Light And Life To All He Brings
One very foggy morning in November when a cold misty wind blew, Brent located Tommy. (The homeless Italian man.) He was sitting outside at a new Starbucks that just went in down the road from us, nursing a large cup of coffee. He was totally thrilled to see Brent and was hollering across the way to him before he even walked up there. Brent bought him a breakfast burrito and sat with him there for a couple of hours. He says nobody ever stops and talks to him, and I’m quite certain he lives for the sight of Brent walking down the road. He has been sleeping in a wide spot on the side of the road lately, and his life is quite forlorn. Pray for him if you wish.
Joel and Kaylah came to visit us over Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Friesen clan at Bennie and Sherrilee’s, shared a lovely sunny day in Santa Cruz with Bryce and Janae, enjoyed a picnic lunch by Lake Tahoe, took in the beautiful sights at Golden Gate State Park and Muir Beach, and toured around some of our favorite local spots. There is nothing quite like having family around. We loved every minute of it.
Our nearest Safeway has freshly-baked bagels every morning. Brent was on his way to pick some up for breakfast and was sitting at a stoplight minding his own business when he heard screeching tires and looked up to see a black SUV headed straight for him. It was coming around the corner at about 50 mph and couldn’t make the corner. It plowed into the side of the van and before Brent could gather himself from the center console, the guy was gone. There was a kind old man behind Brent who caught the whole thing on his dash camera, but no license plate number could be deciphered. So, we are left with $12,000 worth of damage and three plus weeks in a rental vehicle. We are thankful to God that the boys and I were not with Brent and nobody was seriously injured. The boys were very concerned and totally dismayed by the damage done to their Silvia. Elliot- “We was just having good nights and good days, good nights and good days, when CRASH they just ruin our good little day.” Ezra was quite sure we needed to call the tow truck to come get the van. It is quite surprising we have got by unscathed thus far with how much time we spend on busy roads. The traffic police officer that Brent talked to told him that over 50% of the collisions he deals with are hit-and-run collisions. Sad world we live in.
The weather here has been very abnormal. We have barely seen the sun at all since before Thanksgiving. A fog has hung over the Central Valley for weeks. So Glenn and Ballico have been having somewhat similar weather to ours. The good part is, we just have to drive twenty minutes further into the Bay Area for sunshine and warmer temperatures. San Francisco has been ten degrees warmer and sunny almost every time we go. The fog has lifted now, but we still have clouds and some rain. The mountains are putting on velvet coats of vivid green, the beautiful fall leaves are fast collecting in drifts along the roadsides, and the citrus trees are showing off their bounty.
We went singing at the train station in San Francisco one weekend with Ballico, Livingston, and Winton. A week later we went back with Glenn and Princeton. We set up tables with free Bibles and literature and sang Christmas carols. We almost ran out of tracts. One little girl of about eight years old, came and picked up the tract called “A Friend For You”. Brent overheard her asking her mom who Jesus was. Her mom told her that she had really been meaning to talk to her about Jesus and they would sit down when they got home and read the tracts together. Can you imagine being eight years old and never hearing about Jesus? What a privilege to bring hope and the Gospel story to a city such as San Francisco. Anyway, I love going into San Francisco around the holidays, as the city is so bedecked with festivities. The cable cars, festooned with lights and Christmas wreaths, couldn’t look cuter as they hum down the steep streets. We went strolling downtown after caroling and found a cozy burger joint for supper with Zane and Lindsey, Clark and Nicole, and some youth guys. Arrived home quite exhausted, as we sang for two hours and had nowhere to sit down. The boys did really well, although they were the only children there both times.
A subdivision near us sets up millions of lights every Christmas. Each house has a theme. There is a Mickey Mouse house, a Bluey house, a Hallmark house, and so on. There is a little hot cocoa trailer, a guy making mini doughnuts, and a coffee booth as well. The boys never tire of it. Strolling through the lights is a perfect way to spend a lengthy winter evening.
We took a supper of chili and cornbread to Curt and Lois’s one evening. They had a cozy fire burning in the fireplace, and Curt read stories to the boys by the fire. We always enjoy our time there. Also visited their church one Sunday morning for their Christmas program. It was a pleasure. People were so friendly to us and we enjoyed listening to the beautiful choir songs. (Lois sang in the choir.) We stayed for a little potluck afterwards and look forward to going back sometime.
We attended the Ballico couples' Christmas supper again this year. What a privilege. Such a fun group of couples. We had two kinds of soup, cornbread, veggie platters, and fruit platters. A lively grab box followed.
The Glenn youth gave a beautiful Christmas program. We drove down on Sunday morning for it. Went to Clark and Nicole’s for a cozy waffle lunch with Alex and Bethany. Stopped in at Shawn and Eddie’s on our way home for a bit and before we could get left, Troy called Brent and invited us to spend the evening at their place. So, off we sped for Troy and Kayla’s. The guys ran to the store and got ingredients for tacos. They whipped up a delicious supper for the two 🤰🏼ladies and the kids. So anyway, arrived home quite late and tired once again, but the day was so worth the drive.
Two Ballico couples came through on a tract route one Saturday and invited us to meet them for lunch. Reg and Edith and Calvin and Becky. Enjoyed an hour or so with them at a Mexican restaurant we had never been to.
The boys and I have been baking up a storm in the kitchen these days. What else must one do on yet another cloudy, cold day? We put together little boxes of Christmas goodies for our neighbors. The boys also really wanted to make Christmas sugar cookies for our local firefighters, so we baked them and frosted them and away they went. I greeted two little beaming faces at the door an hour later, and they had all kinds of fire truck stories to tell me.
We plan to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Troy and Kayla. I believe Christmas lunch will be at Milton Geisbrect’s. (Troy’s parents.) Should be fairly low-key, which will be great with me. We will be welcoming our newest addition in about two weeks. The boys are elated for Christmas and the new baby. I am being quite pampered with foot rubs, back rubs, face rubs, drinks, snacks, empty dishwasher, and all the little things two little boys think they can do for their mama. Elliot has a name picked out for a boy and one for a girl. He told me he was sorry, but he needed to grow up so he could help me with the baby. I think we’ll need all the help we can get.😅 ( My mama is coming to stay with us over baby’s arrival. I thank Divine Providence for working this out in my favor, for it just so happened that Dad was asked to come to Ballico for revivals and the revivals begin on my due date. So it worked perfectly for Mama to come along with Dad.)
Keep us on your prayer list, and a Merry Christmas to all.♥️
