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Tomorrow will be our youngest daughter’s 19th birthday. This summer, she is staying in her college town to work at her first “town job”. This will be her first birthday away from home. It may be cliche, but they grow up so fast!
She had a need for speed!
I think when Jonathan got his go-cart running, it took a few years off my life! Laura was either all on the gas, or all on the brake whipping around corners. She was little enough that she had to slouch down to reach the pedals. She’s had a couple other go-carts since this one, but the memory of the first day behind the wheel of this first cart really sticks out. I came to dread the phrase, “Hey, mom! Watch this!”
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from the Olson family!
The Christmas season is typically filled with the hustle and bustle of baking, shopping, and decorating. This year, we added a trip to the Mayo Clinic for Anna’s yearly checkup, and grain hauling into the mix. Some decorating didn’t happen, but Christmas isn’t dependent on how festive the house looks. After all, Jesus was born in a stable, surrounded by farm animals.
I am so thankful for Anna’s positive check up. Her MRI showed no new Multiple Sclerosis activity, and her physical tests showed no major declines in strength or other issues. That was our first Christmas gift this year. Anna and I left for Rochester a day early, due to a blizzard warning in that area. We wanted to get ahead of the storm, and avoid driving in the wide open spaces in wind driven snow. This was the third year in a row that we have spent extra time in Rochester due to winter storms. Our hotel was great when Anna’s first appointment went long, and we were late for checkout on Friday morning. They didn’t charge us a late checkout fee, even though they could have. That was our second Christmas gift this year.
On Christmas Eve Day, we started out with fresh caramel rolls for breakfast. We all went in to our church’s candle light Christmas Eve service that evening, where we served as the greeters. I love seeing all of the families who have come home for Christmas. Having our girls home for Christmas was our third gift this year.
Our family opens gifts on Christmas Eve, following the candlelight service. I love the laughter, the delight, the joy at gifts given and gifts received. Two of the girls did the majority of the gift buying this year. It was a fun night.
Christmas day dawned bright and cold. It was a day of playing games with Jonathan’s cousins from town, and eating delicious appetizers and cookies.
In the midst of all the merriment, Jonathan has been out working in the single digit temperatures to load out semi loads of grain, as well as the usual pig chores. The cold temperatures always bring equipment issues, but typically things get fixed in short order. We are thankful for our dairy friends who are out in the barns every day – holiday or not. I haven’t heard any complaints about working holidays, or working in the extreme cold. This is the life we have chosen, and we are thankful for it.
So, from our farm to you, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Anna spent her summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a summer project with Campus Crusade. The first time that all three girls were not together for the summer. While it seemed as if Anna was just away at college at times, there was something definitely different. Did I just feel another gray hair pop? I definitely feel older at times…
Christina and Laura wanted to learn to sew for 4-H, so we sent them to Grandma Bredlow’s for “sewing camp”. Laura loves upcycling clothes, and found a couple of skirts at Goodwill to alter. She shortened the skirts, and took in the waist to fit her. They turned out really cute. She brought one of them to the county fair, and did very well.
Christina took on the challenge of designing her dress, and figuring out how to put multiple patterns together to get the end product. She envisioned a one shoulder dress of black satin, with an animal print waist band. Then, she wanted to make an over-skirt of the animal print that would attach to the dress with hooks. That way, she could have a formal dress with just a little animal print accent for more formal occasions, or she could attach the animal print skirt for a fun look. She won a trip to the State Fair in Fashion Revue.
Both of the girls showed four goats in four categories at our county fair. Laura won a trip to the State Fair with one of her goats. That meant she went to school for two days, then spent the rest of her week up in St. Paul. Her goat show was on August 26th, which just so happened to be my sister’s birthday. Jonathan, Christina, and I stayed at Pam’s house on Thursday night, then we brought Pam with us to the fair on Friday. We hung out in the judging arena until Laura was finished. She received a blue ribbon in showmanship, and a blue ribbon on her goat. She was happy with that!
After the judging finished, we took Pam around the fair to find birthday cake on a stick…or something like that. We wandered around the barns, and talked to friends from all over the state. Of course, when introducing Pam, I had to tell them that it was her birthday! We eventually found a place to sit along a curb to watch the parade, keeping an eye out for the St. Anthony Park Community Band. Brother-in-law Paul Hanson was the lone trombone on that float! We met up with him eventually, and did a little catching up.
When Pam was in high school, she didn’t want a birthday cake made of …cake. She asked for a candy bar “cake”. Mom bought a variety of candy bars, and arranged them on a plate like a layer cake. She even put candles on the top layer. So, we found the deep fried candy bar place, and Pam had the modern version of her candy bar cake! Our day was complete! In all, we spent roughly 12 hours at the fair that day.
Fast forward to Thursday, September 1st. Jonathan was busy working on the farm, so I was the lucky one who helped Anna and Christina move back to college. They live in the same building, same floor, just around the corner from each other. A parent’s dream! We made room for a dolly to help move Anna’s refrigerator and keyboard, and to help reduce the number of trips needed to carry tubs in. I was the only mom helping kids move that day, and the only one who brought a dolly. I looked pretty smart. 🙂
Christina came home again on Saturday, and we went back up to the Cities for round 2 at the State Fair. Fashion Revue judging was Sunday morning. Laura and I worked in the Farm Bureau building for a few hours, then we walked around until Grandma and cousin Jenni came. We showed them Jonathan’s champion open class wheat exhibit, and the other seed samples that he won ribbons for. We made it up to the 4-H building in plenty of time to watch Christina model her dress in the fashion show. Even though she did not win a spot in the Court of Honor, she was complemented by the show’s director, and by one of her judges who liked that she thought outside the box.
