My mom always told me that as one gets older time goes faster. As I sit here by the fire reflecting on the quickly departing year of 2012, I realize that Mom was right. I feel like I have lived the last year on fast forward, and you are much overdue for a Gruver family update.
In February, my parents bought a rental property in a great location just a short walk from the hospital. We would learn later this year what a blessing that was. The house sat empty for over a year so we all got to work cleaning and making repairs on the 3400 sq. ft. house and .75 acre lot. The entire family and many dear friends showed up to help us paint the many rooms, covering such colors as Pepto-Bismol pink, bright teal, red, blue, yellow and green among others. Since then we have added an irrigation pump, a pellet stove, a steel roof with a covered front entry and new windows in the front. We painted the front door red and chose a new exterior trim color which will be applied when we thaw out in the spring. We are very blessed to have so much room to spread out in and plan to continue renting from my parents for now.
Phil is still working at Micron but has moved to the night shift which actually works out better for all of us. He is off every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and every other Saturday. We have adjusted our school schedule to match his so the girls' work week is Tuesday through Saturday. He has kept very busy on his off days helping Dad with repairs and doing yard work.
Jocelyn finished her apprenticeship at Canine Design and became a full time groomer. It's so nice to see her doing a job she loves. She is glad to have a profession that she will be able to run from her home if God blesses her with a husband and children to care for. She has always been good with animals and spends her off time going to agility practices and trials with her dog Brinkley and taking care of her rabbitry business. She also loves to spend time with her sisters and takes them out to movies or shopping. Her Christmas break gave her the opportunity to play in the snow with them and arrange a game day including popcorn and chips with bean dip. Jocelyn is a member of Boise Agility Runners and Climbers and also serves our church as a leader in Mission Prayer and as one fourth of the much loved "coffee ladies". She continues to live at home under her papa's headship and is trusting God for her future.
Marissa is enjoying life as a homeschool graduate and has become very involved in the management of our home and school. She encourages her sisters in writing, extra activities, and staying productive. She leads the chore schedule and makes changes whenever needed. She has also started to take over the family finances which blesses me in addition to giving her practical training. Marissa also began her own rabbitry this year specializing in Lops and Lionheads. One of her favorite things to do is serve other families in and around their homes. This past year she has had the opportunity to serve and learn from two wonderful ladies, Shannon and Jamie, on many occasions and looks forward to continuing with them and others in the following year. She also serves at church as a Mission Prayer leader and as one fourth of the "coffee ladies". During the spring Marissa traveled to Utah to help in the Children's program of their homeschool convention. She enjoyed herself so much that she was able to talk her sisters into helping at our local convention. They all had a great time and plan to continue helping for years to come.
Adelie is a junior in high school this year and, although she is looking forward to graduation, she is appreciating her subjects and enjoying what she is learning. This has come as a surprise to her as she has always preferred getting her hands dirty and doing "real" work. She has discovered that she actually enjoys housework and she is very thorough. I often hear her singing hymns as she works which is a balm to my soul. She enjoys working outdoors and planted a nice garden where I would find her in her favorite skirt, hair pulled back and mud squishing between her toes. She continues to work at a ranch from late spring through fall and enjoys the opportunity to work with the horses and learn from a wonderful Christian family. She looks forward to adding dairy goats to our little spread in the future. She also plans to study herbology and possibly nursing.
Carolyn is a sophomore in high school and enjoys writing fiction over all other subjects. She works quickly to free up more time to develop her many story ideas. If she's not careful, she expresses excitement for her other subjects that she pretends to just tolerate. She has a small flock of free range chickens that produce the best tasting eggs for our breakfast. When her rooster, Bock, lost his voice she discovered that he was having trouble breathing. A little research and treatment with oatmeal water and a little of the moistened oatmeal cleared him right up. He was so happy to be able to boast loud enough to be heard again. It didn't help his disposition though so Carolyn carries what she calls her Bock-be-cool stick when she herds them to their coop. She also enjoys working at the ranch with Addie and hopes to be a horse trainer someday.
Addie and Carrie both attended Worldview Academy in July with the help of some dear friends. They shared a dorm room at Northwest Nazarene University for the week but had their own small groups. Both of the girls were a little reluctant to attend but that soon changed and they made new friends and loved the over 20 hours of lectures. Phil and I were able to sit in on some of the lectures and we were so amazed at the content covered by the speakers. We watched our girls change into confident leaders willing to reach out and serve in a meaningful way. It was inspiring. Lord willing they will attend camp again in 2013.
In August, my mom was admitted to the ICU in critical condition, bleeding internally. This was after she worked a full day including running errands and taking a short break to take me out to coffee for my birthday. My sister and I had encouraged her to call her doctor that day as we had noticed she had been pale lately and especially so that day. We were planning to go to church camp that weekend and thought she should see her doctor before making a trip to the mountains. We later learned that if she had gone to camp, we would have lost her. She was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery that same week. She was recovering well so we went to camp but not long after our return she was rushed back to the operating room with a life threatening complication. Her blood tests have confirmed that all the cancer was successfully removed and she doesn't need to go through chemotherapy. God has been so merciful to us! We had Christmas Eve dinner at my sister Kelley's house and it was such a blessing to have mom there with us, recovering well and regaining her strength.
In the midst of all the excitement with mom I managed to come down with Epstein-Barr virus. I had thought that I was just tired from caring for mom and not managing the stress well but I just wasn't getting better. I was finally diagnosed in November and at this writing, I'm still struggling to overcome the virus. The symptoms are lethargy, painful lymph nodes, sore throat and fever. I also struggle with insomnia and occasional headaches. I'm supposed to rest and avoid stress which can be hard at times. I have been so blessed with a family that takes good care of me and dear friends that offer much encouragement, prayer, meals and videos to watch. This trial has given me the opportunity to see my girls step up this summer and grow into mature and capable servants. I am so thankful for each of them and the many ways that they have given their time to learn new skills and take responsibility for their own education. I have seen them come together and support and encourage each other, helping each other when I am unable to assist them. It has been a blessing that I will remember long after I have recovered.
I will leave you with a lesson that God blessed me with while lounging on the couch doing some research with the girls. When Noah was on the Ark with his family he was completely dependent on God. Noah had no way to know where he was. No way to know the depth of the water or if there were any obstacles under the waves that they could crash into. No way to steer the huge vessel he was housed in. He had to completely trust God to deliver him and his family through the storms. He had no control over the time it took for the water to subside. He just had to wait and trust that God's plan would be accomplished in the time that He had ordained for it. When we face a trial God doesn't show us the whole picture. We have to trust Him completely to work His plan in His perfect time. Sometimes it can feel like we are closed up in a vessel on still water with no idea how long it might take to be delivered to safety. But no matter what we face in this life we can know that just as Noah entered the Ark and was saved, we can enter the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ and be saved.
May you know the safety of being in Christ this holiday season.
With much love,
Phil, Tonya, Jocelyn, Marissa, Adelie and Carolyn
