than a fourth of the writing. Lynn also spent a lot of time lesson planning with her mom, who teaches pre-k. I think it was fun for them to work together. We also wandered over to Dandridge, the second oldest town in Tennessee on Friday to check out the old buildings and do a little shopping. On Saturday, we wandered into Morristown and found a taqueria.
Sunday, the family had Turkey hash, a kind of soup made from leftovers, which is a Taylor tradition. We gathered at the farm to talk and, when it was jsut us kids, we learned a little more about Katie's boyfriend. That evening we were back over at Grammy's for her famous Taco soup. Monday morning Grammy took us all to Cracker Barrel, another family tradition. Over lunch at the farm we said goodbye to Julie and Mark before they left to fly back to the bay area. That afternoon, Lynn and I were back at it on the commissioning paperwork and she planned worship for Sunday, January 3rd.
Tuesday morning, Lynn and I headed out to Statesville, NC via Virginia. We stopped in Meadowview, VA at the Meadowview Farmer's guild to do a little last minute shopping for Lynn'a friends who we were meeting later in the day. In Statesville, we met Lynn's friend, Erica, and her two children, Abigail and Samuel. It was a bummer that Erica's husband At wasn't able to join us, but we had a good time anyway. Samuel was excited to see Ross make yellow snow--hilarious! On our way out of Statesville we stopped by the Thorlo outlet to get several pairs of the best socks ever and then it was off to Marion, VA, near where we got married, to see Lynn's friend Jessica and her dad, Denton. Denton and I hit it off and talked while the ladies took Ross for a walk. Denton's great--he's served in ministry at the same church for 29 years, doing everything from cleaning toilets to ministry with youth. He even offered to resign when a new pastor admitted being threatened by Denton's long relationship with the congregation. Awesome!
On our way back to Tennessee we detoured through Emory, VA to visit the campus of Lynn's alma mater, Emory and Henry college. it was late by the time we got back to Grammy's and we crashed. Wednesday morning Lynn went to lesson plan with her mom some more while I stayed at Grammy's and talked. When Lynn got back we went over the worship plan and Lynn worked on commissioning while I did some research for projects I'm doing around the house. We left Grammy's about 3 that afternoon to head for Nashville where we were staying the night with Lynn's friend, Julie. At Julie's that evening, Ross made a new friend in Julie's dog, Boulder. It was fun to watch them lay with each other.
The next morning we hit the road about 8 to head back to KC. We stopped off in St. Louis to shop at Trader Joe's and to have a bite to eat. We got home around 9pm, dragged a few things in and hit the sack. New Year's Day we got up and sort of back into a routine. Lynn worked on lesson planning to get ahead for the start of school. Her students will be learning about the antarctic over the next couple of weeks. I wish she had been my teacher because she comes up with the most creative lessons for her students. They are blessed to have her.
I worked on the house, wiring an outlet for the dryer and performing routine maintenance on the new washer. The couple that sold them to us was only selling them because they were getting a designer red set for Christmas. The washer had been showing an error which indicated that the filter needed to be cleaned. I had thought we might have to call an electrician to add a new circuit for the dryer, or maybe even replace our breaker panel with a new and larger one, which we plan to do anyway. However, there was a mystery cable exiting the breaker panel which I had been meaning to investigate. It was marked A/C, but ran into the wall of our dining room. It turned out to be an old stove outlet which we didn't need. 20 feet of 10/3NM wire and a new outlet later and, voila, working dryer. We finished the day by picking up Lynn's car from the mechanic, making homemade pizza, and then watching "Julie and Julia" before we went to bed.
This morning, I loaded the last of the laundry into the washer. What would have been 8 loads and taken days in our apartment sized machines, has taken just 3 loads. Hallelujah! Well, it's definitely back to work for the Jaekleys. I'm headed out to the church to get ready for Sunday worship, and Lynn will be plugging away at her lesson planning. And there's housework to do as well. I leave with this quote from Bishop Reuben Job: "Discernment at its best is the conequence of a daily and lifetime walk with God. A lifetime of such companionship produces profound results that range from guidance in decision making to transformation of one's life. Living a life of discernment, then, is the simple process of staying attentive to and open to God in all of the active and contemplative times of our lives." (A Guide to Spiritual Discernment, 52) I thank God for such guidance in our lives, from selecting Ross, to finding a great mechanic, to finding a high quality washer/dryer set that we could afford, to driving through Cumberland Gap. Life is good, not because it is easy, but because God has made it so. Amen
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