So, all the kids are back in school. I look around my house at everything in disarray from the comings and goings. And I wonder. Will I ever catch up? Some day…
Note: This entry was originally written last Thursday…dictated to Anna, as we were heading down the road.
I was thinking this morning about the movie “Parenthood” with Steve Martin. There is a scene where he is having an argument with his wife about accepting her pregnancy. He is not sure he can handle the chaos and uncertainty of the new child. The grandmother comes in and starts talking about roller coasters. She loves them – the anticipation of the climb towards the top (the clicking of the chain as it pulls the cars up), and the thrill once you are over the hill and rushing back down. She goes on to say that some people cannot handle the roller coasters. They don’t like the ride. They just ride on the merry-go-round. Then she leaves the room. Steve Martin’s character completely misses her point until later in the scene when they are attending their daughter’s school play. The youngest son charges on stage, thinking they are hurting his sister. Chaos ensues, and the audience starts yelling that Martin’s son is ruining the play. Then Martin starts feeling like he is on the roller coaster, and you hear the clicking and the screaming associated with those on the ride with him (the camera angles make it look as if the whole auditorium is on the coaster). Martin looks like he is about to become sick, and is not enjoying this ride at all. But then he turns and looks at his wife, who is laughing and enjoying the ride. He then starts to look at things from a different perspective. The ride doesn’t seem so scary after all.
This last month has been a roller coaster ride for our family. We started out in May with small grain seeding and Mother’s Day. This was the exciting part of the ride. The day after Mother’s Day, I hurt my knee while helping Jonathan with the grain drill. I “bruised the heck out of the knee-cap” as my doctor put it, and wound up on crutches for two weeks. A month later, I still cannot bend it all the way, although most days are relatively pain free. I found out that I am not a very patient patient. I had too many plans and activities to have to deal with this. I had to learn to accept help from others, which is a difficult thing for me to do. During that time, I started to feel more anxiety and felt a little depressed because I couldn’t help Jonathan or do as much as I wanted to. The bright spots during this time were when the girls moved home from college and the visit from our exchange daughter’s parents. Christina and Laura were able to work with Jonathan, helping to plant corn and soybeans along with other field work. I was very proud of the way they jumped in to help.
Viktoria’s parents immediately felt like family, and we all connected like friends who had known each other for a long time. Melanie and Ulrich helped prepare for Viktoria’s going away party. Ulrich even did some field work! Melanie jumped in and helped out in the kitchen. As fun as this was, I could hear the roller coaster clicking… We said good-bye to our German family on May 28th. Many tears were shed on both sides as the roller coaster came rushing down the hill.
Things were pretty smooth for awhile, until we got word that our Pastor’s wife had passed away. Candy was a bright spot in many lives. She had many health challenges, but she handled them all with grace. We loved visiting with her and getting to see hints of her humor along with her compassion. We will miss her.
The following day, we attended church, where the atmosphere was rather somber. Late that afternoon, we were outside enjoying the beautiful evening before a game of cat and mouse broke out. We were having a little fun with the 4-wheeler and Ranger Utility Vehicle, taking turns on who was the “cat” and who was the “mouse”. This is a game we have played many times. You could say it is a favorite of ours. But, you know what they say, “it’s all fun and games until someone winds up in the ER at 10:00 on a Sunday night.” I was the “cat” on the 4-wheeler while Jonathan and Anna played the “mouse” on the Ranger. The cat was about to pounce, when the mouse darted, tipping the Ranger onto its side. Anna had her seat belt on and was okay (she would bruise where the seat belt held her, but otherwise was okay). Jonathan went to the house quickly after he crawled out, clutching his hand. I went into the house to check on him, asking if he was okay. He asked me to get him an ice pack and take him to the hospital right away. This is never good coming from him. He usually argues that it isn’t necessary. I grabbed the ice pack and a towel, checked on the girls, and then we left for the ER. After much fussing, pain meds, x-rays, cleaning and stitching, we were able to leave around 1:00 am. The following morning, Jonathan had surgery to place two pins in his broken left index finger. They also cleaned out the cuts on his finger and stitched them up. While he was under, they scrubbed the rest of his abrasions to help prevent infection. His middle finger was also broken, so he now sports a cast surrounding the first two fingers on his left hand, extending up his forearm. They sent him home with pain medicine and heavy antibiotics. He had quite a bit of pain until later in the week. He will be in a cast until the first week in July. Can you hear the screams as we are hurling through the loops on this roller coaster?
Today (Thursday), we attended Candy’s funeral. I am having Anna write this entry as we are driving on our way to Austin, MN to meet her ride to Milwaukee. She will be spending the summer there with Campus Crusade. This is the part of the ride where the clicking begins again. Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be at the SW MN Synod Assembly, where we will spend time in worship and Bible study, business will be conducted, workshops presented, and fellowship will happen. It will be a fun yet exhausting time for those of us on the planning committee.
As much as I fear the anxiety of the approaching descent of this phase of the roller coaster of life, I am finding that it is much better than just going in circles on the merry-go-round. I am surrounded by people who love me even though I am not completely healed. But more importantly, I am surrounded by the arms of Jesus, who is sitting on the seat beside me riding with me the whole way.
Photo: (back) Jonathan and Ulrich, Viktoria, (front) Carolyn and Melanie
